Podcast appearances and mentions of john sometimes

Patrick answers listener questions about Catholic schools, is it okay to tell the truth when someone asks “how are you,” and what does the phrase “heaven suffers violence” mean in Mathew 11:12? Nancy – You should do a show where you only take questions from people who want to debate you Cathy - In the debate about gay marriage with Fr. Mike Schmitz you played the part in favor of it. Was it really hard to do that? Is that something you shouldn't have done? Mary - Disagrees with Patrick about Catholic schools. She says the “one by me stinks.” (this leads her to believe that all catholic schools are not good because they don't pay enough) Neil - Have you read “The Warning' by Christine Watkins. Patrick says “yes” and shares his thoughts about it Sandra - Is it okay to not tell people the truth if the truth is too personal? Is it okay to say “oh my God?” Is it okay to make up a sin in the confessional? John – Sometimes the things the Church recognizes cannot be verified. Teresa - What does the Church teach on Matthew 11:12: “heaven suffers violence”

John shares his journey with grief and how celebrity photoshop nude fakes have given him solace. He'll discuss how he's been able to cope with writer's block since his mother's death, and how he's hoping to take his hobby to the next level. Tune in for an intimate look into his healing process, and come out with a newfound perspective on grief.Host Brianne Davis provides helpful advice, poignant stories, and plenty of laughter. Join John on this emotional, heartfelt journey to find healing and hope on Secret Life._____If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction, depression, trauma, sexual abuse or feeling overwhelmed, we've compiled a list of resources at secretlifepodcast.com.______To share your secret and be a guest on the show email secretlifepodcast@icloud.com_____SECRET LIFE'S TOPICS INCLUDE:addiction recovery, mental health, alcoholism, drug addiction, sex addiction, love addiction, OCD, ADHD, dyslexia, eating disorders, debt & money issues, anorexia, depression, shoplifting,  molestation, sexual assault, trauma, relationships, self-love, friendships, community, secrets, self-care, courage, freedom, and happiness._____Create and Host Your Podcast with the same host we use - RedCircle_____Get your copy of SECRET LIFE OF A HOLLYWOOD SEX & LOVE ADDICT -- Secret Life Novel or on Amazon______HOW CAN I SUPPORT THE SHOW?Tell Your Friends & Share Online!Follow, Rate & Review: Apple Podcasts | SpotifyFollow & Listen iHeart | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Amazon | PandoraSpread the word via social mediaInstagramTwitterFacebook#SecretLifePodcastDonate - You can also support the show with a one-time or monthly donation via PayPal (make payment to secretlifepodcast@icloud.com) or at our WEBSITE.Connect with Brianne Davis-Gantt (@thebriannedavis)Official WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitterConnect with Mark Gantt (@markgantt)Main WebsiteDirecting WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitterTranscript[0:00:00] John: My favorite actress, for example, she'll never, like, do like, nude scenes or anything like that, so I kind of look at the fakes. This is kind of fantasy. [0:00:19] Brianne Davis: Welcome to the Secret Life Podcast.[0:00:22] Brianne Davis: Tell me your secret, I'll tell you mine.[0:00:30] Brianne Davis: Sometimes you have to go through the darkness to reach the light. That's what I did. After twelve years of recovery in sex and love addiction, I finally found my soulmate myself. Please join me in my novel, secret Life of a Hollywood sex and love Addict. A four time bestseller on Amazon. It's a brutal, honest, raw, gnarly ride, but hilarious at the same time. Check it out now on Amazon.[0:01:01] Brianne Davis: Welcome to Secret Live Podcast. I'm Brianne. Davis-Gantt. Today, I'm pulling back the curtains of all kinds of human secrets. We'll hear about what people are hiding from themselves or others. You know, those deep, dark secrets you probably want to take to your grave. Or those lighter, funnier secrets that are just plain embarrassing. Really the how, what, one way, or live at all. Today. My guest is John. Now, John, I have a question for you. What is your secret?[0:01:27] John: So my secret is I collect celebrity photoshop, nude, fakes.[0:01:32] Brianne Davis: How long have you been doing that?[0:01:34] John: Since 2000.[0:01:36] Brianne Davis: 2000, okay, so dive in. What made you start doing that? Did you create them yourself? Like, take me back when that all started. Was something going on?[0:01:48] John: No, I didn't create any at that time. Basically what had happened is I was watching a new TV show that had just come out, I think, andromeda andromeda yeah, it's like a side fiction TV show.[0:02:03] John: Yeah.[0:02:04] John: I liked one of the actresses and so I pretty much went to Google, looked for her nude, and stumbled across the fake. And that was the first fake I ever found of her.[0:02:16] Brianne Davis: Okay.[0:02:17] Brianne Davis: Did you buy it or do you.[0:02:18] Brianne Davis: Just take it from is it free? How does that work?[0:02:22] John: Free? I just found it on Google image search.[0:02:26] Brianne Davis: Okay.[0:02:27] John: And pretty much like, just copied the image to my computer at the time was really old.[0:02:36] Brianne Davis: What do you think it is about the fake? Because there are a lot of celebrity nudes that are real, but you only like the fake ones.[0:02:44] John: No, it's more back then, she had never done that. Okay, so it's more of a fantasy thing.[0:02:57] Brianne Davis: Yes. So you've been doing that for almost 23 years.[0:03:02] John: Yeah, it's slowed down quite a bit. I don't collect as much anymore. Basically, if I see one I like, I just download it and stick it with the rest of them.[0:03:15] Brianne Davis: So how many do you think you have that's embarrassing? Well, that's why we are here. This is a show where we get to say all those embarrassing things. I have been there. I have said very many embarrassing things.[0:03:29] John: So I have about last count, over 15,000.[0:03:34] Brianne Davis: 15,000?[0:03:36] John: Yeah. Over.[0:03:37] John: Wow.[0:03:38] Brianne Davis: Over. Oh, my God. What do you do with them? They just sit there. Do you go through them? Do you, like, celebrate that? Like, what do you do with them?[0:03:47] John: Sometimes I just look at them and admire the work that went into them. Because some of them you can really tell because some people who make them just do a crappy don't put an effort into it.[0:04:04] John: Yeah.[0:04:05] Brianne Davis: So you almost see them as artwork.[0:04:07] John: Yeah.[0:04:08] Brianne Davis: And then do you find someone you like or you don't know, and then you go watch all their movies or their TV shows?[0:04:14] John: Sometimes. And there are some that I found and liked and then later just hated them. Because see, I think I have an OCD thing, and I see one minor detail that's off, and it bugs me.[0:04:36] Brianne Davis: That's all you focus on.[0:04:37] John: Yeah.[0:04:38] Brianne Davis: Got it. So if it's a bad art, if it's bad, do you keep that or do you throw that away or you still keep it?[0:04:46] John: I keep it. I guess there's some that are just not great that I keep. I think keeping them is nostalgia's sake.[0:04:54] John: Got it.[0:04:55] Brianne Davis: So it's almost like somebody collecting baseball cards or something. It sounds like there's this compulsion to it a bit.[0:05:04] John: Yeah. In the last couple of years, I've kind of started semi getting out of it.[0:05:11] Brianne Davis: Okay. What does that mean?[0:05:15] John: I used to look for new ones pretty much every day. Nowadays I look maybe every couple of weeks.[0:05:26] Brianne Davis: Oh. So what's been going on where you've decreased the searching for them in your life?[0:05:33] John: Maybe as I get older, I just don't enjoy them as much.[0:05:36] Brianne Davis: Does anybody in your life know about them?[0:05:40] John: Three people.[0:05:41] Brianne Davis: Three people? Who are those three people?[0:05:43] John: Two were by choice, and one was not by choice.[0:05:46] Brianne Davis: Oh, so you got caught?[0:05:48] John: Yeah. So basically the one who caught me was one of my female cousins.[0:05:55] Brianne Davis: Oh, no. So you went on your computer and and saw them?[0:05:58] John: I had collected some early this was back in high school, and I had collected some mended day at school. And I brought them home, loaded them on the computer, and forgot to close the images out. She came up to visit, came up to my room and walked in, and I turned around to something else, and all I heard was, what's this?[0:06:24] Brianne Davis: Oh, my God. Did your stomach drop?[0:06:27] John: That's one way of putting it in.[0:06:30] Brianne Davis: Okay. What happened?[0:06:31] John: We're like sheer panic.[0:06:33] John: Yeah.[0:06:34] John: And it's like, adjoked by folks.[0:06:37] Brianne Davis: How old were you at the time?[0:06:39] John: Between 16 and 18. And she never did she pretty much.[0:06:46] Brianne Davis: Just kept that secret?[0:06:48] John: Yeah. She pretty much said, this is normal. Looking at this kind of stuff is normal, and sat down and just looked through them. And she, like, recognized some of the celebrities. The other two were by choice. This is what I've been doing.[0:07:08] Brianne Davis: Who were they?[0:07:09] John: Just good friends.[0:07:10] Brianne Davis: Okay. And what they say?[0:07:12] John: Pretty much same thing. Like that kind of stuff is normal.[0:07:15] John: Yeah.[0:07:15] Brianne Davis: Looking at porno images and all that is completely normal. But the difference between yours is that they're fake and you know they're fake. So what about it? Do you like that aspect of it that I'm curious about, that you know they're not real, but you still like them.[0:07:31] John: Well, I guess the closest fantasy, because some celebrities will never do, like, nude scenes or pose nude for magazines. Like, my favorite actress, for example. One of my favorite actresses is named Danielle Panabaker. She'll never do, like, nude scenes or anything like that, so I kind of look at the fakes. This is kind of fantasy.[0:08:02] Brianne Davis: Yeah, it's complete fantasy. And do you think with looking at those, that it keeps you distant from having a relationship in real life or no.[0:08:14] John: You mean like a girlfriend or yeah, not really. I kind of don't have much interest in a girlfriend at this point.[0:08:25] Brianne Davis: Oh, really? Have you ever had a girlfriend?[0:08:27] John: No, I've just never had the interest.[0:08:31] Brianne Davis: Okay, here's my question for you. When did you start looking at pornographic images? At what age do you think?[0:08:39] John: REM high school days.[0:08:41] Brianne Davis: High school?[0:08:44] John: I think the first one was Playboy.[0:08:46] Brianne Davis: So when we look at those images a lot and I've done a lot of work around this, it desensitizes our own sexuality, because then the fantasy is more it becomes everything instead of the reality. The reality of a person being with another person or a woman doesn't match the fantasy. Do you think that's true?[0:09:10] John: I guess it depends. Now, with fakes, usually people get aroused by this stuff. I don't.[0:09:21] Brianne Davis: You don't? No, not at all.[0:09:24] John: Well, I mean, back when I first started collecting, maybe. No.[0:09:29] Brianne Davis: So interesting. Not at all. So when you look at it and it's just like, oh, that's a great fake, they did a good job with taking her face and putting it on. That's what you look at mostly than the nude.[0:09:43] John: Yeah, pretty much. Like, a few years ago, I used to use fakes as wallpapers on, like, my tablet.[0:09:50] Brianne Davis: Yeah.[0:09:51] John: But now I don't do that much anymore.[0:09:54] Brianne Davis: Okay.[0:09:55] John: Mostly because I go out in public a lot now.[0:09:58] Brianne Davis: So you're getting out of the house?[0:10:00] John: Yeah.[0:10:01] Brianne Davis: That's probably why you've been doing less, do you believe? Because you said it's been, like, less used to do it every day and now you're doing it weekly.[0:10:10] John: Yeah, it's actually possible. I have a few friends I hang out with, and so that kind of helps.[0:10:18] Brianne Davis: It does help. It does help. I believe when we are stuck with these images, especially when they are fantasy, when we deny ourselves that authentic connection with other human beings, we miss out. And the moment you open yourself up to that and you're getting out of the computer screen with these images and with actual friends, that's what is a real connection.[0:10:41] John: And I think I started heavily collecting quite a few years ago because of grief?[0:10:48] John: Yeah.[0:10:49] Brianne Davis: What were you going through?[0:10:50] John: My mom died from cancer about 1011 years ago, and that's about when I started heavily collecting.[0:10:59] John: Yeah.[0:10:59] Brianne Davis: That's where you found comfort, right?[0:11:01] John: Yeah.[0:11:02] Brianne Davis: Not feeling alone. A huge loss.[0:11:05] John: Yeah. And I read this article online about how one guy got into fakes and it completely destroyed his life.[0:11:15] John: Yeah.[0:11:16] Brianne Davis: What did he say in the article? Why it destroyed his life.[0:11:19] John: He decided to start looking at fakes at his place of employment. I can safely say I've never done.[0:11:31] Brianne Davis: You haven't done that?[0:11:32] John: No. But the article also did the flip side where it actually saved somebody's life because I guess, like me, they lost their mother.[0:11:42] John: Yeah.[0:11:43] John: And they were thinking about ending stuff, so I guess that saved them.[0:11:49] Brianne Davis: Well, it did, because we reach for those outside things that we feel connected to, and it doesn't feel safe with another human being, especially if you lost somebody so important to you so they can give you that outlet of connection.[0:12:02] John: Yeah, I can agree with that.[0:12:04] Brianne Davis: Have you been doing work on the loss and the trauma of it with your mom?[0:12:09] John: Yeah, I had a therapist for a while. I think I'm kind of there now. Not easy. Never really all that easy.[0:12:19] Brianne Davis: No, grief is never easy. We run from grief. But are you finally feeling like you've felt it and moving through it?[0:12:27] John: Yeah, I think so. I've also got friends I talked to about it, too.[0:12:32] Brianne Davis: Oh, good.[0:12:34] John: One of my friends went through the same thing, actually.[0:12:38] Brianne Davis: Well, that always helps when I'm going through a hard time to find a group of people that have been through similar situations and they have them online. All over online as well. Grief and loss groups.[0:12:50] John: Yeah. I found this app, actually, called Seven Cups. Kind of like a sort of therapy app where you can go and talk to people.[0:12:59] John: Yeah.[0:13:00] John: And it's kind of helped me a bit.[0:13:02] Brianne Davis: Good.[0:13:03] John: Now, I have to admit, back when this all happened, I did used to make them.[0:13:09] Brianne Davis: You did used to make them for a short period. And what did that feel like when you were actually making the fake nude photos of celebrities?[0:13:18] John: That's hard to describe. Proud that I made one that looked decent, actually, because I still have one I made that is still my favorite.[0:13:29] Brianne Davis: What is it? Who is it?[0:13:31] John: Her name is Cody Depblo from the TV show NCIS. And it was like a lingerie style fake, not even nude. And that's still my favorite one I've made.[0:13:44] Brianne Davis: I know her. She's very nice. But here's the thing. I did want to ask you this, and I know probably our listeners are wondering, do you ever think of the actual person you're doing the nude of? Like, when you're cutting out their face or you're seeing their face and you know that's not them? Do you ever actually think of that.[0:14:06] John: Person in what way?[0:14:08] Brianne Davis: I don't know. If they choose not to be nude and then someone puts their face on a new body, have you ever thought about how that could make them feel?[0:14:16] John: Yeah, that's kind of why I stopped.[0:14:19] Brianne Davis: Oh, tell me about it. So you had that thought. What was the feelings that came up?[0:14:23] John: Pretty much just yeah, maybe they don't want this. Yeah, let's not do this.[0:14:28] John: Yeah.[0:14:29] Brianne Davis: That they're a human being as well.[0:14:31] John: Yeah, pretty much that.[0:14:32] John: Yeah.[0:14:33] Brianne Davis: And do you think that was one of the reasons about hanging out with friends more, getting out into the world and then that realization that they're humans as well?[0:14:41] John: Yeah, quite a bit, actually. And I haven't made one in seven, nine years.[0:14:49] Brianne Davis: Well, it seems like you're kind of an artist, too. Have you ever thought of trying to do something even different with your art because you enjoy art?[0:14:57] John: It seems like I kind of have. I've started not officially, not like paid stuff, just editing images into wallpapers and just like posting it to a deviant arc page.[0:15:14] Brianne Davis: I think you'd be great at it. There's something in it that inspires you, and I think it takes dedication and you have that. I don't know.[0:15:23] John: Yeah, I used to have something that was like that, but I used to write quite a bit.[0:15:28] Brianne Davis: Maybe it's time to pick it back up.[0:15:30] John: The issue is, ever since my mother died, I've had writer's block.[0:15:35] Brianne Davis: I know. And believe me, I know, writer's block and all that and trauma and all that, but it's like maybe you reaching out to me and wanting to come on and share the secret isn't a way for you to step through it now.[0:15:49] John: Yeah, that could be a good way of looking at it. And I've started dabbling with writing a bit more.[0:15:56] John: Good.[0:16:00] Brianne Davis: Well, I'm so grateful you came on. I'm so grateful to have this conversation. I never expected to have this conversation. It's been beautiful and I understanding so much. And thank you for reaching out to me.[0:16:14] John: Yeah, no problem.[0:16:15] Brianne Davis: And if you want to be on the show, please email me at secretlifepodcast@icloud.com. Until next time.[0:16:27] Brianne Davis: Thanks again for listening to the show. Please subscribe rate share or send me a note at secretlifepodcast.com. And if you like to check out my book, head over to secretlifenovel.com or Amazon to pick up a copy for yourself or someone you love. Thanks again.[0:16:44] Brianne Davis: See you soon.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

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.

Adam Chester is in the Studio. Adam sits in for Sir Elton John at the piano and vocals with Elton's band for their rehearsals.   A Place For My Stuff - Yes I have/had another podcast.  A couple of podcasts actually.  With the rising price of everything, I opted not to pay to have Inside the Guest Studio available forever.     I have this convenient landing spot called My Alien Life Podcast which WILL remain forever - thus, this is part of my life, as will be the episodes of Inside the Guest Studio.  A podcast that is graced by some unique and very talented people that live slightly off the grid.   Enjoy   Cameron

Even if you have a solid financial plan in place, things can quickly get out of tune if you don't make adjustments from time to time. Let's talk about some of the areas where we often see people get out of tune in their financial plan. Helpful Information: PFG Website: https://www.pfgprivatewealth.com/ Contact: 813-286-7776 Email: info@pfgprivatewealth.com Disclaimer: PFG Private Wealth Management, LLC is a registered investment adviser. All statements and opinions expressed are based upon information considered reliable although it should not be relied upon as such. Any statements or opinions are subject to change without notice. Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investment involve risk and, unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Information expressed does not take into account your specific situation or objectives and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for any individual. Listeners are encouraged to seek advice from a qualified tax, legal, or investment adviser to determine whether any information presented may be suitable for their specific situation. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Transcript of Today's Show: For a full transcript of today's show, visit the blog related to this episode at https://www.pfgprivatewealth.com/podcast/ ----more---- Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Welcome into another edition of the podcast. Thanks for hanging out with John and Nick and myself as we're going to talk about Retirement Planning Redefined once again. This week, we are going to chat about getting in tune. No, not instruments, and we're not going to sing, because that might be bad, but we're going to talk about getting our retirement plans into tune, especially because we all want to have that good solid piece in there that we know we're going to be comfortable and happy and get the things we need out of it, but we also can drift off from time to time. So, we want to pull those back in, get the reins if you will. So, that's going to be our topic this week is getting in tune. What's going on guys? What's shaking? How you doing? John: All good. Nick: Staying busy. Speaker 1: Yeah, staying busy. How's the dog? I know you got that dog that's really old. Is she doing okay? Nick: Depending upon your definition of okay, she's doing great. Speaker 1: Well, good. Nick: Yeah, she definitely keeps me on my toes. I think she had to go out five times before 11:30 today, so that was fun. Speaker 1: Holy cow. Nick: Yeah. Speaker 1: My mine's 15 and she's going deaf and going partly blind, but she's still okay in that department. How's yours doing? Is she having some hearing or vision? Nick: Oh yeah. No, she can't hear and her vision is not great, and so it's fun stuff. I'm on the third floor of my building, so I carry her down every time to go out. She's not a big dog, so it's easy, but- Speaker 1: It's cute and it's sad sometimes that she's losing her hearing. I'll be calling for her and she can't figure out exactly where it's coming from, because she's not completely deaf. So, she looks around in different angles and I'm like, 'I'm right next to you, you ding dong.' Nick: Oh yeah, I know that look well. Speaker 1: Pretty funny stuff. John, what's going on with you buddy? I know you don't have these exciting dog stories, but what's happening? John: Not too much. Just staying busy and I think as you're aware, becoming a school parent, so that's fun and then started my little one in gymnastics, so I have to head there tonight. Speaker 1: Oh, nice. Yeah. You're getting to that phase now where you got hobbies and activities all the time, right? John: Yeah, play dates are starting to get formed now. I pick her up from school and it's like, "Hey, I want to do a play date with my friend." It's like, "All right." Speaker 1: Yep, go, go, go. That's all right, hey, at least we're getting back to some of that stuff. So kids and stuff. I mean, everybody needs interaction, so it's good that we're here getting some of that stuff going on. Getting our life back in tune, so to speak. That'll be my segue back into the topic here. So, let's talk about how to get our financial plans or our retirement plan back in tune in case we've got out. We talked a couple weeks ago guys, and we're waiting to see what the fine details are going to be, we'll probably do a podcast on it, but tax considerations, future tax considerations. Speaker 1: A lot of the stuff that's right now at the time we're taping this that's before the house, it may go through, there's quite a bit to the corporate tax change, there is bumping up. They're trying to make it sound like it's all going to be for the higher net worth folks, but $400,000, $500,000 is not that hard to get to for some of these things. So depending on where you're at, tax considerations needs to be on everybody's radar no matter what you're making. Nick: Yeah, tax considerations are definitely something that we try to focus on with clients. I think in our minds, the number one, the rule of thumb when it comes to tax considerations in regards to investments and retirement accounts is to have options. So, what we mean by that is not only a diversification in the types of investments, underlying investments that you have, but also in the types of accounts that you have. Nick: You want to have accounts are going to be tax free down the road, accounts that will be taxed down the road and then maybe some accounts that are subject to income or capital gains taxes versus just ordinary income. So, the having options, building a personal moat and being able to have the ability to adapt and adjust, I think and staying nimble is the number one priority when it comes to planning. Speaker 1: Having a personal moat, I like that. John, you've been getting so much rain, you might have your own moat, right? John: Yeah, that's funny. I do feel like it's been raining every day. It's just new house, it's like we have this big yard and I walk back there and it's constantly soaked and the pool's always overflowing. So yes, I do have a personal moat keeping Nick out. Speaker 1: Nice, I like that. Okay, so tax considerations. Again, lots of things happening there, so that could even be changing and that's why it's definitely important to make sure. It's always important really, no matter what time we're in, but I mean certainly when we get to retirement, tax considerations and what we're paying is a big deal. So it's not what you make, it's what you keep, all that stuff. Speaker 1: Life insurance. Fellas, having the right amount, well, 'Hey, I'm retired, I don't need it.' That's what most people say, or at least that's the general consensus or rule of thought, but is that correct? John: Sometimes it is. It really comes down to when you're looking at, do I have the right amount? So, is there a need for it? If there is a need for it, then it becomes income replacement. So example, I go to retire and let's say I do have a pension that's life only. We talked about that a couple weeks ago and if I pass away, that pension's gone, does my spouse need that money for her money to last at that point or for her to hit her goals? John: If the answer's yes, she needs that pension replaced, then yes, there is a need for life insurance. There're other things that go into it, but that's just looking at it from a retirement standpoint. It's really replacing someone's income or assets that are needed to generate income for the surviving spouse. Nick: Yeah, and I would say just on top of that, I think probably the reason that we mentioned this in this conversation is just to not absentmindedly push it off the side. I think there's a perception for people that no matter what, they're not going to need any sort of coverage approach in retirement or into retirement. Just like anything else, we think it's important to take inventory, and when you're building your plan, to make sure that you vet out the different situations and scenarios. Nick: Because when you were originally planning, you may have not expected to have a mortgage, you may not have expected to help out your kids with education costs or maybe at the level that you did, or a myriad of other things. So life comes at you quick, we think it's important that... because so many people automatically assume that it's just no longer a part of the conversation for them, that you make sure that it is or is and take a good inventory to see if it makes sense for you. John: Yeah, definitely. Let me jump in here real quick. Speaker 1: Sure. John: This is really important for big business owners to look at as their near retirement, because a lot of small businesses, they are in essence the business, and if they don't have any life insurance and something happens to them, sometimes we've seen businesses have to fire sale and stuff like that. Nick: Yeah, if something happens to the owner, the business is relying upon the owner, the family expected to be able to sell the business and cash out and be profitable and sail into the sunset that can get derailed pretty quickly. So that's another good example. Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. And you mentioned cash, just cashing out, but that was actually, cash is on my next one who doesn't love cash. I mean, everybody loves cash. We want to keep a nice amount around. We feel like most people kind of have this, the higher the number the better. My kid, she's 24 now she's working, making good money for a change. Speaker 1: Now she's learning how to play this game with herself about, Ooh, how much can I get my savings account to grow? I'll be chatting with her and she'll be like, 'Yeah, I'm trying to hit this number. And I'm adding a little bit more.' And it's nice to see her kind of start to play that game with herself where she's trying to grow those accounts. And she enjoys always the fact they're growing and that only happens more as we get older. So people sometimes want these pretty large amounts sitting around. So what's the right amount to actually have, because I mean, at some point, we start talking about emergency funds and so on and so forth. I mean, what are you going to do with $100,000 sitting in the banking cash? Is that really too much? Is that the right amount? I mean, how do you figure that out? Nick: Well, this is where our very effective, but also annoying answer of it depends comes into play. So, this answer possibly more than almost anything else is I think hyper dependent upon the people or the person that we're talking about. Obviously there's kind of the rule of thumb of, six to 12 months of expenses in cash. But really when we drill down further, one of the things that I like to run by people is to have them think of cash in a way of it's the ultimate permission slip. What I mean by that is what amount of cash allows them to feel comfortable enough to not make irrational decisions with the rest of their money? So if having a year or 18 months, 24 months, even 36 months of cash allows them to be invested in a way that they should be with the rest of their money. Nick: Then in my mind that the opportunity cost of that money, getting more upside, that cash getting more upside is worth it because it prevents them for them overreacting to things like market corrections like we're having this week or these different sorts of scenarios and circumstances where one of the best techniques that has worked for us is going through and saying 'Yes, the market just pulled back over the last three months. Let's just say it did 10%.' But if we can go to the client's accounts and say, 'Look at, you've got your next 18 months of expenses without ever touching your investment accounts is sitting there in cash for you.' Plus remember that we've got somewhere between 30% and 50% of your actual investment and fixed income automatically their blood pressure, their heart rate, and their amount of emails and phone calls to us go down, which are all things that are positive. Speaker 1: Really that's the talk, starting talking about risk as well. And that's my final bit on getting the plan in tune is having the right amount of risk for the time that you're in and for the situation that you're in. Maybe those two things go hand in hand, well, they all really go hand in hand, if you think about a retirement plan in general, but getting the right amount of risk is certainly important. Speaker 1: And we touched on this a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about couples and how they sometimes they're opposites in that regard. So you still have to find that that happy place that's working for the plan. I think I saw an email for somebody in a couple of weeks back guys, and it was something like, my account haven't done as well as the market this year and maybe I should change advisors. And it was like, well, wait a minute. You know, don't just assume that it's the advisor's fault because it didn't keep up with the market. How are you set up from risk? Are you exactly... Are you taking all as much risk as possible in that, which case the market return should be closer? Or are you very conservative and just don't really know what you have and that's why you didn't perform as well. There's lots of ways in variables to look at this correct? John: Yeah. It's definitely one of the most important things to look at when your overall portfolio is what is your or risk tolerance and how are you invested in? And what you just said is on point, we find that a lot where people are trying to compare not only to us, but other advisors like, 'Well, the S&P did this, what did I do?;' And then when you start diving into it, it's, well, you're a 50, 50 mix and that's the S&P all 100% equities. It's not going to be the same. John: But definitely from a planning standpoint, we try to make sure people are invested correctly based on their risk tolerance. Because if you are more aggressive in your portfolio than you actually are, when you start to see a dip, chances are you're going to panic and chances are if the dip is fast enough or goes down enough like in the COVID period, there March, April 2020, some people change courses and went from what they were, and then went to very conservative. John: And then three weeks later, the market just rallied back and all the gains were lost if you were, are seeing on the sidelines. It's important to really pick your risk tolerance, pick your portfolio and stay at the course based on the plan. Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you can't panic. That's usually the worst time to do it. It's definitely one of those cases where we tend to do that. And that's, again, the value I think of an advisor, because somebody can call up and say, like the pandemic crash or whatever, and say, 'Hey, I'm panicking. What do I do?' And you can walk through those scenarios without just locking necessarily locking in those gains by panic selling or whatever that case might be. Speaker 1: So something to look out for, make sure you have your plan in tune, and they require a tune note, folks, these they're not a set and forget it kind of thing, it's not. Even life insurance, if you bought life insurance 25 years ago, and you hadn't looked at it 25 years, it's one of those things where we buy it, we think we're never going to need it to look at it again, but no, that's not the case. Speaker 1: Stuff changes. Life happens. So make sure you're making little tweaks, your plans should change and ebb and flow just like your life's going to. And that was our topic this week on the podcast. And as always, we're going to try to take at least an email question or two, if we can, if you'd like to submit your own, go to the website at pfgprivatewealth.com, that's pfgprivatewealth.com drop us a line there and subscribe to the podcast while you're there as well. Speaker 1: We'll see if we can get these two in at least one, we got a question for Nick, from Jamie. He says, 'Nick, I've looked forward to retirement for many years and I enjoy the podcast. And now that I'm actually retired, I can't shake the feeling that I'm going to run out money. So you got any solutions for fighting the feelings, or should I just go back to work?' That's one of these things where people get into that situation. It's like they maybe don't have a good plan or they're just not comfortable. So they're not really sure what it's doing for them. Nick: Yeah. So this is interesting because I would say that realistically, the majority of the people that work with us, their plans are pretty solid and we have a high level of comfort of them retiring. In those scenarios where, where we have a high level of confidence in their plan and what we've done, especially, because we use a lot of pretty of variables. We try to up the cadence of meetings or the amount of times that we talk and get them to start trying to view things maybe a little bit more like us. Nick: So using things like the client portal that we have, where they can view their cashflow or their lifetime and see the different parts start to become more familiar with how the planning software works and get some of that comfort and affirmation that they're online and on target is really, really important. Nick: And then from the perspective of things that maybe aren't quite as static, in our regular reviews, really trying to drill down and dig into what are the things that are concerning them the most? For example, for some people, the things that are concerning them the most might be taxes. We can work, show them and illustrate a scenario of a significant bump in taxes and show them how that impacts them specifically. Nick: When I realized that I should ask clients that have serious concerns about how these specific things that they're concerned about impact them specifically, because one of the things we've seen is that, it's like, 'Okay, I'm watching the news and the news says this is going to happen and freak out in twos. Nick: They're thinking in large terms maybe from societal standpoint and that's understandable, but take that one step further and say, 'Okay, well how does this impacting me? How impact my plan? How does this impact me? And then when we start to drill down, when they start to learn to do that, the amount of stress that they have starts to go away pretty significantly. 'Okay, well I'm concerned about these taxes.' All right, well, Hey, let's take a look at the amount of income you're in. Let's take a look at sort of bracket you're in. Nick: Historically, even if we go back the last 20 years, how much that bracket has fluctuated and you see throughout 9/11, throughout the great recession, throughout the bounce back, throughout... Year bracket that you're in has gone plus, or minus 3%, that's not going to really have a huge packed on you or let's even just let's bump it up an extra 10%, those sorts of things or using that same sort of situational awareness with markets or, whatever else it is, health, those sorts of things. When people start to really think about how to impact them, it's usually kind of a calming factor for them. Speaker 1: Yeah, I think at the end of the day, if you don't have a good strategy in place that makes sense to you and that you understand you're going to have a hard time shaking that feeling and not feeling calm and feeling nervous about it. And that's really where the right advisor and also the right plan comes in place. If you're working with somebody and you feel like things maybe aren't totally there, it's okay to get a second opinion. Whether it's Jamie or anybody else that checking out the podcast, find out if you're working with somebody and you're not sure that that's the right fit, then get a second opinion and you may find that it is. It's everything's working swimmingly well, and that's fantastic. Or you may find that you might need to make a change. Speaker 1: And if you do, just reach out to John and Nick and schedule some time, have a conversation with them. Second opinions is part of the industry. So give them a jingle, have a conversation, pfgprivatewealth.com, that's pfgprivatewealth.com and time wise, guys, I think that's going to wrap it up for this week. So we'll, we'll take that next email question next time on the show. Speaker 1: So reach out folks, let them know, to give them a cell, 8132867776 is the number to call. It's just easier to go to the website, pfgprivatewealth.com, subscribe to the show and all that good stuff on Apple, Google, Spotify. And we'll see you next time here on Retirement Planning Redefined with John and Nick and you guys have a great week. We'll see soon. Nick: [inaudible 00:18:25] John: Have a good one.

What is "realism" in international relations? ... How John predicted the disastrous outcome of the Iraq invasion ... How to convince neocons to respect international law ... John: Sometimes nations just have to break the law ... Bob: The US should establish a norm of strict compliance with international law ... John's Hobbesian view of international relations ... Is China an existential threat to the US? ... International law's evolutionary trajectory ...

What is "realism" in international relations? ... How John predicted the disastrous outcome of the Iraq invasion ... How to convince neocons to respect international law ... John: Sometimes nations just have to break the law ... Bob: The US should establish a norm of strict compliance with international law ... John's Hobbesian view of international relations ... Is China an existential threat to the US? ... International law's evolutionary trajectory ...

Sarah: So John, do you like to play golf?John: Well, no. I don't play golf very much, but I play disc golf.Sarah: Disc golf? What's that?John: Well, some people call it Frisbee golf. Basically, there are courses at parks. It's similar to golf but the courses are much smaller. You use Frisbees or a flying disc and you have to throw it. So it's different from golf. You're not aiming for a small hole but actually, you need to throw the Frisbee into a basket.Sarah: Oh, that sounds fun. Is it very easy?John: Well, it can be easy or it can be very difficult. It depends on the course. Many different parks have different disc golf courses. And you can be an easy beginner or you can be an expert. It all depends on how much you want to get involved.Sarah: I see.John: My friends are I, we are beginners, so we just like to have fun. So we just do the easy courses and have a good time. I think it's relaxing.Sarah: So you only need one Frisbee?John: Well actually, it's better to have two or three. You can play with one but in fact, when you learn more about disc golf, there are different sizes and weights of the discs.Sarah: Why would you want a different size disc?John: Well, it's similar to the clubs in golf. When you throw you first throw, you want it to go very far, so you should use a heavier disc. But when you're near the basket, you should make a short throw, so you want a lightweight disc.Sarah: I see. That's interesting.John: Yeah. So as I said, when you want to become an expert, you have to spend more money to get better equipment. It's like any sport, I guess. In fact, they have disc golf competitions now. So you can even participate in a tournament and win some prize money.Sarah: Did you ever compete?John: Oh no. I'm just a beginner. I don't think I want to be too serious about it.Sarah: So golf has 18 holes. How about disc golf? Does it have 18 holes, too?John: Well, not usually. Golf courses are very large, but disc golf courses are usually found in parks. So they usually have only six holes. But you can play 18 holes by doing all 6 three times each.Sarah: I see. How do you keep score?John: Scorekeeping is like real golf. So the winner should have the lowest score. Every time you throw a Frisbee or a flying disc, you have to mark one point. So if you can do a hole in one, that means you can hit the basket on your first try, then you'll only have one point. That's best.Sarah: Uh-hmm.John: But I'm not that good at it. So usually, I have three or four points for each course.Sarah: I see. You said disc golf is at the park. Do you have little kids playing in the middle of the course?John: Sometimes, the kids – of course, they can play wherever they want. And the courses do go through the park where kids play. So we have to be very careful, and we have to use good sportsmanship to wait for the course to be clear.Sarah: It sounds like a lot of fun.John: It is fun. Maybe you can join us next time.Sarah: That sounds great. Thank you.

Sarah: So John, do you like to play golf?John: Well, no. I don't play golf very much, but I play disc golf.Sarah: Disc golf? What's that?John: Well, some people call it Frisbee golf. Basically, there are courses at parks. It's similar to golf but the courses are much smaller. You use Frisbees or a flying disc and you have to throw it. So it's different from golf. You're not aiming for a small hole but actually, you need to throw the Frisbee into a basket.Sarah: Oh, that sounds fun. Is it very easy?John: Well, it can be easy or it can be very difficult. It depends on the course. Many different parks have different disc golf courses. And you can be an easy beginner or you can be an expert. It all depends on how much you want to get involved.Sarah: I see.John: My friends are I, we are beginners, so we just like to have fun. So we just do the easy courses and have a good time. I think it's relaxing.Sarah: So you only need one Frisbee?John: Well actually, it's better to have two or three. You can play with one but in fact, when you learn more about disc golf, there are different sizes and weights of the discs.Sarah: Why would you want a different size disc?John: Well, it's similar to the clubs in golf. When you throw you first throw, you want it to go very far, so you should use a heavier disc. But when you're near the basket, you should make a short throw, so you want a lightweight disc.Sarah: I see. That's interesting.John: Yeah. So as I said, when you want to become an expert, you have to spend more money to get better equipment. It's like any sport, I guess. In fact, they have disc golf competitions now. So you can even participate in a tournament and win some prize money.Sarah: Did you ever compete?John: Oh no. I'm just a beginner. I don't think I want to be too serious about it.Sarah: So golf has 18 holes. How about disc golf? Does it have 18 holes, too?John: Well, not usually. Golf courses are very large, but disc golf courses are usually found in parks. So they usually have only six holes. But you can play 18 holes by doing all 6 three times each.Sarah: I see. How do you keep score?John: Scorekeeping is like real golf. So the winner should have the lowest score. Every time you throw a Frisbee or a flying disc, you have to mark one point. So if you can do a hole in one, that means you can hit the basket on your first try, then you'll only have one point. That's best.Sarah: Uh-hmm.John: But I'm not that good at it. So usually, I have three or four points for each course.Sarah: I see. You said disc golf is at the park. Do you have little kids playing in the middle of the course?John: Sometimes, the kids – of course, they can play wherever they want. And the courses do go through the park where kids play. So we have to be very careful, and we have to use good sportsmanship to wait for the course to be clear.Sarah: It sounds like a lot of fun.John: It is fun. Maybe you can join us next time.Sarah: That sounds great. Thank you.

Sarah: So John, do you like to play golf?John: Well, no. I don't play golf very much, but I play disc golf.Sarah: Disc golf? What's that?John: Well, some people call it Frisbee golf. Basically, there are courses at parks. It's similar to golf but the courses are much smaller. You use Frisbees or a flying disc and you have to throw it. So it's different from golf. You're not aiming for a small hole but actually, you need to throw the Frisbee into a basket.Sarah: Oh, that sounds fun. Is it very easy?John: Well, it can be easy or it can be very difficult. It depends on the course. Many different parks have different disc golf courses. And you can be an easy beginner or you can be an expert. It all depends on how much you want to get involved.Sarah: I see.John: My friends are I, we are beginners, so we just like to have fun. So we just do the easy courses and have a good time. I think it's relaxing.Sarah: So you only need one Frisbee?John: Well actually, it's better to have two or three. You can play with one but in fact, when you learn more about disc golf, there are different sizes and weights of the discs.Sarah: Why would you want a different size disc?John: Well, it's similar to the clubs in golf. When you throw you first throw, you want it to go very far, so you should use a heavier disc. But when you're near the basket, you should make a short throw, so you want a lightweight disc.Sarah: I see. That's interesting.John: Yeah. So as I said, when you want to become an expert, you have to spend more money to get better equipment. It's like any sport, I guess. In fact, they have disc golf competitions now. So you can even participate in a tournament and win some prize money.Sarah: Did you ever compete?John: Oh no. I'm just a beginner. I don't think I want to be too serious about it.Sarah: So golf has 18 holes. How about disc golf? Does it have 18 holes, too?John: Well, not usually. Golf courses are very large, but disc golf courses are usually found in parks. So they usually have only six holes. But you can play 18 holes by doing all 6 three times each.Sarah: I see. How do you keep score?John: Scorekeeping is like real golf. So the winner should have the lowest score. Every time you throw a Frisbee or a flying disc, you have to mark one point. So if you can do a hole in one, that means you can hit the basket on your first try, then you'll only have one point. That's best.Sarah: Uh-hmm.John: But I'm not that good at it. So usually, I have three or four points for each course.Sarah: I see. You said disc golf is at the park. Do you have little kids playing in the middle of the course?John: Sometimes, the kids – of course, they can play wherever they want. And the courses do go through the park where kids play. So we have to be very careful, and we have to use good sportsmanship to wait for the course to be clear.Sarah: It sounds like a lot of fun.John: It is fun. Maybe you can join us next time.Sarah: That sounds great. Thank you.

John Lee Dumas is here and I’m so excited! When I saw him speak at Youpreneur for the first time, he solidified podcasting for me. John hosts a daily podcast called Entrepreneurs On Fire, and he knows how to disrupt a market and make an impact. We cover a lot in 15 minutes, and John willingly gives away the secret to his massive success!   In This Episode Taking a chance and disrupting the market High barriers and low competition Having a name for your audience and bringing them behind the scenes The importance of being accessible to your audience The value of showing your audience that you care   “Find something that nobody’s doing, but that you really like feel needs to be done” - John “Sometimes you just have to go after what you believe in. Follow your gut. Your intuition.” - John “I think that transparency breeds loyalty” - Jess “All of my success is due to people who chose to press play” - John “It’s the value of reciprocity and also just valuing your audience” - Jess “Your audience wants to feel like you genuinely care” - Jess “When you have those micro-reciprocity moments over and over and over again, they just add up to something pretty special” - John   Entrepreneurs On Fire www.eofire.com   More Jess!http://bit.ly/SLSGroup https://jessicalorimer.com/supersize-your-sales https://jessicalorimer.com/list-building-legend Content DisclaimerThe information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this article, video or audio are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this article, video or audio. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this article, video or audio. Jessica Lorimer disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this article, video or audio.Disclaimer: Some of these links are for products and services offered by the podcast creator

0:15 We’re Live. Mani’s breakfast is in progress. Chuck mentions seeing politics on the TV behind Mani. Mani talks about going “whole hog” on YouTube and having some issues with production. Josh ask about the lengths of Mani’s videos. Mani describes the production process on his book summary videos. 4:45 Mani talks about the marketing tactics at Focus at Will. Mani mentions that John does on like the process. John says growing the company is better, that making money now. Josh mention two things Mani needs to do if thing works out well. Mani says this could grow his list and potential boost company growth. 10:00 Josh suggests retargeting to Mani and watching for specific growth numbers in order to determine the worthiness of marketing tactic. 15:00 John talks about doing a series of how to build an online business. Mani jokes about John stealing his product idea. John continues his process of creating these videos. Mani suggests that John coming on to his channel to include books in this video project. Josh asks about subscriber numbers for Mani and John’s channels. More talk about how company names help subscribers, rather than the person. Mani shares his subscriber numbers. 20:00 Josh shares that they have over 400 reviews on the new book. John talks about a one-star review that hurt the numbers. EntreProgrammers talks about Amazon review and how they may not be relevant later on as reviews grow. More talk about Amazon reviews and how they might work. 26:00 Josh talks about doing a Kindle 7-day Promotion for 99 cents. Josh talks but the sweet spot pricing for Kindle books. John talks about doing a YouTube video on thing people sent him as a joke. 31:00 Mani talks about how he is still getting Grant Cordone emails. John talks about getting a call from a medical marketing company for Viagra. John talks about his joking ways with this company. John talks about how they need to school Mani on his audio. 34:00 Chuck talks about assigning tasks in Asana for Michelle. Chuck talks more on the website update and people having issues with subscribing. Chuck talks about getting DMs and twitter messages about subscribing. Chuck about still being about to get things done even when he was sick. 39:00 Josh talks about an outreach program and learning new online marketing strategies. Josh continues with his project with backlinks. Josh talks about using PipeDrive. Josh talks about more backlinks and emails.  Josh and John discuss backlinks and emails on their website. John suggests other kinds of ways to do the links and mentioning production in their email. 50:00 Josh talks about reaching out and fixing broken links. Josh continues with looking deeper into these blogs sites and finding ways to add value. Josh goes on to talk about how he could build a list on content with these bloggers. Josh talks about ways these emails could not be spammy to the blogger. 55:00 Josh talks about how he could outsource this project and build a list at the same time. Josh says he is going to do the Clever Programmer affiliate deal. John talks about a potential issue with the people understanding the value of the product. 1:00:00 John talks about the Stack Overflow survey. John says he learned a new word “Genderqueer.” Thoughts for the Week Chuck - Planning and Coordination Josh - Create space for yourself to create John - Sometimes you can’t fight your nature Mani - Structure leads to freedom  

0:15 We’re Live! John is slacking and is late to the podcast. Chuck talks about selling some more sponsorship spots for his podcast network. Chuck talk about his sales pitch and changing how that new podcast sponsor application works as of now. Also some talk about how his new sponsorship slots will work as far as payments. 4:30 Chuck talks about his new sponsors and return sponsors. Interview Cake, Kendo UI, among a few others are sponsors of the Dev Chat podcasts. Chuck mention this audience or listener numbers for Ruby Rogues. Also some talk on conversion and ROI.  8:30 Josh suggests video testimonials for the sponsorship material. Chuck talks about selling sponsorship slots for podcasts show that is still in the works.  13:00 Chuck and talks about the process of closing deals for sponsorships and more automation and systemizing. Chuck talks about having an inside sales team and working more on PodWrench. Josh talks about building more feature into the system later on. 15:00 Chuck talk about how this time of the year is a great time to sell sponsorships. There is definitely a cycle. Chuck talks about becoming a vendor, and sponsorships with certain companies. Chuck talks about some of the companies and technologies used and talked about in the podcasts. 21:00 Chuck talk about getting sponsorship for the React Native Radio Podcast . Also more talks about launching new podcasts for Dev Chat TV. Chuck says he will for now host them and run them for awhile till the show is up an running. Chuck talks about selling a document or course on the process for launching a podcast for a platform like Dev Chat TV.   26:00 John suggests a tool like Help Scout to for emails account for team members. Chuck mentions possibly doing a help desk of some sort. Chuck talks about using Missive app. Chuck talks about wanted to move everything to PipeDrive. 35:00 In other news, Josh says he is debt free, paid off his mortgage. The EntreProgarmmers talks about the process for paying off a mortgage. Pay off is possible. Josh talks about signing up MediShare programs. More talks on MediShare programs. 42:00 Josh talks about how he and John are working on transitioning over the company over to Josh. Josh does not think he is going to continue with the Youtube channel. Josh talks about the type of content he chooses to have for the company. Also more on possibly hiring content writers in the specialized material. EntreProgrammers talks about the incentives for the content. 52:00 Josh talks about the content produced by John and having a health topic list to keep content going. Josh talks about custom dimensions in Google Analytics. Josh talk about pulling out of Kindle unlimited. Josh talks about the down sales on the book on all mediums. 58:00 Josh talk about writing an email to the list about why they have not purchased the book. Josh mentions that he has to get good at SEO. John mentions hiring someone to help accelerate the learning curve. 1:01:00 John says he changed to YouTube Channel name to John Sonmez instead of Simple Programmer. Josh talks about setting up push notifications for the website. Josh talks about the excitement of Push Notifications. 1:05:00 Josh talk out doubling the signup rate and pitching to the email list. Chuck jokes about John being hangover and sold off his kidneys. 1:10:00 John talks about trying to keep from going into hustle mode and thinking about growing the youtube channel further. John thinks Josh can double Simple Programmer in a year. Thought for the Week! John - Sometimes it’s good to force yourself to make decisions. Josh - If there is something you hate doing, chance are you can hire someone to do it. Chuck -  Be your own client

There are a number of common questions that policyholders ask in regards to reporting claims. In this episode, ALPS Claims Attorney John Ries talks with Mark about some of questions he often hears. John also sheds light on why it's important for attorneys to call their legal malpractice insurance provider even if they suspect that an issue or event may give rise to a claim.   ALPS In Brief, The ALPS Risk Management Podcast, is hosted by ALPS Risk Manager, Mark Bassingthwaighte.   Transcript: MARK: Welcome to ALPS In Brief, the ALPS risk management podcast. We're recording here at ALPS home office in the historic Florence building in downtown Missoula, Montana. I'm Mark Bassingthwaighte, the ALPS risk manager. I have the pleasure of sitting down today with ALPS claims attorney John Reis. John, before we get into some discussions here, can you tell our audience just briefly a little bit of your background here at ALPS? JOHN: I've been here eight years. Before that, I was in private practice in Washington state for about five years. Then before that, I was in Oregon as a prosecuting attorney. MARK: Ah, interesting. Very good, very good. Both of us in terms of the roles that we're in get some common questions, which are just concerning, “I think I might've made a mistake. There's a problem out here. What happens? What do I need to do? What should I do?” The idea today is just to have some discussions about the claims process. If I am an attorney and I'm concerned that a mistake has happened, can you talk me through what the basic reporting requirements are? When do I need to report this? You see where I'm going? I don't even know. JOHN: In the past, and this is changing starting next year, we have in the past asked for attorneys to give us notice as soon as reasonably possible. Like all attorneys, reasonable is up for interpretation. Now we are changing it to “immediately notify us.” Basically, I always tell attorneys when they call, inevitably they'll say, “I wasn't sure if I should report this or not because it's not a claim yet.” Sometimes there are claims; they're just flat out “I missed the statute and I had to my tell my client.” MARK: Right, of course. JOHN: Sometimes, it's a little more in the gray area. “I've just lost a summary judgment motion. Is that a claim?”, or, “I may have forgotten to list an expert. Is that a claim?” I always advise people that it is a claim as soon as you think it's a claim. If you're thinking about whether or not to report it, you should just default and automatically report it, and not wait and see if it develops into an actual malpractice claim. There's a lot of problems if you wait. There's always the problem down the road. Someone will accuse you of having knowledge of it and not telling ALPS. MARK: Right, right. JOHN: Nobody wants to fight over that. ALPS doesn't want to. We'd rather you just tell us up front. It doesn't hurt you any, so you might as well tell us as soon as you think it's a possible claim. MARK: Right. A takeaway for me here is some people just assume “I don't have a claim until I've been sued,” and that's not really what this is about. It's about awareness. If you have questions or concerns, just call us. We'll sit down and work through it. I think just as a side note, we don't open everything that is reported as a claim. JOHN: Right. MARK: Would you explain that just briefly? JOHN: Yeah. We have the choice. Sometimes someone will call in and it's clearly not a claim or even a potential claim, and so we don't even open anything. We just put a note on the file. Other times, maybe many years down the road, it can turn into a claim or not. We'll open those as circumstances. A circumstance, we don't report it when you go to another insurance company, heaven forbid. We don't report those, so it's just an internal notation. If it does develop into a claim, they can turn it into a claim down the road. We call them circumstances. Sometimes, you'll see some insurance companies say, “We don't require you to report circumstances.” Basically what they're saying is, “We don't require you to notify us of things that are not actual claims,” which we think is problematic. That's why we ask you to report even potential claims, what we call circumstances. MARK: It seems to me, the value of that is “we're just going to pin down coverage.” JOHN: Yeah. MARK: “We've taken care of our reporting requirements just in case it's a little muddy.” JOHN: Right. MARK: Okay, okay. So, I've had a call with you or someone to chat with me, and the decision is, “Okay, this is something that should be reported.” Is there a formal process that I need to go through to formally report a claim? JOHN: Required in writing. We don't have a form. A lot of people call and ask, “Is there a form we have to fill out?” There's no form. Oftentimes, it's best you just call us first and we'll give you an idea of what we want so you're not sitting down and writing a 10-page letter that doesn't really help us that much. We just require written notice that just basically puts us on notice of what the issues are. Has what has been missed, what's being alleged, who the client is, when did this happen. It could be as short as a paragraph, depending on what the error or the potential error is. MARK: So you're talking about writing. Can I do this even via email? JOHN: Email's fine. Fax, email, regular mail. MARK: Okay, very good. Now you and I both know we get these questions a lot too: “Are you guys going to raise my rates?” This kind of thing. Is there an impact? What happens? How does ALPS deal with the fact that a claim has been reported? When we think about underwriting, rates, those kinds of things going forward. JOHN: Yeah, there's no impact on your future rates for just reporting claims. MARK: Mm-hmm (affirmative). JOHN: In fact, I would consider it to be more of a benefit to you as far as underwriting, that you're more cautious than the average person if you call in something that's maybe not a claim. At least it shows that you're thinking about the issue, which is much better than the other way, if you call us up six months after the claim has been made. MARK: Right. JOHN: If anything, I think it helps your future rates. There's not formula that really takes it into consideration. It all goes into the black magic of underwriting. There's not direct impact on your rates. MARK: So what I'm hearing is if I report a claim, you guys do your thing in claims and provide excellent customer service, and the claim goes away. I'm successfully [defended 06:45]. I'm hearing that that's really not going to be a problem. How about I've blown a statute and there is a significant loss here? Let's say there's a $300,000 loss and I don't know, $50,000 or something in defense costs, these kinds of things. Is that a similar outcome? What happens rate-wise there? JOHN: Yeah, the first thing that happens is there's a surcharge. Anything over $30,000 is surcharged. MARK: Whether it's loss or defense? JOHN: Right, loss or expense. I don't know what the exact number is, but the majority of claims are probably in the surcharge level. A fair number don't ever get to that high number. We can resolve them for next to nothing, or nothing at all. The ones that go over $30,000, the surcharge is relatively small. It's half the basic rate, which is 1900. It's a $950 surcharge, but that's added into the formula mid-way through, so the final number could be higher than that. MARK: Are there any obligations that I have under a policy when a claim arises? JOHN: Well the only real obligation is you have to report it. When the new policies go into effect beginning next year, you have to immediately notify ALPS as soon as you become aware of a potential or actual claim. That's your only requirement, is to immediately notify us. All of the claims attorneys have cellphones. We take calls 24 hours a day. Sometimes people say, “Oh, this came in over the weekend.” You can call us on the weekend. MARK: I get that I need to report the claim, but how about as you handle the claim, go through the process? Do I have obligations along those lines? JOHN: Yeah. The first thing that we'll tell you after you report the claim, if it is a claim and it's not just a potential claim or a circumstance, we'll ask for a complete copy of your file. That'll be the first, probably the biggest task you have as an insured is copying a file, depending on who the- MARK: – the importance of file maintenance and keeping files, but … JOHN: Yeah. Some people or some firms and some attorneys have a lot better record-keeping procedures than others. For some people, it's not a big deal. They can just hit a button, copy it to a memory stick, and mail it to us. Other people, their banker box is scattered through several offices. Papers are loose, they're difference sizes. I understand that's a bigger task. Some files are just plain huge. They can take a whole room. If that's the case, sometimes we can limit the request. Just give us the pleadings for now, or just give us the correspondence for now. Just enough to get us going. I guess the flip side would be if, we usually err on the side of just getting everything. It's just like when you get a new claim or a new case as a lawyer. You want all of the information, or in discovery, you want all the information. You don't want just the little bits that they give you. If there's too much there, we'll let you know and we can send it back, or just tell you not to send it to us to begin with. MARK: Do you prefer that digitally? JOHN: It's a lot easier for us digitally. I guess the downside of digitally, sometimes people copy a file, if there's multiples of thousands of pages, if it just goes from one to ten thousand, it's a little hard to sort through. We manage. MARK: I can imagine that one. JOHN: Yeah. It happens a lot, so we've gotten pretty good at going through and sorting it out. Most files are, even poorly kept, some files are better kept than others but all files have some natural order to them. Pleadings, correspondence, notes. There's a predictable outcome to each one. MARK: Going back to this sort of example of blowing a statute or something, I realized, “Oh my gosh, I really have made a mistake here and messed up here. This is going to be a malpractice claim.” Do you have any thoughts or advice that you would share in terms of, what do I do with my client? Should I just run out and fall on my sword and say, “[inaudible 11:18], I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'll make it right?” What is your advice? Walk through that, that issue of client information or management. JOHN: That's a tricky one. Knock on wood, I've never had to deal with that, even when I was in private practice. I can understand that's a difficult situation. I think most attorneys really want to tell their client, “I'll make it right,” or they feel bad. If it's a missed statutes of limitations, for example, they feel bad inevitably. Any error I guess an attorney feels bad. Then the next question is, “Well how do I communicate that to the client?” Well I guess we all tell the insured that you can be honest with them and tell them that the mistake was made. The only thing you can't do is tell them that the insurance company will pay you a certain amount, or that the insurance company will fix it somehow. You have to limit it to just, “I made a mistake. Here's what the error was.” You can't say, “And you've been damaged in the amount of x dollars. Just call up John and he'll cut you the check on Monday.” In the policy, it requires the insured to cooperate with ALPS. Part of that is to not undertake any debts or any obligations with your client. Within that limitation though, you can pretty much tell your client anything that you feel is necessary. That you feel bad, you wish it never happened. All of that's fine. It will come back in your deposition, so you have to be aware of that. If you say that you feel bad and you wish it never happened, you'll be asked about that. Keep that in mind. I think the best advice is just to tell them succinctly as possible, “I made an error. Your case is no longer viable. I've reported this to my insurance carrier. Here's the claim number. Please call him or her as soon as you can.” That's good enough. MARK: Well, my takeaway here is not to be afraid. If I am concerned that I've made a misstep, just to call and talk to the people that are experienced in handling these kinds of things and you will work with any of the attorneys calling in to try to understand, “Is this reportable or not?”, understand, explain how the process works. The other takeaway that I have here is, “Hey, if I am afraid I've made a mistake, I want to call ALPS first and have some discussions about how to handle this because I can get into some trouble in terms of just coverage issues and these kinds of things. I want to be informed.” For those of you listening, any time a claim comes up, I would just, “Hey, call John and he'll take you through the process. Well John, thank you very much for spending a little time. Thanks to all of you for listening to our show. If any of you happen to have any questions about the issues we've discussed today, please don't hesitate to contact me at mbass@alpsnet.com. We'd love your feedback on the podcast, including other issues you'd like to hear us cover. Thanks again. It's been a pleasure.

Xiaohua: Hello, and welcome to Round Table’s Word of the Week.本周我们来讨论一个非常实用但是又比较三俗的话题，怎么说去上厕所，尤其是上大号？ John: Right, so the question here that we are trying to address is not necessarily about going to the bathroom, but we are going to be looking at how to say I need to poop. Now the thing is there are many different ways in English, usually slang, but you have to remember, usually, most of the slang is not going to be what we call polite company. A lot of things are considered to be quite vulgar and usually younger men tend to use many of these phrases. That’s a bit of disclaimer first of all, because you don’t necessarily just want to be going around using these words in front of the people especially you don’t know very well, but at the same time they are interesting bits of culture. Xiaohua: 这个声明还是蛮必要的。很多关于上大号的说法，其实都是在英语中属于俚语的说法。大家听就听了，千万不要在比较正式的场合随便用出来。 John: Exactly, so first I want to take a look at one of the most simple, is going number 2. In English, we say going pee is number 1 and going poop is number 2. Xiaohua: This actually has a direct Chinese translation. We say the same thing, 上一号，上二号。 John: Oh, really? But you can also say that you have to drop a deuce. And deuce, I am not quite sure where that word comes from, but it also means number 2. So drop a deuce would be the same thing is saying I need to go number 2. Xiaohua: drop a deuce也可以是二号，上大号的意思。 John: Right. And then, of course, there is a take a dump, right? So drop a deuce, take a dump and drop the kids off at the pool, so we can say in English there is a lot of dropping kind of imagery there. Xiaohua: 这个动词听上去不是很雅观，但是我有一个问题: drop the kids off at the pool is that means you are going or your kids are going? John: No, so the point is that the toilet bowl is the pool and the poop or the turds are the kids. Xiaohua: It’s the kid. Oh, my god! John: Sometimes people say drop the Cosby kids off at the pool. Bill Cosby and his TV show. He had, I think, four or five kids in that show and they are all black. And usually poop is brown, so Cosby kids. Xiaohua: OK, a little bit politically incorrect. John: Slightly politically incorrect. But I don’t think anyone would have a big deal with it. Looking at some more interesting ones I wasn’t familiar with before we prepared for the show. Download a brown-load. Xiaohua: Download a brown-load. I don’t know how to translate that. Anything brown doesn’t bold very well for me. John: Yeah, exactly. So here is the interesting one, so this is one of the phrases from one of these Austin Powers movies. One of the characters, he says I’ve got a turtle head poking out. But more commonly, people say I’m prairie-doggin. So a prairie-dog is a type of rodent that lives on the American plains in the mid-west. And it’s a type of rodent that it digs holes, pops its head out a little bit and then retreats back down if it senses danger. Xiaohua: prairie dog就是草原鼠。 John: So I’m prairie doggin. It just means you really, really have to go, like it’s almost impossible to actually keep it under control you might say. Here is a really funny one, again very, very cultural. I have to take the Browns to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is the championship of American football of the NFL. Now the Cleverland Browns are a notoriously bad team, so it’s funny obviously because they call the Browns and poop is brown, but also because the Browns never go to the Super Bowl. Xiaohua: Oh, I see. Taking the Browns to the Super Bowl可不是带克利夫兰布朗队去超级碗比赛，而是上大号的意思。 John: Exactly. And last but not least, this one is actually one of my favorites, because it’s just so amazingly descriptive. I have to pinch a loaf. Xiaohua: Pinch a loaf, I’ve actually heard of that as well. Is it really a vulgar way of saying it? Can somebody use it without causing trouble? John: Like what I have said before, this isn’t about necessarily vulgar or using bad words or anything like that, but you wouldn’t use these phrases in polite company, like if you just met someone, more than likely, using these words and phrases will not score you any points if you will. It won’t score you any browny points. Instead people might think that maybe you are a little bit rude or perhaps you don’t understand what to say in the right context. In general, the best rule to follow is that if you want to tell someone that you need to use the bathroom, just say you need to use the bathroom. You don’t need to tell them that you need to go poop or you need to pee, just say I need to go use the bathroom. Xiaohua: That’s right. And that’s probably the safest and best way of describing the situation. John: Exactly. But then again if you are hanging out with someone like me and you really have to poop, or you can just say John, I get to go take a dump. Xiaohua: Ok. And that’s all for Word of the Week of Round Table.