Podcasts about last august

Hey guys, Alison here, and I'm back with a brand new episode of Because I Can Life, which means, A BRAND NEW INTERVIEW!! Yayy!!And believe me, this one, you'll want to listen to. Why?Simply because today's guest is the epitome of a success story!Last August, Trish Gower went through my "Find Your Perfect Product" program, and boy did she win big! She ended up selling a very unique product she had in her house for $1200. That one sale gave her the courage to actually launch her own business, and today, she is selling 600 products A DAY!!Like I said, a true success story!How did Trish do it? She tells you all in today's episode of the Because I Can podcast, so, grab a drink, have a seat, and tune in! Key Takeaways-Intro (00:00)-Trish's origin story (04:01)-The pivot (07:21)-Brain trash? (14:12)-How Trish stays positive (20:27)-Work smart, not hard (25:01)-Why you should join the "Find Your Perfect Product" program (27:30)-Top takeaways (31:42) Additional Resources Check out Trish's website here: boredtobrilliant.comUse the code AJP30 for a 30% off!If you want to connect with Trish, you can reach out to her here:Facebook: @boredtobrilliantInstagram: @boredtobrilliantConnect with Alison:Facebook: @alisonjprinceInstagram: @alisonjprinceLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alisonjprince/>>>Join the $0-100k Program: 0-100k.com/master-class-start

The end of the school year is finally here, and I feel like we are crossing the finish line being held together with tape and glue. Last August, I wrote a blog post about what I hoped my kids would learn this school year. This week on the podcast, we revisited these goals for our kids and we asked our audience to tell us what non-academic lessons their kids took with them. We wrote a book! Learn more and if you've read it please leave us a review: http://everybodyfightsbook.com/ Thank you again for your support. It means the world to us.    Join our Facebook family: www.facebook.com/theholdernessfamily Follow the journey on Instagram: @theholdernessfamily Find us on YouTube: www.youtube.com/theholdernessfamily Thank you for being here! Would you consider leaving a review? We also love feedback: holdermesspodcast@gmail.com About the Holderness Family
: Penn, Kim, Lola, and Penn Charles Holderness create original music, parodies, and Vlogs for YouTube and Facebook to poke fun of themselves and celebrate the absurdity in circumstances most families face in their day to day life. They published "Christmas Jammies" in December 2013 and life hasn't been the same. Since then, their popular parodies, "All About That Baste", "Baby Got Class," and original music "Snow Day" have received national news coverage. Penn, the Dad, took a chance and left his job as a news anchor to join his wife Kim, the Mom, at their video production and digital marketing company, Greenroom Communications, LLC. Lola and Penn Charles are always happy, respectful and eat all of their vegetables (that last sentence is a lie).  The Holderness Family Podcast is Edited and Engineered by Max Trujillo of Trujillo Media.

Last August the members of The Business Roundtable sign a document promising to be kinder and gentler. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Last August, Arizona became the first state to eliminate the ban on non-lawyer ownership of law firms. In ordering that change, as well as a package of additional reforms, the Arizona Supreme Court acted on the recommendations of a task force that had called for fundamental changes in the regulation of legal services, all with the goal of enhancing access to justice,  On today’s episode of LawNext, we are joined by Arizona Supreme Court Vice Chief Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer, who was not only among the justices who approved the changes, but who chaired the task force that recommended them. Justice Timmer discusses why the task force recommended such sweeping changes, why the court adopted them, the status of their implementation, and the implications for access to justice.  Justice Timmer was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court in 2012. Previously, she served on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 2000 to 2012, serving three years as its chief judge, and where she chaired the court’s Legal Services Task Force. She is chair of the Supreme Court’s Attorney Regulation Advisory Committee, a member of the National Conference of Bar Examiners board of trustees and has been elected as a member of The American Law Institute.  Among her many honors, Justice Timmer was named 2020 Woman of the Year by the Arizona Capitol Times and she was recognized as one of the Most Influential Business Women in Arizona in 2020.  Thank You To Our Sponsors This episode of LawNext is generously made possible by our sponsors. We appreciate their support and hope you will check them out.  Paradigm, home to the practice management platforms PracticePanther, Bill4Time, and MerusCase, and e-payments platform Headnote. Everlaw, the cloud-based ediscovery platform for law firms, corporations, and government agencies.  Law Insider, producer of the show Contract Teardown, where they analyze the contracts that others are talking about.  A reminder that we are on Patreon. Subscribe to our page to be able to access show transcripts, or to submit a question for our guests.

There are several advantages to buying a new construction home. What are the advantages of new construction? First of all, new construction homes feature the latest finishes, gorgeous decor, etc. You also don’t have to make changes to personalize the home to your tastes—the paint, cabinetry, appliances, and everything else have already been designed according to your preferences. A lot of advances have been made in terms of energy efficiency for new construction homes as well. The materials used now are dramatically different than the materials used during the ’70s and ’80s. People are often surprised that, even in a more expensive home, their utility costs are much lower. Therefore, the net cost of owning a new construction home is more affordable.  There are also tax advantages to owning a new construction home. There are many metro communities that offer tax abatements. Even in areas that don’t offer tax abatements, property taxes are run in arrears here in Iowa, meaning that we pay them the following year. Last August was when homes were put on the Polk County assessor’s rolls for this fiscal year, so 12 to 18 months can pass by before your property taxes kick in. Plus, you’re only paying for the lot underneath, so that can save you $250 to $350 each month. That’s a tremendous benefit when you’re settling into a new place.  “People are often surprised that, even in a more expensive home, their utility costs are much lower.” As always, if you have questions about this or any real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to us via phone or email. We’re here to help, and we’d love to hear from you soon!

Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician who for the past few years has been one of the few women in peace talks with the Taliban. Last August she was wounded in an assassination attempt. She discusses the attack and the threat the Taliban pose to women’s rights, while the Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, discusses the legacy of the US ‘forever’ war. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out wants you to consider a new adventure this Sunday. The Rivanna Conservation Alliance resumes the tradition of the Rivanna River Race! Contestants will travel 6.8 miles downriver via kayak or canoe from the Rio Mills Bridge to the Rivanna River Company. Registration costs $40 a person or $50 for tandem, and proceeds go to the Rivanna Conservation Alliance. Don’t have a boat? Rent one from the Rivanna River Company! Visit the sign-up page in the newsletter to learn more and register. It’s all part of the Rivanna Riverfest which runs from May 1 to May 9. In this installment:Tourism industry officials want reform of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors’ BureauUpdates on transit planningThere are no qualifying bids yet for the reconstruction of the Belmont BridgeVirginia DEQ creates an environmental justice officeVDOT wants you to drive slow in work zones - this and every other week!The long-awaited construction of the Belmont Bridge in Charlottesville will not begin this spring, and City Council might be briefed on Monday about how to move the long-planned project forward. Several firms submitted bids in time for the March 16, 2021 but the city has not released any further information at this time. “The submitted bid proposals for the Belmont Bridge replacement are being evaluated by the City staff and its consultant in accordance with the planned project scope,” reads an email from Brian Wheeler, the city’s director of communications. “This evaluation also includes consideration of the project’s planned budget.”The current bridge was built in 1962, and city staff recommended in April 2009 that it should be replaced rather than repaired. The firm MMM Design was hired to conduct the design process for what was then a project with a $9 million cost estimate. But there was a fierce public debate about whether the bridge should even be replaced, or if a tunnel underneath the railroad tracks should proceed. MMM Design went out of business soon after Council selected to go with a bridge in July 2014. Soon after that, the firm Kimley Horn was selected and began a new review in April 2017. Last August, Council voted to authorize $15.26 million in federal and state funding for the project, which by then had a $31 million cost estimate. At least $7.5 million of that amount are city capital improvement funds. The project was advertised for construction bids earlier this year, but the process is now stalled pending new direction from Council. “A recommendation for moving forward is being developed, as are possible options,” Wheeler wrote. Check tomorrow to see if the item is on the City Council’s agenda for the May 3 meeting. This is the way the finances for the project pencil out in Virginia’s Draft Six-Year Improvement Program for FY22. Take a look!Want to show support for those people who work on road and transportation projects in Virginia? Tomorrow, April 28, is the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Go Orange Day, where people are asked to wear orange to mark National Work Zone Awareness Week. If you do, take a selfie and send it to VDOT in one of two ways:Email to William.Merritt@vdot.virginia.gov and Lou.Hatter@vdot.virginia.gov Please include names, where the photo was taken and the company's name.Text 540-717-8376 (be sure to include your name)Take a look at their gallery to see examples. A road crew poses to ask for you to slow down in work zones (Credit: Virginia Department of Transportation)Preparations continue for a study of how transit could work better in Albemarle County. Some fixed-route service is provided by Charlottesville Area Transit, which is owned by the City of Charlottesville. Jaunt provides fixed-route service between Crozet and Charlottesville as well as paratransit service throughout the region. The Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission is shepherding a Regional Transit Vision as well as a study of additional service to serve Albemarle’s urban areas. A kick-off meeting for the study will take place in early June. Jessica Hersh-Ballering is a planner with the TJPDC. She spoke at the April 22 meeting of the Regional Transit Partnership. “This is a project to determine the best way to expand transit service to three priority locations in Albemarle, and those priority locations are Pantops, north 29, and Monticello,” Hersh-Ballering said. “The goal is to apply for funding to implement that service in fiscal year 2023.” To do that, the study will need to be completed, including public review, in order to apply for a demonstration grant by next February. Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel is the chair of the Regional Transit Partnership.“I just have a comment, Jessica,” McKeel said. “I looked at that February date in February and thought, wow, that is a tight timeline but I’m sure you all have figured it out.” The University Transit System is a member of the Regional Transit Partnership and they updated community officials on the results of a recent passenger survey. The pandemic skewed ridership last year, with almost 90 percent of people taking shuttle routes to the Health Complex, a figure that was 57.25 percent in 2019. Academic routes usually make up just over forty percent ridership, but that dropped to ten percent last year. An image from the recent UTS ridership survey (download)The University Transit System is completely separate from Charlottesville Area Transit, but does offer some service on some streets in the City of Charlottesville. “We are the public provider on 14th Street, Grady, Rugby, Arlington, Massey,” said Becca White, the director of Parking and Transportation at UVA. “People who have been around long enough know that CAT used to serve some of those corridors and were able to concentrate elsewhere while UTS agreed to be the public provider on those corridors.”However, Charlottesville Area Transit said they are in talks with UTS about whether that will continue. CAT Senior Project Steve MacNally told the Regional Transit Partnership about upcoming capital projects, including the potential for a transit hub and park and ride lot on U.S. 29.  They’re looking for a suitable two acre lot. “I’ve been busy looking at some vacant or unoccupied properties, looking at right of way issues, the access to those, and a number of other criteria,” MacNally said. CAT is about to begin work on two studies of its own. One will look at the need for future facilities and a more dedicated look at the park and ride possibility with the firm Kimley Horn. In response to a question from White, CAT director Garland Williams said he has not been in touch with anyone from the University of Virginia Foundation, which owns many properties in the 29 North corridor, including the North Fork Research Park.“This is our kickoff to bring all those elements together, so the study is really going to look at whether the corridor itself is ripe for transit,” Williams said. “We do believe that it is.”   Williams added this could help CAT increase ridership which would in turn bring in more funding. “Initially we have looked at potentially the airport to [the University of Virginia] as the initial corridor of looking at, kind of the route, but that’s up for discussion as we’re working with our consultant,” Williams said. The work by Kimley Horn is separate from the work being done by the TJPDC on behalf of Albemarle County. Williams said the work is complementary and will function together. A third transit-related land use study in the same geographical area is a potential relocation of Albemarle school bus fleet to land somewhere in the U.S. 29 corridor.Christine Jacobs, the interim director of the TJPDC, said the conversation was a sign of the role the Regional Transit Partnership can play. “I think this is really exciting because there’s a lot of synergy and coordination that is occurring between some of these corridors and I just want to make sure I remind you that the PDC we will also be doing through the MPO in their North 29 study corridor from Airport Road all the way up into Greene,” Jacobs said. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has opened a new Office of Environmental Justice. Renee Hoyos will serve as the first director of the office, which will oversee the implementation of an environmental justice program at DEQ. The office stems from an executive order from Governor Ralph Northam from 2018. A report from Skeo Solutions and the Metropolitan Group completed in the fall of 2020 further outlined how the office might work. Hoyos most recently served as the executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network. Hoyos will work with Jerome Brooks as the Environmental Justice Coordinator. Brooks has been at DEQ for a decade and a half as the manager of the office of water compliance and director of the office of air compliance coordination. Even before the creation of the office, Brooks has been serving as DEQ's environmental justice coordinator for the past 13 years. You’re reading Charlottesville Community Engagement and time for another subscriber-supported public service announcement. It’s becoming more and more safe to go out and check out live music. If you’re interested in going out and hearing people who have been waiting to get out and play, check out the Charlottesville Jazz Society and their running list of events! The Charlottesville Jazz Society is dedicated to the promotion, preservation and perpetuation of all jazz, and that the best thing you can do now is to go check out some music.Check them out in the link in the newsletter.  To close out the show today, a long look at the April 26, 2021 meeting of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, a public body that since 2018 made up of appointed and elected officials from Albemarle and Charlottesville. The CACVB was originally formed in 1979 and exists today to serve as a clearinghouse for information on tourism, as well as to discuss strategies for how to market the area. Different entities in the community want to bring in more visitors for different reasons. At the beginning of the April 26 meeting, Susan Krischel is with the Ix Art Park, a centrally-located and flexible destination space. The organization has put together a new campaign called Charlottesville Excursions with $20,000 in funding from the Virginia Tourism Office to attract people in neighboring states to come to the area to experience the many arts in the community. “We are such a strong and vital arts destination that we wanted to position Charlottesville as a city to come and really immerse yourself in arts,” Krischel said. “We thought that that not only could help spur economic activity here in Charlottesville. It could also encourage tourists to come back to Charlottesville.” The Ix Art Park partnered with the CACVB, the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, the Bridge Performing Arts Initiative and the Quirk Hotel Charlottesville on the project. The latter would offer a discount during the duration of the campaign. “This campaign is going to run every weekend in September and October of this year and this would be an example of what we might suggest to someone who comes in for a four-day weekend,” Krischel said. For most of its history, elected officials did not serve on the CACVB’s governing body. Until 2004, there was a Tourism Council that advised the tourism agency’s executive director but that was abandoned at the time in favor of a larger Board of Directors. In 2017, city and county officials both to add more oversight and altered the make-up of the Board to allow two elected officials from both Albemarle and Charlottesville. Albemarle Supervisor Diantha McKeel said the program is exciting, but noted that much of the presentation was centered on Charlottesville. “I understand the city-centric nature of the proposal,” McKeel said. “What was your outreach to Woolen Mills or Stonefield, some of the areas that are really close by but not in the city?”  Krischel responded that the Ix Art Park is small, and personnel limitations forced them to focus on their immediate environment. “Some of it quite frankly came down to what we were just physically able to manage,” Krichel said. “We’re a small organization so we really felt we needed to keep it as close to the downtown center as possible just because we thought that was what we were able to manage.”  Krischel said the program could grow if it is successful. She said arts organizations have not been showcased to potential tourists.“So this is sort of stepping our toe in the water to a more comprehensive arts campaign but I truly hope this will be a first step toward something that will be more permanent and long-term,” Krischel said.Supervisor Ann Mallek said she wanted the Ix Art Park’s program to highlight fall festivals and to put a spotlight on excursions into Albemarle.  “And certainly everyone of those wineries and breweries that people mention, many of them have art galleries and have resident studio people there,” Mallek said.Krischel said she would be happy to consider adding that information, but they’ve used up all of the $20,000 in funding so far.“If you think that there are arts organizations that would  like to be involved in this and would like to be willing to do a little bit of the footwork to get them involved and to help us tie them in, we’d be more than happy to speak to them,” Krischel said. “I think it’s just a lack of knowledge as to who everyone is and what’s going on.” In February, the CACVB Board talked about the exploring ways to change the working dynamics of the Board to reflect best practices used by similar entities across the country which seek to market themselves as destinations. An informal work group has looked at the issue since, including City Council Heather Hill. They looked at four other groups in Virginia and concluded the make-up of the CACVB skews heavily to government representation. Of the 15 members of the Board, eight are elected or appointed officials from Albemarle and Charlottesville. “”We see ourselves as pretty unique in this position of being quasi-governmental with board oversight,” Hill said. The work group on the working of the CACVB Board presented this slide as part of the discussion The working group met with industry representatives to find out what people thought about the CACVB and its ability to promote tourism.“There’s just a sense that there’s not enough dialogue among the sectors and just being able to have more of those seats at the table so they can kind of be a conduit for that sector dialog that can happen across the region,” Hill said.Hill said some representatives said there were power dynamics on the Board that intimidated people from approaching the agency for help and assistance. Chris Eure, executive director of the Paramount, is another member of the working group. She said she wanted the Board to operate in a way that would lead to more connections, and referenced the presentation from the Ix Art Park.“I would love to know how the arts could help better,” Eure said. “What nights do they need to be filled? What weeks, what months? And then have all these different sectors perhaps come up with plans for what activities to stage!” Eure suggested adjusting the agendas for the meeting to invite more organizations to the table to get feedback from Board members. The working group also suggested changing the composition of the Board itself. “Overarching, I think a lot of the themes that we were hearing was just that there feels like a disconnect between the work of the Board and representatives in the industry,” Hill said.Eure said the current make-up of the CACVB came at a time when there was suspicion from government officials about how their tax money was being spent. “That’s by and large while we are here because there wasn’t the confidence from the elected officials that their funds that were their tax revenues were being used according to how they thought it should strategically be done,” Eure said. McKeel said that was part of the discussion, but not the whole reason why she supported the board realignment in 2018. She said she wanted to expand the kinds of work the CACVB did and it wasn’t just about the money. “Every time we asked about vineyards, every time we asked about the work that we are doing in this community around African-American history and some of the trails, every time we asked about something besides one group which was at that time was ‘heads and beds.’ We were told ‘we don’t do that, we can’t do that, we’re not interested in all of that other stuff,’” McKeel said. There appeared to be support for reform of the board, but there was a warning about how much the members could do to reform itself. Roger Johnson is the chair of the CACVB Board and Albemarle Economic Development Director. “I don’t think we can entertain any Board changes whatsoever,” Johnson said. “That’s part of the operating agreement and outside the scope of what this Board has the authority to do.”However, Johnson will meet with his counterpart in Charlottesville as well as CACVB Executive director Courtney Cacatian to discuss next steps. The meeting then moved on a presentation on Virginia’s tourism industry. The final speaker was Travis Wilburn of Stay Charlottesville. Wilburn went back to the discussion of the Board’s make-up. He said he has spoken with many people who feel the presence of elected officials on the CACVB Board was intimidating. “As I speak representing these folks, I personally and honestly fear political retribution for the businesses that I’m involved in, which is exactly how many of your board members feel and fear on a regular basis,” Wilburn said. “We’ve created a toxic environment and we call on you to try and right this ship.” Wilburn said data from the Virginia Tourism Office showed that tourism had a $683 million economic impact on the Charlottesville community in 2019.“That was roughly 6,100 jobs and those are jobs we’d desperately like to bring back,” Wilburn said. “We very much need the help of this bureau.” Wilburn cited a letter that Senator Creigh Deeds wrote to Susan Payne last Friday in which he appears to critique the make-up of the CACVB Board. Payne is the president of the Blue Ridge Group and chair of the Virginia Tourism Corporation. Let’s hear Wilburn read Deeds’ words. “Several years ago I supported legislation to allow an elected official from both the county and the city to serve on the CACVB,” Deeds wrote to Payne. “I did so to encourage cooperation and work between the public and private sectors.  I understand that membership has grown beyond what was intended, and it seems to me that you have to have more industry representation, so that the people who know the work can guide its growth.” In response, Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said her priority as an elected official is addressing race and labor issues. “No matter how you spend it, we have an economy that has been built on a university and tourism that leaves the majority of the individuals who happen to be people of color, Black people and other people of color, to service those industries who can never make it out of poverty wages job even though we’re talking about a [nearly] $700 [million] industry,” Walker said. “That should be unacceptable to all of us.” Walker said she would not be silent about her views. “Besides the guests on this call, two of the four, I am the only Black person or person of color represented on this screen, so part of Heather and Chris [Eure]’s conversation about how to change that is a very important conversation.”The conversations will continue at the CACVB’s next meeting. Phew. This was a long one. Thanks for reading if you made it this far. Never a dull moment. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at communityengagement.substack.com/subscribe

In mid-February 2021, a not-as-rare-as-it-used-to-be winter storm swept across the country, causing massive power outages in the state of Texas with deadly consequences. In this episode, hear the highlights of the congressional investigation into the causes of the extended power outages. They were foreseeable, and in fact foreseen, and similar power outages can be prevented; the only question is whether they will be. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Click here to contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank’s online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Recommended Podcast/YouTube Episodes 100 Days of Biden w/ David Dayen & Jennifer Briney Bad Faith Podcast with Briahna Joy Gray and Virgil Texas.  Articles/Documents Article: Report: Bulk of February power plant outages 'weather related' amid historic Texas freeze, By Bob Sechler, Austin American Statesman, April 6, 2021 Article: Why Texas was not prepared for Winter Storm Uri, By Kara Norton, PBS, March 25, 2021 Article: Texas power grid CEO Bill Magness getting fired in wake of deadly blackouts, CBS, March 4, 2021 Article: ERCOT CEO Refuses $800K Payout Following Firing, By Jaclyn Diaz, npr, March 5, 2021 Article: What’s behind $15,000 electricity bills in Texas?, By Seth Blumsack, The Conversation, February 24, 2021 Article: How Winter Storm Uri Impacted the United States, By Theresa Machemer, Smithsonian Magazine, February 19, 2021 Transcript: ERCOT Update Press Conference on Texas Power Outages February 17, Rev, February 17, 2021 Article: Why the Texas power grid is struggling to cope with the extreme cold, By Umair Irfan, Vox, February 16, 2021 Article: Winter Storm Uri Spread Snow, Damaging Ice From Coast-to Coast, Including the Deep South (Recap), The Weather Channel, February 16, 2021 Article: Bitter cold deepens state's power crisis, By Marcy de Luna and Amanda Drane, Houston Chronicle, February 14, 2021 Article: Shellenberger’s Optimistic, Viral Take on Climate Future Challenged by Scientists He Cites, By Alex Kasprak, Snopes, August 4, 2020 Additional Resources Michael Shellenberger DeSmog Texas’ Energy Market and Power Grid 101, Electric Choice Campaign Finance Summary: John A Barrasso, opensecrets.org Sound Clip Sources Hearing: POWER STRUGGLE: EXAMINING THE 2021 TEXAS GRID FAILURE, House Committee on Energy and Commerce: Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, March 24, 2021 Watch on Youtube Witnesses: Sylvester Turner 2015 -: Mayor of Houston, TX 1989 - 2016: Member of the TX House of Representatives Bill Magness President and CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of TX (ERCOT) Testified after being given notice that he would be getting fired at the beginning of May Christi Craddick Chairman of the Railroad Commission of TX Michael Shellenberger Founder and President of Environmental Progress Website: "He has helped save nuclear reactors around the world." James Robb President and CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) The standard setting body for reliability associated with the electric power industry 1988 - 2002: Principal at McKinsey Transcript: 35:45 Cathy McMorris Rodgers: Recent trends show a transition away from coal and nuclear power plants designed to function as baseload capacity toward variable renewable energy sources with just in time natural gas backup. States like California that rely more on weather dependent renewables experienced energy failures on a regular basis. Indeed, California residents experienced blackouts on an ongoing annual basis as the state fails to manage summer electricity demand and wildfire risk. These events suggest that replacing nuclear plants with variable renewable energy sources could make energy grids less resilient. Policies that drive renewables at the expense of firm baseload put lives at risk. 49:09 Bill Magness: Let me give you a bit of background to explain ERCOT's role in the provision of electric power in Texas. We manage the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers. That's about 90% of the state's electric load and about 75% of the landmass of Texas, ERCOT does not own power plants. We do not own poles and wires. We are the grid operator, like air traffic control for the grid. We're also the settlement agent for the market. We do the bookkeeping and billing, we don't participate in the financial side of our market. Our number one job is to see that supply and demand on the grid are in balance at all times. As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects more than 46,500 miles of transmission lines and over 680 generating units. It also performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk power market and administers retail switching for 8 million premises in the competitive areas in ERCOT. We're a membership based 501 c four nonprofit corporation governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature. Our members include consumers, cooperatives, generators, power marketers, retail electric providers, and best droned electric utilities, transmission and distribution providers and municipally owned electric utilities. ERCOT's not a policymaking body. We implement the policies adopted by the Public Utility Commission and the Texas Legislature and we operate under reliability rules adopted by the North American Electric Reliability corporation or NERC. Generators produce power from a variety of sources in ERCOT such as gas, coal, wind, solar and nuclear. These are private and public entities subject to regulation by various state and federal agencies. Transmission and distribution providers own the wires and transport the power to consumers subject to their own sets of federal and state regulations. 24 hours a day, seven days a week ERCOT monitors the entirety of the system to make sure that when transmission lines go down, we can work around them. We talk to generators instructing them to bring load onto the system or to back it down as needed. We oversee the scheduling of maintenance and more. The work is done with one purpose to maintain the 60 hertz frequency that's needed to ensure the stability of the grid. There's a constant balancing act to manage the supply and demand to ensure a stable frequency. During the week of February 15, the Texas electric market experienced more demand than available supply. At its worst the storm took out 48.6% of the generation available to ERCOT to balance the grid. We always keep reserves, but when you lose nearly half your generation, you're going to have a problem. And supply quickly diminished the frequency of the grid dipped perilously low. Many generators stayed off for days and this led the system unable to serve that high demand. We use the last tool in our toolkit. Planned outages. Calling for load shed to manage the stability of the grid. This crisis required are caught using procedures established for emergencies like this to call on Transmission providers to use control load shedding to balance the system and prevent a devastating blackout for the entire grid. avoiding a complete blackout is critical. Were to occur, the Texas grid could be down for several days or weeks while the damage to the electrical grid was repaired and the power restored in a phased and highly controlled process. The cost of restoration of the system. The economic loss for Texas and the personal costs of the well being of Texas citizens would be unfathomable. as terrible as the consequences of the controlled outages in February were if we had not felt the blackout power could have been out for over 90% of Texans for weeks. The steps we took were difficult, but they had to be taken and when power was able to be fully restored. The Texas electric delivery system immediately returned to its pre emergency conditions. 57:36 Christi Craddick: As the storm sat over Texas wind, solar, coal, nuclear oil and natural gas all experienced challenges. Through numerous conversations with the oil and gas industry and operators, we learned of frozen roadways preventing crews from accessing the fields. But the number one problem we heard reported from operators was a lack of power at their production sites. As outages spread across the state operators were unable to keep their systems functioning as power was cut. Some operators did need to preemptively shut in their wells for safety and well integrity purposes prior to the storm, beginning as early as February 9. Starting on Tuesday, February 16, as it was safe to return to the oilfield, crews arrived to find that their facilities were experiencing electricity outages. The oil fields simply cannot run without power, making electricity the best winterization tool. 59:13 Christi Craddick: For just one moment, I'd like to highlight the overall success of our LDC's our local distribution companies. They are the companies that provide gas directly to residential customers. If you have a gas powered stove, fireplace, furnace heat, you're an LDC customer. As millions of homes lost electricity in Texas, only 2,153 LDC customers experienced service disruption. That means that 99.95% of all customers did not lose gas. 4.6 million households in Texas utilize natural gas in their homes representing about 13 million Texans and these families were able to continue to heat their homes. 1:11:19 Rep. Diana DeGette (CO): ERCOT has stated publicly that the recent extreme weather in Texas, 'caused many generating units across fuel types to trip offline and become unavailable.' Isn't it true that during the extreme weather event, natural gas, wind, coal, solar and even nuclear power were forced offline? Bill Magness: Yes, Chairman, we did see periods of time where each one of those types of generation flipped offline. Rep. Diana DeGette: And as devastating as this was, I guess a lot of people who are surprised because, Mayor, you were in the Texas legislature for more than 25 years. And you said in your written testimony, the magnitude, and also today, that magnitude of damages was foreseeable, and preventable. The Texas grid must be designed with the full appreciation that climate change is real and extreme weather events can occur with throughout the year. Is it your view that Texas ignored these warnings, and missed several opportunities to fortify the grid against the threat of extreme weather? Sylvester Turner: Madam chair? The answer is yes. I was in the legislature when the winter storm occurred in 2011. In fact, I found House Bill 1986. That's specifically what mandated the Public Utility Commission to have ERCOT have a sufficient reserve to prevent blackouts. That was in 2011. Rep. Diana DeGette: Mr. Rob, I understand that NERC has issued a series of recommendations in recent years warning about reliability risk to the Texas grid, including after this same storm that hit Texas in 2011. Now, I know nurse inquiry is ongoing, but based on the information you have, did Texas winterize its power infrastructure to the degree NERC had recommended after the 2011 storm? Jim Robb: Well, the inquiry will affirm this but evidence was just absolutely not. Rep. Diana DeGette: Absolutely not. 1:14:05 Sylvester Turner: I will tell you we're not just relying on generators. We had a number of generators go under in wastewater treatment facilities. When the grid failed, some of those generators didn't kick in. What we are doing now is looking at piloting micro grids that actually tie into the Texas grid. And they are always on, they never turn off. They're on 24 seven. And so we're looking at power utilizing that for our key infrastructure projects with it for city facilities as well as in low income communities in the city. 1:15:03 Jim Robb: But the key to integrating large amounts of renewable resources is the balancing resource that that picks up generation when the renewable resources can't perform because of weather conditions or what have you. And today, the only real resource we have that can do that would either be hydro, as was mentioned earlier, or natural gas. And natural gas of those fuels is the most easily transported to to where it's needed. So gas is the answer to making this transition work. 1:17:36 Michael Shellenberger: I just will also mention I this talk and this idea that there is some inevitability to a transition towards variable renewable energy sources is incorrect. It is not shared by most energy experts. It is a consequence of policy choices. And if we want to have affordable, reliable, resilient electricity sources, we need reliable sources of electricity produced in large, efficient power plants, whether nuclear natural gas or coal. 1:33:06 Jim Robb: The report that we put out in 2011, called for very clear freeze protection on the generating plants and raised the issue as to whether that should extend into the natural gas supply as well. And what I understand Texas did was to put in place legislation that required weatherization, but not to a specific level. And it was not aggressively enforced standard. I think it was spot checked. And, and enforcement against that was relatively modest is my understanding. Why we're... No, I think that's one of the reasons why after the 2018 event, we concluded that we needed to move to a mandatory freeze protection standard for equipment and to have that be monitored and enforced by us. 1:50:24 Michael Shellenberger: If we're going to shut down all of our nuclear plants which are 20% of our electricity, and we better keep our coal plants around, and I say this is somebody that has long advocated the transition from coal to natural gas and nuclear. 1:58:32 Christi Craddick: I believe that transmission pipes are in the ground and that's natural insulation, where we do have some challenges when you had the electric TriCity roll off into fields and across the state than we did our problems with compressors that are electric compressors and or natural gas compressors. Like you can't move stuff in a pipe if you've got an up compressor without electricity. So but the pipes themselves did not freeze and I think that's been a mis communication across the board when you've looked at the press communication 2:04:12 Michael Shellenberger: Civilization depends on reliable electricity. I think everybody agrees with that. But then you need to people need to explain how it is that variable renewable energy sources which are weather dependent, are somehow add up to being reliable and resilient at grid levels they don't, that actually just adds up to less reliability and less resilience, all else being equal. 3:02:55 Rep. Marc Veasey (TX): We also know that many natural gas producers and processors failed to file the necessary paperwork with the electric utility to be listed as critical infrastructure. That meant that when we have rolling blackouts, and when they were initiated, these natural gas companies didn't have the electricity necessary to pull gas from underground, which in turn led to a natural gas shortage of power plants and created a downward spiral of more blackouts. Right now, it's optional for these companies to file this paperwork, but Charlie Garin also from Fort Worth, he has a bill, Commissioner Craddick, that he is going to file that will answer some of these concerns that I just laid out. And I want to ask you, Commissioner Craddick should ease energy producers, who we all know are critical to keep the lights on. So we won't have a repeat of what we saw, should they be required to file this paperwork? And should it be included on the electric utilities critical list? Christi Craddick: I think it's an important piece that frankly, my agency hadn't been communicated from ERCOT that this existed, but to if you look at for these forums, and the second the the time when we finally realize this form existed, because it was based on summertime, not winter time. But when we realized that we've now sent it from our agency sent a letter to every single operator that we regulate, suggesting that they file this form, but youdon't think it should be required.The challenge we still have though, is ERCOT today doesn't prioritize gas fields. It's only gas processing plants for it, so we'd like to encourage ERCOT to remap the system and understand that the the whole system needs to be included not just part because we had operators who told us they would have been happy to file the form had one, they known about it and two, had have been included in the form and they were not. Hearing: ELECTRIC SERVICE AND EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, March 11, 2021 Watch on Youtube Witnesses: Mark A. Gabriel Administrator, Western Area Power Administration, Department of Energy James B. Robb, North American Electric Reliability Corporation Pat Wood, III, Hunt Energy Network, former Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Michael D. Shellenberger, Environmental Progress Manu Asthana, PJM Interconnection Transcript: 11:51 Jim Robb: There are three major trends which are fundamentally transforming the bulk power system and challenging our historic reliability paradigms. First, the system is decarbonizing rapidly and this evolution is altering the operational characteristics of the grid. policies, economics and market designs are resulting in significant retirements of traditional generation, new investment is increasingly focused on developing carbon free generation with variable production profiles. And in this resource mix, natural gas fired generation is becoming ever more critical, both for both energy to serve load and balancing energy to support the integration of these variable resources. Second, the grid is becoming more distributed. The improved economics of solar is a key example. These smaller scale resources have been deployed on both the bulk electric as well as distribution systems and in many cases reside behind the meter. And third, the system is becoming increasingly digitized through smart meters and digital control systems. These investments greatly enhanced the operational awareness and efficiency of grid operators, but at the same time, it heightens our exposure to cybersecurity risk. 12:59 Jim Robb: Our reliability assessments are one important way we evaluate the performance of the grid, identify reliability trends, anticipate challenges, and provide a technical platform for important policy discussion. With growing reliance on variable and just in time resources, we are developing more advanced ways to study energy supply risk. Our assessments consistently have identified three regions of the country, particularly exposed to these dynamics: California, Texas and New England. Last August, a massive heat wave across the west caused an energy supply shortage in California in the early evening, solar energy was ramping down and the grid operator was unable to import power as planned. due to high demand throughout the West, Cal ISO was forced to cut power to approximately 800,000 customers. Among the lessons learned from this event are one the critical need for reliable ramping resources to balance load, and second, the need for improved ways to estimate resource availability when the system is under stress. In New England, cold weather exacerbates its dependence on limited pipeline capacity and a handful of critical fuel assets. An early January coldsnap in 2018, led to natural gas shortages and fuel oil was burned to preserve reliability. Had that coldsnap not abated when it did. The fuel oil inventory would eventually be exhausted, and I assume New England almost certainly would have needed to shed load. It was a classic near miss event. Insufficient and inadequate weatherization of generation in Texas in the middle South states has been a growing concern for us since 2012. After a cold weather event caused loadshedding for 3 million customers in Texas in 2011. We developed a winter preparation guideline to focus industry on best practices and started conducting significant outreach on winter preparedness. Following additional extremes and unplanned load shedding in that region in 2018. We concluded that these events could no longer be treated as rare, and that a mandatory approach was warranted. As a result, nerf began the process of adding mandatory weatherization requirements into our reliability standards. 15:00 Jim Robb: First, more investment in transmission and natural gas infrastructure is required to improve the resilience of the electric grid. Increased utility scale wind and solar will require new transmission to get power to load centers. Next, the regulatory structure and oversight of natural gas supply for the purposes of electric generation needs to be rethought. The natural gas system was not built and operated with electric reliability. First in mind, policy action and legislation will likely be needed to assure reliable fuel supply for electric generation. As the critical balancing resource natural gas is the fuel that keeps the lights on. Third, the electric and natural gas systems must be better prepared for extreme weather conditions which are frankly becoming more routine. Regulatory and market structures need to support this planning and the necessary investment to assure reliability. And finally, investment in energy storage or alternative technologies needs to be supported to have a viable alternative to natural gas for balancing variable resources. A technology which can be deployed cost effectively and at massive scale with adequate duration to deal with supply disruption lasting for days rather than hours is required. 19:13 Mark A. Gabriel: First, every former generation can be disrupted by extreme temperatures. Second, a competitive market can discourage long term capital investment in reliability and resilience measures. And finally, costs move in both directions in competitive markets, and electricity will flow often times at impractical prices. 21:07 Mark A. Gabriel: In conclusion, power and gas markets in the United States are marvelously efficient at driving out inefficient, generating huge units, increasing financial liquidity and expanding the sale of electricity. However, the real question is whether electricity and to a lesser extent natural gas are logical commodities to participate in open markets. Unlike pork bellies and orange juice trading electrons has consequences far greater than the availability of bacon or a morning refreshment. 23:25 Pat Wood: Today I'm CEO of the hunt energy network. We're building storage batteries, small batteries at the distribution level around the state of Texas. I think the role of energy storage in the future is going to be one that will be just nowhere to go but up. As we bring on intermittent resources, understand the members concerns and lived through them as well with intermittent resources or variable resources that we've got to do something to firm those up. Storage is that golden bullet that as a regulator, I didn't have 15-20 years ago, and we were talking through market issues across from California to New England. But storage is just beginning. It's got to scale up but it's a pretty interesting place to be. 46:00 Sen. John Barrasso (WY): You've written and you see, 'California is big bet on renewables and shunning of natural gas and nuclear is directly responsible for the state's blackouts and high electricity prices.' Could you expand upon your comments for the committee? Michael D. Shellenberger: Well, sure, there was a root cause analysis published by the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission, and the California grid operator Kaiso, which made a very similar point though, in a more muted fashion. That point was made very dramatically in the midst of the crisis last August in a conference call with reporters, where the grid operator specifically pointed to the closure of San Onofre nuclear power plant, which was about 2200 megawatts of power, as well as the closure of natural gas plants as the really the main factors that resulted in the shortage of energy. 46:49 Sen. John Barrasso (WY): You know, you've written a bit and you said, quote, have some have long pointed to batteries is the way to integrate unreliable renewables onto the grid. However, that batteries you say are simply not up to the task today and you went on to explain indeed for renewables to work batteries would need to be able to store the power for weeks, and perhaps even months. Can you expand upon the comments for the committee? Michael D. Shellenberger: Sure. Well, we have one of the largest battery installations in the world in Escondido, California, and it provides power for 16,000 Californians for about four hours. There's almost 40 million Californians, the cost is prohibitive prohibitively high and in fact, most advocates of renewables now, no longer think that lithium batteries are going to be an important form of storage beyond you know, managing minutes or hours. 52:38 Mark A. Gabriel: I think what we also have to look at and understand is how can we use the existing transmission system differently. For example, there are seven ties between the eastern and western grid that are perfect examples of 1980s technology, which could clearly be upgraded and quite frankly, could be done within a two to four year timeframe. So we'd have some immediate benefit there. 59:47 Mark A. Gabriel: Gotta consider in the United States only 3% of the 90,000 dams have power capabilities to them. And if anything, I think it's a it's a valuable discussion to have to make sure that we are thinking about increasing hydro power, as it is a carbon free resource, and one that can help bolster a grid in times of great stress. 1:02:08 Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): Coal has become completely unaffordable as a power source. If you look at Lazard or any of the independent analysis of what wholesale costs are for various different generations, and you have solar at three to four cents a kilowatt and wind at three to five cents a kilowatt, and then you have coal at 7 to 16 cents a kilowatt, or nuclear at 13 to 20 cents a kilowatt, you understand what some of the market pressures are here, and why we're being asked for example, to subsidize nuclear power. 1:03:00 Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): I'd ask what policies you think would be wise to accelerate the deployment of the storage that you mentioned, on the grid both in Texas and nationally? Pat Wood: Well, I think getting a diversity of supply chain, we clearly are dependent on China and a few other countries in East Asia for the current technologies that I think Mr. Shallenberger pointed out correctly, that there are a lot of things other than lithium ions, but those are what are in all the EV's and in certainly all the storage technology. So the cost upstream if there could be some American or at least North American European suppliers to that. The policies in the US make it easy make it as easy to interconnect a battery as we've made it to connect gas plants and windmills. Yeah, we're of course version 1.0 talking with our utilities. We haven't done it before, but it's it's not easy. Learning to get these things done one by one. I think the market policies in most of the organized markets are very friendly to battery so I think we've got that box checked. Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): So interconnection is really a big... Pat Wood: Interconnection is important. 1:04:40 Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): Would it have been helpful for Texas to be able to import power either from the east or the west? In this recent episode, because I noticed that El Paso power for example, El Paso didn't have the same rolling blackouts because they were able to pull from the western grid. Pat Wood: And they are directly interconnected with it. We do have some gates in the wall. Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): Yes, you have DC connections. But if you don't have direct connections? Pat Wood: Correct, that's right. And there actually are proposals to put more of the DC ties in both east and west. To be honest, a few gigawatts wouldn't wouldn't hurt. But it wouldn't have saved us from really what was a 20 gigawatt short shortfall at the... Sen. Martin Heinrich (NM): What was the single largest shortfall from which generation source? If you look at it Pat Wood: Well, our largest supplier on a normal day is gas. So the impact of gas dropping both at the supply level and then at the power plant level. That's that's the interesting thing to figure out is how much was related to the lack of winterization, which we should have learned from the 2011 experience, how much was done from that, and how much actually had to do with the supply system or the upstream issues from the gas wells all the way down to the power plant. 1:23:15 Sen. James Lankford (OK): Natural gas is quick to be able to turn on. But when you're not asked for much for a long period of time, and then suddenly you ask for a lot in a short period of time, especially an extremely cold weather event, then suddenly it's like, you know what, we can't turn it all on that fast that much. Is there a tipping point that you're seeing for providing other fuels that are out there that for instance, were 40, 50, 60% renewables and you've got a very small portfolio of natural gas, and then the wind stops blowing, and it's a cloudy day, and you suddenly don't have those. And he asked natural gas to turn on 50% suddenly, that's just not realistic, because what is upstream is not able to turn on that fast. Is that a realistic conversation? Jim Robb: I think that's that is the conversation that needs to take place. Natural gas plants are the most flexible that we have in the system to accommodate the variability that we see with large amounts of variable resources. And it is a real challenge for the natural gas industry to provide that kind of capacity that quickly. It's not designed to do that. But that's what the electric industry needs. And this is the question that I think policymakers and probably legislators are going to have to tackle which is how do we create a construct for natural gas to be able to serve these very unique needs of the electric system for which it's not designed to do 1:35:40 Sen. Roger Marshall (KS): How could Burke investigate if there was anything nefarious, what does that process look like? And I'm not saying there is. I'm just it just hard for me to imagine just prices going up exponentially. And again, I think of that, you know, my parents on a fixed income, what's happening to their electric bill and their heating bill coming up? Right now was well, how would Burke investigate this? Pat Wood: NERC does have authority over market manipulation, or just markets in general in the interstate markets, of course, interstate natural gas pipeline serve Kansas, Oklahoma and parts of Texas as well. We have an interest state that separate but the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, they were certainly involved with us 20 years ago, when we unpacked the issues in the California crisis. The state attorneys general, as I mentioned, the one in Texas is already investigating this issue. Those three, three camps for CFTC. For the futures foryour experiences, that takes decades to go through,well, no, it doesn't. I mean, you can unpack in this digitized age. We have a lot more capability that in 2021 than we did in 2001 to review trades in this matter or in any matter much more expeditious. 1:37:40 Sen. Angus King (ME): Can you tell us unequivocally that wind turbines did not cause the problem in Texas? Pat Wood: They did not cause the problem, they were honestly the only thing was like gas and coal and everywhere. Sen. Angus King (ME): So every... Pat Wood: Everything could have helped solve it more faster. But you know, when was slow to get back, and so was coal and so was gas.Sen. Angus King (ME): And I want to mention that the wind project that I worked on in Maine has been online in 10 years in Maine. And it's never been down because of the cold that I know of it was a question of they're not weatherizing their entire turbine. So there's nothing intrinsic in the wind power that can't survive cold weather. 1:40:25 Manu Asthana: But I think the the really exciting part of electric vehicles and PJM did a study with the University of Delaware on vehicle to grid. We actually piloted having vehicles provide regulation services off of their batteries. And, you know, people were able to earn $100 a month in the pilot, so I think there's a lot of capability that will come to the grid that hopefully can add resilience through EV's as well. Republicans LIE, Say Texas Blackouts Caused by Wind Power, David Pakman Show, February 17, 2021 Chris Hayes Debunks GOP, Right-Wing Media Lies About Texas Power Outages | All In | MSNBC, MSNBC, February 16, 2021 Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

Last August, Bob Pape and his family went on a city break to Birmingham, making the most of the chancellor Rishi Sunak’s ‘eat out to help out’ scheme. The day after he arrived home, his Covid symptoms began. Guardian writer Sirin Kale looks at the links between the scheme and the rise in Covid numbers. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

It's a Heavyweight battle to be settled this weekend and it takes place in Europe, the Isle of Gibraltar to be exact, for an interesting setting for a rematch and a chance at the huge payday down the road for the winner. And, we're ready to preview it on the "Big Fight Weekend Podcast." Host T.J. Rives and guests David Payne of BoxingWriter.co.uk, Marquis Johns of BigFightWeekend.com and Manouk Akopyan of BoxingScene.com and the L.A. Times are aboard to preview the Alexander Povetkin-Dillian Whyte showdown and more. Last August, the former WBA World champ Povetkin was losing to Whyte, having been knocked down twice. But, a Thunder Bolt uppercut from the Russian laid out Whyte (above) in the fifth round for a devastating KO. Now, Whyte wants revenge, while Povetkin gets a huge payoff to fight him again. David Payne has insight live from England on what could be Whyte's last stand, as a big-time contender? And, Akopyan, who's based in L.A., gives us the latest on the Triller app's success last Fall with venturing into boxing. But now, what's up with their dispute with Mike Tyson, as well? Finally, T.J. and Marquis stick around for more on Povetkin-Whyte II, including the betting odds, etc. Whyte is currently favored at -400 on the money line, but a Povetkin second straight KO might be the "sharp" play here. The guys also go over the Matchroom Boxing undercard on this one, as DAZN will stream the show in the U.S. on Saturday afternoon. Hear all of it on "The Big Fight Weekend" podcast and make sure to subscribe/review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.!! Follow - Twitter | InstagramWatch - YouTube | TwitchListen - Apple | SpotifyRead - SportsGamblingPodcast.comDiscuss - Slack | Reddit Support for this episode - WynnBett | BetQL code "MARCH30" | OddsCrowd | Pickwise | BetterThan.Vegas | Bettor Edge code "SGP"

A series of high-profile recent incidents including the use of blackface on Chinese TV, discrimination against Black residents in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, and widespread racial insensitivity on Chinese social media sites like Weibo have sparked a vibrant discussion about anti-Black racism in China.While these conversations have done a lot to advance our collective understanding of the complexities of this issue, too often, though, Chinese voices are under-represented in the conversation.A group of young Chinese scholars is hoping to change that by engaging both domestic and international stakeholders in a far more nuanced discourse on race and identity in China. Last August, they published a controversial analysis on the prevalence of anti-Black racism on Weibo. Later, they translated some of their findings into English and published it on The China Africa Project. The scholars have chosen to remain anonymous out of concern that the sensitive nature of the topic will provoke a dangerous backlash from online trolls. Two of those researchers join Eric & Cobus to explain what they feel is missing from the debate about Chinese-Black race relations in China. They also invited five of their academic colleagues to share their perspectives on the issue as well.SHOW NOTES:Anti-Black Racism on the Chinese Social Media Network Weibo by Anonymous: https://bit.ly/2Quv66L我们分析了五万条种族歧视账号微博，发现了这些: https://bit.ly/3jQIkphJOIN THE DISCUSSION:Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProjectTwitter: @eolander | @stadenesque SUBSCRIBE TO THE CAP'S DAILY EMAIL NEWSLETTERYour subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following:1. A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news.2. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network3. Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.comSubscriptions start at just $7 a month. Use the promo code "Podcast" and get a 20% lifetime discount on your annual subscription: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe

Last December, Martha Jones, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, described in a Washington Post oped how her research had revealed that Johns Hopkins, the namesake of her institution, had owned slaves.  Long thought to be an abolitionist, Mr. Hopkins, in fact, claimed at least four men as his property in 1850, and prior to that, had used Black people as collateral for a loan. A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Emilie Amt, the Hildegarde-Pilgram Professor of History at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, published a blog post on a site devoted to African American history that revealed a legacy of slavery at her institution.    To discuss that legacy, and how it connects to the current national reckoning with race, Dr. Amt joins us, along with her colleague and a great friend of Midday, Dr. Terry Anne Scott, an associate professor of American history at Hood.  Dr. Scott also directs the college's African American Studies program, and she has been researching a book to be published this fall on the history of lynching. Last August, she published this article about lynching in Truthout, the non-profit news platform.  Dr. Amt and Dr. Scott join us today on Zoom. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jean-Georges Prince, 33, was shot with a rubber bullet at close range on Jan. 18 last year in Beirut.“The cop that shot me was about 3 meters away so it tore my lower lip,” he said. “I got 56 stitches and a five-hour surgery, and I still don’t have mobility to my lower lip a year later.”Previously, Prince owned a tattoo parlor in Beirut. He loved his job, he said, but his business was struggling financially. He was also frustrated by the way the Lebanese authorities mishandled one crisis after another. So, when the protests began, he was right on the front lines.Related: 'Married to the mountains': Arab women mountaineers make historyProtesters got beatings here and there, Prince said, but that night in January, when he got shot, it felt like something had shifted.“I was shocked. I was stunned that they actually started shooting at us.” Jean-Georges Prince, protester wounded by security forces in Beirut“I was shocked. I was stunned that they actually started shooting at us,” he said.An Amnesty International report published late last month says that Lebanese security forces used weapons from France to suppress protests that have roiled the country in recent years.The report says that Lebanese security forces unlawfully fired French-made rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protesters in close range. Some of the French equipment was sold to Lebanon as recently as 2019 and 2020.Related: Afghan returnees struggle with unemployment, violence at homeAmnesty International is calling on France to suspend weapons sales to the country until the Lebanese authorities "have acknowledged past violations," according to a statement from the organization. France’s Foreign Ministry responded to the report, saying that its sales of law enforcement equipment “are subject to a high level of vigilance and are examined on a case-by-case basis by the French authorities.”But we found scores of empty shotgun cartridges that contain metal pellets, and these are discharged from shotguns. There isn't any evidence to suggest that protesters were armed with shotguns, but lots showing security forces pointing pump action shotguns at protesters. pic.twitter.com/10ApiC5NnJ— Aya Majzoub (@Aya_Majzoub) November 11, 2020The Foreign Ministry also reaffirmed “the right of the Lebanese people to demonstrate peacefully,” and acknowledged that France lends unrelated support to law enforcement “to help them preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence and stability.”A less benevolent picture  Last August, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Beirut just two days after a tragic blast rocked the city.He toured devastated neighborhoods, his bodyguards struggling to avoid tripping over glass and debris. In the commotion, one woman elbowed her way past Macron’s bodyguards and got right up next to him.“Hold those accountable for this entire mess and crisis.” Woman in Lebanon addressing French President Emmanuel Macron“Hold those accountable for this entire mess and crisis,” the distraught woman cried, going on to ask that France not give aid money to the same corrupt government officials who brought Lebanon to where it is today.Related: UN rapporteur emphasizes responsibility to protect ‘vulnerable’ Hazaras“Your anger is my source of optimism,” Macron replied as he held her hands.Then, he gave her a hug.France sent teams of experts to help search for missing people in Beirut along with humanitarian aid. The country’s outreach gave some Lebanese hope that France and other countries might step in and help solve bigger, ongoing issues plaguing the country.But some say that revelations that France has also supplied anti-riot equipment to Lebanon in recent years undermine that picture of benevolence from abroad.As #Macron was dining at the French ambassador's #Lebanon residence last night, protesters in downtown #Beirut were wading through clouds of French-made tear gas. It's an element of the long-running Franco-Lebanese relationship leaders are less keen to talk about. https://t.co/9rtgL0kAvK— Leila Molana-Allen (@Leila_MA) September 2, 2020Crisis after crisis Lebanon has seen its fair share of protests in the past few years. People have taken to the streets to complain about a slew of grievances — from trash pileup to unemployment to government mismanagement and the Beirut explosion that killed at least 200 people last summer.Related: Hazara community demands justice for slain coal miners in PakistanOften in the protests, security forces used force to disperse crowds and intimidate protesters. Journalists and human rights researchers and protesters have documented police brutality in pictures and videos.“People lost their eyes and many had to undergo many surgeries and are still undergoing many surgeries because of rubber bullets hitting different parts in their face.”Diala Haidar, Amnesty International campaigner in Beirut“People lost their eyes and many had to undergo many surgeries and are still undergoing many surgeries because of rubber bullets hitting different parts in their face,” said Diala Haidar, Amnesty International campaigner in Beirut.All of a sudden, Army started beating protesters viscously near ring. As I was filming, army beat me and threw my phone away. Army still beating other protesters. #LebanonProtests pic.twitter.com/COQbWRGzC8— Aya Majzoub (@Aya_Majzoub) August 8, 2020Amnesty found that “over 1,000 protesters [were] rushed to hospitals with different injuries including to their eyes, heads, necks and chests, while hundreds were arrested and unlawfully detained, with most released after a few days.“Over the following months, the Lebanese authorities investigated over 70 activists involved with the protest movement on criminal charges in an attempt to intimidate them into silence.”An evolving fight Prince said several of his teeth were broken, and he had to go on a liquid diet for three months. He lost about 30 pounds, but that didn’t stop him from going back.Eventually, he realized his activism wasn’t sustainable — that staying alive is more important.For Prince, who moved to Dubai with his wife, the fight in Lebanon has evolved: He said that protesters need to organize behind-the-scenes to bring about real change — like by putting up their own candidates in local elections.Prince considers himself lucky. There are other protesters who lost their eyes or suffered even more serious injuries, he said. One person died recently in the city of Tripoli after being shot with live ammunition, according to witnesses.But Prince said it would be unfair to blame France for what happened to him. The way he sees it, it is the state’s duty to make sure its security forces use anti-riot gear responsibly.

Russian anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny and his colleagues have had an especially turbulent past few months. Last August, Navalny survived a near-fatal poisoning by a nerve agent that he blamed on the Kremlin. He spent five months recovering in Berlin, while working on a would-be-viral video exposé, alleging that President Vladimir Putin owns a $1.3 billion palace, financed by members of his inner circle (Putin denies this). Navalny’s arrest on his return to Moscow on Jan.

Last August, special correspondents Nadja Drost and Bruno Federico brought us the extraordinary stories of people so desperate to improve their lives they headed through the Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world. During their reporting, they met people from all over the world, which led to a recent chance encounter in New York City. Nick Schifrin has the story. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Last August, special correspondents Nadja Drost and Bruno Federico brought us the extraordinary stories of people so desperate to improve their lives they headed through the Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world. During their reporting, they met people from all over the world, which led to a recent chance encounter in New York City. Nick Schifrin has the story. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Over the past decade, the anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny has become one of the most influential opponents to President Vladimir Putin. Last August, he was poisoned by Putin’s secret police, and he spent five months recovering in Berlin. Last week, on his return to Moscow, he was detained by Russian authorities. Since then, tens of thousands have taken to the streets to protest his arrest. Masha Gessen joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss how Navalny repeatedly outwits the Kremlin, and what these protests could mean for him, and for Putin’s regime.

Today on Midday, an update on the 2021 General Assembly Session in Annapolis, now in its second week.  Given the pandemic and the constitutional requirement that lawmakers be physically present in the State House for their deliberations, it’s been an unusual legislative session so far.  In some ways, it is progressing at an unusually rapid pace.   A focus on racial equity is front and center this year, in ways it has not been in the past.  Last August, Senate President Bill Ferguson of Baltimore formed an Advisory Workgroup on Equity and Inclusion, chaired by Senate President Pro Tem Melony Griffith of Prince George’s County to review bills with an equity lens around issues like health care disparities, economic opportunities and environmental justice.  And last week, Speaker of the House Adrienne Jones officially rolled out her “Black Agenda” for the Session, which includes nine pieces of legislation and 30 policy recommendations directed at rectifying wealth disparities, improving minority performance in competition for state contracts, and addressing health outcomes for Black and Brown people.   Today on Midday, we'll find out which issues have dominated during the busy first two weeks of this year's legislative session, and we'll talk with civil rights leaders about their policy priorities.  Coming up in the show's second and third segments, we'll hear from Dayvon Love, director of public policy at the social justice advocacy group, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, and from the Rev. Kobi Little, the president of the Baltimore Chapter of the NAACP, and Joshua Harris, vice-president of NAACP-Baltimore and the former Green Party candidate for Baltimore Mayor.  All three guests join Tom on Zoom. But Tom begins the discussion today with Rachel Baye, who covers the Maryland State House in Annapolis for the WYPR News Team. She joins us via TieLine's Report IT. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

JaBig @jabig was born in Rwanda. His family, looking for a better life, moved to South Africa and then decided to Immigrate to Canada 18 years ago. Now, this Montreal based DJ is living his best life mixing tunes and riding bikes. JaBig’s YouTube channel, with almost 400,000 subscribers, features his DEEP & DOPE DJ mixes which are mostly recordings of his live sets. in 2016, as a personal challenge, he decided to ride his fixed gear road bike across Canada… in the winter. The short video, Escape, put together by MEC, shows JaBig riding the ice roads in northern Canada and demonstrates some of the challenges he had tackling this great and vast country in the winter.Last August, JaBig cycled across Canada, for the second time, to raise funds for World Bicycle Relief, a global charity that distributes bicycles to front line health care workers and schoolchildren in rural Africa. He was just 5 months into a round the globe tour, riding for the same cause, when the pandemic struck. At the recommendation of the Canadian Government he decided to return home.In this episode, we chat about the importance of following your own path and living the life that you choose, the simplicity of life on the bike as well as some of the highlights from his journeys. JaBig also discusses the privilege we have here in the west to be able to recreate on bicycles whereas, in other parts of the world, they can mean the all the difference in a person’s quality of life. It’s a way for people to get to work, to school and to the market in order to make a living, which is why World Bicycle Relief is such an important organization.Keep the rubber side down…

Google says it will shut down its search engine in Australia if a controversial bill designed to benefit the news media becomes law.At a Senate hearing in Canberra on Friday, Google Australia Managing Director Mel Silva said the draft legislation "remains unworkable," and would be "breaking" the way millions of users searched for content online."If this version of the Code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia," she told lawmakers. "That would be a bad outcome not just for us, but for the Australian people, media diversity and small businesses who use Google Search."The company's main concern with the proposal is that it "would require payments simply for links and snippets just to news results in Search," according to Silva."The free service we offer Australian users, and our business model, has been built on the ability to link freely between websites," she said.Google and Facebook have tussled with publishers for years over how they display their content, with media companies arguing the tech giants should pay them for the privilege. Critics of the two tech firms point out that since they dominate the online advertising business, it puts news publishers in a bind and leaves them scrambling for leftovers.The new legislation would allow certain media outlets to bargain either individually or collectively with Facebook and Google — and to enter arbitration if the parties can't reach an agreement within three months, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which put out the proposed legislation.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison hit back at Google later on Friday."Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That's done in our parliament. It's done by our government and that's how things work here in Australia and people who want to work with that in Australia, you're very welcome," he said at a press conference. "But we don't respond to threats."Asked about Morrison's remarks, Google declined to comment.A warning of 'consequences'Both American tech companies have been vehemently opposed to the code since its introduction last summer. Last August, Google used its homepage to warn Australians that the bill would harm their ability to search and lead to "consequences" for YouTube users.The US giant is now proposing three changes to the code, including how it would compensate news publishers.One suggestion is for News Showcase — a program launched by Google last year that aims to pay publishers more than $1 billion over the next three years — to be formalized and expanded in Australia. The company already pays seven publishers in the country for content.The company also wants to amend a requirement that would force Google to notify publishers about changes in its algorithm, saying it should do so only "to make sure publishers are able to respond to changes that affect them.""There is a clear pathway to a fair and workable Code," said Silva. "Withdrawing our services from Australia is the last thing that I or Google want to have happen — especially when there is another way forward."An aggressive battleFacebook is also pushing back.In the same Senate hearing on Friday, Simon Milner, Facebook's vice president of public policy for Asia Pacific, said the company could ultimately block news content in Australia, though he emphasized a commitment "to make the law workable."Milner told lawmakers there was already a "deterrent effect of this law on investment in the Australian news industry," citing a recent decision by Facebook to launch a news product in the United Kingdom instead of Australia."Sir Tim Berners-Lee said, this precedent set by this law could 'make the web unworkable around the world,'" he added, citing the inventor of the web.Regulators say the legislation is needed to level the playing field for the news media in Australia, as newsrooms across the country have...

Episode 128.) 12/11/2020Note - This Podcast was recorded with speed in mind, we apologize for the rougher than usual audio!Emergency Podcast!!! Battle Stations Everyone! Report To Your Battle Stations!Matt Zion-Basile joins Frank and Aj for a complete breakdown of all the new forthcoming Star Wars projects coming to Theaters and Disney+!This copy was taken from www.starwars.com in order to reiterate the info on the call for the show notes. It’s a Hanukkah Miracle!Patty Jenkin’s ‘Rogue Squadron’ Film The next Star Wars feature film will be Rogue Squadron — directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman franchise). The story will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.“It’s been a lifelong dream as a filmmaker to one day make a great fighter pilot film,” said Jenkins. “As the daughter of a great fighter pilot myself, some of the best memories of my life are of seeing my father’s squadron take off in their F4s every morning, and hearing and feeling the awe-inspiring power and grace. When he passed away in service to this country it ignited a burning desire to one day channel all of those emotions into one great film. When the perfect story arrived in combination with another true love of mine, the incomparable world of Star Wars, I knew I’d finally found my next film. I’m extremely honored and excited to take it on, and grateful to Lucasfilm, Disney, and the fans for extending that thrill to me.”“Patty has established herself as one of the top directors working in the film industry today,” said Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. “She’s a visionary who knows how to strike the balance between action and heart, and I can’t wait to see what she does in the Star Wars galaxy.”Lock S-foils in attack position: Rogue Squadron arrives in theaters Christmas 2023.Taiki Waititi Untitled ProjectA brand-new Star Wars feature with acclaimed filmmaker and Academy Award-winner Taika Waititi is in development. “Taika’s approach to Star Wars will be fresh, unexpected, and…unique,” said Kennedy. “His enormous talent and sense of humor will ensure that audiences are in for an unforgettable ride.”Obi Wan Kenobi!Last August at D23 Expo, Lucasfilm announced the return of Ewan McGregor in the iconic role of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi for a special event series on Disney+. Officially titled Obi-Wan Kenobi, the series begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where he faced his greatest defeat, the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The series is directed by Deborah Chow, who helmed memorable episodes of The Mandalorian Season 1.This will truly be a day long remembered, as it was confirmed that Hayden Christensen will be returning as Darth Vader. “This will be the rematch of the century,” Kennedy said.“It was such an incredible journey playing Anakin Skywalker,” said Christensen. “Of course, Anakin and Obi-Wan weren’t on the greatest of terms when we last saw them… It will be interesting to see what an amazing director like Deborah Chow has in storeAhsokaAfter making her long awaited live-action debut in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano’s story, written by Dave Filoni, will continue in a limited series starring Rosario Dawson and executive produced by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau.Rangers of the New RepublicSet within the timeline of The Mandalorian, this new live-action series from executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will intersect with future stories and culminate into a climactic story event.LandoBUT WHICH LANDO?!?!?!?Everyone’s favorite scoundrel Lando Calrissian will return in a brand-new event series for Disney+. Justin Simien, creator of the critically-acclaimed Dear White People and a huge Star Wars fan, is developing the story.AndorAndor, a tense nail-biting spy thriller created by Tony Gilroy, is set to arrive on Disney+ in 2022. Diego Luna, reprising the role of rebel spy Cassian Andor from Rogue One, will be joined by a fantastic new cast that includes Stellan Skarsgard, Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. Production kicked off three weeks ago in London.The AcolyteLeslye Headland, Emmy Award-nominated creator of the mind-bending series Russian Doll, brings a new Star Wars series to Disney+ with The Acolyte. The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take the audience into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.The Bad Batch Animated SeriesThe series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.Star Wars VisionsPresenting all-new, creative takes on the galaxy far, far away, Star Wars: Visions will be a series of animated short films celebrating Star Wars through the lens of the world’s best anime creators. The anthology collection will bring 10 fantastic visions from several of the leading Japanese anime studios, offering a fresh and diverse cultural perspective to Star Wars.Star Wars A Droid StoryAs Lucasfilm continues to develop new stories, the intersection of animation and visual effects offers new opportunities to explore. Lucasfilm Animation will be teaming up with Lucasfilm’s visual effects team, Industrial Light & Magic, to develop a special Star Wars adventure for Disney+, A Droid Story. This epic journey will introduce us to a new hero, guided by legendary duo R2-D2 and C-3PO.Indiana Jone 5!Lucasfilm is currently in pre-production on the next installment of the Indiana Jones franchise. At the helm is James Mangold, director of the Academy Award-winning Ford v Ferrari, and Indy himself, Harrison Ford, will be back to continue his iconic character’s journey. Indy will begin shooting late spring of 2021 and will arrive July 2022.WillowWillow, coming to Disney+, will be set decades after Ron Howard’s 1988 movie, continuing the spirit of adventure, heroics, and humor of the original film. Warwick Davis will return in the role of the great sorcerer, Willow Ufgood, with Jon Chu (director of the groundbreaking Crazy Rich Asians) directing the pilot. Willow begins shooting next March in Wales and will debut on Disney+ in 2022.Finally, the Lucasfilm catalog is expanding further with a story that will introduce a new hero and explore an original world that feels perfectly paired with Lucasfilm storytelling: Tomi Adeyemi’s New York Times bestselling novel Children of Blood & Bone. The story will center around a young African girl’s heart-racing quest to restore magic to her forsaken people, the Maji. Lucasfilm will partner with 20th Century Studios on this coming-of-age adventure.Remember to Subscribe on iTunesSubscribe on Google Play Subscribe on SpotifyPlease Leave us a rating or review.Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @LLHPodcast

Mention about the topic, one day that made me feel very happy, should be my birthday. On 11th of August. See, I told you. I was born in summer time. Normally, my friends and I would have opportunities to have fun on that special day.To be exact, three of us. No matter where we are, no matter what we do, we could be having fun time together, sometimes on the Internet, occasionally through we chat or face time you know. We were actually not living and working in the same country. Last August, when my birthday came, they gave me a big surprise. When they were standing in front of me, I was totally shocked and moved by the way. No specific gifts, all what I had on that day was my truly friendship. You know, we went to the Starbucks to grab a cup of coffee, went to the restaurant after that. Nothing special, gotta be honest. They could come to me. A quite impressive day. That is it.  

In this podcast, J. Richard Jones talks with Jason Reid, Director of International Maritime Programs for Serco Canada Marine. Hear more about the giant steps that Serco is taking in the maritime domain. As most listeners will know, Serco has had a significant and stable presence in Canada for several decades with a focus in the air domain. Last August, the company acquired Alion Canada, as part of a broader acquisition of Alion Science and Technology's Naval Systems Business Unit. This acquisition has dramatically expanded Serco's potential for growth in the maritime defence market – especially given Serco's global bench strength in the design, build, operation and maintenance of ships.

A broken steel cable severely damaged the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico. Arecibo, an observatory supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been an important tool for astronomical research for almost 60 years. Last August, the Arecibo radio telescope, one of the world's largest and most powerful telescopes, shut down after a broken steel cable created a 30-meter gash on its 307-meter-wide reflector dish. The snapped cable was an auxiliary one that supported a metal platform with a large antenna. Florida Space Institute director Ramon Lugo said the broken steel cable had a lot of stored energy, which caused it to flail around, damaging parts of the telescope. As investigations took place, observations in the facility were suspended. The cost of the damage has not been determined, and Lugo said the repairs may take days or even months. Lugo added that the telescope had sustained damage when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in 2017, but he believes that the damage caused by the hurricane is not related to the recent event. He said that if the cable's snapping turns out to be caused by a manufacturing defect, the facility will have to check the other auxiliary cables as well. Arecibo's status in the scientific community has been uncertain over the past few years. The observatory's significance has decreased as newer facilities continue to open, and the NSF reduced its funding to support other projects. According to Lugo, the recent incident, in addition to the one that took place in 2017, will likely open a discussion on Arecibo's future. However, Lugo assured that they will remain focused on restoring the telescope.

This week we are heading to the exact opposite end of North America - not quite Alaska, but pretty darn close. Vancouver Island has been a place I’ve wanted to visit for years. After my first trip to Whistler, I dreamed of living in British Columbia with access to incredible mountains, plenty of snow and Vancouver Island just a jump across the channel.Last August, we set aside a month to explore this magical island and instead of just doing it by van, we got support from some sponsors to document a bike/van family expedition. In this episode we are going to cover our journey and some of our favorite spots along the way. For more long form writing and to see the video on each part of the series with Guayaki, see the following: Episode 1 Blog, Episode 2 Blog or Episode 3 Blog.ABOUT THE PODCASTRewilding Parenthood is a podcast for families leading bold and courageous lifestyles. Formerly told as an interview based podcast featuring other families, it’s now pivoted to track the journey of @afueravida, a family of four seeking to rewild themselves through experiences. Each week hosts Colin Boyd and Sofi Aldinio check in from a new location, recording from the road in their 1978 German Emergency Vehicle as they travel a circuitous from Maine to Argentina. Along with stories shared they will cover off on a unique topic to inspire, educate and embolden the Rewilding Parenthood Community.Rewilding Parenthood was produced by Afuera Vida and hosted by Colin Boyd & Sofi Aldinio. Follow the journey, and podcast highlights on instagram @afueravida.Editing by Mercedes RivaMusic by Thomas Tyrel and Mercedes Riva

Last August, our elders announced a year of discernment. A central part of this focused on a reflection of how we use our spiritual gifts, especially the gifts of women. As you know, we were a few short months from completion when the pandemic hit. This fall on our Wednesday night zooms, we'll continue the conversation. This episode will be discussed on Wednesday September 23.

Rhode Island mistakenly released tax refund checks with the signatures of iconic cartoon character Mickey Mouse and Disney founder Walt Disney. The state's Department of Revenue sent out 176 erroneous checks in July with “Mickey Mouse” and “Walt Disney” replacing the names of General Treasurer Seth Magaziner and State Controller Peter Keenan on the signature line. Jade Borgeson [BAWR-gih-suhn], the department's chief of staff, explained that the mistake was caused by a technical error in the automated refund check printing system. Regular print tests are usually conducted with dummy checks, which use the signatures of Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney. However, these signatures were mistakenly placed onto the actual checks. To correct the error, the misprinted checks were voided, and new ones were sent out one week later. Borgeson said that they had already reached out to the people affected by the issue and apologized for any inconvenience caused by the oversight. This is not the only recent incident that involved Mickey Mouse's false signature. Last August, American rapper and aspiring presidential candidate Kanye West was under fire after his petition for a presidential bid contained invalid signatures. At least 2,000 signatures were needed to qualify for the bid, and West was able to submit 2,400. However, some of the signatures turned out to be fake and included those of the iconic Disney character and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Last August, more than 3,700 U.S. residents were surveyed and found that rural residents were facing greater health and health care-related vulnerabilities than their urban and suburban counterparts. These issues have been exacerbated by COVID-19 and need to help raise awareness of them.

2½ years ago singer/songwriter/guitarist Grae J Wall was one of the earlier guests at the Invisible Folk Club, on that occasion he brought along fiddle player Andy Keeble. Last August (2019) news reached us of Andy's sudden and unexpected death, it was a sad day. This podcast is dedicated to Andy. For Grae's second visit old friend and steel guitar player Rico came along and together they served up their own brand of earthy music. Echoes of Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie will take you straight to the heart of the matter. For more info about Grae and his music: https://graejwall.bandcamp.com/ http://www.trailer-trash.co.uk/index.htm

2½ years ago singer/songwriter/guitarist Grae J Wall was one of the earlier guests at the Invisible Folk Club, on that occasion he brought along fiddle player Andy Keeble. Last August (2019) news reached us of Andy's sudden and unexpected death, it was a sad day. This podcast is dedicated to Andy. For Grae's second visit old friend and steel guitar player Rico came along and together they served up their own brand of earthy music. Echoes of Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie will take you straight to the heart of the matter. For more info about Grae and his music: https://graejwall.bandcamp.com/ http://www.trailer-trash.co.uk/index.htm

We’re revisiting Shape Up and product development thoughts with Ryan Singer, Head of Product Strategy at Basecamp. Last August we talked with Ryan when he first launched his book Shape Up and now we’re back to see how Shape Up is shaping up — “How are teams using the wisdom in this book to actually ship work that matters? How does Shape Up work in new versus existing products?” We also talk about the concept of longitudinal thinking and the way it’s impacting Ryan’s designs, plus a grab bag of topics in the last segment.

We’re revisiting Shape Up and product development thoughts with Ryan Singer, Head of Product Strategy at Basecamp. Last August we talked with Ryan when he first launched his book Shape Up and now we’re back to see how Shape Up is shaping up — “How are teams using the wisdom in this book to actually ship work that matters? How does Shape Up work in new versus existing products?” We also talk about the concept of longitudinal thinking and the way it’s impacting Ryan’s designs, plus a grab bag of topics in the last segment.

One year ago, pro-democracy street protests began in Hong Kong. At the time, Simon Cheng was an employee of the British consulate in Hong Kong. Last August, he was arrested in mainland China and, he says, interrogated and physically abused. A year on, Mr Cheng is seeking asylum in the UK, and China is about to impose a new national security law in Hong Kong. Will anything stop Beijing imposing its will on Hong Kong?

Editor's note: Later on Tuesday, the Health Ministry complied with a Supreme Court order and reinstated detailed COVID-19 data to the official government website. Lower House Speaker Rodrigo Maia said it would take several days for the public to recover confidence in the government figures.Political scientist Luciana Santana went to check Brazil’s latest official government statistics on the spread of coronavirus last Friday, but the website was down.When it came back up a day later, it showed only the number of dead and new cases over the previous 24 hours. Gone were the overall infection rates, number of deaths and the state-by-state breakdown. All of the data on the pandemic in Brazil had been wiped clean. The government of President Jair Bolsonaro says it’s not coming back.Santana says that’s a serious problem.“It’s worrisome because local health officials use information released by the Ministry of Health to make qualified decisions.”Luciana Santana, political scientist“It’s worrisome because local health officials use information released by the Ministry of Health to make qualified decisions,” said Santana, a professor at the Federal University of Alagoas.Related: LGBTQ helplines see surge as queer communities face lockdown in hostile homes“They compare their realities with other municipalities and states to make decisions,” she said. “So this process has really messed with the fight against the pandemic across the country.”This is only the latest of Brazil’s tumultuous fight against the coronavirus. The country has over 710,000 confirmed infections, the second-highest number of cases after the United States. Brazil recently overtook Italy as the country with the third-highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the world, with more than 37,000 deaths.The real number of cases of the coronavirus could be seven times higher than the official count because of a lack of testing and underreporting, according to a Federal University study from May.Nevertheless, several states are beginning to reopen their economies against the recommendation from health officials and the World Health Organization. A University of Washington study now predicts that Brazil could see 5,000 deaths per day by early August.Bolsonaro tweeted that the change in the coronavirus data released by the Health Ministry was necessary, as the overall figures did not adequately reflect the current state of the virus. But his opponents blame him for trying to hide the country’s increasingly dismal reality amid the growing pandemic. And they hit the streets in response.Related: Bolsonaro’s ‘so what’ response to coronavirus deaths is the latest in his spiraling political crisisInspired by the Black Lives Matter protests across the United States, thousands marched against Bolsonaro on Sunday in the largest demonstrations since the beginning of the pandemic. People rallied in 20 Brazilian cities, carrying signs demanding democracy, respect for health workers and black lives.Thousands are marching in Brasilia, right now, against the gov of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. They are demanding respect for democracy & #BlackLivesMatter.The banners read: "Everyone for Democracy... Against Racism & Fascism." #Brazil #GeorgeFloyd https://t.co/Ps0mUMqPMn— Michael Fox (@mfox_us) June 7, 2020 Large numbers of Anti-Bolsonaro protesters now moving towards the city centre through São Paulo’s Pinheiros neighbourhood. pic.twitter.com/qvzjajZphe— Brasil Wire (@BrasilWire) June 7, 2020Bolsonaro lashed out at them on Monday during a government event.“They are always after us, with the most absurd accusations. Trying to hurt us, delegitimize us and belittle us in the eyes of public opinion,” Bolsonaro said.Related: Bolsonaro’s ‘so what’ response to coronavirus deaths is the latest in his spiraling political crisisThe president has long downplayed the virus, calling it a “little cold,” joining pro-government rallies without a face mask, and demanding that social restrictions be lifted. He fought with and forced out two health ministers before settling on Army Gen. Eduardo Pazuello, who has no public health experience.Under Pazuello, the Health Ministry approved the widespread use of unproven drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. Press conferences have largely disappeared.Even before hiding Brazil’s official coronavirus statistics, the Health Ministry had begun releasing its daily figures hours late. This past Sunday, it reported widely contradicting numbers of mortalities and new infections, confusing the tallies of both. Health Minister Pazuello said on Tuesday that his ministry is not trying to hide information. However, Brazilian outlets are reporting that military officials in the Health Ministry are pressuring statisticians to keep the coronavirus death rate under 1,000 per day, regardless of the real number.“There is a push to confuse the population. This is extremely irresponsible. All of these actions are directed at fueling Bolsonaro’s electoral base. And Bolsonaro has an interest in maintaining political conflicts.”Luciana Santana, political scientist“There is a push to confuse the population. This is extremely irresponsible,” Santana said. “All of these actions are directed at fueling Bolsonaro’s electoral base. And Bolsonaro has an interest in maintaining political conflicts.”Related: Women leaders eschew 'macho-man' politics in COVID-19 responseThis is not the first time that Bolsonaro and his government have had difficulties with facts and transparency. Last August, Bolsonaro fired the head of the government agency that tracks deforestation after he released figures revealing a huge increase in lost Amazon forest.“This government already has a tendency to be less transparent. Because transparency opens the door for demanding accountability,” said Fabiano Angelico, a Brazilian expert on government transparency. “So press and civil society start to demand more and the government has to respond and be more accountable, which this government does not like to do.”“So, press and civil society start to demand more and the government has to respond and be more accountable, which this government does not like to do.”Fabiano Angelico, a Brazilian expert on government transparencyOn Monday, six mainstream Brazilian news outlets reported that in the absence of the COVID-19 government figures, they would work together to compile and release joint statistics. State health secretaries also announced that they would be maintaining their own website, which they would update hourly.“It’s an important effort,” said Mellanie Dutra, a neuroscientist who has been coordinating a national network of researchers studying the pandemic. “Only with transparency and the release of robust statistics — data that’s important to understanding the dynamics of the pandemic, and how it’s developing in different regions — can we determine strategies and initiatives to respond to it.”— Há uma esperança muito grande da equipe. O processo todo tem motivado muitas pessoas a doar (plasma) aqui em Caxias. São poucos riscos e muitas chances de melhora — avalia a médica.Leia na íntegra: https://t.co/700egZ2Xfu— Mellanie Fontes-Dutra (@mellziland) June 9, 2020 Uma rede brasileira multidisciplinar voluntária para o enfrentamento da COVID-19 a partir de quatro principais escopos: coleta de dados, análise e modelagem epidemiológica, coleta e análise de dados de populações vulneráveis e divulgação científica!RT cientifico?

Andy Webb is head of product for voice and AI at BBC Worldwide as VP of Product Strategy. BBC has been a pioneer in supporting consumer assistants globally such as Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant. It is prominent in the UK but also provides skills and Actions in many other countries as well. It is also one of the most respected news organizations worldwide so Amazon and Google are incentivized to make sure BBC is available through there assistants.    Last August, BBC announced it would create a new voice assistant of its own called Beeb. The organization is not abandoning Alexa or Google Assistant. Instead, Webb tells me that they are supplementing their work on these platforms. Beeb is more than an assistant. It's BBC's own internal conversational engine that can enable custom assistants deployed through desktop and mobile apps as well as support the many voice assistants that want access to BBC content.    Media is one of the most popular and most important segments for voice assistants today. BBC is developing the Beeb to offer richer functionality than you could ever provide on the general-purpose consumer assistant platforms because of the limitations they impose on third-parties.    Andy Webb joined BBC in 2106 and has been head of the voice and AI group since it was formed in 2017. Before his time at BBC, Webb was EMEA regional manager for Imagine Communications, head of product management for digital platforms at Arqiva and Product Development lead at Sky among other roles. 

In this latest issue of my weekly podcast, we talk about the nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. In American history, eras of declining youth violence typically give rise to calls for a higher standard of justice from law enforcement officers. That's happening today. Since the mid-1990s, the crime rate in America has fallen dramatically, making the current mood ripe for reform--from the First Step Act, to #cut50, to more humane policing. Thank the Millennial Generation for this improvement. As for the November elections, the ongoing protests could pose a possible threat to both Dems and Reps. While progressives could be accused of being soft on authority, conservatives could be accused of lacking any sense of community. On balance, Joe Biden is better positioned to come out of this in a stronger position.Economic indicators continue to hit record lows. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index came in at -16.74 for April, its lowest reading on record. Markit services and composite PMI flashes were in the mid-30s for May, while the final manufacturing PMI was confirmed at 39.8. In China, the NBS Manufacturing PMI came in at 50.6 for May, showing little improvement. Brexit talks are nearing a deadline. The UK and the EU have until the end of June to decide if negotiations will continue past 2020. While talks have come to a stand still, Boris Johnson is determined to make a deal as fast as possible. With the EU economically struggling from its shutdown, Johnson thinks he has the upper hand. Investors pull back from Brazil. As COVID worsens and Bolsonaro plunges into embroiled in scandal, investors are leaving Brazil--almost as fast as Jair's advisors are fleeing his cabinet. A recent IIF report estimates that from February to May, investors have pulled $11.8 Bn from Brazil's stock market. Similarly, $18.7 Bn has been pulled from Brazil's bond market. While other emerging markets have seen money flowing back since April, Brazil ain't seeing anything flow back yet.Salvini dodges investigation. Last August, Matteo Salvini, then serving as Italy's interior minister, blocked a rescue boat full of immigrants from docking on Italy's coast. Under Italian law, Salvini's actions count as kidnapping. Yet, being a government official, he is granted immunity unless parliament votes to revoke his protection. In a vote last week, a subcommittee voted 13-7 to keep Salvini's immunity intact. This may actually be a win for the Democrats and their prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, if it actually prevents "Il Capitano" from becoming a martyr. **********The content featured here is a small part of Hedgeye’s Demography Unplugged, a game-changing market intelligence product brought to you by historian, demographer and best-selling author Neil Howe. Visit us to find out more and subscribe.

Last August, Missing in the Carolinas host Renee Roberson attended the most unusual writing conference she had ever been to—Writers’ Police Academy’s MurderCon. She shares the details of the conference, where it took place, and what she learned there. Show Sponsor: WOW! Women on Writing Wow-womenonwriting.com Writer’s Police Academy https://writerspoliceacademy.com/ SIRCHIE https://www.sirchie.com/

Last August 2019, BFM interviewed Richard Wee and Bryan Boo about legal issues of esports, particularly since The International, the largest DOTA 2 in the world was on-going at Shanghai at the time of the recording of this podcast. The original podcast is here :- https://www.bfm.my/podcast/the-bigger-picture/live-learn/sports-law-14-the-international ** This RWC Podcast was uploaded on 20th May 2020.

Unfortunately, there is no new episode of Freak of the Week. Due to the need to shelter in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been unable to record new episodes. Once we are able to, we will immediately commence the production of the show. But we wanted to give you something to listen to this week. Last August, Freak of the Week producer Nick Mataragas was lucky enough to take part in a Paranormal Podcasting Panel at Wizard World Chicago. So we thought we would pull back the curtain a little, and share the audio from the panel. Be ready for some behind the scenes insight.

Last August the members of the business round table signed a document promising to be kinder and gentler. The CEOs of 181 large corporations vowed to run their companies to benefit their employees in their communities not just the shareholders. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

What’s in a name; Spanish flu had nothing to do with the Spanish; swine flu had nothing to do with pigs; so, is it fair to call Covid-19 the Chinese flu? As we brace ourselves for this pandemic sweeping through communities, we put the name calling to one side and speak with Dr. Margaret Harris, spokesperson for WHO; an organization which has 194 member states all equally represented and with equal votes and, more importantly, an increasingly trusted organization. Last August, Harry Dunn was riding his motorcycle along the proper side of the road. He was struck by a car being driven on the wrong side of the road and he died forty minutes later. Harry’s parents were told by authorities that no one would ever be held to account for his death. However, they had not reckoned on the tenacity of his parents. Radd Seiger lived a few doors away from Harry. As a retired lawyer, he approached the family and offered his services. He came into the Sputnik studio to tell us about the latest developments in this tragic death and how the fight still goes on for justice.

Last August, the scene near Grangeville ID saw combines bringing in another excellent harvest.

Last August, the scene near Grangeville ID saw combines bringing in another excellent harvest.

This week Ryan and Emily Wanless are back on the show straight from Alaska, the "Land of the Midnight Sun" to review their past year of ultrarunning and explain how Ryan's plans for enduring the 350 miles of the Iditarod Trail Invitational. Emily and Ryan are both athletes out of South Dakota who set out to take on some of the world's toughest, fastest, and coldest races. Last August, they traveled to Europe so Emily could take on the CCC, one of the world's largest ultras and now they are in Alaska getting Ryan ready for his ultimate winter ultra test, enduring the legendary Iditarod course. In this episode we catch up with both of them- We hear about the brutal mountains of the CCC and how they affected Emily's race, how Tuscobia 160 and Arrowhead 135 were used as tools to prepare Ryan for Alaska, what their trip up north has consisted of so far, what mental and physical obstacles Ryan is preparing for, and what tips the Iditarod veterans have shared with them. We also talk animal furs, Moose safety, and candy filled rock climbing bags! This episode was recorded a few days before Ryan took off and as I type this he is a few days into the adventure. Please follow his tracker and send him positivity as he braves a wilderness some of us will only ever dream about! https://trackleaders.com/iti20i.php?name=Ryan_Wanless Best of luck to Ryan!! Hope you guys are inspired as I am by him and Emily!! Enjoy the episode! MORE FROM RYAN AND EMILY: Ryan's Race Tracker: https://trackleaders.com/iti20i.php?name=Ryan_Wanless Emily Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orchare/?hl=en Ryan's Previous LABF Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/chris-ward-126531464/133-ryan-wanless Emily's Previous LABF Podcast: https://soundcloud.com/chris-ward-126531464/157-emily-wanless Iditarod Trail Invitational: https://www.iditarodtrailinvitational.com/ MORE LIKE A BIGFOOT: Subscribe and Review on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/like-a-bigfoot/id1160773293?mt=2 Soundcloud Archives: https://soundcloud.com/chris-ward-126531464 Stitcher Archives: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/like-a-bigfoot Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/likeabigfoot/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/likeabigfoot/

incredible story about losing her infant son, and how this tragic event spurred her passion for preventing infant mortality. Last August, as the episode aired, United Way celebrated the first-ever HaRUNbee 5k Walk/Run to Prevent Infant Mortality, which took place in Tonda’s own neighborhood of Harumbee. From there, we covered topics ranging from homelessness to fatherhood to suicide prevention and addiction. We spoke with people of all ages, across our 4-county region, each of whom shared personal, emotional moments that changed their lives and shaped the work they do. Living Local will take a break next week, but will be back with new content in 2017. To cap off the year, we wanted to share some of our favorite clips from the 2016 episodes. When we started the podcast, Brian McKaig, VP of Marketing & Communication here at United Way, told us to reach for those “driveway moments,” when you are listening to something so good, that you stay in your car to finish listening when you’ve already arrived home. These were those moments for us.

Last August on the Asher Sales Sense Podcast we heard from John Asher when he spoke about “How Neuroscience Disrupts the Sales Process.”  The current program is a 9-minute extract from that show and it covers: Sales Disruptors The science behind sales New understandings about the sales disruptors Why the average sales representative’s presentations kill the sale How the elite salesperson presents Why the customer’s needs, not yours is the opening gambit for closing the deal ----more---- Why aren’t buyers listening to what you are saying? Why don’t buyers select an obviously good offer? This Asher Sales Sense podcast delves into reasons why the sales process has more to it than one would think and provides disruptive techniques you can easily use to pull ahead of your competitors.  You may access the full program here:  How Neuroscience Disrupts the Standard Sales Process  ___________________________________________ Asher Sales Sense is hosted by John Asher and Kyla O’Connell of ASHER Strategies which is a program on the Funnel Radio Channel.  ASHER Strategies is the sponsor of ASHER Sales Sense.     

Episode 109 features Dan Cervantes of the San Diego band, Mrs. Henry.Mrs. Henry and Dan just wrapped up a jam-packed 2019. Last August, the band released Mrs. Henry Presents The Last Waltz, a three-LP recording of their performance of The Last Waltz at The Belly Up in November of 2017. The performance features some of San Diego’s most notable musicians, (members of The Schizophonics, Sacri Monti and Louise XIV), and took months of both planning and preparation. The band also documented the entire event through a documentary showing the preparation involved and the entire concert. Tune in to hear all about the events leading up to the concert, their decision to record and document it, and the delicate balance between mimicking the original event and putting Mrs. Henry’s own spin on it.Mrs. Henry is also about to release Live At The Cashbah, a recording of their performance at the legendary San Diego venue on the night of its 30th anniversary. Dan also just released a brand new solo single called “Keep On Walking,” under his solo moniker, Dude Cervantes. The episode kicks off with “Keep On Walking” and features tunes from both The Last Waltz , Live At The Cashbah, and Mrs. Henry’s 2019 single “The River.”You can purchase all of these recordings and more via Dan’s label, Blind Owl.

[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22.7" custom_padding="||0px|||"][et_pb_row column_structure="2_3,1_3" _builder_version="3.25" width="90%" max_width="1599px"][et_pb_column type="2_3" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_post_title admin_label="Post Title" _builder_version="4.0.10" title_font_size_tablet="" title_font_size_phone="" title_font_size_last_edited="on|phone" global_module="108498"][/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text admin_label="Body Text 1" _builder_version="4.0.10" text_font="||||||||" text_text_color="#535353" hover_enabled="0"]Students from Lander's Pathfinder High School made the trip to Dubois this week to check out the future National Museum of Military Vehicles. The museum is set to open in May 2020. A Memorial Day weekend opening ceremony is currently in the works. Last August, the County 10 Podcast caught up with Museum owner Dan Starks who chatted about the decision to open it, his vehicle collection, and some fascinating stories around those vehicles. You can listen to that conversation in the player below. http://media.blubrry.com/10cast/content.blubrry.com/10cast/County_10_Podcast_829_Dan_Starks.mp3 [/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label="Display Ad" _builder_version="4.0.5" text_orientation="center"] Content continues below[adrotate group="12"][/et_pb_code][et_pb_text admin_label="Body Text 2" _builder_version="4.0.10" text_font="||||||||" text_text_color="#535353" hover_enabled="0"][/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label="Post Content Ends Here." _builder_version="4.0.5"][/et_pb_divider][et_pb_divider show_divider="off" _builder_version="3.26"][/et_pb_divider][et_pb_signup mailchimp_list="county10|71e308fce0" layout="top_bottom" first_name_field="off" last_name_field="off" success_message="Thanks! You're in the club." title="Community. Connected." description="Get the latest County 10 updates in your email every day! " footer_content="No spam. Ever. " _builder_version="3.25.4" form_field_background_color="#ffffff" header_font="||||||||" header_text_align="center" header_text_color="#000000" header_font_size="25px" body_font="||||||||" body_text_align="center" result_message_font="||||||||" result_message_text_align="center" result_message_text_color="#000000" form_field_font="||||||||" use_background_color="off" custom_button="on" button_bg_color="#F05323" button_border_color="#F05323" button_font="||||||||" button_icon="%%109%%" button_on_hover="off" text_orientation="center" background_layout="light" width="100%" max_width="60%" module_alignment="center" custom_css_newsletter_title="color: #000 !important;" border_width_all_fields="1px" border_color_all_fields="rgba(51,51,51,0.09)" global_module="97122"][/et_pb_signup][et_pb_code disabled_on="on|on|off" _builder_version="3.25.4" text_orientation="center"]Advertisement[adrotate group="13"][/et_pb_code][et_pb_code disabled_on="off|off|on" _builder_version="3.25.4" text_orientation="center"]Advertisement[adrotate group="12"][adrotate group="12"][/et_pb_code][et_pb_divider show_divider="off" _builder_version="3.26"][/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.27.4" global_module="97145"]Have a news tip or an awesome photo to share?  [/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url="https://typeshift.wufoo.com/forms/submit-a-tip-or-photo/" url_new_window="on" button_text="Share with us!" button_alignment="center" _builder_version="3.25.4" box_shadow_style="preset2" global_module="97140"][/et_pb_button][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type="1_3" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="|||" custom_padding__hover="|||"][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version="3.22.7" border_color_right="rgba(0,0,0,0)"][/et_pb_sidebar][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]

Today’s show is brought to you by Meridian Credit Union - expecting more for your money, that’s wealth esteem! www.meridiancu.ca - Imagine being told your daughter may never walk, talk or feed herself. Last August, Stephanie Mailling's daughter Mackenzie was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome, which currently is incurable. GoFundMe page: https://bit.ly/2ZfAqeD - The North American Motorcycle Supershow rides into the Toronto International Centre from January 3-5! Executive Director & Founder of the Highway Heroes Ride, Lou DeVuono tells us what you can expect! http://motorcyclesupershow.ca - The reviews for #CatsMovie are in - and they're more entertaining than the movie! More movie/TV reviews with Film Critic Anne Brodie: http://www.whatshesaidradio.com/what-she-said/snamdec202019/ - Film critic Anne Brodie chats with ‘1917’ screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns about the WWI movie out on Christmas Day that was filmed to look like one continuous shot! - Meghan Parnell & Dave Barnes from Bywater Call talk debut album & perform 'Swing Low' in our LIVE #StudioSessions! http://www.bywatercall.com SUBSCRIBE to What She Said & never miss an interview! http://www.youtube.com/WhatSheSaidTalk Miss a show? Stream & download full shows for free on iTunes: http://www.apple.co/1U700c0 Follow us on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @WhatSheSaidTalk Website: http://www.whatshesaidtalk.com What She Said! aims to inspire and uplift women by giving them a voice in pursuing their professional and personal goals through showcasing successful women across Canada and by creating opportunities for others to do the same. Tune in Saturdays at Noon on 105.9 The Region or listen live: http://www.1059theregion.com

The work of the entomologist very often involves the killing of insects in large numbers. This happens in the search for new species in the exploration of the planet's biodiversity and in ecological investigations to monitor the health of wild insect populations and the impact we are having on the environment. But the methods of entomologists have come under criticism. Last August presenter and entomologist Adam Hart was involved in a citizen science project aimed at surveying the abundance and distribution of the various species of social wasp around the country. The survey entailed members of the public setting up wasp traps in their gardens for a week and then sending the dead insects to the lab running the project. Many people took part but the study also generated negative newspaper coverage and stinging criticism on social media. The reaction got Adam Hart thinking: can his profession really defend the death of thousands and sometimes millions of insects for the sake of science, especially when there's so much concern around insect conservation? How do entomologists feel about killing their subjects, and might the insects themselves feel something akin to pain and suffering themselves? Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker.

Last August, the New York Times began a groundbreaking series, The 1619 Project, a series of podcasts and an entire edition of the Times Magazine dedicated to the often untold history of the slave trade. The scars of slavery were central to the founding of our Republic, and the impact of slavery’s legacy has extended to all areas of the American experiment, from economic inequality to mass incarceration, to education, health care, and arts and culture.This coming weekend, a symposium at the University of Baltimore Law School will explore the impact of slavery on the criminal justice system in America. Today on Midday, a conversation with two of the legal scholars who will be presenting at the symposium, which is entitled “400 Years: Slavery and the Criminal Justice System.” We begin with Michael Higginbotham, the Joseph Curtis Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law and the author of Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism in Post-Racial America. Then, Tom speaks with Roy L. Austin, a former Department of Justice and Obama Administration official who is delivering one of the keynote addresses next weekend. Mr. Austin joins us on the line from Washington, D.C.The Symposium runs from 2:00 to 6:30pm on Friday, November 15 and from 9:45am to 3:30pm on Saturday, November 16. The event is free and open to the public. Listeners can register to attend either or both days of the symposium at law.ubalt.edu. The symposium is sponsored by the Baltimore law firm of Kramon ---- Graham.This conversation was streamed live on our Facebook page. To watch, go to www.facebook.com/wypr881FM.

After 10 years as a lawyer at two leading transactional law firms, Haley Altman decided there should be a better way to structure the workflow around the many deals in which she was involved. So in 2016, she left law practice to found Doxly, a technology platform designed to transform the archaic and chaotic process of managing transactions into one that is streamlined and efficient.  Last August, Altman sold Doxly to the document technology company Litera Microsystems. That acquisition came just a month after Litera acquired U.K. company Workshare, which had its own transaction platform, Workshare Transact. Within a month, that meant, Litera went from having no transaction-management technology to owning two of the leading platforms -- platforms that spanned both the U.S. and European markets.  At the recent Clio Cloud Conference in San Diego, Altman, who is now general manager of transaction management at Litera, sat down with LawNext for a conversation with host Bob Ambrogi. In their conversation, she provides updates on the acquisition and shares her thoughts on the state of legal technology more broadly.

Last August at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Miami, Jason and Bobby had a chance to chat with KTVI-KPLR News Director Audrey Prywitch. Audrey shares her passion for mentoring and empowering young aspiring journalists. She also reflects on her time growing up and working in Miami. Audrey also reflects on the experiences of her Jewish family during World War II. Finally, Audrey opens up about her stations' news operations during the Ferguson protests, and the importance of responsible journalism.

Don Cardona is a 26-year network sports broadcast tv veteran as a live event and studio producer with ESPN and most recently as a Senior Producer with NBC Sports covering events such as the World Series, Rio Olympic Games, the Boston Marathon and other high-profile sporting events. He has made a living out of humanizing professional and elite athletes and keeping viewers tuned into sports broadcasts through storytelling. Last August, Don won Best Documentary in the World’s Largest Short Film Competition for his film “Punishment”, a film about Bull Riding School.He is now owner and executive producer of Cardona Creative, an agency that helps business owners connect with their clients with storytelling, capturing their essence and strategizing it all with video.WEBSITE: https://www.cardonacreative.comIn this episode we will cover:Videos to show WHY they should do business with you.Using stories for emotional connection.Infomercials.Capturing customers imagination.Letting the customer be in control.Different types of storytelling.Why you are in business.Storytelling to capture attention so they want to do business.Everyone should be using video.Thanks so much for tuning in again this week. I appreciate you :)Have some feedback you’d like to share? Leave a note in the Feedback section. Special thanks to Don Cardona for being on the show. So long for now and remember to keep moving forward!Also, don’t forget to Subscribe for FREE: Apple Podcasts | Android | SpotifySupport the show (https://liveblissedout.com/affiliates)

shutterstock Last August an Ebola outbreak was declared in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is the tenth time the deadly virus has hit the country – and, a year on, the fight to end the outbreak continues. In part one of this series on Ebola Janusz Paweska, head of the Centre for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, takes us through some of the latest developments and how the World Health Organisation’s declaration that the outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern may help. You can find our coverage on Ebola here. Read more: Why it's hard to stop Ebola spreading -- between people and across borders Photo: By World Bank/Vincent Tremeau DRC: A Trip to the Front Lines of the Fight Against Ebola 17 January 2019 - Beni, North Kivu region, Democratic Republic of Congo. Shutterstock Music “Happy African Village” by John Bartmann found on FreeMusicArchive.org licensed under CC0 1.

Dr. Reshma Jagsi (TIME’S UP Healthcare; UMichigan) schools us on sexual harassment and describes the systemic and cultural changes that need to happen to effect real change. She unpacks the definition of sexual harassment, describes the state of the #MeToo and TIME’s UP movements across the science and medicine fields and highlights how we all can recognize/respond to harassment. This is the third episode of our Women in Medicine series. Last August, you heard us talk to Dr. Vinny Arora about the paucity of women in leadership positions, finding sponsors for career advancement, and being bold about career decisions. In December, we spoke to Dr. Susan Hingle about work-life integration. Her advice? Stop worrying about what other people think, acknowledge that being a doctor is hard, especially for women due to disproportionate out-of-work responsibilities, and define a beautiful life that is individualized to you.  Full show notes available at http://thecurbsiders.com/podcast. Rate us on iTunes, recommend a guest or topic and give feedback at thecurbsiders@gmail.com. Credits   Written and produced by: Leah Witt MD, Shreya Trivedi MD, Nora Taranto MD, Sarah P. Roberts MPH. Editor: Matthew Watto MD Hosts: Shreya Trivedi MD, Chris Chiu MD, Leah Witt MD Guest: Reshma Jagsi MD, DPhil Special thanks to: Hannah Abrams MS4, Beth Garbitelli MS2, and Molly Heublein MD  Time Stamps  00:00 Intro, disclaimer and guest bio 03:10 Guest one-liner, WIM moment of awakening, Dr. Jagsi’s advice to her younger self 10:40 TIME’S UP Healthcare, how to get involved 13:10 Picks of the week: This American Life (podcast); The Bon Appétit (YouTube), The Nocturnists (podcast); Twitter 17:05 Defining sexual harassment 21:05 A case of sexual harassment; Predictors of harrassment; Duty to report 27:30 Creating a system that makes reporting easy 30:19 How pervasive is sexual harassment? 34:33 Why/how does bad behavior go unreported? 36:22 Pregnancy, parenting and promotion  39:10 How is gender equity related to harassment? What can we do in our day to day? 42:13 An example from Radiation Oncology 46:43 How identity as sex intersects with many other identities (e.g. religion, sexual orientation)  48:15 Examples of how can institutions are changing academic culture and addressing gender equity 53:28 Anonynmous reporting of sexual harassment 58:01 Take Home Points 60:25 Outro

Craft Brew News 7/05/19(Courtesy of Brewbound.com)German Brewer Gilde Reveals US Expansion PlansGerman Brewer Plans to Operate Large Manufacturing Brewery in CharlotteGerman brewer Gilde has an ambitious plan to build one of the largest individual craft brewing facilities in the United States.According to the Charlotte Observer, the company is looking into the possibility of eventually brewing upwards of 500,000 barrels annually in North Carolina, however the timetable for beginning that project is still nearly three years away.In the meantime, Gilde CEO Karsten Uhlmann told the outlet that his company would begin by importing beer into the U.S. via Anheuser-Busch wholesaler Adams Beverages this month.The Hanover-headquartered beer company — which produced 850,000 barrels of beer last year — then plans to open a 5,000 sq. ft. small-batch brewery called “The Embassy” before the end of 2019. Two-to-three years later, Uhlmann added, the company plans to open a 100,000 sq. ft. facility capable of being scaled to 500,000 barrels that will also feature a taproom, beer garden and kitchen.Pennsylvania Lawmakers Lower Brewery Sales TaxPennsylvania lawmakers and Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday approved legislation (H.B. 262) to lower an impending sales tax on beer sold in taprooms, tasting rooms and brewpubs. In a press release, the Brewers of PA announced that after 18 months of negotiations with legislators and the governor’s office, an agreement had been reached.The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (DOR) was slated to begin collecting a 6 percent sales tax for every dollar of beer sold directly to consumers at brewery locations starting July 1. That tax would have been on top of an existing $2.48 per barrel state excise tax that Pennsylvania beer companies already pay.However, H.B. 262 amends to the tax code to allow breweries to “pay 6 percent sales tax on 25 percent of the retail sale” of a pint. According to the Brewers of PA, that formula is in line with the wholesale price paid for beer by restaurants, bars and grocery stores.Canopy Growth Corporation Terminates Co-Founder and Co-CEO Bruce LintonCanopy Growth Corporation (TSE: WEED) today announced that co-CEO Bruce Linton has stepped down as chief executive and board member.However, Linton, who co-founded the company in 2013, called into CNBC to clarify that he was fired from the world’s largest cannabis company.“I think stepping down might not be the right phrase,” he said. “I was terminated.”Mark Zekulin, who had been co-CEO with Linton, will takeover as the sole CEO, while Canopy works to identify a replacement.Last August, Constellation Brands upped its investment in the company, spending $4 billion to acquire 104.5 million shares of Canopy, raising its stake to about 38 percent.In April, it struck a deal with Acreage Holdings, agreeing to acquire the New York-based cannabis company for $3.4 billion when marijuana becomes federally legal in the U.S.Linton had a knack for deal making, and helped lead a company that was growing revenue at a healthy clip, but Canopy last month reported a record low gross margin of 16 percent during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, and an EBITDA loss of $98 million.Meanwhile, during Constellation Brands’ first quarter earnings call, CEO Bill Newlands said the company was “not pleased” with Canopy’s recent financial results.Bell’s Offers Employees Assistance in Obtaining GEDsBell’s Brewery is making an effort to help employees without high school diplomas to pass the GED (General Educational Development) test. The Michigan craft brewery is offering employees access to free tests, online study tools in and a personal advisor through the GEDWorks program.Bell’s human resources services manager Emily Schuiling said in a press release. “When we discovered a talent pool that was rich in passion and dedication, but didn’t meet the hiring requirements for some of our roles, we knew we needed to help fill that gap. GEDWorks has been nothing short of amazing,” Bell’s employs more than 550 workers across 41 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.Subscribe to Craft Beer Storm Podcast iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/craft-beer-storm/id1438117278?mt=2*** A Top 20 Podcast in Food on iTunes ***Michael Potorti is the Host of Craft Beer Storm and Founder/Brewer at Beara Brewing Co. in Portsmouth, NH*** Interested in starting your own brewery? Our Portsmouth, NH TURNKEY facility is for sale! Follow link for more info:https://www.neren.com/Listing/2800-Lafayette-Rd-12A/5cdda2dabf34cb9150a7faebMichael PotortiFounder/BrewerHost of "Craft Beer Storm" Podcastmichael@craftbeerstorm.commichael@bearairishbrew.com*** Come visit our brewery for some delicious local craft brew! ***Beara Brewing Co.2800 Lafayette RoadPortsmouth, NH 03801Tel. (857) 342-3272 www.bearairishbrew.com Like us onInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/bearairishbrew/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BearaIrishBrewingCo Twitter: https://twitter.com/BearaIrishBrew Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beara-brewing-co-30776075/**LISTEN to our Craft Beer Storm Podcast and share with a friend**Craft Beer Storm Podcast iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/craft-beer-storm/id1438117278Craft Beer Storm You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp3PVuCGmywNWlGFh0N0ukg?view_as=subscriberCraft Beer Storm Podcast Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/podcast-center-la-2/craft-beer-stormCraft Beer Storm Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/craftbeerstorm/Craft Beer Storm Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelpotorti/

Last August, Baltimore Center Stage announced the appointment of Stephanie Ybarra as its new Artistic Director. She succeeds Kwame Kwei Armah, who left to become the Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theater in London. Stephanie Ybarra comes to Baltimore after six years as the Director of Special Artistic Projects at the Public Theatre in New York City, where she oversaw its popular Public Forum programs and led the theater’s Mobile Unit on a first-of-its-kind national tour. She is an alum of the Women’s Project Theater, where she’s served for the past few years as the Producer’s Lab Liaison. She is also the Curator and Casting Director of the Cruzando Fronteras, or Crossing Borders Festival at the Two River Theater in New Jersey. That festival features the work of Latinx theater artists. Stephanie Ybarra is, in fact, the first Latinx theater artist to lead one of America’s major theaters. Baltimore Center Stage on Thursday announced the list of plays it will present during its upcoming 2019-2020 season. Our theater critic, J Wynn Rousuck, joins Tom in Studio A with Stephanie Ybarra to talk about the new season lineup, and about the artistic vision she brings to her new role at Baltimore Center Stage.This conversation was livestreamed on WYPR's Facebook page. You can watch the video here.

What is the glue that holds a community together? For St. Francis Neighborhood Center, it is the attitude that it takes a village to build a better future.St. Francis Neighborhood Center is located at Whitelock Street and Linden Avenue in Baltimore’s Reservoir Hill community. Its mission is to end generational poverty through education. To meet that goal, the nonprofit offers free resources for families, from job readiness workshops to financial planning classes.Tomorrow St. Francis will break ground on a $4 million dollar renovation and expansion, tripling the number of families they can serve. Last August we spoke with Christi Green, who’s been executive director since 2012, as well as Inge Harris, whose four children attend St. Francis, and her son, Emmanuel, who began participating at St. Frances in elementary school.Here's information about how to donate. Details about how to volunteer here.

A first grader is the highest-paid YouTube star of 2018, according to Forbes. Eight-year-old Ryan from the United States stars in his own YouTube channel called “Ryan ToysReview.” The channel features videos that show Ryan unboxing toys, playing with them, and happily reacting to them, as a form of review. He reportedly earned $22 million through this channel in the past year. The online celebrity currently boasts of more than 17 million subscribers—mainly elementary school kids—and around 26 billion views. To determine Ryan's estimated earnings, Forbes calculated his revenue from June 1, 2017, to June 1, 2018. The publication used data from several online sources and exclusive information from some industry insiders. Forbes found that $1 million of Ryan's earnings were from sponsored videos, while about $21 million came from advertisements that play before his videos. In addition, Ryan earned money from numerous advertising deals. Last August, he launched his first toy and apparel line in partnership with famous US retailer Walmart. Called “Ryan's World,” the collection features toys that Ryan loves to play with.  Furthermore, it was announced last October that Ryan's channel content will be distributed on streaming sites Hulu and Amazon. Ryan's income was able to surpass other YouTube personalities' earnings, including those of American actor Jake Paul, Dude Perfect's five-man sports crew, gamer DanTDM, and makeup guru Jeffree Star. Although Ryan earns a lot of money, 15% of his income is put in a special account because of his age. This account will be protected until he becomes of legal age.

Publicity-hound in sheep’s clothing, Nadia Bolz-Weber, former pastor of a fake church in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) denomination, is in the news again. Last August, Bolz-Weber made the news by proclaiming that “consumption of pornography” shouldn’t be shamed. In her view, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with watching “ethically sourced” porn as long as people consume it in moderation. Her defense of the moderate use of ethically sourced porn is that “People have viewed erotic imagery since we could scratch it on the inside of caves” and that “[o]ur bodies are wired” to respond to porn. No …

Last August, while sitting outside on her back porch on a sunny afternoon, Pierrette started to dream about what would be possible if she could step into working with the people that could really use her guidance, support, and expertise, to elevate their lives and their legacy.    As she remembered her first big vision and mission, that of starting Women Moving Forward, an organization of over 1200 members, long before social media, from 2002-2008, she looked back wishing she had a visionary coach to help her. She felt so alone in how to grow her vision and mission, despite having a stellar advisory board. Neither of them had ever grown communities before, again, long before social media, and Pierrette had to learn through trial and many, many errors. In this episode, on the heels of a five-day writing retreat in the Canadian Rockies, she shares what she now does as her process when she is faced with opportunity that could potential take her vision and mission to a whole new level. How do you weigh a good opportunity against a bad one? She has learned through many bad mistakes what is right for her, and what is not, and she shares the process she uses to walk you through an opportunity which can then help you to decide if it’s a good investment, a good fit, or not.    In this episode:  Pierrette shares the six questions she always asks herself and how she used them to determine if the writing retreat was a good fit or not. Here are the questions to ask yourself:  What is piquing your interest around that opportunity?  Can you afford the opportunity, financially and energetically? Can you afford not to?  If you say yes to this opportunity, how will it help you reach your short and long-term goals?  Would you have regret if you chose not to invest in this opportunity?  What kind of support will you need to say yes to the opportunity?  Do you believe in yourself enough to say yes?  As you step into your own vision and mission, opportunities will present themselves. Saying yes to the right ones can support you in ways beyond measure.  Read the blog post that inspired this episode at, “Say Yes to Your Dream”.   To get your 14 Point Vision Strength Assessment and the 7 Steps to Create Your Vision & Mission webinar, go to pierretteraymond.com. 

Last August we went to Kyoto Sangyo University to interview Professor Amanda Gillis-Furutaka. She has been teaching there for over twenty years, contributing to establish and maintain a large extensive reading programme at this university. Over the last few years, she has been carrying out qualitative research on the thought processes that occur when we do ER in a second or foreign language. In this episode, Professor Gillis-Furutaka tells us about some of the most interesting insights that she has obtained through her interviews with students of different ages and levels. Listen and learn about the various factors affecting graded reader readability besides the number of headwords, about the many ways in which the L1 is involved while reading in an L2, and about the interplay between working memory and the practice of extensive reading.  Resources:  In this 2012 article you can find information about the ER programme at Kyoto Sangyo University.  http://erfoundation.org/proceedings/erwc1-Gillis-Furutaka.pdf Here is an article that Professor Gillis-Furutaka wrote for the Journal of Extensive Reading that focuses on graded readers’ readability.  http://jalt-publications.org/content/index.php/jer/article/view/7/1 And finally, here is her most recent article, which focuses on working memory and the use of the L1 by students doing ER.  https://687a7f01-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/neuroelt/publications-journals/1%20MindBrainEd%20Journal%20Vol%201%20May%202018.pdf

Last August, while sitting outside on her back porch on a sunny afternoon, Pierrette started to dream about what would be possible if she could step into working with the people that could really use her guidance, support, and expertise, to elevate their lives and their legacy.     As she remembered her first big vision and mission, that of starting Women Moving Forward, an organization of over 1200 members, long before social media, from 2002-2008, she looked back wishing she had a visionary coach to help her. She felt so alone in how to grow her vision and mission, despite having a stellar advisory board. Neither of them had ever grown communities before, again, long before social media, and Pierrette had to learn through trial and many, many errors.    In this episode, on the heels of a five-day writing retreat in the Canadian Rockies, she shares what she now does as her process when she is faced with opportunity that could potential take her vision and mission to a whole new level. How do you weigh a good opportunity against a bad one? She has learned through many bad mistakes what is right for her, and what is not, and she shares the process she uses to walk you through an opportunity which can then help you to decide if it’s a good investment, a good fit, or not.      In this episode:    Pierrette shares the six questions she always asks herself and how she used them to determine if the writing retreat was a good fit or not. Here are the questions to ask yourself:    What is piquing your interest around that opportunity?  Can you afford the opportunity, financially and energetically? Can you afford not to?  If you say yes to this opportunity, how will it help you reach your short and long-term goals?  Would you have regret if you chose not to invest in this opportunity?  What kind of support will you need to say yes to the opportunity?  Do you believe in yourself enough to say yes?    As you step into your own vision and mission, opportunities will present themselves. Saying yes to the right ones can support you in ways beyond measure.    Read the blog post that inspired this episode at, “Say Yes to Your Dream”.     To get your 14 Point Vision Strength Assessment and the 7 Steps to Create Your Vision & Mission webinar, go to pierretteraymond.com. 

What happens when we go offline for a camping and hiking trip in the Olympic Peninsula with a plein air painter and a food blogger? We get really inspired. In a lot of ways, this is a simple episode about making friends offline. But it’s also about the headspace you cultivate when you step outside and how that makes room for thought and inspiration. And it’s also about experiencing an outdoor space through creative work and wanting to dig deeper than surface level when recreating. Last August, Columbia Sportswear brought Megan McDuffie and Heidi Annalise and (host) Gale Straub together for a backpacking trip. They learn about the surprising things they have in common, as well as the landscape around them. And to learn more, Gale calls up local Lorraine Greene, a member of the Makah tribe. Women Featured in this Episode: Heidi Annalise, Megan McDuffie, and Lorraine Greene. Hosted and produced by Gale Straub. In this episode, you'll hear: The benefits of taking online friends offline in the outdoors How food blogger Megan McDuffie and painter Heidi Annalise got started How the outdoors inspires creativity in us Insight as to what it's like to grow up on the Olympic Peninsula as a member of the Makah Tribe The sounds of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington Enjoy this episode? Rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. It’ll help other people find us. Sponsored by Columbia Sportswear. Watch the "Offline" video featuring She Explores here. Join the She Explores Podcast community on Facebook. Visit She-Explores.com Resources mentioned in this episode: Columbia "Offline" Film Columbia OutDry Extreme The Sea is My Country by Joshua L. Reid Fresh Off the Grid Fresh Off the Grid Instagram Heidi Annalise Art Heidi Annalise Instagram Episodes air weekly on Wednesdays-- subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode. Music for this episode is by Chris Zabriskie, Kai Engel, and Lee Rosevere via freemusicarchive.org with a CC by A license. Music is also by Snow Palms.

Last August, I was down in England with Vicki Robin (author of Your Money or Your Life) for the FI Chautauqua. We were chatting about the new version of the book she was working on (which is out now!) and she mentioned that she created a game called “Money Talks” to go along with the new edition. The card game consists of 52 different cards, each containing a different money question or topic. The idea is, you can use the cards to initiate conversations about money with family, friends, etc. (as you are probably aware, money doesn’t often get discussed in real life so this game attempts to change that). I thought it was a great idea so I asked Vicki if she’d be up for playing the game with a handful of Chautauqua attendees and I’d record it for an episode of the Financial Independence Podcast. She agreed and that’s what I’m sharing with you today! Big thanks to Vicki Robin for teaching us how to play, to Ettington Park for the fantastic venue, and to Eduardo, Laura, Kimi, Matt, Brandon, Jason, Lena, and Meghan for taking part!

Mark Wilbert has been the man the city of Charleston has turned to in case of emergencies. He helped people prepare for Hurricanes Matthew and Irma. He was there after 9 parishioners at Mother Emanuel were killed. Last August, he planned for a crowd of thousands in town for the solar eclipse. Now the former city Emergency Management Director has a new job. He's Charleston's first ever Chief Resilience officer. "We're the first city in South Carolina to actually have this position," said Wilbert from his office at the Gaillard Center downtown. So what is a resilience chief? The group, “100 Resilient Cities”, created by the Rockefeller Foundation in 2013 describes it as a top-level advisor who reports directly to the mayor, establishing a resilience vision to maximize innovation and minimize the impact of unforeseen events. Charleston's mayor announced the position in January during his state of the city address, calling flooding and the threat of sea level rise top priorities. Wilbert

We're thrilled to bring a bonus episode to you today. Last August, Jennifer Dasal was asked to speak on the topic of "genius" at CreativeMornings RDU. So what does genius have to do with madness? And how about suffering and sadness? Join Jennifer as she discusses this topic with the poster child for all suffering artists: Vincent Van Gogh. Want to WATCH this episode instead of listen to it? See the video of this lecture here! https://creativemornings.com/talks/jennifer-dasal/1 Learn more about CreativeMor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The work of the entomologist very often involves the killing of insects in large numbers. This happens in the search for new species in the exploration of the planet's biodiversity and in ecological investigations to monitor the health of wild insect populations and the impact we are having on the environment. But the methods of entomologists have come under criticism. Last August presenter and entomologist Adam Hart was involved in a citizen science project aimed at surveying the abundance and distribution of the various species of social wasp around the country. The survey entailed members of the public setting up wasp traps in their gardens for a week and then sending the dead insects to the lab running the project. Many people took part but the study also generated negative newspaper coverage and stinging criticism on social media. The reaction got Adam Hart thinking: can his profession really defend the death of thousands and sometimes millions of insects for the sake of science, especially when there's so much concern around insect conservation? How do entomologists feel about killing their subjects, and might the insects themselves feel something akin to pain and suffering themselves? Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker.

It's Time to Sell is back. Last August, I announced that I will be wrapping up the show to give way to Entrepreneur's Sales School, which was a daily podcast. 50 odd episodes later, I found myself getting burned out and realized that doing one show/day just wasn't sustainable. I decided to take some time off social media (except LinkedIn) and think about where I really wanted to go. After a few brainstorming sessions, I arrived at the conclusion that I really love the connections I've made through this podcast, and I want to continue doing the show. So here we are. Everything looks different, but it's still the same interview-style show where we can get to know and learn from successful entrepreneurs and sales professionals. For today's episode, our guest is Petra Foster. Now for some of you who do not know her, she's a client enrollment strategist. She works with service-based business owners, coaches and consultants and help them sell their premium packaged services (think >$3000) in six weeks or less. Her mission is to: "...show you that enrolling premium clients is not just possible for you... It is VERY achievable, regardless of where you are right now, how low your rates are, and how long you've been earning less than you desire." Now that sounds like a great pitch. Click the play button to hear the rest of the episode. Don't forget to subscribe! Show notes: "I started my business out of necessity" Four years ago, Petra's husband – a long-distance driver – came home and said to her, "Petra, I fell asleep at the wheel." And that happened more than once. At that point, they decided that they had to be in control of their own income and started a T-shirt printing business. Her husband created the designs, while she went out to sell them every single day. On the 13th of July 2013, they sold their first two t-shirts for $56 and on that Friday, she decided to leave her job and become a full-time entrepreneur. "Can you teach me how to do it?" Eventually, people started to ask her how to do what she's doing. That's when she transitioned into business and sales coaching in 2014. She got her first clients at networking events and made $13,000 within six weeks of starting her brand new consulting business. "You don't need funnels, you don't need Facebook ads, you don't need any kind of email list..." ...if you're not making enough money. Petra says that if you're making enough money, then go ahead and do these things. There are so many mentors who are already millionaires and are doing well, and they're teaching everyone else to do what they are doing RIGHT NOW: create courses, spend $1000/day on Facebook ads, etc. But Petra knows that her target audience are making less than $5000/month and all they want to do is know how to get somebody on the phone. What made Petra successful is her controversy in terms of sharing with people that what they're being taught by these millionaire gurus are not what they did when they first started out.

Last August, the nation was stunned by the sight of white nationalists and Nazi sympathizers marching in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia. What began as a protest against the removal of a Confederate statue ended in bloodshed, as a white nationalist drove his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. Charlottesville shone a spotlight on a rising tide of hate and hate speech on college campuses, including here in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle reporter Sara Bernard leads a conversation about the line between free speech and hate speech on campus, and what different schools are doing to police it. Panelists: Sara Bernard (Moderator) Jamil Bee Ethan W. Blevins Zoltán Grossman David Neiwert Recorded live during the Crosscut Festival. Read more at crosscut.com/tag/crosscut-festival/

Emily Hill is journalist and author of Bad Romance. In 2016, she was the commissioning editor at The Spectator. Last August, she was responsible for the magazine’s first ever all-female cover. She has written comment for The Guardian, books reviews for the New Statesman and features for the Mail on Sunday, as well as gathering gossip for the Evening Standard and profiling cult figures for Dazed & Confused. Emily is also a collage artist and she gave me a beautiful collage when we met to record the podcast!This is going live around Valentine's Day and I wanted to dedicate it to talking about being single and what that means right now. Bridget Jones seems outdated and a bit patronising at times, and she ends up with the man in the end, like most literature and film.Emily's book Bad Romance is dark, funny and feminist debut short story collection and I totally loved it. They tell of defiant single women in all shapes and sizes - of career girls, sisters, mothers and lovers, battling through sleepless nights, never-ending parties, grotesque flat shares and office nightmares.These are super-short stories, ideal for anyone on the run who wants to be distracted from the daily commute by plunging into a vivid fictional world. This is a collection made for snatched moments – to be flicked through between deadlines, scrolled through in the bus queue on the screen of a smartphone, devoured along with lunch. Or, like a classic bedtime story, finished in that precious time between putting on pyjamas and collapsing into sleep. Each comic vignette may be read fast but will linger long in the mind.This is a book for fans of Roald Dahl, Saki, Fleabag and Sex in the City.We talk about writing, getting your confidence back (Emily was rejected by lots of literary agents at the beginning) and why getting married or getting engaged aren't necessarily the only big achievements that need celebrating, lots of other parts of our lives deserve parties too. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last August, we witnessed the most electrifying track race in history at the World Championships: the women's 3,000m Steeplechase. Before this race, no American woman had ever won a medal in the steeple at the World Championships. Emma Coburn and Courtney Frerichs changed that with an historic 1-2 finish, decimating a field that included the current World Record holder and Olympic Champion. This was also the first time any Americans had taken home both gold and silver at the World Champions or the Olympics in a race longer than 400m since the 1912 Olympics. Both Emma and Courtney also ran faster than the existing American Record. NBC Sports called the race "shocking." Sports Illustrated described Courtney's effort "certainly one of the biggest surprises of the world championships." And ESPN boldly proclaimed that this was one of the best races in the history of running. I'll paraphrase ESPN: Before this race, Courtney' fastest steeplechase time was 9:19. She beat that time by an enormous 15 seconds to win silver in 9:03.77. That's like scoring a hat trick in a World Cup soccer game after totaling only three goals all season. No American had won a world title in steeplechase since 1952. No U.S. women had ever finished 1-2 in any world championship distance race. Track nerds -- why isn't there such a thing as a football nerd? -- are calling this the most thrilling race of the 2017 World Championships, and one of the greatest moments in American distance running history. You sports fans can just call it amazing. Like a football game where -- nah, forget that. After a race like this, nobody cares about football. A 15-second improvement? Over a race that's less than two miles long? INSANITY! That kind of PR puts Courtney in the record books. She's now the 8th fastest woman to ever run the steeplechase. Today you're going to hear directly from Courtney about this historic race.

Last August, Vanity Plate and the Juniper Drive came on the podcast after their summer tour. This year, we're doing it again. Jazmine, Zach, Blake, Connor and Robert give me the rundown on their tour to the east coast. We talk about stopping to piss in Indiana, playing to like ten people in Brooklyn, and how no one pays attention to acoustic musicians. Also, food. We talk a bunch about food. We talk about a boatload of junk on this episode, including previous travels to the east coast, the solo Jaz tour, playing shows for no one, Free Truman, Tigernite, the Moog factory, fanny packs, Reverb, a group apology to Indiana, tractors, Popeye's, Outdoor Velour, Brooklyn, the Statue of Liberty, Dani Raccoon and Anna, driving in New York, passive aggressive midwest motorists, NYC apartments, guarantors, Idaho Green, free jazz, Ocarina of Time, Donny Jensen, Gold Sounds, Red Raven Coffeehouse, Blue Rider bar, the Aquarium, audience sizes, Kenny the cab driver, Kevin Lopez, Grampfather, Hilip the sound guy, what's the point?, no one cares, tour theory, local food, pizza, bagels, water taxis, Brooklyn Bridge, Broadway, Book of Mormon, Ample Hills Creamery, unsolicited advice, Thai food, the Liberty Bell, John Barry (Father of the Navy, Son of a Bitch), Niagara Falls, Good Shade, Puberty Wounds, Pleasure Wounds, hand pans, Saraz, Echo's Answer, Josh and Marie Rivera, synth face, tour crud, modular synths, Fairlight CMI, Tears for Fears, Gizmo Genius, Chris Brown, tour health, acetominophen, Roy aka the Very Nice Interesting Singer Man, existential crises, migraines, fiber, Steve Roggenbuck [2018 update: Steve is horrible], the vegan train, bug salads, baby grill, mansions, lakes, waterfalls, Gold Beach, Taste of Galesburg, the Apple store, Dunkirk, woof, Morris, Minnesota, the Platform playing acoustic shows, Bop It, why doesn't anybody listen to me?, furniture music, Nameless Cave, the Darning Hearts, Rapid City, Evan, puppets, bad actors, Bismarck, Rhythm Records, Side B, Al Gore, Algorillathym, Why Not Fest, the future, Blake's moving and quitting bands, Josh Thornton sold his drums and is going to school, Parlor Voice, fuck Trump, fuck Confederate flags, Mountain Goats, Rory Donovan, Witch Watch, the Terror Pigeon Surround Sound Lay Down, Many Months Left, Mineral Rights, Mr. Dad.

Last August, Larry Wilmore’s talk show was canceled. The Nightly Show focused on issues like equality, activism, and how racism subtly wormed its way into American life. In hindsight, it feels ahead of its time. Wilmore is out with a new podcast, Black on the Air.  In the Spiel: Sometimes democracy sucks.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last August, Larry Wilmore’s talk show was canceled. The Nightly Show focused on issues like equality, activism, and how racism subtly wormed its way into American life. In hindsight, it feels ahead of its time. Wilmore is out with a new podcast, Black on the Air.  In the Spiel: Sometimes democracy sucks.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The D.C. Circuit heard a rare doubleheader of en banc arguments on major structural separation of powers questions on May 24. -- First up was Raymond J. Lucia Companies, Inc. v. SEC, which presented the question whether Administrative Law Judges at the SEC are “Officers of the United States” who must be selected in compliance with the Appointments Clause. The SEC contends that its ALJs are employees, not officers, because the ALJs do not exercise “significant authority pursuant to the laws of the United States,” which the Supreme Court has described as the hallmark of officer status. Last August, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit agreed with the SEC, relying almost exclusively on an earlier (divided) D.C. Circuit precedent, Landry v. FDIC, 204 F.3d 1125 (D.C. Cir. 2000), which held the ALJs at the FDIC are not officers because they do not issue final agency decisions. Three months later, the Tenth Circuit issued a 2-1 decision finding that SEC ALJs are officers who must be selected pursuant to the Appointments Clause. The Tenth Circuit panel expressly disagreed with Lucia and Landry that authority to issue final agency decisions is a prerequisite for officer status. The D.C. Circuit subsequently vacated its panel decision and granted en banc review. The status of ALJs under the Appointments Clause has important implications not only for the SEC’s enforcement of the securities laws but also for the system of administrative agency adjudication as a whole. -- The second case, PHH Corp. v. CFPB, presented the question whether an “independent” administrative agency may be led by a single person. In a 100-page opinion by Judge Kavanaugh (joined by Judge Randolph) drawing on historical practice and first principles of separation of powers, the panel concluded that the statutory provision vesting the CFPB’s broad enforcement authority in a single director removable by the President only “for cause” violated Article II of the Constitution. The panel emphasized the absence of any historical precedent for an independent agency with a single director—a structure that created, in the panel’s description, an administrative official with more power than anyone in the federal government other than the President. The panel explained that this concentration of authority in a single person unaccountable to the President except for cause posed a “threat to individual liberty.” The panel remedied the constitutional defect by severing the statute’s “for cause” removal provision, thus making the CFPB director removable by the President at will. Judge Henderson dissented in part, arguing that the panel could have resolved the case on the basis of PHH’s statutory rather than constitutional challenges. The D.C. Circuit granted en banc review on both the constitutional and statutory questions. The Justice Department (under the Trump Administration) filed an amicus brief in support of the challengers, while the CFPB continues to defend the constitutionality of its structure through its independent litigation authority. -- Featuring: Thaya Brook Knight, Associate Director of Financial Regulation Studies, Cato Institute and Christopher G. Michel, Associate, Bancroft PLLC.

Karen Jewels understands the life challenges that many women face trying to keep everything together. Drawing from her own personal struggles and her interactions with other women, “So many people are fighting ” Karen says, “fighting depression, poverty, lack, loneliness, abuse…the list goes on. Through my music I want to encourage the listener that, by faith, these battles have been won. I wan't people to know that what I do is not just about the music, but it's my journey towards success, documented through various forms of media. Everything that I share with the world is part of that theme.” A busy mother who is determined to be an example of success for her children. Karen is also the owner of Upright Music Republic, a group of creative visionaries that executes creative ideas, develops and launches like-minded artists and organizations. Through music, media and the arts they produce creative content that promotes positive change. On stage and has Karen has opened for groups such as Champion and Grammy Award winner Tye Tribbett. She has performed background vocals for various Toronto artists. As an actress, Karen has also performed theatrically in musicals like Ain't Misbehavin', The Lion King. Her Television credits include Walt Disney's The Music Man, Nickelodeon's Make it POP, Beauty and the Beast and Saving Hope and The Strain. Powered by her faith, Karen has a passion for arts and desire to uplift, inspire and impact her surroundings. With the 2008 release of her EP, Creation Groans and her 2012 full-length album The Victor Project, Karen brings listeners on her inspiring journey of overcoming challenges through God's love and grace. Karen Jewels is a prolific artist with a musician's heart who, through the vein of melodious creativity, unveils to the world the reality of God. Her music projects a voice which speaks to the core of the heart. As a singer and songwriter she invites us into an exciting journey on which there exists a backdrop that ranges from head nodding Hip-Hop Soul to Alternative to rhythmic Electronic Music and Spoken Word. Last August, before a fundraising event, Karen was on our show. During our conversation Karen talked about: – Some of her background – Where did her creativity come from and the getting Lion King gig – The story behind her first album how she wrote an entire album – Some successes during her journey – Why she was the doing the fundraising event – How cancer has affected her family – Information about childhood cancer You can connect with Karen via: Website Facebook  Twitter YouTube Soundcloud Please feel free to email us at dr.vibe@thedrvibeshow.com Visit our website at http://www.thedrvibeshow.com/ God bless, peace, be well and keep the faith, Dr. Vibe 

What happens in the Tahoe Truckee market as summer comes to a close and kids go back to school? Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret: in the fall, we actually see an increase in the number of homes that sell. For example, we had 93 homes sell in August of last year, 117 in September, 115 in October, and 228 in November. What makes this good for sellers is that during this time, fewer and fewer homes are listed on the market. Last August only saw 154 new homes listed, 139 in September, 101 in October, and in November, only 125 homes were put on the market. At the same time that fewer people put their homes up for sale, a lot of other sellers also take their homes off the market so that they can ski lease them. Yes, a seller will get some income from renting their home for the winter, but this sets them up to go back on the market at a time when everybody else is listing their homes in the spring and summer. So if you’re a seller and you’d like to set yourself apart while taking advantage of the declining supply and increased demand of the fall months, then it would make sense to list your property for sale now.“Fall’s low inventory and high demand make it a great time to list your home.” Another reason why this fall selling season is going to be a busy one is because our interest rates are still incredibly low – many of our buyers are getting rates that are under 4%. In addition, as we get into the fall, seasonal motivation tends to push buyers to purchase a home before wintertime, so demand will still be very high. If you have any questions about the fall market or anything else, please feel free to give me a call or send me a text or email. I look forward to speaking with you!

Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) and Danny Tuccitto (@IR_DannyT) ran a podcast called the Three Cone Drill. Last August, they invited Sigmund Bloom (@SigmundBloom) and me on to discuss a sprawling array of topics, and the resulting conversation was my favorite that I've ever had about Football, or a number of other topics for that matter.   The Three Cone Drill podcast is now defunct, but Rivers and Danny have given me permission to re-host this episode so it is not lost forever. This is part 2, in which we question the validity of statistics and everything we thought we knew about player aging.

Rivers McCown (@riversmccown) and Danny Tuccitto (@IR_DannyT) ran a podcast called the Three Cone Drill. Last August, they invited Sigmund Bloom (@SigmundBloom) and me on to discuss a sprawling array of topics, and the resulting conversation was my favorite that I've ever had about Football, or a number of other topics for that matter.   The Three Cone Drill podcast is now defunct, but Rivers and Danny have given me permission to re-host this episode so it is not lost forever. This is part 1, including a discussion on the philosophies and strategies of trading in fantasy football.

Last August we interviewed Colton Robtoy as he wasplanning the CD Printathlon. CD is the Capital District, which is the Albany,NY area. We were talking to him about the challenges of planning this Printathlon.He was trying to get the word out about it, and that is why he came on ourpodcast. Very recently we noticed that he had written some recap blogposts in the Pulse on LinkedIn. They were awesome; they had such great tips. Hewas so honest about all the things that went wrong, and we loved his methodicalapproach and analysis to it so that he would make an even better event nexttime. We thought we should have him back on WTFFF?! to talk about that. He is a student, and he put on a 3D printing event. Hehad no event planning experience; this is not his background. He is anengineering student. Was it train wreck? Or did it work? To send us a voicemail, go to 3dstartpoint.com or wtfffpodcast.com or shoot us a message at info@wtfffpodcast.com or on our facebook or twitter! Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here’s How » Join the WTFFF?! 3D Printing movement today: 3DStartpoint.com 3D Startpoint Facebook 3D Startpoint LinkedIn Hazz Design Twitter 3D Startpoint YouTube

Last August we interviewed Colton Robtoy as he wasplanning the CD Printathlon. CD is the Capital District, which is the Albany,NY area. We were talking to him about the challenges of planning this Printathlon.He was trying to get the word out about it, and that is why he came on ourpodcast. Very recently we noticed […]

As the year draws to a close, Dora Rivas joins us to look back and reflect—not just on 2015, but a half century of service as a dietitian and school food service director. Last August, when she left her post as Executive Director of food service for Dallas ISD, Dora was an iconic figure in K-12 nutrition, recognized nationally as an early adopter of well-defined public health goals for schools. But her story is about private goals, too, and their roots in family and a career launched in a South Texas migrant health clinic.     “Dora Rivas is on an insatiable quest to improve the nutrition in Dallas’ public schools,” Dallas Observer, June 26, 2014 “My Interview with Dora Rivas, Former President of the School Nutrition Association,” The Lunch Tray, June 13, 2014 “DISD school lunches reviewed: Restaurant critic Leslie Brenner goes back to school,” Guidelive.com, August 19, 2015 Related Inside School Food episode: “The Urban School Food Alliance Travels to France,” November 3, 2014

Ray Wise is a fan of monsters in the movies, and has played his own share of them...including Leland Palmer. Last August, Fire Talk With Me producer (and Electric Shadow host) Moisés got a few precious minutes with Ray to talk about Twin Peaks, Swamp Thing, and the roles he still hungers to play. As a bonus, hear Ray record the show intro you now know so well...and in a single take. Scheduling our very special guest for the podcast covering the final episode of the TV show has proven tricky. We were going to hold this interview for later, but here it is to tide you over until we have a new, "proper" episode.

Last August, from Louisville, Kentucky into the studio comes Ted Stevens. My first take was here's a Rocker dressed up and ready to take the stage. I thought, this is gonna be fun, and I was not disappointed. Ted, the leader of "Ted Stevens and the Third Rail", just had that look where if you saw him walking down the street you'd say to yourself "that guy has to be a rock star". Well, guess what, you would be right with one exception, he is not an asshole. He is one of the nicest guys I have met in ten years of recording these shows. Perhaps the 4 years he lived and played in Scotland had a positive influence on his persona, but, make no mistake; this musician is a credit to Louisville. Here he is in a stripped down solo acoustic set that kicks ass! Obviously, I love this guy! Enjoy!!!Check out all 4 videos from Ted's show on the CAU Vimeo Channel

Last August, the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a “public health emergency of international concern”. The epidemic, with over 22,000 cases across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, and almost 8,800 likely victims, is the biggest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. This month, as the rate of new Ebola deaths slowly declines, we examine how the world got together to fight the crisis, making use of different skills in the fields of medical research, technology and the media. Experts hope the world will be better equipped to respond fast and effectively to future global health emergencies. We discover how researchers in Oxford, in the United Kingdom, have helped to fast-track trials of one potential Ebola vaccine, in accordance with WHO guidelines. We also discuss how the unprecedented international drive to speed up vaccine development may help highlight the underfunded field of neglected tropical diseases. Although action against the outbreak has so far mainly been by doctors and NGOs, now designers are chipping in with a prototype protective suit for those treating Ebola patients. Experts at the Johns Hopkins University in the United States won an award to help develop technical innovations to fight Ebola and support their deployment. While doctors work in the field to treat patients, others are using social media to build ‘health literacy’ among the population. We talk with the man behind the successful social media platform EbolaAlert, which helps inform people, builds networks among health professionals and tests social media’s potential to assist future research into similar crises.

In this episode, we catch up on all the bills that passed the House of Representatives in January, including a bill to protect chemical storage companies from having to pay for their messes, a few bills to damage ObamaCare, and a bill to make sure private health insurance companies can't pay for abortions. Information Presented in This Episode Mel Watt Resigns On January 7, Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina's 12th district resigned to become Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency after being appointed to the position by President Obama. The Federal Housing Finance Agency was created during the 2008 financial meltdown, a meltdown created largely by giant private banks chopping up bad mortgages, mixing them with good mortgages, and selling them to other companies such as Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The FHFA is in charge of regulating sort-of Federal mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Private banks want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gone because Fannie and Freddie are more heavily regulated than private banks and create a basement of rules that banks sort-of have to play by. Private banks want the "free market" to control mortgages so that they can, once again, do whatever they want and make enormous profits with new financial scams models. Last August and again in the State of the Union, President Obama sided with the "free marketeers" and voiced his support for getting rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in favor of more private banker control of our mortgages. Who will President Obama's choice to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac side with? Well, former Representative Mel Watt's top two campaign contributors over the course of his Congressional career were Bank of America and the American Bankers Association. In total, he took over $1.3 million from the Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate sector. Representative Watt's former district, North Carolina's 12th district, is a funny shaped, likely gerrry-mandered district that cuts through the center of the state; it includes portions of Charlotte, Salisbury, and Lexington. The district will remain unrepresented until the November election. HR 2279: Protects Finances of Chemical Storage Companies On January 9, the House passed H.R. 2279. The one good thing about this bill is that it would require owners of chemical storage facilities to report to their states the quantities of dangerous chemical that they store in their buildings. This is a direct response to the giant explosion at the West Fertilizer Company in West Texas, which took place on the same week as the Boston Marathon bombing, killed five times as many people, but didn't get nearly as much press coverage. The explosion happened after the building caught fire and ignited ammonium nitrite - the same stuff used in the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing- which was being stored in the building in huge quantities which were never reported to Texas regulators or the Department of Homeland Security. The building had not been inspected by Federal worker safety regulators since 1985, when it was cited for improper storage of dangerous chemicals and given a $30 fine. It had been fined again in 2012 by the Department of Transportation for improper storage of dangerous chemicals. The explosion killed fifteen people, injured 160, and destroyed 50 homes. So had this bill been law early last year, in theory, Texas and the Department of Homeland Security would have known how much the company was storing and may have done inspections more regularly. That's a good thing. But that's where the good things stop. The company responsible for the West, Texas explosion was only insured for $1 million in damage, which wasn't nearly enough to cover the damage they caused. The damage was estimated at $100 million, at least. The State of Texas has no requirement for storage facilities to have any insurance, and so FEMA had to pay 75% of the costs of the damage. Despite the fact that the Federal government had to pick up the tab for that explosion, H.R. 2279  would make it more difficult for the Executive Branch, and therefore the Federal government, to require companies that store hazardous materials to have insurance or cash on hand to pay for their accidents; it prohibits the Feds from requiring any more insurance than the States require. Rep. Cory Gardner of Colorado, argued for H.R. 2279 on the House floor on January 9; he is the author of the bill: "Solid waste must be disposed of in a responsible, efficient, and environmentally friendly manner; but there is no need for overly burdensome regulations that put a strain on businesses." In addition, the law currently says that the President needs to create and annually update a list of facilities with hazardous materials and that each State must designate one facility as their most dangerous. H.R. 2279 says the States no longer need to do this and replaces that requirement with one that says the President can't add a facility to the list if the State objects. Even if the States wanted to, however, the bill says the States can't add facilities to the list any more than once every five years. On the very same day that the House of Representatives were passing H.R. 2279, chemicals that were being stored at a facility owned by Freedom Industries - a facility that had not been inspected in over 22 years - spilled into the Elk River near Charleston, West Virginia poisoning the water supplies of over 300,000 people. And just like in Texas, the chemical storage facility in West Virginia was subject to almost no State or local regulations. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. expressed his concerns about HR 2279 while, unbeknownst to him, poisonous chemicals were gushing into the Elk River: "And I am especially troubled by provisions in the bill that enable sites to veto sites from being added to the Superfund National Priorities List, as well as the provision that weakens the requirement for companies who deal with hazardous materials to carry insurance to cover contamination threats. Absent this insurance requirement, it will be easier for a company to go bankrupt and shirk its responsibility to clean up contamination that it has caused" Which is exactly what Freedom Industries did nine days after the spill. At the time Freedom Industries filed for bankruptcy, 25 lawsuits had been filed against the company, all of which have been put on hold. The bill passed the House of Representatives 225-188 with mostly Republicans voting for it and mostly Democrats voting against it. All three Representatives from the state of West Virginia voted for the bill. Voting yes on H.R. 2279 was Shelley Moore Capito, who represents the part of West Virginia directly affected by the spill. A week after she voted for the bill to make it harder to regulate chemical storage facilities while her own constituents got poisoned, she gave a speech which said this on January 16: "For more than two decades, no government agency inspected this facility. Precious response time was lost be-cause Freedom Industries did not immediately report the spill, and responders did not have sufficient information about the chemical. We must examine our existing laws at all levels of government—local, State, and Federal—and find the gaps that allowed this spill to occur. " By voting yes, she did not do what was best for her constituents; she did what was best for Freedom Industries by trying to make it harder for the Federal Government to police them, yet instead of apologizing for that vote a week later, she pretended the vote never happened.  As always, the reason for her vote is most easily found in the financials. Shelley Moore Capito has taken over $800,000 from the mining industry, and Freedom Industries was storing a chemical used to "clean coal" in the facility that poisoned - and continues to poison- her constituents. Shelley Moore Capito is running for one of West Virginia's two Senate seats in November. H.R. 3811: Prevent Imaginary Security Breaches on Healthcare.gov On January 10, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3811, which would change the law to say that the Secretary of Health and Human Services will have two days to tell us if there has been a security breach on healthcare.gov if our personal information was stolen. In reality, there haven't been any security breaches on healthcare.gov. Seems to me to be an unnecessary bill aimed to make people think there have been security breaches. H.R. 3811 passed the House of Representatives 291- 122. HR 2274: Deregulation of Wall Street, But Not Too Much On January 14, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2274, which exempts mergers and acquisition brokers from registering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mergers and acquisition brokers specialize in the sale of private businesses; they help big companies gobble up little companies. SEC recently issued regulations basically saying that if a merger and acquisition broker is not dealing at all with securities - if the broker doesn't gamble or "trade" items that they don't actually possess-  then they don't have to register with the SEC, rendering this bill unnecessary. The SEC has ten conditions the merger and acquisitions broker must obey in order to not register; this bill only has two, meaning that the SEC rules protect the financial system better than this bill. H.R. 2274 passed the House of Representatives unanimously. HR 1233 - Allows Presidential Records To Stay Secret Under the Presidential Records Act, a former President can restrict access to his records for twelve years. After that, an Executive Order says that the former President can appeal to the current President to keep his records secret by claiming executive privilege. In essence, the decision rests with the current President and can be overturned by the courts. This bill makes that rule an actual, passed-by-Congress law, instead of a rule by Executive Order, as has been the case since the Reagan administration. It also puts in place procedures with deadlines for a former President to claim continued executive privilege. One provision says that the former President must make the request personally, which I think means that his records are fair game once he's dead. Passed the House of Representatives 420-0. The Budget On January 15, the House of Representatives passed the 2014 budget, which has been signed into law. The law was covered in detail in Congressional Dish episode CD061: State of the Budget. HR 3362: Busy Work for Obamacare Workers Right now, the executive branch is releasing required monthly reports on enrollment data for health insurance plans. H.R. 3362 would require the Secretary of Health and Human services to do a detailed report every week which includes every individual state's enrollment numbers, hits on the health care exchange websites, number of customer chats, number of customer phone calls, how many people enroll per zip code, what kind of plan each person picked, how many people logged into the websites, the ages of new enrollees, the number of new people in Medicaid, an estimation of the cost of tax credits and more. These weekly reports would have to be issued until March 2015. H.R. 3362 also requires the government to publicly publish the names, addresses, and phone numbers of every person trained to help Americans get health insurance coverage - called navigators. But the bottom line is that this will never become law because, once again, it's would have to be signed by President Obamacare, who has no reason to give his administration extra, unnecessary busy work. 259 members of the House voted for this doomed bill.  HR 7: Prohibit Private Insurance Plans from Covering Abortions The day of the State of the Union, the Republicans passed a bill that restricts our access to abortions. First, the bill prohibits any Federal money from going towards abortions, except in the cases of rape, incest, and to save the life of the mother, which is already Federal law. The bill changes current law by dictating what private insurance companies will and will not be allowed to cover. Any health care plan offered to Federal employees which will be paid for by their employer - the government - can not offer abortion coverage. The employees would be allowed to get separate abortion coverage with their own money. The bill also allows States and local governments to get extra abortion coverage for their employees; one place that doesn't work for though is the District of Columbia which is part of the Federal government. This bill also prohibits any tax credits from going to a person or company who chooses a health care plan on an exchange that includes abortion coverage. In addition, the bill would stop the private health insurance companies from  offering plans that cover abortions because it changes the definition of "qualified health plans" so that ones that offer abortions are no longer qualified and therefore wouldn't be able to sell those plans on the exchanges. H.R. 7 passed the House of Representatives 227-188. Music in This Episode Intro and Exit Music: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) All Hail to the Market by Alun Perry (found on Music Alley by mevio) Jennifer Briney's Upcoming Guest Appearance Start Talking and Recording Today, hosted by Nick Seuberling Also recommended:  Whodey Weekly (a podcast about the Cincinnati Bengals), hosted by Nick Seuberling

Last August 2012 Mark Ritchie set out to walk across Great Britain; physically drawing a cross on the map, from Brighton to Edinburgh and Wrexham to Hull. The comedian, communicator and Christ follower talks about his experiences and what it means to finally lose regrets, guilt and hurts at the feet of Jesus. His humour and stories will have you laughing but also leave you wanting to know more about God

Last August my role at Microsoft changed a bit so I took Chris Sells to lunch at our local food court (where the lady at the Indian Restaurant always shakes the big piece of chicken off her serving spoon before she dishes my plate, but I'm not bitter) to talk about being a manager at Microsoft.Chris leads a team and seems to get a lot done, so I figured it'd be a good idea. Check our our FIRST video interview from the August 2009 lunch here, then watch this FOLLOWUP Lunch from yesterday (about six months after the first) where I at first admit defeat, then go back into being in denial, then I leave to redouble my efforts. Enjoy the Wisdom of Chris Sells as he attempts to set me straight.

Last August, R. Crosby Kemper III, Executive Director of the Kansas City, Missouri Public Library, lectured the members and staff of the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority about what he called "this weird Alice in Wonderland world we've created where nothing can be done in Kansas City without tax incentives becasue everybody expects theat there will be a tax incentive."  On this edition of Tell Somebody, Kemper gives his views on tax abatement in Kansas City. To save a copy of this show to your computer, right click on the .mp3 filename below and choose "save target as."

Last August the world rejoiced at the liberation of a man who, to all intents and purposes, had vanished from its face more than four years previously. A pale and gaunt Brian Keenan emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation after being kidnapped in Beirut by Islamic extremists. This week on Desert Island Discs, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those lost years, when, often blindfolded, chained and alone, he relived his life, conjuring up forgotten sights and sounds through imagined magical music, or by singing half-remembered lines from songs with John McCarthy when they were allowed to share their captivity. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Dweller On The Threshold by Van Morrison Book: The Life Times and Music of An Irish Harper by Donal O'Sullivan Luxury: Pencil