Podcasts about last july

It was a big year for our CBD gummies in 2020. Last July, we debuted our new and improved line of CBD Gummies from Hemp Bombs and Nature’s Script. Hemp Bombs CBD Gummies were voted by more than 1,000 retailers nationwide as the CSP Magazine Retailer Choice Best New Product in 2020. Now, through innovation and new technology, Global Widget is expanding its gummy manufacturing capabilities. From the formulation to the production of more than 1.5 million gummies per day, hear about our Florida Hemp certification and the ability to produce award-winning CBD gummies and new types of health and wellness gummies to meet consumers’ and retailers’ increasing demand.

Last July, we took a hiatus from the podcast to sell everything and start a new life on the road in an RV, despite having zero prior experience. Now we're back and excited to share! Listen in as we describe our first 4 months and 9 states on the road in this extended episode to kick off the new season.

Nazanin Boniadi was 23 when she upended her 10-year plan. Medical school was the next natural step for the recent pre-med graduate from the University of California at Irvine, but her mind was racing toward something else. “I wanted to go to med school because that's what every good Persian girl does,” she tells Bustle. “I wanted to help people.” But she also wanted to be an actor. Breaking that kind of news to immigrant parents is never easy, especially when your father fled his home country, Iran, to escape execution. “I called my dad and said, ‘Thanks for putting me through college, but I really want to go act,’” she says. “So I basically told him, ‘Just give me a little bit of time. Give me a year.'" He was worried, Boniadi adds, about the potential job stability. Since that decision almost 17 years ago, she’s had a steady rise — "not meteoric," she says — in Hollywood, including roles on General Hospital and in procedurals and crime dramas before landing a stint on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, where she played Nora, a peppy journalist who finally pulls perennial womanizer Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) out of his brosky ways. But she’s also followed her father’s activist footsteps, both on screen and off. On screen, it required pushing against typecasting. “It was the first time in my career where I was just playing a girl,” she says of Nora. “There's so much stigma associated with the portrayal of Middle Eastern characters, or just being Middle Eastern these days,” adds Boniadi, now 41, who’s since joined political dramas like Showtime’s Homeland and ABC’s Scandal. “When you can portray a character that’s just a girl falling in love, that in itself is a baby step of victory.” Her latest project, on Amazon Prime's Lord of the Rings prequel, is rumored to be focused on the woodland elves. Her role, which hasn't yet been announced, shouldn't require a geographically ambiguous Middle Eastern accent; she shouldn't need to study counterterrorism for character preparation. She was shooting Lord of the Rings in New Zealand when COVID-19 hit, sending her across the Pacific, back to Los Angeles, to quarantine at home with her mother. In a year of disasters — a pandemic, World War III scare, countless wildfires — she’s using the mandated pause to lean into her other calling: human rights advocacy. In June, she was named an Amnesty International ambassador. “[Her] fearless determination has advanced the rights of women and refugees in Iran and across the globe,” said Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi earlier this month when honoring Boniadi for a humanitarian award. She views acting and activism as two sides of the same coin. “I always say, as an actor, I get to portray the human condition,” she says. “And then as that activist, I get to hopefully change the human condition.” Her dad is "completely on board." Boniadi was born in Tehran in 1979, around the beginning of the Iranian Revolution, which resulted in a religious republic with authoritarian tendencies, in which dissidents were persecuted and killed. Boniadi’s father was one such dissident. “It was a matter of, if we don't escape, my dad could be executed,” she says. “His friends were being executed, and [my parents] didn't want to raise a daughter in a social, legal, and political climate that was growing increasingly oppressive toward women and girls.” They escaped to London a month later, where her uncle lived at the time, but Iran was never far from their minds. Boniadi's father read her poetry by 14th-century Persian poet Hafez. At as early as 5 years old, she’d watch the news and track conflicts in the Middle East. Her parents sent her to Saturday Persian school so that she could master the language, despite being raised nearly 3,500 miles away. “When you're born into a situation like that, it informs everything about you,” says Boniadi, who now splits her time between London and Los Angeles. She has no plans to return to Iran, fearing that her advocacy work with the Center for Human Rights could put her in danger, but it’s a compromise she’s willing to make. Last year alone, the Iranian government executed 251 people. In November, it announced the execution sentences for three 20-something protesters, one of whom says their confession was coerced. Like many activists, Boniadi used her platform to call for leniency. (Ultimately, their executions were stayed, but they’re still imprisoned.) This fall, she's calling for the release of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was hospitalized this month after a six-week hunger strike. She's since been returned to a Tehran prison. The flip side of being involved in human rights work, Boniadi says, is the pain of watching the world's apathy. “It makes me question everything,” she says. “What would it take for people to [care about] the suffering of the people in the Middle East?” Last July, she visited the Calais and Dunkirk refugee camps in France, which are notorious for hellish conditions. She felt an instant connection to the people there, she says. Two weeks after her visit, the French government bulldozed the Dunkirk camp. I ask if any moments from those trips stuck with her. She tells me a story of a young boy, around 8 years old, whom she met at the Dunkirk camp. His family had fled Iran because they were facing persecution, as hers had, and they had been stuck in the camp for close to 10 months. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Boniadi asked him. “A doctor,” he told her, “so that I can help people.”

Last July, Chris McNeil (@Reflog_18 on Twitter) joined to discuss the Kevin Costner-starring golf film, Ron Shelton's "Tin Cup".In honor of this week's U.S. Open, and our episode from this week discussing the best and worst sports movie coaches, here's a clip from our "Tin Cup" episode where we touch on why the ending of the film wasn't the direction we wanted to see. To hear more, check out the full episode that went live on July 4th, 2019.Big Screen Sports is brought to you by Indeed and BetOnline.ag. Use promo code BlueWire to claim your welcome bonus at BetOnline.ag and use promo code BlueWire at Indeed.com/BlueWire for a $75 credit to boost your job post.Episodes of Big Screen Sports drop every Monday. Get updates on the movies on the schedule by following Big Screen Sports on Twitter @Big_ScreenSport or joining the Big Screen Sports Facebook Group. 

In today's News: A pro-life law is struck down A Louisiana law requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals was struck down this morning by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision. Four liberal justices; Kagen, Sotomayer, Breyer and Ginsberg; ruled that the law was similar to a Texas law that was struck down in 2016. Chief Justice John Roberts joined the majority in a concurring opinion stating that while he believes the Texas ruling was incorrect, the concept of precedent requires him to uphold it in subsequent ruling. Conservative Justices Thomas, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Alito, all dissented. In his dissent, Alito wrote “The abortion right recognized in this court’s decisions is used like a bulldozer to flatten legal rules that stand in the way.” Religious restrictions struck down Friday, a federal judge ruled that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James, and Mayor Bill de Blasio may not order or enforce indoor or outdoor restrictions on religious worship gatherings. Represented by the Thomas More Society, two Catholic priests from upstate New York and a trio of orthodox Jewish congregants from Brooklyn sued Cuomo, James and de Blasio for violations of their free exercise of religion and freedom of speech. Senior u.s. District Judge Gary l. Sharpe issued a preliminary injunction and said that Cuomo is wrong to limit worship services as a “matter of public safety” yet condone mass protests. In awarding the injunction, the court noted that “nonessential businesses” that enjoy a 50 percent capacity limitation are not justifiably different than houses of worship.  Concordia Seminary hold virtual event for prospective students Prospective students and their families are invited to learn more about Concordia Seminary, St. Louis during the next steps visitation event, set for 2–4 p.m. Central time Saturday, July 11. Due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, the event will be held online. Designed for prospective pastoral and diaconal students who are married or who are engaged and will be married when they come to the Seminary, the event will give participants valuable information about the application process, financial aid and housing. The event also will include a panel discussion with current students and their spouses who will answer questions and provide information about campus life, local schools and transitioning to the Seminary. Planned Parenthood names new president After spending nearly a year as Planned Parenthood’s acting president and CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson has officially been named the abortion organization’s permanent leader. Last July, Leana Wen, an emergency room physician and the former Baltimore city health commissioner, was fired in a supposed “secret” meeting. Wen claimed it was because she had attempted to make Planned Parenthood less political, and to shift the organization’s more toward health care. Wen was summarily fired, and McGill Johnson was brought on board in her place. In an interview for Planned Parenthood, McGill Johnson claimed she knew she wanted to work in the abortion industry when she saw a pro-life billboard in New York City which read, “The most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb.”

Last July, DA Jaime Esparaza announced he would not seek election after serving 28 years. In 2016, Yvonne Rosales, running as a reformer a reformer narrowly lost to Esparaza. Rosales who began her career as an Assistant District Attorney before going into private practice. She is pushing for reforms in the criminal justice system and discussed issues like police accountability, mass incarceration and wrongful convictions during her interview with Everyday Injustice. The primary runoff starts on June 29 and Election Day is July 14.

Man what a journey!! This episode marks (about) our 100th episode... Which I think deserves some celebrating! Last July, Mason and I decided to start this podcast to help educate people on the fund world that I'm so blessed to be apart of... We had very little expectations at the time, but as time went on, we gained more and more traction... And now we're here, with a mini empire and movement! So thank you... this is all possible because of you. Let's dive into some of my favorite episodes from the last 11 months or so. By the way, if you want a free call with one of my coaches to help you strategize your fund, go to www.investmentfundsecrets.com/free-call **We are not selling or soliciting a security in any way, shape, or form. This content is for entertainment purposes only and is not financial or legal advice**

Quick show of hands: who secretly dreams of having their own TED Talk? I know my hand is up! But while most of us love the idea of giving a TED Talk, we don't always think about the work that goes into making it happen. On this week's interview, Sarah Werner's here to share exactly that. A professional writer and podcaster, Sarah loves to help other creators find confidence and success. Last July, she gave her TEDx Talk, "When You Can't Help Everyone." Watching her speak, you'd never guess just how tumultuous her journey had been up to that point. We're talking: submitting 7 different topics, rewriting up to the day of the talk, and straight up walking off stage during dress rehearsal. Whew. "It was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. The most grueling thing. And part of that was because I was pushing myself towards a presumption, a truth that... wasn't true! It was terrifying." Sarah, thank you so much for everything you shared today! I know your story is going to resonate with a lot of my listeners out there. If you want more from Sarah, visit her website —  https://www.sarahwerner.com/ — or find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Last July, George Ferrocarril was honored at Fort Custer in Augusta, MI.  The end to an incredible journey that would not be possible without the help of his friends and their hard work and tenacity to honor

Last July, the American Federation of Teachers hosted the TEACH (Together Educating America’s Children) Conference in Washington DC. The first of several episodes kicks off with Opening Remarks from various teachers around the country and a speech to educators by AFT… Continue Reading →

Last July, the Missouri Supreme Court enacted rules requiring judges to first consider non-monetary conditions for pretrial release when setting bond conditions. Since then, several high profile crimes have led to backlash against the new Missouri Supreme Court rules. Recently, more than 80 Missouri state representatives signed onto a letter asking the court to revoke the new bond rules. In this episode, we explore what was behind the initial rule changes by the Missouri Supreme Court and the current debate over whether those rules should be rescinded.

This week Bernie Madoff announced that he is dying from kidney disease and asked a judge to grant him an early release. Last July, he asked President Donald Trump to reduce his sentence. For more than a decade, Madoff — locked away from the world as he serves a 150-year prison sentence — has been the face of greed. In December 2018, CNBC special correspondent Scott Cohn and American Greed executive producer Chuck Schaeffer went “behind bars” to uncover the Madoff of today, from the lawyers and investigators to the victims. This episode goes inside the mind of the world’s most notorious con man. Who is Madoff? What makes him tick? (Original release: 12/10/2018) You can find the rest of the "Madoff 10 Years Later" series in the American Greed Podcast archive. Subscribe today for free wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last July, Major League Baseball fans were shocked when Tyler Skaggs, a rising star pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels, was found dead in his hotel room. The toxicology report indicated Skaggs had oxycodone, fentanyl and alcohol in his system, causing him to overdose. The tragic loss of Tyler Skaggs left many people wondering how his drug abuse went undetected by Major League Baseball. But it quickly became a compelling motivator to change their approach to substance use disorder in the workplace. Last month MLB announced its new drug testing policy, which will include mandatory opioid testing for all players. The current MLB drug program tests players for performance-enhancing drugs like anabolic steroids, and other so-called “drugs of abuse”, including opioids, only if they had “reasonable cause”. The new MLB testing policy shifts way from solely punishing drug abusers, to getting them the help they need, a refreshing change in policy that has never been attempted in professional sports before. To help us better understand the new MLB drug testing policy, joining us is journalist Jared Diamond of the WSJ. His in-depth reporting on this issue provides an insider’s perspective on MLB’s sweeping changes to their drug testing policy.

Last July, HI Pitch interviewed several component state association (CSA) leaders at the annual CSA Leadership Symposium, asking them for their views on AHIMA's new Mission and Vision statements and the Association's future. We gathered plenty of interesting thoughts and inspiring words!

Lowell Ponte, The left’s plan to abolish prisons, 6 % of Human are Criminal Predators, Biochemical Genetic Evil Lurchs in These People!, Crazy SQUAD, Ilhan Omar, Absent a Cortex, Brainless Hell Clown, Demon-Rats, End of Civil Armerican Society, No Defense No Guns, Crazies on Loose All Over Nation, Dr Bill Deagle MD AAEM ACAM A4M, NutriMedical Report Show, www.NutriMedical.com, www.ClayandIRON.com, www.Deagle-Network.com,https://www.nutrimedical.com/product-category/epigenetic-song-of-dna-therapy/, The left’s plan to abolish prisonsLowell Ponte takes aim at AOC over desire to free criminals WND, October 10, 2019 URL: https://www.wnd.com/2019/10/lefts-plan-abolish-prisons/“Mass incarceration is our American reality,” declared socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., days ago via Twitter. “It is a system whose logic evolved from the same lineage as Jim Crow, American apartheid & slavery. That means we need to have a real conversation about decarceration & prison abolition in this country.”Ocasio-Cortez is a utopian believer in the state’s power to re-engineer human minds and hearts. She believes that “the U.S. incarcerates more than anywhere in the world” – nearly 2.3 million, just over two-thirds of 1% of our population – because we use our jails and prisons “as de facto mental hospitals, homeless shelters, & detox centers instead of … investing in … mental health, housing, edu, & rehab.”Her “prison abolition” views were echoed this month by the radicalized Student Government Assembly at New York University, which issued a statement opposing Marxocrat New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to replace the Rikers Island Prison with new, more “humane” jails.The student statement declared that “jails do not make us safe” and instead “serve only to further harm black and brown families, individuals, and communities and to perpetuate a racist and violent criminal legal system.”The statement, writes American Thinker pundit Eric Utter, also “endorsed a plan by a group called ‘No New Jails NYC’ that would mandate the $11 billion de Blasio was to invest in new jails instead be used to fund ‘housing for all,’ and other (woker) public programs.”No New Jails NYC is “committed to totally abolishing the city’s jail system by ‘disrupting every level of power’ and demands that de Blasio ‘responsibly release’ the 1,000 or so prisoners at Rikers.”Last July, under the bipartisan, idealistic “First Step Act,” the federal government released the first 2,243 of what is supposed to become a flood tide of non-violent inmates back into society. Skeptics had doubts, especially when Democrats blocked an amendment requiring those released to have only a non-violent criminal record. In fact, in this first group set free were 496 imprisoned for weapons/explosives-related crimes, 239 for sex offenses, 106 for robbery and 59 found guilty of homicide or aggravated assault.One of those released earlier this year after passage of the First Step Act was 41-year-old Joel Francisco, who had been serving a three-strikes-you’re-out life sentence for trafficking crack and powder cocaine. He had also been leader of a violent criminal gang, the Almighty Latin Kings, in Providence, Rhode Island. He reportedly was convicted in 1997 for assault with intent to murder. A warrant has just been issued for “non-violent” Francisco, who allegedly stabbed a man to death.Progressives believe that society makes people go bad and that leftist benevolence can make the most hardened recidivist criminal good. Leftist reformers renamed jails “penitentiaries,” places where criminals did “penance” and “repented.” For decades famed crime sociologist James Q. Wilson shared this idealistic people-are-inherently-good dogma.But one day Wilson awoke to reality: 3-6% of criminals are irredeemably evil. These predators see themselves as wolves and the rest of us as sheep to be sheared and preyed upon. They see parole boards as a game to lie to and con others into setting them loose again into civilized society.“Professor Wilson is not optimistic about changing the nature of man,” a fellow criminologist wrote, “and he clearly rejects the rehabilitative model as a historical failure and a hypocritical philosophy because of its inefficacy.”Repeat predatory criminals are incurable, Wilson realized. The only thing a sane society can do is lock them up and throw away the key. If jails are abolished, these freed wolves will devour us. In the left’s current heaven on Earth – socialist Venezuela – government confiscated the firearms of the law-abiding, then freed criminals and gave them these confiscated guns.In the United States, George Soros-manipulated liberal cities make it ever-easier for recidivist criminals to rob and intimidate without fearing jail time. Crime pays. The fearful law-abiding now look out through bars installed for safety over their home windows.Abolishing prisons should be a topic at the Oct. 15 Democratic presidential debate. Making his first appearance there will be egomaniacal billionaire Tom Steyer, who bought his place on stage. Ironically, Steyer made his billions by selling coal mines and a large investment in Corrections Corp. of America, a private company that operates for-profit prisons.In today’s America, the greediest and most vicious criminals have become the politically correct leftist politicians who rule and enslave us. As Mark Twain wrote: “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” For information regarding your data privacy, visit Acast.com/privacy See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last July 29, we reached our earliest Earth Overshoot Day in the history of mankind. This is the day in the year when earth officially consumes all the resources it is meant to consume for the entire year. Today, we sit down with Atty. Niner Guiao and Atty. Aya de Leon. They are the founders of Parabukas, an environmental consulting firm. We'll talk all about Climate Change, the role of the Philippines on it, and we'll also be tackling the green trend.

Last July, with issue 193, Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard and company abruptly ended The Walking Dead. In this episode, Emmet is joined by Bobsy (of the podcasts Shadow Trap and Diane, and an occasional guest on Silence) to examine the series and how it ended. What is the deeper meaning of the series, and was … Continue reading #634 The End of “The Walking Dead”

Last July, at least 21 civilians were killed in Negros Oriental, but human rights groups say that since January 2017, a total of 87 people have been gunned down for the same motives. Today, we sit down with Nadja De Vera from the Defend Negros #StopTheAttacks Network and Nanay Delia, the mother of one of the victims. We'll be discussing the situation in Negros, as well as the events and motives that led to these killings.

We're back and ready to bring you some refreshing new prank calls! Last July 4th we attempted to bring you guys a pre-recorded episode. Problem was, our OBS system couldn't synch up the audio until now! Here's the first of two craigslist calls that took a turn for the weird. It started pretty standard. Call about a shitty item and do your damnest to negotiate the price up! Well that's the prequel to getting this dude's wife pregnant! Enjoy! Tune in every Wednesday @8pm to see the show LIVE! https://www.youtube.com/c/GraveyardGoonz Become a Patron to support the journey to a higher end show, more animations and brilliant concepts we need money to birth into the world! https://www.patreon.com/graveyardgoonz

Last July at the inaugural Hawaii ParaCon, I felt an unmistakable spark, sadly lacking at most conventions of this kind. Oahu’s annual and only paranormal conference returns July 19-21, 2019 to offer a fresh, cross-cultural approach. This year the conference has expanded to include an exploration of the history and practices of parapsychology. Organized by … Continue reading 254 – Hawaii Paracon: Ancient Wisdom Meets Parapsychology → The post 254 – Hawaii Paracon: Ancient Wisdom Meets Parapsychology appeared first on See You On The Other Side.

The Ezra Levant Show (June 24, 2019) — Almost one year after the grotesque act of carnage that would be known as the Danforth Shooting, the Toronto Police investigation into the crimes of Faisal Hussain have been released to the public. Last July, Hussain walked along Toronto's Danforth Avenue on a Sunday evening. He opened fire selectively, killing two people and injuring 13 more before turning the gun on himself. Not everyone encountered by Hussain that evening was shot, which is why his motivation is a crucial piece of the puzzle. GUEST Dorre Love

This weeks cannabis bonanza features Greer Barnes (actor/comedian), the unapologetic farmer Randy Cameron Jr., Jahan Marcu, Ph.D, and special guest Dan “Grassroots” Goldman from the MJToday podcast. While our resident Clinical Social Worker is at the beach, she does call us to Check In!Segments:• The Check In - How are we doing?• Our word of the day is: Bhangini• Research Focus/High Science: 1975 The Effects of Cannabinoids in Man• CannaBusting - Finding or Fiction We will test your knowledge of recent cannabis news and science• Mind MunchiesPLEASE support us on patreon - for as little as $1 per episode: https://www.patreon.com/newhemptimesWORD OF THE DAY:Bhangini : an ancient sanskrit and hindi word for cannabis translating to "breaks three kinds of misery”.HIGH SCIENCE/RESEARCH FINDINGS:The article for today’s High Science, is a trip through the wayback machine to 1975 and covers a foundational study documenting the so-called "slingshot effect”, a term used to describe the effects of taking THC and CBD together, which has been described on social media and other anecdotal reports.Science Article Title: Interactions in Man of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol - Cannabinol and Cannabidiol• When taken orally CBD can delay onset, increase duration and intensity of THC• This occurs because CBD can block the liver metabolism of drugs• The effect appears slight in this studySource:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1097148More Notes on the 75’ study:Oral doses of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) 20 mg, combined with placebo or with 40 mg doses of cannabinol (CBN) and cannabidiol (CBD), were given to volunteers. The combination of THC with CBN produced no detectable changes in the quality, intensity, or duration of the effects of THC alone. The THC-CBD combination tended to delay onset and prolong effects of THC, while making them somewhat more intense. Even this interactive effect was slight, providing no reason to abandon the current practice of basing doses of marihuana for clinical studies solely on THC content. At the very most, the presence of comparatively large amounts of CBD in combination with THC may have increased slightly its clinical effects. CBD has been reported to be a potent inhibitor of hydroxylating enzymes. Such an action could delay formation of the Il-hydroxymetabolite, one which is known to be somewhat more potent than the parent substance. This action might also delay formation of dihydroxymetabolites, which are generally assumed to be inactive. Thus, the clinically observed slower onset and longer duration of the THC-CBD combination might possibly be explained by this mechanism.Link to recent post on the subject:https://merryjane.com/culture/can-you-get-high-from-too-much-cbdCANNABUSTING: Finding or Fiction?When you hear strange things about Marijuana...Who you gonna Call?! CANNABUSTERS!To warm us up, let’s start simply, a news report stated that in all, 31,075 people are registered with the program. Fewer than half of registered Ohio medical marijuana patients buying product: marijuana newshttps://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/05/fewer-than-half-of-registered-ohio-medical-marijuana-patients-buying-product-marijuana-news.html--This story is out of florida, the Grandmother (or great-grandmother) that was arrested for CBD oil at Disney World, detained again this week after returning to the park and got caught using a vape pen. After some very serious comments about how she was treated, She quipped to the media, appearing with her lawyer, in an interview, that “I thought that chipmunk was following me but I kept telling myself not to be so paranoid.”BUT WHAT IS TRUE...is that the Grandmother, Hester Burkhalter, is threatening to sue Disney and Orange county police of Florida, represented by Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. Charges were dropped, but she is suing over things like spending 12 hours in jail while waiting to post bail...https://www.clickorlando.com/news/great-grandmother-to-file-lawsuit-after-being-detained-at-disney-for-cbd-oil---“You stole my schedule 1 drug recipe!” THC and CBD Extract Patent May Be Enforced, Dispute Headed for Jury Trialhttps://www.cannalawblog.com/cannabis-patent-litigation-update-the-911-patent-passes-the-alice-test/Pure Hemp previously filed a motion for partial summary judgment back in November, which if granted, would have ruled some of UCANN’s patent claims invalid. The premise of Pure Hemp’s motion was that UCANN’s claims aren’t actually patentable and such “substantially pure liquid CBD products are ubiquitous” in the marketplace. Plaintiff United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) owns the “911 Patent,” which generally covers liquid cannabinol formulations of a purified CBD and/or THC greater than 95%. Last July, UCANN sued defendant Pure Hemp Collective, Inc. (“Pure Hemp”), alleging that Pure Hemp had infringed on the 911 Patent. UCANN is hoping to secure a permanent injunction against Pure Hemp from infringing on its patent, as well as damages and attorneys’ fees. Pure Hemp’s motion is denied, the case will proceed as normal toward a jury trial. It’s likely that there will be more motion practice, and we’ll keep posting regular updates on this case as we receive them.SCIENCE FINDINGS OR FICTIONSMen’s cannabis use increasing twice as fast as women’shttps://greencamp.com/mens-cannabis-use-increasing-twice-as-fast-as-womens-heres-why/Since legalization took place this past October, the percentage of men in Canada who’ve used cannabis in the past three months increased by 3.3 percent. The increase for women was 1.7 percent.---Backer, R., Schwinghamer, T., Rosenbaum, P., McCarty, V., Eichhorn Bilodeau, S., Lyu, D., et al. (2019). Closing the Yield Gap for Cannabis: A Meta-Analysis of Factors Determining Cannabis Yield. Frontiers in Plant Science, 10, 1999–15. http://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00495 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.00495----Arkell, T. R., Lintzeris, N., Kevin, R. C., Ramaekers, J. G., Vandrey, R., Irwin, C., et al. (2019). Cannabidiol (CBD) content in vaporized cannabis does not prevent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-induced impairment of driving and cognition, 1–12. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-019-05246-8Conclusion: Cannabis containing equivalent concentrations of CBD and THC appears no less impairing than THC-dominant cannabis, and in some circumstances, CBD may actually exacerbate THC-induced impairment.MIND MUNCHIES I use this quote to help determine what I think is a drug and what is not a drug:"A drug is a substance which, if injected into a rabbit, produces a paper.” - Otto Loewi See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last July, Mark French joined me on Strokecast to share his stroke story and talk about his new film, A Teachable Moment. It tells the stories of four Washington, DC, area stroke survivors as they navigate the new world of stroke recovery. Mark was one of the featured survivors, as was Anne Daily who I spoke with in Episode 14 about making the shift key her bitch. It also features doctors and fantastic animations that explain stroke in a simple and understandable way. The film is an hour long and available on Amazon Prime Video. You can learn more at http://ATeachableMoment.Film. Mark had his severe hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes in May of 2015 caused by AFib (or Atrial Fibrillation) and went on to make an amazing recovery. Four years to the day, in May of 2019, he suffered another stroke (or series of strokes). Sadly, this time he didn't make it. My heart goes out to the French family, the team at LAI Video (here's their tribute to Mark), and all the folks who made A Teachable Moment possible. Lessons I don't know all the details; from outward appearances, Mark was doing everything right. Sometimes, that's not enough. Even among folks here are doing everything right, there are still strokes. Roughly 20% of strokes have no known cause. Roughly 20% are also fatal. Stroke is not a vaccine; getting one doesn't guarantee you won't have another. For those of us who survive, and those around the survivor, stroke e a powerful wake up call. Our time on this Earth is limited. And we don't know when our time is up. What are you going to do with your remaining days? This episode is largely a clip show. I went back to my conversation with Mark from last summer and pulled out some key things he said that I feel get to the heart of his story, his message, and his legacy of driving Stroke awareness. A Teachable Moment Trailer   BE FAST   Hack of the week With use of only one hand, getting ice cubes out of an ice cube tray can be difficult. My new strategy is to grab the end of the tray with my usable hand and smack the bottom on the counter. It may take 2 or 3 tries, but this usually pops the ice cubes free. Then I can lift them out with my fingers. Links LAI Remembers Mark French https://www.laivideo.com/blog/remembering-mark-french A Teachable Moment http://ATeachableMoment.Film What is AFib? http://Strokecast.com/Afib Stroke Smart Article on A Teachable Moment http://www.strokesmart.org/stroke-documentary LAI Video on Twitter https://twitter.com/LAIvideo Mark French on Strokecast http://Strokecast.com/Mark Anne Dailey  on Strokecast http://Strokecast.com/Anne Request a Screening https://www.ateachablemoment.film/host-a-screening/ Where do we go from here? Next time you use an ice cube to chill a beverage, raise a glass to Mark French and all the others taken from us too soon by stroke. Check out LAI Video's tribute to Mark here. Talk to your Doctor about AFib and other risk factors. Watch and share A Teachable Moment with other folks you know so more people can benefit from Mark's legacy. Don't get best…get better.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. Every year there are more than five million cases of skin cancer diagnosed. Last July at the age of just 20-years-old University of Kentucky football player Joshua Paschal found out he had melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer. Paschal attributes football with helping him find the cancer and he says the support of his family and team helped him along his journey.

Last July we rebooted our second movie. They immediately guessed what movie it was. Join our new group of heroes as they travel back in…Continue ReadingMovie 2 – Episode 1: The Parent Trap (or The Terminator)

The American dream no longer represents home ownership. Whether you’re looking to rent or buy, everyone wants the same thing: A place they call, “home.” Not a house, but a home. There is a difference. Today, I am talking with Chris Litster, CEO of Buildium, which helps property managers handle properties, leases, tenants, and units. Chris shares how property management firms should focus on customer service, relationships, and reputation. You’ll Learn... [06:53] Service Oriented, Relationship Focused: Avoid treating residents, owners, or vendors adversarially, if you want to be a successful property management firm. [07:43] Millennial and Baby Boomer generations view home ownership as a burden. When things change, personally or professionally, they want to be able to move. [09:25] One reason to rent is to avoid dealing with and doing maintenance. Time is better spent focusing on other priorities. [11:19] Multiple generations want technology from property management companies to automate payments, submit maintenance request, and perform other tasks. [12:04] People demand a strong relationship with their property management “firm.” Their moving away from using the term, “Landlord,” because of the baggage it brings. [12:25] Property managers should make their language more friendly and appealing. [15:50] Property management firms should shift their mindset to be service-oriented and understanding to have stronger relationships and less resident turnover. [17:40] Property managers have a massive network and influence with owners, tenants, potential residents, and others. They can cause a ripple effect and change the world. [19:50] Every property manager says they’re the only good ones. All others are terrible. A mindset of scarcity has been falsely created in the industry. [20:50] Low levels of awareness and perception impact a business’s ability to grow. The industry needs collaboration over competition. [22:41] Buildium believes, knows, and has evidence that service orientation and relationships matter. [25:38] Core principle and goal of technology is to take care of customers and solve their problems efficiently. [28:53] Strategic vs. Tactical Timing: Expanding and growing a business takes time and effort. Automating processes gives you time to think strategically. [30:57] SEO Lottery Addiction: Spending revenue on SEO won’t generate ROI. [37:21] Ladder of Autonomy: Companies that understand their business, customers, message, and differentiator are at the top level and benefit everyone involved. [38:43] Fundamental Funnel Basics: Brand, pricing, reputation, Website, sales process. Tweetables American dream no longer represents home ownership. Landlord Stereotype: Evil person who collects your rent, but doesn’t take care of things. Low levels of awareness and perception impact a business’s ability to grow. The industry needs collaboration over competition. Resources Chris Litster’s Email Address Buildium All Property Management - a Buildium Company Constant Contact MailChimp DGS 3: Buildium’s 2015 State of Property Management Report – Part 1 DGS 3: Buildium’s 2015 State of Property Management Report – Part 2 National Association of Residential Property Managers (NARPM) The Iceberg Report Google Ads DoorGrowClub Facebook Group DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason: All right, we are live. Welcome, DoorGrow hackers to the DoorGrow Show. If you are a property management entrepreneur that wants to add doors, make a difference, increase revenue, help others, impact lives, and you are interested in growing your business and life, and you are open to doing things a bit differently, then you are a DoorGrow hacker. DoorGrow hackers love the opportunities, daily variety, unique challenges, and freedom that property management brings. Many in real estate think you’re crazy for doing it, you think they’re crazy for not, because you realize that property management is the ultimate high-trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management businesses and their owners. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. I’m your host, property management growth expert Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow. Now, let’s get into the show. Today, I have a special guest. I am here hanging out with Chris Litster, the CEO of Buildium. Chris, welcome to the DoorGrow Show. Chris: Hey, Jason. How are you? Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. I’m just flabbergasted by that opening. The energy, I could already feel it. It’s going to be a great hour. Jason: Yeah. I put quite a bit of thought into that little intro. Chris: It’s great. It’s fantastic. Jason: Yeah. We’re pretty passionate about this and we want to champion a cause here. Chris, I’m really excited to have you on. I love to get a little bit of background on you and how you got connected to Buildium. Give us a little history here. Chris: Sure. I’ve been with Buildium now for just over a little bit of 2½ years. I have been in the SMB or the small- and medium-sized business market space for probably 15–20 years. I’ve been in tech for a lot longer than that. I was with IBM for a while, a couple of other tech companies, then I landed at Constant Contact in 2006. It was an email marketing firm for small businesses like MailChimp and a couple of other players in that space. I was with Constant Contact for 10 years, started with them, they’re pretty small, and that when we grew them and scaled with a great team at Constant Contact. Ultimately, ended up selling them three years ago, selling Constant Contact. Took a year off to reacquaint myself with my wife and three boys. During that 10 years they have the short end of the stick as we’re building Constant Contact. During that time off, I had the opportunity, through different acquaintances and such, to meet the former CEO and one of the founders of Buildium, Michael Monteiro, who I know that you had on this show. Michael, at that point, was interested in just talking with folks who had scaled companies before. Buildium was on the verge of that inflection point of really scaling and revenue growth was starting to really accelerate. Michael and the team at that time over the past 12 years or so, had grown Buildium to where it was. Now, because of our great product, great team, and great customers, we are ready to go to the next level. We started talking and it took three times of meeting each other. Finally, it was either he or maybe it was I who had said, “Hey, wait a minute. Do you want me here and did you say, ‘Hey, would you want to join us?’” I wasn’t really ready to jump back into the space yet but there’s so many great things going on here at Buildium that I decided to. The fact that Buildium again was focused of small and medium business was something that really attracted me because this is where I get my passion from the small business folk. The fact that it was then focused on one vertical instead of hundreds, that being property management on the residential side, I jumped in. I joined a couple of years ago as the Chief Customer Officer and for that, I was responsible for sales, marketing, partners, support, and success. I did that for the next year, year-and-a-half or so. Around that time, Michael and I started talking about Michael looking to transition out of the CEO role. He’s been the CEO since founding—that was 12 years or so—and we started talking. Last July, we went through the transition. I have now been the CEO since last July and I’m loving every minute of it. Jason: Cool and what’s he up to now? Chris: Michael and Dimitris, our other founder, are both advisers here at Buildium. Dimitris has a couple of things going on but he’s here a couple of days a week helping us out with some of the larger initiatives that we have going on. Michael’s here a couple of days a week advising me, the rest of the exec team. They’re both active board members for Buildium. It’s just great having them both here because it just adds to that continuity, builds on the history. I can turn to him and say, “Hey, this customer that’s been around for 10 years. How did we get them and what were the things that they were looking to do 10 years ago?” so that when I go and meet them, I know the history that they’ve had with Buildium and how we’ve helped them grow. Jason: Great. The topic that we had discussed or that we had down is homes, not houses. Let’s get into that. What do you mean by homes, not houses? Chris: Great question. I’m sure, as many people know, Buildium is in the residential space, as far as helping property managers with our platform to manage their properties, manage their leases, tenants, and units. Also on the accounting side. We have 16,000 customers, we’re managing on the platform about 1.8 million units, and through that, we have the ability to not only talk and speak with our customers in the residence, but also because of our partnership with NARPM and a few other things, we do a ton of research. We have most certainly seen over the past couple of years, this trend where the idea of the importance of relationships between the property management firm and their residents has really taken on a new and different light where relationships have become so important. As part of that, the realization that regardless of if you rent or if you buy a home, everyone is looking for the same thing. Even when you are a renter, you are actually looking for a place that you can call home. The idea of referring to this as a rental property or a rental unit, in the minds of the resident, they’re really looking to understand and get that feeling of, “Hey, I’m going to call this home.” Why are they doing that? Because frankly, there’s many trends that are going on, both at, let’s say, the millennial segment as well as in the upper segments of the baby boomers, where this idea of the American Dream where it used to represent home ownership no longer really stands for that. It’s the whole idea of that, ‘I just want to find a home.’ By calling it a home and not a house, what we’re trying to do is bring that idea of belonging and bring that idea of where can I put my roots down. Just for the fact that I didn’t sign a mortgage and I have a rental agreement, doesn’t mean that my aspirations are different somehow. Because of that, property management firms should really take that idea really as far down the road as they can and understand that they have to be service-oriented. They have to be relationship-focused. This idea sometimes of looking at residents or your owners or your vendors in somewhat of an adversarial way, is no longer something that you can do if you really want to be a successful 21st century property management firm. Jason: That makes a lot of sense. I think part of the challenge is that nowadays, millennials and the younger generation, a lot of them see home ownership as a burden. They see it as a tether in a lot of situations. We live in a day and age in which people can work from coffee shops, they can have freedom, they can travel, and jobs change. It’s no longer the day and age where people will stay in the same career sometimes for just 20 years. When things are changing, they want to be able to move. I think also, one of the reasons I’ve always enjoyed renting was I didn’t have to do the maintenance stuff. I do want to have to deal with that. I either have to hire a house manager to manage the property for me or have a property manager that helps manage those things for me. I don’t want to have to deal with that. My time is far better spent on my business, with my family, those kind of things, and that’s not just a priority for me. I don’t have any sort of kick out of doing that stuff. Chris: Exactly and that’s not only. So, 100% on the millennial side. The idea that even though they may only be a resident for a year or two years, again, they still want to have that strong feeling of being able to call this their home. The same thing, for different reasons, is on the baby boomer generation. Here we now have this generation who are quickly becoming empty nesters left, right, and center, and they now have really no more great use for the large house that they have in the suburbs. They have all this space, again to your point, they no longer want to have to clean in every week and they no longer want to maintain this beautiful house. So, what they’re doing is actually selling their houses. We’re seeing a big trend of, for example, there’s a brand new neighborhood here in Boston that has just grown over the past decade or so called the Seaport. Many empty nesters are moving into the Seaport and renting. Actually, they’re renting it with some of the leases are almost renting at will, a three-month lease, a half year lease, for the same reasons that you talked about. They want to now travel. They want to have that flexibility that, should they want to pick up and explore another part of the country or another country altogether, they don’t want to be burdened, like you said, tethered down by the fact that they’re carrying this mortgage. That is changing on the top end as well. The interesting thing that binds these two segments together, these two parts of our industry together, is they’re both asking for technology. They’re both asking for technology with their property management companies for automation of payments, understanding, “Hey, if I have burst pipe, I don’t want to have to call but rather perhaps tell Alexa that there’s a burst pipe or you log into the portal to put in there maintenance request. Even though many people look at millennials and baby boomers as quite different—in many cases they are—there’s a huge intersection in the property management space that both of these segments share. The largest one that we’re seeing, there’s two. One, again is around technology and the other one is demanding a really strong relationship with their property management firm and actually moving away from even using the word ‘landlord’ because there’s just so much baggage in that word. But saying, “My property management company,” or, “My property manager,” it really works to strike in the relationship that they’re looking to have. Jason: Let’s talk a little bit about the language then because I think that does matter. I think you’re right. The word ‘landlord’ is always been displayed or the archetype of the landlord is this sort of evil person that you have to pay rent to and that doesn’t take care of things. This is what you’ll see in shows. They’re often this great antagonist in virtually any show. Because we’re talking about homes, not houses, what sort of language should a property manager be using? How should we be rephrasing this to make things a bit more tenant-friendly and shifting towards being more appealing towards residents? Chris: That’s it. That last word you just used. We strain and really speak with our property management customers about the idea of resident versus tenant. There’s just a deeper meaning around resident as opposed to lacking emotion the word tenant. As the title of what we’re talking about here today, wherever you have that opportunity, use the word home as opposed to unit. Unit is so devoid of any emotion. Even if it’s a rental apartment or even if it’s a multifamily property, when you’re talking with the residents, talk it in a sense of their home. And the idea of partnership. We talked about looking for a deeper relationship amongst all of the different constituents that our property management company works with. Instead of looking at it as us and them, you talk about the partnerships. The partnership that you have together with your vendors, the maintenance vendor or your service partners. The partnership that you have with your owner. So really, getting away from, again, that adversarial type of thing and being deliberate about using this language and taking the time to check yourself as a property management firm, to make sure that you’re using that language that holds your constituents or your partners in, as opposed to setting up that wall between you and your resident, you and your vendor, or you and your owner. Jason: Got it. I’ve heard some property managers joke that calling your clients your owners has this psychological negative impact. If you call somebody your owner, they own you. You’re like a slave to them. Chris: Yeah. You reminded me of another one. Definitely that idea of client versus owner, tenant versus resident, service partners instead of, “This is my landscaper or roofer.” Jason: I like the idea of service partners instead of just vendors. The latter sounds pretty cold. All right, we’ve addressed several target audiences here that are connected to property management. Tenants instead of our residents, owners instead of our clients, vendors instead of service partners. Are there any other groups we’re missing here? Chris: No. I think, yes, it’s language but if you look at the property management firm itself, there’s a mindset shift that needs to happen. It’s that idea of being service-oriented and being understanding that if you get that service-orientation, you’re going to have stronger relationships and you’re going to then hopefully have residents who stay in your properties longer, so then not having to deal with your turnover expense, the constant ins and outs, and just building those bonds. Ultimately, again, building the language with that mind shift. We have customers that are just living into this idea. Not only are they growing, they start to get a reputation for this. We know in our space, word of mouth is so important that they’re seeing people coming to them and saying, “Hey, I’ve heard that you really are doing something different and you really are looking to help with the service perspective. And on top of that, you’re using some cool technology that helps build on the relationships.” This idea of technology taking out the human factor is not what we’re talking about. Being a technology vendor, some people are somewhat surprised to hear that. We look at technology being the enabler, to help firms become more efficient so that they then have the time to be able to focus on building these relationships, making sure they’re service-oriented, and making sure frankly that they’re differentiating themselves from everybody else in the pack. Jason: I think that’s a really important distinction. Going back to what you’re talking about, you’re talking about with residents, with clients, service partners, you’re talking about just in general being a more respectful company honoring other people, caring about other people. I really believe that property managers have a massive network. They have a massive ripple effect between all the owners, all the tenants, all the different people that they connect with, even potential residents, they are able to have quite a big influence. It can be a bunch of little micro interactions that are negative, and it can be lots of micro interactions that are positive. That little shift, even in language and little things. This is what gets me excited about our company, DoorGrow, and impact that we get to have through our clients. But I really believe that good property management can change the world. Chris: I completely believe that. I’m with you 100%. That’s so great. Jason: So, good property management can change the world. Bad property management [...] industry and it can have a massive ripple effect either way. Chris: Well, think about this. To you’re point, driving and if you’re commuting somewhere, we know that property management firms love to have the banners, love to have the advertising, “This building is managed by so-and-so.” If they have a bad reputation, people that are two, three, or four degrees away from that actual company, there’s a good change that they know of that reputation. So, even though I’m not directly involved in XYZ property management firm, when I drive into Boston every morning, I know of folks, those that aren’t even our customers, I know the reputation that they have. I think that’s a good example of that ripple effect. They’re always out there. You can’t miss those banners. There’s just this constant on of this advertising for these property management firms, that if they don’t have that great reputation to back it up, like you said, it can impact them pretty directly. Jason: I think it’s even bigger than that and I want everyone listening to realize this. A lot of property managers I talk to, they say, “Well, we started our company because there weren’t any good companies in our market,” or they tell me, “We’re the only good ones. All the other ones are terrible.” But everyone says that. What’s interesting is I think some people have this mindset of scarcity that I think has been falsely created in this industry. In single family residential, according to Iceberg Group, we’ve got about 70% that are self-managing. There’s tons of blue ocean, tons of available potential market share, and yet everybody’s been fighting over the coldest, worst, most difficult leads. I think the thing to realize is that there really isn’t scarcity right now in the US. There really is not and the thing that I really want listeners to pay attention to is that the companies that have bad reputations in your market are hurting your ability to grow your company because of that. The awareness level is low and the perception level is low. Those two things are impacting your ability to grow. I think what the industry needs right now is collaboration over competition. Collaboration allows you to feel safe helping your competitors. A rising tide raises all ships is sort of true but it sinks some because the tide is low in the industry as a whole. Some of those ships are not seaworthy and they’ll sink. But I think if you can lift up the ones that are seaworthy, there’s going to be a lot more business to go around. The ones that are at the top promoting the industry are going to be the ones that win. Anytime there’s a new business category in the US, the person that builds the category instead of their own individual brand is the winner. Google built the category of internet search. Now we google everything. Whether you’re on any other search engine, “I’m going to google it.” Kleenex built the category of disposable paper facial tissue. Everyone was using handkerchiefs before that. So now, Kleenex is synonymous with any tissue. “Give me Kleenex.” Property management has been held back, I believe, and has a huge opportunity to grow. It’s been around for decades but the problem is the awareness level is on par with brand new industries. I don’t even know of any other new industries that exist in the US that are as young in reputation, perception, and that sort of infancy other than maybe marijuana, vaping and these kind of things. Property management can be as big, I think, as the real estate industry. It has that potential. We barely scratched the surface. Chris: I completely agree. It’s funny that you used the all the boats rising because we talk about that all the time here at Buildium. We talk about the idea that this industry is ripe for so many things as far as growth and a little bit of disruption, as far as technology adoption, and it’s all for the idea of introducing the true human element into the industry. Further, this idea that everyone who really buys into that is then going to rise up because as you said, I think there’s enough pie for everybody. It’s really interesting when we’re at either some of our meetups or we’re at NARPM, there is a real camaraderie around those folks. You can almost tell those folks that have really been successful around this idea of understanding, it’s the strength of relationships that count. Why? They’re not threatened by the other property management firms because they know that their relationships are solid, that their residents, their clients, their service partners are going to stay with them, because they know the reason that they’re going to stay with them. They don’t mind talking with other PMCs because they know that they’re solid in their business. What really working here to try to bring that element, obviously in addition to the technology. But there is a change that needs to happen and frankly, it’s not just a, “Hey, we think you should change.” What we’re saying is, “We 100% believe, know, and have evidence that people who take this idea of service orientation, this idea of relationships matter, and using technology to get to those, we know it works.” Again, 16,000 customers and we have so many of them that are successful, who have bought into that entire idea. What do they have? They have happy long-term residents, they have happy clients, and they have happy service partners that aren’t going to go anywhere else because they know they’re in it together. That’s what we’re looking to really continue to help and help the entire industry here, which is really exciting. To your point, there’s an opportunity here that not too many industries have. We have seen research that says that the property management industry is the third highest industry in interaction with constituents, let’s say, because they have to deal with residents, they have to deal with their clients. That idea of total interaction and ongoing interaction with people, it’s the third highest. What are the other two? Hospitality and retail. That’s pretty good company that they’re in and hospitality and retail understand that relationships matter. Now, it’s time for the third person or the third set in this industry to realize that. Jason: That’s really an interesting little factoid right there. Let’s go back to what you mentioned earlier. You’re talking about tech enables you to spend more time on relationships. I think there is this mythical creature that everybody’s chasing after that looks like this robot that will run their business for them. They can cut out relationships and they can have this business that runs itself. It could be super easy. I think when we chase that mythical creature, we end up chasing a pipe dream. It becomes really difficult and we alienate ourselves from our customer base. I think that’s an important thing to point out what you’ve mentioned earlier. I love technology. I’m a total nerd, I love it, I love automation, I love geeking out on this stuff. But the whole goal of all of it, everyone needs to remember the core principle that it’s about your customer. It’s all about giving your customer more depth. I think instead of trying to hit more people, more superficially, more quickly, we need to figure out how to go more deep, more personal, and connect more with more people. If that becomes the focus, then we can leverage technology and automation to take care of the mundane, while we focus on the relationships and getting us personal and as deep as possible. I’ve noticed that a general rule I give to my team, that if any is a sticky or difficult communication, or situation, or somebody’s not happy, we want to go as personal as possible. The most personal would be in person. Second most would be a video call like this. Third would be maybe a phone call. But it needs to be as personal as possible because it just calms the situation down, it makes things easier, and really that’s what people want. People want to be taken cared of. A business only exist if it’s serving somebody and if it’s solving their problems and their pains. That’s only the reason a business exist. You cut yourself off from the customer, you’re really killing your ability to have a business. Chris: Right. Do you want to come and do our copywriting? You’re hitting on every single thing that are just so fundamental to what we believe here at Buildium. The idea of using technology for technology’s sake is a non-starter. The idea of using technology, as you talked about, to serve something and what we truly believe, after talking with our customers and understanding the industry, that using technology leads to the greater efficiency that offers you the ability to then spend your time where you can and where you should from an important business perspective. There are two things. The efficiency brings your ability to spend time with, again, your various partners or clients and your residents. So really, get to know them, to really understand them, to really interact with them because now you don’t have to be chasing them for, let’s say, the rent payment because that’s automated. You don’t have to be chasing them for understanding their tasks, their needs from a maintenance perspective because that’s automated. Rather, what you need to talk with them about is, “Hey, am I meeting your expectations to help you build this home, this idea of a home?” “Hey, am I meeting your expectations as my client?” “Hey, how can we think of growing this business together?” That’s the second part. The second part is how do I look to grow my business? If your goal as a property management firm is to continue to expand, that takes a lot of time. That takes a lot of effort. You really need to understand what type of properties you’re really good at, what types of residents you really want to have, what type of clients you really want to get in business with. That’s not something you can just do haphazardly. You have to work at it. You have to plan at it. If you’re not focused on, as you said, those things that can be repeated and processes that can be automated, that gives you the time to really think of you business strategically to continue to help grow. You are, in a directed fashion, going after and driving how you want to grow your business, so you’re growing your business and your business isn’t growing in spite of you or growing at you. You’re taking control of it and you’re working in a methodical way now to grow your business and become more efficient. Jason: You mentioned something that stood out to me, talking about strategic timing. This is one of the first things we have clients do when they come aboard with us, is we have them do a time study to get really clear on how much strategic time they’re spending in the business and how much tactical time. Usually, their strategic and tactical ratio is almost 99% tactical. It’s like everything is completely tactical. You’re just doing work in the business. You’re handling emails. You’re doing phone calls. You’re dealing with your calendar. You’re just working. Business can’t grow if there isn’t strategic time. Strategic time is the time you spend to focus on growth. If that doesn’t exist, you won’t be growing. I think another thing that’s important to point out is you talked about how customer service and relationships really matters. One thing to point out that I think a lot of property managers listening, I talked to hundreds of property management business owners that they want to do good customer service. They want to be the good company. I don’t think of of them wake up in the morning and say, “I want to be terrible to tenants, I want to be terrible to my owners, and fight terrible customer service.” I think one of the big things holding them back is that the entire industry is addicted to the SEO lottery. The SEO lottery is a losing game for the majority but you get a few noisy winners that hit the jackpot. They tell everybody how they built their business and grew things, they get the top spot in Google, and everybody chases after this myth or this thing like they’re playing the slot machine in Vegas. It’s harmed the entire industry because if the company is spending their hard-earned revenue on SEO, pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, content marketing, social media marketing, and they’re not getting an ROI, then the first thing to go is customer service. They’re worst off than if they have just not spent the money in the first place because they didn’t get an ROI. So, then the first thing to go is that customer service. They’re not growing. There isn’t growth. There isn’t going to be customer service. So, if anybody’s listening, shameless plug, talk to DoorGrow. We help people get out of that problem and then you can move. I find that when people solve that problem, the next thing they want to focus on is everything else. They want to focus on systems and processes, building a team, creating culture, focusing on the customer, and then they get in to making a difference. But when you’re starving, you’re not too focused on anybody else. I think there’s a Chinese proverb that says, “Your own toothache is more important to you than a million people dying on the other side of the world,” or something like that. Chris: I have not heard of that one. That’s pretty interesting. Jason: I may have adapted it, but... Chris: I agree with you. I agree, let’s say 99%, and the reason being is because we’re also, as part of the growth aspect of what we offer and what the industry likes is that we do have the whole property management side of our business. However, I’m going to caveat with that, there is a massive impact of relationship and reputation in that side of the business as well. Why? Because you have prospective clients going to that side and going that that marketplace, and ultimately being exposed to local property management firms because they’re interested in having a third party manage their properties for a myriad reasons as to why they no longer want to self-manage. There is a reputation and relationship aspect that plays into that exposure as well, because again, it goes back to the banners on the side of the building ad that I’ve talked about. When you are exposed to potentially these three, four, whatever other property management firms, if you have a good reputation, I will contend that that owner probably has heard about you. If you have a bad reputation, they’ve probably have heard about you as well and they immediately are going to discount you. If you have a good reputation and they see that, “Okay, this property management firm has said, ‘Yes, I’m open to looking to get more greater properties under management,’” they’re going to turn to that, one that they have a little inkling as far as, “Oh, yeah. I’ve heard that this is a good firm.” I agree with you about the vast majority of what we’ve just talked about. However, reputation and relationships even matter in that space, too. What goes of value, of all the channels, it’s not binary. It’s not the idea of, “Oh, I can just,” to your point, “focus on this execution aspect and not stuff over here,” because this stuff over here is also going to matter in whatever marketing channel or marketing activity you use. Jason: Absolutely. If somebody shores up all the major league should exist in the sales pipeline all the way from awareness to closing a contract, then it makes sense absolutely to do different advertising methods, all probably management. But if you have a massive leak where you have this horrible reputation online, or your website doesn’t create trust or convert or answer their core questions, or your pricing is off in your market, or your branding is off like they think you’re a real estate company or something generic with properties or they’re confused, there’s a lot of potential pitfalls. If you have all those pitfalls, you can turn the spigot on full-blast and it’s not going to work very well. If you have those things tight, you can squeeze blood from a stone and you can use allpropertymanagement.com, you can do SEO services and focus on that, maybe get more business. But you need to make sure that you end up foundation of it, like you said, is word of mouth and reputation. That’s going to trump everything. It’s like a clamp on the pipeline. You could have everything else in alignment but if you have really bad reputation, they’re going to check you out. Even if your website’s amazing, even if your advertising and copywriting are on point, they’re going to go check you out because they want to feel safe. If you’re a one-star company, they’re going to feel a little bit nervous talking to you, and then you’re going to have to figure out how to spin it. Like, “Oh, the tenants just hate us but the owners love us or something like that. Chris: This is something from a small business perspective that it’s not only property management but it’s everywhere. It’s that idea and I think what you’re saying is shoring up your business model before you pour a ton of gas on the top of what we call a funnel. I can’t tell you the number of not only property management firms but owners from all different types of SMBs. When you start to talk with them and they want to do that top of funnel stuff, they want to do all of that because sometimes that’s more attractive. It leaves a more sexy type of activities about growing your business. Then when you go, “Okay. Well, are you going to be able to keep that? Are you going to be able to get a response to that lead within a matter of minutes? Are you going to be able to service that prospect all the way through? And then are you going to be able to keep that prospect if they become a customer for a long time because you’re all service?” That’s when you start to see the whole, “No, I can’t do that. No, I can’t follow-up. I really don’t understand that. I don’t really have good service levels.” It’s very hard for folks to say, “Wow, that would be a waste of money, actually, to really expand my top of funnel work until I get,” like you just said, “everything shored up.” When that happens, you know it. For us here, we talk about the ladder of autonomy. It’s kind of a 50s phrase but companies that are just existing or at the bottom of the ladder. Customers have this level of autonomy because they have all their you-know-what together, they understand their business, they understand their customers, they understand their message, they understand the differentiator, they’re working on a completely different level than other folks in their industry, notably on the property management side. Our whole goal is to get everybody up to that top level on the ladder so everyone, again, we think will benefit from it, the ripples, the network effect that you talked about is going to be there. Who’s going to benefit as well? Residents, clients, and service partners. Jason: Yeah and that’s why at DoorGrow we shifted our focus just to help optimize that whole funnel so it makes sense. Once you have that dialed in, everything is more effective. [...] is more effective, Google Ads is more effective, everything becomes more effective when you take care of those things. I usually use the analogy, it’s like trying to do bodybuilding and you’re not eating food and sleeping but you take some really great supplements. Supplements are not going to cut it, but supplements can really help you get to the next level, probably, if you take care of the foundational basics. Dialing your brand, your pricing, your reputation, your website, your sales process, all these things that are in the funnel, these are the basics. These are [...] any business, like you said. Chris: It’s [...], Jason. I love that that’s your philosophy. It’s so important. And also, everyone here at Buildium is going to be psyched that I said the word funnel a number of times because I talk about [...] company. Jason: I love the idea of a funnel. It’s a great metaphor as well. Is there anything else we should discuss here on this idea of homes, not houses? If not, let’s let you plug something. Chris: I think we covered it. Again, the idea of more and more over the years, we think it’s going to become almost a requirement. Those folks that are grabbing on to it today, competition is there, things are hotter than ever, and it is not nice to have anymore. Other industries have been disrupted through this very same idea and now, we see evidence, we talk with our customers, we talk with general folks that aren’t even our customers in the industry, and we really see this big wave coming. Luckily, it’s also a cool time because the technology is there to enable the way to become more efficient through those processes that you talked about that are more on the just everyday ongoing type of things. Technology is there now to really allow this to happen. It is an exciting time. It’s an exciting time to be a vendor, it’s an exciting time to be a service provider in this space as you guys are, to see where it really goes. Just the whole property management industry is pretty hot right now and I just like to be a part of it. It’s really exciting. Jason: Chris, it’s been great having you on the show. I feel like we had a lot of synergy. I really like you. You strike me as a visionary entrepreneur, a decade building up Constant Contact, all this kind of stuff. Not every company is lead by a visionary. I always feel safer with a company that is led by a visionary entrepreneur. That’s why I use T-Mobile, that’s why I have Apple products. I feel like there’s always been these visionaries at the helm of these companies. One thing I want to point out, to plug Buildium or make them look maybe even better, is we’ve been talking all about being focused on the customer, being focused on your customer, serving your customer. We’ve been talking about that for property management companies, but I’m getting the sense that this is how you and your company view dealing with your own constituents, your own customers, that you want to serve their needs, make a difference for them, and not just squeeze dollar out of them. Chris: 100%. Jason: And to that point, some companies are focused primarily, first and foremost, as to serve investors. There’s a different focus there instead of serving their constituents. I think there’s been a lot of talk about this and a lot of pain by people in some other property management software and it’s really difficult to switch. So, maybe you can touch on that difference a little bit with Buildium and maybe you can tell us how does somebody switch this? Somebody listening might be like, “Hey, maybe I like this guy Chris. I’d rather have him at the helm where I’m tethering my whole business to.” Chris: Yeah. I hope there’s a lot of people that have that reaction. It is a core, foundational reality that we love here at Buildium. It’s something that Michael and Dimitris started years ago. It’s something that I 100% believe in. I think that’s why Michael and I hit it off so well so quickly. It’s actually the core essence of every single Buildium and there’s more than 200 of us now that believes in. We do not believe that we’re going to be a 100-year company who changes the face of property management if that’s not at our core and it is. There’s a reason why we believe that customer success and customer support is not a function in a company but it’s everybody. There’s also a reason to believe that we’ll stay on the phone with customers for however long they need it. Again, property management on the accounting side is pretty involved. We’re not talking about accountants. We will stay on the phone and we will ride out the basic T account and say, “Here’s your debit, where’s the credit?” and we will walk them through that. Why? Because it leads to that relationship and then it leads to that idea that our customers are going to stay with us longer, they’re not going to think about jumping even if there’s a cheaper price or less expensive offering, and they’re going to tell their friends. Word of mouth in this space is so important as it is for our customers. It’s so important for us. This is not corporate baloney that we’re talking about. It is something that we talk at every single company meeting, we talk about every single functional meeting. We have people listening to our phone calls all the time. We have people out in the field, employees are out in the field meeting with customers. You got to fly to California? Go fly to California. It’s going to pay off with the lifetime relationship that we end up with our customers. How can people switch and if they are interested in getting to know me? cmlitster@buildium.com. Just email me. We have our standard customer success or support line. It’s on buildium.com. I have literally dozens, hundreds even, customers that I know personally, that the rest of my executive team, leadership team, and all of the Buildians. We know these customers. Just because we’re 16,000 strong doesn’t mean that you’re just a number. We will be here for anything that you need. We just had customers up here the other day. We have a brand new office, which is great because we grew out of our other one and we spent the whole day with these customers just answering whatever questions in doing whatever we tend to do. It is a core element of what makes Buildium, Buildium and to your point, we 100% believe it. It sets us apart from the pack. It creates space between us and other folks. Frankly, we’re only going to build on it and we’re all going to make it better so that space is just going to get bigger and bigger. Again, thank you for the visionary aspect. I think also, other folks are focused on just the technology, all product. We have a very good to great product that already throws a ton of value at our customers, that is only continuing to get better. We’re investing heavily in it but we’re also investing heavily in the relationship side. It is something that we have the ability to continue to grow and make even stronger. It’s not something that’s going to go away as we continue to expand. I’ll also say, we have investors, too, and those investors couldn’t be more supportive of our vision, our mission, and the alignment we have around the idea that is the customer’s first always. It makes my job easier from a board perspective because they’re actually pushing me probably even more to make sure we don’t lose that, which is fantastic. I will always be. A hundred years from now, I won’t be here but I know the idea of customer’s first and always at Buildium will be. Jason: Love it. Chris, really excited to connect, get to know you a little bit better, and hear a little more about Buildium. Chris: Thank you so much. Jason: And I appreciate you coming on the show. Where can people find Buildium? Chris: buildium.com and they can find me at cmlitster@buildium.com. Jason: Perfect. All right. Chris, thanks so much for coming out. Chris: Jason, I want to have you come out to Boston and see our nice new offices and spend some time with us. Jason: Yeah, you’ll have to have me come out. I’ll check it out. Chris: Love it. Jason: We’ll hang out. Chris: Yeah. It will be great. Jason: We’ll talk shop. All right. Cool, Chris. Thanks for coming on. Chris: Thanks. I’ll talk to you. Jason: All right, great. It’s great having Chris on. So, if you are a property management entrepreneur that wants to add doors, and you want to make a difference, and some of the things in the show hit a pain point for you, then make sure to reach out to DoorGrow. We would love to connect with you. We also have a really clear vision that we want to transform this industry and make a difference. It’s not just hype for us. That’s what gets me fired up and excited. The clients that are closest to me know that. That’s why I do what I do. It’s super rewarding and fun for me to hang out with other entrepreneurs. I really enjoyed doing this conversation with Chris. Make sure to check us out at DoorGrow. If you are not in our Facebook group and you want to be a part of a community where the tide is raising all the ships, make sure you get into the DoorGrow Club. Go to doorgrowclub.com. It’s a Facebook group. It will redirect into Facebook. doorgrowclub.com and it is free but it’s only for property management entrepreneurs. If you’re an entrepreneur in this space, you’re a business owner, you have a company, or you’re looking to start one, make sure you join our group and start getting [...] in. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, to our mutual growth. Bye everyone.  

LISTEN, SUBSCRIBE, AND RATE Every week, Indivisible Chicago Podcast host Tom Moss talks to politicians, newsmakers, academics and activists about resisting the Trump agenda. The ICP is also a great way to keep up with what’s happening in Indivisible Chicago. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or listen online at IndivisibleChicago.com/podcast. Take a minute to rate us on iTunes. It helps us get the word out about the ICP. https://apple.co/2oR4UlH INDIVISIBLE CHICAGO PODCAST SHOW NOTES FOR JANUARY 14, 2019 This week, Tom presents three of his favorite interviews from the first year and a half of the Indivisible Chicago Podcast. Christian Picciolini, former leader in one of Chicago’s violent white power movements, and current activist working to help others find their way out. He’s the author of White American Youth: My Descent into America's Most Violent Hate Movement--and How I Got Out. This interview first appeared in episode 16 on September 11, 2017. bit.ly/ICP_016 David Orr’s name did not appear on the ballot in November for the first time since 1979. Last July, Tom spoke with Clerk Orr in his office for a wide ranging conversation about his days fighting the Democratic Machine and his role in protecting our right to vote. David Orr had a front row seat for the Council Wars of the 80s, and reflects on those times in this interview that first appeared in episode 61 on July 16, 2018. bit.ly/ICP_061 Those who thought abortion rights were safe under the so-called settled law of Roe v. Wade got a wake-up call this year as women’s rights were curtailed across a number of states and the spectacle of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation only punctuated the peril. Last fall, Tom spoke with Martha Scott, who, along with a number of colleagues, comprised Jane, an organization that helped women get safe abortions in the late sixties and early seventies. The interview first appeared in episode 72 on October 1, 2018. bit.ly/ICP_072

Introduction: Our text this morning is Colossians 2:16-23, turn with me there now. It is on page 984 of the black pew bibles. As you turn there, let me ask you this question: How do you become a better person? If you wouldn’t consider yourself a Christian, perhaps you would phrase the question like this: how do you develop to be a person of integrity and character? If you are a Christian, you probably normally phrase the question like this: how do I become more like Christ? But however, you phrase the question, the answer is important: how are you going to be a better person this year? At work? At school? At home with your family? On the rugby field? How do you grow? Last July, I was house-sitting for a family from a church in Colorado. The family was away visiting family and wanted to sell their Colorado house soon to move out there permanently. They gave me one task: to keep the grass green. Colorado is a barren place in the summer, so this was quite a task. I went over and watered every morning like I was supposed to. But within a week the lawn was beginning to move from green to yellow. The weather was up in the 30’s Celsius, so, I decided that on those days I would go over and water for 30 minutes in the evening as well. On Monday of the next week, little patches of the lawn had begun to turn dry and brown. So, I did what most people would do in my situation I looked up all the secrets of getting a lawn green on the internet: One guy said you had to water the lawn only for a maximum of 15 mins in each place, so, I used my phone as a timer and did that. Another guy said you had to water before 10am in the morning, so I made... Read More Source

Date of Publication: 23/11/2018 Description: It is clear that religion is an important factor to consider when examining many conflicts around the world, but what about nonreligion? Last July, Dr. Stacey Gutkowski, senior lecturer in the DWS and Co-Director of Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network (NSRN), convened the annual NSRN conference, ‘World views in Worldview’, at KCL. This conference sought to drive further dialogue between scholars of critical religious, secular and nonreligion studies and showcase rich, empirical fieldwork from case studies across the world. In brining nonreligion and secular studies to the DWS, Dr Gutkowski argues that in order to understand conflict, one needs to not only look at individual experiences but also at what religious and nonreligious resources individuals draw on to help inform their ethical understandings and perceptions of the world. In this special edition of the War Studies Podcast, Dr. Gutkowski will introduce us to the NSRN, draw fascinating linkages between the studies of nonreligion and conflict that are highlighted in her research and lead us into the 2018 NSRN Annual Lecture, 'Secular Powers and Heretic Undercurrents', by Samuli Schielke, which will follow directly after our interview. Bio: - Dr Stacey Gutkowski is a Senior Lecturer in Conflict Studies and Deputy Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Divided Societies at King’s College London. Prior to joining King’s she was an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of International Relations, University of Sussex; a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict, Arizona State University; and a Research Associate with the Religion and Ethics in the Making of War and Peace Programme, University of Edinburgh. - Samuli Schielke is a Research Fellow at the Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin. His research interests include Islam, festive culture, subjectivity and morality, and migration and aspiration in Egypt. ______________________________________________ For more news and information on upcoming events please visit our website at kcl.ac.uk/warstudies.

Last July we celebrated the dazzling Jo Wood by reading her 2012 memoir It’s Only Rock n Roll: Thirty Years Married to a Rolling Stone and by sharing her story. This July we got to chat with the woman herself and are over the moon to share our interview with her!!

  Last July we celebrated the dazzling Jo Wood by reading her 2012 memoir It’s Only Rock n Roll: Thirty Years Married to a Rolling Stone and sharing her story. This July we got to chat[...] The post EP 80: Jo Wood (The Interview) appeared first on Muses and Stuff Podcast.

Some organizations are so interesting that we come back to them more than once. Among US regulatory agencies, the most fascinating may be the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Last July we ran a podcast conversation with the Commission’s Chairman, Christopher Giancarlo, which goes into greater depth about the role of the CFTC and it also contains Chairman Giancarlo’s thought-provoking statement that the top priority facing every regulatory body is to convert the rule book from analog to digital design. The CFTC is at the forefront of regulatory innovation in part because its leader is so passionate about the importance of it. In that spirit, they recruited the perfect person to lead the LabCFTC innovation project -- today’s guest, Daniel Gorfine. Luckily for us, the CFTC was able to attract Dan into government from the fintech sector – I first met him when he was at OnDeck – and he’s been bringing an innovator’s mindset and working models to this venerable government agency. This episode has three very meaty topics, each of which could have been a whole show. First, Dan talks about the vision and work of LabCFTC, sharing insights about how it’s organized that I know other regulators will find helpful. He talks about how they track and facilitate innovation in the financial markets, including a “primer” they issued on rules applying to cryptocurrency. He also explains how they explore new technology for use by the agency, itself -- they call that CFTC 2.0 -- as well as “Digital Reg,” an internal think tank for rapid learning and sharing of tech insight. Second, Dan talks with me about an exciting initiative they’ve just launched, issuing the first-ever CFTC Science Prize Competition Act challenge. They discovered this law empowering agencies to run competitions to solve regulatory problems in science and technology, and they decided to crowdsource ideas on both the problems to tackle and the process to use. Public comments are due July 24. In our conversation, Dan throws out some of the ideas he and his colleagues have thought of -- maybe regulatory data visualization tools, or machine-learning for market surveillance, or machine-readable and machine-executable regulation -- but they want to hear from you. Our listeners are among the most thoughtful people anywhere on regulation innovation, so please comment. You could even become CFTC Innovator of the Year! Our third topic is one that rarely surfaces in the innovation dialogue, and solely needs discussion: the legal and procedural obstacles to government agencies that want to embrace innovation. We could call the topic, government modernization. Think about it. If you were a federal agency wanting to keep up with technology innovation, you would want to be able to do a few things. You would want to be able to try out new technologies, hands-on. If the innovation was something you might adopt for your own agency, you would want to test it before you had to commit to a major procurement budget and procedure. You would also want to be able to brainstorm with a wide range of people, learning from them, thinking through ideas with them. All of this is stunted today by well-intentioned rules that were designed long ago -- for good reason -- to prevent inappropriate influence, backroom deals, and the like. Dan talks in particular about the Anti-Deficiency Act, which restricts procurement activities and prevents the CFTC from being able to try out new kinds of tools. Another issue is the procurement process itself. I met a few months ago with people from a different agency, showing them some innovative technology that could make their regulatory work easier, and one of them said, “If we decided today that we should adopt this, we would have it in seven years.” I’ve talked with other agencies that cite the Federal Advisory Committee Act, with its restrictions on meetings, and the Administrative Procedure Act, which structures the rule-making process and, at some stages, limits interactive dialogue. Agencies have raised concerns about various “government in the sunshine” rules, which again make it difficult to talk informally. Some can’t readily attend a breakfast or lunch event. They have to ask about the value of the meal being served and if it’s more than, I think it’s $15, they can’t eat it, or they have to go through paperwork to pay for it. And of course, there are complex approval processes for participating in various kinds of forums. More than any show we’ve done, this one puts you in the shoes of the regulatory agency and shows how their hands are tied by procedural prohibitions and requirements. I’d love to see someone do a study, maybe a graduate thesis, on how rules that were written in an older, slower era may now undermine the ability of regulators to keep up with exponential change in technology. We could use suggestions on updating them for the digital age. And remember, it’s an issue much broader than finance. I’ve been in and around Washington for decades and can remember the bad old days before some of these rules were created -- indeed, I remember some of the bad old practices that led to them. Still, we don’t need to straightjacket our regulators. Other countries have a much more fluid discussion between agencies and industry, and also have the ability to try things. One model is the Bank of England’s Fintech Accelerator, which explores new technology for the bank itself. And Dan and I both participated in London last month in the amazing AML Tech Sprint run by the UK Financial Conduct Authority -- which is a stunning model of innovative regulatory process. Its leaders were my guests on the last podcast we posted (which my friend Peter Renton of LendAcademy and LendIt called the “most fascinating discussion he’s ever heard on the future of financial regulation” -- if you missed it, check it out). Meanwhile, here’s some great news. Just a few days ago, Congressman Austin Scott (R-GA) introduced the CFTC Research and Development Modernization Act, H.R. 6121. Dan refers to it in our talk – it’s bipartisan legislation to address some of these hurdles at the CFTC. We’ll link to it in the show notes. The bill would permit the Commission to collaborate on projects with fintech developers. It would also allow it to receive “gifts” for R&D purposes, including software to try out, subject to common sense safeguards. The bill echoes work by Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who has sought to facilitate innovation by all the financial regulatory agencies. And the US agencies, themselves, are all moving ahead, too. The CFPB’s Acting Director, Mick Mulvaney, plans to launch a regulatory sandbox. The FDIC held a tremendously impressive technology forum. Five US agencies attended the UK tech sprint. Regulation innovation is coming, and no one is more thoughtful about it than Dan Gorfine. More links Our Podcast with Christopher Woolard of the UK Financial Conduct Authority Our Podcast with Nick Cook, the FCA’s head of regtech FinRegLab, which is leading regulatory innovation in the US Link to transcription of this episode (Note that transcripts may sometimes contain errors and that transcript timing notations do not match the posted podcast) More on Dan Gorfine Daniel Gorfine is Chief Innovation Officer and Director, LabCFTC at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. LabCFTC is dedicated to facilitating market-enhancing financial technology (FinTech) innovation, fair market competition, and proactive regulatory excellence and understanding of emerging technologies. Daniel is also an Adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches a course on ‘FinTech Law & Policy.’ Daniel was most recently Vice President, External Affairs & Associate General Counsel at OnDeck, and previously served as director of financial markets policy and legal counsel at the Milken Institute think tank where he focused on technology-driven financial innovation, capital access, and financial market policy. Earlier in his career, Gorfine worked at the international law firm Covington & Burling LLP and served a clerkship with U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake in the District of Maryland. A graduate of Brown University (A.B.), Daniel holds a J.D. from George Washington University Law School and an M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. More for our listeners We have many more great podcasts in the queue. We’ll talk with another community bank CEO, Mike Butler of Radius Bank.  We’ll have two more episodes that we recorded this year at LendIt. One is a discussion of new research by LendUp and Experian, on credit reporting, and the other is with Greg Kidd, Founder of Global ID.  We also recorded two episodes at last month’s Comply 2018 conference in New York, with two regtech firms -- Compliance.ai, which offers machine-readable regulatory compliance, and Alloy, which has high-tech solutions for meeting the Know-Your-Customer rules in AML. Speaking of LendIt, I was a guest last week on Lend Academy podcast, and Peter Renton will be on our show soon as well, so watch for those. I’m also excited we’ll have several leading members of Congress on the show in the coming weeks. So, stay tuned! The summer conference slowdown is nearly upon us, but I hope to see you at upcoming speeches and events including: American Bankers Association Regulatory Compliance Conference, June 26, Nashville, TN Money 2020, October in Las Vegas. Among other things, I’ll be speaking on the Revolution Stage about the regulation revolution Also, watch for upcoming information on my collaboration with Brett King on his new book on the future of finance -- we’ll have a show and events on that as well. If you listen to Barefoot Innovation on iTunes, please leave a five-star rating on the show to help us build it. Also please remember to send in your “buck a show” to keep it going, and come to jsbarefoot.com for today’s show notes and to join our email list, so you’ll get the newest podcast, newsletter, and blog posts. As always, please follow me on Twitter and Facebook. Support our Podcast And tell me what you’re thinking about digitizing regulation. Let’s widen this dialogue to more people and more and more ideas! Subscribe Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!

Consistency and foreseeability: that’s what any regulator strives for. But when FINRA CEO Robert Cook asked around, he heard that wasn’t always the case—particularly when it came to two different enforcement teams. Last July, FINRA responded by announcing it would bring together these two teams into One Enforcement under the leadership of Susan Schroeder, FINRA’s Executive Vice President and Head of enforcement. In this episode, Susan shares what she is doing to bring these two teams together, tells us why the integration is so important and details her greatest challenges so far. Resources mentioned in this episode: FINRA360

  In this first episode of 2018, Marcello Sukhdeo talks about the world’s first ever tech nail which works as a phone, self-repairing screens can become a reality soon and a new technology from Nissan that uses signals from the driver's brain to aid in driving.   Show Notes:  According to report published in the journal Science, a research team has created a glass from a low-weight polymer that is able to re-bind cracks when pushed together by hand. This can also work at room temperature.  Nail wearable  In collaboration with inventor Sean Miles and beauty brand Nails Inc., the Mobile Nail is a new wearable that contains embedded technology that allows it to operate as a mobile "handset". The idea is that users can talk to their friends by simply raising their finger to their face.  Brain-to-Vehicle  Nissan announced some new automobile technology that goes beyond autonomous driving to make the car more responsive to the human hosts, and make driving more enjoyable. The new technology has been dubbed Brain-to-Vehicle, or B2V, technology and is said to enable vehicles to interpret signals from the driver's brain, "redefining how people interact with their cars". It's interesting to hear of Nissan's new B2V technology research as most other vehicle companies stride forward to remove the human from the driving equation.  Tech Bytes:  Spotify just announced that it has 70 million subscribers compared to Apple Music’s 30 million. Last July, Spotify had more than 60 million paid listeners and over 140 million active users.  The App Store just blew through another record, Together, iPhone and iPad users spent $300 million in the App Store on the first day of 2018 alone.   The company claims it set a new holiday record. "During the week starting on Christmas Eve, a record number of customers made purchases or downloaded apps from the App Store, spending over $890 million in that seven-day period," Apple said in a statement.  Garmin announced Thursday an Intel-based infotainment platform for automotive manufacturers to embed in their products. For customers, Garmin's infotainment offering will bring Amazon Alexa, wireless rear-seat navigation, and other conveniences while driving or riding.   Garmin is trying to take a shot at BlackBerry QNX, who has a large footprint in the infotainment space thanks to its partnerships with all the largest automotive industry chip suppliers. BlackBerry's software is in about 60 percent of the vehicles on the road.  Trying to utilize its GPS expertise, Garmin's partnership with Amazon brings Alexa integration into Garmin's infotainment offering to enable drivers to control on-board navigation, media player software, and utilize Alexa skills –without the need for a smartphone. 

Last July long standing TV producer Bailey Mackey (Code, The GC) came to the Spinoff Towers to talk about the busines of making TV. Earlier that year new had hit that the production company he runs, Pango, had sold a television format to Freemantle Media, the world’s biggest tv outfit. This was a massive coup, made all the bigger by the fact it was an under-the-radar show called Sidewalk Karaoke hailing from Māori TV.Bailey talked Simon through the bidding war that surrounded the format and talked about how a good idea with the right brain and guts behind it can make it all the way to the top, even if its from compratively small origins.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last July, Gretchen Carlson came forward with her experience of being sexually harassed at FOX News by then-CEO, the late Roger Ailes. Her story is one that's all too familiar for many women. Most recently, we’ve seen it in the spate of “me too” stories that have come out following the allegations of assault, harassment, and abuse against Harvey Weinstein—and so many other men in positions of power. Today, Carlson joins us to discuss her new book Be Fierce (which surfaces similar stories from women in all walks of life across the country), speak frankly about Donald Trump, and walk you through what you should do if you are being harassed in the workplace. 

Longform candid casual cousin conversation on cryptocurrency.  If you are new and curious about bitcoin (cryptocurrency in general), and have questions, this is a comprehensive overview.     Last July, our extended family gathered in Puerto Vallarta for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. I got to talking to my cousin David and realized he is a wealth of information on cryptocurrency. He got into bitcoin enough years ago that he did well. I asked him just about every question I had.   ColoringCrypto is now a weekly podcast releasing new episodes every Sunday for newbies who are curious, and experts who think they understand.  Tweet us @coloring crypto and please leave us a review on iTunes.    2:00 “WHEN I GOT EXCITED IN BITCOIN” 4:00 ARE YOU INVESTED IN OTHER CRYPTO? HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT? 7:00 WRITING CODE; HOW DIFFICULT IS IT? 9:30 WHY IS BITCOIN AT THE TOP? 11:30 WHAT COULD DETHRONE BITCOIN? 14:00 HOW COULD I BE IDENTIFIED IN A CRYTO WORLD? 16:00 DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE VOLATILITY? 17:30 HOW IS BITCOIN PRICED? 19:30 WHAT WAS YOUR LEARNING PROCESS? 22:30 WHAT IS CRYPTO AIMING TO ACCOMPLISH BY BEING DECENTRALIZED? 25:00 WHAT’S A TYPICAL DAY FOR DAVID? 27:00 WHAT ARE YOUR CHAT TOOLS? 28:30 HOW DOES A BEGINNER GET INVOLVED? 31:30 TRUSTED RESOURCES TO LEARN ABOUT TRENDS 33:00 HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT CIVIC 35:00 LEVERAGE TRADING 38:00 FLASH CRASHES 41:00 RESOURCES & QUESTIONS FOR OTHERS - LINKS COINMARKETCAP COINCAP 42:30 WHO CAN CRYPTOCURRENCY DO THE MOST GOOD FOR? 45:00 CRYPTO SECURITY - IDENTIFY THEFT 50:00 HODL

It's episode 20 of For Pete's Sake! We're now five weeks into the NFL season and the league, and the sport, continue to see their favorability, popularity, and television ratings taking a nosedive, thanks to the increasingly unpopular national anthem protests. Commissioner Goodell and the league owners want nothing more than this story to just go away, but a few voices in the media, like Mike Wilbon, won't allow that to happen. Pete Solari takes Wilbon to task for calling Jerry Jones, and essentially every employer in America, "slave drivers." Also, the New York Giants are 0-5 and already looking ahead to the draft. Unfortunately, for some, this means looking for QB Eli Manning's replacement, even though the team has a plethora of other holes to fill. And with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians getting ready for a deciding game 5 of the ALDS, Pete looks back over the last 14 months, and the amazing transformation the Yankees have made. Last July, they were an old, broken-down team with the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixera, and Carlos Beltran. Fast forward to today, and they're a young, fun group with a very bright future. How did Brian Cashman pull this off so quickly? Pete discusses all this and more in episode 20 of "For Pete's Sake" from MESN Radio.

Last July, a Colorado cake artist who declined to use his artistic talents to create a wedding cake celebrating a same-sex ceremony asked the US Supreme Court to take his case and rule that the government cannot force him to communicate a message with which he fundamentally disagrees. This week, almost a year later, the Court has agreed to hear his case. Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, and Kristen Waggoner, Senior Vice President of US Legal Advocacy, join Freedom Matters to discuss what this means to Jack and other creative professionals around the country who simply want to live and work consistent with their deeply held beliefs. In July 2012, Charlie Craig and David Mullins asked Jack to make a wedding cake to celebrate their same-sex ceremony. In an exchange lasting about 30 seconds, Jack politely declined, explaining that he would gladly make them any other type of baked item they wanted, but he could not make a cake promoting a same-sex ceremony because of his faith. Craig and Mullins, now represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, immediately left the shop and later filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which eventually ruled against Phillips. The same-sex couple was easily able to obtain their desired rainbow-themed cake for free from another nearby cake artist. In contrast to the ruling against Phillips, the commission found in 2015 that three other Denver cake artists were not guilty of creed discrimination when they declined a Christian customer’s request for a cake that reflected his religious opposition to same-sex marriage.

Last July, a Colorado cake artist who declined to use his artistic talents to create a wedding cake celebrating a same-sex ceremony asked the US Supreme Court to take his case and rule that the government cannot force him to communicate a message with which he fundamentally disagrees. This week, almost a year later, the Court has agreed to hear his case. Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, and Kristen Waggoner, Senior Vice President of US Legal Advocacy, join Freedom Matters to discuss what this means to Jack and other creative professionals around the country who simply want to live and work consistent with their deeply held beliefs. In July 2012, Charlie Craig and David Mullins asked Jack to make a wedding cake to celebrate their same-sex ceremony. In an exchange lasting about 30 seconds, Jack politely declined, explaining that he would gladly make them any other type of baked item they wanted, but he could not make a cake promoting a same-sex ceremony because of his faith. Craig and Mullins, now represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, immediately left the shop and later filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, which eventually ruled against Phillips. The same-sex couple was easily able to obtain their desired rainbow-themed cake for free from another nearby cake artist. In contrast to the ruling against Phillips, the commission found in 2015 that three other Denver cake artists were not guilty of creed discrimination when they declined a Christian customer’s request for a cake that reflected his religious opposition to same-sex marriage.

Should you buy or sell a home this spring? I’ll go over three reasons why now is a great time to do either today.Buying a Lancaster County home? Get a Full Home SearchSelling your Lancaster County home? Free Home Price Evaluation There are three recent developments that make this spring a great time to buy or sell a home. First of all, mortgage interest rates have stabilized. Last July, we hit an all-time low of 3.4%. Rates went up after the election and reached a high of 4.31%, but they have stabilized over the past three months. Despite the increase, they are still historically low, making now a great time to buy. Secondly, employment is up. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics says that there were 235,000 new jobs in February, and 2.3 million new jobs over the past year. This reflects continued growth in business and consumer confidence over the recent months. Housing inventory is at record lows. Finally, housing inventory is at a record low in most price points. February saw a 17.9% drop in the number of homes on the market year over year. What do these developments mean for you? If you are thinking of selling your home, you will be able to do so quickly right now, as inventory is low and demand is high. You will also be able to sell your home for top dollar. If you have any questions about what your home is worth or if you would like to know more about our current market, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you!

Last week, the Department of Justice announced that no charges would be filed against Officers Blake Salamoni and Howie Lake who involved in the Alton Sterling case in Baton Rouge, LA. Last July, officers were killed to the store in response to a 911 call stating that one man threatened another with a gun. The […] The post Beyond The Badge: No Charges Against Officers In The Alton Sterling Case appeared first on Radio Influence.

  Navigating from Old to New Media Careers - Bob Bowdon Bob Bowdon is a long-time broadcaster, television host and filmmaker. He's hosted programs for national PBS distribution, Bloomberg Television and even been a recurring on-camera reporter for the Onion News Network.   Currently, Bowdon runs Choice Media, a national education newsgroup which publishes a daily newswire, website (ChoiceMedia.TV) and Twitter feed (@ChoiceMediaTV) about American schools.  He frequently appears in the media to promote education reform and school choice, including Morning Joe, The O'Reilly Factor, The [Megyn] Kelly File and Stossel on the Fox News Channel; and many other national and local broadcasts. Bowdon is also a filmmaker. His latest film, The Ticket, is about seven school choice innovations happening in seven states, and it's been screened at functions hosted by the Cato Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, the Friedman Foundation, the Mackinac Institute, the Nevada Policy Research Institute, the Platte Institute and many others.  Last July, The Ticket also won the coveted Audience Choice award at the Anthem Film Festival in Las Vegas.  Bowdon's previous film, The Cartel, was about corruption in public education. It won 12 film festival awards, a national theatrical release and distribution from Warner Brothers.      Thanks for listening to “Speaking with TJ Walker.” Please subscribe to the show here https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1072936158?mt=2&ls=1   The show about public speaking, media training, presentation skills, crisis communications, and presentation training. Please send any speaking-related questions you have directly to TJ at tj@mediatrainingworldwide.com and he will answer them in future episodes.   Please connect with us at Media Training Worldwide and post your questions here http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/blog/   On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tjwalkerinteractive Twitter: https://twitter.com/tjwalker Linkedin: T.J. Walker Youtube  https://www.youtube.com/user/MediaTraining iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1072936158?mt=2&ls=1   Receive Free online Public Speaking or Media Training Course today http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/give-away.html     Call +1.212.764.4955 now to discuss a customized media training or presentation training program for you or your organization.   For keynote speech and media inquiries, call +1.212.764.4955   Online media and presentation training at  http://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/online-training.html   Media Training Worldwide teaches people how to speak effectively to the media and to live audiences. We train people on all aspects of media training, public speaking, PowerPoint Presentations, crisis communications and presentation training.  

Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home searchSelling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Call me at (616) 447-7025 for a FREE home buying or selling consultationToday, I’ll talk about the State Real Estate Transfer Tax Refund. If you haven’t heard about this new legislation, this information is invaluable to you.Last July, the Michigan Supreme Court passed a bill that affects anyone that has sold their home within the last four years. It provides Michigan homeowners the right to claim an exemption of $7.50 for every $1,000 in value that was sold. You’re entitled to this benefit if you sold your home anytime after June 24th, 2011 with the SEV value lower in the year of sale than the year of purchase. For example, if you bought a home with an SEV value of $60,000, but sold it for an SVE value of $50,000, you’re qualified for this new refund to meet the difference. Additionally, the property must be claimed as the seller’s principal residence.With this refund, you’d qualify for funds previously collected by the title company at closing. It must be an arm's-length transaction, not a family member or a friend; it needs to be a typical, traditional transaction.Click here for a SRETT refund application form. There are only a few boxes to fill out, so it’s relatively painless paperwork. This is serious money that shouldn’t be ignored! If you have any questions about this refund, don’t hesitate to contact my office by phone or email. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have!

NV Energy wants more efficiency, but regulators in Nevada want less. That's the ironic situation in Nevada. Last July, NV Energy said its residential lighting programs in southern Nevada were so popular -- three times the utility’s initial projections -- that it wanted to add more money to the program mid-year.

NV Energy wants more efficiency--but regulators in Nevada want less. That's the ironic situation in Nevada. Last July, NV Energy said its residential lighting programs in southern Nevada were so popular--three times the utility’s initial projections--that it wanted to add more money to the program mid-year. It also wanted to boost its LED lighting program between 2016-2018, but the program was eliminated by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission.

Update: Susannah Mushatt Jones passed away on May 12, 2016. She was 116 years and 311 days old.  While we sweat it out at spin class in the name of good health, the world’s oldest people drink whiskey, eat bacon, and chug Miller High Lifes with a side of Johnny Walker Blue. At least those are the life secrets we love to hear when we talk about supercentenarians — the exclusive group of people who live to be at least 110 years old. But the science is not that simple, and the lives of these super-survivors are proof. The oldest person recorded in history, a French woman named Jeanne Calment, lived to be 122 years old. Calment, who was born in 1875, lived a fairly easy, stress-free existence, according to Jean-Marie Robine, a French demographer who met her and studied the last years of her life. But the more significant marker of her longevity, he believes, is her direct ancestors who lived, on average, 22 years longer than expected. “So definitely, the gene pool [was] exceptional,” he said. Tom Perls, a physician and researcher who runs the New England Centenarian Study, has studied about 150 supercentenarians. He agrees: living an extremely long life probably has to do more with your DNA than what you drink. “It’s many complicated pathways that feed into what determines your rate of aging and your risk for age related diseases,” Perls said. Today, the oldest known living person in the world is a woman in Brooklyn, New York, and lives a fairly quiet life. At 116 years old, Susannah Mushatt Jones has watched the world go form streetcars to hoverboards; from President William McKinley to President Barack Obama, who is framed in a picture on her wall. Last July, she celebrated her birthday in style with the Brooklyn Nets, local politicians and a gigantic cake topped with (frosting) bacon, a food she eats every day because her doctor says, “why not?” But she doesn’t talk as much as she used to, and spends most of her days with caretakers and family in Brooklyn — waking up to a big plate of grits, eggs and bacon every morning. And she knows better than to credit the bacon for her extraordinary life. “I have no secret,” she said in a video two years ago. “I just live with my family. My family makes me happy.”  

Guitar/Electronic two-piece What We Call Progress are celebrating the release of their new single. Pack of Cards, is the follow-up to the band’s EP Redacted, and was released via the duo’s bandcamp page on March 30. What We Call Progress are John Pattison (vocals/guitar) and David Young (Ableton Push, laptop, iPad) who have been playing together on and off since they were teenagers, and gone through several bands before settling on their latest project. Last July they released their EP Redacted, which was a commentary on the present threat of a dystopian future, and since then the duo have been working on new material. The end result is their new single, Pack of Cards.

Last July, Julie, Ivy and me left the East Bay and moved to Santa Cruz, a lovely town on the ocean and in the redwood trees. We love it, but ever since Mission Heirloom opened their new garden cafe in Berkeley, Julie has been finding reasons to make the 70-mile journey back home. If you ever get the chance to visit Mission Heirloom, you'll understand why. The level of care taken over the facilities and preparation is unlike anything I've ever seen before, and the food is out of this world. Better yet, it's portable, so if you live in the Bay Area you owe yourself this pleasure. In a nutshell, Yrmis Barroeta, co-founder says: Mission Heirloom is our intent to create a platform for people to carry on their health journey and elevate joy, elevate food and elevate performance. Everybody is different. Everybody has different dietary requirements. And we're here to support that. We believe that there should be different diets for different people, and that's what we're trying to provide. It's a safe space where people don't need to come to the restaurant with a million questions to feel safe or to figure out what they can eat. But find a menu that's very easy to navigate and filled with options for them.

Parisa Tabriz is Google’s self-described “Security Princess,” a euphemism she created in part because “hired hacker” sounds kind of evil. Her job is to figure out the problems with Google Chrome and fix them before the bad guys do. That’s a pretty amazing job for anyone, much less a 31-year-old woman, which isn’t exactly the norm in the tech world. Last July, Elle magazine ran a long profile on her. (Full disclosure: I knew Parisa in high school and we had classes together, though we haven’t talked much since graduating.) We spoke with Parisa about how she gets into the mind of a hacker, how we can get more women into this field, and how ignorance really isn't bliss in her world.

Last July, we sat down to talk to Glen Weldon, the author of Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and contributor to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour as part of Flame ON’s Superman 75 Spectacular. In the interest of time, only part of that interview was previously released – we now present to you our interview with Glen in its unexpurgated glory!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Last July at the World Domination Summit conference in Portland I met Nathan Barry, who at the time was an iOS app developer. Little did I know that over the next 9 months he would go on to release three books and a web app that would earn him over $150,000. In this session I chat with Nathan about how he was successful at building an audience from scratch, landed high-level guest posts on launch day, how pricing his book into multiple packages earned him $50,000 more, and why he has no interest in working with a traditional publisher any time soon (and neither should you).