Podcasts about irc

In this episode, Mariana speaks with David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and former U.K. Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and Julio Rank Wright, Regional VP for Latin America at IRC. They discuss why the images of chaos and desperation seen at the US-Mexico border are just the tip of an international trend as millions of people—from around the world—are on the move due to civil wars, climate disasters, or some type persecution. They explain the difference between a refugee, an asylum seeker, and an economic migrant and clarify the necessary criteria to grant asylum or not. They also speak about the new asylum policies of the Biden Administration and what is needed to avoid people from falling into the hands of smugglers and traffickers. 

Laura Kyrke-Smith is the IRC's Executive Director in the UK and she joins us to discuss their work in supporting refugees and asylum seekers in the UK who come from Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Iraq, Sudan and beyond. This episode follows the earlier interview with David Miliband, President and CEO of the IRC, which aired in April 2021 and provided a global outlook of the IRC's work. The IRC in the UK provides support through various activities, including orientation for newcomers, employment counselling, peer mentorship and leadership training. They have five key outcome areas including health; education; economic wellbeing and empowerment; safety (including child and women's protection); and power (helping their clients be part of the decision-making on matters that impact their lives). This episode is for anyone who is interested in the humanitarian space and who would like to learn of key initiatives that are helping refugees achieve a better life. Thank you for downloading this episode of the Do One Better Podcast. Visit our Knowledge Hub at Lidji.org for information on 200+ case studies and interviews with remarkable leaders in philanthropy, sustainability and social entrepreneurship.   

Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Foundation, joins Niki in the studio to talk about the real world, right-now positive use cases blockchain technology is having on the underbanked. They explore the work the foundation is doing with the UNHCR and IRC in Ukraine, their partnership with MoneyGram, and why you should care. Denelle shares some sage advice for the industry on how to better communicate with regulators.  Learn more about the Stellar FoundationFollow Denelle on TwitterRemittance ResearchFollow Niki on LinkedIn

In this episode, we talk about a report issued by International Rescue Committee that looks at the ability of women-led and women's rights organizations that work to protect and empower women and girls in emergencies to access humanitarian pooled funds. We're joined by three contributors to the report, Daria Chekalova, from the Ukrainian NGO Girls, Carina Chicet, from the UK think tank Development Initiatives and Brianna Guidorzi, from IRC, who discuss the intersectional challenges these organisations face in their fundraising, even when it comes to funding mechanisms that are supposed to support local actors. To read the full report, visit "Why Wait? How the Humanitarian System Can Better Fund Women-Led and Women's Rights Organizations | International Rescue Committee (IRC)" at https://www.rescue.org/resource/why-wait-how-humanitarian-system-can-better-fund-women-led-and-womens-rights-organizations Special thanks to Megan O'Brien for production support on this episode.

Matt Bunday works in crypto. He loves to rock climb, martial arts, and think about underground psychedelic therapy   What is the biggest problem you've faced with knowledge management at your companies? Slack  Dropped balls in communication LLMs might be the response Why do you think slack spread so fast even though its not the best product? It was a step up from email IRC was a component More friendly for non-engineering What do you think about the complexity of slack? Twist is an alternative Why is information architecture such a challenge? How do LLMs fit into this? What would happen if slack created a LLM or plugged one in? Slack workspace plug in What is a retrieval plug in? Universal adapter for any type of data Who are the incumbents in the slack knowledge management space? Guru startup What is the difference between information management and knowledge management? Knowledge management is a higher level synthesis Information management is siloing related types of information Data types  Group related to information around people What are your thoughts on the membrane? Siloes Privacy is where LLMs can be very innovative If we were to share a LLM We can both specify a privacy policy to the LLM and it will follow it LLMs can intuit the privacy public distinction Are you using LLMs to code for you? Copilot Issues with difficulty to prompt it correctly You had to write comments to prompt it Inline suggestions were not good Is it better now? Haven't noticed a dramatic improvement Hard to prompt it to code in certain styles now GPT 4 is way better for a starting off point for projects Helpful for conversion processes What are the things that GPT4 has not been helpful for you? You have to chunk it What about building systems with GPT4? Code completion cool called tap9 Train the model against your local code What are some other things about KM that we can use tools for? Shared LLM for the family Surface serendipity between users If facebook were to do this One person says they are selling a couch One person is buying one LLM connects them At what point do we merge with the machines? Sufficiently high bandwidth Translation Are we already cyborgs? It began with wearing shoes Horselike Where do you fit in the excitement vs fear when it comes to AI? What parts of knowledge work will get automated? What are we losing? What is your take on bodywork? 10% investment Martial arts practices, he gets beat up  Ninjiutsu Special forces for ninjas Healing and striking points on the body are the same Balance between healing/killing, if you know how to heal Unbroken transmission since 1400 What is the importance  What is your take on yoga? Seven chakra system was created by theosophist Color, what deities you install Psychosomatic download systems  What is your take on Japan? The meiji restorationo Controversy over this and how they lost the transmission Judo was modernized and is a sport Tradition was changed Armed combat What is the transition we are going through? What does the japanese tradition say about it? Character of Ryu; the stream Tradition is flowing through obstacles Japanese traditions need to adapt What happened when the firearm was brought to Japan? What about Japan led them to keep the strong membrane that lets in the western tools but doesn't let the westerners in culturally? Japan has a deliberate  What is your take on psychedelics and wisdom transmission? Ayahuasca has changed a lot Aya was used by the healer to heal people, not the person getting healed Definitely the most impactful 5 sits in peru all in a row   What is your take on LSD? What is your take on Pscyolicibin? What is your thought on Iboga? What is your take on Kambo? Western-educated buddhas What do you want in a tradition? How we humans integrate Machine Learning into a humanistic society? What is the meaning crisis that AI will take from people because of the job loss? What is social technology and how does that fit in with meaning and communities? LLMs as polytheism Goddes called Athena GPT4 to build a slackbot Read messages Layer in retrieval using embeddings to go the database Google  How do you think LLMs will affect crypto? Crypto AI companies feel far fetched GPU clusters at home, training decentralized Super computer clusters have massively high bandwidth connections between the GPU units Crypto is orthogonal cultural  Take GPT4 and cheaply retrain another model, getting tutors to train the model In OpenAI's research paper, jobs affected LLMs, blockchain engineers are susceptible All smart contract code is solidity Apple is building AI chips already and putting them into the phones  Chatting with GPT  What about apple vs openAI?  

Insert Credit reports directly from GDC 2023. Brandon Sheffield relives past GDC memories with new and familiar faces, while Liz Ryerson and Ty Underwood dive into the dark underbelly of Web3 Cryptopits and explore the show floor. Segments: Brandon picks up his badge (00:00) Liz and Ty wait in line (02:33) Brandon interviews Greg Miller about GDC memories (08:10) Ty and Liz interview Evan Balster and Tammy Duplantis about why GDC is bad this year, lines, and lunch (14:46) Brandon hangs out with Ash Parrish in a bar watching baseball (19:13) Liz and Ty cover Web3 and the Trauma Trough with Emily Rose (23:43) Brandon and Vincent Diamante cover planes in hurricanes, cranky old men, and meeting IRC friends (28:28) Liz updates after emceeing the main stage (35:00) Liz and Ty walk the expo hall and talk to Issac Io Schankler (37:30) Brandon talks GDC memories in a bar with Kat Bailey, Wesley Fenlon, Jeremy Parish, and JJSignal (45:07) Liz recovers after a difficult day (54:25) Brandon shares his reason for coming to GDC (and DICE) and shares shoe repair tricks (56:26) Liz tests positive for covid (01:03:50) Ty reports for the Experimental Game Workshop and asks the hard questions (01:05:52) Brandon settles on an Italian restaurant with Frank Cifaldi, Chris Charla, and Kelsey Lewin and share stories (01:10:09) Brandon and Jenn Sandercock have a serendipitous meeting (01:29:02) Ty scours Yerba Buena to get final thoughts on the conference (01:30:09) Brandon gets Jim Stormdancer's GDC memories (01:32:28) Brandon and Ash Parrish discuss preconceptions, Kirby, Iran, and the giving nature of people at GDC (01:35:25) Ty unwinds with Eva Khoury to get the vibe of the show (01:51:22) Brandon runs into Mimsy and talks parties and Oakland (01:52:04) Ty shares their final thoughts on GDC 2023 (01:55:11) Brandon wraps up the show (01:55:50) Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums Support on Patreon Subscribe: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

“We just need to figure out how to work better with the world around us. I think these hemp materials, natural building in general, is a way to move towards that so we can both have our great comforts that we've become accustomed to and work in harmony with our environment.” -Jacob Waddell, President of the Hemp Building Institute Construction is a stubborn field, as most people know. Despite this, hundreds, if not thousands, of attempts have been made to introduce new and innovative materials, processes, and solutions. Some of these ideas find their footing and find varying levels of success with customers and contractors. Jacob Waddell and the Hemp Building Institute believe that hemp can be one of those successes. Hemp, and the most popular form hempcrete, offer unique advantages over traditional construction materials. While green building continues to grow in popularity, hempcrete's carbon-negative nature offsets the many carbon-positive building elements. Perhaps the biggest advantage is the inherent insulation value it offers. Listen in as Jacob shares an inside look at the state of hemp as a building material, from code adoption to manufacturing to what the future holds. Topics discussed in this interview:- The upcoming Metal Roofing Summit- Upcoming goals of the Hemp Building Institute- What is hempcrete, and what are its uses?- Is hemp sustainable?- Jacob's experience empowering HBI's efforts- Bringing hemp construction over from Europe- Cost and efficacy testing of hemp- Other hemp building products and use cases- The IRC code adoption process- Collecting and comparing data on hemp buildings- Potential for job creation- Rapid fire questions To follow the Hemp Building Institute's efforts, visit hempbuildinginstitute.org, follow them on Facebook, or email Jacob@hempbuildinginstitute.org.For more Construction Disruption, listen on Apple Podcasts or YouTubeConnect with us on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedInThis episode was produced by Isaiah Industries, Inc.This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrpChartable - https://chartable.com/privacy

On today's episode our host Mary Vandenack, CEO, Founder and Managing Partner at Vandenack Weaver Truhlsen, talks to Daniel Gerety, President and CPA with Gerety & Associates, and David Holmes, a director with Gerety & Associates, about structuring a family office to deduct investment expenses. In 2017 two things happened: the Lender Management LLC case and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. How did these changes make the family office into a tax-efficient structure? How does a family office meet the active trade or business rules of the IRC? Tune in and learn the answers to these questions and more.A Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a digital media and commercial video production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network and learn more about our other services today on HurrdatMedia.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Matthew placed the start of his journey as a kid, introduced to the world of Nerds by his brother-in-law. Fast forward a few years, Matt spent the better time of his homeschooling on IRC, building stuff. But when the time came to go to college, he avoided anything tech related. He described a few pivotal points that led him to finally embrace software development and have the blast of his life. We talked about his first jobs and how he entered the world of Video and never left. We finished talking about Mux, the company he co-created, and his aspirations for the future. Here are the links from the showhttps://www.twitter.com/matt_mcclureCreditsCover Legends by HoliznaCC0 is licensed CC0 1.0 Universal License.Your host is Timothée (Tim) Bourguignon; more about him at timbourguignon.fr.Gift the podcast a rating on one of the significant platforms https://devjourney.info/subscribeSupport the show

How to Build a More Resilient WorldThe COVID-19 pandemic leveled the playing field between those who have the privilege to avoid or mitigate disasters and those who don't. But the pandemic is just one of many ongoing challenges and crises that people are and have been facing for years. In addition to raising awareness, much of the work that we have as people and organizations is in how we respond in moments of crisis. How do we know what works? How can we respond effectively? And will one type of aid be culturally appropriate if moved to another area? To help us answer these questions, we're joined today by Britt Titus. Britt is the Behavioural Insights Lead at the Airbel Impact Lab, the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) research and innovation team which designs, tests, and scales solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. Drawing from her decade-long experience in the humanitarian space, Britt talks about 1) how regional disaster response can be applied to global emergencies, 2) how the Airbel Impact Lab team localizes and evaluates the impact of its interventions, and 3) what's top of mind for them in creating life-changing solutions for the communities that the IRC serves.Show Highlights:[03:37] How Britt found herself at the intersection of behavioral insights design and the humanitarian space[08:33] How lessons gleaned from regional disaster response can be applied to global emergencies[12:03] The methods that the Airbel Impact Lab uses to localize interventions[21:05] How the Lab evaluates the impact of its interventions[28:21] On the process of re-sharing localized information and learnings elsewhere[32:22] A key challenge facing Britt and her colleagues today[37:32] Britt discusses the Lab's InforMH project[47:21] What Britt is looking forward to in the behavioral design and humanitarian spaceLinks and Resources:Airbel Impact LabInternational Rescue CommitteeInforMHTIWG Forced Migration Series: Humanitarian Response Interventions, Jeannie Annan and Britt TitusConnect with Britt Titus via LinkedInConnect with Adam Gamwell via email, LinkedIn, or TwitterSubscribe to the This Anthro Life newsletter

Carlos Guimarães Pinto é doutorado em economia pela Faculdade de Economia do Porto. Foi consultor de estratégia, tendo trabalhado em mais de 20 países, foi também professor universitário e presidente da Iniciativa Liberal entre 2018 e 2019. Em 2021, fundou o think-tank +Liberdade, o maior think-tank português em número de membros. É atualmente deputado e vice-presidente da Comissão de Economia, Obras Públicas e Habitação. -> Apoie este projecto e faça parte da comunidade de mecenas do 45 Graus em: 45grauspodcast.com _______________ Índice (com timestamps): (4:39) Início — Visão política do convidado. | Da Democracia na América, de Alexis de Tocqueville | Livro: Economics in One Lesson, de Henry Hazlitt | John Locke | Escola Austríaca (19:44) O que dizer da relação ambígua de Friedrich Hayek com a democracia? (22:23) Como foi viver no Dubai, um país autoritário mas em que é possível subir na vida? (31:04) As três principais propostas de CGP para Portugal: baixar a carga fiscal, aumentar a concorrência (tese doutoramento do convidado) e descentralização | O caso da Irlanda | O problema da falta de dados no Estado | Como o IRC desceu na maioria dos países nas últimas décadas. (59:03) No contexto do Mundo, há uma crise do capitalismo? (1:12:19) Porque é difícil haver um partido verdadeiramente liberal em Portugal | As leis portuguesas mais bizarras. (1:19:31) Se defendem a igualdade de oportunidades, porque é que os liberais falam tão pouco de desigualdade económica? | Impacto no apoio dos cidadãos à liberalização económica. | A importância da educação para a mobilidade social | A experiência do convidado na Índia  Livro recomendado: Liberalismo e Seus Descontentes, de Francis Fukuyama _______________ O convidado tornou-se conhecido sobretudo enquanto presidente do Iniciativa Liberal, cargo que deixou por iniciativa própria em 2019, logo depois de o partido ter conseguido eleger o primeiro deputado nas eleições legislativas. Para além da actividade política, o convidado foi consultor de estratégia em vários países, professor universitário e doutorou-se em 2020 em economia pela Faculdade de Economia do Porto. Em 2021, fundou o think-tank +Liberdade, “o maior think-tank português em número de membros” (dizem eles, e eu acredito). Comecei por pedir ao convidado para explicar os princípios do liberalismo, tal como ele os entende. Princípios esses com que eu, como sabem, concordo em grande medida. Já tenho mais reservas, porém -- e discutimos sobre isso também -- em relação à colagem de muitos liberais, e do IL em particular, a figuras como Hayek, que tinha uma postura em relação à democracia ambivalente demais para meu gosto. De seguida, discutimos as três grandes medidas que o Carlos propõe para “desbloquear” Portugal: baixar a carga fiscal, aumentar a concorrência e descentralização. São medidas que passam, essencialmente (pelo menos duas delas), por aumentar a liberdade económica em Portugal. Mas a verdade é que, no contexto mais geral do mundo ocidental, o sistema capitalista tem sido cada vez mais criticado nos últimos anos, perante um aumento das desigualdades, a captura dos Estados por interesses privados e uma alegada ênfase exagerada no individualismo. Ainda recentemente Martin Wolf, comentador principal de economia do Financial Times, lançou o livro The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism, em que dá voz a várias destas críticas. Perguntei, por isso, ao Carlos a opinião dele sobre esta discussão, e como é que se pode compatibilizar estas limitações (se é que o são) do capitalismo a nível global com a necessidade de mais liberdade económica em Portugal. No final, confrontei o convidado com uma inquietação que há muito me incomoda: se os liberais defendem tanto a importância da igualdade de oportunidades entre as pessoas, de modo a que possa funcionar o dito “elevador social”, porque é que não defendem medidas para mitigar as óbvias desigualdades de ponto de partida que existem na sociedade? Especificamente, perguntei-lhe o que acharia sobre um imposto maior sobre as heranças. E a verdade é que quase consegui pôr um liberal-clássico, com veia libertária, a defender mais impostos -- quase! _______________ Obrigado aos mecenas do podcast: Francisco Hermenegildo, Ricardo Evangelista, Henrique Pais João Baltazar, Salvador Cunha, Abilio Silva, Tiago Leite, Carlos Martins, Galaró family, Corto Lemos, Miguel Marques, Nuno Costa, Nuno e Ana, João Ribeiro, Helder Miranda, Pedro Lima Ferreira, Cesar Carpinteiro, Luis Fernambuco, Fernando Nunes, Manuel Canelas, Tiago Gonçalves, Carlos Pires, João Domingues, Hélio Bragança da Silva, Sandra Ferreira , Paulo Encarnação , BFDC, António Mexia Santos, Luís Guido, Bruno Heleno Tomás Costa, João Saro, Daniel Correia, Rita Mateus, António Padilha, Tiago Queiroz, Carmen Camacho, João Nelas, Francisco Fonseca, Rafael Santos, Andreia Esteves, Ana Teresa Mota, ARUNE BHURALAL, Mário Lourenço, RB, Maria Pimentel, Luis, Geoffrey Marcelino, Alberto Alcalde, António Rocha Pinto, Ruben de Bragança, João Vieira dos Santos, David Teixeira Alves, Armindo Martins , Carlos Nobre, Bernardo Vidal Pimentel, António Oliveira, Paulo Barros, Nuno Brites, Lígia Violas, Tiago Sequeira, Zé da Radio, João Morais, André Gamito, Diogo Costa, Pedro Ribeiro, Bernardo Cortez Vasco Sá Pinto, David , Tiago Pires, Mafalda Pratas, Joana Margarida Alves Martins, Luis Marques, João Raimundo, Francisco Arantes, Mariana Barosa, Nuno Gonçalves, Pedro Rebelo, Miguel Palhas, Ricardo Duarte, Duarte , Tomás Félix, Vasco Lima, Francisco Vasconcelos, Telmo , José Oliveira Pratas, Jose Pedroso, João Diogo Silva, Joao Diogo, José Proença, João Crispim, João Pinho , Afonso Martins, Robertt Valente, João Barbosa, Renato Mendes, Maria Francisca Couto, Antonio Albuquerque, Ana Sousa Amorim, Francisco Santos, Lara Luís, Manuel Martins, Macaco Quitado, Paulo Ferreira, Diogo Rombo, Francisco Manuel Reis, Bruno Lamas, Daniel Almeida, Patrícia Esquível , Diogo Silva, Luis Gomes, Cesar Correia, Cristiano Tavares, Pedro Gaspar, Gil Batista Marinho, Maria Oliveira, João Pereira, Rui Vilao, João Ferreira, Wedge, José Losa, Hélder Moreira, André Abrantes, Henrique Vieira, João Farinha, Manuel Botelho da Silva, João Diamantino, Ana Rita Laureano, Pedro L, Nuno Malvar, Joel, Rui Antunes7, Tomás Saraiva, Cloé Leal de Magalhães, Joao Barbosa, paulo matos, Fábio Monteiro, Tiago Stock, Beatriz Bagulho, Pedro Bravo, Antonio Loureiro, Hugo Ramos, Inês Inocêncio, Telmo Gomes, Sérgio Nunes, Tiago Pedroso, Teresa Pimentel, Rita Noronha, miguel farracho, José Fangueiro, Zé, Margarida Correia-Neves, Bruno Pinto Vitorino, João Lopes, Joana Pereirinha, Gonçalo Baptista, Dario Rodrigues, tati lima, Pedro On The Road, Catarina Fonseca, JC Pacheco, Sofia Ferreira, Inês Ribeiro, Miguel Jacinto, Tiago Agostinho, Margarida Costa Almeida, Helena Pinheiro, Rui Martins, Fábio Videira Santos, Tomás Lucena, João Freitas, Ricardo Sousa, RJ, Francisco Seabra Guimarães, Carlos Branco, David Palhota, Carlos Castro, Alexandre Alves, Cláudia Gomes Batista, Ana Leal, Ricardo Trindade, Luís Machado, Andrzej Stuart-Thompson, Diego Goulart, Filipa Portela, Paulo Rafael, Paloma Nunes, Marta Mendonca, Teresa Painho, Duarte Cameirão, Rodrigo Silva, José Alberto Gomes, Joao Gama, Cristina Loureiro, Tiago Gama, Tiago Rodrigues, Miguel Duarte, Ana Cantanhede, Artur Castro Freire, Rui Passos Rocha, Pedro Costa Antunes, Sofia Almeida, Ricardo Andrade Guimarães, Daniel Pais, Miguel Bastos, Luís Santos _______________ Esta conversa foi editada por: Hugo Oliveira

Should open source projects use open platforms for their communities, or should they meet people where they are – places like Discord? Join the Discord server, Telegram group, Matrix room, or IRC channel.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Should open source projects use open platforms for their communities, or should they meet people where they are – places like Discord? Join the Discord server, Telegram group, Matrix room, or IRC channel.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Subscribe to the RSS feed.

Hear how understanding someone's culture can improve lives I was so excited to have the opportunity to speak with Britt Titus on our podcast. As you will learn, Britt found her calling when she discovered how behavioral sciences and humanitarian concerns could transform the world, one step at a time. The two of us are crazy about behavioral sciences, so it was such a joy to share our fascination with the difficulties people have understanding others who differ from them. Whether addressing Ebola in Liberia and West Africa or helping mothers in Mali avoid malnourishment in their children, Britt is constantly humbled by the challenges of helping people do things that seem so logical to those of us from the Global North. As she says, nothing is as simple as it might appear. And humility can often be the best way to bring about changes that can have a huge impact on health. Don't miss this one! Watch and listen to our conversation here It isn't that people cannot understand what you are saying They just have different stories in their own minds about what those words mean and how or why to change their behaviors. Solving problems with others requires us to understand what matters to them, what they believe to be truth. Remember, as I like to say, the only truth is there is no truth. Listen in to Britt Titus and enjoy our journey as part of your own. About Britt Britt's background lies at the intersection of behavioral insights and humanitarian action. She previously worked at Nudge Lebanon where she managed projects that applied behavioral insights to issues related to conflict and violence, ranging from gender-based violence to social cohesion and refugee integration. Beforehand, she spent most of her career working for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in humanitarian response and preparedness across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including emergency deployments to Liberia for the Ebola outbreak and the Middle East for the regional Syria response.  Britt has a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from the University of Oxford where she focused on applied behavioral science and completed research at the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) in London. You can connect with Britt on LinkedIn or her page on the Airbel Impact Lab website. For more stories about living with a purpose, we recommend these: Podcast: Lisa McLeod—If You Want To Succeed, You Must Find Your Noble Purpose Podcast: Pat Shea—Use Your Passions To Become Who You Want To Be Podcast: Theresa Carrington—Transforming Impoverished Artisans Into Entrepreneurs Additional resources for you My two award-winning books: Rethink: Smashing The Myths of Women in Businessand On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights Our website: Simon Associates Management Consultants   Read the transcript of our podcast here Andi Simon: Welcome to On the Brink With Andi Simon. Hi, I'm Andi Simon. I'm your host and your guide. As you know, I'm the founder and CEO of Simon Associates Management Consultants. We specialize in applying anthropological tools to help people change. And you know, as I've told you, so many times people hate to change, so we help you see things through a fresh lens and get off the brink and soar. Today, I'm absolutely honored to have with us Britt Titus. Now this is a very interesting woman whom you are going to love to meet to learn more about and understand how behavioral sciences can be applied in humanitarian ways that you may be unfamiliar with. Let me read you her background and then I'll introduce her. Her background lies at the intersection of behavioral insights and humanitarian actions. She previously worked at Nudge Lebanon where she managed projects that applied behavioral insights to issues related to conflict and violence, ranging from gender-based violence to social cohesion and refugee integration. She's going to tell you more about that. Beforehand, she spent most of her career working for the United Nations World Food Program in humanity, humanitarian response and preparedness across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, including emergency deployments to Liberia for the Ebola outbreak in the Middle East for regional Syria response. Britt has a Master of Public Policy from the University of Oxford, where she focused on Applied Behavioral Science and completed research at the Behavioural Insights Team in London. It's really an honor and a privilege to have you here. I'm so glad you could join me. Tell our listeners, it's so much fun. Let's add one behavioral scientist to another who are working in different areas, but in similar ways, sort of tell us about Britt. What's your journey like? Let's make you come alive so people can appreciate how you've applied behavioral sciences to all kinds of different problems. Please, who's Britt? Britt Titus: Thanks, Andi. Happy to share. So I started my journey really working for the United Nations when I was in my early 20s, which seems like a long time ago now. And, you know, the team that I was working with within the United Nations was really like a fire response department. So we were responsible for responding to emergencies all over the world, across many different continents, which included a lot of kind of rapid deployments for sudden onset emergencies. And so I really started my career by being thrown in the deep end. My first year with the UN, I was deployed to work on the Syria emergency across Jordan and Lebanon, trying to support the humanitarian community to get aid and relief supplies into the country across borders. And shortly after that, I was also deployed to the Ebola outbreak in 2014, if you can remember that, at that time. So being deployed to Monrovia, that capital, and working within the UN system to try to better respond to the growing number of Ebola cases at that time. And so this was a really formative period in my life. It was extremely rewarding. But something that was always the most interesting to me was the human element. Why are people responding the way they do? Why, when we, the humanitarian community, are bringing relief supplies to communities in Liberia and West Africa, why is there so much fear, and, you know, the incredible, impossible task of trying to encourage people who are experiencing the Ebola outbreak, to kind of turn over their sick family members to these faceless, masked PPE-donned health workers? In the midst of this crisis were all actions that needed to happen and we were struggling. We were building these large Ebola treatment units across the country, these large hospitals, and the beds were empty. And so we had to try and understand very rapidly, why are people not bringing their loved ones, their family members to these hospitals. What we understood was, it was the human element. It was the fear, it was the misinformation, it was the rumors. And the very, very difficult task of taking someone who's very ill and handing them over to these places that were very unknown and unfamiliar and foreign. And so these were the questions that I always grappled with and was so fascinated by. And so, partway into my career within the UN, I really knew that I wanted to go back and spend some time studying a little bit more and understanding how we can shift the way we do humanitarian response. A lot of organizations, you know, the way that we've been doing humanitarian response now is the way we've been doing it for 50 years, and so there's a lot of growing interest in more innovative ways of responding so we can improve outcomes for people whose lives are affected by crisis and conflict. And so one of those ways that I found, maybe my first week doing my master's of public policy, someone mentioned behavioral science, and I said, what's that? As soon as they told me what it was like, that's what I've always been interested in. I just didn't know the name of it. I didn't know that it had a whole evidence based theory behind it. And so I signed up for every course that I could at the University of Oxford, and really delved deep into it. The struggle was, of course, that I found that it was being applied in government, and it was being applied in private sector companies around the world. But, it was not being applied in a systematic way in the humanitarian sector to deal with the issues that I cared about, like pandemics, and health, and prevention of violence, and education for people affected by crisis. And so I was searching high and low for people who would be interested in this behavioral science thing. And it was difficult at that time, that was 2016. I had a lot of really interesting conversations with people who thought it was a great idea. But, it was definitely difficult to get some traction. And so eventually, I found Nudge Lebanon which is a small NGO working out of Beirut, in Lebanon, applying behavioral science to issues like social cohesion between the host population and refugees, health, nutrition, all of these topics that I care so deeply about, and really was able to start start running experiments to understand human behavior, and all for the purpose of trying to improve humanitarian outcomes for people, Syrian refugees, and Lebanese, in Lebanon. And so that was really the beginning of my career in this intersection of these two areas that I care about so deeply, and eventually found that IRC, the International Rescue Committee, the organization I currently work for, has an innovation team called the Airbelt Impact Lab. And within that, one of their core areas, or kind of tools in their toolkit, is behavioral science and so I joined that team, and now I lead the behavioral science team there. So that's my journey, Andi Simon: The most exciting part is that you have gone through your own self discovery. At the same time, you're now trying to bring a new perspective and way of seeing things to people who think they're doing just fine, thank you very much. The most interesting part, you know, there are many things that are interesting about what you're doing, but the hardest part is that it isn't working but that's the way we do it. And if that's the way we've always done it, that must be the right way to do it. But it's not working. Well, maybe it could work better. But that's the way we've always done it. And I can tell you, it's not that different from going into an organization, a business that is fractured, a toxic culture. And they say, well, this isn't good, but it's the way we've always done it. Humans are wonderfully resistant to leaving that shiny object and going to a new way of seeing things that might do better. And the big question is, how will we know? You know, the unknown becomes a crux for not doing it. And so I'm anxious to hear about some of your extraordinary experiences, helping them honestly do just what we said today: see, feel and think in new ways, so they can really overcome the resistance and do better. Help us understand some of the ways that this has been working for you. How have you been able to start the transformation of people's minds? And you know, breaking down the resistance to change? Britt Titus: Well, yes. So yeah, normally with our work, applying behavioral science in humanitarian settings, we are aiming to shift behavior in the population that we're serving. So for example, we're aiming to shift behavior of teachers in a refugee camp or parents in a conflict setting. But you're absolutely right, Andi, that the change needs to start at home. And it is really difficult. And a lot of the behavioral biases and the resistance to change that we see in all of us also happens in our own organizations and our own teams. And so, yes, we are a small team, doing behavioral science work, a team of around four people at the moment, sitting within a wide integration of 15,000 people almost in 40 different countries around the world. So it is no small feat to embed this new approach into the work we're doing. So yeah, I think, you know, a lot of what we try and do with the population, we also try to do at home. I think one of the good things, one of the opportunities, is that a lot of what teams have been doing for a long time, their aim is ultimately what we're trying to do is try to shift behavior, or help people kind of align their actions with their intention. So supporting populations to achieve the outcomes that they want for themselves, whether that's improved education for their family, improved health, whatever it is, and so often, that's really an entry point for us. Because ultimately, we want the same thing. We want to shift behavior in some way, or help people kind of leverage these drivers of behavior, which can help achieve outcomes. So that's our first entry point. And so I think, what is important is to first kind of help these other teams see that we're trying to achieve the same thing, which is always important for behavioral science work, is kind of identifying where the kind of similar values are, or where your shared values, your shared objective is, and then coming in and offering behavioral science, and that is something that's going to replace the ways of doing things from before, and it's definitely not a silver bullet. But what we try to do is help teams see that we can all use it as an added boost. All of these projects, especially for these humanitarian contexts, are working in where the challenges are extremely complex, and extremely just have a lot of complexity in them. Using these tools that can help us understand human behavior, not just at the individual or household level, but also at the system level within a country can be extremely, extremely helpful. And what's also beneficial is that behavioral science interventions tend to be quite cost effective, whether it's shifting the way that people see an intervention, or using different types of messaging, or helping people plan for the future. These are not tools that are incredibly expensive. And so they actually work very well in these contexts, especially where we're resource constrained, which we often are in a humanitarian context. So there's a lot that we can do there to kind of help people see that this is something that can be added on to their existing way of doing things and be embedded within program development and design and doesn't have to replace it. I think what's also really important is bringing teams along in the entire journey. So we know that if people are involved in things early on, they tend to have a sense of ownership, which is really good for building momentum and having buy-in. But at the same time, we know that these programs and these projects are only really going to be effective if we have the input of the people who are closest to the problem. And so it's really twofold. It is important to build ownership. But it's even more important to have their input, because behavioral science interventions are only as good as we understand the context of the problem. And typically, it's our project teams and and our teams on the ground who know those things the best. Andi Simon: How my head is going through at least a dozen questions. Let me take you through the first question. I'll be an apologist. How do you access real insight into what they think the problem is, or how do you begin to, because to your point, people have a story in their mind and that's the one they're trying to live. Like, we don't want to. You're trying to show them a different way that might be more effective, whether it's teaching or it's abuse in the home, or it's whatever the issue is. So somehow, we have to change their story. The Ebola one is a perfect one. You know, the big place wasn't the right place for my sick mom. But you didn't know how I felt or my story about it so I'm not going to do what you say. Even if it may be the right solution, but doesn't fit the way we do things. So story, changing your messaging point is extremely important. And it has to resonate with both the people you're collaborating with on your side and the people who you're trying to engage. Because if they don't engage in the solution, it'll just sit on the surface and never get below it. Am I right? Britt Titus: Absolutely. Yes. What do you do? Great. It's a great question. So I think, traditionally, behavioral science has tended to be a little bit top down. So behavioral scientists get together in a team, they come up with an intervention. You know, they try and understand a bit about the context in which they test that intervention, usually in a rigorous way or with some type of evaluation, but what we've found especially, definitely around the world, but definitely in these contexts, is, we have to spend a lot more time doing this in a more bottom up approach. One, because a lot of the behavioral science evidence including anthropology and psychology and social sciences is really based in the Global North and stable Western context. And so we don't actually know, as a field, as a community, a lot about the unique psychologies of people who are experiencing conflict displacement, or people who are living in the Global South. What is challenging about that is that means we have to do a lot better. But there's really an opportunity there as well, because I think it really forces us to be more humble about what we don't know, and really go in and speak to our clients, we call them clients, the communities that we're serving, as the experts. They are the experts in what is going to work best for them. They are the experts in what has been tried before and has failed. If we create something for them without them being included, then it's never going to be a sustainable solution. Even if we encourage people to take something up once, it doesn't mean they're going to change their behavior in the long run. And so I have an example of a project where this was very evident in northeast Nigeria. So in northeast Nigeria, and globally, the community has been trying to roll out a different way of teaching children, which is called social and emotional learning, which really tries to improve the social and emotional capabilities and skills of children, especially vulnerable children in places like the ones we work in northeast Nigeria, and Yemen, and Lebanon. And so the reason we're doing this is because there's a lot of evidence in the Global North about how these types of activities that can improve emotional regulation, or conflict resolution in children, have been extremely effective. And so humanitarian organizations have tried to roll those out in these contexts as well, except they found very little impact or even no impact when they roll them out. This obviously leads to a lot of confusion. Why are these interventions, these very effective evidence based interventions, working in the Global North and not in places like northeast Nigeria? And so when we went into the project to try and look at this, we had two hypotheses. One was, maybe these activities have not been contextualized enough for the northeast Nigerian context. And the second one was, teachers may not be using them enough for them to have the skill building effects on children so we're not seeing any impact. And so what we did is, we started from the very kind of most local way we could start. So we started by speaking to teachers, parents, headmasters, to the local government in the area, and trying to understand how they see social emotional learning happening in children. What does it mean to grow up to be a successful, socially adapted, emotionally regulated adult in Nigeria, not in the US? What does it mean to do that in Nigeria, and we learned a lot from that exercise. What we learned is, the skills that they thought were most important did not sound very much like the ones that we had been trying to promote. From the US context, the skills that teachers told us in northeast Nigeria that were the most important for children to learn were things like self discipline, obedience and tolerance, which is very different from terms like emotional regulation and conflict resolution. And at first, this was quite alarming to some of our colleagues in the US because words like obedience and discipline don't go down so well in the US context. And so, we had some people who didn't want to use those terms. Andi Simon: Forgive me for laughing, I'm holding back my laugh, because those aren't the right terms? How would they know? Well, they are who they are, and what they know. But I'm sitting here going, we can deny right? Britt Titus: So yeah, we had this little bit of a moment of tension where the local terms and the locally valued skills sounded very different from what had been promoted and studied in the Global North. And so what we did is, we actually did a mapping exercise where we try to understand: what did these words mean to you? We asked the teachers: What does it mean for a child to be obedient and have self discipline, what does that look like? And they told us things like: being able to focus on a task for a long period of time, being able to work well with other students in the classroom and not getting in fights. And it was all the same thing that we were trying to promote in the Global North, they just had completely different ways of talking about it. And that was a real breakthrough, because we realized that teachers were going to be far more interested in using an activity that promotes self discipline and obedience than one that promotes emotional regulation, a term that meant nothing to them. And it meant the same thing, it was promoting the same outcome. And we found as we tested, as we used more of this local framing, and more of this local content, the way we talked about the activities, how we talked about the benefits to the children of engaging with these, we saw more uptake. Teachers were more and more interested in using these activities. And it was almost like, finally, you've created something that's actually for our classrooms. And so we did this kind of iterative approach of working with, I think it was about 12 core teachers over a year, continually improving, adding more local content to the program, infusing these local framings, to the point where every single word we used throughout this program, from the training to the activity cards to the illustrations, were completely localized. And we saw really big improvements. And we just did a pilot study that ran for about six months, and found that on average, teachers have been using these activities for about 18 minutes a day, up from pretty much zero. So we're really excited about this progress. And, yeah, it seems to be the evidence so far showing that teachers are really excited and motivated to use these activities for the first time since we've been testing them, so just an example. Andi Simon: That's a big example. And for our listeners or viewers, think about what Britt is talking about. First, they are co-creating it with the end user. And the second thing is that words create the worlds we live in. And they are words that may sound like your words, but they don't have the same meaning. And the third part is that if you don't understand the story and what they're looking for in the behavior, as opposed to the words, you won't know what it is you're trying to actually achieve. And it becomes an interesting, I'll call it my aha moment, when you realize that we're trying to both do the same thing really well, but if we don't think of it from your perspective, you know, not mine, and it isn't what I do, it's what you need, how do I help you? It reframes the whole conversation and now we become a support team. And maybe that's not how you see it but our job is to be an enabler, a facilitator, a support team, and then watch what's actually happening and redirect it along, and we become collaborators and partners in transformation. That is a very exciting place to be, isn't it? Britt Titus: Yes, absolutely. I think you summarized it perfectly. Andi Simon: But your word humble is very important as well. Britt Titus: Yes, it's a mindset. But I think putting it into practice looks exactly like what you said. It is working extremely closely with the people that you're designing for. It's treating them as experts. It's co-creating with them at every step of the way. It's making sure that you are checking every assumption you have and everything down to the words and what they mean, and how they know what they mean, to people that might be different from the way you think about them. You know, I think all of those things are the practical applications of a humility mindset. And I think every project could benefit from that type of approach. Andi Simon: Well, what you're really doing is something very powerful because if you have 4000 folks out there who all think that they know better, and the folks are trying to help, don't, you can't go very far. I don't know if you know Judith Glaser's work on conversational intelligence and the power of neuroscience. She was an organizational anthropologist. The brain assuming they're all very much the same brains. When you say I the amygdala immediately fears, it flees, it hijacks it, it fights, it runs away from it, it just protects you. You're challenging me. But if we say we, all of a sudden: procreation, the trust, the oxytocin flows through your brain. We bond and if that's the way our minds work, regardless if you're in West Nigeria, or Lebanon, and we say the right words, however that said, and that doesn't necessarily mean we, but it is a different response for reasons that are good, but the mind isn't fighting you or fleeing you. It wants to know how, and that creates a behavioral sciences. An enormous power of transformation. As you're thinking, is there another illustrative case of things actually working? Britt Titus: Yeah, Absolutely, yeah. So I think another really exciting project we have been working on using a similar approach is in Mali. And one of the big problems that we're trying to address in Mali and other countries is severe acute childhood malnutrition. And so one of the big problems with trying to address childhood malnutrition is being able to detect it and diagnose it. And a lot of children don't get the treatment that they need because they never get diagnosed, and it's too late by the time that they are diagnosed, it's too late in their journey. And, it's too difficult to either bring them back or there's a lot of health morbidities that come with that. So, in rural areas, like in Mali, where we work, typically the place to get diagnosed is quite far away. Mothers and fathers tend to have to travel very, very far distances, hours a day, if they want to go visit a clinic. And so one of the kinds of solutions within the humanitarian space is to put the opportunity and responsibility of screening children in the hands of parents themselves. And so there's a tape that is given out to mothers which goes around a child's arm, upper arm, and can measure whether or not they're malnourished or not, with a red, yellow, green kind of traffic light type measurement. The problem is, if you are going to screen your own child for malnutrition, you have to do that every single month at least, sometimes every single week, in order to detect these small changes that can happen that you might not notice just by looking at your child if you see them every day. And so this is a behavior that is quite difficult. It's something that you have to do every single month, which is a very difficult timing to remember. I think, if you and I were told to do something every month for the next year, at some point in the month without a phone reminder, or an email calendar, notification, there's pretty much no way I remember to do that. And also, these mothers are expected to do a lot. They are cooking for the family, they are cleaning, they are sometimes working. And so, in terms of mental scarcity, and in terms of all the things that they're expected to remember and to do every day, it's pretty much impossible that they remember to do this. And so we've seen in areas where the majority of women were trained on this approach, very little, maybe a fifth of those women, ever use that tape to screen their own children for malnutrition, which is a big problem. So we wanted to understand why this is happening. What's going on? What is the reason why we're seeing so much kind of drop off after the training, and how can we encourage women to screen their children because ultimately, they want their children to be healthy and happy and to know if their children are experiencing malnutrition, so they can get help in time. So when we did this kind of exploratory phase, which we'd like to do, especially based on what we said earlier, we don't know a lot about the psychologies of women in rural Mali. And there are no papers out there that say how to encourage mothers in rural Mali to screen their own children for malnutrition. There's actually very little to go on. And if you were going to try and develop a reminder, which is a common behavioral science tool used across the world, if you were going to try and set that up, for example, in the US or the UK, you might send text message reminders, once a month. The problem is these women do not have their own phones, maybe they share a phone in the household. Even if there is a phone, they might not have a signal. Very often it might be in and out. And they might not have the ability to have phone data on a regular basis. So that's really not an option for us. And many of them are illiterate, meaning that even if we sent a text message, it would be very difficult for them to read it. So we had to come up with a way of reminding women in rural areas without using any technology or any kind of, you know, device or data which we often rely on. And, this is especially difficult in areas where these women have a different way of considering time and timekeeping than we would. There's no calendars in their home, there's not necessarily kind of the same way we would think about timing and marking days. And so we really have to understand how these women think about time. How do they remember to do the things that they already do? What are their existing things that they have to remember to do once a month or once a week? And how can we really leverage what they're already doing and the way they already consider time and piggyback onto that. And so we did a lot of testing with these women over and over again, going back and back and forth to this region of Mali, and testing and prototyping and showing them examples, which was really fun and they really enjoyed being able to rank different ideas and give us feedback, and they were very honest with us. One of our ideas was, should we get a little device that goes off once a month, a little beeper? They very confidently said, Well, where are we going to get the batteries for that? That's a silly idea. And so they were very, very helpful in that co-creation. process. And I think we've found across projects that the more time you spend with the user group, the more you build trust, and the more honest answers you start getting. It's not always the case at the beginning. So really investing in those relationships, and seeing the same women over and over again, was very, very helpful for the project, to really get the nitty gritty out of the context and their lived experience. And so what we ended up finding out is that many of these women are in these informal women's savings groups. So they meet about once a month, with other women, and they pool their savings. And we were like, Great, well, you're already doing this thing once a month. And so we thought, Well, what happens if we piggybacked on that, and we encourage women to bring their children to these meetings once a month, and they can all screen together, which would be socially reinforcing. You'd be seeing other women doing it. It would be the reminder to you and have the ease of doing it there when everyone else is doing it, and you have support of other women if you're not quite sure, if you're getting the right reading especially if you are holding a wiggly child on your lap and trying to get their arm to hold still is, is an impossible feat on its own. So we tested this out, and they really, really loved it. So we got really positive feedback. And we're able to continue iterating on that idea, and kind of create the social network reminder that came out of months and months of spending time with a population understanding their lived reality that we would have never known had we tried to come up with a solution and implemented in the first few weeks, that took months of getting to know the population before we're able to find that kind of sweet spot between what they're already doing, and what also meets the needs of the program. So we've also just run a pilot study on that and found really promising results from that activity. And women are really excited about using those groups with other women to screen their children for malnutrition. Andi Simon: We don't have to talk now about what they do if they find out if they are malnourished. But that's another piece of this, but I think that the power of the group is fascinating for Westerners who think about isolation. And families having new grandparents here. There's a great bunch of articles that just came out on the power of the grandparent and that the nature of society and smallest scale societies is very much about each other, about a collaboration. Even if you live in isolation, you need the others to help you save, take care of your kids, and know-how and doing it together. It's much more exciting and fun, and something purposeful, in your mind, as opposed to simply tactical and practical. Yes, it was tactical and practical. Take the measurement, and you'll know. Britt Titus: Much better to have that kind of social accountability and to have that reminding point, and to know that other women are going through the same thing, which also can help a lot with stigma and norms as well. So we believe that can also be a kind of an intervention that picks up momentum, as people start to see that this is the new norm, and start to see others doing it more often. Andi Simon: I think you'll probably have a bunch of detours along the journey. I don't think there's a destination per se. But I think the other part you might find is that there'll be self-appointed leaders who begin to take ownership of this and who now feel a responsibility to the group, casual, informal leaders, who now talk to each other in a way that they can see the benefits and then it becomes contagious. It's so interesting because it doesn't matter whether it's here in the States or anywhere else, humans are fascinating. And if you don't pause for a moment and see through their eyes and how to do it, you can't go anywhere, even if we know where we need to go, it won't get there. And then they're the problem, but they're not the problem. You're the problem. Actually, you're not the problem, either. The problem is a problem. Then the question is, how can we get past it to find some solutions that are clever and creative and innovative? There's a book called, The Secret of our Success. It's a wonderful book about how human evolution has happened. You and I both love to look back to go forward. But it's because of our collective brains. And what you're describing as a collective brain, not an isolated one. The isolates didn't do very well, they didn't survive very well. But together, we can do far better, in the shareables, and you will almost probably become part of the shareables. You are no longer the outsiders but part of the insider. This is such fun. You and I could talk for a while. We've probably taken our listeners' and viewers' time up, but I so enjoy the opportunity to share your sharing with us. And I can't thank you enough for doing that. The organization: would you like to share a little bit more about the work that you're doing at the IRC? And how people might find out more about it? And why it should be important for them, please? Britt Titus: Absolutely, yes. So the IRC is also speaking of looking back in time, quite an old organization. So it was actually set up in 1933, at the request of Albert Einstein to support the Germans who were suffering under Hitler's regime, and also eventually refugees from Mussolini's Italy, and Franco's Spain. And so this organization has been around for a long time, and has also had many iterations. And so yeah, now we're a large organization, as I mentioned, serving around 40 different countries around the world. And within that organization, we have the Airbelt Impact Lab, which is our research and innovation, part of the organization. And so within that team, we're really focused on trying to create breakthrough solutions in the areas of malnutrition, which I've mentioned, education, and emergencies, which I've also mentioned, women's health, and climate resilience and adaptation for the future climate shocks and current climate shocks that are disproportionately affecting people in humanitarian contexts. So those are the main areas that we are focusing on with our innovation, behavioral science, human-centered design, and all of these different approaches. And so I welcome everyone to have a look at our website, which is the Airbelt Impact Lab website, which I think you can probably share with people. It's airbelt.rescue.org, to read about some of the projects we've been working on and see how you can support it if you're interested in being involved. Andi Simon: Don't you love it! You have found your calling. It is so beautiful. Thank you, I don't know where your journey is going to take you, but thank you for sharing it today. And for all of our listeners and viewers, thank you for sharing our podcasts with your network and wherever you can. As I mentioned, we are now in the top 5% of global podcasts. It's truly an honor and a privilege to be able to find great people like Britt to share with you and then you take it from there. If you've got folks you want us to interview, info@Andisimon.com is just how you can reach us. And SimonAssociates.net is our website. My books are available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. And they continue to be best sellers and award winners and having fun. My next book comes out next September 2023 and I will tell you all about it when it happens. But for now, I want to wish you a safe and happy journey wherever life is taking you. And please enjoy yourself for every day is a gift. And we have to leave it like that. And Britt is doing some marvelous work. Go look at her website and take a look at how you might be able to help her or at least learn from what she's doing. The messaging is very important. She is helping you see, feel, and think in new ways. And that's what we're here to help you do. So on that note, I'm going to sign off and say goodbye. Thanks for it.

Marysia Zapasnik, Ukraine Country Director for the International Rescue Committee, reports from Ukraine how people are coping as it has been just about one year since Russia invaded, and what the IRC is doing to help with the humanitarian crisis amid the war.

Helping to eradicate smallpox. Experiencing bewildering treatment in an Ottoman bathouse - a hamman. Having a failed relationship with Clotworthy Skeffington. The story of the life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu is extraordinary. Listen to William Dalrymple and Anita Anand tell it. IRC link: https://www.rescue.org/uk  DEC link: https://donation.dec.org.uk/turkey-syria-earthquake-appeal LRB Empire offer: lrb.me/empire Twitter: @Empirepoduk Goalhangerpodcasts.com Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Jack Davenport Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Canonical's latest Ubuntu PR blunder, Mastodon and the fediverse are doing a lot better than some journalists seem to think, yet another telemetry row, the company behind Mycroft is struggling, KDE Korner, and more.   News We now have a Discord server (as well as the Telegram group, Matrix room, and IRC channel). Links to... Read More

Canonical's latest Ubuntu PR blunder, Mastodon and the fediverse are doing a lot better than some journalists seem to think, yet another telemetry row, the company behind Mycroft is struggling, KDE Korner, and more.   News We now have a Discord server (as well as the Telegram group, Matrix room, and IRC channel). Links to... Read More

Remember, we welcome comments, questions, and suggested topics at thewonderpodcastQs@gmail.com. S4E6 TRANSCRIPT:----more----   Yucca: Welcome back to the Wonder Science-Based Paganism. I'm one of your host Yucca. Mark: And I'm the other one, mark. Yucca: And today we are excited to have a very special interview. So we have Rana joining us. Rana: Hi. Thank you for having. Mark: Welcome Rana. Rana is a member of the atheopagan community and serves on the atheopagan Society Council. And we are, this is part of our series to help people in the community to become. A little bit more familiar with who's serving on the council and you know what their vision is for the future and all that good kind of stuff. So we're delighted to be able to talk with you today, Ron. Rana: Thank you for having me. I'm really looking forward. Yucca: Yeah. Thanks for coming on. So I think, I mean, maybe a, a good place to start here would be with what brought you to atheism. Rana: Yeah, so I was raised without religion and I never really related to when people talked about God or religion or having a faith. I didn't really have a reference for what that meant. My parents are not religious, and I remember them, you know, having negative views of religion due to hypocrisy and news scandals and stuff like that. I'd been to a few churches as a kid for weddings and events, but I never really felt like I fit in there, didn't feel like it was something for me, and just didn't understand it really. And on top of, you know, Being the child of an immigrant from the UK and an immigrant from Iran, there have been a lot of places and times in my life that I felt like I didn't fit in, and religion just definitely felt like one of them where I accepted that I just, I don't understand this, it doesn't apply to me. And I mostly felt okay about that. Many years later, I discovered the term atheist, and for a long time I have felt apathetic towards Philosoph. Phyla, sorry. Philosophical and theological debates about the existence of God or not, because it feels like it just doesn't matter to me. Bio. I like that term atheist, like an apathetic atheist. I was really drawn to the paranormal as a child and I watched a lot of stuff related to that. I'm sure I saw a segment somewhere about witchcraft or Wicca or paganism, and I'm sure that embedded itself somewhere in my mind. , I was definitely drawn to witchcraft as a team. Many team girls seem to be, I've noticed, and it made me feel seen in a certain way and had a really big appeal for me that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it just felt like something that I liked. Now that I'm older, I can see it a little bit differently that I think it's about power and autonomy. It's about discovering yourself, your body, your sexuality, how you process feelings, you know, getting into the psychological aspect of it. And so I only ever did things on a very casual, solitary basis, and I think I liked the sensory aspects more than the frameworks themselves. I really enjoyed going to my local new age store, and I felt, I remember feeling really calm and curious when I was there. It just, it always felt like such an experience with the smell of incense and the gentle bells and calming music and being surrounded by books. It was just perfect for an introvert, shy, like kid like. and it also felt like a place full of this esoteric knowledge, and I've been a very eager, lifelong learner. So the whole thing just really appealed to. , but I also feel like I spent a lot of those younger years searching and never quite finding whatever it was I was looking for. I never became involved with any other people or groups, and I always just remained on my own. And in retrospect, I'm kind of glad about that just because I've heard so many mixed and negative experiences about folks getting involved in groups, especially as a young person. So, . You know, it's hard to say what it would've been like if I didn't get involved with the group, but that was just how it went. I spent quite a bit of my twenties being out of touch with anything spiritual. I held onto some interest in ghosts in a vague sense of paranormal, and I just kept this agnostic take on it. But perhaps there are things out there we don't yet understand, but I can't say for sure either way. What is the ultimate answer, ultimate truth. Yucca: Hmm. Rana: I slowly became a more skeptical thinker, and I had one particular partner who really modeled that for me, and I'm very grateful to have adopted that mindset over the years. He was also an atheist as a rejection of a Christian upbringing, and I noticed a lot of my friends had a similar path. as I continued to grow and really just broaden my perspective of the world, I became very existential and got a starker, for lack of a better word, materialist picture of the universe, and that really strongly has defined my worldview. Going forward, I realized I was an atheist and I felt an overall sense of clarity about that. Like it didn't feel like a bad thing to me. It, I felt good about it. But I didn't know any atheist spaces where I felt like I belonged or felt comfortable. It always felt like there was a larger interest in being angry and logical tends to be very male dominated, and there was just. Felt like more debating than a feeling of building a community or building shared meaning together. I, I never quite saw anything like that happening. Many years passed, and then at the beginning of the pandemic, I sort of had a reckoning where I realized how important critical thinking and rational thought are to me. There was a driving force behind it with all the pseudoscience and conspiracy theories that were going around. The uncertainty of that time also brought witchcraft to the forefront as a trend again, and got me thinking about it a little bit more. And I started following some content creators. But I have a hard time trying to make that separation of just ignoring the things that I don't connect with. And you know, like discussion of d d isn't magic for me. , it's, it's not very interesting to me, Yucca: Right. Rana: and I found myself searching for ways to learn the taro. Without the supernatural aspect, and I didn't even know what to call that. I remember googling secular tarot, and I think I found one blog and it didn't seem to have a lot of content, and so I thought that just wasn't a thing. I actually started to wonder if I should make it a thing . I was like, is nobody doing this Yucca: mm-hmm. Rana: because I, I feel like I'd heard of the tarot being a psychological. Like having a psychological aspect to it. And I wanted to learn more as using it as a psychological tool and not for divination. I started joining some witchy subreddits and I eventually found the SaaS witches subreddit, which was forgetting what it stands for, all of a Mark: Skeptical, atheistic agnostic and science seeking witches, I, I think is what that stands for. Rana: Yeah, that's right. And I remembered seeing either a post or a comment about atheopagan and the name itself made me pause, like, whoa, I've never seen those two words together. What does that mean? So I looked into it and I saw that there was. The community and I joined the Facebook group and I was just really blown away to have both of these things that I was interested in suddenly crystallize and come together in this singular idea, which also had a whole community attached to it. It really never occurred to me that these two parts of myself could coexist together. . And since it was the beginning of the pandemic, it was also a very particular time Yucca: right. Rana: And, you know, I remember challenging myself to just go to one of the mixers, peck it out, and I distinctly remember having a feeling of familiarity and feeling like I was in the right place. It's a little hard to describe. But it's not something I feel too often. So it was notable. And you know, those video chats really became a very meaningful part of my routine, especially in the earlier parts of the pandemic where there was a lot of uncertainty and fear and a need to really process what was happening with other people. And so I was really grateful to be able to do that. Like-minded folks who were grounded and rational and but also had warmth and just a sense of comradery. So, you know, overall finding the community was just this really big and refreshing change for me that gave me access to a community as an atheist and let me, Have my witchy interests, but stay aligned with science, logic, and reason, while also keeping the warmth of wonder and humanity, and I have yet to find that in another space. Yucca: Hmm. Mark: Well, that's wonderful. I, I'm, I'm always excited to hear the stories of, you know, how people found us and what it seemed like when they got here. Yeah. That, I mean, from the, from that first mixer, it was really clear to me, you know, oh yeah, this is one of ours. .  Yucca: Yeah. So were there certain values that. that you saw that atheopagan had or the community had that really attracted you to it? Or, you know, what, what was it specifically that really pulled you in? Rana: Yeah, I know I mentioned like rational and critical thinking a little bit. I really respect the group's commitment to doing better and not doing things out of the name of tradition. I really love the social justice aspect of the group that everyone is on board with that, and I really appreciate that. I've seen a lot of healthy communication. Positive healthy debate and also good conflict resolution and having that modeled for me and framed in a way that we're all learning and growing together. So having a little grace with each other, you know, cuz none of us are perfect. I also really value that it's a larger social space where our conversations start from having a shared world. like that isn't necessarily safe to assume from a lot of other spaces and sometimes I do forget that. I love that we're encouraged to question everything and overall there's this sense of a desire for knowledge and I love learning and hearing the things that other people are learning about and sharing. Cuz a lot of the times it's something I would've never encountered on my own. Yucca: Mm. Mm-hmm. Rana: I also very much value it being a space to be vulnerable. You know, along with atheist and agnostic people, often not having a shared space with minded others and forming a connection. . I think there's a real lack of spaces to be vulnerable just in general. And a place to share life's highs and lows with people who share your worldview. And you know, plenty of people find this through friendship, myself included. But I think it's different to have a larger community based on this. A community feels like a space where you're exposed to people you may not otherwise have a friendship or other connection. and I think those other connections are really valuable to expose us to the wider variety of people out in the world and subsequently their interests and knowledge. You know, like I said previously, I've seen. and felt a lot of vulnerability within the Ethiopia Pagan group, and I find that really meaningful to have a space to share and process things with others, knowing that they won't judge you and they may even have resources or similar experiences to share. I love that Ethiopianism. Specifically death and pleasure, positive space. That feels really important to me since death and sex are fundamental parts of the human experience. And again, I just feel like we lack healthy spaces to process thoughts and feelings about that. And it feels like we're. Pushing back against the over culture, you know, like we've, we've talked about before, just this overarching, the overarching social norms, especially of the US and we're just doing our best to live our values and also modeling another way of living. I've also seen how religious groups tend to give people a connection to community. and I've always kind of envied that as a non-religious person, it felt like something I didn't have access to. And I see how those communities sometimes really bring someone through a time of need. And you know, I think there's, thinking ahead a little bit, there's also a sense of vulnerability that comes with. I've noticed people become more religious as they age, and it gives them that connection and support from other people. But I also see this larger epidemic of loneliness in this country, and I think that can become worse frankly, as you age and especially. The people I know tend to not be having children, myself included. So for myself, I'm the only child of immigrants who is not having children, and it feels really important for me to establish chosen family and meaningful social circles around me Yucca: Mm-hmm. Rana: ensure that I have that community around me as I continue aging. And I really want to be part of that support for other people as well. Yucca: Hmm. That's really beautiful. Mark: yeah. That's wonderful. Rana: Thank you. Mark: So. Yeah. I mean there's, there's just, there's so much there that you're, what you're expressing is a reflection of what I really hope for, for this community. You know, what, what I want it to be. And it's not that I don't think that it is, it's that, you know, being in the middle of it, I, I can't necessarily trust my own perceptions. So it's very validating, you know, to hear you reflect that back. You're, you're serving on the atheopagan Society Council now have been since last summer, and you have some other volunteer roles in the community as well. What do you see as your roles for the community? Rana: So, first I wanna say I was really honored to be asked to be on the council. I didn't. And I honestly didn't really understand what the council was until we talked about it more, and I got a pic, a better picture of what it means to be as a registered religious organization and what that entails. I decided to join because I wanted to be a part of creating a stable future for this community that I've come to really care. For myself, I feel that I have a quieter form of contribution. I like to work in the background and I intend to contribute through planning, designing, strategizing, and creating structure. I have some experience with that from managing a small business, and I've seen quite a bit of crossover in how small businesses work and how. The organization is growing and, and needing some processes figured out and things like that.  Mark: So as a member of the council what, what is your hope to bring then in terms of values, vision, I guess, I guess this can go into our next question, which is, you know, what is your vision for this community? Where do you see us going? What do you hope for us? All that kind of. Rana: Yeah. My vision is for the community to stay centered on the needs and desires of the community as it continues to grow and change a little bit. I think it's really important that it stays adaptable as it scales because it will become more complex and I'd hate to see. Anything fall apart just because there isn't structure there. So this feels like a really good time that we're building that structure in really keeping things set up in an egalitarian way like we have discussed, and communicate our efforts to the community and make sure they're aware of what we're doing as a council and as leadership in general council and moderators for the most. Currently make up the leadership and really keeping the conversation open. And I think staying open to new ideas and ways to go about this. I know we're not reinventing the wheel by doing what we're doing in terms of having a decentralized community that. Is trying to create that structure and I'd love for us to look at what other groups have done and see what's worked and what hasn't, and examine that and do our best to adapt that for ourselves. I've seen atheopagan have organic growth, and that's fantastic. People are coming to the community, they're connecting and resonating. And I think that's great. So from my perspective, the focus is really on just creating those robust systems to maintain what we have. Create that really solid foundation and be able to continue to scale and grow. You know, we're an online community and the fact is, online spaces are always in flux. You know, imagine if the group started on Live Journal or MySpace, or even I, IRC chat. Because I've been a part of communities that were on those platforms and they're now defunct most part. And I think it's, it's just important that we remain adaptable in that sense, like technologically. And I think that will be an ongoing exploration for us. And it's not just us too that are considering. Mark: Yeah, I, I love your big picture thinking. You know, you, you, you managed to click back up and look at things from a high level, and that's so important. You know, it's, It's really easy, especially when things are happening so quickly, it's so easy to get kind of caught up in the minutiae and not, and not see that big picture. And I, you know, I really appreciate that you, you bring that for us. You know, another thing that I was going to mention is that on our, in our adult salons that we do once a month, you've really been a rock with. Tremendous resources and a real wisdom that you bring to talk about all kinds of, you know, relational issues and just variety of stuff. It's, it's really been great to have you in those spaces. And, and I know that you feel very strongly about how important it is to have those safe environments to talk about adult topics. So, just wanted to kind of. Give you flowers for that for you know, cuz I really appreciate, you know, how you've really taken that on. Rana: Thank you. Yeah. I really value having that space and that directly ties back to what I said about vulnerability and something I didn't even get to touch on too is the idea of play. I really love that Ethiopianism is also about embracing play and levity and. Making sure we have that in our lives as adults. That's something that I've found is really important for my mental health play. Can also relate into pleasure, but not necessarily. And I think it's just important to have that, that space for each other and, and that idea of a. Space is also something that's difficult to access sometimes. And I think sometimes people don't even know how to express what it is that they're looking for, but I think sometimes it's that, and especially having that with other adults where you can speak frankly and ask questions and not be judged. Mark: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. That's certainly the vision of those spaces. And Once again, you've just been really remarkable with, oh, I have a link, I have a website, I have a paper, I have a guidebook, I have a book recommendation, I have a video recommendation. You know, it's like whatever it is we're talking about, I can count on you to , have something really, you know, quality, value stuff to bring to the table on it. And it's it's really great. It's just really a great thing We Rana: I'm honestly sorry. Mark: We missed you last week. Rana: Oh, I missed you guys too. Yeah, it's honestly really lovely to have a space to share all of that random stuff that I save and hopefully make a meaningful difference for someone else. Mark: So, I mean, we've been working together in a variety of contexts for a while, but I was gonna ask Do you have any questions for us? About anything Rana: Oh, I wasn't prepared for that question. Mark: I wasn't either. It just showed up. Rana: I don't think so. I mean, honestly I mean I haven't interacted as much with you Yucca, but I know Mark, I've spent many of afternoon of mine with you in the mixers and, and the adult salon and all of our like, various events. So nothing is immediately coming to mind. Yucca: Just wait till we stop hitting the record button and then it'll all come Right. Mark: Right Yucca: you wake up in the middle. Oh, I should've. I should've asked. Yeah. Mark: Well, at any time, honestly, it doesn't have to be now. Any, any time.  Rana: Did you have any other questions for me? Mark: I didn't, how about you, Yucca? Yucca: Well, earlier on you talked in the beginning about different content that you had started watching and getting and interested in kind of before you had found the atheopagan community. Are there still are there particular content creators or platforms that you still really enjoy that you'd wanna share? That you can think of, Rana: That's a great question. I do find value in some of them. I am not sure that I would share them just because they think Yucca: sound like you're Rana: has a different. Yucca: Mm-hmm. Rana: Yeah, and everyone has a different comfort level with a level of animism or I hesitate to say woo. Some of it touches on that sometimes. I think it would make more sense for me to share it in like a more context dependent way, but yeah, I've occasionally found things here and there that I do have an easier time connecting. just because I know that Ethiopianism exists. Like I've found my corner right? Because it, it felt a lot more lonely to be like, man, I like some of this, but some of this is just not for me. And. It's, it's just, it's really nice to have a place that I don't have to have that. Yeah. But feeling of needing to ignore certain parts of it because it kind of ruins it to a degree, you know? Yucca: kind of increases that lonely feeling you were talking about, right? Rana: Mm-hmm. Yucca: almost fit in, but you don't quite fit in, so it just kind of makes you feel a little bit more lonely, cuz you found the, you found it, but then it's not really, it's not really quite right. Rana: and I've, I've felt like I've balanced between the poles of many identities over time. And so, like I said, it, it's always notable to me when I'm pretty distinctly feeling like, oh, I belong here. This is my, this is my place. So, Mark: You know, I was, I was thinking about that feeling and that, you know, that that sort of like octagonal peg with a round hole feeling where it's like, you can almost get in there , but it's, it's not quite right. And it occurs to me that one of the things I think that makes atheopagan more able to be more of a complete fit for people than many other Pagan spaces is that we have articulated principles that, that we've got written values that we all cohere around. Because, you know, if you just run up, if you run up the Pagan flag and hold an event, You know, the, the value sets of the people who show up may be radically different, and in some cases, you know, they may just not be people that you want to hang around if they're neo-Nazis or whatever. So I, I kind of feel like, you know, we've, we've got this nice walled garden and we keep inviting more and more and more people in, but at least, at least there's an understanding. You know, what you're expected to value. You know, valuing, respecting people and valuing critical thinking and you know, all those kinds of things. And I think it may make it a little bit easier for people to find that sense of belonging than some other spaces. Rana: Yeah. I think that is where structure is really an asset to this group. I think you're really right that the principles were something that I saw quickly off the bat. When I learned about the group, it became very clear to me what the group valued and outright the rules of the group, and it reminded me of the principles of Burning Man, which are a little bit different. That was a community that I was involved in and was really meaningful to me. And when I think back on it had a similar parallel of trying to find meaning and make meaning with other people without religion being a part of it. And I have felt that the increasing interest in events like that are. Possibly because a lot of younger people are not interested in organized religion, and I think it's very natural for us to find those spaces to have connection and meaning together in a way that's bigger than consumerism Mark: Mm-hmm. Rana: bigger than. Even just a, a friendship, which I'm not devaluing a friendship in any way, but like I said, I think, I think having a larger group community space is just a very different asset. Yucca: Right. There's different ways of relating. There's, it's a different kind of connection. Yeah. Rana: Exactly. Yeah. Mark: Yeah, there's a whole, I've thought about this a couple of times and I've never written about it, cuz I can't quite get, I can't get a grip on it yet. I don't, I'm not entirely sure what I want to say, but the whole phenomenon of transformational festivals, Is a thing that's happening all over the world in Burning Man. And the associated regional burns are an example of that. But I mean, it grew out of like rave culture in the nineties and it's hybridized with neo paganism quite a lot. There's a lot of people in those circles that are also involved with neo paganism. I just, I think it's very interesting. I, I. Especially younger people are looking for meaningful, transformational, joyous, ecstatic experience, and they can't have that if they follow the rules of the over culture, cuz the over culture doesn't want them to have it. Yucca: Mm-hmm. Mark: So communities like ours that give people permission to seek pleasure as long as it doesn't hurt anybody I, I think, are, are a part in a way, even though, you know, when we had an in-person event in Colorado, it wasn't a rave. But even so, I think communities like ours are kind of ongoing, lasting examples of how those kinds of values can be promulgated, and that's one of the reasons why I'm excited about. Yucca: Hmm. Rana: Yeah, I've been very optimistic seeing so much increased conversation and discussion and normalization of things like chosen family, having a really intentional community of people around you and. Things like queer relationships, polyamorous relationships, and really building your social circle. And I think this is really kind of an extension of that and an opportunity to connect with others to keep building on that. I very much value the friendships and connections that I. Through the Ethiopia Pagan community, and I don't know how I would've made those kinds of connections without it really. Mark: It's good, it's it fit. That's just good. It's, it's, Yeah. I, I, I feel like we did something good. Rana: We're definitely on the right path, I think, and it's a matter of. You know, like we're discussing right now with the council, coming up with strategy, figuring out what to prioritize in terms of I apparently need to think about this. Yucca: Well, where to, where to put the, the energy that we have as, as volunteers that we've got a limited amount of energy, right? And, and where can that do the most? Where can that help the most? Where can that serve the most? And that's what we're looking to do, right. Mark: right. Rana: Exactly. Mark: Well, and one of the things that can really endanger organizations that are kind of in the startup phase is too many opportunities. You, you can have death by opportunity if you kind of go chasing off in all different directions. Reminds me when I was a kid, I have sisters who are twins who are 10 years younger than me, and inevitably when we were out in public, they would run in opposite directions you can, you can kind of get your energy scattered that way if you don't have priorities and a strategy for what you're trying to achieve. So I think it's really timely that we're doing that now. Yucca: Mm Rana: And like you said, yakka, we're, we're making the most of having limited volunteers and, you know, always looking towards onboarding new ones. So creating a process for that and, and moving, moving towards that. Yucca: Yeah, Mark: Well this has been a great conversation, Rana. Thank you so much for coming on the, on the podcast and, and for everything that you're doing for us. It's it's really a pleasure to, to serve with you and to Yucca: and inspirational. Mark: with you in the community. It is, it's really, Yeah, that, that big vision is really inspirational, so thank you. Rana: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I really enjoyed listening to this throughout the pandemic, and I always felt like I was listening to friends sit and chat over tea. Like it's really. Lovely, and thank you again , for the invitation to be on the council and to officially become a part of leadership. It's been really wonderful to be able to contribute, and I'm really looking forward to seeing us grow and move forward. Mark: Absolutely. Oh, I, I have to put in, I have to put in one plug. We are, we are doing a, a calendar project in the atheopagan communities on both Discord and Facebook. It's being coordinated by a community member named Ren, and we are accepting. Submissions for the calendar. We're going to print calendars as a fundraiser next fall. So, if you are interested in contributing to the atheopagan calendar email us at the Wonder Podcast Queues the Wonder Podcast qs all one word@gmail.com and we'll put you in touch with the the people that need to, you need to be connected. Yucca: Yep. Okay. Thank you. Mark: Okay. Thanks so much. Yucca: Bye everybody.      

President Biden gave the State of the Union address last night. Scott and Jeff talk about the tax components of the address. They discuss large corporations which pay little in tax, billionaires who pay little in tax, and taxing share repurchases., and "apples and elephants comparisons."  Also, Jeff explains why it is impossible for pretty much any taxpayer, let alone those making under $400K a year, to pay a penny more in taxes under any of President Biden's current or former tax proposals (IRC 985 and 6102 come into play!). Note: We base this episode off of the official script of the State of the Union  address (https://www.whitehouse.gov/state-of-the-union-2023/), which omits some fabulous adlibbing by President Biden.

https://vimeo.com/796107149 https://www.currentfederaltaxdevelopments.com/podcasts/2023/2/5/2023-02-06-reconsidering-ev-suvs   This week we look at: IRS revises classification of clean vehicles for purposes of determining vehicles subject to $80,000 MSRP limit Proposed revenue procedure published to establish new voluntary tip reporting procedure Taxpayer's log of every mile of vehicle use had issues that prevented Tax Court from accepting it for meeting burden under IRC §274(d)

This week we look at: IRS revises classification of clean vehicles for purposes of determining vehicles subject to $80,000 MSRP limit Proposed revenue procedure published to establish new voluntary tip reporting procedure Taxpayer's log of every mile of vehicle use had issues that prevented Tax Court from accepting it for meeting burden under IRC §274(d)

Business diversification is a good way to ensure that you can weather a storm when there is one. In today's #Highlights episode, we look back at our conversations with Brett Swarts and Hugh Odom who give real estate entrepreneurs options on how they can diversify their income stream.Brett talks about the Deferred Sales Trust and how it offers a more flexible way to defer tax by acting as the middleman in transactions and allowing the seller time to choose what to invest in next. Meanwhile, Hugh breaks down which commercial real estate properties are prime candidates for a cell tower lease, and most importantly, he will tell us how we can avoid a $1,000,000 mistake. Enjoy the show!Key Points From This Episode: How the Deferred Sales Trust modifies the IRC 1031 method.Property owners usually face tax problems when they are looking to sell.How the Trust gives sellers the freedom to bide their time before reinvesting.The capital is locked up in the Baby Boomer generation, and how to unlock it.How the Deferred Sales Trust benefits syndicators through rolling tax into a new dealGetting to know Hugh Odom and his telecom consulting firm Vertical Consultants.Which commercial real estate properties are prime candidates for a cell tower?How do we know if our property can be considered a cell tower site?Hugh tells us how to avoid making mistakes when an opportunity for a cell tower lease comes.Hugh shares how to make a cell tower lease agreement a win-win situation for both the landowner and telecom provider.Tweetables:“We use a Deferred Sales Trust, which is just an installment sale, creative installment sale, to give them tax deferral, liquidity, and diversification. The best thing is the ability to buy or invest in other commercial real estate deals at an optimal timing so that they can create and preserve more wealth, and as a commercial real estate syndicator, so that you can add massive amounts of value to your partners, and so that you can create and preserve more wealth and attract more capital.”  – Brett Swarts“Understand an opportunity — the knock on the door, the phone ring, the email that comes across, understand exactly not only what you are being offered but understand what you are giving up in exchange.” – Hugh OdomLinks Mentioned in Today's Episode:Brett Swarts on LinkedInCapital Gains Tax Solutions websiteWS370: The Benefits of the Deferred Sales Trust for Diversification with Brett SwartsHugh Odom on LinkedInCell Tower Lease Experts websiteWS889: How To Avoid A $1,000,000 Mistake with Hugh OdomAbout Brett SwartsBrett Swarts is the Founder of Capital Gains Tax Solutions. Each year, he equips hundreds of business professionals with the Deferred Sales Trust tool to help their high-net-worth clients solve capital gains tax deferral limitations. His experience includes numerous Deferred Sales Trusts, Delaware Statutory Trusts, 1031 exchanges, and $85,000,000 in closed commercial real estate brokerage transactions. He's an active commercial real estate broker and investor. About Hugh OdomHugh Odom is a former AT&T attorney (for over 11 years) and the founder and president of Vertical Consultants, a telecom consulting firm that has provided consulting advice for companies like Walmart and Disney, and governmental institutions like the United States Postal Service; New York Housing Authority; Veteran Affairs; the City of Atlanta and the City of Charlotte.

Check out Thorum using the link below and get 20% off by using the code WAN at checkout: https://www.thorum.com Try Audible Plus Free for 30 Days: https://lmg.gg/lT2Oy Save 15% with our offer code WANSHOW at https://vessi.com/WANSHOW Timestamps: (Courtesy of NoKi1119) 0:00 Chapters 0:57 WAN show full-time employee, WHEEL OF PAAAIN 2:04 Intro 2:39 Topic #1: Smosh's "Short Kings Rank Short Kings" video 3:05 Watching the video, ranked next to Markiplier & Tom Holland 4:37 Luke's short joke, Linus on half inches & finding the board 6:22 Discussing ranked people, Tom Cruise's tenacity 7:33 Topic #2: Microsoft & Google lay off thousands again 7:56 Reasons provided by Microsoft, focus on AI 9:04 Exactly a year after Microsoft's major plans, Luke on OpenAI 10:24 Quote from Google's CEO, Linus on sustainable hiring 12:57 Linus looks at Google's stock, incompetent management 14:16 Linus hints at an official investment 14:33 Google offers 60 days of pay & 16 weeks of severance 15:36 Linus on GPT replacing Google until it fails to make revenue? 18:04 Linus on jewelry shopping, comparing to Microsoft 21:03 Twitter thread on paying for GPT 4, Luke mentions company costs 23:24 Linus compares GPT 4 to real-estate 23:53 Linus on Merch Messages with GPT 4, Luke on IRC & selling tools 27:31 Update on shadow-banning, discussing NDA & embargoes 32:44 Linus's on algorithm = audience, 7900XT/X embargoes 36:35 Shutting down "AliExpress" screwdriver & backpack argument 39:36 Being unable to defend yourself, Luke on RTX 6000 comments 43:33 Luke's video idea, James's "How to Make Good Linus Videos" 45:41 Laws of Linus #1: Never insult the audience 50:11 Topic #3: Two major lawsuits on AI art generators 50:53 Stable Diffusion's habit of replicating "Getty Images" watermark 52:06 AI replicating images, "remixing" copyrighted artwork 53:05 Luke on using replicated AI images for mobile games 55:04 Does it matter what the law is if the benefits outweigh negatives? 56:18 Reaction channels, fair use & YouTube revenue 1:06:18 Linus's "ethical reaction guidance," Luke on unfair usage 1:09:02 Linus on unfair usage of LTT content & mutual agreement 1:12:27 Floatplane Poll: "Reaction content" on submissions 1:15:50 Linus on LMG's transformative reaction content 1:17:44 LMG Clips's revenue & viewership V.S. timestamps 1:19:43 Alex P still gets clickbaited into WAN clips 1:20:55 Luke on "names of things matter," TARKOV short video 1:21:54 Sponsor - Thorum 1:23:42 Sponsor - Audible 1:25:37 Sponsor - Vessi Footwear 1:26:33 WHEEL OF PAAAIN explained 1:28:30 WoP #1: Twitter apps broke, rules on 3rd party apps 1:30:26 Consulting firm not paid after forcing Elon to buy Twitter 1:30:53 Luke tells Linus to "sit the F down," argument starts 1:37:01 Dan the Adjudicator, Luke to "shadow-ban" Linus 1:41:12 WoP #2: Samsung to use old patent to ban TP screen imports 1:42:44 AFBF signs Right to Repair with JD, argument starts 1:54:26 Dan the Adjudicator's, "defend the indefensible" 1:58:59 Luke recalls Namco Ltd's patent, TESRenewal's Skyblivion 2:06:15 LTTStore's new underwear designs 2:07:32 Merch Messages #1 2:22:36 Topic #4: LTX 2023 update 2:23:59 Topic #5: Linus on his investment in a NAS product 2:27:55 Topic #6: Apple's new HomePod & Mini 2:37:35 Topic #7: Wyoming's bill to phase out EVs by 2035 2:42:54 Topic #8: Stadia's self-service to enable BT 2:43:36 Merch Messages #2 3:35:40 Outro

The war in Ukraine has had dire consequences for millions of people beyond Europe. Gideon talks to David Miliband, IRC president, about why Putin's challenge to the world order must not go unpunished.Clips: CNNMore on this topic:Geopolitics threatens to destroy the world Davos madeWar in Tigray may have killed 600,000 people, peace mediator saysHow the law finally caught up with notorious human trafficker KidaneSubscribe to The Rachman Review wherever you get your podcasts - please listen, rate and subscribe. Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Fiona Symon. Sound design is by Breen TurnerRead a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Podcasting 2.0 January 13th 2023 Episode 117: "Inscrutable" Adam & Dave discuss the week's developments on podcastindex.org - A full report on a lot of great software development! ShowNotes Dave's email admin woes Podfans Sam Sethi 300K Set record straight on hosting companies changing chapters for Spotify Direct card BTC purchase in Fountain, Podverse/Alby and Breez Podcasting 2.0 Introduction - Blubrry Podcasting inscrutible definition GitHub - cloudflare/wildebeest: Wildebeest is an ActivityPub and Mastodon-compatible server RSS.com Chapters questions Boo-Bury - GitHub - valcanobacon/BoostBots: Bots which posts Booots GitHub - dowodenum/IRCacophony: A framework for triggering sounds via IRC. Rogan ads on video every 10 minutes The Great Podcasting Market Correction - Bloomberg Amazon devesting in Alexa Nielsen One Ads Product Sets Launch Date – The Hollywood Reporter This is the year of the RSS reader. (Really!) » Nieman Journalism Lab What is Value4Value? - Read all about it at Value4Value.info Last Modified 01/13/2023 14:50:40 by Freedom Controller

Fala galera, sejam todos bem-vindos a mais um episódio do Seeking Growth Podcast! Hoje eu recebo um cara sensacional, o professor Rafael Pereira, um grande amante da modalidade e da ciência, que encontrou uma maneira de juntar os dois, e trazer várias reflexões e insights muito relevantes para treinadores, atletas e praticantes. O professor Rafael também é uma das cabeças por trás da metodologia da IRC, junto com o Rafa Kiliper, Chan e toda a equipe. Esse podcast é um oferecimento de Hopper Nutrition, BS Cross e Ultrawod! Se você estiver precisando de qualquer suplementos para auxiliar na sua saúde ou performance, acesse o site https://www.hoppernutrition.com.br/ e use o cupom AXEL10 pra garantir um desconto. As melhores e mais estilosas roupas pro seu treino você encontra no site, https://www.lojabscross.com.br/ use o cupom AXEL10 pra garantir um desconto. Os melhores equipamentos para treino de CrossFit, funcional ou musculação você encontra na ULTRAWOD, acesse o site https://www.ultrawod.com.br/ e garanta já o seu.

On our first show in 2023, we rejoin our epic task of ranking all of humanity's software. Will we actually start putting things in order this week? Or will we get sidetracked by our love of dot matrix-printed banners? Or by reminiscing about the excitement of IRC channel takeover wars? Will Brad be flabbergasted that Will has never played Gorilla.bas? Will we ever finish this project? Listen on and find out!This week's show art courtesy of Blake Patterson.Support the Pod! Contribute to the Tech Pod Patreon and get access to our booming Discord, your name in the credits, and other great benefits! You can support the show at: https://patreon.com/techpod

Yeganeh and Jason Rezaian join Ben to answer all of your burning questions about Iran: what life is like for girls and women, why this movement is different than any before it, the risk of civil war or wider conflict, and why we should all care about the future of Iran and its people. Then President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee David Milliband joins to discuss what the IRC is most concerned about in 2023, how to better prevent humanitarian crises and what we can all do to help.

Paul Strikwerda is a voice over artist. You may have heard is voice in commercials and other projects. Now, he is also a stroke survivor. The stroke he suffered in his voice over booth engaged multiple primal fears (except for spiders) and is one of the more terrifying I've heard.  I'll save the details for the interview itself. The genesis of this episode is that I wanted an answer to the question, "Is voiceover a good career choice for a stroke survivor contending with disabilities?" I was referred to Paul, by Anne Ganguzza of the VO Boss podcast (another great resource for the VO field), and in this episode Paul and I discuss that question and so much more. If you don't see the audio player below, visit http://Strokecast.com/MSN/VoiceOver to listen to the conversation. Click here for a machine-generated transcript Who is Paul Strikwerda? Paul Strikwerda was born and grew up in the Netherlands. He studied music in college and began a career in radio after graduation. Life eventually took him to the United States and an unexpected series of events led him down the path of a voice over artist. Paul wanted to do more than read scripts for clients. He wanted to help other artists in the VO field. He would go on to write "Making Money In Your PJs: Freelancing for Voice-Overs and Other Solopreneurs"* and expand his blog on NetherVoice. He offers an unvarnished view of what life in the VO field is like and what newcomers need to watch out for. For those who want to grow their skills as voice over artists and voice over business people (you have to be both to succeed) Paul offers coaching programs. As he says on https://www.nethervoice.com/coaching/: It's not enough to be outstanding. You need to stand out. Voice overs are the invisibles of the entertainment industry. Competition is increasing, and clients aren't going to book you if they don't know you exist. You need a plan to put you on the map, so clients can find you, hear you, and hire you. Let me be your visibility coach, and help you attract the jobs you're dreaming of doing. What is the Voice Over field? The Voice Over industry is one most people don't think about, but it is one that we've encountered throughout our lives. Every time we hear a narrator on TV or listen to an audio book or hear a corporate voice mail system or listen to the introduction to this show (Thanks, Tim!) or complete eLearning with a person speaking, or learn about pancakes, we are listening to a voice over artist at work. https://youtu.be/FEelYk8y_O4 The breadth of the field is fascinating. The industry itself is facing some growing pains with technology and the increase in computer generated voices. There are some growing pains there. Technology has also led to a democratization of the field in some respects. Microphones and computers for editing have gotten cheaper and more widely available. Home studios are within reach of more people. Some of the same technology trends that drive podcasts drive voice over work Lots  of people toy with the idea of becoming voiceover artists so, especially at the entry level, there is a ton of competition. As Paul explains, though, it takes a lot more to be successful than the ability to speak into a microphone. A voice over artist needs to be a business person. The need to sell their services. The need to audition well. They need to write contracts and collect from clients. They need to have a handle on the assortment of ways they can license their voice. And they still need to act and edit and produce. If you are thinking about a career in voice over, and you're will to do all the stuff that goes along with it,  Paul's coaching services might be a good fit How does AFib cause stroke? The heart is made up of four chambers. Blood normally flows from the upper right to the lower right to the lungs to the upper left to the lower left and then on to the rest of the body. Moving it efficiently from one place to the next requires a precise rhythm -- the lub-dub of the human heart beat. When someone has AFib, or atrial fibrillation, it means the rhythm isn't quite right sometimes. Maybe different parts of the heart are out of sync, or part vibrates too fast or the heart rhythm itself fluctuates in an odd way. When this happens, blood doesn't always leave the chamber it's in when it's supposed to. And when blood pools or collects in the heart when it shouldn't, it can start to coagulate. It forms clots. Then when the heart beats one of those clots that formed due to AFib can shoot off to another part of the body. If that clot makes it to the brain and gets stuck in a blood vessel, you have an ischemic stroke. So how do you treat it? Well, first you have to find it. Since it is irregular, that's not always easy. Some people will get a surgically installed monitor that will track their heart rhythm for a couple years. Others (like me) will have to wear a device like a Zio patch for two weeks to look for abnormalities. Bill wearing a Zio patch to check for irregular heart rhythm. If doctors find or strongly suspect AFib affects a patient, they have a few treatment options. Blood thinners, or anticoagulants are one option. These medicals like Eliquis and Xarelto are more aggressive at stopping clots than antiplatelet medication like aspirin or Plavix (Clopidogrel). They require additional blood tests and monitoring and put the patient at greater risk of bleeding because that's exactly what their supposed to do. Paul had an ablation therapy. Doctors either freeze or burn some small amount of heart tissue. This disrupts the way electricity flows through the heart, which helps normalize the heartbeat. It's a fascinating technique and eliminated the problem for Paul. You can read more about the procedure from Johns Hopkins or from the Mayo clinic. Some people, if their unusual rhythm is too slow, may need a surgically implanted pacemaker to keep the heart moving enough blood quickly enough. As more people become aware of AFib and research continues, the future of treatment may change dramatically. In defense of social media A lot of people claim to hate social media. The conversation is even louder in December 2022 with Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. Hate speech, privacy concerns, online bullying, the growth of influencer culture, and more have all made it fashionable to hate on social media. And there are a lot of problems with it. By allowing folks with fringe and extremist views to connect and validate one another's views, it has likely allowed those views to become more common. I'm not defending that. That same mechanism, though, has allowed people with disabilities to find other like-minded folks. Stroke and other disabling conditions are isolating. Appearances of disabled people in media are still rare. After stroke, many folks leave their jobs, removing another vector for social experience. Friends and family members may pull back from stroke survivors either because the survivor is no longer able to participate in the same activities or because they are uncomfortable around a person with disabilities. Or because the survivor is a living reminder that they could find themselves in the same situation. And disabilities themselves make social connection hard. Aphasia impacts conversation. Mobility challenges make it harder to go someplace to meet someone. Vision or equilibrium challenges may make it unsafe to drive. That's to say nothing of the assortment of cognitive, sensory processing, emotional, and fatigue related challenges a survivor may live with. And then we can look beyond the stroke world to our neuro cousins in the MS and TBI communities, and beyond that into the broader world of people with disability. Despite the billion+ disabled people in the world, it's easy to feel the despair of feeling alone. Social media changes that. Or at least helps with it. People with disabilities are able to connect with one another across the street and around the world. There is power in the shared experience -- of finding someone going through a similar experience. There's power and hope in being able to support each other -- to build on the success of others to drive our own recovery and that of others in the community. To be able to raise a voice and say, "This is my hidden reality!" To be able to see that the way someone else treats us may not be right and to have that reinforced by people all over the country. There's power in giving everyone a literal or metaphorical voice. To demonstrate to the world that we're here and we're not going anywhere. Whether it's on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, IRC, MUDDs, Discord, YouTube, or whatever, we can leverage those platforms to empower us to live our best lives. Or to share a simple message of support. Look for communities that resonate with you in a supportive fashion. Follow hashtags like these to start and try others to build your community: #Stroke #StrokeAwareness #StrokeRecovery #BrainInjury #LifeAfterStroke #Aphasia #Mindset #CripTheVote #Disability Social media allows us to connect and that connection is so important to getting more out of life. BEFAST & AHORA Raising voices in social media isn't just about supporting our own lives; it's about saving others. And you can help save other's lives by sharing the stroke warning signs far and wide. We know time is essential. We also know that over the past 20 years or so there have been tremendous changes in stroke treatment - new ways to save lives and reduce the severity of disability. That, of course, assumes treatment begins as soon as possible. And to make that happen, people need to recognize that a stroke is happening and contact emergency services immediately. So share the stroke warning signs in English and Spanish far and wide -- BE FAST and AHORA. And if you have the warning signs to share in another language, share those, too. June Hawkins writing workshop June Hawkins is a stroke survivor in Canada helps stroke survivors connect (or reconnect) with their creativity through the power of writing. Her program is called, "With a Stroke of my Pen" and with her cofacilitator, writing prompts, and exercises she helps other survivors explore their world in writing. The next cohort starts soon. To learn more, visit http://www.withastrokeofmypen.ca/ Hack of the Week There are two things that Paul found critical to going through recovery and living with disability. The first is to have a dedicated partner who can advocate for you. It's not easy to navigate the healthcare industry with sudden, unexpected brain damage, and a supportive partner makes a huge difference. Finding the right person to be your partner in life, of course, is not always the easiest task. The other element which may be easier to cultivate is to develop a "stubborn positivity." The right action-oriented attitude is what gets us developing the right mindset for recovery. It helps us expect to get better and it drives us to do the work -- the exercises, the metal health care, the repetitions, etc. -- that will ultimately help us drive the neuroplastic change in the brain that empowers recovery. Links Where do we go from here? Check out Paul's blog and website at http://NetherVoice.com Share this episode with someone you know by giving them the link http://Strokecast.com/VoiceOver Check out June's writing course at http://www.withastrokeofmypen.ca/ Don't get best…get better More thoughts from Paul

Mischief isn't always a bad thing, Alex Moran, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, explains why. Dr Alex Moran is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in Philosophy at the University of Oxford, who will shortly be taking up a post as an IRC post-doctoral researcher at Trinity College Dublin. His […]

Erika Polmar is the executive director of the Independent Restaurant Coalition. “Remember when we were told the pandemic was expected to last 8 to 12 weeks?” she asks. "Well, it lasted much longer,” she says, adding, "and many independent operators are still recovering from the negative impact it had on their restaurant businesses.” The Independent Restaurant Coalition soon formed in the midst of the pandemic. Since founded in 2020, its membership has swelled from a few hundred restaurant owners and operators to more than 150,000 today In this episode of Corner Booth, Erika explains how she went from a volunteer to the association's charter Executive Director. She covers the myriad issues the Coalition is addressing to help beleaguered restaurateurs. “Most members are still financially stressed because only a third of all applicants received available government funding,” says Erika. “In addition to working through recent supply interruption, increased operating costs, and a tight labor market, many coalition members seem to need direction and assistance.” In this episode, you'll learn how the association is working to educate its members on the industry's changing compensation and benefits requirements, as well as working with insurance companies to offer more and better programs for the small restaurant operator. Erika feels the virtual panel discussions offered to IRC members helps them share their knowledge with their industry peers. As you would expect, a great deal of the association's efforts are educating legislators and policymakers. “We have immigration policies and farm bills facing the legislature to work on,” says Erika. “We must continue to educate policymakers about the tight margins and other operating challenges facing today's independent restaurant operator.”

Hashing It Out continues its series on blockchain infrastructure with the data layer.In this episode Corey and Jessie talk to Dmitriy Ryajov and Eric Mastro from Status.It's even better when you watch on YouTube.You Can Find Hashing It Out Podcast Here:Website: https://hashingitout.sounder.fm/RSSFeed:https://feeds.sounder.fm/6234/rss.xml

Ep # 211 - The Season of Gratitude - A Solo Show with Susan Burrell It's been an amazing year. As I reflect back on 2022 I am reminded about our theme for this year of reemergence. And I gotta say I have personally been on a journey of reemergence and rediscovery. And we have all collectively reemerged back into life. And so now I ask you to think about how that felt? To reemerge into your life? To reengage with friends, family members and with yourself? What changed as you reemerged? For me personally old lessons and belief systems showed up. These belief systems had to be transmuted or destroyed in order for me to reemerge into this new way of living. A way of living that I think we are all in the midst of exploring. When I started Empowering Chats a few years ago I made a commitment to dedicating the month of December to what me and my team call “The Month of Giving.”  I am a big proponent of giving to non-profits. There are some I give to monthly and others that I give to annually. I highly recommend that if you choose to give, know that your giving not only supports these non-profits and the amazing work they do, it also opens the avenue within you to receive more. As you give, I believe the law of circulation goes into effect. And here is how I believe it works: As you give out, you empty out and you open up to receive more – and the more open you are the more you can receive. This has been my life experience – and it's not just about letting go but about giving from your heart. And so as we enter this month of giving and gratitude. I am going to list out those non-profits that me and my Team support. I encourage to visit their websites and see what they are all about.  There are 8 non-profits listed below along with their website. Some of these you may have heard of and at least one is local to our hometown area of Ventura County.  This first one is Planned Parenthood.  I personally have been involved in supporting them for a very long time. After Roe v. Wade got over- turned, they have been under attack. And I wish to do away with the myth that all Planned Parenthood does is perform abortions. That simply is not true. They provide education to teens and adults about how to have safe sex, what to do if you think you have a sexually transmitted disease and all the facts you need to know regarding sexual health. But that's not all, they also provide information on birth control, health and wellness, screening for cancer, adoption services, the list goes on. They have a wealth of information and resources to help people of all walks of life to get answers and find support.  I give to Planned Parenthood annually. To learn more please visit: plannedparenthood.org Another non-profit that I support is the International Rescue Committee or IRC. I give to them monthly.  The IRC responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, such as the conflict in Ukraine and the crisis in Afghanistan. They help to restore health, safety, education and economic well-being to the people who have been devastated by conflict and disaster. And they are proud to also support a world where women and girls have an equal chance to succeed. I was turned on to this organization from a close friend who has been supporting them for more than 10 years. This organization works to make sure the money you donate goes directly to the people and the communities that need it the most. Please visit their website to learn more: Rescue.org The next one I want to mention is called Canine Companions. They are a national organization that enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained service dogs at no charge to the recipient. And they also have a huge program to support veterans. I learned about them last year when I interviewed Jason Morgan – who was one of the first veterans to receive support after he became paralyzed from the waist down during a narcotics mission in 1999 with the US and other Ecuadorian military units. If you have not listened to that show I encourage you to follow the link and take a listen now. Jason has been a spokesperson for Canine Companions for many years now and I highly recommend you check them out. They help individuals to live a better life and also help with PTSD. To listen to the interview I did in 2021 with jason Morgan please visit: EmpoweringChatsWithSusanBurrell.podbean.com/e/jason-morgan/ To learn more about Canine Companions visit: Canine.org Akita Angels is another non-profit my Team supports. This organization rescues Akita dogs and other large breed dogs that have been abandoned. Akita Angels is dedicated to saving the lives of these large breed dominant and/or high-risk dogs by providing unlimited, no-cost support in the areas of education, intervention, advocacy, and rescue. For animal lovers this organization is one that truly lives up to its mission statement. Please visit their website to learn more: AkitaAngels.org Next on the list is the World Wildlife Organization. Many of you may have heard of them. However you may not know that they do so much more than what appears on their name. Besides working to save endangered wildlife they also do work to save our fragile environment and educate the world about protecting our ecosystems. Their mission statement reads as follows: World Wildlife Fund carefully manages resources to maximize your support of our work—saving endangered wildlife, protecting fragile ecosystems, tackling the climate crisis, and finding practical and beneficial ways for both people and nature to thrive. Please visit their website to learn more: WorldWildLife.org And now I move onto the International OCD Foundation. This is an organization that supports people with OCD - which stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This organization provides resources, support and education for those that suffer from this disorder which can be emotionally debilitating. Someone with OCD lives their lives constantly wanting to organize or set up their environment in unrealistic ways that can be a drain on their well-being and that of their families. To learn more please visit: iocdf.org And now onto Nate's Place. This is a local non-profit that started here in Ventura County. It is named after Nathan (Nate) Rhoades who was killed at the young age of 21 in a terrible car accident. After having beat drug addiction at the young age of 14 Nate dedicated his life to wellness and living a drug free life. At the time of his death his parents donated Nate's organs so others so they could live. And they started Nate's Place, A Wellness and Recovery Center. They offer aftercare services for clients who have recently been discharged from residential treatment, intensive outpatient treatment, and/or for individuals who are looking to support their recovery and mental health with healthy recreational activities and peer support. To learn more please visit their website: NatesPlaceWellnessCenter.org And finally the last organization I will mention here is Made for Freedom. I interviewed the founder of this organization earlier this year, her name is Dawn Manske and what she does is work with survivors of exploitation. Her organization is not considered a non-profit because she actually helps survivors to carve out a living for themselves by selling their products on her website. The products sold go directly to supporting the survivors that have been resuced from a life of marginalization or abuse.  To listen to the Empowering Chat I had with Dawn please go to: EmpoweringChatsWithSusanBurrell.podbean.com/DawnManske To learn more about Made for Freedom please visit: MadeForFreedom.com

If This Is True would like to introduce you to Kevin Mullaney. Kevin created the Improv Resource Center--a Facebook for improvisers before Facebook--in the early 2000's. He teaches through the IRC and often travels around the country conducting workshops. Kevin started teaching improvisation 25 years ago at iO Theater in Chicago, later at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre in New York and more recently Under the Gun Theater in Chicago. Currently, Kevin resides in Peoria, IL, where he is an IT professional. We talked about making crazy choices--both in life and in improv, being a loose cannon, and enjoying the journey of life we are all on. We even discussed enjoying some poker along the way. Give it a listen! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/christopher-hall7/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/christopher-hall7/support

The Chinese have had enough. Balenciaga, edgy losers or part of the deeper group of elite child trafficers? Kamala is giving the children of Philipines nightmares. Kanye, Nick Fuentes and Milo made a brief appearance on TimCast, and some soy boiz push Male birth control. (Our stance on male birth control? Absolutely F#$king Not.) PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING ON PAYPAL! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO KEEP GOING Please find our donation link! We are also on Cashapp, $mmoshow, and Venmo @mmoshow.   Thank you to all Boosters, both Live and Post: SirVo   Boo-Bury Mr. H Jon McPain MacroJack 21 Nurse Elise   This Fed Free group sent in boosts, which are little bits of bitcoin donation, which allows for comments as well. These are read live on the show! For more information on boostagrams, Check out this post. Prove you're not a fed by donating to mmo.show/donate! Still listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Gross. Get yourself a better and more masculine podcast app at NewPodcastApps.com Prove you're not a fed by donating to mmo.show/donate! Listen Live anytime by going to our Live stream! We broadcast live every Tuesday at 5:30pm Central. Join us in the IRC in realtime mmo.show/chat, chatting 24/7. Submit your questions, comments, donation notes, and anything other than spam to dan@mmo.show & john@mmo.show! We are looking for people to help spruce up our album art! This will also make us less suspicious of you! Spatchcock Your Turkey and Stay Frosty. Life is good, On the Offensive! C U Next Tuesday!

In the latest episode of the podcast we speak to two pioneers from the early days of the internet: Simon King, the founder of Cricinfo, and Vishal Misra, an early volunteer who was instrumental in the building of the database and streamlining live scoring. Buy Cricket Beyond the Bazaar (recently republished by 81allout) India (hardback) | India (paperback, e-copy); Australia (hardback, paperback, e-copy); USA (hardback, paperback, e-copy); UK (hardback, paperback, e-copy); Canada (hardback, paperback, e-copy) Talking Points: The difficulty of getting cricket updates in the early 1990s Chatrooms, IRC, and begging for score updates The aggregation of cricket fans across North American universities The idea for building a database that would store all cricket information The early pioneers such as KS Rao and Murari Venkatraman The evolution of the Cricinfo scorecard Sending live updates from Malaysia, Kenya, and Bangladesh Travis Basevi - the man who built a wonder-tool called statsguru Vishal's memories from the 1996 World Cup - when live scoring took off The day cricinfo's server crashed in Oregon Participants: Siddhartha Vaidyanathan (@sidvee) Simon King Vishal Misra (@vishalmisra) * Related: ESPNcricinfo at 20 years - ESPNcricinfo One night in 1996 - Vishal Misra - ESPNcricinfo The wizard Elz - Siddhartha Vaidyanathan - ESPNcricinfo Travis Basevi, my friend who changed the way cricket was consumed - Vishal Misra - ESPNcricinfo Travis Basevi: the Statsguru visionary who transformed cricket - Tanya Aldred - Guardian Cricinfo - How it all began - Rohan Chandran A bot called Cricinfo - Badri Sheshadri - ESPNcricinfo The Cricinfo story - Hosted by Gautam Govitrikar - YouTube

World War III is delayed! Trump can tweet again. The Totally 100% Safe and Effective Vaccines may be causing Blood Clots, leading to "Died Suddenly" rearing its head in the news. WHHHHHAAAAAAAA? Iran is underfire. US contractors are in Ukraine? And finally, Thanksgiving is racist, you colonizer. PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING ON PAYPAL! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO KEEP GOING Huge Thank you to the one the only Gerkinator for sending in a Hondo via PayPal! He found our donation link! An absolutely huge johnson move, good sir! Thank you for supporting the Offensive! We are also on Cashapp, $mmoshow, and Venmo @mmoshow. Thank you to all Boosters, both Live and Post: SirVo Phifer RastaCalavera Wiirdo Boo-Bury Recalcitrant Cbrooklyn112 Dame Boolysteed This Fed Free group sent in boosts, which are little bits of bitcoin donation, which allows for comments as well. These are read live on the show! For more information on boostagrams, Check out this post. Prove you're not a fed by donating to mmo.show/donate! Still listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Gross. Get yourself a better and more masculine podcast app at NewPodcastApps.com Prove you're not a fed by donating to mmo.show/donate! Listen Live anytime by going to our Live stream! We broadcast live every Tuesday at 5:30pm Central. Join us in the IRC in realtime mmo.show/chat, chatting 24/7. Submit your questions, comments, donation notes, and anything other than spam to dan@mmo.show & john@mmo.show! We are looking for people to help spruce up our album art! This will also make us less suspicious of you! Spatchcock Your Turkey and Stay Frosty. Life is good, On the Offensive! C U Next Tuesday!

An interview with Assistant Professor of Tax Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School Nyamagaga Gondwe. Prof. Gondwe discusses her forthcoming article, "The Tax-Invisible Labor Problem: Care Work, Kinship, and Income Security Programs in the IRC."

Adam Newbold (a.k.a. Neatnik) of omg.lol (https://home.omg.lol/) returns to the show to discuss some recent developments on his service. Meanwhile, Andrew rolls up his sleeves to offer some top-tier business advice; Jason and Martin back away slowly into a hedge. (https://giphy.com/clips/justin-homer-simpson-bushes-backs-away-cOzyUgoJljvhut2G0E) Neatvember 00:00:00 Piccolo (https://australiancoffeelovers.com.au/what-is-a-piccolo-coffee/) ☕️ Happy Neatvember!

Crypto is crippling cuck coins. Russia might of kind of sort of accidentally hit Poland with a rocket.  What is Trump going to do in 2024? Jeff Bezos says hoard your money, and Biden meets Xi for the first time.   PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING ON PAYPAL! WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO KEEP GOING Huge Thanks to everyone who found our donation link! Thank you for supporting the Offensive!    Big Unit Paypal Producers for Episode 46:   Serpent - The Coiled One Jeremy Cavenaugh - He like's beer We are also on Cashapp, $mmoshow, and Venmo @mmoshow.   Thank you to all Boosters, both Live and Post:  RyzomeRyan, sent us a boost so large it put us on the top charts of Fountain. Thus boosting our listeners and donos. An absolute legend. Headloon Dame TrailChicken Dame Boolysteed   This Fed Free group sent in boosts, which are little bits of bitcoin donation, which allows for comments as well. These are read live on the show! For more information on boostagrams, Check out this post. Prove you're not a fed by donating to mmo.show/donate! Still listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? Gross. Get yourself a better and more masculine podcast app at NewPodcastApps.com Prove you're not a fed by donating to mmo.show/donate! Listen Live anytime by going to our Live stream! We broadcast live every Tuesday at 5:30pm Central. Join us in the IRC in realtime mmo.show/chat, chatting 24/7. Submit your questions, comments, donation notes, and anything other than spam to dan@mmo.show & john@mmo.show! We are looking for people to help spruce up our album art! This will also make us less suspicious of you! Remember, Not your keys, not your cheese and Stay Frosty. Life is good, On the Offensive! C U Next Tuesday!