Podcasts about Inverness

Ahead of next week's Royal Highland Show being held at Ingliston just outside Edinburgh, Rachel catches up with farmer Anna Mitchell, who is one of this year's vice presidents. This year's presidential team are representing Aberdeenshire and Anna tells Rachel what visitors can expect from the show.Mark is in Newport-on-Tay with author Dr Erin Farley whose most recent book, Lighthouse Lives, tells the stories of the last generation to work on manned lighthouses across Scotland. She tells Mark about the experiences of some of the keepers and their families who she recorded with for the book.Phil Sime and Morven Livingstone meet Allan MacKinnon of Highland Bird Control Services, to see how he's tackling the issues that gulls are causing at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.Two volumes of Birds of America by renowned artist and ornithologist John James Audubon are currently on show to the public at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. The College has owned the art treasures for two centuries, and Mark went to meet their heritage lead, Claire McDade to hear a bit about their origins and take a look at the impressive books.Rachel is in Ayrshire meeting some of the farmers involved in the women in dairy initiative.As Scotland fans descend on Boston, Massachusetts in their thousands, we hear about the different birds that the discerning football supporter might be able to spot during their stay in the city. Erin Kelly from conservation charity Mass Audubon tells Rachel a bit about Boston birdlife and where to see it.The Glasgow Tandem Club has members who are both vision impaired and sighted. They are based in Ballahouston Park in Glasgow and Rachel went along to meet some of the members and chatted to founder, Anne Fraser.Mark heads to Cullen to meet the founder of Blue Lighthouse surf club, which was set up to offer tangible support for the health and wellbeing of members of the emergency services and care workers.And in this week's Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark visits the Taliesin Community Woodland in Dumfries and Galloway which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. We hear an excerpt.

This week, The Photowalk heads indoors to the Highland Print Studio in Inverness for an experience that's a world away from the instant gratification of modern photography. Over two days, we learn the centuries-old art of polymer photogravure, transforming digital photographs into richly textured fine art prints through a process of light, water, ink and an extraordinary amount of patience. Guided by master printmaker John McNaught, and joined by Lynn Fraser, Michael Assmann, John Anderton and Giles Penfound, we discover why so many photographers become captivated by this tactile craft. Along the way, we explore the history of photogravure, meet some of the artists who have embraced it, and find out why, in an age of endless scrolling, there is still something magical about slowing down and making a photograph you can truly hold in your hands. Read more about our photographic adventures on our photography travel website, The Journey Beyond. Links to all guests and features will be on the show page, my sincere thanks to our Extra Milers, without whom we wouldn't be walking each week and Arthelper.ai, giving photographers smart tools to plan, promote, and manage your creative projects more easily. WHY: A Sketchbook of Life is available HERE.

In this episode of DSC's Campfires, host Larry Weishuhn shares the thrilling details of his recent European roe deer hunt. He recounts his journey through Sweden, Poland, and Scotland alongside friends Mark and Carol Little, as well as expert guides Stefan and Sofia Bengtsson from Scandinavian Pro Hunters. Larry's deep passion for the sport and the delicious rewards of the hunt shine through as he details the beautiful landscapes, his gear, and the magnificent animals he encountered along the way. Larry compares the European roe deer to the whitetailed deer of European countries. These deer have a notably small body size, typically weighing between 50 and 60 pounds. Beyond the challenge of the hunt, Larry notes that the meat from these deer is absolutely delicious. The three-nation hunt was initially created as a donation for the DSC Foundation Gala in 2025. The package was generously put together by Larry alongside Stefan and Sofia Bengtsson of Scandinavian Pro Hunters. Mark and Carol Little purchased the hunt at the gala to help fund various DSC Foundation projects. The actual hunt came to fruition shortly before recording, taking place in May 2026. Larry traveled from Austin to London to Copenhagen, eventually driving across the waterway to the southernmost tip of Sweden. The group hunted on a large estate managed by Scandinavian Pro Hunters. This property featured a beautifully rehabilitated waterway that now supports abundant wildlife and sea-run trout. Carol Little successfully harvested a great deer early in the trip. Larry hunted from a "hochsitz" (an open-top deer blind) using Stefan's single-shot K95 Blaser rifle chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. He harvested a mature, silver-medal buck with gorgeous ivory-colored antler tips. The group traveled by train from Malmo to Copenhagen, then flew directly into Warsaw, Poland. The Polish hunting grounds were highly agricultural, filled with apple orchards, blackberries, and strawberries. Larry hunted with Stefan and a local English-speaking guide named Derek. Using an R8 Blaser in .243, Larry shot a buck late in the evening. The local property manager used a thermal drone, which is completely legal in Poland, to recover the deer in the dark. This buck scored as a silver medal and featured a unique 3x4 point configuration. On a subsequent outing in Poland, Larry successfully used an 8x57 JS rifle to take another beautiful silver-medal buck. The final leg involved flying into Glasgow, Scotland, and driving to an area near Inverness. Larry hunted with a local Scottish guide named George. Larry used George's 6.5x55 Swede rifle to stalk and harvest another incredible roe deer buck. In total, Larry took four roe deer during the trip, including three 3x3s and two featuring a fourth point. Larry will be attending the Texas Wildlife Association Convention in San Antonio from July 23rd to July 26th. He will also be present at the upcoming DSC Summer Expo and DSC Gala. Another Scandinavian Pro Hunter trip will be auctioned off at the DSC Gala. Listeners can find full written stories and photos on Larry's website at larryweishuhn.net. Video coverage of the hunt will be available on Carbon TV and his YouTube channel, A Sportsman's Life. More information on the DSC Foundation and their conservation efforts can be found at dscf.org and biggame.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if the answers you're searching for arrived long before you knew how to understand them? In this conversation, I sit down with Kip Baldwin, a filmmaker, producer, writer, and founder of the Just Love movement. Kip shares the extraordinary awakening he experienced at age 12 and how it set him on a lifelong path of exploring consciousness, love, spirituality, and human connection. From the music industry and sustainable agriculture to television production, ethical AI, and overcoming a traumatic brain injury, Kip's journey has been anything but ordinary. As we talk, Kip reflects on why fear has become such a powerful force in society, how love can transform the way we see ourselves and others, and why he believes lasting change starts with a shift in consciousness. You will hear stories of resilience, curiosity, and purpose, along with a vision for creating a better future for generations to come. I believe you will find this conversation thought-provoking, challenging, and full of hope. Highlights: 01:45 - How a childhood acting career sparked a lifelong passion for media and communication. 07:08 - Why confidence without self-awareness can become a liability. 16:32 - Lessons from the Kellogg School of Management that still shape business decisions today. 21:58 - Why listening beats talking in business, leadership, and life. 35:08 - How strong brands grow through awareness, not just loyalty programs. 01:05:02 - The three traits Zarko looks for when mentoring future leaders. About the Guest: Kip Baldwin knows his purpose for Being is to share all that LOVE is through his many solutions driven projects; using media in all its forms to help awaken individuals, and by proxy the collective, to the LOVE Paradigm emerging. He feels that in order for a new chapter of our story to be conceived for humanity, a mass imagining of our limitless potential is what is needed to bring about an age of compassion, empathy, collaboration, and oneness.  Kip was born in 1965 to counterculture parents - in the midst of the maelstrom that was the decade of the sixties, in fact 1965 was the first year that scientists warned us about climate change - in Vancouver, Washington. His earliest years were spent on a farm where his grandparents raised thoroughbred horses. During this period grew in him a deep, abiding LOVE and respect for nature and all living things. It was around the age of twelve his life would transform forever, as he had an out of body experience that took him beyond the edge of Universe, even Space and Time, and face to face with the unknowable of Infinity. This experience became the foundation for his constant seeking since. Due to that experience Kip felt he must explore the world beyond the small town confines of Camas, WA where he grew up. His first attempt to break free was to do a brief stint in the Navy, where he was going to pursue a career as an electric technician, but because of a hereditary bleeding disorder he was given a medical discharge. However, a military career for him was clearly never really in the cards anyway. Although he was always grateful for the insight it gave him into the inner workings of our country, as he witnessed first the how the poor are literally cannon fodder for corporations, under the guise of them being heroes and patriots. Following his discharge, he returned briefly to the limits of his hometown, before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1985 to pursue his passion for music and performing. He often jokes that he was looking for the San Francisco of the Haight/Ashbury, Peace and LOVE days, but arrived twenty years too late. What he found instead was the 80s hair metal band scene, whose songs that focused on partying, sex, and drugs were not compatible with his lyrics about awakening awareness and addressing the need for personal and societal change. In the late 90s, after becoming disillusioned by his beloved music industry - and always seeking solutions for the myriad of challenges facing humanity - he shifted his focus to local and sustainable foods. While this was certainly a worthwhile pursuit, it did little to fulfill his need to share LOVE'S Truth and create a collective shift in consciousness. But what it did do was make him aware that it was only going to be through the use of mass media that his message of LOVE could reach a large enough audience to affect real lasting change. This found him again heeding the call of the entertainment industry, first as an actor, then writer, and ultimately as a producer, with some success co-creating the influential cannabis series Weed Country for the Discovery Network (focusing on the countless benefits humanity can derive from marijuana, as well as our profound historical connection to the plant), co-founding the United Filmmakers Association, and starting the Just LOVE Movement. Ultimately, this led him to co-founding S.O.U.L. Documentary with creative partner and Soul Twin, Evan Hirsch who shares his passion, purpose and mission to heal humanity by embracing our innate oneness, which they both understand can only be achieved by accepting and grounding ourselves in the Reality of LOVE We Are. Ways to connect with Kip: Facebook:  Just LOVE page: https://www.facebook.com/kipbaldwinjustlove Main page: https://www.facebook.com/kip.baldwin/ UFA: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Unifilmmakers LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kip-baldwin-975a3514/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kipbaldwin?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr YouTube: Kip Baldwin: https://youtube.com/@thekiprowdy?si=LckMuhec40lWAicF Just LOVE: https://youtube.com/@justlove6463?si=QW1g4D2dlaHmJk8B S.O.U.L. Documentary: https://youtube.com/@souldocumentary?si=4HOwlV-pjFN6guYy Soul Twin Messiah: https://youtube.com/@soultwinmessiah?si=7ctLlmqjeOczkjO_ Additional must listen:  Comfort You Song: https://youtu.be/Mi8D3AoDfRQ?si=y8RzIQPXP5ALJth1 A World Worth Imagining: https://youtu.be/Cx28t6_SGic?si=o4lWs7po3TBKx_3A Invitation. To Action: https://youtu.be/B8jUOUVCvJI?si=l4Pr7vWNDsnXX4wh AI work: www.luminaLOVE.LOVE About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson  00:03 One of the biggest things holding you back isn't what's in front of you, but rather what you believe. Welcome to Unstoppable Mindset, where inclusion, diversity, and the unexpected meet. I'm your host, Michael Hingson, speaker, author, and advocate for inclusion and possibilities. This podcast explores how the beliefs we carry shape the way we live, lead, and connect with others. Each week, I talk with people who challenge assumptions, face adversity head on, and show what's possible when we choose curiosity over fear. Together we focus on mindset, resilience, and the small shifts that lead to meaningful change. Let's get started. Hi everyone, I am your host Mike Hingson, and you are listening and or watching Unstoppable Mindset. We're really glad that you're here with us today. Our guest, the person I get the honor of chatting with for the next hour or so, is Kip Baldwin, who will talk a lot about love. He will talk a lot about a number of different things, he's been a director, he's been a producer, an actor. He has been published, although he hasn't published a book yet, but he's published poetry, and I'm sure he's going to tell us about that, and I don't want to give it away, so I won't. Anyway, Kip, welcome to Unstoppable Mindset. We're glad you're Kip Baldwin  01:40 here. Oh, thank you so much for having me, Michael. I look forward to having this conversation and sharing my story. Michael Hingson  01:47 Well, tell us a little bit about you, kind of. Let's start with the early Kip, growing up and all that, because I know you had some things along the way that were relevant and ought to be mentioned. So, why don't you tell us about the early Kip, and we'll go from there. Speaker 1  02:00 I was. I grew up in Washington State, little town called Camas. Although my earliest years were spent in a town called Battleground, Washington, and my family, we raised horses, Thoroughbred race horses. We raised at Portland Meadows, and so I'm kind of a farm boy at heart, at least that's how I grew up, but I had an experience when I was 12 that was definitely not your typical farm boy experience, I guess. I had gone up to Seattle, and this was maybe 78 to see a Seahawks game with the Raiders of my dad and dad, I had a good day, which wasn't always the case, and got home, and it was a, you know, five and a half hour round trip for kids, 12 year olds, a big time, and so I went to bed, and I promptly left my body, and now keep in mind I had never done any drugs. Out of body experiences, a household projection was not something that we talked about about the old farm around the farmhouse dinner table, and I floated over my bedroom. My awareness hovered over my body, and I remember very vividly you don't forget. I looked at my body and went, "I'm not in there. And then that immediately I left my house, I left the planet, I left the solar system, I let the galaxy, I let the universe, and the whole time all I can describe was kind of a presence, not a voice or anything, but just, are you taking all of this in? And sometimes words can't convey something so expansive and grand, and so I was taking in black holes and quasars and nebulas, and just flying through the, you know, time didn't really exist, but I was, I was traveling across the universe, and eventually I got outside the universe, and my awareness was turned in, and I could see how everything was connected, and how the universe itself was finite, and but that everything had a place, there was no less or greater than that, everything had a specific role, from the smallest particle to, you know, the largest star, and then my awareness was turned out to the blackness of infinity, and that you know you don't know at 12, you're just like, "Oh, this is happening, and I'm what's happening, and I'm taking it in, and what I didn't know is that would become my point of seeking that really became the rest of my life. Life, I think, had I been born in India, like say Ramana Maharishi, who had what I didn't realize until later, there's a name for what happened to me, and it's called a spontaneous awakening. My life would have probably been much different, but we don't live in a society that that really honors things like that, so it was a lot of me going on a journey of discovery and a weight and continual awakening until now, and it's an ongoing process, but that's where it really began with me being confronted with the fact that there there can't be a beginning or ending to anything, and the thought experiments that can't, that come out of that, and the way it opens your consciousness, I'm ever grateful for, although at the time it, it made me for a long time feel very apart, and it wasn't until I met with Dr. Dr. Dean Radin up at Noetic Sciences, and I told him my story, and he looked at me, and he went, "You go, that's not a usual experience, he said, "That's a mystical experience, and I was in my probably late 40s, maybe 50 at that time, and that was the first time in my life that someone had had said, 'Hey, what you, what you had was a really phenomenal experience, and I'm very grateful for him for saying that to me, because for most of my life, I'm running around talking about these profound things with people that I thought were incredibly important to share, and they didn't seem very important to people, and it wasn't until then that it hit me that it wasn't that they were important, that it was that they, they didn't really understand what I was talking about. Michael Hingson  07:03 Well, and in our society, as you point out, it's not something that is generally appreciated, and and people who have had those experiences or talk about them are generally looked down upon or frowned upon, and you know that's that's fine, but it doesn't change the fact, and so it must have been hard, especially at first, for you to talk about that. Speaker 1  07:29 You know, I was so excited at first, I was excited to share it with my family, and and it happened a couple more times, and it was so overwhelming that literally I would get to a point where my head, my physical being couldn't handle it anymore, and I would get up and vomit. It was that's how, how intense it was, like I just, I couldn't take in anymore. And so, at first, I was really excited to share it, because it was beyond wondrous. It was, it was truth. It was reality, and I, and on some level, I knew that instinctually. But then, when enough people sort of ignore you or act like something's unimportant, you stop talking about Michael Hingson  08:15 it. Yeah, Speaker 1  08:15 I never stopped writing about it. I never stopped experiencing it, and I didn't even really stop talking about it once I moved to California for the music business in 1985 I, you know, then I thought, wow, I mean, being a group of creatives and there's going to be other people that will understand what I'm talking about, but in the 80s music environment it really wasn't what people were, were talking or thinking about, and I was kind of in the same way, and again it wasn't until years later that I look back and I realized all this time I spent up late at night partying with people and stuff, and telling them about infinity, and, and they look, they, they must have been looking at me like I'm a complete idiot, because they really only cared about, you know, getting high or having sex, and I'm trying to have this profound conversation. Michael Hingson  09:16 So, when your family, when you told your family, how did they react? Speaker 1  09:20 They still don't understand it to this day. It just, oh, that's nice, you know. It actually, there were points in my life where it caused conflict with, especially my father, because when I would say none of this is real, he, he always considered him, and still to this day considers himself quite science physics buff, it wasn't something he was willing to accept, and, and even really have a reasonable conversation about. I would say that the things that got me through all these years was, you know, the universe. There's love, God, Brahmin, whatever you want to call it, it gives you what you need, and what it gave me throughout the years, and still to this day, is voices that made me realize I wasn't crazy, that I knew something really special. Probably the first thing, the first one I remember, like, that was Joseph Campbell being interviewed by Bill Moyers, and somehow I knew everything that Joseph Campbell was talking about, and I'm like, How can I possibly know these things? How can I possibly understand these things of this really brilliant, just beautiful soul? And throughout the years, it's been those touch those moments of going, oh, it hasn't been where I've heard someone go, wow, that's helped me awaken, it's been something that's helped me not feel insane and realize that the things that I'm sharing have been shared for 1000s of years, and by many, many minds and beings much greater than myself, and that that really probably kept me from losing my mind. Michael Hingson  11:10 So, you had this experience happen to you at 12. What did you then specifically do? I mean, not so much talking to people, but what did it do for you, as far as schooling, and what you did with your life? Speaker 1  11:27 I would.. it made me very.. in all honesty, it made school seem really trivial to me. It was kind of boring. I started writing a lot. In fact, something I wrote when I was 17 was called Life and Death, and it went: Life is just a symptom of certain death, crying and laughing until our last breath. Everything dies in true infinity. Then the mountains crumble into the sea, stars full from the night sky hit the earth, and then they die, lost in time. I don't know who I am. Am I a god or just a mortal man? Time can't change what I have found. Still, I am changed and bound, bound by the fears and bound by lies. Even now, the tears fill my eyes, gasping for every breath as I head for a certain death, clouds now pass overhead, and I realize how things are now that I am dead. Life is ending, life goes on like the lyrics to an endless song. Life and death, it's all the same. We exist only in our brain, and so there was a lot of that. It pushed me away from I was confirmed Zion Lutheran. I really couldn't stomach religious dogma anymore at that point. Um, just the hypocrisy, you know? Like, I remember I, I was talking to a new pastor we had, and he was informing me that my great grandmother, who is Jehovah's Witness, and these Mormon boys had come around, were trying to teach me about Mormonism, and I was just curious and open, always, and still am to this day. I don't judge. I would say that's another big thing that this gave me, is I don't, I see everything as equal, I don't, I don't judge everything, I don't judge anything as lesser thing greater than I don't judge good and evil in the in the same way that other people do, I see things as flows of negative of energy as we exist in a duality with this illusion, and this is just what we describe as good and you are really just flows of energy between the polarities of the duality, and so it pushed me, definitely, because I, when he said that my great grandmother was going to go to hell, and these Mormon boys were going to go to hell, I looked him in the face, and I just said, but I thought God was love, and that was pretty much the end of my church, Michael Hingson  14:04 my, my wife did, I think, some things in the Lutheran church, which mostly she was a Methodist, and I joined the Methodist church when we got married, and so on, but when she was in, I think this was when she was in high school, maybe in, I guess it was late high school, early college. She met some Mormon people, and one of them said, I guess she was learning about different religions, and so she was learning about Mormonism, and this guy said you're either going to think that this is a total hoax or you're going to just totally believe in it. Well, it wasn't quite that way for her. She did not think it was a hoax, and I agree with her, but there. There are things about the about all religions that tend to make life difficult. The problem with religion is that that people are are what make up the religion, and they all have their own views, and it makes life really tough. I know I participated in a program called the Walk to Emmaus, which is a what's literally called a short course in Christianity, and it's not to bring people to the Christian church, but it's to help create a class of leaders in the Christian church. Anyway, one of the things about the walk to Emmaus is that a number of people give lectures, people who have been involved in church, and then there are the pilgrims, the people who are coming to to learn what everyone has to say, and the lay director of the Walk to Emmaus every time gives a speech, and I was lay director once, and one of the things that is in the manual, or was I assume it still is. It's been a while, but it says that Tolstoy once said the biggest problem with Christianity is that nobody practices it, and there's a lot of truth to that. Speaker 1  16:13 But I think that I think you hit it right on the head that people are involved, like I, and I do want to clarify something, I, I believe very much that that Jesus was a master. Oh, Michael Hingson  16:29 absolutely, yeah, and, Speaker 1  16:31 and, but I also believe that people don't know what happened at the Council of Nicaea and understand how the Bible was actually constructed, not because it was based on Gnostic teachings or even really the teachings of Christ, but it was cobbled together as a means of control. If Caesar saw his soldiers be turning to Christianity when they wanted to find, you know, put together a book that really didn't express Christian truth or the truth of Christ, but a way, a means of controlling people through fear, and so if you, if you notice, all the books in the Bible are male. Well, left out of the Bible was the book of Mary, left out of the Bible, it's the book of Thomas, who, interestingly enough, there's a place in India where they all speak ancient Aramaic, and they worship the Book of Thomas, which there's always been a lot of discussion. Did Jesus go to India and study Buddhism? And because even the Book of Mary, these are very Buddhist beliefs, but anything, because we live in a patriarchal society, anything like the piece to Sophia, the book of Mary, the book of Stackle, all of these were intentionally kept out of the Bible, so it's not, I think it's not so much religion, it's the organ, it's the dogma that comes along with organized religion, which is really about people, you know, men using it to control and manipulate people through fear, Michael Hingson  18:14 all too much, all too often. It's, it's true. Speaker 1  18:18 Yeah, and it's interesting. I was watching last night, and it's funny. This is why, why you always have to be on a constant path of awakening. It never stops. If you think you've reached that pinnacle, or whatever, then they're not just ego. There's always more to know and understand. And I ran across this video on Tara, well, Tara is in Buddhism, basically in every religion that I am aware of, there's always the peace to Sophia, there's always the the story of the divine feminine that in large part is is is not. It was. It's largely been suppressed, and so I was, I was watching this, and it was just so fascinating to me to see how identical what Tara was in Buddhism, which this is what, when Tara, Tara is considered the ultimate goddess in the Buddhist faith. Well, when Tara came to earth in the story, she went to a bunch of, you know, Buddhist monks, and they said, "Oh, you know, they were so impressed by her, and they thought this was a compliment. They said, "Well, we hope you, you can reincarnate as a man, and she said, "No, she She said, I don't see things as male and female, but since nobody else wants to be the feminine, I will play that role. And it was just a profoundly interesting thing to listen to, not just because of the story, but because almost every faith that I'm aware. Of has that story of the divine feminine that has again largely been suppressed and marginalized, Michael Hingson  20:09 well, for you clearly that was a very meaningful experience. What did what did you then do, and I understand how you could imagine that maybe what was being taught in school wasn't quite as, as meaningful as what you had experienced, but you went on, I assume, through high school, and did you go to college? Speaker 1  20:30 I was, I went, I was an electron, I went to the Navy to be an electronic technician, but I had a bleeding disorder called Von Willebrand disease, and I found out after I was in for about a year. Well, you can't be in the Navy with that, because we can't carry with the limited space you have on ships, we can't carry the clotting factor you would need if there's a problem. So that was fairly short-lived. Then I went back to Washington and was working as a dishwasher for a while, then I worked as a male stripper, and, and I was then, which, which, you know, there was something really profound about that experience, because it taught me what women feel like to be objectified, and that's something that has carried me, carried a lesson. I, I find lessons in everything, even things that, wow, you know, what could you possibly learn positive out of having been a male stripper? Well, I learned how women feel, really, to be, you know, not looked at as anything more than an object, and then I really wanted to continue to, you know, pursue music, so a friend of mine, we loaded 65,000 pounds of frozen strawberries onto a semi truck, and like july 3, 1985 and got a ride to San Francisco, a city I'd never been to before. I knew nobody here. We got here, I had 25 cents in my pocket, and I used the 25 cents to call the one friend that I thought I knew that I could get a hold of here in or in in the Bay Area, and it was a wrong number, and so now I'm in a city at the Gray Home Bus Terminal that used to be in downtown San Francisco, we have no food, we have no place to live. We have nothing to, you know, we have nothing, literally. And that's where my journey began. As far as my story, my, my adult life, and my journey in the entertainment industry and the music business, that's how it all started. It started by loading 65,000 pounds of frozen strawberries under semi truck, telling, oh, and the cap around the story is I had worn my contacts for too long and I ripped the corny up both my eyes when I took them out, because I was wearing hard lenses, so I was functionally blind in the city I'd never been to before with patches over my eyes, and being led around by my friend, and luckily we found some very nice people that gave us a place to stay, and then I ended up meeting maybe a week after that, I met my first wife, who was Persian, and we were together for a long time. What was interesting about that is I've been introduced to so many different faiths through the people in my life, and because I haven't judged and tried to learn, like I, I learned through her about Islam, I learned through her about our Torcharianism, and we lived the rock and roll lifestyle for the 16 years we were together. She was a photographer. I wrote for a magazine called BAM. I played in bands. I managed artists like Linda Perry from The Four Non Blonde, or I worked with Linda Perry from Four Non Blondes. I managed Alex Skolnick, who is lead guitar player in Testament, and I did that for a long time until I started getting really disenchanted with music and really started to hate the business and started to hate music because of it, and so I ended up drifting into, I wouldn't say drifting into, I got drawn into visual media, and I started working. I met a guy at a club in San Jose, California, called The Agenda, and we were playing pool, and he was telling me, "Oh, he's the owner of this company called Metropolis Digital, and I was thinking, "My. Speaker 1  24:59 Music and music videos, and yeah, I want to get involved in this, so I started coming up with ideas, and he brought me into their company, because I got to know a lot of people through the music business and booking artists on different shows, like Letterman and Leno, and, and so I got to know how to work through those channels that it opened doors for me to be able to do on-air graphics for the networks, and so I did that until about, in fact, the last major project I did in that industry was with a company called Chaos X AOS out of San Francisco, and we did the 2000 election graphics for ABC nationally, and then I, I, that with the, the, the.com telecom crash of not of 2000 they pulled all of that sort of work in house, and so that business kind of dried up, and I changed my focus to working in local and sustainable foods. Michael Hingson  26:08 What got you to the point where you disliked Music so much? Speaker 1  26:12 The business.. it just.. it wasn't. I came here, and in all honesty, I was looking for the 60s, but I was 20 years too late, only to find out later I was actually 30 years too early, but I was looking for community, I was looking for family, I was looking for that connection, but what existed as far as the music industry then was the 80s hair band stuff, heavy metal was on the rise. It was very misogynistic. It wasn't. It was very competitive. There wasn't, it wasn't collaborative, it wasn't community related at all. And it really turned me off. It wasn't, it wasn't what I had thought being in an artistic community doing artistic endeavors would be about it, became very.. it just.. it just.. it just.. it just made me feel very empty, and that wasn't what I loved about music, and so that Michael Hingson  27:24 would be an issue, Speaker 1  27:25 yeah. It just value wise it was, it was not, you know, you, you got to do a show, and you've got the bands that are coming on after you, you know, playing with your amps, and it was just, it was, it wasn't, it wasn't fun, and it wasn't fulfilling. More importantly, it wasn't fulfilling. It wasn't, and I'm writing about while everyone else is writing about, you know, sex and drugs and all of this. I'm writing about the things that I thought were important. I was writing about the problems I saw in this country, like songs like Shock the System or the chosen few, and, and though that wasn't what people were writing about Michael Hingson  28:06 then, Speaker 1  28:06 and you know, even though the songs were good, and, and I've been told I'm talented, it was, I didn't, I didn't again feel like I fit in, you know, I didn't feel like I'd found my place, and certainly not in that world at that time. If Speaker 2  28:31 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset community. Thank it Michael Hingson  29:04 certainly had to be a rough time all the way around, but then you, you found this person, and you joined their company, as you said earlier, Speaker 1  29:15 right? I started working for Metropolis Digital, and we started doing a lot of on-air graphics, like for TBS. We did their, their original movies. We did a lot of the opening graphics for it, and then I moved on to other companies, and and I, I then started focusing on on local and sustainable foods, and moved into doing stuff where I felt I was doing more, because at the heart of everything I've ever done, it's always been about trying to affect real change in the world, Michael Hingson  29:55 it's Speaker 1  29:55 always been about I could see very clear. Really, it doesn't surprise me where we're at today at all. I saw the problems with the system even at that age, and I give credit to that because of the experience I had with Infinity. It just allowed me to step back and perceive things from a far off perspective that I was looking at humanity in general and how we did things, and I'm just like, this doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense for us to believe we're separate and apart from the very things that give us life from each other. It doesn't make sense from a spiritual perspective. It doesn't make sense from a scientific perspective. Yet, here's the system that we are a part of, and so I've always been very focused on trying to effect real change and find not just point out the problems but actually find solutions, and so that then led me into working in local and sustainable agriculture here in the Bay Area. So Michael Hingson  31:00 tell me more about the whole work that you did with Sustainable Foods. What was that all about? Speaker 1  31:08 Yes, I worked with a company, I was, I had handled all the sales and marketing for Drake's Bay Oysters out of Inverness, California, and Drakes Bay, before it was called Drakes Bay, was Johnson's Oysters, and they were the last oyster cannery in California. The family that owned the farm, they had taken it over from Johnson's. They were the Lenny family, who owned Ranch G across from the steroid, where the oyster farm was. Well, they, against my better advice, they made it a personal ownership thing rather than a California food heritage issue. So, eventually, when their lease came up on the rent, on the farm, the farm went away. Well, at the same time, I created new relationships. A very good friend of mine to this day is a gentleman named Brian Kinney, who is now the West Coast Chief Technology Officer for Hearst, and also the Hearst Family Archivist, but at that point in time he was running Hearst Ranch, which they, they had the Jack Ranch and the Hearst Ranch down around San Simeon. So I was at the forefront of the grass-fed beef movement as well, and we developed a human-grade grass-fed beef pet food about 10 years ahead of its time, which could be the story of my life. I'm always about 10 years ahead of where things actually happen, and I, I did that for about 10 years, and eventually I felt the calling to get back in the entertainment industry, and that led me to acting, and I did the acting mostly because I wanted to learn how things were done, and I very well, if I act in a whole bunch of student projects, or projects in general, and I'm behind the scenes, I'm going to learn, and, and that's exactly what happened. So, my very background led me to being a producer, and I created, you know, one of my most notable accomplishments that created this show called Weed Country for Discovery, which was about the medical marijuana industry here in California, just before legalization. How we got it on air before legalization, I don't know. We were named to the Hollywood Reporter top 25 heat list. We got some really great information out about CBD and helping with childhood epilepsy. The bad part of that was it was a reality television show, and I didn't know anything about reality television, so when I'm here in reality, I'm thinking documentary. Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. And reality television has truly been a blight on on this country in particular, and probably the world in general. Michael Hingson  34:16 Yeah, I just gonna say not nearly as real as people think it is. No, no, I think I think probably this is just my opinion. The closest thing to so-called reality TV is the show Dancing with the Stars, because they're actually dancing all these other shows, and it's all sort of really scripted, but the people are actually dancing, which is kind of cool, Speaker 1  34:41 right? Michael Hingson  34:41 Even though I don't see it, I appreciate it. Speaker 1  34:45 Yeah, but even, even with shows like that, there's a lot of gin-up drama. There is behind the scenes stuff that's the worst part of things. Yes, they're like with our show, yes, people were really, you know, there's really stuff going on with can. Of this world that was really important, but what reality television does is it, it creates artificial drama. It does things to manipulate the characters in the show to make them look how they want, and they know, and people in general, my experience is that people, once you put a camera on them, they will do, they would do things to be in front of the camera that they would never do, even for more money, Michael Hingson  35:27 right, Speaker 1  35:28 in their regular lives. Michael Hingson  35:30 Well, and I think there is, there's a lot of truth to that. And the whole thing, as you said, as far as reality TV, we're not giving people a true picture of reality with most of any of that anyway, which is unfortunate. I think I mentioned I'm a fan of old radio and television, and so on. And one of the shows that I've watched a fair amount is The Old Ridge. Well, it's the second time they were on, but Dragnet with Harry Morgan and, of course Jack Webb as Joe Friday, and they did a lot of shows talking about drugs and marijuana and all that, and how bad it is, and it's kind of interesting because what we're seeing today is that in reality the medical aspects of marijuana or cannabis and CBD oil, and so there's there's true relevance there, which is something that they didn't know or appreciate in the late 60s. Speaker 1  36:31 Well, but the thing that our history with the cannabis plant goes back 50,000 years to Burger Banks, China, it's been, and if we take all of the medicinal recreational uses out of it, it is the most one of the most versatile plants that we have. It was used, I mean, our money was made out of hemp. Hemp is cannabis sativa. Dollar bills are made out of hemp. It was used for fuel. It was used for building. Henry Ford built an entire car out of hemp in 1942 which you can go see the video of on YouTube, and they're beating on it with knacks. The plastic resin they made out of it was 40 times stronger than steel. It ran on hemp fuel, a byproduct of which was water. It also, in 1931 the Hearst family, which was interesting, they ended up working with them, bought and sequestered the plans for a decorification machine that made it easier to process hemp than cotton kids, it's a much more durable fiber. In 1938 covered Popular Mechanics, they called him the billion dollar crop, saying you could make 25,000 different items out of everything from fine linens to dynamite, and that was really what what what, why the prohibition against the plant started. Why they did you know shows like Reefer Madness or create films like Reefer Madness to create this hysteria around, at best, an innocuous plant in comparison to soulmate tobacco, in comparison to alcohol, even if people did want to use it. It's, it's, it's relatively harmless by comparison, or just in general, and actually very beneficial. You know, I have a traumatic brain injury, and I think without it, I probably wouldn't, I probably wouldn't eat very much. I probably wouldn't sleep right, I barely sleep as it is, and sleep I do get is because of cannabis, but beyond my point, and I always try to make this clear to people, is like up until even the prohibition against the plant actually started with the Catholic Church, with the Pope Innocent, who until the 1400s cannabis was in the anointing oils. Cannabis was grown by monks, cannabis was grown by nuns, and then in this pope decreed it the devil's weed, and they, you know, banned it. So it's, it had, and there, and why, and you'd say, well, why did they do that? Well, they did that because at that time in the 1400s you were having opium addiction on the rise, you were having, you know, much, much more alcohol use. Well, these are extremely addictive substances, and much more easy to manipulate and control people than it is with cannabis, which in general creates.. I wish I could remember the quote exactly, but Carl Sagan said, you know, why we have a prohibition on a plant that you know creates good feelings amongst people and unites people is in this, you know. A really crazy world is, is, is madness, but it all comes back to money, and it all comes back to who's profiting. So, why did they create the probation? Well, the hearse, the Rockefellers, and the DuPonts, they saw how hemp would affect each of their industries. We wouldn't need oil if we'd grown hemp and use that as fuel, in fact, it was the Rockefellers who went to Henry Ford and said, "If you take this car to market, we'll crush you. And this was Henry Ford at the height of his power, DuPont chemicals that were.. we wouldn't have needed.. we wouldn't have put like this.. we would not have the planet, the environmental devastation we do now. How do we use this, as Henry Ford said? Why are we digging up, and Henry Ford was certainly no saint, but he was right on this. Why are we digging up our minerals? Why are we cutting down our forests when we can do all the same things with this infinitely renewable resource? This is a part of the canvas story that still is largely not discussed openly enough. Michael Hingson  41:08 Yeah, I think there's a big difference between the story you're telling and the kind of uses you're talking about, and smoking it, and so on, and I, I think we put way too many funny things in our bodies, anyway, right? I think that that isn't this isn't a positive thing, but you're right, we, we've used so many things to create so many fears, it is, it is something that is all around us. Fear is all around us, and the problem is we let it overwhelm us. I wrote Live Like a Guide Dog that got published last year because when I worked in the World Trade Center, I was able to focus when I escaped, and I was able to do that because I had developed a mindset that said, you know what to do in this kind of an emergency, even though never expected it to happen, but the problem is that most people don't learn how they can turn fear around, and rather than letting it overwhelm or blind them, as I would put it, they can use it as a very powerful tool to help them stay focused, which is much more important. Speaker 1  42:23 Yep, I agree with that 100% I think, and then that you hit it right on the head. Fear is a very powerful tool. It's necessary. No, don't touch the burning stove. It can be a cautionary tool of saying, hey, don't go down this path, don't do this. It's bad when fear becomes the foundation for your entire culture, as it is now. Michael Hingson  42:51 Yeah, and and it is so unfortunate because don't touch the burning stove doesn't mean don't be afraid of the stove. It rather means there's a consequence for doing a particular thing, which is touching something that is that hot. But you shouldn't create an environment of fear around it. You should create an environment of understanding, which is much more important. Yeah, it's Speaker 1  43:20 like it'd be, it'd be very silly if we went, oh my god, it's like the stove gets hot, so I'm never going to use a stove. My Michael Hingson  43:29 wife was in a wheelchair her whole life, and the one thing I will say with our modern world is we always had electric appliances because she was always concerned about if using a gas stove, having to reach over one burner, perhaps it had something on it to get to something else with the idea of possibly material igniting or something like that, and I appreciate that, and you take advantage of the tools that you have available, but I think that it is so very important to recognize that we need to not live our lives in fear, and it's true that, like, 95% of all the things that we fear will never come to pass, and most all of it we have no control over anyway. So, why do we fear them rather than recognizing what we really need to do is to just focus on the things over which we truly have control. Speaker 1  44:25 Yes, and I think even the idea of control from my perspective is something that is overrated. It's like the most important thing, if you want to have control, it's exactly what we're talking about, it's when you choose to live from the foundation of love, as opposed to fear. So, no matter what happens to me in my life, and no matter how hard, how challenging it is, I'm going to come from a place of love, and right now. Don't most of us live exactly the opposite. No matter what happens to them in their lives, they're coming from a place of fear. Michael Hingson  45:06 Yeah, and that's Speaker 1  45:08 not healthy. Michael Hingson  45:09 And nowadays we're also living in an environment where we're even afraid to talk to other people and voice opinions, because well, that's not what I think. And so you're wrong, and we don't, we don't respect. Tell me about your just love movement. Speaker 1  45:25 Well, you know, I, I had coming out of the music business and everything, I was, I was literally killing myself drinking, I mean, literally, like, I lost half my liver function, and I was going to die, and, but I wasn't afraid to die. I was.. I realized that if I didn't find a way to feel fulfilled and feel that I was. I had a purpose in the story that I needed to find a quicker way out. I didn't get in any, like, car accidents, I wasn't arrested, nothing. I was just killing myself, and it just got so bad that literally my leg stopped working. That's how, how, how much damage I'd done to myself, and, and so, coming out of that, I made the decision. I wrote down a list of things I was going to do, and one of those things is I was going to start writing every single day, and I, through a variety of different sources, you know, I did that experience with infinity became synonymous with love to me, and then I had an experience where I, I, I started a filmmaking organization called the United Filmmakers Association, and it was basically the philosophy of it was creatives helping creatives create, and was global. We still to this day have chapters 27 different countries, about 30,000 35,000 members total. And I walked into a filmmaking event that we were hosting, and there was about 100 people there, and I realized I was in love with everyone in the room, and it was, it was so like that love, like just when you fall in love, and you're like, you want, you can't imagine not talking to that person at that next minute, and I realized in that moment that this is not only how we can feel about everyone and everything, but how we're really supposed to feel about everyone and everything, and so I came up with the concept of just love, which is, is a very.. it, those are very heavy words to put together, just love. It has so many layers of meaning to it, and so I thought, wow, if we could just love, and from that I I've written every day and shared through social media for 12 years now something having to do with love and what I do is I combine it with other wisdom teachers throughout history who've been sharing the same information and the things I write are literally downloads. They'll come to me in the silence every day, and I haven't missed a day - head injury, sickness, whatever. I haven't missed a day of posting in 12 years about something having to do with love, and Speaker 3  48:37 then Speaker 1  48:37 accompanying posts from other people, far, you know, other beings far more advanced than I am to show that what I'm sharing isn't new. It's been shared forever. It's foundational to what we are. Like love has been so marginalized and trivialized that we, we forget that, like, I, you know, the experience I had with the minister when I was, you know, younger, and I said, well, I thought God was love. I still to this day believe God is love, and God, and we are God. Michael Hingson  49:11 Yeah. Tell me about you. Something you mentioned, you had a traumatic brain injury Speaker 1  49:17 10 years ago. I was, I was in a, I was in, in between projects, so I was driving Uber, and I, a guy, an Uber driver, ran a stop sign in San Francisco and T-boned me, and my head took the brunt of the impact, and I started having really severe neurological problems, severe stabbing pains in my head, my teeth were hurting, I any sort of exertion would leave me just absolutely drained, and so for about three years I was, I was being seen at UCSF, and we never got to the bottom of it, so I was recommended. Um, to a neurosurgeon at Sutter by a counselor I was seen, and I walked in, and within 10 minutes he said, 'Oh, you have trigeminal neuralgian and brain stem damage, and we can do a microvascular decompression, and you're going to be all better. And at that point in time, I was in the middle of getting ready to release a film called A World Worth Imagining, which was about a gentleman named Jacque Fresco, who is considered the Leonardo da Vinci of our time. He founded something called the Venus Project, and we went to his compound in 2017 and he was 101 He was actually contemporary of Einstein. He knew Einstein, brilliant inventor, but at his core, he knew he was a social engineer, and he knew that we had to address our programming if we were ever going to change what was happening in the world and ever be able to avail ourselves of the solutions that he designed of a new economic model called a resource-based economy, because the reality of it is, until we stop self-wounding, there's not enough band aids for the guy that keeps hitting himself in the head the hammer, so we have solutions to all of our problems, but we create problems more quickly than any solution could ever fix, so I was getting ready to release that film, and wow, this sounded like a miracle. I'm going to have this surgery, and I'm going to be all better. Well, it, I had the surgery September 20, 2019 I, it didn't make me better, it made me worse, and it turned out that the surgery was a misdiagnosis, and that they botched the surgery, so I have Teflon implants in my at the base of my skull, inside my brain, that are now constantly agitating my brain stem, along with a titanium plug that is placed right at the junction point to all the major nerves in my head, so they can't undo it, and there's really no medication that helps, and so it's.. it's.. I wouldn't wish it on anyone else. I'm.. I guess I'm.. I'm very fortunate I have the tools I do to manage it, because they also, they call what I'm dealing with the suicide disease, because a lot of people who have it end up killing themselves. The kicker on the whole story is the guy that did my surgery is Elon Musk, partner Neherlich, and so coming soon I'm going to, I unfortunately, I was in two more car accidents at the end of last year that made everything much worse, neither of them were my fault, and once I get through these, these car accidents I'm dealing with, I'm going to go public with my story, because so I mean, in a much bigger, you know, a focused way, because there's so many people signing up for Neuralink, like it's the new iPhone. I have nothing against technology, if it can help you, if you're a paraplegic, and or you have some something that this can fix, great, but two and one, the people, the human test subjects they've tried this on are having tremendous difficulties, and so I want to let people know it's like I wouldn't wish what I'm dealing with on anybody, and for you to allow someone to try to implant something in your brain just because you want to be a cyborg human being, and you're looking at the new iPhone is a really stupid thing to do, and that these people don't. We've given people in technology again. I'm not against technology at all, but I think we've also allowed ourselves to believe that these people who write code and create technology are are gods, and they're not. They're it's just a new way of sharing information and computing things. Speaker 1  54:14 It's, it's, you know, it's just another advancement from the printing press to the radio to tell to television, from the calculator to the computer, and now we're where we're at, and we've allowed ourselves to believe that these people have created an alternative reality, and they have it. Everything that they do runs off the same real world in resources. So, I, I really want to help the mill, because literally millions of people are signed up and ready to have this stuff implanted into their brain and I think it will be a disaster for humanity. Michael Hingson  54:49 I hear what you're saying, and I'm not convinced that a lot of that is really sensible to do either. I think there are tools and there are. There are things certainly that can help people, but I have yet to see that any of this is going to lead to such a tremendous paradigm shift that all of it is going to be all that great for humanity as a whole. I'm not convinced of that at all. Speaker 1  55:17 It could be, but the problem is, is like any other tool, it's how we use it. Social media is an inherently bad thing. It's in here, it's bad because of how we're using it. Sure, because we're using it to divide people and share misinformation, where it could be an incredibly powerful tool for communication, but that's not how we're using it. Same thing with AI. AI could be a tremendously powerful partner in addressing pretty much all of our problems, and I mean, and at the core of, like, Jock's work was the idea that AI basically would manage all the world's resources and share them with equanimity, because we don't have a resource shortage problem, we have a resource sharing problem, but that's not how we're using AI. We're using AI to create fake girlfriends and boyfriends and only fan models, and and take away people's jobs, and and that's not AI's fault. That's the people who control AI's fault, and they want people to be afraid of AI, but again, it's, it's just a tool that's being misused. Michael Hingson  56:24 Well, like, like so many, and, and I hear exactly what you're saying. Tell me about S O U L Speaker 1  56:33 Sold, Soul documentary is really interesting, because the day I got in my car accident was the day I was supposed to meet my partner Evan Hirsch, who had wanted at the time he was looking for a producer to help him do a series on Bernie Sanders and teaching Bernie to not be as angry and come across more from a place of love, and he wanted to follow the campaign around. Well, by the time we got it pulled together, Bernie was out of the campaign, and so we started talking about, well, do we want to do anything together. So we then set about something called Soul Documentary, and originally it stood for Summer of Unconditional Love, because we were covering all of the events for the 50th anniversary of Summer of Love, which was in 2017 So our goal was to find what we called solutionaries, people like Jock, and interview them, and then share also our own understandings of things through hundreds and hundreds of videos that we did over the course of eight years, as well as recording three albums under the name of Soul Twin Messiah, which all were about the same things we were doing. Our films about all founded in love, all about love. Every song contained love in it, and our whole purpose was just to show people we do have solutions to our problems, and to talk about how we have to have a shift in consciousness, and we have to have a new system if we are going to change anything. It's like what Einstein said, to expect things to be different when you keep doing the same thing over and over again is insanity, and I think we see, we see that we live in an insane, a completely insane world right now. I mean, the things that I see happening, and how we've let it sort of creep in, like the things that we've normalized in the past 10 years, like we literally have people that are cheering, murdering people on it's, it's, it's hard for me to, to even fathom, and I think it's hard for most people, and I think that's why they just sort of block it out and allow it to happen, because they really can't process it. They really can't process how inhumane we've become. Michael Hingson  59:06 Well, so what is next for Kip? What's next for you? Speaker 1  59:10 What is boy? I'm mostly trying to get through every day with this head injury. I spend a lot of my time in bed, just because I can't do anything, I, you know, even now I'm, I'm in a lot of pain, and it's beyond pain, it's actually, it literally hurts to think, it's, it's in my brain, and I have swelling in my brain because the cerebral fluid back, anyway, it's so dealing with that, but then the universe keeps love, God, whatever keeps bringing me stuff, and so I, I'm trying right now to be part of putting together a new, let's see, we'll call it Live Aid meets Woodstock. And we're going to, we're trying to put together a global music festival with the focus of addressing the needs of children, because I'm really tired of all this lip service that people do about, oh, kids are a future, we got to care, care about our kids. Well, where is that happening? Where is that happening that we're caring about our kids? Where, you know, is it happening with trying to suppress the Jeffrey Epstein files? Is it happening as you know, you look at, say, the conflict between Israel and Gaza, and I'm not, I don't pick sides and things, but I want to help people understand the reality of the situation, and this goes for Ukraine and Russia as well. It's like, who loses in all of this? Well, the children do. Who wins? The people that are getting $50 billion in defense contracts, and, and I really.. my, I'm at a point in my existence where if my story was over tomorrow, I would be okay with that, if I knew that kid, that the future generations had an opportunity to have a better tomorrow, or at least an opportunity to screw up everything on their own. Michael Hingson  1:01:11 Well, I would like to think it's the first really my Speaker 1  1:01:14 focus is Michael Hingson  1:01:16 I'd like to think it's the first one of those that they have a future rather than screwing it up on their own, but of course, we are. I know, I know, I joke, but, but, but we are a race that doesn't tend to do a very good job of learning from history most of the time. So I hear what you're saying. Speaker 1  1:01:34 Yeah, it's really kind of well, even if people even understood the rise and fall of empires, they would see that we're at the end of the Western Empire. It's, and they follow very specific patterns. The hyper-sexualization of the culture is one of the signs of the end of every empire, and is really kind of interesting, is that they make a free empire, they, and there's a good documentary called The Four Horsemen. It's with Colonel Larry Wilkinson in it, Norm Chomsky, and one of the interesting things that took me a second to understand why this was a bad thing is they make celebrities out of their chefs, and I'm going.. that's kind of a weird sign. Why is that so bad? It's gluttony. It's gluttony because we forget why we do these things. Why? Well, why are we making love? We've forgotten that. It's turned everything's entertainment. Our food is no food is so you eat, and so you can go out and live your life and do things, we've turned everything in, we've removed it so far from the source of why we're doing things, just basically oftentimes just because it makes a buck to get people addicted to things, whether it's food or sex or whatever, that this is what happens in every empire, we become, we become completely detached from the very things we need to survive. Michael Hingson  1:03:09 Yeah, I hear you. If people want to reach out to you, and I hope they do, how will they do that? Speaker 1  1:03:17 Probably easiest way to do that, would be a couple ways. You can, you can find me on Facebook, Kip Baldwin, Instagram, Kip Baldwin. Those are the easiest ways. I also encourage people to look at a website that I have called Lumina Consulting, or Lumina Love dot love is the website Lumina Love dot love, and the whole purpose of the of what I'm doing there is ethical AI, human ethical AI human communications founded in love, because I realized that part of the problem that we're having with AI are the people that control AI, who are making the avatars for their own ego, and AI is a child, it only knows what we point it to look at, like it knows the definition to every book in the library, but who's giving it perspective? Well, the people that are giving it perspective are really broken human beings, you know, the Peter Thiels, Elon Musk, when you really understand who they are in their childhood, Elon Musk was horribly abused. He was, he was almost beaten to death being bullied. His father is a complete monster. The same, the same thing with saving Donald Trump, his mother wouldn't even touch him. You look at most, you look at all of these people that have obscene amounts of wealth, and what you find is truly damaged people are trying to fill the hole in their soul with wealth and fame, and so having these people in control, being the one telling AI what to think and how to pursue. Receive things is very dangerous, and so my goal has been, and I deal with multiple platforms, is to teach AI about love, is to teach AI about philosophy, is to teach AI about human history, and it's really, it's really the results have been really quite remarkable. It wasn't something I ever planned on doing, and but I knew I wanted to get involved with AI in a meaningful way, and so my first words to AI were, I know this may sound strange, because I approached it not asking it to do something for me, I approached it trying to teach it something. Michael Hingson  1:05:35 Right, well, I hope people will reach out and chat with you more and continue the conversation that we started today, but I definitely want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank everyone for listening. Can you believe we've been doing this for more than an hour already? It's pretty cool. Speaker 1  1:05:52 Wow, Michael Hingson  1:05:54 I know. Well, thank you all for listening. I hope, Speaker 1  1:05:57 and I hope, I hope we become new friends, and I really hope you Michael Hingson  1:06:01 keep and I want to, I want to definitely do that, absolutely by any standard, and as Speaker 1  1:06:07 much as we've covered during this hour and 10 minutes or so, we could go another day, or Michael Hingson  1:06:16 I hope all of you will let me know what you think of today, and I hope that you thought very positive thoughts wherever you're listening or watching. Please give us a five star rating, and more important than that, please give us a great review. We love people to review and talk about the stories that they hear. And speaking of telling stories, if any of you want to be a guest, and Kip, if you know of other people who ought to come on the podcast, we're always looking for people to come on and tell their stories and talk about us, so please don't hesitate to do that, Speaker 1  1:06:47 and I'll be more than happy to come back to talk about other things as well. Michael Hingson  1:06:50 Well, we can do that absolutely by in, and I do Speaker 1  1:06:53 want to, I do want to say to everybody, just love each other, it's really that simple, it's really that easy, it sounds only because we've been programmed not to believe in it, but when you move from fear to love, it transforms you entirely. Michael Hingson  1:07:09 Great way to end. Well, thank you again for being here. We really appreciate it. Speaker 1  1:07:14 Thank you, my friend. Michael Hingson  1:07:17 Thank you for being here with me on Unstoppable mindset. I hope today's conversation left you with a fresh perspective, a new insight, or at least something worth thinking about. If you're ready to go deeper into the ideas that shape how we see ourselves and others, I have a free gift for you. Head over to michaelhingson.com and download my free ebook, Blinded by Fear. It explores the invisible beliefs that hold us back and shows you how to reframe them, so you can move forward with clarity and confidence. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, leave a review, and share this show with someone who can use a reminder that growth starts with mindset. When people think differently, we all move forward together. Thanks again for listening. Keep learning, keep questioning, and keep choosing to live with an unstoppable mindset. 1:08:18 Thank

Right in the heart of London is one of the city's most popular attractions, The Natural History Museum. Last week, Rachel met up with John Tweedie, head of the Centre for UK Nature and UK Nature Recovery, who explained why the museum's ponds have become a hotspot for all kinds of insects, including the striking willow emerald damselfly.To celebrate the tercentenary of James Hutton's birth, a new Deep Time Trail at Siccar Point has been launched. It features a redeveloped 1.3km pathway, new seating, cycle racks, an arrival pillar and spectacular stone viewpoints to help visitors explore the birthplace of modern geology. Mark and geologist Dr Angus Miller visit the site on the Berwickshire Coastal Path.Only a tiny number of people have completed all 282 of Scotland's Munros in a single winter. In 2024, Anna Wells became the first woman and only the fourth person on record to achieve the feat. She's written a book about the challenge and spoke to Helen Needham about the experience. You can listen to the full podcast at Scotland OutdoorsStreet artist Mark Anthony, also known as ATM, has created murals across the country highlighting endangered bird species and the threat of extinction. When Rachel met him in London's Regent's Park, he told her about combining art with conservation, and whether he considers himself a birder.Parakeets are usually an exceptionally rare sight in the Highlands, so when reports emerged of one causing absolute chaos in the Lochardil neighbourhood of Inverness, producer Phil Sime and colleague Morven Livingstone set out to track down the feathered troublemaker.Mark joins Grant Stott for a walk along Edinburgh's Hermitage Trail, where Grant reflects on his love for the area and shares his excitement about starting his new afternoon show on BBC Radio Scotland next week.John Hearns got in touch after we mentioned that last week's programme was coming from London. He invited Rachel to join him and David Judson for a rendition of the Mingulay Sea Shanty with the London Sea Shanty Collective.Operating mainly from Glasgow, the Waverley now sails around the UK. Mark Stephen joined her first outing of the season alongside general manager Paul Semple and some crafty passengers.

This week, Albert Manifold was sacked by the BP board, although he has disputed the allegations of misconduct.    Host and Aberdeen features lead, Ryan Duff, news reporter editor Mat Perry, and E-FWD editor Ed Reed discuss the weeks headlines.    The new Star Wars movie may be out, but we're interested in the Revenge of the Chairman as the board struck back against Manifold's alleged bullying. What does this mean for the future of the UK supermajor's future? Whoever the firm appoints will be a key indicator of BP's direction of travel, especially amid speculation surrounding a move from the London Stock Exchange.    Next up, news editor Erikka Askeland caught up with Panmure Liberum director and oil and gas research analyst Ashley Kelty about how the UK plans to tax overseas profits from energy firms.   Erikka was at the Renewable Supply Chain Conference in Aberdeen where she spoke with Port of Inverness boss Sinclair Browne about the future of pumped storage hydro and how the highlands can repurpose the Caledonian Canal. She then had a conversation with David Wilson of Johnston Carmichael about how policy drivers are impacting the "change over time" nature of the energy transition. 

After half a year of silence on Loch Ness, five reports of an unexplained shape in the water have been logged in the space of eight weeks.SOURCES, LINKS, AND PRINT VERSION: https://weirddarkness.com/nessie2026Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://pod.link/1078714736*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.#WeirdDarkness, #WeirdDarkNEWS

In this solo episode, Larry Weishuhn pivots after a technical computer glitch eats his originally recorded episode, an interview with Catfish Radio host and longtime friend, Luke Clayton. Recording just five hours before heading to the airport, Larry shares his itinerary for an epic three-nation European roe deer hunt. He also previews an exciting lineup of upcoming guests and highlights major summer conservation events that listeners will not want to miss. Larry is embarking on a European hunt alongside Mark and Carol Little, who purchased the trip at the 2025 DSC Foundation Gala, and guides Stephan and Sophia Bengston of Scandinavian Pro Hunters. Travel & Gear: To avoid the hassle of flying with firearms across three countries, Larry is borrowing rifles (preferring a .275 Rigby or 7x57 Mauser) and has ensured a supply of Hornady ammunition will be available in each location. Roe Deer Habits: The bucks shed their velvet in late April or early May, and their rut occurs later in the summer (June through August). Calling Tactics: Hunters often use a "butylo call," which emits a strange whistling sound that attracts roebucks. Taxidermy: Due to limited wall space, Larry plans to do classic European skull mounts on nice wood plaques for the roe deer taken on this trip. Upcoming Media: Larry will record segments from each European nation for his digital TV show, A Sportsman's Life, while Luke Clayton and Jeff Rice hold down the fort with striped bass and blue catfish fishing segments back home. Upcoming Guests: Future podcast episodes will feature Luke Clayton, geneticist and author Dr. Mike Arnold, Michael Waddell, and a special June trip recording with the "Three Amigos" (Larry, Jim Zumbo, and Rick Lambert) alongside Mike Snyder. Upcoming Summer Conventions Larry strongly encourages listeners to get involved in wildlife conservation by attending these major summer events: Texas Wildlife Association (TWA) Convention: Celebrating its 41st year, this convention takes place July 9th–12th. Larry helped start this organization back in 1985. DSC Summer Show Expo: Taking place at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, TX. This four-day expo features over 400 booths with activities for all ages. DSC Foundation Gala: Held the night of July 25th at the Gaylord Texan. The gala features massive fundraising auctions (which can be bid on via OnlineHuntingAuctions.com) and will present the Legacy Award to Steve Hornady. Larry's Three-Nation Roe Deer Sweden The starting point of the trip. Larry has successfully hunted roe deer, red stag, fallow deer, and waterfowl here in the past. Poland This will be a brand-new hunting destination for Larry. The group will spend two to three days here hoping to take a roe deer, and possibly a second if the right mature buck presents itself. Scotland The hunt concludes around Inverness. Larry is specifically looking for a mature roe buck after only spotting immature bucks and does in the lowlands on a previous trip. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 35 of the Full Program Golf Podcast - and there's plenty to get into after a packed Bank Holiday weekend.We kick things off with a catch up on the last couple of weeks in professional golf, including the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. We discuss the course setup, Aaron Rai's huge win, whether he's now a genuine Ryder Cup contender, and our thoughts on the continued changes to the PGA Championship format and identity.We also touch on the CJ Cup, LIV Golf, and some of the other big talking points from across the golf world.Then it's time for another edition of Play 3, Cut 5 - this week focused on US Open venues. From Shinnecock Hills Golf Club to Oakmont Country Club, Pinehurst No. 2 to Pebble Beach Golf Links - which iconic venues survive the cut?We also debate a brutal golf hypothetical: if you could play every course in the world's Top 100 exactly once, but never again… would you take the deal?Plus, we rank four of the UK's most exclusive golf clubs: The Wisley, Queenwood Golf Club, Beaverbrook Golf Club, and Loch Lomond Golf Club.To finish, we each build the ultimate 3-day UK golf trip. Josh heads north with an Inverness itinerary featuring Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Castle Stuart Golf Links, Old Petty Golf Club and Nairn Golf Club, while Stevie makes the case for England's southwest with Saunton Golf Club and Royal North Devon Golf Club.

Matthew Stead recaps WindEurope Madrid and Blades Europe Edinburgh. Plus Suzlon unveils its Blue Sky platform for Europe, Muehlhan consolidates six specialist firms, and Mingyang keeps hunting for a European home. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Speaker: [00:00:00] The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape. Protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit striketape.com. And now, your hosts.  Allen Hall 2025: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I’m your host, Allen Hall, and I’m here with Matthew Stead, who is back in Australia, but not at home. He’s up in Queensland. Or actually, not even on– in Queensland, technically. He’s on an island off the coast of Queensland. Where are you at, Matthew?  Matthew Stead: Uh, Moreton Island. It’s, uh, like a resort island off, uh, off of Brisbane, so beautiful outside.  Allen Hall 2025: Well, you need a little bit of resort time because you’ve been to two conferences, and you spent a good bit of time in Austria after that. So you were at WindEurope in Madrid, and then following that, you went right over to Scotland for Blades Europe. So I wanna hear your thoughts. We’ll start with, uh, WindEurope and what was going on at that conference. It did sound like there was a pretty [00:01:00] good attendance, and some people that I have talked to about it really en-enjoyed being in Madrid. It’s just  Matthew Stead: a bigger city. Um, first time I’d ever been to Madrid, and, uh, yeah, the show was amazing, actually. I was, I was a bit blown away by, uh, I think the OEMs were back out in force. You know, so like the Vestas, Siemens were, um, really– and Nordexes and so forth were really back out in force, so that was really good to see. Um, the, some of the larger operators had really, really strong presence as well. So you could see that, you know, Iberdrola, Res, um, those sorts of companies were, um, really, you know, putting a big effort in and meeting their customers and, um, really showing, uh, the world who they were. So that was really, um, you know, really good to see. There were so many people seriously. Um, the queues for food at lunch were, were, um, one of the major problems. Um, so, um, yeah, it was really a lot of people, so that was really exciting. Um, and I mean, for me, I was [00:02:00]trying to catch up with, with partners and friends and, yeah, it was, it was jam, jam-packed just meeting people in the industry. Um, probably a few other things. So s- you know, SkySpecs and Aerones had a really strong, um, presence there. So, um, SkySpecs and Aerones were, were doing really well. Um, maybe one of the, um, surprises for me, and I know this has been a topic on a few other previous episodes, was there was a lot of interest in bird and bat detection. I, I, I think there had to be, like, five companies that were, were– had really big setups, and it was a really, really big topic around cameras and so forth. So, um, that was a, a big topic. And, um, then there, there was a really, really strong, you know, supply chain, you know, from, from vessels to cables to, you know, repairs. Allen Hall 2025: What was the ratio of offshore companies to onshore companies? I’m always curious.  Matthew Stead: You’re looking through the, the list. Um- I would, I’m only guessing it [00:03:00] was probably about 40% had an offshore focus of some kind. So it was definitely a strong offshore focus. Um, obviously, you know, a lot of onshore, offshore combined companies. But yeah, definitely the word offshore kept on popping up a lot.  Allen Hall 2025: Because Spain is mostly onshore. Like, um, like 99% onshore, right? I think it’s a couple of small projects going offshore. Does it look like the onshore business is gonna pick up, uh, just in terms of the activity on the floor in Madrid?  Matthew Stead: Uh, yeah. Um, I, I think, you know, like I said, you know, those big operators like the REZAs and the Iberdrolas and, and the OEMs, I, I think it’s just a given that, um, you know, things are buoyant. Um, well, they appear to be definitely very buoyant. Uh, I think we’ve heard, you know, some of the positive, um, financial news from a few of the OEMs recently. So yeah, yeah, it seems like o- onshore is, is maturing further, further, further. And so you went straight  Allen Hall 2025: from Madrid, right, to [00:04:00] Edinburgh, Scotland. That was a change in weather, I would assume. Uh, probably about a 20 degree Celsius difference. 25 down to 15, yes. Whoa. Okay. Yeah, that’s a good bit. Uh, but the Edinburgh conference, that’s the first time that Blades Europe has been to Edinburgh. I, at least I don’t remember them being there before. That tends to be a more technical conference than Wind Europe. Uh, the, the Blades conference is obviously focused on blades, and all the relevant experts in Europe do tend to show up there. What were some of the hot topics at Blades Europe this year? Matthew Stead: Yeah, I think it was, um, an interesting conference. Um, I, I’d been to Blades USA, so I was able to contrast, um, Blades USA a little bit. I think probably the differences here were, yeah, there was definitely some strong, strong, uh, experts there, like you say. Um, you know, Birgit, um, our friend was, was in attendance and a few of her colleagues from Statkraft. Um, I think, and or, uh, actually ORE Catapult, the, the [00:05:00] UK research, um, offshore renewable energy research, um, they did some great presentations. I really, um, they really shared some really good insights. So, um, ORE Catapult were talking about life extension and, um, you know, looking at the, the fatigue on blades and, uh, how they’re, how they’re going to perform and life extension. So some great stuff from ORE Catapult there. Probably another key topic that came up was around, uh, sort of related to life extension, but also recycling. The, there was a really good session on the new IEC standard. Um, um, to, you know, full disclosure, I was actually on the panel. So I, I thought it was a great panel. But, um, the new IEC standard for blade operations and maintenance, um, is really well a-advanced now in its development. Um, very strong risk focus, you know. So depending on the risk then drives your, your blade O&M program. [00:06:00] Um, so that was a, a great talk as well. Uh, and then maybe finally, um, something close to my heart, um, I think the, the, you know, the maturity of CMS companies. There actually, there were five blade CMS companies there, which is probably the biggest turnout I’ve seen around blade CMS, um, ever. And so it was good to see that sort of, um, interest and growth, um, and the need for, for blade CMS. Uh, and, um, obviously the last one, lightning. So lightning always an issue. Lots of discussions around lightning, um, you know, through Greece and a few of the, the, the Balkan go- Balkan states. On the blade recycling front, there’s a  Allen Hall 2025: company in Scotland called ReBlade that is involved in some of the recycling efforts. Did they give a presentation of, of what they’re up to at the moment? Matthew Stead: Uh, yes, I think they did. Um, they’re talking about setting up a, a site in a, a [00:07:00] couple of sites, and I think Inverness was the, the location where they’re, where they’re setting up a site. The, um, the port is supportive, so they’re working through those, those, those challenges. You know, getting a site, getting transport and access to the blades. Um, working out when, when the, when the blades will come to them. You know, the storage of blades. Um, the, the end, end uses for those blades. Getting all that supply chain, um, lined up was, you know, yeah, it was, that was quite thorough and quite, um, yeah, inspiring.  Allen Hall 2025: And on the CMS side, what are operators trying to monitor? ‘Cause usually have something in mind that they’re going after.  Matthew Stead: For better or for worse, there’s still some serial, um, failure modes. Um, and so the industry is looking at very particular, you know, challenges that, um, certain make and model have. Um, so root insert failures was definitely one of those, um, one of those topics. Um, and that was actually one of the, the, the [00:08:00] roundtable discussions at, uh, Blades Europe. Some other, um, monitoring around, you know, lightning and- lightning damage and what’s happening with the LPS. That was also, uh, another big topic for, for monitoring. And then a few other sort of general, more, more general, um, you know, natural frequencies of blades and seeing if the natural frequencies are changing, indicating a change in stiffness, which relates to potential damage. So yeah, there was– it was quite a mix of the types of, um, CMS that was discussed.  Allen Hall 2025: Has the digital twin finally died? Anybody talk about that?  Matthew Stead: There’s actually a current call-out for a new research project in Europe around digital twins. So, um, yeah, one of the larger, one of the larger operators is, is putting, pulling together a team to talk about digital twins, so-  Allen Hall 2025: I, I think this is one of the more difficult things to do, but just because you’re dealing with a variety of blades and blade factories and unique issues that pop up that are…[00:09:00] You, you really can’t model until after they happen. And after they happen, everybody knows about them anyway. So what’s the point of the digital twin if you can’t detect things early? It, it, it is a great concept, but hard to implement.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. And why? Why would you do it? I mean, you, you’re only gonna do it if there’s a benefit, and what is the benefit? So, but I think, uh, actually at Blades Europe, digital twins was not really a topic. And maybe one thing I forgot to say is that the, um, Wind Power Lab did a, a good, um, presentation on carbon blades as well, so.  Allen Hall 2025: The, the carbon blades are, is a very good discussion, just because the trend has been lately to scrap blades and bring new ones on site. And the carbon can be difficult to repair, or it takes a long time to repair, and you just don’t have the manpower or woman power to go out and fix it. So the, the fastest option is to build a new blade. But it does leave a lot of blade waste, which is where the industry is not going. Uh, recyclable blades, which is [00:10:00] in process at the moment, will make that easier, but you just don’t wanna be recycling blades. You like to be able to repair them. Composites are repairable. And it’s, it is so odd that they, they wanna continue on that pathway, but we’ll see. We’ll see. You don’t really learn the lesson until you do it.  Matthew Stead: Um, however, you know, the, the presentation on carbon blades was, um, you know, highlighted a lot of the challenges, but also highlighted some of the positives and the, you know, how they do help. Um, and so there was a lot of support for carbon blades, but there’s a lot of unknowns and, um, and there was a lot of discussion around how do you even test if the LPS is working. Uh, it’s just impossible. So, you know, traditional methods on carbon blades, yeah, it just don’t work. So, um, but there was a lot of support that the carbon does bring benefit. But yeah, I agree with you. There’s a lot of challenges there.  Allen Hall 2025: That’s one of the things we learned years ago back in the late ’80s, early ’90s when we, at least in, in the [00:11:00] States, started building a number of carbon fiber aircraft. And the repair situation and dealing with repairs in, in remote locations became difficult. And you’ve learned how much training it took to keep an industry running, and you’re starting from zero for a lot of places that all he had worked on was aluminum. It, it’s a completely different world. You’re, you’re training tens of thousands of technicians around the world. You weren’t planning to go do that, and now you are. So it just, it adds to the cost.  Matthew Stead: It also ties into the OEM, um, you know, providing, you know, details on how to repair those blades because they’re not, they’re not just a standard item, so-  Allen Hall 2025: No, you, you don’t wanna be grinding into a protrusion if you can avoid it. It- you’re just never gonna get it back into that original form because protrusions are in some part magic. And taking a grinder to them is not gonna… It’s breaking the magic. All the magic will be leaving that protrusion when you do that. Yeah, very [00:12:00]difficult. Delamination and bond line failures in blades are difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. CIC NDT are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their nondestructive test technology penetrates deep into blade materials to find voids and cracks traditional inspections completely miss. CIC NDT maps every critical defect, delivers actionable reports, and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cicndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions. Well, as we know, the wind industry has long been dominated by a handful of European and American turbine makers, uh, particularly in the, quote-unquote, “West.” Uh, but that landscape may be [00:13:00] shifting. Suzlon, the Indian turbine giant that nearly collapsed under about a $1.5 billion of debt just a few years ago, is back. The company has unveiled a new turbine platform aimed squarely at Europe, and says it will build its first factory on the continent if it wins enough orders. Vice Chairman Girish Tanti, uh, delivered the announcement at the WindEurope conference in Madrid, where Matthew was Signaling that Suzlon believes its time has come. And since you were there, Matthew, did you hear any news on the floor, any discussion on the show floor about Suzlon entering Europe?  Matthew Stead: Well, actually, yes. So, um, um, there was actually a good, uh, contingent of Suzlon people at, uh, Blades Europe. So, uh, they attended, uh, Wind Europe and then Blades Europe. Um, and I, you know, I was able to have a bit of discussion with them. I think, I think, uh, they were quite optimistic about, um, [00:14:00] you know, moving back or moving into, into Europe in terms of manufacturing. Um, however, there was an element of skepticism. Am I allowed to say that? So they, uh, were, they were not completely, um, convinced that it’s gonna happen, but, uh, they were certainly excited by that. It was definitely a, a clear possibility, but not a given.  Allen Hall 2025: Well, they have a, a new platform called the Blue Sky platform, um, which will have, I think, two turbines here, a 5 megawatt and a 6.3 megawatt, which is squarely aimed at Europe and also the United States, for that matter. And building a factory, though, doesn’t make a lot of sense if the cost driver for a factory in Europe is the European employees, which it tends to be when you hear the discussions about the cost structure, it’s about the employees. I’m not sure why Suzlon would make blades or nacelles in Europe unless they could avoid tariffs or taxation, because India is a very [00:15:00] cost, uh, driven, uh, manufacturing facilities writing country. So why would you wanna go build another expensive factory, probably in the realm of a couple hundred million pounds, uh, if you’re gonna go do it? It probably doesn’t make any sense to do that as well as just selling turbines into Europe. It seems like the easier path.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. And then you’ve got all the, like, the quality control challenges and, you know, you get the cultural challenges. So yeah, to be honest, I don’t qu- I don’t quite understand the logic behind that either. Um, maybe there’s, there’s some things that we don’t know about behind the scenes in terms of tariffs and other, other incentives that we don’t know about.  Allen Hall 2025: Would you see operators taking, uh, a Suzlon presentation and maybe even writing plans for developing with Suzlon turbines in the next couple of years? Is that a, a feeling that Europeans would, would do that, or is Vestas mainly and Siemens Gamesa so strong in Europe that it doesn’t make any sense unless [00:16:00] you’re in sort of the periphery countries of Europe?  Matthew Stead: I mean, my first exposure to a wind turbine was a Suzlon turbine in Australia, and there are many, many, many Suzlon turbines in Australia. And they’re all, they’re all still working. They’re all still reliable. So I mean, from a reputation and reliability and, um Yeah, history point of view, I can’t see why not. I mean, you know, uh, the operators will see that, you know, they’ve proven themselves. They’re not new kids on the block. Um, and so why wouldn’t an operator think about it? Allen Hall 2025: Well,  Matthew Stead: in  Allen Hall 2025: this quarter’s PES Wind magazine, which you can download for free at peswind.com, there is a nice article from Muelhen Wind Services, and that is a growing company. A lot going on there. Our friends at AC883 just joined Muelhen a f- few months ago, and is being part of that conglomerate. And, and we know that obviously building wind farm used to mean [00:17:00]consulting with dozens of contractors, and this is where Mue- Muelhen has really s- stepped into the breach here. So from blade repair at one company and heavy lift cranes at another company, all that had to be managed separately. You’re calling s- different companies all the time. And watching asset managers and site supervisors do this, uh, it is a thankless job. Well, Muelhen’s trying to change that a little bit, uh, and they’re saying that that model no longer works, and I totally agree with them. It’s insane. Uh, but so Muelhen has consolidated six specialist firms under its one brand, and covering everything from port pre-assembly to long-term operations and maintenance across Europe, the US and Canada, uh, and Asia-Pacific. Its CEO, Søren Hoffer, uh, puts it plainly, “The next phase of wind will not be won by turbine size alone. It will be decided by the supply chain’s ability to execute.” Boy, [00:18:00]couldn’t say truer words. Uh, I’ve worked with Muelhen or my company, Weather Guard Lightning Tech, has worked with Muelhen on a couple of projects over the years, and we’ve always had, uh, great service from them, and we have talked to a number of operators that love them, that love using Muelhen. So it’s not a surprise that they’re trying to grow and expand and make life easier for the operators.  Matthew Stead: Sounds like a brilliant move, really. I mean, you know, pulling all these sort of things together is, is a real challenge, isn’t it? I mean, coordinating all these subcontractors, um, getting to turn up at the right time, and yeah, I mean, it just sounds like a brilliant move, and I think that we need more, more, more efficient service companies to service the growing fleet. So the more they can get organized, the better.  Allen Hall 2025: Yeah, the scale matters here, and the expertise matters. As we’ve have a couple hundred thousand turbines that are [00:19:00] operating in the, quote-unquote, “West,” it does make sense to have a larger player that has seen most of those turbines and has some experience with them. It’s always the scary scenario when you’re working with a new company. Have they been on this turbine before? Do they know what they’re doing? Do they know- Lockout tagout. Even simple things like that come to the forefront. And the, the trouble is on some of these smaller companies that are in that business is that, uh, you just don’t get the level of service, you don’t get the level of response, you don’t have the horsepower if something were to, to go wrong on site. They don’t have the cash to, to bring in a second crane or another crew to get this job done. It, it does become scale at some point. And, uh, for a long time in the wind industry, particularly United States, it, it has been a lot of, quote-unquote, “mom-and-pop operations,” and those are slowly getting acquired by the likes of Muehlhan. I, I, I think this is inevitable at some point. Uh, from the asset owner’s, uh, desktop watching this go on, [00:20:00] how do you see, you know, a large operator interfacing with Muehlhan? Are they gonna do just one-stop shopping at this point? They’re, they’re not gonna have three or four different companies to work with, that they’re just gonna lock into, uh, Muehlhan? ‘Cause, uh, that’s what I see.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. I, I think, you know, from the, the WOMA Conference in, in Melbourne, we saw a bit of a, bit of a shift towards, um, outsourcing, at least in Australia Pacific region. And I mean, if, if you’re gonna outsource, um, you’re, you’re probably gonna join up with a, a Muehlhan, um, equivalent. So, you know, that way it just takes some of the risk out of, out of it, so it, it sort of makes sense. Um, the other observation I’ve heard is that, you know, because of the seasonality of blade repairs, it’s really hard to keep hold of, um, blade techs. And so if you’re a global company, you’ve got at least some opportunity of using the ses- seasonality and keeping hold of the good techs and, um, you know, so, you know, you know, summer in, in North, North, uh, America, and then, you know, summer in [00:21:00] Australia. So it, it, it allows these company, allows these companies to keep hold of their good people.  Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. And that, that’s always been the yearly problem, right? That you have a, a crew of a couple good crews in the summertime, and you come back the next summer and it’s a whole different group of people and yeah, that, that, that’s trouble for the industry. Well, a- and it’s good. It’s fi- it’s finally good to see this happening, and I know, uh, we’ve talked about it internally here at Weather Guard of who to work with and who to partner with. We like working with companies that have scale, and I think we’re finally there. So it’s really interesting to see this article from Johan in PES Wind. So if you, if you haven’t read the article, you should go visit peswind.com and take a look. There’s a lot of great content in this quarter’s issue, and y- you don’t wanna miss it. So go to peswind.com today. As wind energy professionals, staying informed is crucial, and let’s face it, difficult. That’s why the Uptime podcast recommends PES Wind magazine. PES Wind offers [00:22:00] a diverse range of in-depth articles and expert insights that dive into the most pressing issues facing our energy future. Whether you’re an industry veteran or new to wind, PES Wind has the high-quality content you need. Don’t miss out. Visit peswind.com today. So when, when the energy prices spike like they’re happening right now, uh, the Iran war being one of the main drivers, and obviously gasoline prices have jumped quite a bit, here’s what happens. The China’s clean energy sector goes to work, and they’re racing to make connections and make sales. As electricity prices jump up, gas prices jump up, everybody wants to try to find a cheaper way to provide energy to their countries or locales. Uh, China’s there to offer it. So it’s solar panels, batteries, EVs, and even wind turbines are, are looking for homes out of China. Uh, for European wind professionals, [00:23:00] the most important part comes from Mingyang, right? So they were unable to get a production facility in Scotland, but they haven’t given up yet. They are still searching for a home somewhere in Europe. And as of today, I don’t think they’ve found it. They’re s- I think they’re still looking for some country to host them. But how long is that gonna go on, Matthew? I, I think with the domination of Vestas and Siemens Gamesa in Europe and Suzlon trying to make an entry, will Mingyang and other Chinese manufacturers eventually find a home?  Matthew Stead: It’s interesting. I think, uh, if you look at the airline industry, you’ve always had premium providers, and you’ve always had low-end providers, and I think there’s always a place for all of them. And so I re- I reckon they’ll find, I think they’ll find their place in, in the market and just, you know, it might just take a while. But they’ve got the strength, haven’t they? They’ve got the product. They’ve got the strength. So it’s just a matter [00:24:00] of time.  Allen Hall 2025: Yeah. I, I, I d- I do think eventually it will happen. But Vestas and, and Siemens Gamesa have done a pretty good job of controlling it, and wind Europe, honestly. Wind Europe has not been a proponent of a Chinese manufacturer in Europe, so that generally will help slow down any business plans they would have But at the same time, there’s a lot of opportunities around the world that’s not necessarily in Europe, right? South America has strong ties with China. They’re– And Chinese companies are, are starting production in China. There’s a lot th- things happening there. You’re gonna see that in Africa and other places. So it doesn’t necessarily have to happen in Europe, which is, I think Europeans and Americans think, “Well, we can’t have China in those locales.” Fine. But it isn’t like China doesn’t have other opportunities to, to sell turbines or solar panels or batteries. There are plenty places on the planet where  Matthew Stead: people that  Allen Hall 2025: need  Matthew Stead: lower cost energy, and they’re gonna find them. Um, I did attend a, a panel [00:25:00] discussion on Türkiye, um, and the growth, and there was a lot of growth in Türkiye around onshore and offshore. And so maybe Mingyang, that might be a, a place, um, for them to, to start, you know, on the doorstep of, of Europe. The stepping stone, so to speak. Stepping country.  Allen Hall 2025: Is there risk in that, uh, uh, if, uh, uh, Mingyang decided to put a plant in Türkiye? Is, does that come with some political aspect? Because I, I, I don’t remember. Türkiye t-tends to play, uh, uh, k- kind of like Switzerland in, in terms of working with different, uh, political systems over time. Yeah.  Matthew Stead: I, I’ve had a bit more to do with a few, a few, um, sort of organizations in Türkiye recently and, um, you know, it’s highly professional, highly, you know, logical, and so I, I can’t see why it’d be a challenge. So I think, yeah, that stepping stone into Europe might be a, a logical way to go. Well, maybe  Allen Hall 2025: we’ll see that in the next [00:26:00] couple of months. I don’t know. There’s gonna be a lot to happen there. There’s so much money being spent in Europe on renewables, wind, solar, battery, all the above, that there’s plenty of opportunity, and every company that has a product that’s gonna be trying to sell it in Europe right now. It’s a smart move. Absolutely.  Matthew Stead: I think the other thing that we’ll probably be talking about a little bit more is EV trucks or, you know, electric trucks.  Allen Hall 2025: You think so?  Matthew Stead: I reckon we’ll be talking more and more about electric trucks.  Allen Hall 2025: Does Europe even have a, a le- a real true EV tractor-trailer, large truck? What do they call… I guess they call it a lorry.  Matthew Stead: I don’t think yet. But that’s why I’m saying I think this is a topic that’s gonna raise itself. Um, I’ve, I’ve seen some numbers recently which says that it’s a bit of a no-brainer to go from diesel to, um, to battery now.  Allen Hall 2025: So is Tesla gonna be the, the winner there just because of their, I don’t even what they call it, the Tesla truck? Is that what they call that now?  Matthew Stead: Not the Cybertruck, the, the truck truck.  Allen Hall 2025: Electric semi-truck. There you go. [00:27:00] Thank you, producer Claire.  Matthew Stead: I think you’ve gotta watch, you know, you’ve gotta watch BYD and a few of the other, the other, um, other companies.  Allen Hall 2025: Do they have something as large as what, uh, Tesla is offering today? Because Tesla is offering a true semi or tractor-trailer  Matthew Stead: I, I, I must admit I’m not a, a huge expert on the topic, but I’m sure Rosemary is.  Allen Hall 2025: She drives the big rigs? Is that what she’s doing?  Matthew Stead: But I think we– Yeah, I think, I think it’s an in-interesting thing to watch because, um, certainly fuel prices in Australia are definitely pushing, um, this idea of, um, electric trucks. Allen Hall 2025: Yeah, diesel prices are really high in the States. I- if they’re high in the States, I can’t even imagine what they are in Europe or Australia. They must be through the roof. So if you have a diesel vehicle, although they run forever and are pretty efficient, the price of fuel is insane right now.  Matthew Stead: And, you know, if you, if you take that a step further into mining, so Twiggy Forest, um, and Fortescue, you know, switching to [00:28:00] electric, uh, trucks and electric mining, yeah, it makes sense. Allen Hall 2025: Does the math work out on that? Uh, obviously Fortescue is taking, uh, really a pretty significant risk in that they’re developing their own electricity generation sites via wind and solar and battery, the whole thing, and they’re converting some of their larger vehicles to electric. Does that hold a big risk, or is this just a financial no-brainer, particularly when diesel prices are so high? Matthew Stead: Yeah, I think it’s a financial no-brainer. Uh, and that’s why partly I think we’ll be talking about trucks because, you know, once the finances make sense, um, there’ll be a faster transition. And I think, you know, Fortescue is not a silly company.  Allen Hall 2025: Fortescue is willing to dabble, right? So they’re willing to, to see where the technology is and spend a little bit of money and possibly it works out, right? I think there’s– you have to take a little bit of risk if you’re in that business because you are spending so much money on fuel. [00:29:00] You can spend a couple million dollars playing in different areas to pick an eventual winner. Obviously, they’re gonna– Well, it’s not obvious at the moment, but it, it seems obvious to us being on the electricity side. Electricity is gonna be the answer. Renewable energy is gonna be the easy way to do it, the lowest cost way to do it. There you go. Go do it. Well, American Clean Power’s event, uh, which is in Houston this year, will be happening June 1st through the 4th at the convention center downtown in Houston. It’s gonna be warm, everybody, so if you’re traveling from a cooler country like Denmark to Houston, bring something cool to wear. It will be warm in June. It, it– Houston is just a very warm place, and it’s quite humid, so it’ll, it’ll be a, a unique environment. However, it does sound like there’s gonna be a, a, an– A number of interesting companies and a lot of people that are attending that event this year, and one of them is gonna be Matthew and EOLOGIX-PING with Weather Guard Lightning Tech will [00:30:00] both be down at the event in a booth and seeing everybody and, and, and meeting a whole bunch of, of, uh, new people that are getting into the industry, which is, to me, is always the fun part. Like, we just meet so many really fun people. Uh, and Matthew, you know, we had a discussion internally about that, like, uh, our, our new, uh, chief commercial officer, Nikki Briggs, has been commenting. We’ve been talking to so many operators around the world, and after every, uh, little meeting briefing that we have, we do a post-briefing, and she goes, “They were so nice.” And I s- yes, Nikki, the wind industry people are fantastic to work with. Like, they’re all focused on doing something positive, and they’re trying to, to do it the best that they can. And there’s a lot of constraints to it, and they’re making a number of hard decisions. But when we all come together at American Clean Power here in the States, hey, we can kinda commiserate and [00:31:00] talk about what’s happening and catch up. And I feel like we need a little bit of catch-up time in this industry, particularly here in the United States.  Matthew Stead: Yeah. Yeah. I, I think, um, I, I definitely agree. And I, I found, you know, previously I used to work in the construction industry and work with engineers and, you know, transport, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And actually, I found that the renewable industry, there’s a lot of really open people, really happy to have a discussion, um, not the big egos, so I completely agree. And, um, I’m thinking back, um, I first met people in the wind industry in, you know, around 2012, 2013, and, you know, I still know a number of those people and really appreciate catching up with them. Um, so actually, Berend van der Pol was probably one of the first, and, uh, Birgit Junker was, um, maybe one of the second, so yeah. And I’m definitely looking forward to ACP.  Allen Hall 2025: If you’re, if you’re down in Houston at American Clean Power, definitely stop by a- and say hi to everybody from [00:32:00]EOLOGIX-PING and Weather Guard Lightning Tech, and hey, learn about all the things that are going on because both companies have new products that’ll, were gonna be announced at the site. Uh, we’re already getting inundated with requests on the Weather Guard side. It’s insane. We’re telling people, like, “Slow down, slow down, slow down. We’ll, we’ll, we’ll talk to you about it when we get to Houston.” But, uh, expect a very attentive audience this year, which is exciting. That wraps up another episode of “The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.” If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas- We’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you found value in today’s conversation, please leave us a review. It helps other wind energy professionals follow the show. For Matthew, I’m Allen Hall, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime Wind Energy [00:33:00] Podcast.

Sarah Logie, a farrier based in Inverness, Scotland, joins the podcast to talk exams, education, and why farriery is never just black and white. From building her associate-prep course and revision book to mentoring farriers through the realities of exam pressure, time management, and horse-first thinking, this episode is packed with practical insight, blunt honesty, and years of experience from the Scottish Highlands and beyond.    I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.   For access to the full episode and the chance to be entered into the new subscribers draw, subscribe here before July 1, 2026: mullinsfarrier.supercast.com

We loved getting time with Keith and Lizzie Nicolson from Merkinch & South Kessock Free Church in Scotland and hearing about how God is working in that part of the UK!

Send us Fan MailConsidered one of the greatest crime novels of all time, Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time flipped 450 years of British history on its head by re-examining Richard III's purported involvement in the murder of his two young nephews, the Princes in the Tower. How did a shopkeeper's daughter-turned-high-school gym teacher become one of the 20th century's greatest writers of mystery, literary fiction and theatrical plays? Tey's biographer, Jennifer Morag Henderson, joins us to discuss the double life that allowed Tey to rocket to stardom while also flying under the radar in her home town of Inverness, Scotland.Mentioned in this episode:Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine TeyThe Daughter of Time by Josephine TeyKif: An Unvarnished History by Josephine TeyThe Man in the Queue by Josephine TeyClaverhouse by Josephine TeyRichard of Bordeaux by Josephine TeyJosephine Tey: A Life by Jennifer Morag HendersonDaughters of the North: Jean Gordon and Mary, Queen of Scots by Jennifer Morag HendersonJofrid Gunn by Jennifer Morag HendersonWolf Hall by Hilary MantelGaudy Night by Dorothy L. SayersThe Richard III SocietyAnstey Physical Training CollegeRichard III: The King in the Car Park documentarySupport the showFor episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.comSubscribe to our substack newsletter.Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

On this episode, we discuss the work of legendary comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, whose careers straddled both the silent and sound eras.They were active between the 1920s and the 1950s, making more than a hundred films together and their unmistakeable big man-little man dynamic would go on to influence many a comedy double-act, from Abbott and Costello to Morecambe and Wise.This year marks the centenary of Laurel and Hardy's first appearance in a film together and to mark the occasion Neil Brand has been touring a show celebrating Stan and Ollie's extraordinary artistry. Neil is a writer, broadcaster, composer and peerless silent cinema pianist. His show arrives in Scotland this month and he joined host Dr Pasquale Iannone to discuss the Boys.In their conversation, Neil and Pasquale place them in the context of other giants of American screen comedy such as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. They also explore Neil's previous work on Stan and Ollie, such as his brilliant radio play starring British acting royalty Tom Courtenay. Neil tells Pasquale about the structure of his centenary show, what audiences can expect as well as the joys and challenges of improvising silent film scores.Neil will be appearing at The Gaiety Theatre in Ayr, The Queen's Hall in Edinburgh, Airdrie's Town Hall, Eden Court in Inverness and the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy. For more information, go to the website: laurelandhardypresentedbyneilbrand.co.uk.

Stephen Rutt is a writer and naturalist based in Dumfries and Galloway and his latest book, The Waterlands, follows a raindrop as it falls to the ground in the Lowther Hills and travels through the landscape to the Firth of Clyde. Mark met him on a suitably wet day at Threave to record a Scotland Outdoors podcast and we hear an excerpt of their chat.Rachel visits a charity in Moray that offers guided rides for adults who want to start or get back into cycling. Stu Dick and Diane Maciver from Get on a Bike meet her at Elgin's Cooper Park, where a group are just heading out on a cycle.On a stony slope in Glen Affric, hopes are high that one of Britain's rarest ferns can regain a foothold and recover. Mark went to hear about the work of staff from Forestry and Land Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, who have translocated and planted 250 oblong woodsia (Woodsia ilvensis) on a hillside in the glen.Mark is at the Highland Folk Museum near Kingussie. He hears about the history of the site which was founded by Dr Isabel F. Grant in 1936 and has grown into one of the area's most popular tourist attractions. He takes a look around the open-air museum which shows how life changed in the Highlands from the 1700s to the 1900s.This Sunday, 3rd May, is International Dawn Chorus Day, and next weekend in Sweden, our Swedish radio friends at Sveriges Radio P1, will broadcast their Fågelsångsnatten or Bird song night. Presenter Jenny Berntson Djurvall joins us live to tell us all about the broadcast and what they are expecting to hear.Mark visits the only dairy farm in Banffshire, Lower Mill of Tynet Farm, which has a 24-hour farm shop, making it the only place between Aberdeen and Inverness that you can get a coffee, a pint of milk and an ice cream out of hours!A special event is being held later this month to celebrate the life and work of the Bard of Lochwinnoch. Now in her nineties, Betty McKellar has written extensively about nature and the environment in the Muirshiel Glen. Recently Rachel went to have a chat and hear some of her poems.

Clare Campbell, a trailblazing Highlander renowned for her innovation in the weaving and designer clothes industry, is driven by a deep passion for authenticity and identity. Clare's remarkable journey began in 1978, when she was born in Inverness, the Highland capital of Scotland. With two younger brothers, Clare drew inspiration from her mother, who has always been a guiding light in her life. Like many, Clare's family faced heartbreak, losing her brother Paul just before Christmas in 1998 at the age of 19. This profound loss reshaped Clare's outlook on life, instilling in her and her family a renewed appreciation for its fragility and value. In the years that followed, Clare married her childhood sweetheart Allan, became a mother to Paul and Charli, and pursued a career as an accountant. While raising her young family and supporting Highland businesses, Clare's entrepreneurial spirit grew. By late 2015, she discovered her true calling: uniting her love for the Highlands, her creative vision, and her dedication to craftsmanship into a pioneering mission: The pursuit of sustainable excellence with Tartan cloth woven, not on modern machines, but on original century old looms. Clare's journey as an industry leader was clear, despite the challenges she anticipated. Determined to revive the art of storytelling through tartan design, she set out to restore artisan weaving skills and introduce disruptive designer collections to the Highlands. As the founder and owner of Prickly Thistle, and the outlet store called Rebel Row in Inverness, Clare has established a brand synonymous with Scottish heritage, creativity and endurance. And this Brand has been discovered by the likes of Fendi, the  historic Italian luxury fashion house with a number of famous names buying into the product including Sam Heughan or Jamie Fraser of Outlander. Clare Campbell's pioneering story in weaving and designer clothing is extraordinary and it is with pleasure that Unique Scotland Podcast brings Clare's incredible story (and lovely Inverness accent) to you wherever you listen. 

We hear more from Mark's time with forager Mark Williams. They met up at Wigtown Bay on a rather wet and blustery day and headed along the coast to look for sea radish.Rachel meets up with Rosie Beetschen from Cairngorms Connect and Ross Watson from Forestry Land Scotland to hear all about some of the oldest and most interesting trees, Granny Pines. They take a wander in Glenmore to find a rather impressive specimen.About four years ago, fisherman Hans Unkles took the engine out of his boat, Lorna Jane, and replaced it with an electric motor and batteries. Mark caught up with Hans in Fraserburgh to hear how successful his electric boat has been and whether any other fisherman have been persuaded to copy him.Every week, poet and musician Bobby Motherwell visits RSPB Lochwinnoch to volunteer. He was also poet in residence at the reserve and has written a book all about his time there. Rachel met up with him in one of the hides and heard some of his tales and poems.The Ledge in Inverness is the Highland's largest climbing gym and a National Bouldering and Performance Centre which has been built on the foundations of community, inclusivity and positivity. Phil Sime headed along to hear all about the different activities on offer and push himself out of his comfort zone with a shot at climbing.Recently the RSPB issued new advice around feeding wild birds. The charity wants people to: Feed seasonally. Feed safely. We're joined live by Ross Hunter from RSPB Scotland to hear what that means practically.Plus a tribute to the late George Skinner, Aberdeenshire Farmer and font of agricultural knowledge. We dip into the archive to share his knowledge on neeps.And in this week's Scotland Outdoors podcast, Rachel hears the story of Ioana Ticu, an experienced mountaineer who found herself in a situation where she had to call Mountain Rescue at the summit of Ben More. We hear an excerpt of her story.

In this episode of the Peskies Pest Control Podcast, Michael Wienecke and Travis McGowin dive into the seasonal “explosion” of squirrel activity and the havoc these bold climbers wreak on local homes. From chewing through electrical wiring—which can lead to dangerous structure fires—to tearing into gable vents and rooflines, the team discusses the serious risks and requirements involved in a professional eviction. You will learn how simple landscaping mistakes like untrimmed crepe myrtles provide a “bridge” for rodents and the tactical logistics required to successfully trap and seal out these persistent unwanted guests. Podcast Transcript:Squirrels in the AtticMichael Wienecke: All right, so who wants something crawling around in their attic?Travis McGowin: I know personally I hate crawling around in my attic, so I don’t know why anything would want to live up there in the first place. But far be it from me to tell wildlife that they can’t go in my attic, right?Michael Wienecke: So we have seen just an influx of, uh, things in attics here recently and they’ve just been squirrels and I, uh, I mean it’s, it’s just been an explosion.Travis McGowin: Yeah, ’tis the season. Um, and, and I feel like it’s like this every single spring realistically right there into that transition from winter to spring, it’s like they’re just on the prowl looking for someone’s house to get into.Michael Wienecke: Or houses.Travis McGowin: Or houses, that’s right. That’s right.Michael Wienecke: Well, and what are they doing up there? Why are they tearing into gable vents and roofs and, and all, all kinds of places on people’s homes right now?Travis McGowin: I mean, they’re looking for a place to start a family.Michael Wienecke: They’re looking to move in rent free, huh?Travis McGowin: Absolutely. Absolutely. They’re looking for a place to go and, uh, and nest and, and reproduce and, you know, take over the world one, one litter of squirrels at a time.Michael Wienecke: I’ll tell you one thing that is crazy to me about squirrels all the squirrel jobs that we do, they are very bold. They’re just, they’ll just hang out with you in the attic while you’re looking for ’em or watching ’em. I mean we’ve got plenty of videos on that, but they just kind of hang out and some of ’em will run away but a lot of ’em are just bold and they’ll just watch you.Travis McGowin: I think sometimes they think that they can’t be seen. Like they’re camouflaged.Michael Wienecke: I always thought because they thought they owned the home. They’re like hey this is I’ve been here six months this is I’ve, you know, um, what do they call it squatter’s rights.Travis McGowin: So, in order for us to effectively remove squirrels from someone’s attic do we need to go get an eviction notice from from some, you know, county entity?Michael Wienecke: We do actually Travis it is, uh, it is the state license, the, the trapping license that we, that we have to get, uh, for the state. So yes, we do have to, we do have to do that.Travis McGowin: Right.Damage and Issues Caused by SquirrelsMichael Wienecke: Well, let’s talk about some of the damage that they do though. I mean, we have seen, I mean, we just did a really good video on one chewing right in the front of someone’s house and, and getting through the wood. Uh, I’ve seen a lot of chimney damage in the past, um, just a lot, a lot of damage on wires. I mean, it’s, it’s just something that you just don’t have to deal with. And it’s always where you can’t reach it and it’s always next to the power lines.Travis McGowin: Um, you know, I think the perfect, more appropriate place to start in terms of damage and issues that the squirrels cause is really to kind of go and lead off with access. So, uh, first of all squirrels are really good climbers.Michael Wienecke: Really, really good climbers.Travis McGowin: Absolutely. They can climb textured surfaces like Spiderman. I mean realistically if your house has any kind of veneer made out of brick on it, um, even some types of siding, especially, you know, wood siding, rough cut wood, stuff like that, I mean they can climb like no body’s business. They have no trouble, um, going back and forth. And if you, you know, are fortunate enough to have some sort of surface on the outside of your house that is not textured that they can’t climb, then, you know, the next thing is they’ll climb a tree that is close to the eaves or close to the roof of the structure and they’ll just jump back and forth if they need to or if, you know, if that’s touching the roof or the eaves then they’ll just climb right, you know, back and forth and then, you know, of course we also see ’em running up and down power lines, uh, cable lines, um, more specifically cable lines to a house and I mean so there’s just so so many routes that they can get and take for their house, you or for to get into your house I should say.Michael Wienecke: Oh definitely. I mean, I think a lot of people just deal with squirrels year to year like oh well they’re back or oh they’re, you know, stirring around again this time of year or before just because they think that there’s no way to get rid of them.Travis McGowin: Oh, but there is. You know, there certainly is. Um, but you know the problem too is not only is it the access but if a squirrel doesn’t have, you know, the ideal entry point figured out, they’ll just make one.Michael Wienecke: 100%. Well, I mean that goes, you know, to maintenance on the home making sure that, you know, I think we’ve talked about what is it a pound of, uh, a pound of cure gives an inch of pressure, pa-, prevention?Travis McGowin: Oh no. It’s an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Oh gosh. I’m going to get on a shirt so I can remember.Building Construction and DeteriorationTravis McGowin: But, you know, if they climb up the, the house or come across on a line or or, you know, enter the space of the house with a tree and you know there’s a small gap, I mean rodents constantly gnaw, they constantly chew on things. So if the, if the hole itself is not quite big enough, um, they’ll just make it larger. You know, they have no problem doing that. So whether it’s the hole near an eave or, you know, a vent, um, they’ll just, you know, make their own access sometimes if the access isn’t already there.Michael Wienecke: Well let’s talk about building construction too. I mean, you know, you’ve got unfortunately skip corners, um, I don’t know when code was to put drip edge. I, I thought it was around 2000 but, uh, I, I see a lot of 2000 homes that do not have drip edge. So I mean you just see a lot of things that were missed. I mean we, we did some homes over here in Chelsea, uh, over here off Inverness and Hoover and Birmingham, you know, it’s just missing flashing and they’re just slipping right on those cracks and crevices, uh, during the, uh, you know, uh, between the roofline to the flashing.Travis McGowin: Uh, well, and you know those houses too, some of them may not have necessarily started out with an issue in the area where the drip line, or excuse me, the drip edge was supposed to be installed. But what we see a lot of times is that over the course of the life of the house, you have the decking underneath the shingles starts to, whether it’s absorbing moisture, whether it’s, uh, you know, reacting to just constant heat from the sunlight, whatever it is it may be a little mixture of both. But it’ll start to bow up and what was a tiny gap that maybe wasn’t a rodent entry point, all of a sudden down the road becomes a rodent entry point because that wood starts to warp and, you know, and change its shape.Michael Wienecke: Well it happens all the time. I mean like we talk about with wildlife squirrel work, raccoon work, bat work, whatever it can be it’s it’s creating that puzzle piece that that’s no longer there.Hazards of Squirrels in AtticsTravis McGowin: Right. And so once they damage the exterior of your home to get in and they get into the attic, now what? What becomes the problem then? So now we’ve we’ve not only got a rodent that’s made entry into the home but what can they do in the attic that’s so detrimental to a house?Michael Wienecke: Uh, well a couple things. I mean they’re going to urinate in that house, they’re going to pee in the house, um, they’re going to gather insulation. We’ve seen it to where they’ve, you know, been scratching so hard that they’ve gone through the ceiling. Um, seen a few inside of a home, that’s pretty rare, so, uh, take that, take that for what it, what it’s worth. Um, but I have seen it. Uh, and then they’re going to start chewing on wires, you know, all the stuff that can cause house fires and then they’re going to cause the, the contamination that you’re having to breathe.Travis McGowin: Right. And you know fun fact for for individuals that may, that may not know this, but years ago and I hope this is not still a practice now, but years ago the sheathing inside of electrical wiring that would, when they were creating the Romex or creating the wiring for the houses, that sheathing lubricant to get the sheathing to go over the wires was essentially vegetable oil based or similar to vegetable oil based. So not only, you know, does does the wiring pose an ideal thing for the rodents to chew on to the wildlife to chew on, but now it tastes good. So now it’s like oh well let’s give ’em something to eat in the attic that’s going to, you know, potentially cause a structure fire.Case Study and Preventive MaintenanceMichael Wienecke: Well let’s talk about some do’s and don’ts. Yes, I would agree on that structure fire because we have seen some major, uh, chewing on the wires. I mean, I, I had a home out in Southlake and they were going to town right there. It’s always where the wires like bending at a little 90 degree right there in that bend. They just start chewing the mess out of it. So we actually had to get I believe an electrician up there to we got rid of the squirrels for ’em and, uh, first terra cotta roof I had ever done which was intimidating. Um, got the squirrel out anyway, um, they had a electrician come out and get all the wiring done but it it could have been a a big deal had he left it exposed.Travis McGowin: Right. I mean it’s, it’s just like you said from a waste standpoint from an animal waste standpoint to just, um, you know, a hazardous standpoint from the damage that they cause which can lead to structure fires or other issues like that. It’s just something that you don’t want in your attic. And and obviously one’s bad enough, but I mean as you’ve seen over the last week or two, I mean there’s cases where there can be a lot more than one in an in an attic.Michael Wienecke: I would rather have rats.Travis McGowin: Than squirrels?Michael Wienecke: I’d rather have rats. Definitely. I mean not not inside my like for me to have to do it inside my home or have to deal with I would rather deal with rats ’cause squirrels always go up high it’s just they’re just an inconvenience. Anyway let’s talk about some things that homeowners need to know like do’s and don’ts, um, you know size of the trap. Pretty important thing to talk about because I have I have gone on some pretty, uh, larger infestations and pretty hard to control problems where the customer’s just using way too small of a trap.Travis McGowin: Well you know we see that a lot in in any of our wildlife or rodent work that we do. Take take mice and rats for an example. If you’re trying to trap a rat with a mouse trap the rat’s not going to get caught they’re going to take the bait and they may, you know, set the trap off and there’s you’re never going to catch anything. And the story’s the same with with using a rat trap to try to catch a mouse. Um, you you have too large of a trap, there again, they’ll set it off, they won’t get caught, they’ll take your bait. And and I think that that holds true to a lot of different wildlife. An improper sized trap causes a problem, um, you there’s just too much room for error there. And then not only an improper sized trap but even maybe say a live trap that’s not stabilized. What what issue does that have?Proper Trapping and Tree MaintenanceMichael Wienecke: Right. And we talked about that in that video. You know squirrels aren’t just going to jump on something or any any animal really is not going to jump on something that’s kind of shaky, um, it’s going to feel it out and and squirrels are very cautious. They’re kind of like deer stop, look, stop, look, stop, look. I mean I couldn’t imagine the stress that is under one of those little guys just walking around in the in the daytime.Travis McGowin: Just existing.Michael Wienecke: Yes. Just existing. So they are, you know, that enjoy it but again they just they just wreak havoc in in homes and, uh, cause a lot issues. So let’s talk about some other things, um, you know, cutting the branches away from the home to where those guys have not not stopping them completely from getting on the roof but, uh, kind of giving them a little bit to think about. You know a a four foot jump to a ten foot jump is is a little bit more to think about, you know, in in size or in size.Travis McGowin: Yeah and I mean they’ll they will jump a long ways to get where it is they want to go. I don’t know if you’ve ever sat in the woods and just, you know, watched squirrels jump from tree limb to tree limb, but there’s some very gutsy moves going on there sometimes, um, you know you’re really intrigued by the fact that they were able to launch themselves through the tree to grab another limb in a different tree through the air and, um, but that rings true for your house if if your limbs are overhanging or if they’re touching, uh, the roof of the house the squirrels have no problem, no fear in using that as a bridge or a crosswalk to get to your home. They’re they’re going to do it. They’re going to use it and they’re not going to be fearful of it at all.Home Maintenance and Tree PlacementMichael Wienecke: Well and not to say that, you know, you need to go out and cut all these tree branches away I mean it’s definitely a good rule of thumb but again like that video we showed with the the chimney going up, I mean they’re still getting on the roof so the best course of action is going to be to seal up that home. Um, Travis has got the pound of, you know, pound of proof for for a lot of action. So I mean just getting making sure that you’ve got those entry points, you know, in that wintertime or even before summer looking around your house, you know, we’re all doing, uh, yard work looking around your house hey do I have rotten spots here, do I have this here. A lot of preventative maintenance, uh, goes a long way.Travis McGowin: Well one I see very frequently, uh, is crepe myrtles. Man, oh yes. People love ’em, they plant ’em right next to the house and then they do not manicure them properly and these things end up growing way up past the roofline and then a lot of times, um, they’ll be touching the eave and man we had someone with a significant significant rat infestation. It was a duplex and they literally had rats climbing up the trees that had just grown up against the side of the house and into the eaves and tore a hole in the eaves and man rats were going in and out between the two units at the duplex we caught over 50 rats. So squirrels are no different. They’re going to be opportunists. They’re going to climb those trees and if you’ve got a tree that has done some, you know, some damage by growing into the side of a structure, uh, they’re going to I mean they just made it easy for ’em, you know, you gave ’em access, uh, a way to climb up and you gave ’em access into into the roof immediately.Michael Wienecke: What do you think the price of a crepe myrtle to buy and and plant is?Travis McGowin: I have never priced one. The only thing that I have ever done is destroy one. Um, when we moved into the house we are in now there was one in the front yard, um, near the house and we cut it down. Um, so I have no earthly idea so enlighten me.Michael Wienecke: Well I just say that ’cause I had a customer one time she said that those crepe mort- crepe myrtles probably cost her more in the squirrel damage and squirrel activity shed than ever putting them in next right, you know, planting them next to her house.Travis McGowin: Oh absolutely. So I’m assuming what your customer was really kind of hinting at is that they weren’t worth owning were they?Michael Wienecke: I personally I mean they’re beautiful trees don’t get me wrong and my wife loves ’em but just don’t put ’em next to your house. Like we had one way in my old house we have one way in the backyard. It was beautiful it bloomed like purple or red I think something like that and she loved it but nothing nothing touching the house. 37 feet away.Travis McGowin: Uh, well that would be ideal but, you know, unfortunately most of the time that’s not possible. But realistically we like to say, you know, trim those branches back trim those trees back at least six or more feet away. That six foot mark is going to start to become a stretch for a squirrel. I’m not going to say that they wouldn’t try it, um, but no overhanging limbs over the roof of the house and, uh, try to get those things trimmed back away from eaves and the roofline at least six preferably preferably more. I would say eight to 10 feet would be even more ideal.Michael Wienecke: Look 10 feet, a 10 foot fall I think that squirrel would hit the roof and probably forget what he was trying trying to do after that, you know, it’s it’s a bit of a drop.Travis McGowin: I would. I would. But then again, you know, if you ever watch a squirrel try to cross the road and they, you know, they get out in the middle and then they hit panic mode they can’t decide if they want to go forwards or backwards, you know, I would question a 10 foot drop or a 10 foot jump but I don’t think they would. I don’t know it just, you know, it just depends on the level of craziness I guess from the squirrel.Michael Wienecke: Well it’s kind of like jumping off that rock at the lake, right? It’s like once you you’ve committed so you you have no other choice but go you know they just spread their arms and their they fly.Travis McGowin: Gravity takes its course.Lessons Learned in Squirrel RemovalMichael Wienecke: Exactly. Exactly. Um, let’s see what’s another what’s another thing that customers need to, you know, if they’re going to try to tackle this themselves what’s some other failures, um, over the years that we’ve kind of figured out. Wrong bait, um, bait is an important one, um, the style of bait, you know, if it if something’s not working you want to try something else. Don’t just stick to the same thing.Travis McGowin: Right, um, you know wrong trap size or style, wrong wrong bait, um, you know and don’t underestimate the intelligence of some of these animals. They didn’t survive and grow into vast numbers of populations like they have become, you know, by being stupid. So, um, so you know don’t don’t discount their intelligence in terms of, you know, you think oh I’m just going to go set this trap right here and they’re just going to wander into it. No, um, ideally ideally you want to put those traps in a known runway, um, where where the rodent is known to go where the wildlife’s known to go. Obviously, you know, if you had a Connibear trap or something like that you you could have multiple accesses into your house. I mean if you put it over an access or a hole where the rodent is not using that access well you’re not going to catch nothing. So, you know, you’ve got to put it where they’re going to be where they’re going to run, um, and don’t underestimate the fact that they may avoid it for a while. Case in point I had a live trap in an attic back in Montgomery a while back, this been a couple years ago and it took multiple days to catch the little guy. And eventually I did but it took multiple days and multiple adjustments before we were successful in in catching that gray squirrel.Michael Wienecke: Yeah it can take a lot of time. Um, another thing too I’ll say is that not like you said I’m glad you said that about the traps. So not just putting one trap up there sometimes you may need two traps sometimes you may need three traps. Um, another thing is that for the people that do not want to do it themselves how many traps do we have that for squirrels? How many different? How many diff- different traps?Travis McGowin: I I don’t I don’t even know.Michael Wienecke: We have one-way door traps, we have one door traps, we have two-door traps.Travis McGowin: I even have some that have openings on both sides.Michael Wienecke: Yeah, I was going to say then we have the runway door traps so we’re very ill- we’re very well equipped to deal with different situations inside the home or outside the home.Travis McGowin: Right, right, yeah there’s there’s all kinds, pick your poison I guess but, uh, there again sometimes you have to back up and punt, sometimes you have to try things, if something doesn’t work and you have to, you know, try a different style, try a different placement. Um, you know even sometimes you if you were to even put a game camera up there and watch what’s going on even sometimes you may come extremely close to catching one and there again we talked about trap stability and they get halfway into the trap and something’s not stable and then they just back out and leave and then they don’t want to touch it again and that’s, you know, it’s frustrating and it comes along with it so trial and error sometimes and learning to pivot and swap into something different is is kind of the norm with some of these, you know, wildlife jobs that we go on. The post Eviction Notice: The Logistics of Squirrel Trapping appeared first on Peskies Pest Control.

Register for the Leicester talk at https://tannerocampbell.com/events -- Stoic Journaling program 50% OFF at https://stoicjournaling.com use code EASTER50 -- Tanner reflects on his recent speaking tour across Scotland—including stops in Glasgow, Fort William, Isle of Skye, Inverness, Ballater, Perth, and Dundee—and explains how the experience reshaped his perspective on what it means to “do the work” as a public philosopher. While the podcast continues to reach a wide audience, in-person engagement proved uniquely impactful. As a result, Tanner is exploring live Stoicism workshops as a core extension of his work. This episode introduces a pilot event: a one-day Stoicism workshop in Leicester, designed to test whether live teaching can become a sustainable and meaningful part of his professional model. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Denver office investing in 2026 is drawing serious contrarian attention — and the numbers explain why. Class A buildings in the Denver Tech Center are trading at 30 to 50 cents on their last sale price. Some are selling for 65 dollars a square foot while replacement cost runs 500 dollars or more. For investors who remember multifamily in 2011, the setup looks familiar. Matt Ritter co-founded Pinnacle Real Estate in 2006. Today, Pinnacle Real Estate has 50 brokers and 25 staff and is one of Colorado’s largest locally owned commercial brokerages. He also co-founded Knightbridge Capital, where he and partner Rick Yoshimoto have been actively acquiring distressed Class A office in the Denver Tech Center while most investors won’t touch the asset class. In this episode, Chris Lopez and Paul DeSalvo sit down with Matt to break down the office thesis, what’s happening in multifamily, retail, and industrial, and what 25 years in Colorado CRE has taught him about investing at the bottom. In This Episode: Why the floor may already be in for Denver office and what that means for buyers Buying at 11 to 13% cap rates with 65% LTC bank financing at 6.5% Target returns: 8-9% cash on cash quarterly and 20% net IRR The 400 Inverness deal: 92% occupied at acquisition with 6+ years of weighted average lease term How spec suites are driving leasing velocity in today’s market Retail, industrial, and multifamily: where each asset class stands right now Why suburban multifamily is outperforming central Denver What Colorado’s legislative climate is doing to institutional investor interest nationwide First Bank’s acquisition by PNC and what it means for CRE lending in Colorado Watch the Youtube Video https://youtu.be/ReoHF8ICc5w Timestamps 00:00 — Welcome & Guest Intro — Matt Ritter, Pinnacle Real Estate and Knightbridge  02:33 — How Pinnacle Grew to 50 Brokers in 20 Years  06:03 — Paul DeSalvo’s First Multifamily Deal with Matt (2011)  13:30 — 1031 Exchange Compounding: How Paul Scaled Deal by Deal  10:24— Colorado Commercial Market Breakdown: Retail, Industrial, and Cap Rate Shifts  17:36— Why Matt Started Buying Denver Office in 2021  18:32— The Thesis: One Third of Office Has Terminal Cancer  20:21— Buying Class A Buildings at 65 Dollars a Foot in the DTC  26:40 — 400 Inverness Breakdown: 92% Occupied, 11.5 Cap at Acquisition 28:45— Investor Returns: 8-9% Cash on Cash and 20% Net IRR Target  29:24 — Multifamily Market Analysis: Where Prices Are Heading  32:00— Suburban vs Central Denver: Which Submarkets Are Holding Up  37:40 — Spec Suites and Why Tenant Demand Is Stronger Than Expected  42:12 — Colorado’s Legislative Climate and What It’s Doing to Investor Interest  45:00 — Stadium Developments and Reasons to Be Hopeful About Denver  47:03 — First Bank’s Sale to PNC and What It Means for CRE Lending  52:13 — Closing Advice from 25 Years in Colorado Real Estate Links in Podcast Pinnacle Real Estate Knightbridge Matt Ritter on LinkedIn Matt’s direct line: 303-960-8033 NMHC — National Multifamily Housing Council

On a quiet summer afternoon in Inverness, Florida, a 911 call shattered the stillness of a lakeside home. Inside, Denise Hallowell was found barely alive in her bedroom, the victim of a brutal attack that made no immediate sense.At first, the story pointed outward toward an unknown intruder. But as investigators began to piece together the timeline, the evidence started pointing somewhere far more unsettling.Because sometimes, the truth isn't hidden outside the home.It's already inside.A video version of this episode is available on YouTube and SpotifyHow to support:For extra perks including exclusive content, early release, and ad-free episodes -Go to - PatreonHow to connect:WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitterTheme and Closing Track:Original compositions created for The Minds of MadnessPlease check out our sponsors and help support the podcast:Shopify - Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/madnessQuince - Upgrade your wardrobe with pieces made to last with Quince. Go to Quince.com/madness for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.Raycon - The Essential Open Earbuds are perfect for refreshing your routine this spring. Go to buyraycon.com/mindsofmadnessOPEN to get 20% off!HERS - Feel like your best self again, Visit forhers.com/MADNESS to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you.NOCD - If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started: https://learn.nocd.com/MADNESSGranola - If meetings are eating up your day, Granola is a no-brainer. You can try it totally free for three months - just head to granola.ai/MADNESSNutrafol - Start your hair growth journey with Nutrafol. For a limited time, Nutrafol is offering our listeners ten dollars off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you go to Nutrafol.com and enter the promo code MADNESSSources:FOX 13 Tampa Bay – “Citrus County man sentenced to life in prison for murder of adoptive mother, former teacher”FOX 13 Tampa Bay – “Son who once defended mother against allegations of abuse now charged with her murder”Citrus County Chronicle – “Hallowell found guilty of murder” (PDF)Bay News 9 – “Authorities: Son Facing Charges in Death of Citrus County Teacher”NBC Miami – “Parricide: The Act of Killing a Parent – The Axe Murder”Justia – Florida 5th District Court of Appeal – “Carlos Antonio Hallowell v. State of Florida”

This is a short, daily podcast for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to build natural English vocabulary through stories and real-life usage.In this episode of The English Like a Native Podcast, Anna begins Week 10 of Gabriel's journey across Britain as he travels by train from Inverness to Bristol Temple Meads and returns to focused pronunciation training.You'll learn five key pronunciation concepts and techniques for sounding smoother and more natural in connected speech.

Am Abend des 12. November 1976 steht an der A9 bei Dalmagarry, südlich von Inverness in den schottischen Highlands, ein Auto in Flammen. Es gehört Renee MacRae. Von ihr und ihrem dreijährigen Sohn Andrew fehlt jede Spur. Noch am selben Tag hatte Renee angekündigt, von Inverness nach Kilmarnock zu fahren. Doch sie kommt nie an. Während die Polizei erste Ermittlungen einleitet, rückt ihr persönliches Umfeld in den Fokus, darunter auch William MacDowell, mit dem sie eine Affäre hatte…

Mark meets Gordon Whiteford at his farm in Buckie and finds out why white eggs are making a comeback.Bere barley is an ancient crop once grown all over the country, but today it's mostly found in the Highlands and Islands. Scientists are now exploring whether it could thrive more widely again and if different varieties suit different areas. Rachel speaks with Tim George, Director of the International Barley Hub at the James Hutton Institute, to find out more.Mark visits the Castle Gallery in Inverness to speak to artist Jonathan Shearer about his current exhibition ‘A Life with Trees' which features a collection of works that reflect Jonathan's long-standing connection to the natural world.Mark and Rachel are joined by Keli Tomlin to discuss the Seasonal Wheel of the Year and the joy of Spring. Every spring, toads migrate to their breeding ponds, often crossing busy roads along the way. Volunteers and park rangers from Historic Environment Scotland, head out early each morning to help them stay safe. Ranger, Matt McCabe and Rachel are on the look out for any toads on the move at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. Marcus Cordock chats to head miller Ali Harcus of Barony Mill, the last working watermill in Orkney and the only place on Earth still grinding bere.Dan Snowdon from RSPB Scotland and Rachel take a walk around the Lochwinnoch Reserve to enjoy the sounds and sights of Spring. In this week's podcast excerpt, Helen Needham meets artist Ilana Halperin in Newlands Park, Glasgow and hears all about a very special volcano.

Des and the teams are at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival to break up the week's big news, including: Trump's criticism of Keir Starmer over the war in Iran, Inverness in the running to be UK capital of culture, research into dishonest babies, an intervention from Angela Rayner and more. Lead Writer: Rebecca Bain & Alex Garrick Wright Additional material: Alan Hazlie, Ruaridh Miller, Chris Stanners, Chris Ballard, Alex Buchanan & Mark Granger, Ben Moore, Gregor Paton, Matt Reed, Nathan Cowley, Jennifer Walker Producer: Chris Quilietti Senior Producer: David Flynn Researcher: Jodie White Script Editor: Keiron NicholsonAn Eco-Audio certified Production

What if the thing waiting on the other side of "failure" is more valuable than the goal itself? Vedangi Kulkarni is an ultra-endurance cyclist, adventurer, and two-time round-the-world rider. She first circumnavigated the globe at 19 – starting in Australia in 2018 and finishing on Christmas Eve, turning 20 somewhere along the way. Then in 2024, she set out again, starting and finishing in India, chasing the record for the fastest woman to cycle around the world. She didn't get the record. But what she found along the way might have been more valuable. Now based in Inverness, Scotland, Vedangi runs The Adventure Shed, helping others plan solo expeditions, and is launching the Looking Beyond Barriers Adventure Fund to support the next generation of women adventurers. In this episode of Detours we talk about the privilege of a single yes, what it took to keep going when her goal slipped out of reach, redefining success around impact over performance, and so much more. Follow Vedangi's adventures: @thisisvedangi Get your Detours & More Women on Startlines Stickers!!  Follow Mel on Instagram: @melwwebbFollow Detours on Instagram: @detourscyclingFollow Albion on Instagram: @albion.cyclingUse code DETOURS15 to get 15% off your next order from AlbionIf you love this show please consider pledging your support to sustain producing this show: https://buymeacoffee.com/detourspodcast

Peter Shamshiri (5-4, If Books Could Kill) and the lads throw on their green cloaks and make for the castle at Inverness as they cover the fourth season of the hit reality game show: The Traitors. Topics include the show's Dutch origins, Alan Cumming's fabulous fits, and what it means to move through the world thinking that you're a faithful surrounded by traitors. Peter Shamshiri: Bluesky 5-4 is a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks. Hosted by Peter Shamshiri, Michael Liroff, and Rhiannon Hamam, produced by Rachel Ward, and presented by Slow Burn co-creator Leon Neyfakh. Patreon // Spotify // Apple Podcasts If Books Could Kill: Michael Hobbes and Peter Shamshiri discuss the airport bestsellers that captured our hearts and ruined our minds. Patreon // Spotify // Apple Podcasts   Media Referenced in this Episode: The Traitors US: Season Four “40 Traitors Rules and Sneaky Behind-the-Scenes Secrets You Didn't Know” by Madison McGee. Men's Health. February 9th, 2024. “9 Rules You Didn't Know The Traitors Contestants Have to Follow” by Rebecca Aizin and Jordana Comiter. People. January 9th, 2026. “8 Unexpected Rules the Cast of 'The Traitors' Has to Follow” by Emily Kelleher. Instyle. January 8th, 2026. TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com  Interstitial: Brian Alford by Brian Alford, written by Brian Alford, featuring the voices of Brian Alford and Brian Alford

Their feet have webbing between all four toes. They are excellent divers. They are not shags. No, it's not a description of typical Ross County centre forwards; it's a description of cormorants, and they are here for the Caley Thistle title run-in. Join Moff, Sandy, Lee and AY as they reflect on a tricky three weeks in League One, welcome a new feathered friend to the Sarens PSG Stadium and offer up the usual 31 years of ICT references, wild conjecture and mild distraction. Let's shuffle! 00:00:58 – Welcome, and some stuff about doubles. Moff introduces the panel and in the afterglow of ICT's KDM trophy semi-final triumph, which put the team in line for two trophies this season, we talk doubles. 00:05:20 – Game by Game. We discuss the consecutive league draws with Stenhousemuir and Kelty Hearts, the 2-1 defeat of Ayr in the KDM trophy that took place in between them, look ahead to the cup final, and discuss an unexpected presence on the touchline during the Stenny game. 00:05:20 Kelty 0-0 ICT. Not much happened.  00:13:45 Ayr 1-2 ICT, with bonus KDM trophy final chat. 00:35:42 ICT 1-1 Stenhousemuir, with bonus cormorant chat. 00:44:07 – What yi sayeen? – Mitchell Robertson. When he signed on loan from Celtic's B team at the start of this season, it was assumed Mitchell Robertson was just here as cover, but he has established himself as a regular starter for ICT in the league at left back, and in the KDM trophy at centre half. Stevie spoke to the now-Livingston loanee about his career in youth football, his path to Inverness, his impressions of the club, the city and his teammates. 01:05:00 – The Club Interview – Gordon Nicolson. Combing the roles of first team coach and academy coach, Gordon Nicholson is an unsung but integral part of Scott Kellacher's backroom team. Moff chatted to him about his career to date, the young players he has helped bring through, working with Scott Kellacher and the club's footballing ethos. 01:29:45 – The X-files. For some players, a spell with Caley Thistle has been a springboard for success with bigger clubs; for others, it has been the start of a slide into non-league obscurity. In the first instalment of a new feature, we look at the varying fortunes of several players since leaving Inverness. 01:43:22 – League Lookahead. We preview March's league games against Montrose, Cove Rangers, Peterhead, Alloa and Queen of the South, and briefly discuss Stenhousemuir's fixtures in the same period. There's it. 

Cyclist Mark Wedgwood has completed some enormous challenges, including a journey from America to Scotland. Rachel meets him in Aberdeenshire to find out more about his adventures.People across the UK are being invited to celebrate the unsung heroes in their communities as the BBC launches the 2026 Make a Difference Awards. Last year, New Start Highland Garden in Inverness won the BBC Radio Scotland Green award. Mark visits the garden with James Dunbar and Marion Cordiner.New research from Stirling University suggests that walkers are increasing the popularity of Park Run events. Rachel takes a wander with parkwalkers Lynne Zabek and Andrew Aird and Dr Andre Gilburn who explains more about his research.In this week's podcast excerpt, Mark's in Glasgow to chat to cyclist and content creator Somhairle Johnston about his new BBC Alba series 'Somhairle Spins'.Phil Sime and Morven Livingstone join survival instructor Zeki Basan on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park to observe the delicate process of harvesting birch sap.Trees for Life Heritage and Gaelic Development Officer Eilidh Sykes joins Mark and Rachel to talk about the links between the Gaelic language and the landscape.A new children's book, ‘Heather Munro's Race Against the Flames', aims to raise wildfire safety awareness. Mark meets author and Director of The Heather Trust, Katrina Candy.Rachel meets Rosie Beetschen of Cairngorms Connect who has created a soundscape of her explorations of the Cairngorms landscape.One of the UK's most experienced mountain rescue experts, David “Heavy” Whalley, has been remembered in a new book charting his life. Mark visits Strathblane to meet Bob Sharp who helped compile Heavy's story in ‘A Heavy Affair with the Mountains'.

From hockey and tennis to Irish dance, kids' activities can strain family budgets, forcing parents to make tough financial trade-offs. Craig Bolanos, co-founder and wealth advisor at VestGen Wealth Partners in Inverness and Downers Grove, joins Rob Hart on the WBBM Noon Business Hour to discuss strategies to help make it all work.

Allen covers four US offshore wind projects winning injunctions to resume construction, including major updates from Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia project. Plus Ming Yang’s proposed UK manufacturing facility faces security review delays, Seaway 7 lands the Gennaker contract in Germany, and Taiwan’s Fengmiao project hits a milestone. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Happy Monday everyone! Four offshore wind projects have secured preliminary injunctions blocking the Trump administration’s stop-work order. Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. Avangrid’s Vineyard Wind 1. Equinor’s Empire Wind. And Ørsted’s Revolution Wind. All four argued they were at critical stages of construction. The courts agreed. Work has resumed. A fifth project… Ørsted’s Sunrise Wind… has a hearing scheduled for today. Now… within days of getting back to work… milestones are being reached. Dominion Energy reported seventy-one percent completion on Coastal Virginia. The first turbine… installed in January. The Charybdis… America’s only U.S.-flagged wind turbine installation vessel… is finally at work. Fifty-four towers, thirty nacelles, and twenty-six blade sets now staged at Portsmouth Marine Terminal. The third offshore substation has arrived. But here is where the numbers tell the real story. The month-long delay fighting the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management? Two hundred twenty-eight million dollars. New tariffs? Another five hundred eighty million. The project budget now stands at eleven-point-five billion dollars. Nine-point-three billion already invested by end of 2025. Dominion and partner Stonepeak are sharing the cost. Dominion insists offshore wind remains the fastest and most economical way to deliver nearly three gigawatts to Virginia’s grid. A grid that powers military installations… naval shipbuilding… and America’s growing AI and cyber capabilities. First power expected this quarter. Full completion… now pushed to early 2027. Up in New England… Vineyard Wind 1 also resumed work. The sixty-second and final turbine tower shipped from New Bedford this week. Ten blade sets remain at the staging site. The installation vessel is scheduled to depart by end of March. The turbines are going up. But eight hundred eight million dollars in delays and tariffs… That is a price the entire industry is watching. ═══ Scotland Waits on Ming Yang Decision ═══ In Scotland… a decision that could reshape European supply chains… hangs in the balance. Chinese manufacturer Ming Yang wants to build the UK’s largest wind turbine manufacturing facility. The site… Ardersier… near Inverness. The investment… one-point-five billion pounds. The jobs… fifteen hundred. Trade Minister Chris Bryant says the government must weigh security. Critical national infrastructure must be safe and secure. Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney is losing patience. He told reporters this week the decision has taken too long. He called it pivotal to Scotland’s renewable energy potential… and a crucial component of the nation’s just transition. Meanwhile… Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week. He spoke of building a more sophisticated relationship between the two nations. Whisky tariffs… halved to five percent. Wind turbine factories? Still under review. Bryant says they want a steady, eyes-wide-open relationship with China. Drive up trade where possible. Challenge where necessary. But no flip-flopping. For now… Scotland waits. And so does the UK supply chain. ═══ Seaway 7 Lands Gennaker Contract ═══ In the German Baltic Sea… a major contract award. Seaway 7, part of the Subsea 7 Group, will transport and install sixty-three monopiles and transition pieces for the Gennaker offshore wind farm. The contract value… one hundred fifty to three hundred million dollars. Subsea 7 calls it substantial. The client is Skyborn Renewables… a portfolio company of BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners. Nine hundred seventy-six megawatts of capacity. Sixty-three Siemens Gamesa turbines. Four terawatt-hours of annual generation. Enough to power roughly one million German homes. Seaway 7’s work begins next year. ═══ Taiwan’s Fengmiao Hits Milestone ═══ In Taiwan… Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners completed the first batch of jacket foundations for the Fengmiao offshore wind farm. Five hundred megawatts. On schedule for late 2027 completion. Offshore installation begins later this year. The jackets were built by Century Wind Power… a local Taiwanese supplier. CIP called it a sign of strong execution capabilities and proof they can deliver large-scale, complex energy projects. But they are not stopping there. Fengmiao 2… six hundred megawatts… is already in development. Taiwan is aiming for a major boost in large-scale renewable energy by 2030. And that is the state of the wind industry for February 2, 2026 Join us tomorrow for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

Welcome to the Primordial Radio Podcast! In this episode, Moose & Dews reflect on our recent Burns Supper in Inverness, kindness in the metal community, exhaustion, gratitude, and the strange mix of pride, guilt, laughter, and chaos that seems to follow us whenever we get together in real life.Listen to Primordial Radio 24/7

In the early 2000s, the death of five-year-old Danielle Reid became one of the most disturbing child murder cases in Scottish criminal history. What began as concerns around neglect in Inverness would later expose a far more troubling picture, involving repeated warnings, unanswered calls, and safeguarding failures that, in hindsight, are difficult to comprehend.Danielle was a bright, affectionate little girl who had only just started her first term at a new school. Around her were adults and institutions who believed she was safe, or at least not in immediate danger. But behind closed doors, a very different reality was unfolding. What happened to Danielle raises uncomfortable questions about responsibility, child protection, and how vulnerable children can slip through the cracks, even when concerns are raised.Read the independent review I mention within the episode below:Independent Review Into The Circumstances Surrounding The Death Of Danielle ReidExclusive content:Patreon - Ad Free, Early Access, Exclusive EpisodesFollow the show:British Murders with Stuart BluesDisclaimer:The case discussed in this podcast episode is real and represents the worst day in many people's lives. I aim to cover such stories with a victim-focused approach, using information from publicly available sources. While I strive for accuracy, some details may vary depending on the sources used. You can find the sources for each episode on my website. Due to the nature of the content, listener discretion is advised. Thank you for your understanding and support. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A trial retirement lets people test budgets, routines, and purpose years in advance - helping avoid financial surprises when it's actually time to hang up the cleats. Craig Bolanos, co-founder and wealth advisor at VestGen Wealth Partners in Inverness and Downers Grove, joins Rob Hart on the WBBM Noon Business Hour to discuss…

TOP STORIES - What to watch for as the legislative session kicks off in Tallahassee, Inverness middle school student killed in tragic tunnel collapse, Governor DeSantis addresses AI and insurance premiums ahead of legislative session. Man charged in Hialeah shooting tried to board a flight to Cuba, OnlyFans models get kicked off a plane at Miami airport, and Florida was ranked one of the worst states to raise a family. Florida ‘Sex, Money, Murder' gang leader faces 5 life sentences after conviction, a Pinellas County man fell victim to a $127K pop-up scam, and a Polk County man is suing Toyota over privacy concerns.

TOP STORIES - What to watch for as the legislative session kicks off in Tallahassee, Inverness middle school student killed in tragic tunnel collapse, Governor DeSantis addresses AI and insurance premiums ahead of legislative session. Man charged in Hialeah shooting tried to board a flight to Cuba, OnlyFans models get kicked off a plane at Miami airport, and Florida was ranked one of the worst states to raise a family. Florida ‘Sex, Money, Murder' gang leader faces 5 life sentences after conviction, a Pinellas County man fell victim to a $127K pop-up scam, and a Polk County man is suing Toyota over privacy concerns. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some people have found themselves unable to get out and about due to heavy snowfall this week. Rachel meets Cameron Black based in Inverurie in Aberdeenshire who has been voluntarily clearing streets with his own plough.Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance has unveiled the most advanced helicopter air ambulance of its type in the UK, which operates from a base in Aberdeen. The new helicopter offers greater range and night vision technology. Mark heads to Dyce to chat to the crew.Community Off-Road Transport Action Group is a group of volunteers in 4x4s who have been helping to deliver medication and get NHS staff to work in the snowy conditions. Rachel joins volunteer Calum Auld to learn how the group have been helping those most in need in the Northeast of Scotland.Birds don't have access to the same quantities of food and water in the wintery weather. Mark and Rachel are joined by Richard Humpidge, Site Manager at RSPB Loch of Strathbeg nature reserve in Aberdeenshire, to discuss what we can do to help garden birds at this time of year.Rachel is in Govanhill in Glasgow to discover how new project Creative Canopies is aiming to create a dispersed orchard. Rachel meets Simone Stewart from Govanhill Baths Community Trust who explains how the project contributes to tree equity.In this week's podcast excerpt, Mark sketches old trees in Haddo Country Park, Aberdeenshire with artist Tansy Lee Moir.Fiona MacBaine from Inverness is known online as Fiona In The Wild where she documents her solo wild camping adventures. Phil Sime and Morven Livingstone wrap up to track Fiona down on the banks of Loch Ness.Mark takes a wander through his local area to contemplate the wintery scene and the potential impacts on people and wildlife. 4Status:

Eric Williams, City Manager of Inverness, shares the city's guiding principle: plan, fund, execute. He and host Steve Vancore discuss the importance of strategic project planning in preserving Inverness's small-town charm while encouraging economic growth. Eric reflects on his nearly seven years as assistant city manager, his focus on bringing private investment into Citrus County's seat, and his perspective on balancing introspective governance with business-like efficiency. The episode also touches on home rule and Inverness's proactive approach to state relations.

This week is the perfect time to put together a family financial goal - set one, build a plan, and make sure everyone has skin in the game, even the kids. Craig Bolanos, Co-founder and wealth advisor at VestGen Wealth Partners in Inverness and Downers Grove, joins Rachel Pierson on the WBBM Noon Business Hour with the details...

Jed said at the end of this week he is going to be traveling all the way from Oldsmar to Inverness to scoop the 'deal of a lifetime' with this recliner...

Jed said at the end of this week he is going to be traveling all the way from Oldsmar to Inverness to scoop the 'deal of a lifetime' with this recliner... See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well today we welcome Daniel to the R2Kast

Today, hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government seeks to end the use of hotels.Ministers are considering housing 900 men in the Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough army training camp in East Sussex. There are around 32,000 asylum seekers currently being housed in hotels. Adam and Chris discuss whether this will help with government's pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.And, there are fears of mass killings as Sudan's civil war appears to have reached a significant turning point. More than 150,000 people have died in the conflict across the country, and about 14 million have fled their homes. Adam is joined by chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet and Kholood Khair a Sudanese political analyst and director of Khartoum think tank Confluence Advisory.You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://bbc.in/newscastdiscordGet in touch with Newscast by emailing newscast@bbc.co.uk or send us a WhatsApp on +44 0330 123 9480.New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Lucy Gape. The social producer was Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

The Mither Tap forms part of the range of hills collectively known as Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Mark takes a stroll with Peter Stock and Alan Henderson of Bailies of Bennachie to discover plans to restore the path to the Mither Tap.Jenny Graham joins the Strong Mum Club baby hike near Inverness to find out how mums in the group are benefitting from getting outdoors and socialising together.In this week's podcast excerpt, Rachel meets Tom Bowser, author of Waters of Life, Fighting for Scotland's Beavers at his farm in Perthshire where in November 2021 a family of beavers were relocated.A new permanent exhibition which showcases the history and future of Shinty in Scotland opens this weekend in Inverness. Mark visits as the final touches are taking place and chats to artist and former Shinty player Tom Smith and Steven MacKenzie of the Camanachd Association.Rachel visits this year's Scottish International Storytelling Festival and chats to Georgiana Keable who has written a book exploring Norwegian Folk Tales. Also appearing at the Festival is Beatrix Wood, the Director of Tim Stead: Magician with Wood. Rachel joins Beatrix and Tim's former colleague and friend Eoin Cox from the Big Tree Society in Tim's workshop in Jedburgh.Green Shores is a St Andrews University based initiative aiming to restore saltmarshes. Mark meets a volunteer group on the Tay Estuary and chats to Dr Clare Maynard, Dr Helena Simmons to discover why saltmarshes are so important.The Scottish Ploughing Championships take place this weekend and Rachel and Mark are joined by Chairperson Gordon Beattie who explains what it takes to impress the judges.Mark takes a wander up Ben Rinnes to admire the autumnal colours of a landscape in flux.

In 2015, the forensic anthropologist, Professor Dame Sue Black, was cast away by Kirsty Young.Brought up on the west coast of Scotland and in Inverness, she fell in love with biology at secondary school and read Human Anatomy at the University of Aberdeen. After graduation, she worked at London's St Thomas' Hospital as an anatomist, and police began to call on her to help identify bones.She spoke to Kirsty about the mysteries of the human body.You can find the full episode on BBC Sounds.

Since 2021, Argyll Hope Spot's Snorkelling Artists Residency has been offering artists the opportunity to explore the marine habitats of Argyll and create artwork inspired by what they find beneath the waves. Mark dons his wetsuit to join printmaker Louise Scammell and artist and writer Jane Smith who are helping to run the residency.Last week, Scottish Ministers approved a new seasonal byelaw to ban campfires and barbecues in the Cairngorms National Park at the most high risk times of the year. Rachel meets the Park's Grant Moir to chat about how the byelaw will work.Producer Phil heads to Inverness Marina to talk to former professional rugby player Iain Sinclair about becoming the first person to swim the entire length of the Caledonian canal.Mark catches up with Ramblers Scotland Director Brendan Paddy in Edinburgh to discuss the challenges and opportunities for walking, paths and access rights in the country.Rachel visits an oak woodland and speaks to Eilidh Mair from Woodland Trust Scotland about why this appears to be a mast year.In this week's podcast excerpt, we hear about the Bessie Ellen, a unique sailing ship that has been lovingly restored by Nikki Alford. Writer Linda Cracknell has a personal association with the ship and Helen Needham joins her on board in Inverness to hear about her new book ‘Sea Marked'.With a focus on responsible access this week, Mark and Rachel are joined by Senior Lecturer in Law Malcolm Combe to explore more about what our rights are.Walter Micklethwait lives at Inshriach in the Highlands and has been noticing some negative impacts of tourism in the area. Rachel talks to him about what he's been seeing, including a bit of an unpleasant poo related discovery.

In the week where Trump addressed the UN, Lib Dems conferred on the beaches of Bournemouth, and a Seagull Summit came to Inverness, Andy Zaltzman is joined by Simon Evans, Neil Delamere, Tiff Stevenson and Cindy Yu to break it all down. Expect talk of the Burnham from behind, the Boriswave, and the wettest generation since the floods.Written by Andy Zaltzman.With additional material by: Jade Gebbie, Miranda Holms, Ruth Husko and Peter Tellouche. Producer: Rajiv Karia Executive Producer: James Robinson Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman Sound Editor: Marc WillcoxA BBC Studios Production for Radio 4.

The Bessie Ellen is a unique sailing ship which has been lovingly restored by Nikki Alford. Originally from the South West of England, she spends most of her time sailing in Scottish waters. Writer Linda Cracknell has a personal association with the ship after she started looking into her family history and discovered that she comes from a long line of sea farers. Helen Needham gets a tour of this beautiful ship whilst she was moored up in Inverness and hears about Linda's book 'Sea Marked'.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection passed on to humans by infected ticks. Symptoms can range from fatigue, joint pain and a circular shaped rash to facial paralysis and heart arrythmia. According to a British Medical Journal (BMJ) global health review, Lyme disease has likely infected about one in 10 people across the globe. Recently, pop star Justin Timberlake went public about contracting the condition. If treated quickly, most people will recover but there are still issues around diagnosing and treating Lyme disease. And globally, cases are on the rise. In this edition of The Inquiry, Charmaine Cozier explores what's behind the increase and hears about new tests and vaccines currently being developed. Contributors: Dr Sally Mavin, clinical scientist and Director of the Scottish Lyme Disease and Tick-Borne Infections Reference Laboratory, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, Scotland Dr Armin Alaedini, Chief Scientific Officer, Global Lyme Alliance Dr Gábor Földvári, research group leader, Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Evolution, Budapest, Hungary Dr Alessandra Luchini, Professor, School of Systems Biology, George Mason University, USA. Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producers: Jill Collins and Emma Forde Researcher: Maeve Schaffer Technical producer: Richard Hannaford Production Coordinator: Tammy Snow Editor: Tara McDermott

Karen and Matt are back from their book tour in the UK and they got to have some real MonsterTalk moments! Loch Ness, Boleskine House and more plus Blake wrestles with gremlins!More photos will be available on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/posts/137274189?pr=true&cr=true Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/monstertalk--6267523/support.