Podcasts about john do

"... I had a call from my section chief, and he says, 'Hey—I don't want to freak you out or anything, but you know that website you created? SIR is going to send you a cease and desist letter. But don't worry about it—it'll be okay. I just wanted to give you a heads up ..." —John Do, MD, member of the SIR Guidelines App development teamIn this episode, part of the ongoing celebration of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) 50th anniversary, host Jaimin Shah, MD, MBA, RPVI, FSIR, speaks with IRs Seth Berkowitz, MD, FSIR, John Do, MD, and Matthew Thomas, MD, and medical student Joseph Macksood about how this team came together to build SIR's popular Guidelines App; the leadership of SIR leaders Alda L. Tam, MD, MBA, FSIR, and A.J. Gunn, MD, FSIR, in its development; the role the app now plays in interventional radiology; and more. PLUS: A special introduction by Luke Wilkins, MD, FSIR, on improvements planned for the app later this year. Related resources:View the society's 50th Anniversary celebration pageView the society's Guidelines and Statements pageView the app on the Apple StoreView the app on Google PlaySIR thanks BD for its generous support of the Kinked Wire.Contact us with your ideas and questions, or read more about about interventional radiology in IR Quarterly magazine or SIR's Patient Center.(c) Society of Interventional Radiology.Support the show

Patrick delves into NFL player Harrison Butker's commencement address, sparking a rich discussion on modern societal values and women's roles. He shares powerful excerpts from the speech, tackles audience reactions, and clarifies misconceptions about women's education. Patrick explores the balance between personal fulfillment and traditional family roles, and stresses the importance of raising both men and women to uphold respect and dignity.   Patrick shares and comments on Harrison Butker's Benedictine College commencement address (01:05) Colleen (email) – Shares her perspective on women's education and autonomy David - What does it mean to “lead us not into temptation” in the Our Father? (16:03) Teresa - Has the word “Oracle” always been in the bible or is was that word added in later translations? (23:01) Bob - Do you know what Saint Jude's mother's relationship was with Mary? (29:15) Lan Phuong - If someone is suffering on earth and then dies and goes to purgatory, does he have any time to rest between death and purgatory? Or does he need to go straight to purgatory without rest from pain? (35:54) John - Do you think Martin Luther would be a Catholic if he were alive today? (43:05)

This week on the blog, a podcast interview with screenwriter and author Neal Marshall Stevens about his new book on horror, “A Sense of Dread (Getting Under The Skin of Horror Screenwriting).”LINKSA Free Film Book for You: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/cq23xyyt12Another Free Film Book: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/x3jn3emga6Fast, Cheap Film Website: https://www.fastcheapfilm.com/Neal's book at Michael Wiese Productions: https://mwp.com/product-author/neal-marshall-stevens/Neal on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0139605/Brian Forrest's Blog: https://toothpickings.medium.com/Eli Marks Website: https://www.elimarksmysteries.com/Albert's Bridge Books Website: https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com/YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BehindthePageTheEliMarksPodcastNeal Stevens Transcript JOHN: Neal, you have a really long and storied history in the horror cinema. Can you remember the very first horror movie that had an impact on you? NEAL: Well, actually, looking back, the first movie that scared the hell out of me wasn't a horror movie. It was actually a Disney movie called Johnny Tremaine. It was a kid's movie. And there was a scene in that movie, Johnny Tremaine was a kid during the Revolutionary War who knew Paul Revere, who, as you may remember, was a silversmith. And there's a scene in that movie, the British are coming and Paul Revere has got this urn of molten silver.It gets knocked onto a table. Johnny Tremaine trips and puts his hand face up into the molten silver and fries his hand. And I'm sure I know I, every kid in the audience goes like (sound effect.) But that's actually not the scariest part of the movie. Later on, surgeons are unwrapping his burnt hand, and they look down and they react in horror.His fingers have healed together, stuck together. We don't see it and they say, “Oh, we're going to have to cut his fingers apart,” which also happens off screen. And again, in our imagination, imagining no anesthesia back then, it's a revolutionary war. So, poor Johnny Tremaine has to have his healed together fingers cut apart. The memory of what that must be like has lasted. I must have been like five or six when I saw it. My parents dragged me to see Johnny Tremaine, it's a happy Disney movie. I'm 67 years old, so it's been over a half a century since I saw this movie and was appropriately traumatized by those images. So, Disney knew how to scare little kids. That's for sure. JOHN: He sure did. Wow. That's a horrible story. NEAL: Yeah. As for official horror movies that scared the hell out of me, again, we used to watch Phantasmic Features on the TV in Boston. I remember a movie called Teenagers from Outer Space. They weren't actually teenagers. They were all in their thirties. But anyway, these invaders had a skeleton ray that as they would aim it at someone, it would flash and you're instantly reduced literally to a skeleton. And they were, they didn't care who, so as soon as they come out of their spaceship, there's a barking dog—bzzzt!—and the dog falls down, reduced to bones. They didn't care. They would use it as a woman's climbing out of a swimming pool—bzzzt!—skeleton floating in the pool. The casualness with which completely innocent people are reduced to skeletons. Again, absolutely horrifying. Couldn't have been much older than nine or ten when I watched this movie. But the fact that human flesh has reduced the skeletons, but also the casual innocence of which people are reduced to flesh is stripped off their bones. It's terrifying to me. BRIAN: I wonder how you parlayed that early sense of, “Oh, I like horror movies” into, “I want to create horror as a genre. “ NEAL: Well, I was one of a whole generation of kids who got super eight cameras and made, you know, we made stop motion movies and made monster movies in their basements. Pursuant to that, I was writing scripts when I was 13 years old. I guess people now do it with phones. We didn't have cell phones back when I was a kid, but we had super eight cameras and then, you know, a little cartridge things that we'd slug in. And so, I made tons of those little stop motion movies down in my basement. BRIAN: Do you still have some of them? NEAL: I guess I may have them somewhere. I think I have an old creaky super eight projector somewhere. I don't think you can get a bulb for it anymore. BRIAN: I've got one up there. I wonder if it would work? NEAL: Yeah. That's the big question. I wonder if it would work? Heaven only knows. JOHN: But that's a great way to learn visual storytelling. NEAL: Yeah. When I ultimately went to NYU grad film and, and all the films that we shot the first year were all silent. First silent film then silent with sound effects, but you weren't allowed to use sync sound until you got to second year, if you made it that far. JOHN: Did you make it that far? NEAL: Yes, I did. I actually graduated. Back at NYU, it was a very rough program at the time. They cut the student enrollment in half going from first to second year. So it was, it was a rough program back then. JOHN: That's brutal. NEAL: Yeah. JOHN: So, you leave film school with something under your arm that you've shot. Where does that lead you? NEAL: It certainly didn't get me much in the way of employment at the time. I ended up going right back to NYU. I ran their equipment room of all things for something like six years. But during all those six years I was writing. They had like a computer that they used to turn out the schedules. And then when I weren't writing schedules, I was using that computer to write my screenplays using WordStar. If anyone remembers that old program. God, it was horrible, but it was free, because they had the equipment room. And eventually I sent some stuff to Laurel Entertainment, which is the company that did Tales From the Dark Side. And they had an open submission program. If you signed a release form, you could send them stuff. And I'd gone in and I'd met Tom Allen, who was their senior story editor. I had a screenplay and I went in and talked about it. He liked it. It wasn't for them, but then he invited me to submit ideas for their new series, their follow-up series to Tales from the Dark Side, which is a thing called Monsters. And I went in, and I pitched some ideas, and they bought one. And it turned out to be their premier episode of Monsters. And shortly after that, tragically, Tom Allen passed away. And the VP, Mitch Galen, invited me in and said, “Would you like to take over and be our senior story editor on Monstersand our other projects?” And meanwhile, you know, for the second part of that whole series, I was still working in the equipment room at NYU and also working as a senior story editor on Monsters and being their creative consultant and reading hundreds of scripts for Laurel Entertainment. And then eventually I quit the equipment room, and I went and I worked for them full time and wrote a bunch of episodes for Monsters. And I was a story editor on The Stand and The Langoliers— which wasn't so good—but on a bunch of other projects, it was just an enormous learning experience. And The Stand I think turned out really well. Other stuff, The Langoliers, did not work out really well. And a bunch of other projects that were not horror. BRIAN: Why do you think some things, especially, let's talk about Stephen King, why do you think some of those things adapted well and some didn't? NEAL: Well, The Langoliers was not, it wasn't that great. Wasn't that strong a project. And I think the idea, trying to make that and stretch that out into a mini-series. wasn't that strong. It wasn't that strong, the material wasn't really there. I think there are times when staying faithful to the material is the right approach. It certainly was the right approach with The Stand. Working with The Langoliers, you know, there were certainly elements of The Langoliers that were strong. And other stuff that was really just so-so. And I think if you'd had the willingness to step aside and do something different with it, it would probably have ended up—especially because they were expanding it into a mini-series—being just devoted to the original material, I think, ended up with a product that was really thin. Plus, we had hired a special effects company that the Langoliers themselves were just horrible. It was really substandard, honestly. So, it did not work out very well. BRIAN: I'm guessing with all these different projects you had to work on, you probably had to start dealing with types of horror and genres of horror that weren't in your comfort zone. Maybe not even what you wanted to do. What kind of learning curve was that for you? NEAL: You end up having to deal with a lot of different kinds of horror, especially with, you know, working in Monsters, where you just were turning stuff out tremendously fast. But also, I grew up with a certain kind of horror.I was never a huge fan of slasher stuff. I missed that whole era of horror. Certain kinds of movies appealed to me. That particular kind of transgressive material never really clicked. JOHN: Why do you think that is with you? NEAL: Because this simple act of repetitive bloodletting, for me, it always felt thin. I mean, it's not that I objected to explicit violence or explicit gore. I mean, I think that Dawn of the Deadunquestionably is one of the most brilliant horror movies ever made. And there certainly, George Romero didn't pull back from explicit violence. Or a movie like Hellraiser, the same deal. It's a question of how the filmmaker employs the use of graphic violence to elevate the material. What I've told people when you watch a movie like Dawn of the Dead, the first 10 or 15 minutes of that movie—which by the way, I saw when it virtually when it first came out and saw it in the theater—you had never seen anything like that opening scene in terms of graphic violence from being bitten and heads being blown off and all the rest. You were just put through the ringer, watching that opening. And after that opening, the movie was never that violent again. He never showed anything like that again.And you didn't have to, because you—having seen that opening scene, you were—you were so blown out of your seats. You said, “I'm watching a movie where anything could happen to anyone.” And that was a kind of really intelligent and that kind of thoughtful use of violence is what George Romero was always able to do. It was understanding how graphic images can affect the psychology of the viewer. JOHN: Do you think it's also that with Romero's films, they're actually about something, whereas a slasher film is really just about a body count, but with Romero, he always had another thing going. NEAL: Well, of course, I mean, no movie that isn't about anything is ever going to really, from my perspective, be worth watching. But I mean, even a movie like Hostel, which is exceptionally violent and harrowing, is certainly about something. And I think Eli Roth's movies, which get a really bad rap, are very much about something. He's got something to say with his depictions of violence and his images. Not necessarily to my taste. I certainly wouldn't say that he's not, he's making movies that are certainly about something. He's not a dumb filmmaker by any stretch of the imagination. JOHN: So, you work on Monsters, and then what happens? NEAL: I worked on Monsters. I worked there for around six years, and then they were acquired by a big studio, and they were shut down. And so, I was out of work. I'd known a woman named Debbie Dion from Full Moon. I figured, well, I'll give that a shot. I'll call her up and see, maybe I could write for a Full Moon. And so, I gave her a shot. I, you know, reintroduced myself and said, you know, “I'm looking to see if I could get some job, maybe writing features for Full Moon Entertainment, Charlie Band's company.” And they said, “Well, we pay around $3,000 for a feature.” And I said, “Well, I got paid more than that for writing an episode of Monsters. That doesn't seem like such a good deal.” And then my unemployment insurance ran out. BRIAN: Suddenly it's a very good deal. NEAL: Sounds like suddenly a very good deal. But, you know, I made it very clear that money buys one draft, and if you want to rewrite, you got to pay me again, because I knew what development was like, where they just expect draft after draft after draft, and I'd say, “I can't do that, that doesn't make any sense.” And also, having worked for Monsters, I had learned to write really fast. I could write a pass on a Monsters episode in two days, so I knew that I could write fast, because these were 80-page scripts. And so, I started writing for Full Moon, and over the course of like the next few years, I wrote something like... 50 or 60 features for Charlie Band. And a lot of them got made, because they're not wasting money on movies that don't get made. Tons of them got made. And in the midst of doing that, I was, you know, whenever I got a break writing a full movie, I would write spec scripts, you know, in the hopes I could sell something of my own that wasn't for $3,000. I didn't have an agent at that point. I didn't have a manager at that point. And so, I'm not really good making cold calls to people. It's not my thing. I just like to sit, write my scripts. I'd come home one day, and I saw my wife was on the phone having this long conversation with someone. When she was done, I said, “Well, who was that?” “Oh yeah. I called up to order something.” I said, “So she's really good at getting on the phone and talking to people and calling them.” And so, I convinced her to be my manager. So, she agreed. She changed, you know, she went out under her maiden name. She managed to get an option on a science fiction script that I'd written that, I mean, it was ultimately bought. It was never made. And then I decided, you know what? Horror is really my bread and butter writing for Charlie Band. But I don't really have a horror spec. And most of what was out those days in horror didn't really scare me that much. I should really write a script that would scare me. So, I wrote a script called Deader, which I thought had all the stuff in it that I thought was really scary. And Judy went out with that script, sent it to a bunch of people, sent it to some folks at Stan Winston's company, as they had a development deal. The producer that she talked to really liked it, asked if he could sort of slip it to some people. He did, he sent it to someone, a producer at Dimension, it's based in New York, and he really liked it. And they showed it to Bob Weinstein. Bob Weinstein called us on Sunday. Am I half awake? Talk to Judy. Because they didn't know that Judy was my wife. He said, “This is the best goddamn script I've read. I'm like three quarters away. Come in on Monday and we'll talk about it.” So, we came in on Monday and they bought the script. And of course, at that point, it sort of went all over town. And for a very short period of time, it was like the flavor of the month and everyone loved me. And I got myself an agent and got myself like three pictures. And as I was a really big, big to-do. From that, I also got 13 Ghosts. I had like a really big opinion of myself after, after that sale. JOHN: Has that been tempered since then? NEAL: I kind of got the opinion that like, wow, selling scripts is easy. People wanted to hire me because that script was super hot and was all over town. I learned subsequently there are flavors in writers, and I was like that flavor of the month. That fades and then you have to really do a lot more work to get things sold. That was a hard lesson to learn. But I've managed to keep working over the years. I've written many scripts, sold some, and it's been a decent career. BRIAN: I was just wondering, you were having all the success writing screenplays, when did you decide to make a jump to writing a book? NEAL: Over the last five or six years, I've been teaching. A woman that I knew from NYU, actually, Dorothy Rumpolsky had been instrumental in starting a screenwriting program at David Lynch Institute for Cinematic Studies. And she realized at one point that she had a number of students who wanted to work in a horror. She remembered me back from NYU many years ago. So, she got in touch with me and wanted to know if I was interested in mentoring those students. And I said, absolutely. I done some other online teaching at other places. And so, the way it works is, you fly out for an opening few days where you meet the students. And then you fly back to where you come from. They go back to where they come from. And it's all done remotely, the mentoring. And so, I've been doing that now for five or six years. And during that kind of get together, you meet a bunch of guest lecturers and other teachers, other mentors. And a number of those people had written books for Michael Wiese productions. And, in the course of chatting, they suggested, well, you, you know, “You have a kind of encyclopedic knowledge of horror and horror cinema. That might be a good book for Michael Wiese. Give them a call and see if you can come up with a pitch and an interesting take on it.” And so I did, and I called them and they responded. And so we were off to the races. JOHN: The book is really, maybe delightful is the wrong word, but it's a captivating book because as you read through it—you have outlined breaking down our different types of fears—you can immediately in your mind go, “Oh, that's what that movie was doing. Oh, that was that. That's what was happening there.” What was your research process like? NEAL: I think that the research kind of developed over the decades as I studied what made movies scary and what was working, not only in the movies that I was watching, but in the movies that I was writing. I mean, in the same way that when you work as a screenwriter, it becomes almost second nature to try to figure out what was working and what wasn't. Talking to fellow filmmakers and screenwriters, you have to say, “How many times do you watch a movie?” And a lot of times I will watch a movie 8, 10, 20 times. And there's a process that works when you watch a movie that many times, where you say “Certain things will work every time you watch a movie.”In the same way that you can watch a comedy and you can laugh every single time as certain things comes up. And other times, you start seeing the nuts and bolts and say, “Well, this is always working and here they're just connecting stuff.” And you start saying, “Ah, I get it. I see what they're doing. I see how they're taking this piece that works and this other piece that works and they couldn't quite, they kind of, they found some connective tissue to stick it together. I see exactly what they're doing.” And you start understanding—whether you're watching a comedy or you're watching a drama or you're watching a scary movie—they knew exactly how to make this thing scary. And this is how they're doing it. And they understood exactly how to make this thing scary. And it's like, ah, this is what they're using. Whether it is a spider crawling on someone, that's always going to work. Or, “Oh, I see, this is just a jump scare.” And the jump scare is, I understand, that's just, because a big bang, a loud noise, a hand reaching in from, that's just, that's always going to work. It's going to work no matter what. It's just a kind of placeholder scare, because they couldn't think of anything better. And there are movies where it's just jump scares. And you can always use a jump scare. You can sneak up on a cat and jab it and it'll jump. It's an instinctive response. And if a movie is just relying on jump scares, you know it's because they don't have anything better. They haven't got any deeper than just having the phone ring and they turn up the soundtrack. You can always get an audience to jump by putting a loud sound on the soundtrack. JOHN: Is there an example you can think of though, where there is a jump scare that you think is a genuinely good, effective jump scare? NEAL: I can think of a movie that has two really excellent jump scares. John Carpenter's The Thing. When the doctor's giving the electric shock to the guy's chest, and the chest opens and slams shut on his hand. Didn't expect it.That's a super great jump scare. It is perfectly integrated into that scene. Everyone jumps, but it's also a brilliant continuation of that scene. Second jump scare, when MacReady is testing everyone's blood. And saying, “We're going to do you next,” puts the needle in, and that thing jumps out of the Petri dish.Fantastic jump scare. We didn't see it coming. Everyone jumps. And it's again, it's perfectly integrated into that scene. So, two brilliant jump scares in what's already an incredibly brilliant movie. BRIAN: I remember watching the commentary on Jaws and Spielberg said he got greedy with his jump scares. He had the moment towards the end of the film, you remember that Jaws comes out of the water while it's being chummed. And he said he got this great reaction from the audience, and he wanted one more. And he went back, and he added in the scene earlier where the corpse face comes through the hole. And he said he never got the audience to react as well to the shark after he added in that corpse face coming through the hole of the ship. And I wondered, do you think there's a point of diminishing returns with jump scares in one movie? NEAL: I think there absolutely is. I mean—and I have no end of admiration for Jaws. I think it may be one of the most brilliant movies ever, and it certainly has stood the test of time. JOHN: So, we've each come armed with some movies here that I thought it would be fun to talk about them with you, so that you could sort of delve into the different types of fear that are outlined in the book and we'll just sort ofcheckerboard back and forth here. I'm going to start with one of my favorite sense of dread movies, and that's Don't Look Now, with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, directed by Nick Roeg which I saw way too young. First R rated movie I saw. I remember I knew that it was supposed to be really scary, and I went with my older brother, and we were standing in line and the seven o'clock show was letting out. And I said to my brother, “Well, it can't be that scary. They're not saying anything.” Not realizing that they had all been stunned into silence about the last five minutes of that movie. So, what are your thoughts on Don't Look Now and where does that fit? NEAL: When I talk about the sense of dread, which is what my book is about, it's the notion of those aspects of our lives that we think of as safe and secure and dependable and sacred being suddenly or unexpectedly penetrated by the unknown or the unnatural, the unexpected. And you have to say, well, what are the things that we depend on? We depend on our homes. We depend on our families. And so that relationship of parent and child, what violates that? And the loss of a child, loss is already wrenching. And so, this sense of parents having lost a child, but then this notion that, well, maybe not, maybe the child is still out there somewhere, is so deeply disturbing. And so this weird, this quest, this pursuit in them. And meanwhile, in the background, you have the sense of a killer, of killings going on. This really disturbing notion of the woman's half decayed body being pulled out of the water is just as an image is—and again, the notion of human body being reduced to mere flesh—it's deeply disturbing. And nakedness, coupled with decay, it's deeply disturbing. And all of this sort of happening in the background. We don't quite know how these pieces connect. The notion that the search for the child and the notion that there's a killer on the loose. We know, because the nature of cinematic storytelling is telling us that somehow these things are going to connect, because, I mean, in the real world, there are countless thousands of things drifting around that don't necessarily hook up. But we know that one thing is going to collide with another. And so, there's this growing sense of profound unease, because we know, somehow, this child in this Red Riding Hood cape is wandering around, it's like, is this the child? Is the child going to become embroiled in this? But what we don't, certainly don't expect is the ending that confronts us in the finale, which is so incredibly, the reversal is so terrifying and so hits us in the face of that sense of innocence—revealed in such a terrifying way—is the essence of dread. Where we expect to find innocence, we find a nightmare. JOHN: What's great about what Nick Roeg did there was—if you read Daphne du Maurier's short story—he basically shot the last paragraph of that short story. Cinematically, he figured out the way that she's laying out what's going on with Donald Sutherland's character at that moment. He figured out a way to make it cinematic. So, like you say, all the pieces suddenly fall into place in those last few seconds. And, like you said, we've been brought to this place, we had no idea that that's where it was going to turn. Neal, tell me about Enemy from Space, and what you like about that. NEAL: Enemy from Space is the second of the three Quatermass movie, adaptations of the serial. It's in the same vein as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and all these other movies about human beings who are being invaded and infested by alien forces. In this case, over the past few years—but in the context of the story—there have been rains of these tiny little meteorites. Anyone who finds them, they crack open and what's inside infests human beings. And you can find these tiny little burn marks, these V shaped marks on them. And the parasites take them over and make them into these kind of human slaves. And the premise is they serve this larger being, this kind of group entity, and they proceed to start building these atmosphere plants, with the goal ultimately to turn the earth into a colony for these beings that come from outer space. But the notion of these human beings, they have infiltrated our government, infiltrated our community, and they gradually take people over, scary enough. And they have built this enormous plant that looks, he says, this looks just like this proposed lunar base with these giant atmospheric domes. A group of people managed to infiltrate one of these bases and he looks inside, manages to get close enough to look inside one of these domes and inside are the parasites. When they're released, they grow together into this thing that looks like a giant blob. That's what it looks like outside of the human hosts. And a bunch of these guys are trapped inside of the atmosphere of plant. And they realize this thing, they can't survive outside the human body. They need methane to breathe, because that's what their home planet is like. “What we need to do is we need to pump oxygen into this dome to kill this thing. That'll destroy it.” And voices come over to say, “Look, this guy's crazy. There's nothing inside this dome. You send some representatives over, we'll show you anything you want.” And Quatermass says, “You're crazy if you go over there, you're going to be infected. You're going to be taken over.” But they managed to divide, they send the guys over and Quatermass is pleading with them, “Listen, they're going to get on this speaker. They're going to tell you that everything is fine, but you can't listen. Don't listen to them, whatever you say.” And then they hear this sound. This hideous sound of screaming coming down the pipes, the pipes that they've been sending oxygen down to the dome. They say, “What the hell is that? What's going on?” And then they look, they see the pressure has gone way up. There's something wrong. And the pipe is burst, the pipe that's sending oxygen to this dome. And they say, “What is it? What's happened?” And they look and something is dripping down through the pipe. And they say, “What is it?” It's blood. They took the guys that they sent, and they pushed them into the pipe. They say those pipes have been blocked with human pulp in order to keep the oxygen from coming into the dome. That is one of the most, again, all you see is just these drops of blood coming out of the cracked pipe, but that has resonated as one of the most terrifying moments from any movie that I saw, again, as a little kid. I've seen the movie recently and it's still incredibly terrifying. And again, the architecture of this web of pipes, the cold black and white architecture, is horrifyingly chilling. And the notion of human beings being reduced to mere flesh, being used as material for blocking a pipe. And the pipe's only like, it's like this big. So, you can imagine this person shoved into a pipe is hideous. JOHN: It is available on YouTube if anybody wants to watch it after that. Brian, do you want to ask about folk horror? BRIAN: Actually, I was going to jump ahead just because of what Neal was just talking about. I thought this would dovetail nicely into a question I had about a fear of contagion. And you can wrap body horror into this. Movies like The Thing or 28 Days Later, or probably The Quatermas Experiment as well. How does that fear of our own bodies being infected or watching another body change or be infected in unnatural ways? How does that—I don't want to use the word appeal—but how does that appeal to our sense of dread? NEAL: Well, I think you also have to run back to one of the most common— whether it's psychological or physiological—which is obsessive compulsive disorder. You say, well, what exactly is obsessive compulsive disorder? We have built in grooming behaviors, whether it's cleaning our hands, we clean our skin. That's wired into us. And when you turn the dial up too far, that turns into obsessive compulsive, obsessive hand cleaning or scratching, itching, hair pulling, all that stuff. It's wired in behavior, in the same way that dogs will scratch, we will scratch. And so, all of that, we react to it in the same way that if you see a spot of dirt on someone's forehead, it's almost impossible to “Clean that thing off. Get rid of that thing.” I mean, we're built in a certain way to respond to distortions, infections, invasions, in the same way that if someone's eye is cocked to one side, we react to it. Someone's face is distorted. We react to it negatively. We have to work not to respond to it. It may be a bug, but it may be a feature, because we are built to respond to a diseased or distorted members of our community. It's a survival trait. And so, in some ways, horror movies respond to that. Distorted human beings, Hunchback of Notre Dame or Igor or anyone else who are distorted, deformed, limbless creatures—Freaks—are employed in horror movies in a variety of different ways. BRIAN: And it's a very different thing from seeing an arm chopped off versus seeing an arm with three hands that are all operating. Both of them is something happening to your body that you might revolt towards, but it's a very different reaction though, right? NEAL: It is, but it's—in a sense—it's all variations of the same thing. There's a central human norm, and that which varies from the human norm beyond a certain point triggers a reaction that says, “That's not the way it's supposed to be.” And it's just, eyes are too close together, eyes are too far apart, eyes are too big, or there's an extra one. There's one missing. We recoil from it. We recoil from something that is too different, too far off the norm. And of course, in strictly social terms, you can say, but why, why should we? We shouldn't really respond in that way to others who are too different. But we do respond that way, and it comes with the programming in a very real degree. JOHN: How does that connect, then, to another movie on your list, The Island of Lost Souls, from 1932? NEAL: I think it's central to that list. The notion of the difference between that which is human and that which is animal. And Moreau, who experiments with making animals into human beings, but not really. And the sort of terrifying revelation when our hero and the woman—who we know to be an animal woman, but she looks fundamentally human—escape out into the woods and come across the animal person village. And the realization to what extent Moreau has been experimenting. It's not just tens or dozens. The animal people just come flooding out of the woods. And it's just hundreds. And the extent and the depth and the kind of nightmarish quality, they're all different. They're all horrible. And it's just like, what has Moreau been doing? He experiments with these animals, gets them to a certain state, and then he just discards them and moves on to something else. This utterly careless, sadistic god of this army of nightmares. And you sort of see when they do their, you know, “Are we not men?” And you just see row upon row upon row of these hideous nightmare faces. And you just say, “My God, what has this guy been doing for years? Just making these monsters.” JOHN: It's a classically creepy movie. I do want to ask you about the classic ghost story movie, The Haunting, and what that says about our fears. If you can, maybe tie that into Ghostwatch, because there's a similar sort of thing going on there. NEAL: They're both intriguing. They both are opening us up to this notion of unseen nightmare forces, especially the original Haunting, which shows us nothing. All you ever see: Doorknob turning. A face that may or may not be in the wall. This horribly loud banging on the door. A moment where someone thinks that her hand is being held, but there's no one there. It is simply this notion of a house that is born bad, but never really fully explained. Again, you have this idea of the world itself that should be well behaved, that should be governed by comprehensible natural laws. But there's something deeper and darker and incapable of truly being understood, nevermind being controlled. And if you just prod it a little bit too much, you're going to open it up to forces that are utterly destructive and utterly malevolent. And in both of these cases, you have this man of science and his team that are going to find out. “We're going to find out for sure whether there really are ghosts, whether there really is a supernatural, whether it really is life after death. We're going to nail this down for science.” Yeah, don't do that. Don't do that. These are things that are, that are not meant to be explored, not meant to be examined. Go back. BRIAN: I'm reminded of Van Helsing's sign off on the original Dracula, where he said, “Just remember, there really are such things in this world.” NEAL: Yeah. Yeah. And, and the same thing is true in some ways on a much more terrifying scale with Ghostwatch, where it's just, it's this kind of, “It's all just fun and Halloween, we're going to explore this. It's the most haunted house in Britain.” And it's broadcasters whose faces everyone knew at the time, and they were playing themselves. Going to this haunted house where you had these poltergeist phenomena. And we're all going to, “We're going to do it live and call in with your own experiences about being haunted.” And it all just goes so horribly wrong. JOHN: Now, Neal, I just watched that for the first time this week. Heard about it for years. I had no idea that those were real broadcasters. I thought they were really good actors. But to someone in Britain watching that, those are faces they saw all the time? NEAL: Yeah. Those are real broadcasters. They had their own shows. They were real, the real deal. JOHN: Wow. I highly recommend renting it because—it'll test your patience a little tiny bit, because it is quite banal for quite a while, as they lead you into it. But now this new bit of information that these are all faces that that audience who saw it, quote unquote, live that night, it's as terrifying as I imagined the Orson Welles' War the Worlds would have been. Because it seems very real. NEAL: And apparently the way they did it, is that there was a number you could call in. And if you called in that number, they would tell you, it's like, “Don't worry, this is all just a show.” But so many people were calling in, they couldn't get through. BRIAN: This really is War of the Worlds. NEAL: So, they never were able to get to that message that would tell them, don't worry, it's all just a show. So apparently it panicked the nation, because part of the premise was at a certain point, the ghost that was haunting the house got into the show. And so, the studio itself became haunted. It was really spectacularly well done. JOHN: It is. It's great. Let's just sort of wrap up here real quick with Neal, if you have any advice for beginning screenwriter about how to best create a really powerful and effective horror screenplay, any little tips. NEAL: Well, first of all, and I touched on this before, jump scares don't work on the page. You need the loud bang. You need the hand reaching in from the side. You describe that and it doesn't work. So, you have to rely on creating that sense of dread. And while writing screenplays, you have to keep things tight. The concept, the idea—in the same way comedy screenplays have to be funny—scary screenplays have to be scary. It has to be scary on the page. If it's not scary on the page, you're not going to sell the screenplay. And that's the fundamental trick. You got to make it scary on the page. JOHN: Excellent advice. All right, let's just quickly, each one of us, tell our listeners a recent favorite horror film that you've seen in the last couple years.I'll start with you, Brian. BRIAN: Just last night, I saw Haunting in Venice. And it worked because I had seen the other Kenneth Branagh/Agatha Christie adaptations, and I was very familiar with, and you know, you already know generally that kind of detective whodunit story: it's going to be very, you know, using logic and rationality.And when they had this episode that was sort of a one off—sort of a departure from that usual way that mysteries are solved—it was very effective. I think if I'd seen it without having already watched a bunch of Agatha Christie adaptations, I would have said, “Oh, that's an okay Halloween movie.” But having seen those other ones, it was an excellent Halloween movie. JOHN: Excellent. That's on my list. The movie I would recommend, which really surprised me, my wife literally dragged me to it because it was a French film called Final Cut, which is a French remake of a Japanese film called One Cut of the Dead. At about the 30-minute mark, I was ready to walk out, and I thought, why are we watching this? And then they took us on a ride for the next hour that, it's a really good ride. It's called Final Cut. BRIAN: And this is not to be confused with the Robin Williams Final Cut from... ? JOHN: Not to be confused with that, no. Or if you can go back to the original and watch the Japanese version. But what's great about the French version is they are literally remaking the Japanese version, to the point where they've made all the characters have Japanese names. Which the French people struggle with enormously. It's a highly effective film. Neal, how about you? Take us home. NEAL: Okay. It's not a new movie, but I just saw it very recently. It is a Chilean stop motion animated film called The Wolf House. It describes the adventures of a young Chilean woman who escapes from a repressive German colony and ends up in this bizarre house in which she blends into the walls. She's escaped with two pigs who grow up with her in this house, but again, nothing, no way in which I describe it is going to convey to you how deeply disturbing and chilling this movie is. It really is quite indescribably bizarre and disturbing and just well worth your time to watch. It's not quite like any other movie I've ever seen.

Patrick shares an interesting article about the dangers of plastic take-out containers, gives reasons a priest can know a penitent is contrite, and helps a highschooler navigate the transgender ideology in his school. Patrick shares an email about his theme song, and how a listeners daughter knew two members of the band. Patrick shares an article about Is It Safe to Reuse Plastic Take-out Containers? Bob - When a priest absolves you, how does he know if you have forgiven others? Susan - From the Creed: Did Jesus really go to hell? Patrick - I attended a service last week. There was an interactive gospel - it was on a screen and parishioners were prompted to read part. Is this ok? Alex - Where did the Glory Be prayer come from? Natalie - My husband and I are going through counseling but I feel like I have had enough of his behavior. When do you know if enough is enough? Patrick reads an email form a high schooler who doesn't want to participate in the trans movement and needs help. John - Do you have a suggestion on writings on eternity besides the bible? Joanne - The priest didn't say the prayer after the Kyrie on Sunday and it bothered me. What do you think? Kay - If someone in your family claims to be Catholic but had a vasectomy, how do you approach them on this? A priest I know told me it was not necessary to do this. What do you think?

This Sunday, we will look at the revelation of Jesus Christ and dive into understanding His divine presence while experiencing the transformative power of His love. In Revelation 1:17, we witness the breathtaking encounter between John and the risen Lord, who says to John: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.” From this, we will learn how the revelation of Christ matters to our daily lives. If you are new to Community Church, WELCOME! We would love to get to know you. Please fill in the following form and we look forward to connecting with you: https://bit.ly/cc-new-connect You can find all timely and relevant links from this service on https://bit.ly/cc-links You can also find out more about us at https://communitychurch.hk/ ================ This Week's Scripture: // Revelation 1 (NIV) // The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.    "Look, he is coming with the clouds,"        and “every eye will see him,     even those who pierced him”;       and all peoples on earth "will mourn because of him."          So shall it be! Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

John Ross Bowie joins the show this week to discuss his very busy career in Film and TV. He's had roles on "Big Bang Theory", "Speechless", "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Veep" to name a few. He's been in such films as "The Santa Claus 3", "Jumanji-The Next Level", "Road Trip" and "The Heat". His journey started in New York and eventually took him to Hollywood which we discuss. Plus, John is a writer and released a book called "No Job for a Man" which opened our chat about the current writer's Strike in Hollywood and what that means for him and his peers. Also, John is the host of his own podcast called "Household Faces" and we dive into what that was like to launch! What does John "DO?" How "DID" he do it? What "Will" he do next? All this and more on this week's show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ok google, play My Type - Saweetie. Your resident single baddies are back w/ part 2 of our convo where we talk about our adventures navigating the world of modern day dating. In this chat, we discuss: What's our type - preferences Filters on the dating apps? Speed dating story Getting rejected Do we ghost people? The game Our ideal first dates Guys making the 1st move vs. girls Does the guy always have to pay? Hiking dates? Recommendations

Listen to your resident single pringles - Mai, John, Imdad & Tiana, as we share our stories navigating the oh-so fun world of dating, swiping right and cultural pressures to settle down. In this chat, we discuss: Swiping left/right Dating app icks First date icks Bad date stories Vibing with dates Asking for feedback after dates Dating introverts vs. extroverts Our dating criteria/check-list Dating expectations Cultural/societal pressures to find da one Arranged marriages/blind dates Can you learn to fall in love? Leftovers vs diamond bachelors

Full article: https://www.ajronline.org/doi/abs/10.2214/AJR.21.27218  In this episode, John Do, MD speaks with PAVM expert Michael Taddonio, MD, interventional radiologist and director of the HHT program at the University of California San Diego, to discuss the results of a recently published study in AJR that supports the use of Micro Vascular Plugs as the preferred agent for pulmonary arteriovenous malformations embolotherapy over embolic coils and Amplatzer Plugs.

In this episode of ALPS In Brief, Mark and the founders of Sensei Enterprises discuss cybersecurity options and support for solo and small law firms. Somebody's got to take care of you and that's just what they do. Transcript: MARK BASSINGTHWAIGHTE: Hello, I am Mark Bassingthwaighte, the risk manager here at ALPS, and welcome to ALPS In Brief, the podcast that comes to you from the historic Florence Building in beautiful downtown Missoula, Montana. I am back from a trip into the home office in Missoula, and back in the satellite office here in Florida, and have with me two folks that I've just had the joy and pleasure of getting to know over the years, and the privilege to work with a few times over the years at various ABA events, and it's just been a lot of fun. MARK: Please help me in welcoming Sharon Nelson and John Simek. Sharon and John are President and Vice President of Sensei Enterprises, which is really the heart of the topic we're going to talk about today. Before we jump into some of the questions and things I'd like us to visit about Sharon and John, may I have each of you take a couple of minutes and share whatever you'd like to share about yourselves? What would help our listeners get to know you a bit better? SHARON NELSON: I'll start, and then I'll turn it over to John. What we do at Sensei Enterprise is managed information technology, managed cybersecurity services, and digital forensics. We have three branches, and that means we're running a fire station without a Dalmatian here, so there's always emergencies. It gets very difficult to keep all the balls in the air. We are also married with six children and 10 grandchildren. We're together all day and all night too. MARK: I love it. JOHN SIMEK: You didn't tell [inaudible 00:01:53], you're a lawyer though. SHARON: Oh well. JOHN: Do they care? SHARON: Maybe. John is the veteran technologist and I am the lawyer, and that's why we decided to work together when we started the company some 25 years ago, more than that now, just a little bit. John was the talent and I was the lawyer/marketer who could sell ice cubes to Eskimos, so that worked out really well for us both. JOHN: I'm not a lawyer, as you can probably tell. I'm an engineer by degree, and been involved in technology informally even before the internet. I remember that presidential candidate that was trying to create [inaudible 00:02:40]. Whatever, but back in the days of the modems and all that stuff. But I have a lot of technical certifications, formal training as well. I guess a lot of people think that I should be wearing a pocket protector and have a propeller head. But yeah, as Sharon said, I do the technology stuff, testifying expert as well, because of the forensics and all that. I just got done with a deposition a couple weeks ago that was really entertaining, at least to me, but not for the other attorney. SHARON: That's how it's always supposed to turn out. I forgot to say Mark, that I was the President of the Virginia State Bar a few years ago. That was [inaudible 00:03:25]. JOHN: That's how we ended up in Montana one year. SHARON: Yeah, that's how we ended up coming to see you folks out in Montana. MARK: Indeed. That's right. That was a good time. SHARON: It was a wonderful time. JOHN: I did go fishing when we were out there. MARK: There we go. Boy, there's no place better. You want to talk about some quiet country time on the river with a fly? A lot of fun. One of the things that I've never really visited with you guys about, I'm genuinely very interested. Sharon, you've talked, years ago, you've been a lawyer for quite some time. How did you make this jump? Was that always the plan to go into this Sensei Enterprise type business, the alternative practice, a non-traditional track if you will? How did this all come about? SHARON: Life is full of accidents. As I was a young [inaudible 00:04:22]. JOHN: We're experts at that. SHARON: Oh yeah. When my first child was born, her condition required me to stay home through several surgeries and several years. She's fine, but I ended up working from home as a lawyer. And then, later on after I had been a lawyer and been seriously involved in the Bar Association, I had this very nice man who taught technology to anyone at colleges, and he was helping me computerize my law practice back in the '80s. I was pretty wired up for a solo. But then, he got relocated because of his job, and I said, "What am I going to do without you?" And he said, "Well, I've got this friend down the street, and he's really brilliant, but he's a pain in the butt." And he said, "But I'll set up a lunch, and if you can stand him, then he could do a better job even than me." SHARON: I met him for lunch, I could stand him, and so, we started out with him helping me with my law practice technology. Ultimately, he had always wanted his own company, and he just looked at me one day and said, "You know, I could be the talent of a company, and you're a lawyer, and you can sell anybody anything, so why don't we hook up and form a company?" And that's how we got started. MARK: Wow. That's awesome. I love that. I love that. Oh my. Can you tell me a little bit about the types of services? You can a little highlight or overview, but can we dig in a little bit in terms of the types of services that you offer? I'm also interested, how would you describe your typical client? I know that you do a lot of work I think with businesses that are not just... You're not limiting your services in other words to law firms. Is what you have to offer, would it be useful, beneficial to solo small firm lawyers around the country? SHARON: We actually are devoted to solo small firm lawyers, not that they are an exclusive client roster. We have a client that has over a thousand people. JOHN: Not a legal entity. SHARON: No, not a legal entity. But in any event, we do all sizes. But we have a special feeling in our hearts for the needs of the solo small, because most companies are not interested in them. They don't really want them, because they can't get much of a profit out of them. JOHN: They might have some minimum. Unless you've got 10 bodies or more, they're not interested to even talk to you. SHARON: And so, somebody has got to take care of these people, so we really specialize in finding cost-effective things that they can use to do what they need to do. That's been something that we've been celebrated for, is that we do take care of solo and smalls along with the bigger firms. It's been a mix, Mark, and I really feel strongly about that because I was a solo myself, and I know how hard it was to get competent help and to get things that you could afford. And now that cybersecurity is so important, it's really critical that the solo and small firms have people to guide them in a way that's budget-friendly, because this stuff can be really expensive. MARK: Yeah, I'm well aware. What types of services can you help? If I'm just a solo stuck here in Florida, or Montana, or Iowa, what can you do for me? JOHN: Basically, we do an assessment, an initial assessment, come in there to see what you've got going, and is it appropriate? Should we forklift some things? Are you in the Cloud even? Because today, it's so much more affordable and flexible to be in the Cloud. SHARON: And secure, more secure. JOHN: Maybe you should be considering that. We do have some clients that are remote, up in Massachusetts as well as down the coast, and we can do a lot of things remotely. Sometimes though, you do have to have boots on the ground, and some folks might have a local person if they need hands-on to something. But generally no, we can get equipment, we can figure it, we can ship it, do all that. But essentially, get you in a position where you're a heck of a lot more secure with your technology. SHARON: And you're getting good recommendations from us about what [inaudible 00:09:08]. JOHN: Stability, backup. SHARON: Practice management systems, document management. We can help them work with the companies who have appropriate pricing for solo and small. That's really our niche, is to be able to do that for those people. The solo and smalls are really neglected. JOHN: But it really is a unique thing though, because there's not a template. You can't go to the green drawer and pull out a system for a solo. SHARON: No. I mean, they all have different needs. JOHN: They've got different needs, different things that are important to them, different types of practice, their workflows are different. We really do try to, as Sharon said, customize and make sure that they do have a cost-effective solution. The other advantage I think we have is that we know a lot about the law, and a lot about what lawyers' responsibilities are, and what their- SHARON: And what's ethical. And what's ethical has changed, Mark. In today's world, you have to take reasonable measures to protect client data and confidential data. These days, we have gotten to the point where one reasonable measure is having two-factor authentication, because it's almost always free. It comes with Office 365, which so many solo smalls use. You just have to turn it on. That's where of course the problem comes. JOHN: That's got to be really hard. SHARON: It's the convenience factor, though. They want to get right in. They don't want to have to get a text on their phone, or push a button on their phone. JOHN: Type a code. SHARON: Type a code, and whatever it is. There's all kinds of two-factor authentication obviously, and you have to help them get past the I don't want the extra step to, I have to have the extra step, because ethics demands this of me, because multifactor authentication stops almost 100% of credential-based account attacks. You don't get us that much better than that. JOHN: Especially not when it's free. SHARON: Yes, especially when it's free to do. You just have to put up with one little annoying thing that you have to do. JOHN: You can trust devices too, so it's not every time. You don't have to do this 30 days, or whatever it is, whatever the period of time is. A lot of folks I don't think realize that. They think when they hear this, they go, "No, I'm not going to do this every darn time I connect." You don't have to. SHARON: You said, tell a story. Here's a story. We've been able to successfully convince most of our law firm clients that they must ethically do this. There were several who protested, and they dragged their feet, and they dragged their feet, and then one of them got hit by ransomware. That's what happens when you don't take some advice. First thing they said was, "Okay, we got hit. We were attacked. I guess you were right about that 2FA thing, so could you come back and fix that for us now?" MARK: Hard lesson learned, but boy is it a good lesson once they understand it. I'm hearing you can do lots of advising and guidance on terms of how to become secure, taking into consideration regulations we're subject to, the ethical rules, et cetera. I just had somebody call me up yesterday about, they were talking about some other things, and a side question came out. It's a solo setting up her own firm, and she's interested, are there services and people out there that can help monitor the systems to give you a heads up? Her question was, how do I know if I'm breached? Can you help them answer that, or help them deal with that risk? SHARON: You have today an ethical obligation to monitor for a breach. That's pretty much been established. Now that you know you have to monitor, that's one reason why we are a managed service provider, because we have all sorts of alarms, and alerts, and we check things like backups to make sure everything is going the way it should. JOHN: There's a lot of automation. SHARON: There's a lot of automation. The thing is, when something goes wrong, we'll get a notice, so the lawyer is protected by having the managed services and the alerts that will go to their provider. That way, they know right away, they can usually fix it right away, or if the power is out or something like that, they have to wait until power comes back obviously. But that's why you want someone watching over all of this for you, because the average lawyer has no idea what any of these alerts mean. These things go off, and they're clueless. You want that in the hands of a professional, and it's not very expensive to get it. And so, this idea of endpoint detection and response, this is another thing that we would say is reasonably required in order for you to monitor for those breaches. JOHN: It's not just monitoring, it's also- SHARON: React. JOHN: Yeah, it reacts to it. Artificial intelligence is a part of what the tool uses, in conjunction with human beings in a security operation center. If you get a ransomware attack as an example, or there's some rogue process that comes and starts and the system sees that, wait a minute, this is outside of baseline operation, and it can even automatically take the device off the wire, off the network. But they have, at least the solutions that we're implementing for our clients, it has a rollback capability. If it's got a problem, and you say, "Shoot, you know what? Let's go back to 30 minutes ago," and put your system back into a state before this happened, and we've got that ability. SHARON: It's really kind of magic to lawyers. As much as we try to explain it, and John did in fairly simple terms, they really don't get it. They just get that the magic works. MARK: Right. That's okay. They don't need to get it. If they have somebody like you behind the scenes taking care of it, they just need to make sure these kinds of things are in play or in place. May I also assume that if I have, I do stupid on my laptop, and I get hit with something that we talk about ransomware as a classic example, are you also offering services to help me address and deal with these kinds of breaches? SHARON: Absolutely. That's what you do. JOHN: I do want to point out though Mark, all the technology and things that we do do, you cannot fix a human being. MARK: Right. Oh boy. SHARON: Who clicks on a phishing email or a phishing text? JOHN: Sharon talked about a story. We had a story from... What's today? Thursday. I think it was either Friday, or it was no longer than a week ago. We've got all these things in place, the software, [inaudible 00:16:33], whatever, and yet we've got a lawyer that gets this message, and then he actually initiates a phone call- SHARON: To the bad guys. JOHN: To the bad guys, and then is carrying on this conversation, and under his own ID, he's opening up his machine to this caller, and I'm going, "I can't stop that." SHARON: They finally asked him to enter some bank information- JOHN: And he got suspicious. SHARON: Then he finally got suspicious and severed the connection. JOHN: He called us and we said, "Whoa, hold on." SHARON: But that kind of thing happens a whole lot. People do stupid stuff, and of course now everybody is on their phone a lot, and so the phishing via text has become a big deal. They call that smishing. People will fall for that. They'll get something that says, "You just made a purchase for $500, and if you didn't make this purchase, you've got to do this, or call there." JOHN: Click here or whatever. SHARON: Whatever. Don't click. Don't call. People are not thinking. MARK: I'm hearing we have full service, which I'm not surprised, but I just want to underscore all of this. John, you raised a very, very good point. I'm often writing and lecturing about some similar things. Regardless of what IT does, we still have to deal with the reality of the human factor. You can't patch that. You can't. We have to do some training here. Is that something you guys do as well? Are there any training resources available for solo small firms? SHARON: The best training resource I know of is somebody who is not in your own company, in your own law firm. It's somebody from the outside who carries a bigger bat and has a reputation. That's why we started out long ago doing cybersecurity awareness training for law firm employees, and we do it remotely, which of course people have gotten used to that now. We have a PowerPoint, and we talk through the PowerPoint. We only charge $500 for an hour. Trust me, they can't absorb more than one hour, because this stuff is complicated, and they have to pay attention. An hour is about right. You might want to do it more than once a year. You might want to do it twice a year. At $500, most law firms can afford that, even the solos and the small firms, because it's a whole firm price. We're there for an hour, and we answer questions as we go along, but we can show them the phishing emails and all the stuff. We talk about social engineering, and all the stupid stuff they do, like sharing and reusing passwords. JOHN: The latest attacks. SHARON: The latest attacks. We [inaudible 00:19:30] the latest information. Nonetheless, people forget. The stat that's most interesting to me, Mark, is that over 80% of successful attacks involve a human in some way or another. MARK: Right. Good stuff. One of the reasons I really was excited about visiting with the two of you again, is to try to find or create awareness about resources that are out there, because there are so many places where there is, if you will, nothing locally. When you talk about this preventative educational piece, just as an example, at $500 a pop, I sit here and say, as a risk guy, two or three times a year? That's chump change, and absolutely essential to do in my mind, when I compare the potential loss of time, worry, money, data, all kinds of things, if somebody just does something stupid and clicks on the wrong thing, and we get hit with ransomware, and it's all gone, locked up. JOHN: I think the other requirements you're going to have Mark too though, and what we're seeing a lot of, is that the cyberinsurance carriers are now in their renewals and in their applications, they want to know, are you getting training for your employees? SHARON: That's one of the questions, and they don't want to hear no, or they might charge you more, or they might offer you less coverage. We've seen it all. Cyberinsurance is driving the solo and small firms crazy. MARK: Here's one as a side comment following up on that, please folks, if you're filling out these applications, don't lie. If you say you're doing something, and a policy is issued based on those representations, it's just the same as malpractice insurance or anything else. If it turns out you aren't having these trainings and you don't do these other things that you say you are doing or have in place, that's going to jeopardize coverage. Just a little side note there, be very careful and honest about answering this. I don't want to keep you too much longer, and I really, really appreciate you taking some time today. Could we close maybe with some thoughts about what are the top two or three things that you think lawyers in this space need to be concerned about, focused on perhaps, and/or a tip or two to address these kinds of things? Just a quick wrap. SHARON: Are you talking about cybersecurity in particular, Mark? MARK: Yes. JOHN: I think Sharon has talked about the things that certainly are really high on my list, and that's the multifactor authentication, the EDR systems, endpoint detection response. SHARON: And an incident response plan, which only 36% of attorneys have an incident response plan, and it is so critical, because if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. That's an old chestnut of a line, but it's really true. You have got to have a plan, and you probably need somebody to consult with you a little bit, because there's no absolute template out there that fits everybody. You can start with one, but you really need to have somebody who knows what they're doing help you out with developing a plan. It's not all that hard, it's just that people don't do it. And then, if they do do it, then they leave it to molder, and of course nothing stays the same in this world, especially cybersecurity. In a year, if you haven't looked at it and done anything with it, some portion of it is probably quite obsolete. JOHN: But I think the critical foundation for that whole thing, before you even get down to saying, how am I going to respond, what does my IRP look like, is inventorying your assets and your data. If you don't know you have it, you can't protect it. MARK: That is an excellent point. Yes. That's absolutely an excellent point. I appreciate your time here. Before we wrap it up, I do want to give you a moment to share. If any of our listeners have a need and desire to reach out to you to discuss the kinds of things that you can help them out with, how can they get a hold of you guys? SHARON: Our phone number is 703-359-0700, and our website is senseient.com, or of course you could search Sensei Enterprises. We have all different kinds of folks in the office, and we'll funnel you to the right people. Very happy to do that, and always happy to have a no-cost consult if people have some questions they'd like to ask. We do a lot of that at the beginning, and then it turns out that they do in fact have a need, which is harmonious for us both. But if it doesn't work out, at least we've tried to help. And so, we would encourage that, Mark. I hope that's helpful. MARK: Yes, it is very much so. To those of you listening, I hope you found something of value out of today's podcast. My intent again today, I just am trying to find solutions. I get so many calls of, who do I turn to? This is a rough space at times, and lawyers just feel left out and unsure who to reach to. I assure you, these two and the business they have, these are good folk, and it's a great business. I would not hesitate reaching out at any time. John, Sharon, thank you very much for joining me today. John, good fishing, and hope you guys take care of those grandkids and kids. Boy, that's a busy, crazy life, but I'm sure it's exciting. That's just awesome. I'll let you get back to it, guys. Thank you for listening. Bye-bye, all. SHARON: Thank you very much. JOHN: Bye-bye. MARK: Bye-bye.

What you'll learn in this episode: Why every art student should have business classes as part of their curriculum How the American mythology of the starving artist is more harmful than helpful Why it's important to expand a creative business beyond just making How polymer clay went from craft supply to respected artistic medium Tips for entering jewelry and art exhibitions  About John Rose and Corliss Rose 2Roses is a collaboration of t Corliss Rose and John Lemieux Rose. The studio, located in Southern California, is focused on producing one-of-a-kind and limited-edition adornment and objects d'art, and is well known for its use of a wide range of highly unorthodox materials. The studio output is eclectic by design and often blended with an irreverent sense of humor. 2Roses designs are sold in 42 countries worldwide and are exhibited in major art institutions in the US, Europe, and China. Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Additional Resources: Website Etsy Transcript: For John and Corliss Rose, business and artistic expression don't have to be in conflict. Entering the art world through apprenticeships, they learned early on that with a little business sense, they didn't need to be starving artists. Now as the collaborators behind the design studio 2Roses (one of several creative businesses they share), John and Corliss produce one-of-a-kind art jewelry made of polymer clay, computer chips, and other odd material. They joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about their efforts to get business classes included in art school curriculum; why polymer clay jewelry has grown in popularity; and how they balance business with their artistic vision. Read the episode transcript here.    Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. Today, my guests are designers John and Corliss of the eclectic design firm 2Roses. Located in Southern California, they sell worldwide. 2Roses in an award-winning design recognized for their use of unusual materials. Welcome back.    When you look at these things, do you have visions right away? Does something jump out at you that says, “Oh, there's a pair of earrings,” or “There's a pendant. I can do something with this”?    John: Sometimes.    Corliss: Sometimes. With the way I personally work, I have a table full of all sorts of things. I'll take a certain amount of time and just look and pick and group and put this away. It's almost like a cat playing with a couple of little toys. You put it over here and you scoot it over there. Then we'll have dialogue about it, and we'll talk about things. Then it'll rest, and it'll come back. Sometimes the decision is immediate; sometimes it takes a little while. It's just the process. It's the same thing when John works. He's a little more direct than I am. I've learned from a couple of other peers that it's very helpful to have many, many things at the table at the time, because you can look at a variety of things and the mind just flows. It's like automatic writing. But John's very direct. He'll go through a process and then say, “Come here. Let's talk about this,” and we'll talk about something.   Sharon: What's the division of responsibility between the two of you? Does one person do the back-office stuff and the other person makes? Do both of you do the creative aspect? How does that work?   John: We're very collaborative. It's a very fluid process. I always refer it to as improvisational jewelry design. We don't set out with a plan to make a series of things, although themes and series have evolved organically through the process. We see these themes—moral themes, humor, political or social statements—just keep cropping up on their own to our particular point of view. But within the jewelry production design, it's really—   Corliss: It's fluid. Depending on the task that needs to be done, some things I will be better at soldering. There are some things that John does. He does a lot of—   John: Welding.   Corliss: Machinery and welding and things of that sort, engraving. That's where things maybe get a little compartmentalized. Not in the creative thinking process, but in the actual, physical production stages. “O.K., I'll take this stage. You do that better, so you do that and we'll talk about it.” That's what happens.   John: We don't want to get too far away from our business sides, like, “O.K., who's more efficient for the task?” But we do have certain divisions of tasks. On the back end, when it comes to the hard business stuff, Corliss tends to be the accountant. I'm the sales and marketing guy. She does all the web work. I do social media. I'll do photography and she'll do inventory. We do have certain tasks we fall into, but it tends to be more business operations than the creative work or production.   Sharon: Interesting. How many other businesses do you have? John, you have a multi-media empire it seems. What do you have here?   John: The main corporation is called Mindsparq. That's really an umbrella corporation. Underneath that, we have a variety of different business entities. There's the marketing company. There's 2Roses Jewelry. We have an education arm, a publishing arm, photography. I do a lot of restoration work.   Sharon: Restoration? I'm sorry, I didn't hear that.   John: Of jewelry antiquities.    Sharon: Oh, really. Interesting, O.K.    John: We're working with a lot of museums, auction houses, things like that, movie studios. That's turned into a whole thing unto itself. Then we do light manufacturing. There are a lot of different business entities. Some are intertwined with the jewelry; some are not.   Sharon: Corliss, you're doing the teaching on the educational videos or the educational aspect. How does that work?   Corliss: Yes, a lot more video now. I found that Zoom has opened up a whole wonderful world for expanding education, where I used to have to rely on being someplace in person, and the students had to rely on airfare, hotel rooms, that sort of thing. I have a very international following with online instruction in all different variants. It has proven to be not only lucrative, but very rewarding personally. John has been very instrumental in helping get the lighting and the connectivity set up and teaching me about different cameras and how to adjust them while I'm doing my instruction, that sort of thing. It's worked out very well.   John: I keep her on her marks.    Corliss: Oh, yes.   Sharon: It's so meticulous when you're trying to demonstrate something like jewelry making, metalsmithing, how to weld something, how to incorporate metal into this or that, because you're so close. It's like a cooking class in a sense. How do you show how to do it?   John: Yeah. Actually, the things we were doing with cooking demonstrations when Corliss was more involved in that helped us a lot when we started doing jewelry demonstrations and workshops. Basically, the videography and the whole setup is very, very similar.    Sharon: So, you were ready when Covid came around. When everybody was on lockdown, you were already up and running.   John: We were.   Corliss: Yeah.   John: Actually, what you're seeing behind us, we're in our broadcast studio now.   Corliss: With some of the equipment behind us.    John: Yeah, when Covid hit, we made the investment to set up a complete streaming broadcast studio because it was obvious that this was going to be the transitional network. It wasn't going to just be for the next six months.    Corliss: We've always been very pragmatic about trends and where everything is going. During the pandemic, we saw Zoom as something that was going to outlast the pandemic. It was going to cause a shift in education and a lot of other things, business meetings. So, we took the time to invest in learning the software and watching all the how-to videos and getting questions answered. We wanted to be able to hit the ground running with a certain amount of knowledge and have things work correctly, have that person's first impression be a good one, whether it was a student or I was doing a board meeting or whatever. We just saw that as the right thing to do.   Sharon: Do you see trends both with jewelry and with this? Zoom will continue, but do you see more polymer clay? Maybe it's me. It seems to have subsided. Maybe it was a big thing when it came out. I heard more about it, and now it's—not run of the mill; that's too much—but it's more widespread, so people aren't talking about it as much. What are your thoughts about that?   Corliss: You're talking about the polymer clay, correct?   Sharon: Yes.   Corliss: There have been advancements made within the community, but I actually see the most innovative work coming out of Eastern Europe. There's a design aesthetic there that is very traditional and very guild-oriented. There's a different appreciation of fine art over there, where in America this is a craft media; it's something to introduce young children to. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but it's just a different perspective on it.    John: I was just going to add that what you see in Europe is more professional artists.   Corliss: Yes.   John: Mature, professional studio practices incorporating very sophisticated raw material. Right now, the more innovative stuff is coming out of Europe. How that plays out, that's not to say there's nobody in America. I mean, obviously there are.   Corliss: There's more happening now. We're seeing more and more of our contemporaries getting into the large exhibitions, the large shows with very wonderful work. It's very satisfying to see that, but it's been a slow growth, mainly because this particular medium was introduced as something crafty and not something to really be explored as an art form. That came from within when polymer clay was first manufactured from a very small group of people who saw the potential of it. They set the foundation of pursuing polymer clay as an art form. It's taken a while to grow, but it is starting to get a little bit sweet now.   John: And that's not really different from other mediums. Look at it: it's just a medium. If you look at the introduction of acrylic paints into the painting world, it took 75 years for those to eclipse other things. Polymers are on that path.    Corliss: They were first invented, I think, in the 70s and 80s as a—   John: Well, they were invented of course.   Corliss: Yes, that is absolutely correct, but as an art supply. They were made in the 1980s. That's when they started being discovered.   John: Do you know how polymer clay was invented? Do you know the story?   Sharon: No.   John: It was invented by the Nazis.   Sharon: Was it? For what?    John: During World War II, for the leadup to World War II, it was an industrial material that was invented as a substitute for hard-to-find steel and things like that. It was used in manufacturing leading up to the war. It's an incredibly versatile and really durable product, and it's very plastic. It can be used for a lot of different things. So consequently, it was sitting on the shelf for many years, many decades, until around the 1980s when somebody somewhere discovered this stuff and said, “Hey, look at this. We can throw some color into it and do all sorts of crazy, artistic stuff with it.” That's where it took off.   Corliss: That was the start of Premo, and now you have countless brands of polymer clay that are being manufactured. Just about every country on earth has its own brand of polymer clay, including Russia and Japan. Polymer clay is very big in Japan.   Sharon: That's interesting.    John: Including us. We have it as well.    Sharon: You are early adopters, then. It sounds like very early adopters.   Corliss: Back in that particular time, the internet was just getting started. There wasn't a big outlet like there is today with social media for polymer clay enthusiasts or groups or fellow artists to get together. I learned everything online. There were one or two websites that acted as portals with links to different tutorials and other web pages with information about products, manufacturers' pages, that sort of thing. I learned polymer clay online.   Sharon: Wow, online.   John: There were no instructions.   Corliss: No, there was nothing.   Sharon: Wow! I give you a lot of credit, the stick-to-itiveness and determination to say, “I'm going to learn this.” Polymer clay, I took a class decades ago where they used some—is it baked?   Corliss: Yes, we prefer to call it cured.   Sharon: Cured, O.K.    Corliss: And some of the terminology that's been developed recently is to give a little more sophistication to the product so it isn't so crafty. So yes, it's cured. Most of it is cured around 275º Fahrenheit. There are brands that are cured a little bit higher and maybe slightly lower, but a lot of the brands are interchangeable, intermixable. You can have polymer clay look like a gemstone. You can have it look like old, weathered wood. It's very adaptable. It's a perfect mimic. It supplants the use of other materials in different jewelry compositions. It's a very interesting material to work with.    Sharon: It sounds like it.   Corliss: You can paint it. You can rough it up. You can use alcohol on it, just about anything.   Sharon: Recently you mentioned competition. You enter your work into competitions—I call them competitions. I don't know what you call them, where they give an award for best—   John: Yeah, exhibitions. That's something we do. It's part of the promotion of your work. It's about getting your name and your work out there in front of as large an audience as possible. It's one way to approach it. We've used that in a lot of cases, and these things are building blocks to how you build a sustainable practice. Being in an exhibition—for example, we've been in the Beijing Biennial for three years running. We've won numerous prizes for that, and we're representing the United States. We're one of six artists that have been chosen to represent the U.S. and one of the only clay artists outside the U.K. That'll pick up a lot of opportunities for us and allow us to make connections in China, particularly within the arts community in China. Just that one event has caromed off into, I don't how many years now it's been playing out, and it has continued to provide opportunities for us to do different things. So, yeah, they can be very, very useful, but you have to also recognize that the opportunities are there only if you recognize them and then take action.   Sharon: Would you recommend it to people in earlier stages of their careers, just for validation, to be able to say, “I won this”? Or would you say don't do it until you're ready? What's your advice?   John: I don't think we advocate one way or another. All I can speak to is this is what works for us. Results can vary. It depends on how you approach it. We had a discussion about this in one of the arts groups recently, and I was surprised that one of themes that emerged out of that was a lot of artists' discomfort with competition. If that's the case, then that's probably not going to be good advice for you. When you do exhibitions and competitions, you'd better have a thick skin because you need to be able to say, “It's not personal;  they didn't like my jewelry.”   Corliss: I think one area where we have been a bit instrumental is with younger people who want to enter that first competition for the first time. It's more of an instructional thing. The technology no longer does slides; you do images. It's little things like making sure your images all have pretty much the same backdrop, that they're easy for the jury to look at. Out of the 12 or 15 things that we made, we pick the five or three strongest that we feel would be looked at in front of the jury. When you fill out your questionnaire, if it's anything you have to hand write, please print legibly. It's surprising how careless people can be. Just things like that. Don't be disappointed if you don't get in. You go through the experience of having a binder three inches thick of, “Thank you very much, but no thank you,” before someone comes in saying, “Congratulations.” Then that new little binder starts growing and growing and growing. It's more of a basic instruction, hand-holding, a little bit of counseling and, “Here, go on your way. Just give it a try.”   John: For a long time, we confronted ourselves with that kind of thing. We have what we call the “wall of shame.” We post all our rejection letters and say, “O.K., we really suck. Look at this is a massive array of rejection letters.” But I think most professional artists that do exhibitions and things will tell you it's a numbers game. You just keep submitting and eventually you'll get into some, and you won't get into others; that's all there is to it.    Sharon: Yeah, I can see how thick skin comes in handy.   Corliss: I was just going to say I run to the bathroom and cry.    Sharon: No, but you have to have thick skin to do what you do in terms of putting your work out there. You see people looking at it. They walk to the next table. They walk to the next booth. I was talking to a jeweler about this the other day. It's challenging right there.   Corliss: I go back again to the early days of the apprenticeship. Speaking for myself, I had some hard masters. I remember one class—I will never forget this guy, Salvatore Solomon. He was a fabulous artist, a very good, well-respected artist, and I'm in class and he comes around. He didn't say a word, just took the piece I was working on, ripped it up. He said, “Start over.” Oh no, that didn't sit well with me, but that was his technique. He was very hard on his students, but he was teaching you a number of things. One, thick skin. Two, perseverance. The experience I came out of that with has benefitted me for the rest of my life. Now, I understand what he was trying to do.   Sharon: That would be hard thing to go through. John and Corliss, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us today. I give you a lot of credit for everything you've built, not just the jewelry, but everything around it. Thank you so much for taking the time.   John: Sharon, thank you very much for the opportunity and for taking the time to do this. It's been a real honor and a pleasure.   Corliss: Yes, it's been nice. Thank you so much.   Thank you again for listening. Please leave us a rating and review so we can help others start their own jewelry journey.

“Stop Being So Judgemental!”One of the most quoted verses in the Bible today is some iteration of the following:“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye (Matthew 7:1-3)?”Usually when we hear it, though, we hear: “don't be so judgy!”, “only God can judge me”, “you're so judgemental!”, or “stop being so judgemental!” But is that what this passage means? Are we never allowed to pass judgment? Can we judge others? What's the truth of the matter? In looking at this topic, we are going to investigate four main questions: What is a judgment? Can we judge people? What can we judge? What are the spiritual dangers when we judge?What is a Judgment?First, what is a judgment? This might sound like an obvious question with an obvious answer, but let's take another look.The verb to judge is shared in English and French and comes from the Latin iudicere which means, generally, to proclaim, determine, or conclude. However, in a legal sense, from Roman usage, we get a few synonyms: accuse, reprimand, condemn, and damn. The word came from two root words: ius and dico. Ius means law or right and dico means I call or I point out. I love word etymology. Usually when I am trying to figure out what a word really means, I look at the history of it. Here is no different, and, in fact, we have already stumbled on an important fact. Even in the Latin context, there are two usages of the verb to judge - one means to proclaim or determine and the other means to reprimand and condemn. These are very different usages of the same word! So, we could say that there are two types of judgments, generally speaking. The first judgment belongs to any individual who has come to a conclusion and makes a proclamation. The second judgment pertains to one with authority handing over a ruling. Put another way: the first is an action (to judge) and the second is a job (acting as judge). Can We Judge People? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the one and only eternal Judge. As we read in the Gospel of St. John:“For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (Jn. 5:22-24).”Only He can discern the thoughts and feelings of the heart, mind, and soul. Judgment, in the eternal law sense, belongs only to God. To only Jesus is the judgment of damnation reserved. Upon death, all will appear before Him and He will make the eternal, lasting judgment of the state of one's soul, ultimately, to Heaven or Hell. So, can we judge other people? The answer is simple: absolutely not. This is what Jesus means when He says, “Judge not, that you will not be judged.” We are not omniscient, omnibenevolent, and omnipotent. We simply are not equipped to be the Judge. We do not know the state of someone's soul. What Can We Judge?If we cannot judge others. Rather, I should say - going back to our Roman dual-usage of the word - that we are not the Judge. What then can we judge? Jesus also says in the Gospel of St. John: “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment (Jn. 7:24).” It seems, then, that we can judge something! At the very least, Jesus is asking us to use *right* judgment.Counsel is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is also called “right judgment.” Counsel is the perfection of the cardinal virtue of prudence. Counsel allows us to judge promptly and rightly what should be done in especially difficult situations. Of course, this is a gift from God for our own personal use. What then is the right judgment of others? I think a prerequisite would have to begin with a firm grasp of the virtue of prudence.Prudence is the virtue that disposes of practical reason to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it, using the language of the Catechism. Put more succinctly, quoting Aristotle: “recta ratio agibilium” - “right reason applied to practice.” By practicing and growing in the virtue of prudence, we begin to determine with greater ease what is truly right or truly wrong. This is why the Catechism refers to prudence as the “charioteer of the virtues.”To paraphrase St. Thomas Aquinas, prudence allows us to do three things: 1) to discern the best means for action, 2) to judge soundly whether that means is fitting, and 3) to command the employment of the means. As we grow in this virtue, we will inevitably begin to notice when others employ less-than-virtuous means to attain a goal. We will make judgments. Even our legal code reflects this. We make and enforce laws because we are making a judgment, collectively, that certain actions are morally good or evil, right or wrong. Jesus presupposes this when He gives this charge to His disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector (Mt. 18:15-17).”Here the disciple is making a judgment that his brother has committed a sin. Then, he is charged with telling him this judgment. I am not sure how much clearer our Lord can be in the call to judge the actions of others, at least when someone has sinned against us personally. What are the Spiritual Dangers in Judging?We can judge the actions of others without judging them personally. But what are the spiritual dangers of judgment? First, we have to remember that we live in a fallen world and have an inclination to sin. We are not perfect, and, as our Lord says, we need to recognize the log in our eye before trying to remove the speck in our brother's eye. In other words, any judgment and correction needs to come from a place of righteousness and humility. We have to be cognisant of our biases, our passions, and our own short-comings. Once we have a real sense of self-knowledge, gained in prayer, we can, then and only then, look outward.Second, we must avoid rash judgment, detraction, and calumny. The Catechism summarizes this succinctly:“Respect for the reputation of persons forbids every attitude and word likely to cause them unjust injury. He becomes guilty:– of rash judgment who, even tacitly, assumes as true, without sufficient foundation, the moral fault of a neighbor;– of detraction who, without objectively valid reason, discloses another's faults and failings to persons who did not know them;– of calumny who, by remarks contrary to the truth, harms the reputation of others and gives occasion for false judgments concerning them (CCC 2477).”The Catechism then gives a lot more on this subject from paragraphs 2478 - 2487 .ConclusionJudging the state of someone's eternal soul is out of the question because you and I are not the Judge. There is only one Judge and His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Judging the actions of another, after sufficient discernment and prudence, is called for by the Lord and presumed by every human society with a legal code. I will try to conclude by summarizing this as succinctly as I can: Judge actions, not people. Thank you for reading/listening! This post is public so feel free to share it.Thanks for reading and/or listening to Will Wright Catholic! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willwrightcatholic.substack.com

Title: Again? Text: II Peter 1:12-15 FCF: We often struggle remembering with the same passion that which we have been taught. Prop: Because of this teaching's grave importance, we must be continually reminded of God's ongoing work with us. Scripture Intro: CSB [Slide 1] Turn in your bible to II Peter chapter 1. Today's passage serves several functions in this letter for Peter. First, it serves as a conclusion to all that he has been saying since He wrote his Hebrew name on the page. It is basically a commentary on what he has written thus far. Second, it serves as a springboard to get to the body of the letter, where he will address topics that he has not yet discussed. Third, it is only half of that springboard because next week he will go even deeper into his own reliability and even the reliability of the scriptures. I wanted to give that its own sermon, since it is sure to take a good deal of time. Today's passage is an odd duck to be sure. Not because it is particularly difficult to understand or because there are theological or interpretational challenges. Rather, it is odd because Peter never overtly commands his readers to do anything. In fact, from verse 12 of chapter 1 through chapter 2 and into chapter 3 – Peter does not give one command to his audience. What does that mean? It means that Peter is going to spend a good chunk of his letter giving several reasons that a specific command should be kept. And even though he is going to take a while to say it – it isn't hard to catch what that command is. And this text is our first strong indicator of it. In other words – this passage of scripture may seem unimportant… but I assure you, it is the very heart of Peter. I'm in II Peter 1. I'll start reading in verse 12. I am reading from the CSB but you can follow along in whatever version you prefer, including the pew bible starting on page 1369. Sermon Intro: When I am reading a book for theological or devotional purposes and the writer breaks into an anecdote, typically I find myself hoping he ends soon so he can tell me what he thinks in plain English. Since it is natural for me to preach as I learn, I tend to stay away from stories. That isn't to say I don't use illustrations. I do. But most of them are short – like the training wheels illustration from last week. Today however, I actually want to begin and end the sermon with two illustrations. We have the time – this will be a shorter sermon. And I think these serve to get us to where Peter is in the text. Not so long ago a little country church much like ours, had just called a new pastor to lead them. The first sermon was fairly good. It had something to do with loving people. The second sermon was pretty good too. It was about loving other Christians. The third sermon was also pretty good. It was about loving other Christians like Christ loved them. The fourth sermon was his best yet, where he spoke about the sacrificial love of Christ to pay off the wrath of God for His enemies and how that is the same love we must love other Christians with. However, by the end of the 4th week's sermon, several people were upset. Do you know why? It was the same sermon – 4 weeks in a row. When confronted, the pastor's response was simple. In love he said, “beloved, when you understand, believe, and obey what the scriptures say about loving one another – I will move on to another sermon.” I read a statistic this week. I must confess that I was pretty discouraged by it. 1 hour after hearing someone orate… 90%... let me make sure you heard me right… 90% of what was spoken has been forgotten. On average I speak about 4,500 words every week. That means that by the time Foundations is done… you have managed to retain 450 of them. And we wonder why the bible calls preaching foolishness. Transition: Both of these illustrations serve to validate the point that Peter will make today. Let's look to what he says. I.) Because the stakes are so high, we must be continually reminded of God's ongoing work with us. (12) a. [Slide 2] 12 – Therefore i. I had a Sunday school teacher growing up who always used to say “when you see ‘therefore' in the bible, you need to ask yourself what it is ‘there for.'” ii. That adage holds true here. iii. What is Peter basing his following statement on? iv. I believe it makes most sense to take it back to the beginning of the sentence in verse 10. v. Based on these two paths, one of which leads to disastrous results, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. Why? Because if you do these things, you will never stumble and entry into the kingdom will be richly provided for you. vi. In other words – the stakes - could not be higher. vii. Fall away or enter the Kingdom. These are the two ends of these two paths. viii. That is what pushes Peter to say… b. [Slide 3] I will always remind you about these things, i. Peter is never going to stop talking about these things. ii. He is never going to stop reminding them about these things. iii. Keen thinkers will notice what he says later and wonder how Peter plans to continue to remind them. We should probably see this letter as the outwork of that reminding. Peter expects this letter to continue to remind the church of these things. iv. Now we have to ask – what things? v. The obvious choice would be the increasing spiritual virtues. vi. Not just reminding them to do them but even reminding them of all that God has supplied for them to be godly, and what is promised to them if they do or do not do them. vii. In summary, the whole teaching of these increasing spiritual virtues and all that is entailed with them, which begins in verse 3 and extends through verse 11. viii. Peter – given the stakes – is never going to stop reminding them that God has done all to get them from pre-ordination to glorification, but that all who He secures for glorification He secures WITH these growing spiritual virtues. ix. He continues… c. [Slide 4] Even though you know them i. Peter is going to keep reminding his audience about these things, even though they know it already. ii. They didn't forget. In fact… iii. He is going to keep reminding them even though they've heard it a thousand times. iv. This isn't some new revelation. This isn't a novel doctrine. v. This is established truth that has been taught since Christ came. First to the apostles, then from the apostles to the church. And now a thousandth time to them again. vi. Even though they know them – Peter will not stop teaching it. vii. But they not only know it - d. [Slide 5] And are established in the truth you now have. i. As he stated before, those who do and are increasing in these spiritual virtues will never stumble. They will be anchored in labor and fruitfulness. ii. In other words, Peter is going to keep reminding them about these things – even though they know them – and even though they are practicing them. iii. Even though they are producing these spiritual virtues in an increasing way – He is NOT going to stop from reminding them. iv. Why? v. Because the stakes are SOOO high. vi. This is another log in the fire for a non-assurance only interpretation here. vii. If he was just trying to assure them, here would be his chance to reference their doubt, or even his doubt based on their lack of these increasing virtues. But they are not doubting. And Peter expresses absolutely no reason to doubt them. viii. They know the truth about all this and they are living it. ix. But because knowing and living, faith and works, are required for entrance into heaven to be richly provided to them – Peter must keep on preaching it to them. e. [Slide 6] Passage Truth: Peter reminds his audience that although they know everything that he is teaching them and will teach them, and although they are currently walking in these teachings, they must be reminded continually about them. They must be reminded because the stakes are high for them to remain established in the truth. f. [Slide 7] Passage Application: So, for his audience, really the application is to humble themselves and submit to being reminded again and again. g. [Slide 8] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to all of scripture we see a theme that is, quite frankly, hard to miss. It is a theme of generational faithfulness and failure. What I mean by that is that when we see Israel remain faithful to God at any point in their history – we need only keep reading for another generation or two and find that they have fallen completely into spiritual ruin. The book of Judges demonstrates this in tight cycles but in reality the history of mankind is defined by God showing favor, people responding, and then forgetting or neglecting Him in subsequent generations, falling to their own destruction. So even though we believe and are obeying – we still need to be continually reminded so that we stay the course and not lose our way. h. [Slide 9] Broader Biblical Application: So, CBC, if we viewed our salvation exclusively as a past event. That we said a prayer, made a confession, professed a belief or otherwise accomplished something that was done forevermore and that was the only aspect of salvation we believed in – then we might be tempted to be irritated with the constant preaching of the gospel message. We might be tempted to become tired of hearing the same things over and over again. We might get bothered even when we can't seem to quite get beyond teaching the basic tenants of our faith. Ironically, if this is how you view salvation, it shows that you have truly forgotten what the apostles and Jesus taught about our salvation. For it is not only a past conversion or justification experience. Indeed, aspects of our salvation are not yet fulfilled. We aren't quite saved yet. And also, aspects of our salvation are ongoing. We are being saved. And viewing our salvation as an ongoing thing that God is working in us, through us, and with us, bringing forth fruit from our faith, helps us to conclude with Peter – that we NEED to be reminded of the rich truth of our faith. Constantly. Even if we are holding fast and living in obedience – we need the gospel always on the forefront of our minds. So let us be humble, let us not grumble, and let us rejoice in hearing the truth again and again. Transition: [Slide 10(blank)] But the stakes being high is only the first reason that Peter must continually remind them of the ongoing work of God in their lives. In verses 13 and 14 he moves to another reason. II.) Because a teacher's time is short, we must be continually reminded of God's ongoing work with us. (13-14) a. [Slide 11] 13 - I think it is right, as long as I am in this bodily tent, to wake you up with a reminder, i. Peter considers it just to wake them with a reminder. ii. As we saw in verse 12, he needs to remind them, even though they know it, and even though they are practicing these virtues. iii. Why? iv. Because the stakes are high. v. Here in verse 13, he also wants to shock them, to wake them, to stir them up. vi. Oftentimes when we “know” something and when we are “doing” something is when we become quite complacent. vii. We tend to be lulled to sleep by maintaining the status quo. viii. Even though it is exactly where we should be – and even though there is no new information or application coming in – a fresh reminder serves to shock the system. It serves to rouse us, to wake us, to stir us up. ix. It is right, it is just for Peter to do this for his audience while he is still alive. x. And this introduces another reason that Peter must remind them of these things. b. [Slide 12] 14 – since I know that I will soon lay aside my tent, i. Peter will soon be martyred. ii. Peter is approaching the day that he will no longer be able to remind them – since he will die for his Lord. iii. From church tradition we think that this happened right around AD 64-66, when emperor Nero escalated his persecution of the “pernicious” Jewish cult known as “The Way” iv. Tradition also tells us that Peter was crucified by Roman cross upside down, by his own choosing, citing that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same way that Christ was. v. But we might wonder, how did Peter know that his time approached? vi. Were there writings on the wall, did he see the persecution escalating? vii. Well, we don't have to wonder. Peter tells us how he knows. c. [Slide 13] As our Lord Jesus Christ has indeed made clear to me. i. To make clear means to reveal or indicate. ii. This could mean that Peter is simply following the signs. This could be referring to some statement by Christ given to Peter while He was still on earth. iii. Or probably he means both. Peter is looking around at his life and no doubt remembers the words that Jesus spoke to him, which John recorded in his gospel. Let's read those iv. [Slide 14] John 21:18-19 v. We see here with John's commentary the truth that Jesus gave to Peter. That he would die as an Old man and as a prisoner. This is when and how he would die. vi. So, the Spirit of God recalled to Peter's mind the words of Christ in order to reveal to him that he would die soon. Peter is no doubt in his 60s at this point. Which in that time was definitely old. Life expectancy was in the mid-40s which is a somewhat skewed statistic because of infant mortality and war – but still 60 would be quite old at this time. vii. So, the second reason Peter must remind them and shake them awake, is because he won't be able to for much longer. d. [Slide 15] Passage Truth: So, Peter reminds them that because he is old and Christ's words predicted that he would be bound and killed against His will when he was old – that his time on earth was short. This adds a priority for him to continually remind them of these things. e. [Slide 16] Passage Application: So again, the application for them is to humbly hear and be reminded of God's ongoing work in their lives. f. [Slide 17] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to all of scripture we notice this truth plainly. The lives of men are a vapor. They wither like grass. Their lives are here today and gone tomorrow. Such is the nature of human life. It is frail and fragile. In light of such short lives – teachers are pressed to continually remind those in their charge of the beauty of God's ongoing work. g. [Slide 18] Broader Biblical Application: So, CBC, you would do well to humbly receive what your Elders teach. Lovingly listen to them communicate God's truth. Some of your Elders have far more winters behind than they do ahead. Their lives are approaching the finish line. And even if they are not old, God has not guaranteed a certain number of years to any man, much less to us. So, while we teach, while we remind, while we recall all that God is doing in, though, and with His people – humbly hear and heed. Transition: [Slide 19(blank)] So because of the high stakes of them receiving and living the message, and because Peter's life is coming to an end, he must remind them and continue to remind them of all these things. But there is one last reason he must do this. III.) Because the goal is total saturation, we must be continually reminded of God's ongoing work with us (15) a. [Slide 20] 15 – And I will also make every effort, i. Again, to make every effort is to zealously, with all you are, as if your life depended on it. ii. Just as Peter told his audience to make every effort to add to their faith, and to confirm their calling and election, so he is committing to make every effort for them. iii. His efforts are clearly focused on reminding his audience of these virtues and their importance. iv. And now his third reason b. [Slide 21] So that you are able to recall these things at any time after my departure. i. Peter wants to remind and keep reminding his audience so that they will eventually be able to remind themselves. ii. Peter desires that he teach on these virtues; their need, their place in God's preservation of His people; and the stakes for not having them. He wants to teach on them so much that even when he is dead – his people would still hear the words ringing in their ears. iii. That once he is gone they would have it so engrained in their heads that they would easily be able to recall all that he had taught them on the matter. iv. This is total saturation. Peter wants to be able to prick their finger and see that they bleed these teachings. v. And not just so they can recall them – but so they can teach others also. vi. This is… every teacher's wish. c. [Slide 22] Passage Truth: So Peter reminds them that they need to continually receive the truth of God's ongoing work in them because at some point they will be the ones that will need to pass down the truth to others. They will not always be the receivers but must transition to be the givers of such teaching. d. [Slide 23] Passage Application: So they must, now, humbly receive each and every reminder of the ongoing work of God with them. e. [Slide 24] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out to the rest of scripture we have the Shema which was designed to facilitate this exact thing. Turn with me to Deuteronomy 6:1-15 and we will read this. We see from this text the command to continually teach these principles to any and all who would listen. So they would not be forgotten and so God's law would continually be obeyed. In the Shema the threat of curse or promise of blessing is assigned to their response. And so in many ways the Shema is a great corollary to what Peter is saying here. In this the desire is that God's people would not simply hear and heed what God had said but then go and teach to others the same. That they would recall for themselves what God has said and do as God has commanded. For this same reason we must be continually reminded of the ongoing work of God to preserve us to the kingdom. f. [Slide 25] Broader Biblical Application: So, CBC, we must humbly listen to the continual reminders of what God is doing in us and through us to get us to His Kingdom. The purpose for this is certainly so that we will stay the course – but not only that. Indeed, we need to be so full of this truth that we actually can remind ourselves. That we can teach it to others. That we can be those who pass down the teachings of those who instructed us. This is the goal of all biblical teaching and discipleship. To reproduce disciples of Christ. Conclusion: Well, just as we began with two illustrations, I have two more to close us out today. But both of these should be relatively familiar to you if you have grown up in the church, because both illustrations are biblical accounts. They are history. They are God-breathed history. The first is from a passage we have already seen. Peter references a statement made to him by Christ which indicated that he was sure to die soon. But right before that verse in John 21, we have a rather famous miracle that sparks a rather famous conversation recorded for us. Peter, having seen the Risen Christ but having not spent much time with Him, decides that he is going fishing. Three years ago, this was his occupation. Now – perhaps it will be again. He wasn't very good as a disciple of Christ and a fisher of men. He was not able to help sustain the commitment to Christ of any of the disciples– primarily because, he himself denied Christ three times on the night of His trials. So, since he failed as a disciple, perhaps he could succeed as a fisherman again. He didn't. All night he labored with other disciples to bring in a catch of fish. They caught nothing. At daybreak (an interesting word for next week) a man appears on the shore and calls them friends. He asks them if they've caught anything. To which they reply nothing. The man commands them to cast the net on the other side of the boat and they WILL catch fish. John says to Peter – it is the Lord. Peter abandons his nets again… As if to say – I'd do it all again. He swims to shore as the rest of the disciples haul in the massive load of fish. They sit down to eat breakfast from the catch they just had. Not being able to possibly eat all they caught, Jesus looks to Peter, points to the fish and asks. Do you love me more than these? Peter says. “Lord you know I love you.” That's why I left that boat. I can't go back. I can't. But Lord I can't go forward either. I'm stuck. I failed you… but I have no where to go. Jesus says “Feed my lambs, Peter.” We aren't told how long between the question, but later, perhaps after the fish had been sold to market, Jesus asks Peter. “Do you love me Peter?” He replied. “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” “Then Shepherd my sheep Peter.” A third time, Jesus asks, yet again. “Peter, son of John… Do. You. Love. Me?” Now for Peter, the number 3 had taken on special significance. It was the third day after his crucifixion that Jesus had arose. He spent 3 years as a disciple of Christ with 3 men who formed an inner circle of disciples. But more recently – it was the exact number of times Peter denied His Lord on the night of His betrayal. Proving to Peter that he was no better than Judas. And Christ changed his question subtly too. Before he was asking Peter if he loved him unconditionally and selflessly. Peter responded with something that could be a synonym or, could be avoidance. He responded by saying that he loved Jesus like a brother. But now Jesus changes His question. He asks – do you love me like a brother Peter? With his denial and Jesus even questioning his statement about how he loved Christ… Peter was grieved terribly. Through tears I'm sure Peter said , Lord you know all things. You can see my heart. I cannot lie to you – for there would be no point. You know Lord… that I love you. Perhaps, Jesus took his hand and raised Peter's chin to meet his eyes. And he said – “Then Feed my sheep Peter.” Jesus gave the same teaching to Peter, three times. If you love me, obey me. If you love me, obey me. If you love me obey me. How? By passing on what I have given you. In II Peter, he is simply following His Lord's example. My fellow Elders. Take note. Do not strive to be innovative. Do not strive to be relevant. Do not strive to be earth shattering or ground breaking. Do not become obsessed with keeping tradition for traditions sake, but do not treat tradition as the enemy but rather your friendly guide to interpreting scripture rightly. Why? Standing on the beach and seeing the Pacific ocean, even swimming in its waters may enable you to speak to where you've been and what you've seen vividly – but the interpretational perspective of believers down through the ages provides a map of the Pacific ocean. And only with a map can you provide a tour for the people of God. Our role is simple but not easy. We must continually remind our people of the teachings, not of Chris, not of Eric, not of Justin, Not of CJ, not of Jerry, not of Nick – but of Christ. For He alone has the words of life. So brothers – let us feed His sheep. My fellow fathers. Take note. Do not overcomplicate your role. Do not get up in your head. Do not be overwhelmed by guilt and fear. Do not drown yourself in over worked laws. Instead, see your role as simply to remind your wife and your children about the word of life! Take what your Elders have given you and give it to your family. Take what God has shown you, being careful to test it thoroughly as from the Lord, and give it to your family. Teach them in word, in example, in song, in prayer. Remind them of what you've been reminded. My fellow Christians. Pass on what you've received from faithful witnesses. Don't teach it once. Don't teach it twice. Continually give the words of life to all you hold dear. My fellow learners. Heed the historical account of Numbers 11. The people were given manna from the Lord every day. Every single day they were given Manna. A substance that could be made into something like sweet pastries made with the finest oil. Do you know what we call that? They had donuts people. They woke up and ate a healthy life sustaining DONUT every single day. But after about a year… what happened. They said to each other, “Remember before when in Egypt we got fish and we ate it with cucumbers, leeks, onions and garlic! OH man. SOOO Good. I hate this manna stuff. SO SICK OF IT!” Though it was bread… from God. Life sustaining donuts from heaven. They grew to despise it. My friends. Do not grumble. Do not complain. Do not protest at the preaching of the gospel of Christ. Do not roll your eyes at the preaching of yet another sermon on the grace of God. Yet another sermon on how we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone revealed in scripture alone for the glory of God alone. Don't let a sigh of exhaustion over another sermon calling you to live out the faith you have supposedly received. Don't you dare beg for the fish of Egypt. Because God gave his people quail to eat for an entire month. That is all they ate. So much so that they were sick. A plague broke out among them. And many died. Do you know why churches today are plagued by spiritual sickness and those who think they are spiritually alive when they are still dead? Do you know why it is so hard to find a church that teaches that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, revealed in the scriptures alone, for the glory of God alone? Do you know why so many church never teach on living out the faith that they supposedly have? It is because people with itching ears don't want that kind of message. They don't want to be reminded that God works with His people in an ongoing way to keep them from failing. OH no. They would much rather receive messages on having their best life now. The 7 ways to be a likable person. The 10 ways God wants you to be happy. Or the 150 ways that God says you are special. What has God done? He has given them preachers to teach those messages. He gave them quail. Enough to kill some of them. So my friends – though you know it – though you live it – receive with gladness, humility, joy, love, and hope the message of God's saving work, begun and finished by Him and ongoing with you. Learn to love the Old Old Story. For that, my friends, is what you need to keep living it.

Oh my goodness, it's EPISODE 300!!! I can't believe we have made it to 300 episodes! Normally, each week I sit down with an incredible entrepreneur, business owner, community leader, activist, author or speaker, and I find out their story and how they are using their gifts to change the world. But today is a big deal. I started this podcast in summer 2016, nearly six years ago. I never believed I would have made it this far. In honor of episode 300, I am answering listener questions, my husband joins as a special guest, we go over the top 10 most popular episodes and we honor a previous guest who has passed away. 5:42 – Question about ethical fashion Natasha asks: “When I was first learning about ethical fashion and what it means at the ripe age of 29 … I was telling my stepmom of its importance and how most garment workers aren't paid a living wage from fast fashion companies. I mentioned I was going to stop shopping at those companies, and she said to me, ‘But don't those people needs jobs, too?' I was a bit flabbergasted and to this day don't have a one sentence response. How would you answer that?” 9:52 – Two unaired episodes Mary asks: “Have you ever not aired a conversation?” Yes, there are two episodes that have never aired, and I explain why in the podcast. 13:16 – Coolest experience Carly asks: “What's one of the coolest things you've been able to do because of this podcast?” 14:55 – Favorite Australian food Sarah Ann asks: “What is your favorite Australian food?” Shout out to Sarah Ann, because she is one of the most encouraging listeners and even sent me a care package. 16:46 – Message from Sarah Ann “Thank you, Molly, for letting us into your family life and being the big sister that I never had.” 17:19 – Thank you, MamaSuds MamaSuds has been a wonderful partner to work with. If you've listened to this show, you know how much I love MamaSuds. 19:01 – Welcome, John! My husband John joins us for this part of the podcast, and he is my most requested guest. 23:25 – What does John love most about my job? Christy asks John: “What do you love most about Molly's job or what she does for a living?” John shares a funny story about jury duty and how he panicked when asked about my job. 26:10 – Favorite part of homesteading Cheryl Dunn asks: “What is your favorite part of homesteading?” Survival is not the answer, but there is a lot that we love. 27:51 – How to get finances in order Maria J. asks: “I know your husband is a financial advisor … I feel really overwhelmed with where to start with getting my overall finances in order. Where do I begin? Financial Peace? Total Money Makeover? Or should I just look somewhere else? 29:54 – John's favorite interviews Kelly R. asks John: “Do you have an interview that Molly has done that sticks out to you as one of your personal favorites?” 31:31 – Best marriage advice Bethany M. asks: “What is the best piece of marriage advice that someone has given you? And what is the best piece of marriage advice you would give someone else?” John doesn't think people give good marriage advice. 32:57 – How is Molly different? Tara L. asks: “How is Molly the most different today than when you first married her? 34:35 – Honoring a former guest Eric Erdman was a guest in April 2020 on episode 191 and passed away a few months later. He had cancer and started an organization called Give a Child a Voice. 35:45 – Top 10 most popular episodes 10 – Episode 100 – My and John's episode 9 – Episode 153 – Kevin Fredericks, KevOnStage 8 – Episode 263 – Christy Wright 7 – Episode 211 – Mary Marantz 6 – Episode 205 – Daniel Grothe 5 – Episode 165 – Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado 4 – Episode 158 – Jennifer Allwood 3 – Episode 71 – Devan and Morgan Kline 2 – Episode 135 – Kat Eckles 1 – Episode 137 – Rebecca Smith FEATURED QUOTES I am just overwhelmed right now, thinking about this episode and what it means. – Molly My goal each and every week is to just serve you with this show and to encourage you. – Molly I like knowing how to butcher chickens. Two years ago, I didn't know how to butcher a chicken. – John Know what you're spending and know how much you're bringing in. Spend a couple months just tracking your expenses. – John I feel like people don't necessarily give great marriage advice. – John Thank you to our partner of the show! Are you looking to clean up your household cleaning products this year? MamaSuds would like to help! The best way is to simply start with one product. Every time you run out of a specific cleaning product, replace it with a non-toxic one. Another tip, purchase a product that has multiple uses. The MamaSuds Collection has many multiple use products (castile soap or the toilet bombs are just a few!). Their blog has lots of great tips and a castile soap recipe that you can print and make a lot of your own effective cleaners! Give them a try at www.mamasuds.com and don't forget to use the coupon code MOLLY for 15% off your order!

Full article: https://www.ajronline.org/doi/10.2214/AJR.21.27301  Several prognostic scores have been applied for predicting survival after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) placement to guide patient selection. In this episode, John Do, MD speaks with TIPS expert Dr. Jonas Redmond, interventional radiologist and associate professor at the University of California San Diego, to discuss the results of a recently published study in AJR that supports the utility of FIPS score in differentiating patients who are optimal candidates.

Full article: https://www.ajronline.org/doi/abs/10.2214/AJR.21.26256  Should CT contrast media be warmed? Currently, the ACR has not provided conclusive recommendations, and data to guide decision-making has been sparse. In this episode, John Do, MD discusses a recently published study showing that prewarming iohexol 350 may not be necessary to reduce the risk of extravasation and reaction rates. 

A special guest joins the study to offer his insights into this letter from the Beloved Disciple (He also grades the work of Mark and Phil). The letter ends with a challenging admonition by John: Do not pray for those who commit a sin that "leads to death." What could this mean? Talking Points from 1 John 5:13-21 - Be confident in your salvation and your prayers - Ask according to the Lord's will - Ask on behalf of your brother in sin - Ask not for one committing a "sin unto death" Thank you for participating in this study with us. 2 John is up next.

The RailsConf Scholarship Program (https://railsconf.org/scholarships) 03:12 - Tram’s Superpower: Getting 8 Hours of Sleep Per Night! 04:08 - Leah’s Superpower: Being a Companion to Long-Distance Runners 04:55 - Stefanni’s Superpower: Doing Things She’s Terrified of Doing 05:34 - Being Afraid and Grappling with Self-Doubt * Asking Questions and Being Vulnerable * Call-Out Bad Behavior 12:34 - Team Psychological Safety 17:20 - Education & Learning Environments; Tech Journeys * Ada Developers Academy (https://adadevelopersacademy.org/) * The Turing School (https://turing.edu/) 27:52 - Making & Noticing Progress; Comparing Yourself to Others * The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know (https://www.amazon.com/Confidence-Code-Science-Self-Assurance-What-Should/dp/006223062X) Reflections: John: Finding new ways to be of service to other people. Leah: What can we proactively do to make our space safer and more conducive to diverse thought? Mando: It’s okay to make mistakes and not be perfect. Steffani: How common it is to openly talk about these things in the Rails Community ❤️ Tram: Representation matters! Humanization and inclusivity. Calling people out. Lending Privilege -- Anjuan Simmons (https://anjuansimmons.com/talks/lending-privilege/) Transcript: JOHN: Hello and welcome to Greater Than Code, Episode 235. I’m John Sawers and I’m here with Mando Escamilla. MANDO: Thanks, John. And I'm here with three RailsConf scholars who are going to be joining us today, which I'll like to take turns introducing yourself, maybe starting with Leah? LEAH: My name is Leah Miller and I’m a Platform Engineer at Highwing, which is an insurtech startup based out of Denver. Before making over the switch to tech, I spent almost a decade in the insurance industry primarily working as a production underwriter. In my spare time, I enjoy running and craft beer and frequently, the careful combination of the two. I’m also a new dog mom to a rescue pup named Orla. MANDO: Great. Tram, you want to go next, please? TRAM: Yeah. So hi, everyone. I'm Tram Bui. I’m currently attending Ada Developers Academy, which is a tuition-free coding program for women and gender-diverse folks in Seattle. The program includes an internship match with a Seattle tech company. So currently, for my internship, I work as a Developer Relations engineer and what this means is that I try to make it easier for Rails developers to deploy their apps to the cloud. Outside of coding, I try to maintain it and improve my high school tennis skills. I also like to read books and also, thinking about my next great public transportation adventure and volunteering for local nonprofits. And then Stephanie, I can pass it on to you. STEPHANIE: Hi, I'm happy to be here. I'm Stephanie and I've been working with Rails for the past 4 years, but now I'm trying to transition from dev full-time to having my own projects. And besides software, I also like to talk about plant-based diet, financial independence, and mental health. Also, if you have noticed my accent, I'm from Brazil, but I live in Vancouver, BC and yeah, I'm really happy to be here. JOHN: Awesome. Welcome to the show, everyone. So this is just a little setup here. Not every year at RailsConf, but most years at RailsConf, we do have a special episode where sometimes, we've got many of the panelists are together and so, we can record in the same room, which is obviously very novel for us. This year of course, it's all online. One of the things we’ve also done is bringing in some of the people who are part of the RailsConf Scholar Program, which is the program to expand access to tech conferences to people that are underrepresented and to give them some guidance on how to make the most of their experience at the conference. We always think it's great to get the opinions of people that are brand new to this industry and see what their perspective is on everything. So we're going to start off with our usual question which is what is your superpower and how did you acquire it? We can go really in any order. Who would like to go first? TRAM: I can go first. So my superpower would be the ability to get 8 hours of sleep a night [chuckles] and I think I acquired this power – I think I was very just like, I loved nap time as a kid and I grew up knowing the importance of a good night's rest. I think for me to be my best self, that’s one of the big things that I need to have. I think growing up and going to college, it was very like, “Oh, sleep is not important,” but I always had noticed the importance of sleep and I think it does hustle economy, too. People are very fast to just cast aside and was like, “You can sleep when you're dead,” but I'm like, “No, if you don't sleep, you will die faster.” So I'm going to take every opportunity that I can do at least get a full night's rest. LEAH: I am so jealous of that superpower. [laughs] I think mine feeds into a little bit of the opposite of that, but my superpower is the ability to keep people company when they're running through the night during a 100-mile races, or ultra-marathons. So people running it 3:00 AM, 4:00 AM, getting really down, needing someone to lift them up, I can run alongside them and sing, or just be a companion to keep them motivated. I think I acquired this skill from being a middle child. I spent a lot of time just entertaining myself and being pretty independent and if you can entertain yourself, it's pretty easy to extrapolate that to others, keep people going, so. [chuckles] STEPHANIE: I would say that my superpower currently is a work in progress actually, but it's doing things even if I'm terrified of the way I always struggled a little bit with self-confidence. How I acquired that, I actually had to go to therapy first to build the foundation, but now I think I've been getting pretty good at it and the feeling of doing the things that you're scared at the end is a really good feeling. You feel like a superwoman. [chuckles] JOHN: Oh, those are all such great answers. I want to dive into each of them, I think oh, my thoughts are jumbling up because I want to ask questions to all of you. Well, I think I'll start with Stephanie. That's an amazing superpower and it's definitely going to serve you well. It's something that I've had to learn as I develop my speaking career at the same time. Even just thinking that it was possible for me to get up on stage and do that, that took a while to get there and then actually doing it also took a lot of practice. So certainly, that's going to be awesome. MANDO: Yeah. It's so easy to just keep doing the things that you're good at and try to ignore, or maybe push off the things that you're not so good at, or you don't have that confidence in, Stephanie, like you were saying. It's funny, I keep relearning this lesson over and over again, there's this project at work that I've been putting off and pushing the JIRA ticket over just because I kept telling myself that it wasn't important and that I could do – other things were higher priority. It's just because I was kind of scared, but I wasn't going to be able to do it as well as I could do the other things. I just had to sit down and do it and then I pushed up the PR and it got ripped to shreds by the other wonderful, [laughs] amazing engineers that I work with. But it's good. I didn't die. [laughs] So it’s funny how we have to keep learning these lessons over and over again sometimes, I think. JOHN: Yeah, that reminds me that there's a related skill in there also, which is realizing when you were afraid of something. Sometimes you think, “Oh, it's just not important that happened right now.” MANDO: Yeah. JOHN: As an excuse, but once you realize, “Oh, I'm actually afraid of how this is going to go.” It allows you to approach it differently. You can be like, “Oh, okay, well that's what this is. All right, then now I know how to like face it, head on rather than pretending it's some other reasons.” So I think that that's really important as well. MANDO: Absolutely. Yeah, and it took me a couple of days to [laughs] realize that that's what I was doing and it wasn't until that was the last thing I had to work on for the sprint after I had reshuffled and moved everything over and then looked at my other teammates, JIRA boards to see if they had any stuff that I could help out with [laughs] that finally I was like, “Well, okay, I guess I'll just do this one.” TRAM: Yeah. I think sometimes for me, the anticipation, or the thought of it is even scarier than actually doing the task itself. I've had this happen to me so many different times. For instance, with the podcast, I'm like, “Yeah, this is something that I want to do because I like listening to podcasts,” but I was like, the nervousness and the scariness of putting myself out there and just thinking about it leading up to this moment, it's so much scarier than actually being in the moment and talking with y'all. So yeah. LEAH: I think part of it, too is recognizing that your feelings are not existing in a vacuum. There's other people that experience the same insecurities, or just going through what you're going through. We were interviewing someone a couple weeks ago at my company and just talking about the stressors of being from a bootcamp and being hired into an engineering organization as either a junior developer, or a mid-level developer, or whatever level, but just knowing that your background isn't a CS degree, or it's just a little bit different than what other people have. And then having that insecurity of I'm pushing up a PR and then are 20 people going to make comments on this and then that gets pushed to Slack and everyone sees all 20 comments. Am I going to be laughed at, or looked at as less than? So it's just nice to express that to someone else and have them regurgitate the same feelings, or just reflect back to you that you're not the only one who's having self-doubt in that way. MANDO: Yeah, and it's tough for me at least to remember sometimes that I come from a very different place privilege wise than other folks on the team. So it can be a lot easier for me to do stuff like, just push this PR up and ask for comments because my experience may be very different than someone who doesn't have my same background, or the amount of experience that I have, or the kinds of relationships that I may have with other folks on the team. I strive to help create spaces whether at work, or wherever where people can feel comfortable asking questions and not worrying about people coming in and being overly critical, or negative, or whatever. But my lived experience is very different than others. That's something that I need to keep in mind that you can't always just assume good faith that everyone's going to treat you the way that you would maybe treat them and I have to actively work and actively communicate to people that this is that kind of place. JOHN: Do you find that there are specific things that you do to communicate that, or at least to make that ambiently knowledgeable to the other people in the team? MANDO: That's a good question. I think the easiest thing you can do is make sure that you're modeling both sides of that behavior like, asking a lot of questions, putting yourself in vulnerable situations, and then also, making sure that you always jump in and respond positively when others do that so that you can help set a baseline. I think of what the behavior should be and what behavior is expected, and then the second thing is always making sure to call out behavior that doesn't hit the bar. I can't remember where I first heard this, but my buddy, Jerry, he's the one who always drops the phrase to remind me, he says, “It's as simple as saying, ‘We don't do that here.’” It doesn't have to be a big deal. It doesn't have to be a huge problem, or anything. Just when there's behavior that you don't do here, you say, “We don't do that – [laughs] we don't do that here.” It's as simple as that. LEAH: I love that. MANDO: Yeah, Jerry's awesome. JOHN: I think this is a really interesting topic because I'm always looking for examples of ways to make that easily communicated in a team environment. So have any of you had experiences where maybe someone else on the team was able to communicate some thoughts of psychological safety, or things that made you more comfortable being who you were on the team? LEAH: So I can speak to the team where I work. We're a startup. We have about 15, I think maybe officially 16 people now and we have, I think just hired our fifth female to join the team, or a fifth non-male to join the team. We have created just a private channel for all non-males on the team in Slack where we can communicate with each other and we've set up a happy hour once a month where we can meet. You don't have to drink alcohol. You can just sit and chat and we just have an hour set aside where no conversation topic is off limits. It's just really helpful to just set aside that time where there's no outside influence and it's just the five, or six of us, or however many there are right now [chuckles] who can join and just chat through what's a win for the week, or what's a struggle for the week. I think part of it is giving each other the space to express what's going well and also, express what's going wrong, and then see if others of us on the team can be a champion for the other person and just offer support where possible, or step in when something's happening that we need to maybe put a stop to. Our private channel is lovingly called The Thundercats, [laughs] which I'm pretty fond of. MANDO: [laughs] That's fantastic. You make it almost sound like a union kind of [laughs] where y'all can have this place where you have this ability to do collective action, if necessary. I think that's just fantastic. That's amazing. LEAH: And I should say that the men on our team are fantastic. So this is not like a – [laughs] [overtalk] MANDO: Of course, yeah. LEAH: Escape hatch like, we're all upset about stuff, but it's just nice. Regardless of how wonderful the men on the team are, it's nice to have a space for not men. [chuckles] STEPHANIE: Yeah. I think that for me, from my experience, the one that I was more comfortable with was at my first Rails job. It was still in Brazil and the team was totally remote and they did lots of peer programming. They did a great job in onboarding people, but peer programming was way more than onboarding. It was a common practice and I was just like, “Wow, this is so cool.” You could learn so much more beyond just a code and besides that, I felt really comfortable in seeing that no one was scared of doing anything wrong like, there was a really good communication. So I think that the main thing that needs to be worked at, when you're working in a team, is to make sure that everyone feels safe to do their stuff and they don't feel like, “Oh, I'm going to be judged,” or “I don't want to try this because I don't want to have to handle with anything from management,” or whatever. So maybe having that feeling, “Oh, we make mistakes here. We are humans, but we try to make the best to learn from them.” That's a good way to improve this team behavior, I guess. [chuckles] JOHN: So you were able to see the other people on the team, that you were paired with, making mistakes and being okay with it and just that became obvious to you that that was the thing that happened all the time and it was fine. Right? STEPHANIE: Yeah, and especially because I was also self-taught. I actually went for computer science for one year, but I dropped out. I always had this idea that people with more experience, they know everything. [laughs] That was like a mindset that I changed and it made me feel way more human, more than anything at first, and that's when I started seeing how much it's important to think of your team and how much that affects everyone and in your company as well. MANDO: First of all, shout out to comp sci dropouts. I made it just a little bit farther than you, but I know exactly where you're coming from. I had that same thing in my head for a very long time that these folks with their degrees obviously must know so much more than me and I have no idea what I'm doing. That's one of the things that I've always loved about the programs, like the RailsConf Scholars, is that for me, one of the things that helps combat that imposter syndrome thinking is working with folks directly who are earlier in their careers, or have less experience. So not only do you get to help them, guide them, and show them things and stuff, but it really does help serve as a reminder of all the stuff that you do know. There's nothing better than talking about something with someone, being able to explain it to them and help them, and then you walk away and you're like, “Oh yeah, I do know some things, that's kind of nice.” TRAM: I think in talking about dropping out of a major, or switching majors, my experience and my journey into tech. In college, I was quite afraid. I had a requirement to take a CS class, but hearing all these horror stories from other people made me delay taking it. I actually took my first CS class, my junior year of college and while it was really challenging, I definitely enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. But since I took it too late in my college career, I couldn't switch my major, or couldn’t minor, or major in it and that really stuck with me because, I think going and finding the ADA Developers Academy, which is a coding program, it’s like it was my second chance at doing something that I wanted to do, but didn’t have the time, or didn't have the confidence to do in college. One thing that is nice, that I keep thinking about, is that even if I did do a CS major in college, that environment instilled with the competition of it and instilled with, I guess, people who may think that they know more than you may have not been conducive for my education. But what I really enjoy about the current coding program that I'm in is that it's all women, or gender diverse folks and we all come from all different walks of life. But one thing that we have in common is being really empathetic to each other and that environment, I think made all the difference in my ability to learn and to see that there is a community that would champion me and that would also try to uplift other people. JOHN: Yeah. I think that highlights the importance of that initial learning environment. If your first exposure to tech is a weed-out course when you’re trying taking CS in college, you're probably never coming back to it. But having an environment that's specifically designed to actually be supportive and actually get you through learning things can make all the difference, really. MANDO: Yeah. My oldest son is going through a computer science course, or computer science curriculum at UT Dallas here in Texas and his experience is a little bit different, I think because of the pandemic and he doesn't have that in-person structure. Everything's different. He's not having in-person classes. So it's forcing it to be a little more collaborative in nature and a little less kind of what you were saying, John, like waking up at 8 o'clock in the morning to go to some 300-person weed-out class. I think it has served him a little bit better having things be a little weird in that regard, but it is funny to see how little the curriculum and set up around getting a computer science college degree has changed in the 20 years since I took it. That's a shame and I think that that's why the places like ADA Developers Academy and other folks who are showing people and especially employers, that there's different ways for people to get these skills and get this knowledge as opposed to a strictly regimented 4-year, whatever you want to call it, degree program. Leah, you came into technology, you were saying, through a different path other than your traditional computer science degree? LEAH: Yeah. So I majored in math in college and wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with that and when I graduated, it was 2009, to age myself. [chuckles] It was 2009 and the economy was not doing very well and a lot of my peers were really struggling to find jobs. I went for a leadership program at an insurance company and ended up staying there and moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, which I had no desire ever to go there, [laughs] but it worked out fine. I ended up in this insurance company for almost 10 years. Met some really wonderful people and I got to do a lot of really great things, but just kept having that question in my mind of if it hadn't been a poor economy and if it hadn't been whatever factors, could there have been another path for me? I just kept thinking about what I enjoy doing at my job had nothing to do with the insurance side of things. I found that I got really into writing Excel formulas, [chuckles] those were the days that I was having the most fun and I was working remotely, living in Charleston, South Carolina at the time. After chatting with a few friends, I found the Turing School of Software & Design out in Denver. So I quit my job and moved out to Denver and two days after I moved there, I started the bootcamp program. After an entire week of school, I still hadn't unpacked my bag of socks and several other things from my car. So it was just kind of a whirlwind, but I picked Turing because they had an emphasis on social justice and that was really important to me and I think it served me very well as far as being able to meet a lot of people who are like-minded—who also picked Turing for similar reasons—just wanting to better the community and be a force for good with technology. So yeah, that was my rambling answer. [laughs] MANDO: I know that I struggle a lot with knowing the “good programs” and the not-so-great bootcamp style programs. Like anything else, when stuff becomes something that's popular, it attracts folks who are speculators and usurious, I guess, for lack of a better word. [chuckles] So you hear these horror stories about people who go through and spend all this money on bootcamp programs and then can't find a job, don't really feel like they learned the things that they were supposed to learn, or were told they were going to learn. It's nice to hear good stories around those and some good shoutouts to solid programs. LEAH: It was definitely stressful and we had a hallway that we deemed “the crying hallway.” [laughs] But I think it did serve me well and has served many people well in the several iterations that Turing has had over the years. MANDO: Yeah. Just because it's a solid program, or a positive program doesn't mean that it's easy by any stretch. LEAH: Totally. MANDO: I remember one time I was talking with an old coworker and she was telling me about her experience going through the CS program at Carnegie Mellon. This woman, Andrea, she's easily one of the smartest people that I've ever met in my life and she's fantastic at everything that I've ever seen her do. So to hear her talk about going through this program and finding stairwells to cry in and stuff as she was a student really shook me and made me realize that the stuff's not easy and it's hard for everybody. Just because you see them years later being really, really fantastic at what they do doesn't mean that they spent years trying to build those skills through blood, sweat, and tears. LEAH: Yeah, I think one of the things that was hard, too is you have no idea what playing field everyone is starting from. It's easy to really get down on yourself when you're like, “This other person is getting this so much faster than I am,” and come to find out they've had internships, or have been working on random online courses teaching themselves for years, and then finally made the decision to go to a school versus other people who haven't had that same amount of experience. It's another lesson and [chuckles] just level setting yourself and running your own race and not worrying about what other people are doing. TRAM: I totally agree with that, Leah. I feel like sometimes I compare my starting point to someone's finish line and I'm like, “Oh, how did they finish already? I'm just starting.” It can be really hard to think about that comparison and not get down on yourself. But I think it's also really good to keep in mind that we only know our journey and our race and it's so hard to have all of the other information on other people, how they got there. So it's just like, I try to remind myself that and it's like, I think the only one that I'm trying to compare myself with is me a month ago, or me a year ago instead of someone else's journey. LEAH: Totally. JOHN: Yeah, that's actually something I'm trying to build into a conference talk because it's so hard to see your own progress unless someone points it out to you. Especially as you're grinding through a curriculum like that, where it's like you're always faced with something new and you're always looking ahead to all the things you don't know. Like, when am I going to learn that, when am I going to get to that, when am I getting to know all these things like everybody else? It takes extra work to stop and turn around and look at, like you said, where you were a month ago, where you were three months ago and be like, “Oh my God, I used to struggle with this every day and now it just flows out of my fingers when I need to do a git commit,” or whatever it is. Being able to notice that progress is so important to feeling like you're not completely swamped and struggling the whole time; that you're always looking to the things you don't yet know and never looking at the things you do know, because you don't have to struggle with those anymore. They don't take up any space in your mind. STEPHANIE: Yeah. I can relate to that as well. Something that I've been doing that it's working a lot is okay, I look to others, but I try to see what they did that I can try to look forward. Like, “Oh okay, so they did this and this looks like something that I want to do,” but I only compare myself to my past self because it can be really – I don't think it does a lot of good to anyone, in fact, when you compare yourself to others, just for the sake of comparing. But if you do see that as an inspiration, “Oh, look, this person is showing me that what I want to do is possible and that's great because I have now more proof that I'm going the right path.” It definitely takes some time to change this little key in your head, but once you do, it gets so much easier and so much lighter. You see even people in a different way because you start asking, “I wonder if this person is struggling with this as well because it's not easy.” [laughs] So this is something that it's helping me. MANDO: Yeah, that's something that I'm struggling with right now with my daughter. She plays high school softball. She's fantastic, she's an amazing athlete, and she's really, really good, but she's a freshman on the varsity team at the highest-level high school team. So she continually compares herself against these other girls who are like 2, 3, 4 years older than her and have a lot more playing time and playing experience and they're bigger and they're stronger. I keep trying to look for a way to help her understand that, like you said, Stephanie, she can compare herself to herself yesterday and she can look to these other players as inspiration as to what's possible. But what she can't do is get down on herself for not being there yet. That's just not fair at all and she may never get there. There are a lot of other factors, outside of how hard she works and what she does, that will contribute to how she's going to finally be. That's another thing that I have to [laughs] work on just me personally is that we all have our own built-in limitations and we all make choices that set us down only so far down a path. I choose to not keep my house completely spotless because there's only so many hours in a day and I would rather go watch my daughter's softball game than deep clean a bathroom. I'll eventually clean the bathroom, but today, [laughs] it's not going to be cleaned because that's the choice. But yet for some reason, I still get down on myself when I come home after the game and I'm like, “Ugh, why is this house so dirty?” STEPHANIE: Yeah. I think now that you mentioned that you have a daughter, I remember this chapter from this book called The Confidence Code. It’s a really, really good book and it talks about all the reasons women are the ones that more self-confidence and how we can put ourselves to compete. There is a chapter for parents and how you can help your daughters to not go through the normal route because it will happen. Not that much anymore, but we are still, in terms of society, expected to behave differently and the book brings you really good tips for parents. I think you would be nice for you. It looks like you want to learn more about that? MANDO: Yeah, for sure. Thank you, Stephanie so much. I'll take a look at that and we'll include a link in the show notes for that and some of the other stuff. Any and all help [chuckles] is very much appreciated. JOHN: We've come to the time on the show where we go into what we call reflections, which are just the takeaways, or the new thoughts, or the things we're going to be thinking about that we've talked about on this episode that really struck us. So for me, it's a couple of different things. First Leah, you were talking about being a companion to long distance runners, which is something I had never thought about being a thing, but of course, the moment you say it, I'm like, “Oh yeah, if you're running a 100 miles, it'd be nice to have someone keep you a company.” That sounds great and it's something you need to be suited to. You need to be able to run and talk and so, finding new ways to be of service to other people, I think is really interesting part of that. I think the other thing that struck me is we're discussing different ways of increasing psychological safety on the team and the ways that you can communicate that to the people that are there. Those are the things I'm always keeping an eye out for because I always want to be able to provide those to my team and so, hearing your examples is just always good for me just to have even more different ways of doing it in the back of my head. LEAH: Well, thanks, John. Yeah, I think the big takeaway for me is just what can we proactively do to make our space safer, or just more conducive to diverse thought? I think, Mando, maybe you asked the question of what we were explicitly doing at our companies, or if anyone had ever done something explicit to make us feel safer, or invite us to participate fully in the community of developers? I think there is a lot more that can be done to help people feel as though they're a part, or that their opinion matters, or their belief matters and their contribution will only make the team better and stronger. MANDO: Yeah. I think that was John who asked that and then I rambled on for about 20 minutes afterward, so. [laughter] LEAH: Sorry. MANDO: But that reminds me, or that that leads into my reflection. Stephanie was talking about the one of the things that helps reinforce that psychological safety for her was seeing people make mistakes and having it be okay, and having that general attitude that we're going to make mistakes and bad things are going to happen and that’s okay. It's something that Leah, like you, I work at a really, really small startup. There's five people at the company total. So the pressure to make sure that everything is done right the first time is pretty high, the pressure that I put on myself, and it can easily spiral out of control when I start thinking about how long I've been doing this and then the should start to come out. “You should know this,” “You should be able to do this,” You should get this stuff done quickly, or faster,” or “It should be perfect.” I need to keep reminding myself that it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay to not have it be perfect the first time, it's okay to not be perfect. So thank you for that reminder, Stephanie. STEPHANIE: You're welcome. I have to remind myself every day as well. [chuckles] It is a daily practice, but I can guarantee you that it's so much better, things like life in general is so much better, so it is worth it. I think that my takeaway here, not only from this talk with everyone, but also from the RailsConf in general and the Rails community is how common it is to talk about these things at our community. Like, yesterday at the keynote, I saw the diversity numbers and I was like, “Whoa, wait a second. I think this is the first time that I go to a conference and someone is talking about this openly.” I think that's one of the reasons why the Rails community is so important to me and I want to continue the legacy. I think that talking about these names is what makes our community unique and I'm really grateful to be part of the community. TRAM: Yeah, I think my main takeaway is what I've been reflecting on the past few days and this conversation is one thing following the psychological safety theme of how can we have more inclusive and safe environments and like Leah said about representation matters. The people you see around you and the environments that you are in can help you to feel a certain way and when there's such a monolith of people in a certain company, that can make me feel very scared and open up to what I think, or my thoughts are. So I think the diversification of type is very, very important, but also just humanizing people and that's one thing that we can do today is highlight, be open about our mistakes, but also have an environment that is inclusive enough where people can speak up about their mistake and that inclusivity begets inclusivity. You're not going to just say that you're inclusive and don't have actions to back it up. Also, I think what Mando said about calling someone out. Sometimes being a newcomer to a company, I don't feel like I have the power to do that and sometimes, it's uncomfortable for me to do that. So having someone who is in upper management, or someone who has a little bit more power showcase that that's something that they have the power to do, but something that I can do also is really helpful. So that's something that I would try to reflect more on and act upon because it's been a really wholesome conversation and I'm glad to be a part of it. JOHN: Wonderful. Yeah, and to your point, Tram, there's a talk that was actually at RailsConf a couple of years ago by Anjuan Simmons called Lending Privilege. One of his points is that those of us who have the higher levels of privilege, we can wield it for good and we can do things like putting ourselves out there to say, “No, that's not okay on this team,” or to lift someone else up and say, “Hey, you just talked over, what's her name.” Like, “Please Stephanie, say what it was you were going to say,” or like, “Stephanie mentioned that idea tenured 10 minutes ago and we ignored it.” So using that privilege, or the position on the team. I've been at my company for 10 years so I have a lot of social capital; I can use that for a lot of good. I'll post a link to that talk as well in the show notes because I think it's really important concept. All right. Well, we've come to the end of our show. Thank you so much to all of our scholars who were able to join today, Leah, Stephanie, and Tram and thank you, Mando for being here. This was a wonderful conversation. MANDO: Yeah, thanks everyone. LEAH: Thank you. MANDO: It was fantastic. STEPHANIE: Thank you! TRAM: Thanks, ya’ll. This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep (https://twitter.com/therubyrep) of DevReps, LLC (http://www.devreps.com/). To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode) To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps (https://www.paypal.me/devreps). You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well. Special Guests: Leah Miller, Stefanni Brasil, and Tram Bui.

Moritz Seibert joins us today to discuss the little-known hedge fund Archegos, who recently blew up and cost billions of dollars for large institutions such as Credit Suisse and Nomura. We also discuss whether cracks are beginning to show in the stock market, the bull market in commodities, opportunities for investing in Chinese commodity markets, the risks of trading in emerging markets, how to trade cryptocurrency futures, and combining Trend Following strategies with none-correlated strategies in the same system. If you would like to leave us a voicemail to play on the show, you can do so here. Check out our Global Macro series here. Learn more about the Trend Barometer here. IT's TRUE

Moritz Seibert joins us today to discuss the little-known hedge fund Archegos, who recently blew up and cost billions of dollars for large institutions such as Credit Suisse and Nomura. We also discuss whether cracks are beginning to show in the stock market, the bull market in commodities, opportunities for investing in Chinese commodity markets, the risks of trading in emerging markets, how to trade cryptocurrency futures, and combining Trend Following strategies with none-correlated strategies in the same system. In this episode, we discuss: Over-leveraged hedge funds showing little regard for risk What stage of the bull market in stocks we might be in The rise in commodity prices Trading in the Chinese commodity markets The possible risks of trading in emerging markets Crypto futures and how they differ from more traditional futures markets Trend Following combined with other investment strategies for a complete portfolio call Gold a 'safe-haven' asset? Follow Niels on https://twitter.com/toptraderslive (Twitter), https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielskaastruplarsen (LinkedIn), https://www.youtube.com/user/toptraderslive (YouTube) or via the https://www.toptradersunplugged.com/ (TTU website). Follow Moritz on https://twitter.com/moritzseibert (Twitter). IT's TRUE

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring addictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring addictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring addictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring addictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring addictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring addictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring addictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Our latest series is The Gospels and the last message in our series is “John.” Each week we will explore a different Gospel account. This week we look at what sets John apart. What was John’s purpose in writing? His focus? Who was John? Do we know? See how the Gospels can be opened when you take … Continue reading "The Gospels: John"

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

John: This is Doctor John Dacey with my weekly podcast New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Today, I have an old friend of mine, by the name of Mark. He’s going o talk to us about his own experiences with Anxiety. Good morning, Mark. How are you? Mark: Good, John. How are you? John: Fine. First of all, I’d like you to tell us a little about yourself. What work have you done and where are you at today? Mark: I was born and brought up in Massachusetts. I was in the family business, I became a truck driver for 35 years and most recently my company filed for bankruptcy. A note to my listeners: When I interviewed Mark, I had no idea which of the 8 types of anxiety he would say he had a problem with. He alleged that he had no problems with the first 7, only a serious problem with the last one. So I’m going to skip that part of our interview and go right to the last type of anxiety: Post-traumatic stress disorder. John: Having been through an extremely stressful situation and sometimes getting flashbacks from it. Mark: Maybe. John: Can you tell us a little more about that? Mark: The death of a parent. John: Oh, of course. And which parent was that? Mark: Mother. 1973. John: Ok. You say this was ] traumatic for you. Why was this such a hard thing for you to deal with, if you’d be willing to share with us? Mark: Growing up without a mother I was just a young boy. John: How old were you? Mark: I was 13 years old. John: Oh that’s really terrible. Can you tell us how she died? Mark: She died in bed. She was a sick woman, but she died at the age of 49. John: Oh, that’s really sad. It was more than just very sad for you. You think it might have been traumatic. Mark: Yeah I think it was traumatic for me. John: Is it still traumatic? Like, do you miss her terribly every day? Or have you gotten more used to it? Mark: I’ve gotten used to it. John: How do you think you got to the place where you felt pretty used to it? Mark: Can I give you credit. John: Sure. Mark: When I met you, you were just a man at an AA meeting, and then when I was 10 years sober, then we talked. John: You don’t mind saying that you were my client for a while. Mark: Not if you don’t mind. John: No I don’t. I’d love to take the credit. So we talked about your mother, didn’t we? Mark: We did. John: Can you tell us a little bit about — was that successful? Do you feel like you were able to do better after that? Mark: I dealt with my pain with alcohol and booze and I was at a crossroads in my sobriety and you helped me through that without drinking. John: That’s terrific. I’m really proud of you and I think 34 years is an incredible achievement. Do you have any children? Mark: None. John: Ok. Who is the person you are the closest to, would you say? Mark: My oldest brother. John: So he went through the same trauma. How old was he when your mother died? Mark: He was probably 15. John: Do you think he had a really hard time with it also? Mark: No- Yes. I think he had a hard time but he picked a different avenue to deal with his pain. John: Okay. I’m not going to pry into that. What about your father? Was your father around at this time? Mark: My father passed away 3 years ago at the age of 97. John: Oh my God. 97 that’s . . . So how old was he roughly when your mother died? Mark: He was a few years older I believe. John: So around 50 years old. Mark: Yes. John: Was he helpful to you in dealing with such a young kid to lose his mother? Was he helpful to you? Mark: He would’ve been, but I didn’t know how to express myself. John: So he would’ve been there for you but you just weren’t able to tell him about it? Mark: Correct. John: This was pretty much something you kept to yourself. Mark: Correct. John: Did the therapy help the most because you were able to talk about her? Mark: Among other things, yes. I can handle death better. I don’t need to drink or drug. I can walk through the pain. John: And you give a lot of credit to Alcoholics Anonymous for that? Mark: Among other things. John: It’s often occurred to me that I feel sort of sorry for people that aren’t alcoholics because it’s such a wonderful club. It’s such a great deal of help. The 12 steps says that if somebody is hurting and they’re a fellow alcoholic, you have to help them. All over the world, I’ve traveled quite a lot and if I ever got into any trouble, I call up AA and they got an English-speaking person on the phone for me. Several times I’ve met with them, several times I just talk to them on the phone but it’s a wonderful club to be a member of. Don’t you agree? Mark: I agree. John: Well, Mark, thank you so much for talking with me today. I appreciate it and I wish you the very best.   From my own life, briefly, about post-traumatic stress disorder. Not my own. If you listen to podcast 3 you know the story of the fire that happened to my family that killed my mother and two brothers and two sisters. The next day, the local newspaper, The Binghampton Press, had published on the front page on the center at the top of the paper a photograph that was the most poignant I think I’ve ever seen. It is a picture of our driveway next to our burned down house with five body bags lined up on it and a very good friend of our family’s father, the Rev. Leo Crawley, standing with his hat in his hand. Next to him, kneeling on the ground, is my uncle, who is also a Catholic priest. He was delivering the last rights to the bodies and in the picture, one of the body bags has been opened somewhat and he’s reaching in, as all priests giving the last rights have to do, and he put a blessing on the chard bodies of one of my family. I don’t know of course which one. This is with his right hand and with his left hand, he’s got his hand up to his mouth, and he just looks the epitome of the grieving person. Six months later he was dead, and I would hear stories about him going into the hospital and coming back out again. I asked one of the nuns who took care of him at the local Catholic hospital. I asjed a nurse what was the matter with him and she said, “Oh he has some kind of stomach disorder.” I have never heard anybody say exactly what his problem was but I can only assume that it was alcoholism and that he had to go in the hospital from time to time to get straightened out. The nuns of course were very good to him. He was the head of Catholic Charities for upstate New York. It was a huge job. I remember that when I went into the seminary to become a priest myself after high school, I had to go and visit the bishop in Syracuse upstate New York. He never asked me any questions about myself, but only about my uncle and how he was doing. The bishop said, “He’s a wonderful director of Catholic Charities. He does a great job, but I’m very worried about him because he’s sick so much.” This is only by way of saying that not only is PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, the most serious of all the types of anxiety, but it actually can be a killer. It can be as much of a killer as the Corona Virus. And it got my poor uncle. I remember when I was going into the seminary, I went to see him and he said to me, “John, don’t do it. It’s a very hard life. Don’t do it.” I was amazed. I thought he was a very happy priest, but it was very clear to me that he was not. I think that this having to give Extreme Unction as it’s called, the final rights to my family, just pushed him over the edge. I’m sorry to tell you such a sad story but often times anxiety can be a very serious problem. I’ll talk to you next week.

John: Hi, this is Doctor John Dacey with my weekly podcast, New Solutions to the Anxiety Epidemic. Today, I have a friend of mine, James, who’s going to be talking to us about his own situation and his own familiarity with anxiety. James, how are you? James: I’m doing alright, how are you? John: Good, thank you. I wonder if you could tell us a little something about yourself before we get started. James: Well, I am currently a junior in high school. I’m 17. John: How are you finding taking courses online? James: Online? It’s presented its own set of challenges. I wouldn’t say it’s better or worse than regular school but, I think there’s less work but it’s a different kind of material. It feels a little bit less meaningful. John: Yeah, I can understand that. People say that there’s such a thing as Zoom exhaustion. After you’ve spent a certain amount of time on Zoom that it’s much more tiring than sitting there and talking to somebody. James: Yeah, I don’t do too many Zoom calls because of the way the school has set it up for us but I get that. John: Today, what I would like to do is go over 7 of the 8 types of anxiety that there are and have you tell me, do you think that you have a condition in that area, the anxiety syndrome, and we’ll talk a little bit about if you’ve discovered anything that’s helped with you. Is that ok? James: Sounds good. John: I’m going to skip the first one which is called simple phobias because everybody has them, agoraphobia, afraid of falling from heights, things like that. We’ll start with probably the most common one which is social anxiety. Social anxiety is things like fear of speaking in public, feeling of not wanting to go to parties, that sort of thing. Do you think you’re bothered by any of that? James: Not generally. Sometimes I’ll have a little bit in large groups but generally speaking, that’s not something that I tend to experience. John: I remember some years ago watching you sing by yourself in front of probably 300 people in the audience and you seemed to be very calm about the whole thing and very confident. Is that typically the case? James: Yeah that tends to be the case. John: And you’ve been in some theater things where if you were going to have social anxiety, that’s where you’d have it. James: Yeah, I’ve been doing theater from a very young age so it’s something that I’ve got pretty used to. John: That’s great. Separation anxiety usually bothers younger people but sometimes older people. Separation anxiety is when you feel like if you’re not around a person who is very powerful, that knows how to take care of you, that you’re in trouble. Did you have any trouble starting school, for example leaving your mother? James: No, I don’t think I did. John: I don’t think you did either. The next one is called generalized anxiety. Just a general nervous feeling at least half of the time. James: Yeah, that’s the one that I definitely have. John: That usually comes about from a bunch of experiences that didn’t go so well for you, or  that you feel like they didn’t go so well for you, and you become sort of nervous, on the lookout and what we call “hypervigilant.” Do you know what I mean when I say hypervigilant? James: Yeah, exactly. John: What about that does that seem like something that you’ve been dealing with? James: Yeah I think it’s something that I definitely have. It’s something I was diagnosed with and it’s something I’m on medication for. John: Oh ok. When you talk to your therapist who’s the one who did the diagnosis I suppose, what suggestions do they make about why you have this? Do you have any guess as to why you’re generally anxious? James: There’s a history of anxiety in my family. John: So, you think it might be genetic? James: I think genetics certainly has a large role in it. John: We say that everything is biopsychosocial in my field so the biological part would be genetics. Can you think of anything that psychologically might have oriented you toward that? From your experiences, for example. James: Yeah, I think some of it’s genetic and some of it’s from my experiences. Some of it from when I was younger, but it’s a combination of things that have added up to this. John: What is your position in the family? James: I’m the youngest. John: Do you think that might have anything to do with it? James: Being the youngest? I think there’s a certain level of insecurity about being young and having to prove yourself so I’m sure that played a role. John: Yeah, that’s absolutely true. Your siblings are pretty smart if I remember. They are smart people. James: They are. They’re quite intelligent. John: But as I think you know, I think you’re very smart and I’m inviting you to be in a group of mine called “Spirituality and Science.” It’s almost all adults, older adults for that matter but you’re probably the youngest person in the group but you seem to do very well supporting yourself. James: Well thank you. John: Do you feel nervous when you’re in that group? James: No, it’s a very relaxed environment. John. Oh, that’s great. Now that’s the first four and they tend to be less serious so let’s look at the next ones. Agoraphobia is fear of being away from home because of lack of control. Are you bothered by that at all? Do you feel nervous when you’re about to go on a trip or something like that? James: No. John: Ok so being out of the house or being away from the home is not a problem. James: No. John: The next one is called panic attacks. Those are feelings of fearfulness that seem to come from nowhere. They don’t seem to be related to anything. All of a sudden you start to feel really nervous. How about that one? James: Yeah that’s one that I experience. John: I’m going to guess that you probably think that’s genetic also. James: I don’t know if it’s genetic. It’s not something that I experienced when I was younger. It really didn’t come up until fairly recently, actually. John: How recently, James? James: About a year or two ago is when it first started and then it’s ramped up in the past year or so. John: When you say started, what was the first one like? James: The first one I think was actually in my chemistry class and it was just like I was doing my work. The whole room was silent and I was just doing my work and then all of a sudden, something changed and I’m not 100% sure what it was but something shifted and it was like I couldn’t breathe, my chest was compressing, shaking. It was a terrifying experience. John: That’s exactly how everybody describes it. We can be very sure you had a panic attack because that’s exactly what it sounds like. And it seems to come out of nowhere am I right? James: Yeah. John: Has anybody ever told you that it seems to be, but it actually isn’t? When I talked to my clients about panic attacks, I make an analogy to a bunch of cowboys out with a heard of cattle and if the heard of cattle starts to get nervous and one or two of them start to stand up, the cowboys have to start whistling and singing to calm them back down. Because if they all get up and going, then the next thing you know, you got a stampede on your hands and there’s nothing you can do except follow along. That’s sort of an analogy to what a panic attack is described as. I’ve had a couple myself, only about two, and it’s the weirdest thing, it seems to come out of nowhere but it really doesn’t. And what we tell people is, “you’ve got to try and be aware of your subconscious.” And that’s a really hard thing to do especially when the subconscious is saying, “something scary is about to happen” because you try to deny it. Nobody wants to be scared out of their minds. It’s a very unpleasant feeling and that’s what a panic attack is like. Instead of saying, “I think I’m beginning to feel the beginnings of a panic attack” you try and avoid it and it makes it worse. Does that sound right? James: Yeah. John: have you had any success with stopping them? James: Yeah I think I have. John: As I might say, “cutting them off at the pass.” Do you know what I mean? James: Yeah. It’s something that’s really hard to do. John: It is really hard to do. The biggest thing that’s hard about it is that you don’t want to be thinking about this. Am I right? James: Exactly. It’s something that I’ve had a lot of, so I’ve had to get pretty good at preventing them, cutting them off before they get to that point and recovering after them which is also something that’s I’ve struggled with because they’re pretty debilitating. They’re hard to come back from. John: One of the things that I’ve heard is that they’re especially hard for males because males are supposed to be strong and not give in to something like this. Am I right? James: Yeah, I think there’s some pressure. John: When you’re having a panic attack, do you tell all your friends around you that you’re having one? James: Generally, no. John: Do you feel a little bit ashamed of it? James: Yeah, I mean, it’s not something that I want to be experiencing. John: Yeah of course not. Of course, you don’t. And of course, with the stereotype that we have that men are so brave and tough, it’s not the image that we want to give to ourselves. “I can’t talk to you right now because I’m having a panic attack.” But, you know, that’s how it is. Okay, there’s only two more. OCD, which is obsessive-compulsive disorder. James: I think I have a little bit of that. John: What’s your evidence? James: I find myself having to do things a certain number of times. It’s pretty manageable and it’s not super severe, but there are certain things where like, I have to flip a coin in my hand a certain number of times or whatever so it’s even on both sides. John: James, my understanding of OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder, is that it is not necessarily coming from a learned experience but from another part of your brain called the amygdala and that’s it’s definitely genetic. Do you have anybody else in your family, you don’t have to say who, but do you have anybody else in your family that has trouble with this? James: Yeah, definitely. John: Would that be your father or your mother? James: I believe it’s my mother’s side. John: And anybody else in your family? James: Yeah, some siblings. John: Ok, well dealing with that is a tough one and what you have to do is basically reprogram your amygdala, is what we say about it and it means when you got to go back in the house or you got to do somethings repeatedly because they make you feel safe, you know that old phrase, “don’t step on a crack, you’ll break your mother’s back,” do you remember that? James: Yeah John: That sort of OCD-ish because it means that if you don’t step on a crack, then your mother’s back won’t be broken. But if you do step on a crack, your mother’s back will probably not be broken. It just makes you feel a little bit better that you can do something about which you almost really have no control. Am I right? James: Right. John: Okay, James, one more. Post-traumatic stress disorder. You’re pretty young for this. It’s usually soldiers and people who have been in battle or firemen who have seen burnt up bodies. Do you think you have anything in PTSD? James: I don’t think so. John: Well, James, I appreciate very much you talking to me about this. You’re very brave and I think also one of the things it does is it shows other males that it’s OK to talk about some of this stuff and in fact, it’s really necessary to talk about it, even if you don’t feel like it. Would you agree with that? James: Yeah, 100%. John: Okay, James. Thanks a million for participating today, I appreciate it.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

It’s Episode 200, and today’s guest is the one and only John Stillman, my husband! I knew for this episode I’d have to invite my special guest back to the show. His first appearance was Episode 100, and since my listeners loved it, I thought it was about time I brought him back for another interview! It’s hard to believe we are here at 200 episodes. It was a different time when I launched this show in the summer of 2016. I certainly didn’t think then about being at episode 200. We have some fun things planned including listener-submitted questions, a review of the top 10 episodes, and more! 4:31 – Kicking things off with the first user-submitted question which is actually a question that many of you asked: “What have things been like for us over the past few months?” We’re both self-employed. John has a financial advising business and media company and went from working in an office to working from home with me! During quarantine 2020, we’ve developed some habits and routines that John enjoys very much, especially getting Chipotle for lunch every Monday. We don’t know what we were doing on Saturdays before Covid-19, but we’ve finished a number of house projects that have been waiting for us to complete them and enjoyed leisurely prepared breakfasts and slow mornings. Since I’m working at home and home-schooling, implementing true rest on the weekends became important too, which led us to examine our Sabbath and really for the first time, intentionally carve out a time for rest on the weekends. John’s weeknight habits have changed too. He’s much less inclined to do any work on his laptop in the evenings, compared to when he was working all day in the office. He’s been more disciplined in keeping his workday confined to regular business hours because he’s already home all day. We both feel much more efficient, too. It’s been really nice to be home together. When John started returning to the office for half days, it was actually much harder than either of us thought it was going to be! The biggest adjustment for me has been recording podcasts at home. I usually go to the recording studio, but moving all of that into well, basically my closet, has been a big transition. 10:19 – User Submitted Questions, Let’s Dive into the Q&A! 10:40 – Question One: “What is your favorite quality about the other person?” 12:57 – Question Two: “John, you have edited nearly all of Molly’s podcasts episodes. Which one, or which ones have stood out to you. Do you have any particularly favorite interviews?” 14:12 – Question Three: “How do you build your business as a woman without losing your marriage?” 21:03 – We’re going to take a quick break from questions to recap the top 10 episodes of the first 200 of the Business With Purpose podcast! These are the most popular episodes based on the highest number of downloads + a few honorable mentions of my personal favorites: 21: 30, #10 –Episode 129: Chris Solt, Executive Director at Fair Trade Federation 21:47, #9 – Episode 149: Llenay Ferretti, Ten Thousand Villages & Bhava World Project 22:04, #8 – Episode 100: The 100th Episode Spectacular with Guest – My Husband! 22:22, #7 – Episode 110: How To Know If A Brand Is Ethical 22:41, #6 – Episode 139: Mark Choyt, Reflective Jewelry 24:04, #5 – Episode 136: Fair Trade Federation Conference Recap 24:26, #4 Episode 130: Solo Episode, So You Just Marie-Kondo’D Your Life? What to Do with All Those Things That Don’t Spark Joy 25:37, #3 Episode 137: Rebecca Smith, Better Life Bags 26:20, #2 Episode 135: Kat Eckles, Founder of Clean Juice 26:38, #1 Episode 71: Devan Kline & Morgan Kline, Founders of Burn Boot Camp 27:25, Honorable Mentions: These are some of my all-time favorites in no particular order: 27:36 Episode 165, Santiago, “Jimmy” Mellado, Compassion International President & CEO 28:03 – Episode 115, Antonio T. Smith Jr., From Living In A Dumpster to Self-Made Millionaire 28:32 – Episode 101: Barrett Ward, Founder & CEO of ABLE 28:59 – Episode 155: Sharon Hodde Miller, Author, Speaker, Theologian 29:34 – Episode 124: Leon Lee, Founder of Flying Cloud Productions, Producer of “Letters From Masanjia” 29:41 – Episode 153: Comedian Kevin Fredericks, Aka @kevonstage 30:56 – Back to your questions! The first one is for John: “Do you ever feel like a #instagramhusband ? 35:13 – “Do you have any first steps or resources for couples to get on the same page financially before marriage?” 37:49 – “Do you think couples should combine their finances?” 40:43 – “Where do you see the other person in 10 years” 41:53 – I loved that someone asked us the question I ask all my guests: “What does it mean to you to run a business with purpose?” 46:40 – My answer to “What does it mean to you to run a business with purpose?” Thank you for the support that all of you have given me. I truly would not be doing this if not for you being on this journey with me. For those who’ve left comments, I appreciate it so much! If you want to leave a review, it is much appreciated and helps me know how the show is helping you. Subscribing and sharing is also incredibly helpful. Thank you for being a part of this community and learning more about doing something with purpose, on purpose with me! If you’re not a member of the “Purchase with Purpose” Facebook group, it’s a great place to ask questions and learn more about fair trade and ethical fashion. Here’s to 200 episodes and here’s to you! Thank you for your questions and thank you John for joining me!

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Continuing our quest through 1 John - Do not love the world.It is alluring and appears to give life, but its counterfeit.The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life - these things do not bring real life, they bring additictions.The Father has real life for you. The things of the world pass away.

Did you realize that Jesus proposed marriage to someone in the Gospel of John? Do you find that shocking? I do! In this message, we are going to unpack his proposal.

La vérité, on vous a encore concocté un programme de champion du monde ! On retrouve les copains, les mêmes en plus jeune, mais vu qu'on les aime, ça va passer, la vérité ! Plus sérieusement, notre virée en Centrafrique aux côtés de la photojournaliste Camille Lepage nous a donné envie de légèreté face à la tragédie qui l'entoure. On est donc allé sauver des extraterrestres avec Shaun le Mouton, le héros en pâte à modeler du studio Aardman (Wallace et Gromit). On a dévaliser des millionnaires de Wall Street avec J-Lo et ses « sisters » strip-teaseuses, dans Queens. Mais on commence avec dans l’émotion avec l’amitié entre Matthias & Maxime, tourneboulés par un baiser, dans le dernier film de Xavier Dolan. Temporalité de l’épisode : 0:57 Matthias et Maxime de Xavier Dolan avec Gabriel D'Almeida Freitas, Xavier Dolan… 14:47 Camille de Boris Lojkine avec Nina Meurisse, Fiacre Bindala, Bruno Todeschini... 23:40 La Vérité Si Je Mens ! Les Débuts de Michel Munz et Gérard Bitton avec Yohan Manca, Mickael Lumière, Anton Csaszar, Jeremy Lewin, Gilbert Melki ; Audrey Dana, François Berléand... 31:57 Shaun le Mouton : La Ferme Contre-attaque (A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon) de Will Becher et Richard Phelan (Studio Aardman) ... 37:07 Queens (Hustlers) de Lorene Scafaria avec Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Cardi B ... Podcast cité : CLAAC Ma vie avec John F. Donovan (You know nothing John Do) : https://smartlink.ausha.co/certains-l-aiment-a-chaud/claac-ma-vie-avec-john-f-donovan  Émission animée par Thomas Bondon, Thierry de Pinsun et Héra Laskri. Générique original : Kostia R. Yordanoff (tous droits réservés)  Facebook : @claacpodcast Instagram : @claacpodcast Twitter: @CLAACpodcast Ausha  Itunes / Apple Podcast  Spotify  Deezer  Stitcher  Podmust  Podcloud 

Notes Frank and John tackle the Dark Crystal. Frank gives a quick run down of the plot. John and Frank then discuss the films characterizations and some of the plotting. They then discuss some of the conventions that appear in the film that are dated. They also discuss some of the limitations of the film.  They then shift gears to talk about the Hero's Journey: Frank then gives an overview of Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey, with commentary provided by John. Then they dive into a criticism of the plot convention and it's overuse in both plotting and literary analysis. Then discuss Aristotelian plot structure, and how they view plotting in general.   Finally they discuss their final thoughts about the Dark Crystal.  Quotes "Well everybody's a hero in there own storey', No everybody thinks they're just not a dick." - John "Do you want to know what's a perfect example of the Hero's Journey is? Happy fucking Gilmore. I don't even have a point after that." -John "The Hero's Journey is just another way to understand this crazy-ass world we live in." - Frank meta plot [Frank and John are trapped in a weird fantasy world, thanks to Frank using the two Balls of Power for tacos. John's hunting giant caterpillars and muppets for food, while Frank, as soon as the Balls are charged, conjures up more tacos. After getting some of the tacos, John wisely takes away the Balls so Frank can't use them again] Credits Episode 119: The Dark Crystal (Film) Produced by: Relevant to Our Interests  Hosts: John R. Belliston and Frank Shaw  Scripting by: Frank Shaw and John R. Belliston Edited by: Frank Shaw  Graphic Design by: Nathan Newell and Frank Shaw  Intro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw  Outro Music: Morning Activities by F.G. Shaw

Do you have an intro packet for your design business? An intro packet is a tool you use to land new clients and facilitate the client onboarding process. It can either be a dedicated page on your website, a detailed PDF or better yet, a well designed and nicely printed piece to hand out to potential clients. An intro packet is a great way to create a good first impression of who you are and what you do. It answers basic questions, sets expectations and gives clients a first look at what it will be like working with you. It’s also a good tool to filter out clients that are not a good fit for your business. In the last episode of the podcast, I told you all about the client onboarding processand how having a good onboarding process is crucial to landing new design clients. A good intro packet is the foundation of that important onboarding process. What’s in an intro packet? Think of your intro packet as well designed piece containing all the introductory information you normally give to potential clients. Not detailed information like what goes into your proposals and contracts. Instead, the intro packet contains an outline of what you do and what it will be like working with you. Your payment policies Time frames How you work What you expect from your clients etc. It answers those basic initial questions a client needs to know before they start discussing their project with you. The intro packet should be the very first thing you present to a client before agreeing to talk to them about their proposed project. Its purpose is to outline the big picture of what working with you will be like. It also saves you time by providing clients with answers to the most asked questions you receive saving you having to answer them personally. When should you send an intro packet? The intro packet should be one of the first steps in the client onboarding process right after the initial client inquiry. Your onboarding process should look like this: Client contacts you Send them your intro packet Meet the client to discuss their design project Proposal and contracts are sent Send the client a welcome packet (more on this in a future episode in this series) Start the project. Whenever a client emails you, fills out a form on your website or contacts you by phone, your first response should be to send them your intro packet and ask them to look it over before you schedule a meeting with them. This will accomplish one of two things. 1.It will ensure the client they’ve made a good choice in reaching out to you and strengthen their resolve to work with you. 2.It let the client know that you are not a good fit and save you both a lot of time and possible headaches. The purpose of an intro packet. An intro packet serves multiple purposes. It introduces clients to who you are and sets expectations as to what they can expect when working with you. This helps alleviate fears or anxieties they may have and make them more confident in working with you. It saves you both time. Presenting your process in a well-organized manner makes future communications between you and your client both faster an smoother. It establishes you as an expert and authority in your field. It also helps strengthen the brand image you are developing for your design business. It creates a great first impression that shows clients you are organized, thorough, capable and professional. It helps you screen potential clients before having to talk to them. After reading your policies and learning how you work a client may decide not to work with you, which saves you the time involved in figuring that out yourself, or worse not figuring it out until it’s too late. It gives you a chance to show off your skills because your introductory packet isn’t just a sheet of paper with info on it. It should be a well-designed piece to wow potential clients with your skills as a designer. Imagine this scenario. A client needs help developing a brand for a new restaurant he's opening. He chooses three different local designers and emails them in order to get a feel for each one before deciding on who to hire. Designer #1replies to the email saying they would love to sit down and talk with him about his project. When could they meet? Designer #2calls the client and tells him all about his design services before trying to schedule an in-person meeting with the client. While on the phone he explains his work process, how payments work and anything else he thinks the client should know. The designer thinks he did a thorough job and feels good about his chances of landing the client. However, the client can’t remember half the details after hanging up the phone. Plus now he's committed to a meeting a designer he's still unsure about. Designer #3Calls the client and thanks him for considering her for his project. The designer expresses an interest in working with the client and offers to send him her intro packet. The designer explains to the client that the intro packet contains all the information he needs in order to make an informed decision of whether he would like to work with her on his project. She suggests he look it over, and if he has any questions he can call her back and she would be happy to answer them. If the client thinks they’ll be a good fit he can set up a meeting with her to discuss the project more thoroughly. Which one of these scenarios do you think leaves the best impression on the client? The first designer barely deserves a second thought. Designer #2 sounded good, but the client is a little overwhelmed and is starting to forget most of what they talked about. Designer #3 however, conducted themselves in the most professional manner, provided the client with all the information they required in the form of a well-designed info packet showcasing her design skills. This gives the client the chance to review her information on his own terms, letting him decide without any pressure if he wants to set up a meeting with her to discuss his project further. If the client decides to move forward with designer #3, he does so with the knowledge of what he's getting into. Should he decide to use a different designer, then designer #3 only lost a few minutes of her time in the initial communication. They say it costs five times more in time and effort to acquire a new client than to simply keep an existing client. The best way to retain clients is to properly set expectations from the beginning and then meet, or exceed them. An intro packet is a perfect tool to help with this. It makes sure you are not wasting time and energy on bad clients and helps you make favourable impressions on good clients. By setting high standards from the first contact and following through with great service, you are sure to keep your clients coming back for more. How to create your intro packet. When creating your intro packet you want it to be thorough enough to inform your clients and answer their basic questions, but you also want it to be generic enough to work for all clients regardless of their project. The same intro packet could be used regardless of who the client is. A mom and pop looking for a logo for their corner store, or a 5 partner law firm opening up downtown will both receive the same intro package. However, if you offer multiple design services such as web and print design, you may want to create different intro packets for each one. There will be a lot of crossover for the common areas such as how and when clients can contact you. Your intro packet should include: Cover:This is your chance to show off your design skills. Make the cover interesting and professional looking but not too wild. Introduction:There’s a good chance the client already knows who you are and what you do, but an intro packet is a good place to showcase your skills and talents to round out their impression of you. Contact info and contact policies:Set the rules of how you communicate with clients and when it’s OK for them to contact you. What is your process:In this section, you explain how you work and what the client will receive from you at the completion of a project. List special features you may include. List the steps that take place before, during and after a project. You can also use this section to explain what is not included in your process. Make it clear to the client what it is you do AND what you don’t do. What is expected of the client:This section tells the client what is expected of them. Make it very clear that if the project requires the client to supply content such as images or copy, that it is expected in a timely manner. Timeline:Explain how you work and how long certain processes take. If you need three weeks for discovery to research target markets and competition, let the client know so they don’t expect to see results in a week. Payment:This section explains your pricing policy. Do you require partial or full payment up front? When is the balance due? Do you have a minimum price the client should know about? This section is very useful for weeding out clients below your required budget. Cancellation policy:This section explains what happens should the client cancel a project once started, or should the client go dormant for a certain period of time. FAQ:Use this section to answer frequent questions you receive from clients that don't fit in any of the other sections. Conclusion:Use this section to thank the potential client for their interest in working with you. Encourage them to contact you if they have any questions or concerns and let them know what steps are required if they want to proceed and hire you. Remember, the client onboarding process is your opportunity to convert potential new clients into paying clients. Your intro packet is the first step in that process. Keep your wording compelling enough, but don’t presume you will be working with the client because you might not. Be vague, but use a language inclusive to building a relationship with them. The intro packet is a vital part of the client onboarding process. Make sure yours is up to par. Do you have an intro packet? Let me know how your intro packet is working for you by leaving a comment for this episode. Questions of the Week Submit your question to be featured in a future episode of the podcast by visiting the feedback page. This week’s question comes from John Do you have any clients that listen to your podcast and if they do are you worried that they will get upset if you mention your business with them? To find out what I told John you’ll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week Palettte.app Palettte.app is an interesting way to explore and create colour palettes for use in your design projects. Check it out and let me know what you think. Listen to the podcast on the go. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Listen on Android Listen on Stitcher Listen on iHeartRadio Contact me I would love to hear from you. You can send me questions and feedback using my feedback form. Follow me on Twitter, Facebookand Instagram I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business, please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com

Aquestes vacances de Nadal volem viatjar, i ho fem amb un recorregut jazz-geogr

Today, Heidi answers two questions from listeners: Jessica wants to know who to keep from feeling overwhelmed now that the holiday season is here, and an anonymous mom wonders how she can strengthen her marriage. At the end of the day, it’s God’s priorities that bring blessing. Listen in and be encouraged! Mentioned in Podcast Laugh Your Way to a Healthy Marriage Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight Managing Your Days , by Heidi St. John: Do you need encouragement and fresh ideas for your homeschool day? Help is on the way! Tick Tock, Tick Tock… Can you hear it? Are you “burning daylight?” If you have ever experienced a series of days, weeks or even months when you felt like you just could NOT get on top of all you had to do, you are not alone. Juggling homeschooling and homemaking can be challenging-or so we’ve heard! Whether you’re struggling with managing your day, or simply looking for encouragement and fresh ideas for tackling your list of things to do, you will enjoy hearing from the heart of busy homeschool mom of seven, wife and author, Heidi St. John. You’ll laugh out loud, learn some of Heidi’s favorite tips on everything from home organization to meal preparation, and discover how you can homeschool in freedom and joy. Are you ready to be encouraged? Then join Heidi in discovering that real moms sometimes serve cereal for dinner-and live to write about it! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

Series: 1 John Sunday, October 14, 2018 -- Sermon Questions “GETTING REAL”What does it mean to “Get Real”? Read 1 John 1:5. What is John telling us about God? Why is God always right? (See Colossians 1:15-17, as well as 1 John 1:5.) Read John 13:21-30. What is John trying to tell us here? Read 1 John 1:6-7. What do these verses say about the “typical” American Christian? Read 1 John 1:8. What is John saying about people in general? Do you think most people agree with John? Do you agree with John? (See Mark 7:20-23.) How do little children prove John and Jesus’ point? What did you think of the frog and the scorpion story? What is the difference between and non-believer and a believer’s nature? Why is Luke 9:23 so important? Read 1 John 1:9. What is it saying? Why is it great news?

Today at Mailbox Monday, Michelle asks, “How do I start to de-clutter my books? I don’t how to get rid of things and I’m afraid I’ll miss something that I let go of.”  Today, I’ll be talking about my summer project: I took out a very old carpet and in the process, emptied most of my house. The result: a massive de-clutter! It was a lot of work, but it has created an atmosphere of peace and relaxation in our home that was worth every trip to the Salvation Army and every trip to the dump. Using Mari Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, I was able to part with over 60% of my books and other furniture, clothes, kitchen gadgets, etc. It really is life-changing. Tune in and hear how life-giving it can be to “Tidy Up!” Busy Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Daylight Managing Your Days , by Heidi St. John: Do you need encouragement and fresh ideas for your homeschool day? Help is on the way! Tick Tock, Tick Tock… Can you hear it? Are you “burning daylight?” If you have ever experienced a series of days, weeks or even months when you felt like you just could NOT get on top of all you had to do, you are not alone. Juggling homeschooling and homemaking can be challenging-or so we’ve heard! Whether you’re struggling with managing your day, or simply looking for encouragement and fresh ideas for tackling your list of things to do, you will enjoy hearing from the heart of busy homeschool mom of seven, wife and author, Heidi St. John. You’ll laugh out loud, learn some of Heidi’s favorite tips on everything from home organization to meal preparation, and discover how you can homeschool in freedom and joy. Are you ready to be encouraged? Then join Heidi in discovering that real moms sometimes serve cereal for dinner-and live to write about it! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heidistjohn/support

CPA Reviewed #75: Friday February 10, 2017 1. Rich – Jeff - I have purchased the NINJA notes for FAR and I have Wiley CPAexcel. Should I watch the videos? Should I read the book and then do the questions? Should I just rewrite your notes and not use CPAexcel? 2. Terry – Hi Jeff - Unfortunately, I just got my score back yesterday on BEC and I failed with a 68. It doesn't make much sense to me because I failed BEC back in November with a 73.I could probably recite the formulas and mnemonics to you. In school I was always a good test taker, I just can't seem to pass these exams. What are your suggestions? 3. Dshankar – Hello Jeff - I am writing to you for my wife. She just got her REG score and she got a 74, again! Its like her 10th 74 in a CPA exam. She has been studying since 2012. Both of us are mentally exhausted as we started studying together and I was done in 2013. She still so far from it and she always does her best. She’s always prepared well with high scores in all the mock tests before the exam. However, she always ends up with a score in ranging from 71-74. What are we doing wrong? She’s reached a breaking point and it’s also very expensive for us as we are international students from India. What are we doing wrong? 4. Steve - Hey Jeff, I have 3 weeks before the exam. I am finishing up the lectures. I am going to hit all the questions again from my review course again. I am on a limited budget which on of your products do you recommend that can help me knock FAR out the park 5. Katrina - Hi Jeff, Would you recommend trying to pass BEC starting now before the April 1st changes? I just ordered my FAR book but concerned of all the "hype" of trying to pass BEC before the changes are effective. 6. Eleanora – My REG test is scheduled for 3/10. The week prior to my test I've taken off of work so I can completely focus. I was wondering how many hours you generally recommend studying for REG? Also, are those hours strictly MCQ's or does that involve the notes, audio, flashcards etc.? 7. Donovan - I want to start studying for the CPA while getting my masters of accounting. Which section, do you think, will be the best to take concurrently? Hoping to pass all 4 within 6-8 months 8. Jeff - I'm taking BEC March 7th to avoid the April 2017 changes. I usually get home around 7-8pm ish and finish eating around 8-9pm. I understand I literally only have 1 month of studying time. How can I do this. 9. Steve - I'm 4 sections into AUD using Roger (out of 9) and I feel like I have WAY too many notes but I don't want to miss too much information. Is this normal for AUD? I feel like I have more notes than FAR already. 10. Michael - I have a learning Disability and strong Visual and Kinesthetic learner. What would be the best combination of review material so, I may start studying before the season begins? 11. Kevin - How much focus should I really allocate to the written communication section if my MCQ grades are in the range of 65-70%? 12. Yisreol – I’m taking FAR at the end of May. I have 200 hours available until then (have a family of 5 kids). How would you recommend making the best out of my time. 13. John - Do you think a 74 is a pointless exam score? I received a 74 on FAR and it hurt. 14. John - Hi Jeff - If I find out in August I didn't pass FAR in, I've only got 2 weeks before AUD credit expires. Thoughts on approach if that happens? Is AICPA giving any grace period for situations like this? 15. Jill – I started studying for BEC in January, but found out I can take it until June because I graduate in May. Should I start studying for another section and then review my notes before my BEC exam in June? 16. Thais - If you had 4 weeks to prepare for your exam, how would you go about it ? 17. Angie - Could you please specify the use of your suggested study planner using the ninja framework and ninja only?

Episode 153 “Biomarkers for Inflation”  0:15 We are live. Josh is cutting carbs and wants to destroy stuff. Chuck talks about his allergies to Wheat and Milk. John talks about only drinking human breast milk. John explains why drink milk from a cow is  a bit odd, compared to human breast milk. EntreProgrammers describe their allergies to dairy products.  9:55 Chuck says he really enjoys having people do work for him. Chuck ask for advice on what he should do about targeting his audience for his “Get a Coder Job” book. Josh suggest doing a paid webinar about the book.  15:40 John suggest to Chuck that he has to do something he wants to create or is passionate about.  19:00 Derick suggests that if Chuck is going to do multiple books, and that he should not flip the order and confuse his audience on which book is first in the process of job hunting. Chuck talks about systemizing  his employees, which will help his focus for the book and  other products. 25:00 Derick says he likes Josh’s idea about doing paid webinars. He says this is something he could do. Derick asks Chuck about his WordPress setup for paying of webinar access and membership.  32:00 Derick says he want to have his first paid webinar in February. Unless you bought the presale book or an annual subscription, you will have to pay.  34:00 Chuck talks about switching from Drip to Active Campaign. Chuck says he needs a CRM. Derick suggest Zepier for a CRM. John suggest pretty links instead. EntrePorgarmmers talk about ways Chuck can get around promoting affiliates while using Active Campaign.  42:00 Josh talks about how Amazon will ban you if you have affiliate link in an email or pdf. Chuck talks about putting Amazon affiliate link in show notes.  45:00 John suggest doing more podcast in stead of affiliate links.  47:00 Derick says to 264 people bought the pre-sale.  Derick explains the question he is incorporating in the book for the Docker Project. Chuck suggests that Derick need to be on the phone with people more often, for the Docker Project.  52:00 Derick ask if 29 dollars is a good price for a webinar. John suggest going a higher price, because you want to make it worth your time.  Josh suggest promote it for a week, don't just send out an email.  55:00 The EntreProgarmmers talks about the price tag of a webinar, and how that relates to the pain the custom is experiencing.  57:00 Looking to replace an EntreProgrammer Subgroup member! Only one slot! email John!  59:00 John talks about how his daughter is selling Girls Scouts cookies. John says he like the idea of starting entrepreneurship early. The EntreProgarmmers talks able the scams schools and clubs get children into.  Thoughts for the Week Chuck - If you think you need help, do it.  John - Do it like Elon Musk.  Josh  - Carbs make you happy. 

Xiaohua: Hello and welcome to RoundTable’s word of the week. 又到词汇小百科的时间了，这周我们来讲butler这个词。因为之前有消息说国际管家学院在成都开了一家分校。 John: yeah that’s right and so there’s an international butler academy coming into china so we thought this was a good opportunity to explain to everyone, what exactly is a butler? Because I think everyone has heard this term but we’re gonna explore it a little bit more in depth. So a butler is a domestic worker in a large household. Usually the household is divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, the wine cellar and the pantry. Some are also in charge of the entire parlor floor with housekeepers carrying for the entire house and its appearance. Xiaohua: butler是指在一个比较大的宅院或者宅邸里面的男管家，有的时候男管家是指管整个宅子的男仆，有时候指的是负责餐厅，酒窖，还有食物储藏室的仆人。 John: Yeah and so butlers are usually male and in charge of male servants while a housekeeper is usually a woman and in charge of the female servants. Traditionally male servants such as footman were actually quite rare and therefore better paid. Xiaohua: housekeeper也是管家不过都是女性来担任housekeeper。而且从传统意义上来讲男管家比女管家薪水都要高。 John: the word butler actually comes from Anglo-Norman buteler which is a varying form of the old Norman butelier, corresponding to French botellier “officer in charge of the king’s wine bottles” Xiaohua: I see 所以从词源上来讲呢butler这个词最初的来源是指负责国王的酒瓶子或者酒窖的那个人。 John: interestingly enough the U.K, the butler actually used to be originally a middle ranking member of the staff of the large household. However in the 17th and the 18th centuries the butler actually became the senior member of the household staff. Xiaohua: 所以butler 以前只是在这个宅子里的一个中层的仆役，而逐渐在十七到十八世纪以后才被提升到了管家的地位。 John: and interestingly enough as well, butlers used to be always attired in a special uniform to make it clear that they were different from junior servants, but today butlers are more likely to wear a business suit, business casual or perhaps appear only in uniform on special occasion. Xiaohua: 对啊我们以前看到过类似在“唐顿庄园Downton Abbey” 那样的片子里面butler男管家都是穿一身特殊的制服来显示他地位的不同。而在现在社会中butler基本上已经不再穿制服了。 John: and bring it now into the modern era, top graduates from various academies for butlers and household managers can start usually at 50 thousands-60 thousands US dollars a year and now there’re even like different types of butlers. So there is the technology butler, who can fix people’s computer and their electronic devices. And there are bath butlers who draw custom baths. Xiaohua: 现代的管家不仅薪酬很好而且还有细分到了说科技管家或者是说洗浴管家，so think about it do you want to be a butler or not. John: Do you want a butler? Xiaohua: ok, we’re definitely thinking from different angles, but that wraps up RoundTable’s word of the week.