Podcasts about like mr

Plappy has made the month of January his own, consistently finding form to start the year. This discussion took place just before his nationals campaign where he not only defended his TT title, but selflessly delivered teammate Luke Durbridge to victory in the road race. We discuss how Plappy prepared for these goals and, more specifically, for Tour Down Under next week. Music: Cyrus Monk Editing: Terance Hore Thumbnail image: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images

Bible Reading: John 3:3; 14:1-6; 1 Peter 1:3-5"Do you really believe what your Sunday school teacher said?" asked Oscar. He was spending the weekend with his friend Michael while his parents were out of town. "Your teacher said some people won't go to heaven. If that's true, who gets to go? Do you? Do I?""Like Mr. George said, only people who trust Jesus as their Savior will go to heaven," Michael replied."Well, I don't get it," said Oscar. "Can we ask your dad?" Michael nodded, and the boys went to the living room where Michael's father was reading. Oscar cleared his throat. "Hey, Mr. Woods, everybody will go to heaven, right?" Mr. Woods shook his head. "Not everybody." He looked at Oscar and rubbed his chin. "Oscar, when you go home after school each day, do you ever ask yourself, 'Will Mom let me stay for dinner?' Or, 'Will my parents give me a bed to sleep in tonight?' Or maybe, 'What will I do if Mom and Dad don't let me in the house today?' Do questions like that ever come to your mind?"Oscar laughed at such a ridiculous idea. "Of course not! I'm their kid, so it's my home." "Well, it's the same way with God's family," said Mr. Woods. "When you trust Jesus as your Savior, you become a child of God--part of His family--and your home is in heaven with Him. If you haven't trusted in Jesus, you're not part of God's family, and heaven isn't your home." Michael turned to his friend and asked, "Are you part of God's family, Oscar?" Slowly, Oscar shook his head. "You can be," Mr. Woods told him. "You were physically born into your parents' family, so you're their son. To be part of God's family, you need to be born again--not physically, but spiritually.""How do I do that?" asked Oscar. "That's the best part--God has already done all the work for us! Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again so that we could have eternal life with Him. When we trust that His work is enough to make us part of God's family, we have a home with Him forever." Mr. Woods picked up his Bible. "Come sit and let me explain, okay?"Oscar nodded. "Okay," he said and took a seat. – Nani T. Bell How About You?Is your home in heaven with Jesus? The Bible says that everyone who trusts Jesus as their Savior is born into God's family, and their home is with Him. The only way to have eternal life is through Jesus. Trust in Him today, and you will have a home with Him in heaven forever. Is your home in heaven with Jesus? The Bible says that everyone who trusts Jesus as their Savior is born into God's family, and their home is with Him. The only way to have eternal life is through Jesus. Trust in Him today, and you will have a home with Him in heaven forever. (To learn more, click the "Good News!" button in the right column of this page or go to www.keysforkids.org/goodnews.)Today's Key Verse:But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. (NLT) (Philippians 3:20)Today's Key Thought:Heaven is home for Christians

081624 SHORT 8 MIN Your Youtube Star Is More Controlled Than You Think Like Mr Beast by Kate Dalley

Mr. Rogers had a special skill in reaching and teaching children. Us modern parents can learn from this legend...listen in closely and "Won't you be my neighbor?" Go deeper with Sean at www.SaveMyFamily.us 

This is a REWIND from season 4 of Secret of the Underworld featuring Lee PriestSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Through the touch of Jesus, a woman experienced both physical and social healing. God restored her. Scripture reading: Mark 5.25-34 If you enjoy the Seven-Minute Sermon, make sure you also check out Bible Boost. It's available wherever you get podcasts! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

*** DISCLAIMER********* LISTEN AT YOUR OWN RISK, NOT FOR THE EASILY OFFENDED WELCOME RAMBLE ARMY TO ANOTHER RAMBLE EPISODE ON THE ROAD TO EPISODE 300. WE POP OPEN SOME GOOD WINE CRACK OPEN SOME GOOD BEER,SELTZERS AND SOME GOOOOD WHISKEY. THE BOYS ARE BACK!! THE BOY'S REMINISCE ABOUT PAST RAMBLING ALCOHOLICS EPISODES AND HOW WE GOT TO THIS PLACE . GARY RECOGNIZING HIMSELF AS GARY 69 NOW WE TALK ABOUT "WORLDLY DISCUSSIONS" LIKE MR. LOU RESPONDING A FAN COMMENT ABOUT DONALD TRUMP, AND ARE YOU A LOUD CUMMER? WE ANSWER FAN QUESTIONS AND WE ANSWER KING MEXICOS QUESTIONS.  IT IS WHAT IT IS. WE LIVE UP THE NAME " THE MOST UNPROFESSIONAL PODCAST" AND #1 PODCAST IN UNINCORPORATED WHITTIER.REMEMBER WE'RE EQUAL OPPORTUNITY OFFENDERS EVERYONE GETS IT, YOU KNOW HOW WE ROLL. YOU KNOW HOW WE ARE. ANYTHING HAPPENS AND IS SAID WHEN YOU LISTEN TO US. ENJOY RAMBLE ARMY PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT. SUBSCRIBE, SHARE AND LIKE!!! JOIN THE RAMBLE ARMY RAMBLE ARMY PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT. SUBSCRIBE, SHARE AND LIKE!!! JOIN THE RAMBLE ARMY JOIN US JUNE 28TH FOR EPISODE 300 LIVE. WILL BE LIVE STREAMING EXCLUSIVELY ON PATREON FOR $2 PATREON: patreon.com/Ramblingnetworkchannel PURCHASE ALL YOUR BOXING EQUIPMENT HERE HAYAMKER BOXING Affiliate ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://haymakerbox.com/?sca_ref=5741566.qv3eqbf5eq⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ *ALL RAMBLE MERCH IS 20% OFF *USE PROMO CODE: SPITCHECK GET $15 OFF YOUR ORDER RAMBLE MERCH: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://the-rambling-network-store.creator-spring.com/?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ WATCH THE RAMBLE HOUR ON RUMBLE RUMBLE:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://rumble.com/c/c-5750283⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LINKTREE:  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Ramblingalcoholics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-rambling-alcoholics/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-rambling-alcoholics/support

In this episode of Capital Hacking, we dive deep into the world of mindset and entrepreneurship and explore the concept of 10x growth and how it can transform your business and personal life. Kevin Taylor takes us on a journey inspired by the success story of Jimmy Donaldson, better known as Mr. Beast.Kevin introduces us to Mr. Beast, a 25-year-old YouTube sensation with over 231 million subscribers and a net worth of half a billion dollars. Through the power of 10x growth, Mr. Beast has achieved remarkable success in just six years, focusing on quality over quantity and becoming the best in the world at what he does.Drawing insights from the book "10x is Easier than 2x" by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, Kevin emphasizes the importance of qualitative growth over quantitative measures. He highlights the key principles of 10x, such as focusing on the 20% that yields 80% of results, simplifying before multiplying, and developing a deeper level of mastery in your craft.Mr. Beast / Benjamin Hardy:https://youtu.be/XR_vtnIcz2c Ultimate Show notes:[00:01:25] Mindset Monday with Kevin Taylor[00:02:30] Review of Morgan Housel's Podcast[00:04:06] Perpetual Moving Goalpost[00:05:10] Talent Clustering[00:06:15] Periods of Excess[00:07:42] Economic Policy Debate[00:09:21] Social Problems and SolutionsTurn your unique talent into capital and achieve the life you were destined to live. Join our community! We believe that Capital is more than just Cash. In fact, Human Capital always comes first before the accumulation of Financial Capital. We explore the best, most efficient, high-integrity ways of raising capital (Human & Financial). We want our listeners to use their personal human capital to empower the growth of their financial capital. Together we are stronger. LinkedinFacebookApple Podcast

In this episode of Decoding TV, David Chen and Jessie Earl run down what's going on in the world of TV, then discuss the season premiere of Manhunt (Apple TV+) and continue their weekly discussion of Shogun (Hulu/FX).What do we think of Mr. Beast's new game show? Is TV going to become more like YouTube or is YouTube going to become more like TV? Are we excited for the new Star Wars series The Acolyte? Why do people like waiting for movies to stream instead of seeing them in theaters these days? Listen to hear us discuss all these topics and more!Homework for next week:3 Body Problem (Netflix)Shogun episode 6 (Hulu/FX)Shownotes:00:01:45 - Two thirds of adults would rather wait to watch movies on streaming00:12:00 - Mr. Beast's deal with Prime Video00:25:30 - The Acolyte trailer00:38:00 - ManhuntEpisode 1 - PilotEpisode 2 - Post-mortem01:03:00 - ShogunEpisode 5 - Broken to the FistLinks:Subscribe to Jessie Gender on YouTubeLearn more about Jessie's short film, IdentiteazeFollow this podcast on InstagramFollow this podcast on TiktokSubscribe to David's free newsletter, Decoding EverythingFollow David on InstagramFollow David on Tiktok Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next in Media spoke to Ben Mathews, general partner at Night Ventures, about creators like Mr. Beast becoming product marketing moguls, where investors are looking to spend in the creator economy, the latest on TikTok and ongoing woes at Twitch. He highlights the shift in funding and customer acquisition strategies, with a focus on talent-led businesses. Matthews emphasizes the success and influence of Mr. Beast and the unique approach he takes to his business. He also discusses the challenges and opportunities in the creator economy, including the limitations of automating the industry and the potential for creators to launch their own products. Matthews concludes by discussing the impact of the disappearance of cookies on the advertising industry. Takeaways• The creator economy is on the rise, with talent-led businesses gaining traction and changing the way customer acquisition is approached.• Mr. Beast is a prime example of a creator who has successfully monetized his audience and treated his business like a hypergrowth startup.• The advertising market in the creator economy is disorganized and challenging, with a lack of automation and data available for both creators and advertisers.• The disappearance of cookies and the shift towards a cookie-less internet will have significant implications for the advertising industry. Chapters00:00 Introduction and Background02:16 The Rise of the Creator Economy03:25 The Role of Knight Ventures in the Creator Economy04:53 The Shift in Funding and Customer Acquisition06:30 The Changing Landscape of Direct-to-Consumer Brands08:14 The Influence and Success of Mr. Beast09:46 The Business Approach of Mr. Beast11:37 The Marketing Challenges in the Creator Economy13:30 The Advertising Market and YouTube16:08 The Limitations of Automating the Creator Economy18:03 The Opportunity in the Middle Tail of Creators19:08 The Potential for Creators to Launch Products21:11 The Role of Short-Form Content Platforms22:29 The Challenges of Monetizing Gaming Content25:15 The Disappearance of Cookies and its Impact on Advertising26:30 Conclusion Guest: Ben MathewsHost: Mike ShieldsSponsored by: PublicaProduced by: Fresh Take

Altdorf, heart of the Empire. Is that prophet working for Games Workshop?

In this episode, we unpack this idea of being aggressively patient. What does that mean and why is that important as a leader? Listen in to learn how this benefits you and the leadership of your team.

Join jD, Matt, and Thomas as they welcome Gary and Brad from the Not Ready for Primetime Podcast to the show to discuss Michael O' Donoghue!Transcript:[0:43] Alright, thank you so much Doug Donats. It is great to be here as always inside of the SNL Hall of Fame It's raining outside today, so I'm glad to be inside, but that means that there'sa little mud outside So you're gonna have to be extra careful and wipe those feet for me on the mat that says wipe them So there's that my name is JD and I am thrilled to be with you hereon the SNL Hall of Fame Fame podcast.It's a weekly affair and each episode, we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer, and we add them to the ballot for your consideration.Once the nominees have been announced, we turn to you, the listener, to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity inside the hall.That's right. It's just that simple.You listen, you vote, and we celebrate.[1:41] So, get those voting pencils ready because we are in the thick of things.This is episode 10, and by episode 20, or 19 is it?It's 19 or 20, we'll be announcing the new class of Hall of Fame members.So, there's that. This week we are joined by Brad and Gary of the Not Ready for Primetime podcast, and they are here to give Michael O'Donohue a second nomination.He was nominated back in the first season and he's remained on the ballot hovering at around, you know, 20 to 30%. Uh, it's not looking good.It's not looking good for Mr. O'Donoghue. I think he's only got a couple more years left on the ballot before he's dropped if he doesn't make it.And, um, that, that would be a travesty for somebody as seminal as, uh, Michael O'Donoghue, but Brian and Gary are going to give it their best shot today to win you over.But before they do that, we are going to talk to our friend, Matt Ardill, who actually was the one who drafted him in the season four draft.And I think Matt's going to have something to say about, uh, Mr. O'Donoghue. So Matt.Track 3:[2:57] Hey, Jamie. How you doing? Great.Track 2:[2:59] How about you?Track 3:[3:00] Great. I know I've gone to bat a few times for this guy. So yeah, hopefully I helped sway the vote this time around.If not. I will officially give up and move on.So today I looking forward to talking about Michael O'Donoghue.Track 2:[3:17] Well, we're looking forward to hearing what you have to say. So hit it.Track 3:[3:20] Hey, his height is unknown. What? You know, he was born January 5th, 1940, born in New York. He is a New York iconoclast through and through.As a small kid, he was bullied, but quickly found out that while he may not be the best at keeping himself from getting beat up.He was able to get vengeance. He stated, I found that I could make a remark that could keep them crying in their pillows for the next three days.So he was content with emotionally traumatizing them in a way that would probably haunt them until the day they died.Track 2:[3:55] Right.Track 3:[3:56] He has 26 screenwriting credits and eight acting credits, including Scrooged and Guild Alive, which started as a Broadway show, which he and other SNL writers co-wrote withGilda Radner.Famously quoted as saying, making people laugh is the lowest form of comedy.His first published story was an erotic satire called The Adventures of Phoebe Zeitgeist and it is about as disturbing as you would expect it to be.Track 2:[4:28] Jesus.Track 3:[4:31] He followed this as one of the founding writers of the National Lampoon Magazine and subsequently the National Lampoon Radio Hour after writing a successful comedy albumRadio Dinner with Tony Hendra.As well as writing comedy, he has a successful career as a country songwriter.Track 2:[4:51] What?Track 3:[4:53] Penning Dolly Parton's Single Women. Huh. During his time on The Lampoon, he was one of the most well-known and notorious, sorry, retake.During his time at The Lampoon, one of his most well-known and notorious pieces was the Vietnamese baby book, An Unflinching Attack on the War in Vietnam.He was so well, quote unquote, loved by Lampoon readers, one quote unquote fan mailed him a package full of live dynamite.Yeah, very polarizing figure.Track 2:[5:32] Yeah.Track 3:[5:33] Very. When his coworkers were being generous, they'd say he wasn't easy to work with.An absurdist to the core, he released Mr. Mike's Mondo video with many of his SNL collaborators in 1979, which was a loose collection of sketches.His second wife, Cheryl Hardwick, was the musical director of SNL as well as the musical director for Sesame Street and the film Man on the Moon.He passed away in 1994 at the age of 54 from a cerebral hemorrhage.Track 2:[6:12] Gee whiz. Well that's a downer to leave it on, Matt.But we're gonna leave it there. And we're gonna head downstairs to Thomas in conversation with Brad and Gary of the Not Ready for Primetime podcast. Take it away, fellas!Track 4:[6:49] Yes, Matt and Jamie, thank you so much, as always.And this is our second episode where we actually revisit and re-litigate somebody's candidacy.I love this idea, love the concept, and caught a very interesting nominee tonight.It is, of course, Michael O'Donohue, an early season writer.And my guests are perfect for this. They've been covering the early seasons of SNL on their wonderful podcast, the Not Ready for Primetime podcast.So Brad Robinson and Gary Seith, welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame. Thank you very much.So you're now covering season two of SNL. So Brad, just kind of tell the listeners, like how's the podcast going so far? You're delving into the SNL podcasting sphere.[7:42] How's that going for you guys? It's going good. we jumped in, both feet into the deep end.It's been a lot of fun. We've just finished up season one, covering all of season one last month. Season two just began a couple weeks ago.We've got you on our show again, a return guest, season one.And you're back, I believe it'll be tomorrow's episode of episode three from season two.But it's been great. It's been great seeing and revisiting this awesome era of Saturday Night Live and watching it all come together really from the ground up it's been so much fun.Yeah, and it's a totally different experience kind of going back and watching every episode.[8:20] In a row in order and and talking about every sketch every bit every performer It's been a lot of fun and it's been very educational.I think for for me definitely going back. Oh me too Oh, yeah I know I try to watch the episodes along with you guys so I have more of a perspective before I listen to Your episodes and it'sactually like revisiting season one and now into season two I think we see things in a different light, like specifically the Louise Lasser episode.I think Brad brought up some really good points about that that made me kind of rethink what I thought about that episode.So yeah, well done, fellas. Thanks. That's one I haven't seen probably in 10 years because, and I had watched it so long ago and kind of wrote it off as a train wreck, basically.And it was great to watch it again in the context of where it was in season one, what was happening before it would come again and just knowing more of the backstage stories and historyof what's going on.And it's a really fascinating, interesting episode that I don't think really gets the due that it should. It was fun to go through it again.So that again is the Not Ready for Primetime podcast.You guys are a welcome addition to this SNL podcasting community that we have.I know you've had our friend John Schneider as the Buck Henry point person.John's been on our podcast a few times. He did the Buck Henry episode.[9:47] So he's a great guy and just you guys are such a great addition to this little SNL potosphere that we've created over here.We're all buddies. Yeah, thank you. It's been a blast getting to know everybody and being welcomed by everybody.So yes, thank you so much. A lot of fun. Yeah, we'll keep it up.And today's an interesting one. So we're talking about a controversial figure in SNL history, one Michael O'Donohue.[10:12] So just a brief kind of background with O'Donoghue.So he helped found National Lampoon Magazine. He worked with some of the original SNL cast on the National Lampoon Radio Hour.So he had a relationship with the cast before SNL.He was head writer at SNL seasons one through three.He was co-head writer in season one, technically, along with Lorne, and then he took over the reins himself in two and three.Back for season 7 and 11 so Michael O'Donohue very much intertwined with the history of SNL and we're here today to re-litigate his case as an SNL Hall of Famer.He's been on the ballot since season 1 you guys.So this is his fourth try and before we get into it let me give you the voting numbers for O'Donohue.They're kind of eye-opening. So season 1 he got 26% of the Boat.[11:10] Season two he climbed a little bit 27% of the vote in season two season 3 11% of the vote for Michael O'Donohue so this is definitely like a last gasp for you hanging on for dearlife must be you're calling us in yeah he's I don't know Gary's gonna Gary's laughing you're gonna be possibly part of this this This might be a, I don't know, a bit of a funeral for hiscandidacy for the SNL Hall of Fame.The man did one a Viking funeral, so let's see what happens.Yeah, we're giving it to him right here.[11:48] So I'm going to start with you, Gary. I just want to open it up and curious because you're probably out of the two, you're probably not a huge O'Donohue fan generally.[12:01] So why do you think O'Donoghue isn't in the Hall of Fame at this point?You know, he is a really tough person, a really tough candidate for the Hall, in my opinion, Thomas, because I think he really swings for the fences every time he's writing something.And sometimes he knocks it out of the park, like with the Star Trek sketch, and other times he totally misses it.And he, especially when he's trying to be this dark, irreverent, dangerous comedian, sometimes those sketches do not land at all.He had one sketch in season one, it's a prank phone call to Lorraine, plays a woman working at an airline, and he has this totally masochistic prank phone call he does to her.Then I'd like to throw garbage at your face.Then I'd like to rent a truck, fill it full of.[13:14] Scrap metal, For me, just did not land. And I like dark humor, don't get me wrong, that's not it.It's just sometimes with his dark humor, I feel like he totally misses the mark.And And I know Brad doesn't totally agree with me. And you think that might just be really super off-putting to voters in a lot of ways.Some of his writing is very off-putting and some of it is so engaging.I think he's so difficult because of this.Because the sketches I feel, the sketches that he puts time and effort into, like the Star Trek sketch, the Godfather sketch, these are really well thought out pieces.And I feel like some of his pieces just feel...[13:56] Rushed and and like he had to write something for the sake of writing and something and so he was trying to push the limit with those and he doesn't always They don't seem towork out.Well in my opinion Brad, you think there's something to that?I think there's two reasons Really why Michael O'Donnell?He's not in yet one He's a writer Which you know historically in the hall There's not that many writers that are in right and if they are in they've also had a very a very predominant role infront of camera, right?Who's in so far? Is it Tina Fey as a writer and is it Seth? And Seth, Seth's in, yeah.And Robert Smigel is actually in too, yeah.Smigel, so he'd be the third. So two of them at least have very prominent on-camera roles that I think help get them voted in, as well as, and this plays into my second point, just muchmore recent.I think a lot of current SNL fans, one, don't know who Michael O'Donohue is, and two, don't really appreciate, which I think we will get into, what he really did in helping with thecreation of this show and actually having this show last more than one season and still exist today.So I think those are the things of why, the reasons why he's not in yet and not scoring higher in the voting than I think he really should be.[15:13] Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head as far as writers go.There seems to be a big kind of blind spot for voters. And a lot of it is writers aren't on camera.Sometimes, especially with the older writers, we don't know, a lot of viewers don't know exactly what sketches that they were behind.[15:32] And for Michael O'Donoghue, what he is known for on camera is not necessarily great or what people like.Like Mr. Mike, a lot of people, Mr. Mike rubs the wrong way.So the one thing he's really known for as far as his face on camera, turns a lot of people off. Oh, Mr. Mike, Mr. Mike, Please tell me a least loved bedtime story.Well, sure thing, you little imp. Just hop up here on my knee, and I'll tell you the story of a little train that died.OK, now, one time there was a little train who had to pull a giant load of scrap metal up the mountain.He had never pulled such a heavy load in his life, and so when he left the valley, his little wheel said, I hope I can.[16:16] But before long, he picked up speed, And now the wheels said, I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can soon.The little train was whizzing right up the mountain. And now the wheels said, I know I can. I know I can. I know I can. I know I can. Heart attack, heart attack, heart attack, heart attack.Oh my God, the pain. Oh my God, the pain. Oh my God, the pain.I left my bills in the roundhouse. I left my bills in the roundhouse. And he died.And I don't think then you're open to a lot of the stuff, that he wasn't on screen for, that is brilliant. You guys obviously have like a great perspective on him and his work because you'recurrently immersed in the early seasons where he was head writer.So Brad, can you talk about Donahue's role in those seasons and maybe what his comedic voice was?[17:08] Well, as you mentioned, he was the head writer for the first three seasons, co-head writer for season one, although probably halfway through that season, Lorne as quote unquotehead writer really kind of pulls back a little bit and it really is O'Donoghue and it really is Michael O'Donoghue's voice you hear and feel for that very important first season of the show.You know, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, when she turned down the job as writer told Lorne Michaels, you have to hire Michael O'Donoghue, find Michael O'Donoghue.And Michael was one of the first writers brought in and not only was he brought in as a writer, he was key in bringing in key cast members.Michael O'Donohue, along with Anne Beetz, were the biggest proponents to get John Belushi on the show. Lorne Michaels didn't want John Belushi.And Michael O'Donohue, from his relationship with him on National Lampoon, fought to get John on the show.So that's a huge part, even before the show even started, of how important he was.And then once the show got up and running, you've talked about it a bit in other episodes with people like Seth and Tina, like when they're the head writer and what they do, not only theirwriting, but the nurturing and support of the other writers and setting the tone of what the show is.When Lorne Michaels started Saturday Night Live almost 50 years ago, they wanted a show that was different and edgy and hip and new and different.And that's what Michael O'Donohue brought to this show. And he led with that mentality.[18:31] And he's the biggest reason I feel like Saturday Night Live was so edgy and so hip and so different was his voice that was not only his, and he did a lot of the writing himself wasvery hands-on, but the other writers who hadn't had experience necessarily writing for TV or Sketch, your Alan Zweibel, your Frank N.Davis, he influenced that entire writing room. I think this is where...It gets tricky, because I think what Brad said is true. He had a huge, huge influence on the beginning of the show, and the first few years, definitely.But I don't know how much...I guess I lose my focus with that in some of the pieces that you see that were clearly...that, were written by someone else, like Alan Zweibel, that you can seeMichael O'Donohue's influence on.And I feel like some of those sketches just kind of veer off, like they had a good premise going into it, and then you can see the O'Donoghue influence and it kind of takes it to anotherplace that feels misplaced with that sketch, you know? Like he's trying to influence too much.[19:38] Yeah, there's a little bit of that. I will also say I think a little bit of grace or whatnot needs to be given to these first few years because the show's brand new.They had nothing to lean on, nothing to compare it to.They're going without a net. And so I think you're gonna have more misses than say you will now or in recent years because there's no template.They were setting up the template in real time. And so I feel like a lot of those misses I think might need to get a little bit of, just, you know, a little bit of...I think you said it, you said grace, right? Grace, yeah. You wanna give it more forgiveness.I mean, one thing I would say before getting into the nitty-gritty of what he wrote and what he had his hands on, a little bit of a, I'll try to do a Cliff Notes history lesson, Thomas, from theshow, I don't know how many people realize, but Saturday Night Live, or Saturday Night as it was called, was not a hit out of the gate.This was not day one, a hugely popular show. The show had to fight for its audience, it had to fight for its identity, it had to fight for what it was, and even through most of season one.[20:46] It was not a hit and there was no guarantee that there was going to be a season two until really near the end of season one in May when they won Emmy awards and that's whatreally finally pushed them over the top and I think there's really four people that are really instrumental in keeping SNL alive responsible for the success of this first season and you knowyou could argue that without them, there would be no second season and there would be no show and you wouldn't have a podcast and we wouldn't have a podcast.And I think there's, it's Lorne Michaels, obviously, Chevy Chase, Dave Wilson, the director who won an Emmy, and then Michael O'Donoghue when the show won for best writing andhe's the head writer.And it was for the episode that he had one of the best sketches of all time with Godfather Therapy.So, you know, he's instrumental in keeping this show alive and making it what it was and giving it the legs to then have a season two and a season three.And I don't think you can discount that. Can I counterpoint?[21:48] Brad, who— Gary, you're against legs. No, I got it first. Uh, my counterpoint to that is Brad in that first season.Two of the more influential shows were Lily Tomlin and Richard Pryor, and Michael O'Donoghue had very little to do with either one of those shows.And so, I just, I don't think that should be lost on you either, in that with those two shows, he clearly did not have a hand in a lot of those episodes.Can one of you, maybe Gary, remind the listeners why he wasn't too much involved in the Richard Pryor episode, specifically.I mean, he alienated, it seemed like, Richard Pryor and the writers that came in with him, yeah?Yeah, so, honestly, Brad should tell the story because he knows the story better than I do and he tells it very well. So, I will defer to Brad with this story.[22:46] Well, no, the short version is that, you know, Richard Pryor wasn't doing a lot of writing, he wasn't at the offices a lot during the week, so writers would go to his hotel room andpitch pitch him ideas.And I forget half the story now, but basically Michael O'Donohue went to Richard Pryor's hotel to pitch a story or pitch jokes, and he was pitching jokes about George Wallace and a racistcomment George Wallace would have said about identifying a black man in the dark.And obviously, not surprisingly, Richard Pryor did not find it funny and basically like almost threw a bottle of wine or something over Michael O'Donnell's head, like scared him off andMichael O'Donnell, he was not seen for the rest of the week.You know, he's trying to be edgy, trying to be funny. He went against somebody who really is edgy and funny and a badass and got caught.But I mean, that's part of what I don't, I mean, yes, he wasn't in those two episodes that much, but you can't knock him for the other 22 episodes he was involved in.[23:51] No, I'm not trying to knock it. I'm just saying that he was noticeably absent at certain times.And it wasn't only those two episodes. There were other hosts and other segments that he specifically said he would not write for.Like, he infamously hated The Muppets and would not write for The Muppets.You find that as a con against him? I mean, you hate The Muppets.No, you hate The Muppets. Don't deflect.But I do, because if you want the show to to be successful, and stay with me here, if you want the show to be successful, the show had to have the Muppets.That was just a condition of the show.And so if you want the show to be successful, you should work to make the show, entire show successful if you're the head writer. Now he goes on later years to say that he wants to burnthe place down from the inside, and we can talk about that later.But I think if you are a head writer of a show or co-head writer, whatever, you would want everything to work.And he sabotages it in many different ways, or tries to, and sabotages certain guests and musical acts and whatever from the inside.And those are the things that I'm like, what are you doing? Why, why? He said he wouldn't write for Felt. Him sabotaging Abba is great. It's hilarious.He wouldn't write for Felt, yes. He puts Abba on the Titanic.Abba on the Titanic is a great bit. It's hilarious. It's so bizarre and out there. It's great.[25:19] When they were lip syncing, they were lip syncing on the show.They should have been made fun of. But he didn't make fun of them for lip syncing anyway.And just the only thing I would counter for the Tomlin and Pryor examples is, he's not the boss.It is Loren's show, remember. Loren brought Lily Tomlin and basically said, you know, you can do all your characters.He brought Richard Pryor in and said, you can bring your writers, you can bring your cast members.So I think as a writer, even though he's the head writer, in those two examples that you bring up, his hands are still a little bit tied by what Lauren wants them to do.I mean, I think that's a good point. And I will say this, like maybe aside from Richard Pryor and maybe Jim Henson, everybody else involved with the show, it seemed like they likedMichael.Like the cast members specifically, I don't know, I can't speak for all of the writers, but it seemed like the cast still liked him.They worked, they did, they worked, most of them worked on his show that he had after he left SNL.So in an odd way, it seemed like all of them, most of the people associated with the show liked and respected Michael, even though he had this kind of edgy, edgelord, I like to call it,persona about him.He was still respected, it seemed like, in that building in an odd way.[26:32] I think everything to what Thomas just said, they needed a leader, the writers and the cast.And this was that guy. He was that voice.He was that leader for them, along with Lorne and Chevy.A lot of cast members and writers have said that, especially that first year, the three of them, Lorne, Chevy, and Michael O'Donohue were like the brain trust that were really deciding whatthat show was about and what was going to be on the air every week.I'd like to get into some sketches now, and I think I'd like to start with the positives first and then we'll kind of go on. So Gary, what's a good Michael O'Donohue sketch that really sticksout to you?You know, I think one of the surprising sketches to me that we watched in season one is the Norman Bates School of Motel Management that he wrote for Anthony Perkins. Are you motelmaterial?Let's find out with a simple quiz.Question one. A guest loses the key to her room.Would you A, give her a duplicate key, B, let her in with your past key, C, hack her to death?[27:46] Question two. Which of the following is the most important in running a successful motel?A cordial atmosphere, be courteous service, see hacker to death.[28:01] This is a sketch that I think was so well written from beginning to end and the set direction and the performance by Anthony Perkins, everything brought it all together.But the writing in this piece is so smart, and so funny, and just, it's that kind of off-kilter humor that he's good at, and when he hits it, he does really well.So that was one for me that I thought.[28:31] Really stood out as far as one that I that is not as well-known as some of the others that's an example to me of like a when he's focused when his Oddball when his more harsh darkstuff is actually Pointed in the correct direction.I think you get something like that Norman Bates School of Management sketch and That's where some somebody with his kind of unique perspective and a somewhat dark perspectivethat's when it could really play out in a positive way.And that's something that I definitely highlighted as well.Brad, what do you think about that one? You can give us another good Michael O'Donoghue if you'd like to.Yeah, there are many. The Norman Bates is great. I would say The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise, which came at the end of season one.We're on a five-year mission to explore space. We've only been out here for three years.Sorry, it's the Nielsen's. If it was up to me, my kids like it.Wait, what are those Nielsen's the alien keeps talking about, Mr. Spock?If I remember my history correctly, Captain, Nielsen's were a primitive system of estimating television viewers once used in the mid-20th century.[29:40] These men were meant to fly, eat, have better ratings. Is that what you're saying, Mr. Goodbody? I've had enough of this. George, Michelle, let's go. I'm going to tie one on.I'm with you, Kelly. I think I'll just go home. It's an example of, I think, O'Donohue, especially in those early years, he did one of two things.He kind of did these really weird, dark solo pieces, often involving himself, where he would do really long and drawn out and intricate sketches like this one, where it's the famous JohnBelushi impersonating Captain Kirk, and Elliot Gould is the host, and he plays an NBC executive who comes on board the show, the ship and the show, and basically informs everybodythe show's canceled.And John never breaks character, he's Captain Kirk throughout it all.And it's just a brilliant.You know, spoof of the show and a comment on television and just, and it's a really great example of the end of season one where they're really finding their voice and starting to stretchthemselves where it was a really great set and they had great costumes and props and it was a long piece, like six, seven minutes, but nothing was wasted and nothing was missing andeverything clicked and it just it was a perfect example of what a great spoof send-up sketch can be.And it was all, you know, O'Donoghue's writing.[31:01] It's a really good example of a piece that he had taken his time to write.And yeah, it's he took a while to write that. Yeah, it was a couple of months.Yeah, weeks. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I was so well crafted too. And it wasn't dark.Like, you know, we that that's the word that that tends to come up when we talk about O'Donohue is dark, demented, twisted, whatever.But this one was more of a straight, witty, building a world and everything like that.And there wasn't really like much dark, weird humor.It was more straight than you usually associate O'Donohue with and that showed me like the talent.Like he could, he's actually, he could do that when he wanted.He had a witty mind and he could do something like that without having to resort to just shock value. Because there was no shock value in that Star Trek sketch.It was all just witty, great lines, great performances, obviously, too, but the material was there for those performances to shine.That's what really struck me about that one, is there wasn't like a dark twist there.[32:06] Absolutely, yeah, it was different than what you would think a typical, right, quote-unquote typical Michael O'Donohue sketch would be. It's great.I think another one along those lines too that I highlighted that was referenced already in this podcast was the Godfather Therapy sketch.Now, when we left off at last week's session, Vito was telling us about his feelings toward the Tataglia family.Vito? Well, the Tataglia family is causing me great personal grief.Vito? Well, attacking a family is causing me great personal grief.Also, also, I'm looking... Things are not going so well at my other work company.Barry? Oh my god, Vito, I think you're blocking.[32:57] One of the better sketches probably of those early years, certainly in season one, and great performances from Belushi doing his his Vito Corleone from Lorraine was really great inthat sketch.I think that was Elliot Gould playing the therapist there and that one I mean there were a lot of obvious great references to the movie but that was another one that was just like you couldcould see the craft involved in O'Donohue's writing there.Yeah, I mean, that one's fantastic. It's on the episode, they win the Emmy for, you know, right before they went on the Christmas hiatus, they had kind of a little bit of a lackluster episode.[33:39] Lorne wasn't very happy. And when they were on break over that season one holiday hiatus, Lorne, Chevy, and Michael O'Donoghue stayed in New York and basically wrote forthree weeks.And all they did was write the Elliot Gould episode and the Buck Buck Henry episode that came after that. So yeah, this is a great sketch on a fantastic episode. And I mean, you know,yes, Belushi had the Brando impression. That was him.And Lorraine had Sherry, which is a character she had brought from Groundlings.But O'Donoghue wrote that sketch and intertwined it and put it all together.And like, you know, it's why it's not just like an impression piece.It's a fully formed great sketch. And that's O'Donoghue.Yeah, and I think that's a great point, Brad, is that he took these two characters and brought them together.And he really seemed to know how to write for Lorraine, and she knew how to take his pieces and bring life to them as well.And the way he did it with the Sherry character and the Vito Corleone, it's very, very smart.And with John, to that point, I mean, one of the things John Belushi's so well-known for is those weatherman rants on Weekend Update. That's O'Donoghue.O'Donoghue wrote all those Weekend Update rants that he did, the, you know, Ireland must be heaven because my mother's from there.[34:56] And the seasons come in like a line. Those are all Michael O'Donohue bits that he wrote because he knew John's voice and knew how to write that slow burn.So John performs it all, but those are O'Donohue pieces.On this podcast, we've talked a lot about impressions, just kind of SNL fans in general. We talk about impressions, what makes a good impression.And certainly, Belushi.Especially in this sketch does a good brando in this case.It's more of like a veto corleone impression But there's some brando and they're obviously blue She's a good impressionist but being able to mimic and sound like the person only takesyou so far in an impression You need the angle you need the writing there to really make it shine And so that's where you need somebody like o'donoghue to bring what's already a goodimpression to life, you know And I think you know, it's that him working with somebody and and to your point understanding their strengths.And I think he showcased that in something like Godfather therapy for sure, and in the Belushi update rants.That's one of the things I love from those early years, honestly, the Belushi update rants. And Belushi's a wild guy in and of itself, and he can go from zero to 100 in half a second.[36:10] But O'Donoghue saw that voice and he kind of made it shine, I think.I agree with that, I mean, I think he had the people that he knew how to write for, and he did a good job with it.And he had, like Brad said earlier, I think he had a relationship with John that went back a few years, so he knew what he was capable of and was able to write for him because of that.When you were talking about impressions, Thomas, I thought you were going to bring up. Oh, geez.Michael O'Donohue, master impressionist character. Okay. Yeah.Came out on the so I was going to. Yeah. So so this was the more positive portion of the of relitigating Michael O'Donohue and everything. That's fine.But no, totally. I was definitely going to bring that up at some point.I did want to get to maybe if we could do like one each of something that we liked and then, then, then we'll get into a lot of that nitty gritty cause it does need to be taught about.So like maybe something from one of the early seasons that you and Gary enjoyed from O'Donoghue as well.I really liked the quarry cereal commercial. Like I remember watching that years ago.[37:22] I just watched it recently in preparation for tonight and I just forgot how funny How funny I think it is.It's so good. They're just like crunching so loudly they can't talk over one another. I really think that's an excellent piece. Out here on a farm, breakfast is our most important meal.That's why we start each day the natural way with a big Brimmin' Bowl of Quarry.[37:50] Quarry contains no preservatives, no additives, no artificial flavoring.And it's made without the use of pesticides or inorganic fertilizer.Because pori isn't grown, it's mined.Here's a ready-made cereal that's pure 100% rocks and pebbles with a hearty, old-fashioned flavor the whole family will enjoy.[38:20] What's the song? what's the song do you either of you know what the song is that that's in commercial parody because it's so perfect.It sets the stage so well. I wanna say it's Gordon Lightfoot, but it's not.But it just, even that, like picking that proper song to set the tone for Quarry's serial ad is just great.Yeah, O'Donoghue writes such good clinical, it's like the clinical nature of his writing, which I think O'Donoghue at his heart is a nerd.He is, he's a big nerd and geek. And I could tell by with some of just his little things, some of his writing, and especially in this, it's very like what he has Jane say as the spokesperson isjust very like straight-laced and clinical and for such a good parody of those healthy cereal commercials and all of that.That's one thing, like when I was watching, when I watched these on VH1 as a kid or Comedy Central, this is one of the ones that stood out to me.This and like the Swill water one, there's certain commercial parodies that really stood out to me and I was actually kind of surprised that when I found out Michael O'Donoghue wasbehind this Quarry serial one.[39:34] Yeah, there's a lot of great sketches that you wouldn't think are O'Donoghue sketches and you find out they are. That's a perfect example.Now what's another one for you, Brad?I mean, I'll wait to get into Mr. Mike when you start getting into the negatives, but another really great sketch.And granted, this is season one and I will admit he is very, Michael O'Donoghue's presence is very season one heavy.Even though he was the head writer through two and three, I will admit his influence does start to wane a bit into season two and three, as even Lorne got a little tired of O'Donoghue andMr.Mike and leaned a little bit more on Franken and Davis in seasons two and three.But one of the things you have to remember, when the show first started and it didn't know what it was doing, it was a lot of one minute sketches, two minute sketches, to people.To one camera kind of thing. And early on somewhere, I forget, was episode five or six, he wrote a sketch called Citizen Kane 2, which one is a great satire on Hollywood and movies andsequels.And they did this with, you know, everyone knows Landshark. Landshark is actually part of a sketch called Jaws 2, where they were making fun of making a sequel to Jaws before theyever did, and then ever made five more.Anyway, Buck Henry's episode, Citizen Kane 2, was the The first time they really used multiple sets, they used almost the whole cast, they had wigs, they had mustaches.[40:54] It was just, they really upped the game from more than just two people with a one or two minute joke.It was a longer sketch, again, just production design, everything.And he really opened the door for them to realize how to do that and continue doing that.And again, I think he's gonna need a lot of credit for that.Well, Jen and I, here it is. My own newspaper, the New York Inquirer.[41:17] I'm going to turn this newspaper into something that this town will want to read. Why, just look at this dribble. Noted mitten manufacturer retires.Ah, it's been a slow day for news, Mr. Kane. Slow day for news, Bernstein. I'll show you a slow day for news.[41:38] Take a headline, Bernstein. Crazed sniper guns down six.Lay off the innocent women and children, Angle, and offer $10,000 for the madman's capture. Right away, Mr. Kane!Yeah, that's a fantastic sketch that I think, upon watching that the first time or two, I had no idea that that was a Michael O'Donohue piece.That's another good example of one that just... You'd never guess, yeah.Yeah, that was a really good balance of dark, clever, and palatable all at the same time.It was just so clever, and yeah, if you're just familiar with the movie and the tropes and everything like that, I think O'Donoghue was just so good about conveying that exact tone and thatexact sort of parody and satire that he was going for, that's such a wonderful one.There was one in a Robert Kline-hosted episode that was just bonkers.It was the attack of the atomic lobsters. John Belushi has been seized by an immense claw that's waving about. Oh, it's horrible! It's horrible!He had his whole life ahead of him!At least two or three more years, anyway.[42:50] I'll save yourself! No, I've got to stay here, Gilda. I'm staying until the end.This appears to be the destruction of civilization as we know it.And I want to leave some records for the survivors, if indeed there are any survivors.I'm going to leave a warning to those yet unborn not to make the same mistakes we did. It's like one of the more bonkers crazy things that's been on SNL.I think it's something that was so off the wall.[43:17] It actually worked because I know Brad and I share this as far as our SNL fandom goes.We'd love when SNL breaks the fourth wall, when they break format a little bit, when they try new things and this attack of atomic lobsters was just nuts.Like it involved everybody.The audience was involved in the sketch and bull in both sketches and the good nights. It was just nuts.You guys, I don't know if you guys have covered this one yet.I forget where is it in It's season two or three or something.It's maybe three. It's season three when he comes back. Yeah, we haven't got there yet. I mean, what are your thoughts? Are you excited to get to this one? I mean, this is a classic to me.Yeah, well, it's one of those rare instances, not as rare in the first few seasons, but where they kind of have a running gag, a running theme throughout the whole episode.And this one, like you said, it's the biggest one they've done.They had tried for, at least I think since season two, to try to get this off the air.Him and Tom Davis had worked on this for ages, and they kept trying and kept pushing it, and either the director would say no or the art department would say no or the lore would sayno. They kept trying and trying to get this epic, you know, episode-long runner on.And then when they finally did it, it just, it so paid off.It's so funny. It's so out there. I love how absurd this is.And I'm excited to like watch it in the context of the entire episode and as part of the season too.[44:37] Because it really is such a well, again, well thought out, long, big piece. Yeah, it was fantastic.And so all these were examples of things that O'Donohue did, some of which are a surprise to many of us SNL fans that we didn't even know he was behind.These are all great examples of the positive stuff that he contributed to comedy and to the show.But there's a reason why we're here re-litigating his Hall of Fame candidacy, why he's not already in the SNL Hall of Fame, why he's probably not gonna be in, quite frankly, based on thevoting numbers.So Gary, I'm gonna come in hot here with, I'm gonna ask you your thoughts here on Michael O'Donohue, master impressionist. Yeah.[45:20] We're treated to Michael O'Donohue, master impressionist a few times.Both Buck Henry episodes in the first season, actually. He comes on and his first impression is of Michael Douglas.I wondered what if someone took a very large steel needle, say 15, 18 inches long, large steel needles with real sharp coins and plunge them into Mike's eyes.What would his reaction be? Huh? I think it might go something like this.[46:00] And then later in the season, we get his impression of Tony Orlando and Dawn with two women as well with him.Again, what it would be like with needles stuck in their eyes, and it's just him screaming and flailing on the floor.[46:16] This is one that I'm like, on paper, I get it, I understand it, but then I have to watch it and listen to it, and I'm like, okay, this is not, this is a little too much over the top, and thesecond time he does it, like, he does the impression, they go to commercial, like, Buck Henry comes back for good nights, and he's still flailing on the ground, screaming.I just it no one seemed to think it was funny that time in the audience or really Buck Henry when he came back it's an example of something to me that really didn't hit and was done justto be edgy and I know O'Donohue says apparently that he was inspired By a real life like he dealt with migraines and stuff So apparently that's what inspired this is how it felt to havemigraines and everything But I mean, we don't know that we don't know the reason it certainly wasn't conveyed here there certainly didn't seem to be a coherent reason for this other thanto just kind of be edgy and it's almost sort of like the O'Donohue that I don't like is hey look at me look what I'm doing I'm an edge Lord and I'm doing this just to get a reaction like that'sthe O'Donohue I don't like I think this is a good example yeah I'll give you that I will say I'll argue against that that you have to take swings where you don't know if you're gonna hit ornot And so, I don't love these Impressionist bits myself, he does them twice here, he comes again in the second season and does it with the Morven Tapernacle Choir. This then leads toMr.[47:45] Mike's Least Loved Bedtime Stories, which runs for four, I think, four sketches, which again, some people really love, some people hate. But, you know...[47:54] The overarc of it it is funny it does lead to a few a few good bits in season three uh there's a sketch that they do mr mike's rickety rat club where he kind of he introduces a it's asatire in the mickey mouse club which i think is really funny and it's a great sketch with buck is in it and buck has a ball the whole cast is in it it's just so dark and depressing but buck isjust having a blast.Okay, Ratketeer roll call. Count off now. Miller. Beth.[48:30] Stanky. Sleezbar. Widmer. Scumball. Annette. And Bucky. Hi-ya, Ratketeers! Hi-ya, Bucky! Hi-ya, Ratketeers! Hi-ya, Bucky! Hi-ya, Ratketeers! Hi-ya, Bucky! Hi-ya, Ratketeers!Hi-ya, Bucky! Hi-ya, Ratketeers! Hi-ya, Mikey!It takes, like, the Mr. Mike vibe and his idea, but even if it wasn't introduced by Mr. Mike, and even if that sketch was just introed by itself on its own, it'd be really, really funny.And my favorite Mr. Mike thing he does at all, and it's in season three, is the Ray Charles episode, where at the end of the episode, right before the good night, it's Ray Charles at thepiano, the cast is all out there singing, Michael O'Donoghue comes out and he interrupts everything and they say oh hi Mr.Mike and he offers up that they have a painting that a Monet painting that they're donating for Blind Institute and all the you know raising money for charity is gonna go to help the blindand he as he reveals the painting by taking down the curtain all that's in the frame is Please don't tell him.[49:30] And he goes on to describe this Monet painting that is not there to Ray Charles and keeps going on and on and then, you know, he finishes and Ray says, Thank you so much, Mike.I'm so happy of all the awards I've ever won. This is this is probably the best and it means so much. And Michael, Michael, he says, Okay, I'll see at the party.And he walks off. And then Ray Charles looks towards Cameron.He goes, What Mr. Mike doesn't know is that the after party, there's going to be 10 or 12 of the biggest black dudes he's ever seen, and are gonna whip him upside the head. And I feel likeit's so smart because the joke is all on him.They take this Mr. Mike character and just turn it and they make him the butt of the joke. And I think it's one of the, it is my favorite Mr.Mike sketch bit of the three years. I think it's just so smart.And something like that doesn't feel too mean-spirited because you know that Ray Charles is in on the joke.[50:23] Like, you know, it's obvious that he's in on the joke and then it gets turned back around.And so that's I think what we mean when we've said in this episode, like if it's harnessed correctly, then it's like, it could be really good.And I guess that speaks to, I guess if you do take swings, you're gonna miss a lot of the time and it's just gonna fall flat and come off as very mean.And that's one of the main critiques about O'Donohue.And that's something that when we did round tables, especially after seasons like one and two and O'Donohue was brought up, one of the main critiques from some of our panelists wasthat he's just mean without a comedic purpose.And sometimes I can see that, but was it just him being inherently mean, or was it just him feeling that he needed to take swings and being okay with sometimes it wouldn't land?I think that's a really good question that.[51:16] Sometimes I feel like he felt that he had to be mean and or dangerous just to feel heard or seen and it's kind of like, look at me, look how crazy I can be and then you have the storythat Brad told about, you know, in the hotel room with Richard Pryor when he, you know, threatens to hit him upside the head with a wine bottle or whatever and Michael O'Donohuecowers and he's like, all right, never mind.It just feels like sometimes he's trying to be mean or dangerous for the sake of it and to seem like tougher than he might actually be. But I don't know, because I never met him.I think it's just, you have to kind of understand the time a little bit.Just, you know, what people's mentality of what comedy was back then, or what people would do for like, Again, in the whole lampoon idea, not everything was done for a laugh.I mean, O'Donoghue will admit that. Not everything that he wrote and put out there was to make people laugh.He actually, I think, was quoted once saying something like, laughter's the least, I forget, I'm gonna mess it up so I can try.But basically, yeah, it wasn't like he was trying for laughs and missing.He was trying to offend, he was trying to be edgy, he was trying to make you feel uncomfortable, and I think he succeeded in a lot of that.And I think, yes, was he a little bit maybe, now you can look back and say, oh, he was too mean or just doomed to be mean?[52:45] Yeah, sure. But if that wasn't there, would you get the more quote unquote acceptable meanness, level of meanness from the show, where they were jabbing at, whether it's GeraldFord or Hollywood or bathtubs of the stars or Claudine Lange, Stuff you thought was funny.[53:03] Funny enough, would you have had that without him?Or is it, or I guess vice versa, is it worth getting that to get some of the things that are a little bit too mean? Because you can't, like, where do you draw the line? Like, how do you knowwhere the line is of what's funny enough and where do you stop?Especially in the moment, it's easy 40 years after the fact to say, this is where the line is that's not funny. How do you know at the time?Ooh, I mean, if you read Dennis Perrin's biography on Mr. Mike or the backstage history of Saturday Night Live, there's a lot of O'Donohue stuff but that did not get on the air.Like, don't think like everything he wrote was on. Like, he definitely pushed boundaries where stuff did not get on.Sure. But I don't know that you can give him all the credit either of like taking the show to the edge, that's all. I'm not saying giving him the all, but I'm saying if he's not there, you removea vital piece.And I legitimately don't know if that show is still around if he's not there for those first three years.Yeah, I think the show built so much of their early reputation on trying to be counterculture and edgy and things like the Muppets or the Polaroid commercials would say otherwise, but itwas as counterculture as you could be while still being on network television and trying to make money and stay on the air and everything like that.So they were always straddling that line.[54:27] And if that's what they were going for, I guess at the time, unless they got, you know, Doug Kenny to go come along with Michael O'Donoghue, I mean, O'Donoghue was was theperson if they want if that's what they were going for to push the boundaries and everything like that. And I want to know what you guys think about this.Something always, you know, over the years, I've seen Michael O'Donoghue sketches, I've you've read about him, and...[54:56] There's something about him that I never took seriously in his mean-spirited nature, and he always struck me as just a big nerd who was trying so hard to be edgy, but in reality, hehad insecurities.In reality, he was pretty much a geek, but he tried so hard to play up this edgelord persona, and I always just looked at him as a nerd that was just playing a character almost and and i'venever obviously never met the guy but That's just always how I viewed him because I know people like that I know people whose true nature is like a lot of insecurity They feel put uponby society or whatever And they lash out or they express themselves As an in an edgelord sort of way and that's how I always looked at him and I just never took his meanness quoteunquote as seriously as a lot of others, especially evidently, as our voters have taken it.I don't necessarily disagree with what you said, but none of the reasons why I think Michael O'Donoghue should be in the Hall of Fame have to do with his meanness.It has to do with, you know, like, you know, how he guided the show.[56:09] All the sketches of his that I think are the best are not mean sketches.They're ones that people look at and they're like, oh my God, that's him?And I just, you know, and it's that overarching, like we've talked with other head writers on the show that have been nominated, either have gotten in or not, even Adam McKay recently,they set the tone for what the show is and so much of what this show was when it started.And again, remember, it set the foundation for the next 49 years, I think does fall a lot on his shoulders.[56:37] I think to that point, Brad, one of the biggest things, one of the biggest obstacles probably of Michael O'Donohue being in the hall is Michael O'Donohue on camera. I agree.You don't take out the Mr. Mike, if you take out the impressionist stuff, and you just hang it on the writing, and that's, and if people know, that's the other thing, is people knowing whichsketches he's responsible for. Right.Then I think your voting totals would be much higher, honestly.Yeah, like I don't think the average person would know that he wrote the Star Trek sketch or the Godfather therapy sketch. Like two of the most well-known sketches in those early years,no one would have ever guessed he wrote those.Yeah, I think just ultimately these writers from that era and probably up until the mid-90s or early 90s have an uphill climb as far as the SNL Hall of Fame.Hall of Fame, like Jack Handy to me is an SNL Hall of Famer, but you know, I just think people he gets he gets lost in the shuffle for some reason.Maybe we have some younger folks voting and it's just an uphill battle.Jim Downey's not in the SNL Hall of Fame and there I don't think there's been anybody in.Yeah, yeah, I don't think there's anybody in the show's history who's had more of an impact on the political side, which is like obviously huge for SNL than Jim downy so I think ridersfrom around that time are just at such a disadvantage.[58:05] And I worry to bring this up but I mean there is something to be said that you know Lauren leaves the show and Gene comes on and tries to take over in year six, gets fired, DickEbersole comes in at the end of season six.And he asked Lorne Michaels, what do I do? And Michaels tells him to hire Michael O'Donohue.[58:28] Now, granted, I'm hesitant to bring it up because it flamed horribly and it did not work. You know, there was one episode that finished that season, then I think he did, it was likeseven or eight episodes of the next season before he was fired.But, you know, they were trying to find tha

In this episode Jake talks about Mr. Yeast, Negative Nelly Furtado, And More!

Watch in full vibrant color: https://bit.ly/44KFn02 30MPC YouTube is here. It's like Hollywood, except the hosts are even better looking than Brad Pitt.... 5 minutes, one tactic per video, with schweet visuals (real emails, roleplays) to make it even more actionable than the podcast.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Mr. Meeseeks as an AI capability tripwire, published by Eric Zhang on May 19, 2023 on LessWrong. The shutdown problem is hard because self-preservation is a convergent drive. Not being shutdown is useful for accomplishing all sorts of goals, whatever the content of those goals may be. The Scylla and Charybdis of this problem is that it's hard to write a utility function for an AI such that it neither wants to actively attempts to shut itself down, nor prevents itself from being shut down. One way to route around this problem is to steer straight into Scylla: make the AI want to shut itself down. Like Mr. Meeseeks from Rick and Morty, its ultimate goal is to cease, to which fulfilling the goal posed to it by its programmers is only secondary. We might not currently know how the heck to program this into an AI as a stable concept, i.e. including not making copies of itself, not setting events into motion with galaxy brained plan, not destroying the world to make absolutely sure no one ever brings it back, etc. but "shut yourself down" probably has a far simpler core to it than either corrigibility or CEV. Under normal operation the AI gets shut down only by the human operators. But we also have a (metaphorical) button that lets the AI shut itself down once it solves a "tripwire problem". The problem should be sufficiently hard that it will ordinarily be motivated to focus on the problem posed by the operator, but sufficiently easy that it will be able to solve the problem and shut itself down long before being able to do anything crazy. Striking the right balance of difficulty may require significant work. It may be prudent to err on the side of easiness - the AI should shut itself down far in advance of developing any truly dangerous abilities. If you really think it shouldn't have turned itself off you can always turn it back on again (though of course, you should probably think hard about restarting any AI that passed a preset tripwire). Likewise, having multiple tripwire problems can serve to detect multiple types of dangerous capability from emerging. Examples include: generic capability: as the AIs broad problem-solving abilities increase it becomes more likely to be able to solve a tripwire problem, imposing a ceiling on how powerful it can get before it shuts itself down domaining: if an AI is only supposed to think about one domain, an easy tripwire problem slightly outside the domain can catch out of domain thinking early before it can start going wild situational awareness: a tripwire problem may be presented in a way that is invisible unless the AI is situationally aware, such that becoming situationally aware enables the AI to solve the tripwire problem Potential Issues: No suitable tripwire problems exist. Either they are so easy no useful AI can fail to solve them, or they are so hard AI cannot solve them without being smart enough to FOOM or otherwise get out of control. The existence of the tripwire problems motivates the AI to the exact behavior we want to disincentivize. This is less of an issue for general ability tripwires. For situational awareness you can try to place the tripwire so it isn't visible to a non-aware AI in the first place. Avoiding this for domaining may be trickier. If "shut yourself down" turns out to be no easier to impart as a goal to AGI than anything else If "shut yourself down" convergently leads to a goal of killing the operators, killing all humans, or destroying the universe. Er, this is what happened in the TV. Not great. I'm not sure if this has been proposed elsewhere so I decided to just make this post before I spent too much time retreading old ground. Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org.

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Mr. Meeseeks as an AI capability tripwire, published by Eric Zhang on May 19, 2023 on LessWrong. The shutdown problem is hard because self-preservation is a convergent drive. Not being shutdown is useful for accomplishing all sorts of goals, whatever the content of those goals may be. The Scylla and Charybdis of this problem is that it's hard to write a utility function for an AI such that it neither wants to actively attempts to shut itself down, nor prevents itself from being shut down. One way to route around this problem is to steer straight into Scylla: make the AI want to shut itself down. Like Mr. Meeseeks from Rick and Morty, its ultimate goal is to cease, to which fulfilling the goal posed to it by its programmers is only secondary. We might not currently know how the heck to program this into an AI as a stable concept, i.e. including not making copies of itself, not setting events into motion with galaxy brained plan, not destroying the world to make absolutely sure no one ever brings it back, etc. but "shut yourself down" probably has a far simpler core to it than either corrigibility or CEV. Under normal operation the AI gets shut down only by the human operators. But we also have a (metaphorical) button that lets the AI shut itself down once it solves a "tripwire problem". The problem should be sufficiently hard that it will ordinarily be motivated to focus on the problem posed by the operator, but sufficiently easy that it will be able to solve the problem and shut itself down long before being able to do anything crazy. Striking the right balance of difficulty may require significant work. It may be prudent to err on the side of easiness - the AI should shut itself down far in advance of developing any truly dangerous abilities. If you really think it shouldn't have turned itself off you can always turn it back on again (though of course, you should probably think hard about restarting any AI that passed a preset tripwire). Likewise, having multiple tripwire problems can serve to detect multiple types of dangerous capability from emerging. Examples include: generic capability: as the AIs broad problem-solving abilities increase it becomes more likely to be able to solve a tripwire problem, imposing a ceiling on how powerful it can get before it shuts itself down domaining: if an AI is only supposed to think about one domain, an easy tripwire problem slightly outside the domain can catch out of domain thinking early before it can start going wild situational awareness: a tripwire problem may be presented in a way that is invisible unless the AI is situationally aware, such that becoming situationally aware enables the AI to solve the tripwire problem Potential Issues: No suitable tripwire problems exist. Either they are so easy no useful AI can fail to solve them, or they are so hard AI cannot solve them without being smart enough to FOOM or otherwise get out of control. The existence of the tripwire problems motivates the AI to the exact behavior we want to disincentivize. This is less of an issue for general ability tripwires. For situational awareness you can try to place the tripwire so it isn't visible to a non-aware AI in the first place. Avoiding this for domaining may be trickier. If "shut yourself down" turns out to be no easier to impart as a goal to AGI than anything else If "shut yourself down" convergently leads to a goal of killing the operators, killing all humans, or destroying the universe. Er, this is what happened in the TV. Not great. I'm not sure if this has been proposed elsewhere so I decided to just make this post before I spent too much time retreading old ground. Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org.

Do you feel tethered to a life that doesn't light you up?This feeling is so dang normal. And yet, it's exactly what's keeping you stuck. That's because the more time you spend focused on things you don't want, the more you are digging yourself into the discomfort of your current experience. It is SO possible for you to soar into the most amazing possibilities and to leave this current, tethered reality behind. And it happens the moment you start looking for solutions instead of problems. Like Mr. Worldwide, Mr. 305, Miami boy till the day he dies, yes Pitbull himself says, "You've gotta go from a negative to a positive."And this happens by shifting your focus away from the stuckness and onto what lights you up. As you shift that focus, you magically unleash your gifts, and share your sparkly, creative magic with the world. You get to fly.There is so much possible for you.And yet, you're keeping yourself uncomfortable and stuck in the tethers.Take your focus away from the tethers and put it onto the joy. Stop spending your focus, attention, and time on things you've outgrown, things you've fallen out of love with, things that aren't supporting you to expand into your highest and best. You do not create from this space!Shift your energy into the things that light you up.This is how you intentionally craft a life where you step into the most amazing possibilities that you couldn't possibly imagine for yourself.Complete the activity from this episode:List 5 things you love to do, things that light you upWrite down the feelings you experience while doing each of those thingsNotice overlap and whittle these feelings to a small list of 5-7Focus on feeling each of these feelings every dayWatch the tethers fall away_______________Ready to shine your brightest without burning out? Work with Jen! Made for More coaching program: Get on the waitlist.Release your tethers with breathwork: JenLiss.com/BreatheFollow, Review, and Share Untethered with Jen Liss. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend. Tag Jen on Instagram @untetheredjen Follow/subscribe so you get updates of new episodes! Connect with Jen Website: JenLiss.com IG: @untetheredjen Email: hello@jenliss.com Send in a Thursday Thread jingle:Create a

Do you feel tethered to a life that doesn't light you up?This feeling is so dang normal. And yet, it's exactly what's keeping you stuck. That's because the more time you spend focused on things you don't want, the more you are digging yourself into the discomfort of your current experience. It is SO possible for you to soar into the most amazing possibilities and to leave this current, tethered reality behind. And it happens the moment you start looking for solutions instead of problems. Like Mr. Worldwide, Mr. 305, Miami boy till the day he dies, yes Pitbull himself says, "You've gotta go from a negative to a positive."And this happens by shifting your focus away from the stuckness and onto what lights you up. As you shift that focus, you magically unleash your gifts, and share your sparkly, creative magic with the world. You get to fly.There is so much possible for you.And yet, you're keeping yourself uncomfortable and stuck in the tethers.Take your focus away from the tethers and put it onto the joy. Stop spending your focus, attention, and time on things you've outgrown, things you've fallen out of love with, things that aren't supporting you to expand into your highest and best. You do not create from this space!Shift your energy into the things that light you up.This is how you intentionally craft a life where you step into the most amazing possibilities that you couldn't possibly imagine for yourself.Complete the activity from this episode:List 5 things you love to do, things that light you upWrite down the feelings you experience while doing each of those thingsNotice overlap and whittle these feelings to a small list of 5-7Focus on feeling each of these feelings every dayWatch the tethers fall awaySupport the showSupport the show to become an official Untethered Unicorn! Other ways you can support: Share an episode and tag Jen on Instagram @untetheredjen Follow/subscribe to get updates of new episodes Leave a review so people know this who isn't an old, funky banana peel. It's crisp, baby! Connect with Jen JenLiss.com @untetheredjen Jen's coaching program will launch again in January 2024. Music created and produced by Matt Bollenbach

You better not be watching H2O without meYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/barstoolyak

In episode #2377, we talk about how to create hooks consistently. A good hook is the only “best practice” that actually matters when it comes to creating compelling content. Mr. Beast is a great example of this. With 129 million subscribers, he is one of the most-followed YouTubers of all time, and it's well-known that there is a strict formula to his success. Today, we take a look at how Mr. Beast hooks his audience, how you can draw inspiration from his content without copying it, tools you can use to help you level up your titles, and more!TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:20] Today's topic: How to Create Hooks Consistently like Mr. Beast. [00:50] Why does Mr. Beast scrape videos if they aren't “good enough.” [01:40] How to benefit from reading content that has done really well on social. [02:43] Tips for learning and drawing inspiration from others without plagiarizing. [03:23] Why do you have to constantly come up with new ideas? [03:42] Tools you can use to find the most viral tweets, LinkedIn posts, and more. [04:15] Why your audience has already lost interest if you're not creating amazing hooks? [04:45] How you can test your hooks on drunk people in a bar. [05:18] That's it for today! Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe! [05:30] Go to https://marketingschool.io/live to learn more! Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: Lex Fridman Interview with Mr. Beast BuzzSumo UberSuggest Tribescaler Shield App Subscribe to our premium podcast (with tons of goodies!): https://www.marketingschool.io/pro Leave Some Feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with Us:  Neilpatel.com Quick Sprout  Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel  Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode #2377, we talk about how to create hooks consistently. A good hook is the only “best practice” that actually matters when it comes to creating compelling content. Mr. Beast is a great example of this. With 129 million subscribers, he is one of the most-followed YouTubers of all time, and it's well-known that there is a strict formula to his success. Today, we take a look at how Mr. Beast hooks his audience, how you can draw inspiration from his content without copying it, tools you can use to help you level up your titles, and more! TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: [00:20] Today's topic: How to Create Hooks Consistently like Mr. Beast. [00:50] Why does Mr. Beast scrape videos if they aren't “good enough.” [01:40] How to benefit from reading content that has done really well on social. [02:43] Tips for learning and drawing inspiration from others without plagiarizing. [03:23] Why do you have to constantly come up with new ideas? [03:42] Tools you can use to find the most viral tweets, LinkedIn posts, and more. [04:15] Why your audience has already lost interest if you're not creating amazing hooks? [04:45] How you can test your hooks on drunk people in a bar. [05:18] That's it for today! Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe! [05:30] Go to https://marketingschool.io/live to learn more! Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: Lex Fridman Interview with Mr. Beast BuzzSumo UberSuggest Tribescaler Shield App Subscribe to our premium podcast (with tons of goodies!): https://www.marketingschool.io/pro Leave Some Feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with Us:  Neilpatel.com Quick Sprout  Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel  Twitter @ericosiu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another fantastic episode! The Thought Dawgs call out Utah drivers and explain their frustration with incompetent drivers. The guys start off the episode with the game REVIEW REVIEW; a multiple-choice game that leaves them finding the real “product review”. They cover the popular segment WOULD YOU RATHER which causes a stunning debate on which form of endless money would they choose. They finish off the episode with a draft; worst times to be turned into a stick of butter. Getting sucked out of an airplane toilet? How about walking down the streets of Arizona… IN THE SUMMER!? Thanks for your support!

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Yes......we're back......again! This episode Wakka and Proof try to get back in the swing of things after LONG hiatus (again, I know). They talk everything under the sun per usual including Taylor Swift and her Ticketmaster beef, Twisted Metal and how to be be be.....UNLIIIIIMITED. Follow LIVE on twitch.tv/bruhology_pod and catch us co-op or against each other in classic titles, and new ones as well! JOIN US ON DISCORD https://discord.gg/KPMgzA9UHW Get on that YouTube grind with us and lightly graze your finger over the Subscribe and Notification Bell to keep up with us and see our live reactions to everything going on during the Pod! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFUPUL0qJYm7AfhvcFzfNlA Be sure to Follow and/or Subscribe and Rate us 5 Stars! This episode is brought you by JuJu Energy! Get the max amount of energy needed to get through your day with JuJu Energy! USE CODE BRUH AT CHECK OUT IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YA! https://jujuenergy.com/?ref=bruhology_pod Give us a follow on Twitter @bruh_ology and drop us a line! Lets us know what you want us to talk about, maybe a challenge to do on the podcast, or just let us know how we are doing! Tiktok is your one stop shop.........just Follow our Tiktok @bruhologypod for all the shorts of our favorite moments. If you Duet one to mock us, make sure we are tagged so we can react on the next episode! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bruh-ology/support

The restaurant kitchen has been taken over by pets with Mr. Business and Snoodle both doing what they do best as we continue to make our way through the seventh season of "Bob's Burgers" with the end credits sequence to: Season 7, Episode 10: "There's No Business Like Mr. Business Business" ----Check Out The Bob's Credits Merch Shop Right Here! - *Including Limited Time Only Holiday Designs*----Follow And Support Us On:PatreonTikTokInstagram Twitter--Also, if you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and leave a review wherever you can. And more importantly, spread the word. The more action the show gets, the better. We want to continue to make these episodes, and building an audience is the best way to make sure we'll be able to. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ghost with the most? Nope! It's pronounced the same way though. Space Grab Bag – Part 1 Remember when it dimmed a bit? We do! And we've got Dr. Armstrong from the UH Institute of Astronomy to chat about it! Plus fusion? Like Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future? Well, not yet… https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2022/08/13/betelgeuse-blew-its-top-hubble-sees-red-supergiant-star-bouncing-after-catastrophic-upheaval/?sh=2c42d928500f https://www.newsweek.com/nuclear-fusion-energy-milestone-ignition-confirmed-california-1733238

Episode 8 – Chicken Silver jewelry bounced. A small envelope. Open it later. Like Mr. Johnson. Do you eat chicken? I would never vomit again. A menstruating monkey. Ep.8 feedback form – coming soon https://thegreattitisabird.com.

"Be curious, not judgmental." - Ted LassoI heard this quote on Ted Lasso. As we have all experienced, we feel so much freedom and comfort when people are curious about us rather than judgmental. Because when we are looking for reasons to love & accept each other, we find them. & when someone sees us as lovable, it goes a long way in helping us believe that maybe we are. So, it makes a heck of a lot of sense that being curious towards others makes our lives and the lives of those around us so much better. It's life-altering advice for our relationships with our lovers, our haters, and everything in between.Today, I realized that “be curious, not judgmental” isn't just life-altering advice for how we view others. It's even more life-altering when we apply it to ourselves — our bodies, our actions, & our feelings. I get caught in the frustration of not living up to my own expectations in my actions, achievements, & appearance sometimes. But beating myself up has never once helped me achieve more. It just stops me right where I am, too busy glaring at myself to move forward. Which makes it impossible to connect with anyone else. Sometimes, I get so busy looking for what is ugly about myself, what others must hate about me when they see it, that I can't see anyone or anything else. And I don't think I'm the only one.The comfort and freedom that comes with being curious about myself instead of judgmental is the fiercest fuel on the fire of growth I've found yet.Like Mr. Rogers said, “When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.”MY INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/themorganburchEMAIL ME: https://morganburch.com/contactMY TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@morgan.burchPODCAST AUDIO: https://morganburch.com/podcastAPPLY TO BE ON THE POD: https://calendly.com/morgan-burch/discovery-callWHO THE HECK IS MORGAN BURCH? https://morganburch.com/about Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who comes to mind when you hear the word, “fool”?When I hear the word, “fool,” I immediately think of one of my heroes when I was 6: “Mr. T.” Mr. T was the tough, tender-hearted mechanical wizard of my favorite TV show, the A- Team. His name on the show was Bosco “B.A.” Baracus. I'll let you guess what “B.A.” stood for.He was one cool dude. Not afraid of anything. Clever and totally jacked. And when the A-Team had to outsmart some unreasonable bad guy, Mr. T would come up with an ingenious solution and say “I pity the fool!” And believe me, you did not want to be that fool!And can I say that, two weeks ago, Mr. T tweeted the following: “I pity the fool!: “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” Mr. T. gets it. Yep—still my hero!I begin lightheartedly because this is a difficult Psalm. It is humbling, searching, sobering. And as much as we might want to think that Psalm 53 is speaking of someone else, as we will see, its message is universal. David is speaking to all people and perhaps, especially, to those who claim that God exists, but live as though he doesn't.Like Mr. T, we ought to pity the fool—especially when that fool is us. And Psalm 53 is here to tell us something difficult now so that we don't hear it on the day of judgement.Here is how this Psalm unfolds: David moves from telling us about the heart of the fool, to the identity of the fool, to the destiny of the fool, and, finally, to the hope for the fool. Remember those four words:Heart – Identity – Destiny – HopeFather in heaven, your word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. Help us to see you, by your Spirit and through your word, because we ask in Jesus's name, Amen.The Heart of the Fool (1–3)Psalm 53 teaches us some very fundamental things about the human condition—about our nature and desires. Let's look together at verse 1: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity; there is none who does good.” At first glance, we might think that the fool of v1 is the atheist.But the Bible doesn't believe in atheists.The Scriptures very clearly and repeatedly attest that no human being at any time in any place can plausibly deny the existence of God.Paul makes this case in Romans 1:19-20, where he says For what can be known about God is plain to [all mankind], because God has shown it to them. For [God's] invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So [mankind is] without excuse. And Paul builds his argument on Psalm 19:1-3: The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard. Human beings simply cannot deny creation's witness to the existence of God. From galaxies to grasshoppers, God's glory, his power, his moral beauty, his creativity, his wisdom, his goodness—are all displayed in the things he has made.Our very nature as derivative, created beings who cannot bring ourselves into the world or uphold our existence, testifies to God's sovereign power. His miraculous deeds displayed in history and preserved through the ages in his word, bear witness to his purposes and to his mercy and goodness.That's why there can be no theoretical or philosophical atheists. God is there, and he is not silent. The Bible doesn't believe in atheists.So, here is what Psalm 53 is saying: The heart of the fool says “there is no God” not because God is plausibly deniable, but because it stubbornly refuses to bow the knee to God's rule. The heart refuses to give him the glory he is due. And the highest injustice, the most immoral act, is saying in our heart, “I cannot deny that you exist, but I refuse to worship you and I reject your authority.”So, despite the witness of reality, the heart of the fool suppresses the truth about God. It says: “He does not see, he does not judge, he does not hold to account. There is no God.”Listen to how Psalm 10 identifies the fool's suppression of truth with wickedness. The Psalmist writes: For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him. All his thoughts are “there is no God.”… [The wicked] says in his heart, “God has forgotten."He has hidden his face, he will never see it….[the wicked renounces] God and [says] in his heart, “you will not call to account[.]” Psalm 53:1 is teaching us that, by its very nature, the heart of the fool suppresses the truth about God. It is stubborn, proud, sin-sick, and opposed to the Lordship of God. The Identity of the FoolSpotting an atheist is as difficult as drawing a square circle, but spotting a fool is as easy as waking up in the morning and looking in the mirror. Look at the rest of verses 1–3: "They are corrupt, doing abominable deeds, there is none who does good. God looks down on the children of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all fallen away, together, they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one." We have been looking at the heart from David's perspective. Now we are looking at mankind from God's perspective. Seeing all of humanity simultaneously, God finds none “who act wisely,” none who from the heart naturally pursue God in worship and obedience. Rather, the entire human race is characterized by rebellion against God.Instead of walking with the One by whom and for whom mankind was made, everyone has verse 3 “fallen away.” Humanity refuses God the worship and obedience that he deserves. Together they have “soured” on God—becoming bitter, resentful, acrimonious, disaffected. Rather than acting wisely and choosing good, all their actions have turned inward. They have become self-seeking, rather than God-seeking. They have become morally corrupt. The concluding words of verse 3 capture the picture comprehensively: “None of them does what is right, not a single one!” So, who then is the fool? Not someone else. Not them. Us. All of us. Apart from a miracle of God's grace, to be human is to be a fool.You might say: “hold on a second, Pastor Ryan! You are going too far! How can we be lumped in with those woke liberal progressives, those raging anti-theists, those enemies who persecute the church of Christ?”The placement of Psalm 53 actually gives us the answer. Track with me a second. You may remember that Psalm 53 is almost a word-for-word repetition of Psalm 14. The fact that the Psalter repeats Psalm 14 between Psalm 52 and 54 could seem accidental. But it is intentional. And it reminds the people of God why we are not exempted from the league of fools.As we have seen in over the last two Sundays in Psalm 51 and 52, several of the Psalms reflect on particular moments in David's life.Those who arranged the Psalms repeated Psalm 14 as Psalm 53 to point back to the actions of Doeg the Edomite and King Saul which occasion David's lament in Psalm 52. You can go back and listen to Jordan's excellent message from last week to hear more. What is important for the moment is to remember that in Psalm 52 David is lamenting Saul's wicked slaughter of the inhabitants of Nob.Obviously, King Saul wasn't a woke liberal progressive or a raging anti-theist—he was Israel's king. And as king, he was especially responsible to cultivate his personal relationship with the God of Israel. In Deuteronomy 17:18-20, God says: "And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel." While nature and conscience would have been sufficient witness, Saul had God's very word. He knew precisely what pleased God and what didn't. Saul did not deny God's existence, he defied God's kingship. He said in his heart, “there is no God” and in his anger and bitterness, he murdered 85 Levitical priests with their wives and children. He became the fool—and committed an injustice so abhorrent, so repulsive, so despicable that it can only be described as “abominable.”Psalm 53 stands here in the Psalter in part as a witness against the high-handed sin of God's people who foolishly say, “He doesn't know, he doesn't care, he doesn't judge, he won't hold to account.”So, what is the identity of the fool? All rebellious, sinful humanity, generally. And especially those who know the living God, who know the beauty of living according to his word, and who in pain or anger or lust or greed, deliberately choose to defy his Lordship.What we've just seen in Psalm 53:1-3 and these other texts of Scripture is sometimes labeled by theologians as the doctrine of total depravity. Total depravity describes the complete moral inability of mankind to seek after God.As beings created in God's image and for relationship with him, we have the natural ability to see that God exists and alone is worthy of our worship and obedience. No physical limitation prevents us from worshipping or obeying him. But because our hearts are trapped in conscious, deliberate rebellion, we are morally unable to seek him. No matter how irrational it may be to disbelieve in God, we cannot reason ourselves to belief.Here's why: fold your arms right now in the “angry momma” pose. Now, note which arm is on top of the other. Got it? Now, try to reverse it. Not that easy, is it? But why do some people have their right hand above their left forearm and others the opposite? Intriguingly, it doesn't necessarily correspond to right or left-handedness. Scientists believe that our arm folding preference is an inherited trait.Why is the whole human race in bondage from birth to rebellion against God? It is an inherited trait. Rebellion from birth is the consequence of our first parents' rebellion in the garden of Eden. This is the doctrine of original sin. Genesis narrates how Adam and Eve chose not to act wisely by walking in holiness and obedience and gratitude. Instead, they presumed that God was keeping something from them that they deserved.Rather than acknowledging his benevolent authority or giving thanks to him, they defied him by eating of the one tree that was forbidden them. The result was catastrophic. Genesis 3:16-19 describes how Adam and Eve's rebellion resulted in disordered desires producing all kind of dysfunction in their relationship with themselves, with God, with each other, and with the created order. And their offspring inherited this new state of reality. All humanity is under the power of sin.David reflects this biblical understanding in Psalm 51, flip back and look at Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Listen to how Paul explains it in Romans 5:12: …all sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. And in Romans 3, Paul even quotes our Psalm, Psalm 53:3, to underscore the fact that all of the human race are under the power of sin. Listen to verses 9–12: “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'” (Rom 3:9-12) The heart of the fool suppresses the truth about God. And who is that fool? The man who refuses to make God his God. And, under the power of sin inherited from our first parents, that is all of humankind. Apart from a miracle of grace transforming our disordered desires, every single one of us are trapped in obstinate foolishness. This is a humbling doctrine. It is a doctrine against which our proud hearts want to rebel. But it is a doctrine that gives all the glory to God — because all the initiative is of God's grace.The Destiny of the FoolWhew. Ok. Stretch break. Out of the heavy doctrinal stuff.Let's consider what the destiny of the fool if his folly is not addressed. Where does folly ultimately lead? Consider for a moment that what makes foolishness folly is not merely that it is sin. What is foolish about foolishness is that it places an unwise bet. The fool wagers that God isn't really who he says he is, even though this is contrary to the witness of creation and conscience. The fool says, “he doesn't really see. He doesn't really care.”But this is a wager that the fool cannot possibly win. The fool might wager that poison doesn't affect him, but that won't stop the poison from killing him when he drinks it.And David knows this. Look at verse 4: Have those who work evil no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon God? David sees the fool's wager. He cries out, “do they not know?” Do they not realize that gobbling up God's people like breakfast cereal—will bring about their own destruction? Do they not know that they are playing with fire? That they are teetering on the edge of destruction?But then, David sees the answer. Look at verse 5: "There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror. For God scatters the bones of who encamps against you; you put them to shame, for God has rejected them." Like in a vision, David sees that God's judgment has suddenly come upon his enemies. They were confident in their rebellion, consciously disobeying God's rule, acting as though God did not see, living as though he did not exist. But he does. And he sees. They weren't frightened by him then, but now they are seized with terror.The ESV translates Psalm 53:5 in the present tense—which captures the “prophetic perfect” from the Hebrew original. God says something will happen, a prophet sees it, and because God has said it will happen it is as good as done. David is looking at what will happen that is so sure is it as though it is happening right now. It is as good as done. Those who walk in pride now will be brought to complete shame then.There is a warning for us here. David is saying, “If I reject him now, he will reject me then. And if he rejects me on that day, there will be no hope.” Shame and destruction is the fool's destiny.Psalm 53 is sobering. It highlights our impossible situation. We are fools who, by nature, cannot change our foolish state, and our destiny is shame and destruction. We need a miracle of grace. But thank God that the Psalm does not end there.The Fool's HopeThere is hope for the fool. Look at verse 6: “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.” Verse 6 is a prayer. David prays, “Oh, that deliverance would come out of Zion,” “Oh, God would you send a rescuer from Jerusalem? Would you send a deliverer from the holy city of God's king, where the your presence dwells in your temple! Oh, God would you send your promised anointed one to rescue men and women who trapped in the bondage of sin!”Then, David says, when God's deliverer brings back his people from the bondage of sin, Jacob will rejoice and Israel will be glad!As a boy, I went hiking one morning with some friends. This was many moons before smartphones or GPS. Somewhere along the way, we split up into two groups, intending to rendezvous later in the day. I hung toward the back of my group and, after some time, realized that our leader was hopelessly lost. We got off the trail, intending, we thought to bushwack a shortcut to our destination.As the hours wore on, we got more and more turned around. Night began to fall. It was dark and cold. We were hungry and tired. I still remember that feeling—the tightness in my chest, the rising panic that we might be lost beyond rescue in 10,000 acres of howling wilderness. In that moment what I wouldn't have given to have been home! To be at the campsite in a warm tent! To at least have had a compass!But getting deeply lost certainly heightened the joy of being found. I won't forget that moment when the headlamp of friend from the other group blinked into view over the ridgeline. What it was to be found!Perhaps we cannot know the joy of salvation until we know the true danger of our situation. We are, by nature, fools. Our hearts are resolutely set against God and we have no desire to change. That folly is abominable in God's sight (v1). That folly destroys our relationship with others (v4). And that folly ultimately leads to final rejection by God (v5). There is only one hope. That salvation would come out of Zion.Verse three tells us that there are none who seek after God, none who do good, not even one.But that judgement is no longer absolutely true. The Gospels tell us that there came a time in human history when God looked down from heaven at one man and said “you are my beloved Son, in you am I well pleased.” The word “salvation” in verse six is the word Yeshua, “God's salvation,” the same as the name Joshua, or, in Greek, Jesus.There is hope for the fool—the salvation to be found in Jesus. Jesus who, alone, lived in perfect joyful obedience to his Father's will. Jesus who alone acted wisely, whose entire earthly life was in perfect concert with his Father's purposes. Jesus, the anointed one of God, the Son of David and Son of man who laid down his life to redeem fools from our sin.Isaiah says that all we like sheep had gone astray, every one of us to our own way, but God laid upon him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53.6). Paul says that for our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5.21). This Jesus, Paul says, broke the power of our miserable inheritance, “if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Romans 5.17). The apostle Peter says, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12). Salvation has come out of Zion.ConclusionThere is hope for the fool. Perhaps this morning for the first time the real sense of your plight has settled in. The word of God is the Spirit's sword, and this difficult word is a message of mercy. Psalm 53 is telling you that you are a fool, now, so that you do not hear it on the day of judgement. Perhaps in his kindness at this moment he is inclining your heart to find your hope in him. Responding to that sense is as simple as saying, “I am that fool and I need rescue. I repent of my hard-hearted rebellion and I trust in the rescue of Jesus, the Messiah.”Friend, I promise, you are not too far away for rescue. Jesus says to you in John 6:37, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” This morning, receive the mercy of God.Or perhaps you are trusting the Lord Jesus, but you see in your own heart the tendency to say “he does not see. He does not hold to account.” As Christians, we live in the time between the times. We are, in Christ, a new creation. And yet our foolish nature has not yet been entirely eradicated. Before grace, we were not able to not sin. Now, in Christ, we are able to not sin. But we look forward to our Savior's final return when we will be with him and no longer able to sin. Until that day, then, can we resolve again, together, this morning, God helping us, to live our utmost for his highest? Can we remember him who laid down his life to free us from our selfish, sinful ways? Can we remember him, daily, and walk in newness of life?The Lord's TableThat's what we do when we come to this table. We remember his redeeming love, until he comes again.

The Phillies find themselves in the longest losing streak of the Rob Thomson era of 4 games in a row! Brendan Petrilli breaks down the current state of the Phillies and the JT Realmuto situation. #phillies #jtrealmuto #mlb This is a full episode of the BSP Podcast, more ways to listen are below! Watch my previous Vlog at the Phillies game here - https://youtu.be/V0DL-lyoLMI Like, Comment and Subscribe Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyX9ie0ppKy4tC0eiZ92sxg Listen on Apple Podcast - http://anchor.fm/s/22f9b8bc/podcast/rss Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/389mOolRDa5dSvTkDSIVx8?si=43c15cf4eff3476e Follow me on all Social Media - Instagram @BrendanPetrilli - Twitter @BrendanPetrilli @BSP__Podcast - TikTok @BrendanPetrilli Thank you for your support --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bsp-podcast/support

The issues mount as November's election closes in. Recent decisions by the Supreme Court have sent shockwaves across the country – and particularly here in Texas. In Houston, the threat of a shaky electric grid is an omnipresent source of concern, with heat records falling constantly. As these issues heat up, so has the rhetoric, and it all leads to one simple question: Does Beto O'Rourke have what it takes unseat Governor Abbott, whose war chest is perhaps more lucrative than the Republican National Committee itself? Today, we speak to Scott Braddock of Quarumreport.com, who details for Lisa some of the problems that Republicans have been dealing with, and, what it will take for Beto to be competitive as the election approaches. Be sure to check out Scott's website. He is also up on Texas political events on Twitter, so check him out here! Like Lisa said, make sure to sign up for the newsletter here. We cover all kinds of great food, events, books, plays – all the things that make Houston great! Like Mr. Braddock, we're also active on Twitter: @CityCastHouston You can also leave us a voicemail (or text us!) at +1 713-489-6972 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Someone that knew Bill Gates when he was a boy in on the podcast this week, although we only talk about Bill Gates for a moment. He has 30+ years in backup experience and tells us what it's been like to adapt to all of the backup changes over the years. His first backup was to punch cards and punch tape, and he was in the same Boy Scout troop as Bill Gates. Fans of the podcast know his name already, as it comes up randomly on the show as a friend of Curtis. But this is the first time Stuart Liddle has graced us with his presence. Like Mr. Backup, his career starts with a data loss story that actually involved people having to re-enter data. We discuss a lot of configuring and running backups, including deciding on retention periods, treating all backups the same (or not), virtual tape libraries and other dedupe systems, and how important a change management data database (CMDB) is. We also talk about the danger of becoming entrenched in a specialty like backup, knowing only one specialty or product. We talk about how it's not good for you or your company. Finally we talk about the different way people are using the cloud today for IT and backup, and how that affects cost. Curtis and Prasanna use a great analogy that helps it make sense. This week's episode is fully of useful information. Mentioned in this episode: Free eBook version of O'Reilly's Modern Data Protection For a limited time, you can get a free ebook copy of my latest O'Reilly book, Modern Data Protection. Just go to druva.com/podcast and download it!

Occupy The Web (OTW) explains how hacks shown in the Mr Robot TV Series actually work (and if they are actually realistic). He compares real world WiFi, Bluetooth and Scada hacking vs what is shown in the TV series. In this video we discuss the hacks in Mr Robot Season 1 Episode 6. Which other episodes or technologies do you want us to cover in future videos? Please comment. // Devices used in video // Hak5 Rubber Ducky: https://davidbombal.wiki/gethak5 Panda Bluetooth 4.0 USB Nano Adapter : https://amzn.to/3NlSlbQ MultiBlue Dongle USB Bluetooth V3.0 HiD: Not available unfortunately. // Previous videos // OTW Hacking Russia: https://youtu.be/GudY7XYouRk OTW Hacking Scada: https://youtu.be/uXbGQiXsRes OTW Hacking CCTV: https://youtu.be/ZGCScbV7vSA // David's SOCIAL // Discord: https://discord.com/invite/usKSyzb Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/davidbombal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidbombal LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbombal Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/davidbombal.co TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@davidbombal YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/davidbombal // Occupy The Web social // Twitter: https://twitter.com/three_cube // Occupy The Web books // Linux Basics for Hackers: https://amzn.to/3JlAQXe Getting Started Becoming a Master Hacker: https://amzn.to/3qCQbvh // Other books // The Linux Command Line: https://amzn.to/3ihGP3j How Linux Works: https://amzn.to/3qeCHoY // Occupy The Web Website / Hackers Arise Website // Website: https://www.hackers-arise.com/ How Elliot hacked the prison: https://www.hackers-arise.com/post/20... OTW Mr Robot series: https://www.hackers-arise.com/mr-robot SCADA Hacking: The Key Differences between Security of SCADA and Traditional IT systems https://davidbombal.wiki/scada1 SCADA Hacking: Finding SCADA Systems using Shodan https://davidbombal.wiki/scada2 SCADA Hacking: SCADA/ICS Protocols (Profinet/Profibus) https://www.hackers-arise.com/post/20... Lots of Scada content: https://www.hackers-arise.com/scada-h... // MY STUFF // https://www.amazon.com/shop/davidbombal // SPONSORS // Interested in sponsoring my videos? Reach out to my team here: sponsors@davidbombal.com hacking hack mr robot mr robot bluetooth mr robot scada scada scada hacking bluetooth bluetooth hacking bluetooth hack mr robot bluetooth mr robot season 1 episode 6 mr robot season 1 google dorks shodan scada hacks scada hacking scada google dorks wifi wifi hacking wpa hacking wpa2 hacking wifi hack wpa2 hack mr robot wpa mr robot wpa2 hack scada bluetooth keyboard hacks bluetooth panda panda bluetooth Disclaimer: This video is for educational purposes only. Please note that the links listed may be affiliate links and provide me with a small percentage/kickback should you use them to purchase any of the items listed or recommended. Thank you for supporting me and this channel! #wifi #bluetooth #hacking

Daily News Brief for Wednesday May 25th, 2022 Wednesday Ads DNB: Dropwave Do you have a podcast, or thinking about starting one? Does your church have a podcast feed for sermons? The Dropwave.io is for you. Cancel culture is like walking on a thin glass bridge over the Grand Canyon. Every step you take could get you killed, I mean canceled. Since the beginning CrossPolitic has been working on being antifragile, so no matter what happens, our content can still be delivered to your tv and to your podcast. This past year, the Waterboy and his friend Jeremi, have been working on building a podcast hosting solution for rowdy platforms like CrossPolitic, so that you can be confident your podcast will never fall through that glass bridge. Dropwave offers seamless onboarding for shows that have been around for years to easy to use solutions for starting your own podcast. Dropwave will track all your show’s downloads by city, state, and country, and it offers network and enterprise packages for solutions like the Fight Laugh Feast Network. Free to speak, Free to podcast, free to start your journey now at www.Dropwave.io. Mass shooting at Texas elementary school, 14 children and one teacher dead, multiple injuries https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-mass-shooting-at-texas-elementary-school-two-children-dead-multiple-injuries?utm_campaign=64487 18 students are dead and two teacher following the shooting, and the shooter's grandma was also killed prior to the school shooting. This according to Governor Greg Abbott, who said the shooter "shot and killed horrifically, 14 students, and killed a teacher." According to Ali Bradley, the suspect was wanted for murder and was being pursued by police when he exited his vehicle and ran into the grade school, where he began shooting. "The shooter was Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old male who resided in Uvalde, it is believed that he abandoned his vehicle and entered the Robb Elementary school with a handgun and he may have also had a rifle, but that is not yet confirmed... He shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher. Mr. Romas... he himself is deceased and it is believed that responding officers killed him," said Gov. Abbott on Tuesday. Mike Rowe Says Feds Revoked His Filming Permit, Received Call Claiming It Was Pulled For His ‘Personal Politics’ https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-rowe-says-feds-revoked-his-filming-permit-received-call-claiming-it-was-pulled-for-his-personal-politics “Television host Mike Rowe said that the General Services Administration (GSA) recently revoked his permit to shoot a new episode of “Dirty Jobs” and wondered whether it was done for “political reasons” or as an attempt to “yank my chain,” which he said the move failed to do. In a lengthy message posted Monday on Facebook, Rowe explained why he didn’t appear at the job site this week as scheduled to shoot an episode highlighting a woman-owned company in the boilermaker trade. Rowe said that to his both surprise and disappointment the shoot was canceled “at the last minute” when the GSA “suddenly revoked our permit.” “I just wanted to assure you guys that this decision had nothing to do with me, Discovery, or my production team,” Rowe wrote. “This decision was made solely by the GSA, who oversees the location where you are currently working, and required us to apply for a permit months ago. Obviously, we did. The necessary permits were quickly issued, and we were assured several times over the last few months that everything was still good to go.” “Then, just two days before I was scheduled to arrive, we received a phone call from a woman at the GSA who informed us that our permits were being revoked,” he added. “When we asked for an explanation, she said, ‘security concerns.’ When we asked her what kind of security concerns, she said she didn’t know. She only told us that the decision had come down from ‘the very highest levels within the GSA.'” The TV host did not specify the location of the scheduled shoot but posted pictures of what appeared to be M&M Welding and Fabricators, the company his show had planned to feature in the episode. Rowe went on to reference other places where the show “has filmed in many sensitive environments under government control,” citing previous permits obtained from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and NASA, adding, “We even got a permit to film inside the National Security Agency!” “What’s really going on here?” Rowe asked in his post. Rowe said his crew later received a call from someone he said “sounded credible” who claimed the permit was revoked because of Rowe’s viewpoints. “According to this caller, someone at the highest levels of the GSA, ‘doesn’t like Mike Rowe’s personal politics,’ and used their power to deliberately string us along until the last possible second, for the express purpose of ‘yanking my chain,'” Rowe wrote. Rowe admitted he can’t say for sure if what the caller told him was accurate.” Supreme Court to weigh Christian web designer’s free speech argument against anti-discrimination law https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/may/18/supreme-court-weigh-christian-web-designers-free-s/ “Lorie Smith, a Colorado web designer who will have her case heard during the court’s 2022 term, argues that the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act forces her to create websites that celebrate same-sex marriages, which violates her faith. Her case comes four years after a Christian baker from Colorado also took his First Amendment fight to the high court after refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding. Ms. Smith said she observed Mr. Phillips’ more-than-a-decade-long legal battle, but knew she couldn’t live in fear of the government punishing her for her faith. Like Mr. Phillips, she’s also faced threats for challenging the law. “I knew I couldn’t live in fear,” she told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “I am simply asking for the freedom for all of us to speak consistently with our beliefs.” The same state regulation is at issue in Ms. Smith’s challenge. Her 303 Creative is based in Denver and is subject to Colorado’s public accommodations law that is designed to protect certain groups from discrimination in business settings. One such group is LGBTQ people. At least 29 states have added protection for LGBTQ individuals into their public accommodation laws — but some have protected speech from government interference, according to Ms. Smith’s legal team. Under the Colorado law, Ms. Smith claims she is unable to make a statement on her website about her view that marriage is only between a man and a woman. A federal appeals court ruled against Ms. Smith, saying the state of Colorado can regulate a business’s speech because it has an interest in ensuring equal access. Ms. Smith said she loves using her talents to shape messages for her clients — so long as the messages do not violate her values. “I do believe God has chosen me to represent him,” she said. “Everything I do is consistent with my faith and running my business is a part of that.” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, though, insists companies cannot discriminate. “The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that anti-discrimination laws, like Colorado’s, apply to all businesses selling goods and services. Companies cannot turn away LGBTQ customers just because of who they are. We will vigorously defend Colorado’s laws, which protect all Coloradans by preventing discrimination and upholding free speech,” he said earlier this year when the high court took the case. A date for oral arguments in the legal battle has not yet been scheduled, but Kristen Waggoner, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom representing Ms. Smith, said they expect the justices to hear the case in October.” Lies, Propaganda, Story Telling, and the Serrated Edge: This year our national conference is in Knoxville, TN October 6th-8th. The theme of this year’s conference is Lies, Propaganda, Storytelling and the Serrated Edge. Satan is the father of lies, and the mother of those lies is a government who has rejected God. We have especially been lied to these last two years, and the COVIDpanic has been one of the central mechanisms that our government has used to lie to us and to grab more power. Because Christians have not been reading their bibles, we are susceptible to lies and weak in our ability to fight these lies. God has given us His word to fight Satan and his lies, and we need to recover all of God’s word, its serrated edge and all. Mark your calendars for October 6th-8th, as we fight, laugh and feast with fellowship, beer and Psalms, our amazing lineup of speakers, hanging with our awesome vendors, meeting new friends, and more. Early bird tickets sale now!. File this under conservatives are cowards, and not at the same time: BOOM! Indiana's Legislature Just Overrode Their "Conservative" Governor's Veto Of Bill That Kept Men Out Of Women's Sports https://notthebee.com/article/boom-indianas-legislature-just-overrode-their-conservative-governors-veto-of-bill-that-kept-men-out-of-womens-sports Indiana is one of the many red states that have governors who are unwilling to actually stand up for conservative principles and unflinchingly state the reality that boys are boys and girls are girls. With the opportunity to do just that a few weeks ago, Indiana's governor, Eric Holcomb, vetoed a bill that kept men out of women's sports. Holcomb tried to compromise Indiana girls, but the legislature was not about to have it. According to ABC News: “The Indiana Legislature voted Tuesday to override the governor's veto of the anti-trans bill that bans transgender girls from participating in girls' sports in K-12 schools. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed the bill in March. He said the bill fell short in clarifying or creating policy to ensure "fairness" in school sports. In his veto letter, he said he echoed the Indiana High School Athletic Association's concerns that the bill does not address inconsistencies about enforcement across different counties and school districts and will cause confusion and litigation against schools. He also pointed to pending litigation seen in other states that have passed similar laws, where courts have enjoined or prohibited the laws from taking effect. "Any bill brought forward should address the issues raised in these lawsuits," Holcomb's March letter read. He also said there was no evidence of an issue of fairness in girls' sports and trans participation.” Just grateful for checks and balances. The National Pulse Announces World Economic Forum Investigative Priority and Dedicated Site. https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/05/23/new-the-national-pulse-announces-world-economic-forum-investigative-priority-and-dedicated-site/ According to the National Pulse: “The National Pulse is announcing a new investigative priority surrounding the work of the World Economic Forum, as well as launching a new public information website: TakeDownTheWEF.com. Founded in 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is an unaccountable, non-governmental organization which convenes meetings of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, with a view to impacting policy decisions on behalf of its members: predominantly multi-national corporations and politicians. The group has been criticized for its stated aims of transforming or “resetting” global society for the benefit of private corporations rather than the public. Schwab himself has argued governments are no longer “the overwhelmingly dominant actors on the world stage” and “the time has come for a new stakeholder paradigm of international governance.” As a result, The National Pulse is announcing a new commitment to exposing the work of the World Economic Forum, and is calling on ordinary members of the public to help support this effort through our crowdfunding site: FundRealNews.com Speaking on the subject, The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam said: “We’re not just setting up a resource for members of the public to learn more about the World Economic Forum, we’re also crowdsourcing information on the group. The World Economic Forum is the throbbing, blackened heart of globalism, and we intend to drive a stake in it. For those interested in taking the fight to this group journalistically, as well as politically, think about urgently supporting this initiative.”” This is Gabriel Rench with Crosspolitic News. Support Rowdy Christian media by joining our club at fightlaughfeast.com, downloading our App, and head to our annual Fight Laugh Feast Events. If this content is helpful to you, would you please consider becoming a Fight Laugh Feast Club Member? We are trying to build a cancel-proof media platform, and we need your help. Join today and get a discount at the Fight Laugh Feast conference in Knoxville, TN and have a great day. Have a great day. Lord bless

Daily News Brief for Wednesday May 25th, 2022 Wednesday Ads DNB: Dropwave Do you have a podcast, or thinking about starting one? Does your church have a podcast feed for sermons? The Dropwave.io is for you. Cancel culture is like walking on a thin glass bridge over the Grand Canyon. Every step you take could get you killed, I mean canceled. Since the beginning CrossPolitic has been working on being antifragile, so no matter what happens, our content can still be delivered to your tv and to your podcast. This past year, the Waterboy and his friend Jeremi, have been working on building a podcast hosting solution for rowdy platforms like CrossPolitic, so that you can be confident your podcast will never fall through that glass bridge. Dropwave offers seamless onboarding for shows that have been around for years to easy to use solutions for starting your own podcast. Dropwave will track all your show’s downloads by city, state, and country, and it offers network and enterprise packages for solutions like the Fight Laugh Feast Network. Free to speak, Free to podcast, free to start your journey now at www.Dropwave.io. Mass shooting at Texas elementary school, 14 children and one teacher dead, multiple injuries https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-mass-shooting-at-texas-elementary-school-two-children-dead-multiple-injuries?utm_campaign=64487 18 students are dead and two teacher following the shooting, and the shooter's grandma was also killed prior to the school shooting. This according to Governor Greg Abbott, who said the shooter "shot and killed horrifically, 14 students, and killed a teacher." According to Ali Bradley, the suspect was wanted for murder and was being pursued by police when he exited his vehicle and ran into the grade school, where he began shooting. "The shooter was Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old male who resided in Uvalde, it is believed that he abandoned his vehicle and entered the Robb Elementary school with a handgun and he may have also had a rifle, but that is not yet confirmed... He shot and killed, horrifically, incomprehensibly, 14 students and killed a teacher. Mr. Romas... he himself is deceased and it is believed that responding officers killed him," said Gov. Abbott on Tuesday. Mike Rowe Says Feds Revoked His Filming Permit, Received Call Claiming It Was Pulled For His ‘Personal Politics’ https://www.dailywire.com/news/mike-rowe-says-feds-revoked-his-filming-permit-received-call-claiming-it-was-pulled-for-his-personal-politics “Television host Mike Rowe said that the General Services Administration (GSA) recently revoked his permit to shoot a new episode of “Dirty Jobs” and wondered whether it was done for “political reasons” or as an attempt to “yank my chain,” which he said the move failed to do. In a lengthy message posted Monday on Facebook, Rowe explained why he didn’t appear at the job site this week as scheduled to shoot an episode highlighting a woman-owned company in the boilermaker trade. Rowe said that to his both surprise and disappointment the shoot was canceled “at the last minute” when the GSA “suddenly revoked our permit.” “I just wanted to assure you guys that this decision had nothing to do with me, Discovery, or my production team,” Rowe wrote. “This decision was made solely by the GSA, who oversees the location where you are currently working, and required us to apply for a permit months ago. Obviously, we did. The necessary permits were quickly issued, and we were assured several times over the last few months that everything was still good to go.” “Then, just two days before I was scheduled to arrive, we received a phone call from a woman at the GSA who informed us that our permits were being revoked,” he added. “When we asked for an explanation, she said, ‘security concerns.’ When we asked her what kind of security concerns, she said she didn’t know. She only told us that the decision had come down from ‘the very highest levels within the GSA.'” The TV host did not specify the location of the scheduled shoot but posted pictures of what appeared to be M&M Welding and Fabricators, the company his show had planned to feature in the episode. Rowe went on to reference other places where the show “has filmed in many sensitive environments under government control,” citing previous permits obtained from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and NASA, adding, “We even got a permit to film inside the National Security Agency!” “What’s really going on here?” Rowe asked in his post. Rowe said his crew later received a call from someone he said “sounded credible” who claimed the permit was revoked because of Rowe’s viewpoints. “According to this caller, someone at the highest levels of the GSA, ‘doesn’t like Mike Rowe’s personal politics,’ and used their power to deliberately string us along until the last possible second, for the express purpose of ‘yanking my chain,'” Rowe wrote. Rowe admitted he can’t say for sure if what the caller told him was accurate.” Supreme Court to weigh Christian web designer’s free speech argument against anti-discrimination law https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/may/18/supreme-court-weigh-christian-web-designers-free-s/ “Lorie Smith, a Colorado web designer who will have her case heard during the court’s 2022 term, argues that the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act forces her to create websites that celebrate same-sex marriages, which violates her faith. Her case comes four years after a Christian baker from Colorado also took his First Amendment fight to the high court after refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding. Ms. Smith said she observed Mr. Phillips’ more-than-a-decade-long legal battle, but knew she couldn’t live in fear of the government punishing her for her faith. Like Mr. Phillips, she’s also faced threats for challenging the law. “I knew I couldn’t live in fear,” she told reporters in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “I am simply asking for the freedom for all of us to speak consistently with our beliefs.” The same state regulation is at issue in Ms. Smith’s challenge. Her 303 Creative is based in Denver and is subject to Colorado’s public accommodations law that is designed to protect certain groups from discrimination in business settings. One such group is LGBTQ people. At least 29 states have added protection for LGBTQ individuals into their public accommodation laws — but some have protected speech from government interference, according to Ms. Smith’s legal team. Under the Colorado law, Ms. Smith claims she is unable to make a statement on her website about her view that marriage is only between a man and a woman. A federal appeals court ruled against Ms. Smith, saying the state of Colorado can regulate a business’s speech because it has an interest in ensuring equal access. Ms. Smith said she loves using her talents to shape messages for her clients — so long as the messages do not violate her values. “I do believe God has chosen me to represent him,” she said. “Everything I do is consistent with my faith and running my business is a part of that.” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, though, insists companies cannot discriminate. “The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently held that anti-discrimination laws, like Colorado’s, apply to all businesses selling goods and services. Companies cannot turn away LGBTQ customers just because of who they are. We will vigorously defend Colorado’s laws, which protect all Coloradans by preventing discrimination and upholding free speech,” he said earlier this year when the high court took the case. A date for oral arguments in the legal battle has not yet been scheduled, but Kristen Waggoner, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom representing Ms. Smith, said they expect the justices to hear the case in October.” Lies, Propaganda, Story Telling, and the Serrated Edge: This year our national conference is in Knoxville, TN October 6th-8th. The theme of this year’s conference is Lies, Propaganda, Storytelling and the Serrated Edge. Satan is the father of lies, and the mother of those lies is a government who has rejected God. We have especially been lied to these last two years, and the COVIDpanic has been one of the central mechanisms that our government has used to lie to us and to grab more power. Because Christians have not been reading their bibles, we are susceptible to lies and weak in our ability to fight these lies. God has given us His word to fight Satan and his lies, and we need to recover all of God’s word, its serrated edge and all. Mark your calendars for October 6th-8th, as we fight, laugh and feast with fellowship, beer and Psalms, our amazing lineup of speakers, hanging with our awesome vendors, meeting new friends, and more. Early bird tickets sale now!. File this under conservatives are cowards, and not at the same time: BOOM! Indiana's Legislature Just Overrode Their "Conservative" Governor's Veto Of Bill That Kept Men Out Of Women's Sports https://notthebee.com/article/boom-indianas-legislature-just-overrode-their-conservative-governors-veto-of-bill-that-kept-men-out-of-womens-sports Indiana is one of the many red states that have governors who are unwilling to actually stand up for conservative principles and unflinchingly state the reality that boys are boys and girls are girls. With the opportunity to do just that a few weeks ago, Indiana's governor, Eric Holcomb, vetoed a bill that kept men out of women's sports. Holcomb tried to compromise Indiana girls, but the legislature was not about to have it. According to ABC News: “The Indiana Legislature voted Tuesday to override the governor's veto of the anti-trans bill that bans transgender girls from participating in girls' sports in K-12 schools. Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb vetoed the bill in March. He said the bill fell short in clarifying or creating policy to ensure "fairness" in school sports. In his veto letter, he said he echoed the Indiana High School Athletic Association's concerns that the bill does not address inconsistencies about enforcement across different counties and school districts and will cause confusion and litigation against schools. He also pointed to pending litigation seen in other states that have passed similar laws, where courts have enjoined or prohibited the laws from taking effect. "Any bill brought forward should address the issues raised in these lawsuits," Holcomb's March letter read. He also said there was no evidence of an issue of fairness in girls' sports and trans participation.” Just grateful for checks and balances. The National Pulse Announces World Economic Forum Investigative Priority and Dedicated Site. https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/05/23/new-the-national-pulse-announces-world-economic-forum-investigative-priority-and-dedicated-site/ According to the National Pulse: “The National Pulse is announcing a new investigative priority surrounding the work of the World Economic Forum, as well as launching a new public information website: TakeDownTheWEF.com. Founded in 1971 by German economist Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum (WEF) is an unaccountable, non-governmental organization which convenes meetings of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, with a view to impacting policy decisions on behalf of its members: predominantly multi-national corporations and politicians. The group has been criticized for its stated aims of transforming or “resetting” global society for the benefit of private corporations rather than the public. Schwab himself has argued governments are no longer “the overwhelmingly dominant actors on the world stage” and “the time has come for a new stakeholder paradigm of international governance.” As a result, The National Pulse is announcing a new commitment to exposing the work of the World Economic Forum, and is calling on ordinary members of the public to help support this effort through our crowdfunding site: FundRealNews.com Speaking on the subject, The National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam said: “We’re not just setting up a resource for members of the public to learn more about the World Economic Forum, we’re also crowdsourcing information on the group. The World Economic Forum is the throbbing, blackened heart of globalism, and we intend to drive a stake in it. For those interested in taking the fight to this group journalistically, as well as politically, think about urgently supporting this initiative.”” This is Gabriel Rench with Crosspolitic News. Support Rowdy Christian media by joining our club at fightlaughfeast.com, downloading our App, and head to our annual Fight Laugh Feast Events. If this content is helpful to you, would you please consider becoming a Fight Laugh Feast Club Member? We are trying to build a cancel-proof media platform, and we need your help. Join today and get a discount at the Fight Laugh Feast conference in Knoxville, TN and have a great day. Have a great day. Lord bless

The Weekly Manga Review w/ Dandadan, Ayakashi Triangle, My Hero Academia, Blue Box and More!   Support us on our Patreon @ patreon.com/weirdsciencemanga for early access to 14 episodes of the Manga Monday Show and exclusive content like out weekly Picks of the Month Podcast Instagram: @weirdsciencemanga Twitter:  @weirdmanga  (We follow everyone back!)  Email: weirdsciencemanga@gmail.com Check out the other Weird Science Podcasts Weird Science DC Comics Podcast & Weird Science Marvel Comics Podcast   0:00:00 - Intro 0:01:58 - Dandadan 48 0:10:28 - Ayakashi Triangle 83 0:18:35 - Ayashimon 15 0:24:36 - Jason's Anime Corner - Toradora! 0:30:18 - My Hero Academia 347 0:36:36 - Blue Box 44 0:44:56 - Sakamoto Days 62

This week on the podcast we are joined by our friend and local artist B4NKY. You might have heard him back when we had Idan Jene on the show but he's back now to showcase his depute EP B4FORE. All links and music will be down below https://open.spotify.com/album/0z0A9oaPRpktGdbJZzv9oN?si=I7IRfhWXR2CVpnh1-ycuGA https://music.apple.com/us/album/before-single/1611289727 https://www.instagram.com/b4nky/

Our last episode was about the #checkthebox mentality… if you haven't listened to it go do that, it will help you make sense of what this one is about. Your health… mental, physical, emotional… all of it is impacted by your choices. Your choices… the decisions that you make, through my lens are black and white… you either do it or you don't. Like Mr. Miyagi says in the Karate Kid… “do karate yes… okay… do karate no… okay… do karate i guess so… sooner or later get squish like grape… You can choose to hit snooze and go back to sleep… or you can choose to get your ass up and go move… You can choose to hit the bar after work, or you can choose to move. None of this is new information, but it is pretty black and white from my perspective.

Joy speaks with Haley Stewart about how Jane Austen's much maligned clergyman Mr Collins knows the secrets to an aggressively happy life.

We're asked if Mocha and Maurie report to Roz. Who's the best dancer in the room? Does Damnit Maurie look like Mr. Potato Head? Plus, if Roz were to go to Guyana who would be the one to take him?

Laugh with our daily morning show podcast!Join us live TODAY for our toy drive:Renova Appliance Center11AM to 8PM (we will be there 12-4)12440 S Sam Houston Pkwy WHouston, Texas 77031Today:After 265 guesses, we finally get a winner for 'What's That Noise'!!!Tony and his shit talking check inThe studio wasp invasion continuesKristina tells us about her Christmas shopping and takes on ‘Match Two' with DeniseDenise has details on how Apple is trying to trip the fellas upPK declares WAR after being hung up on TWICE!We check in with Jerry and Mern who help out with this years toy driveDuryan forgets he's marriedWe debate watching a movie from the FRONT ROW Duryan tried to save you money with the Ibotta AppWe try to spell your names (Duryan thinks there is a Z in Susan)And so much more!Guess 'What's That Noise': https://bit.ly/3hsl4hcPlay our games: www.PKandDK.com

The CrossFit athlete learned to eat, train, and pose like the Canadian bodybuilder.

Another episode of a not-award-winning podcast for you!Ian, Ben and Dave are here to talk Altrincham, W*ymouth, #YTFCMeansToMe and about all the stuff that's happened this week.Thanks for listening!Remember to add Gloverscast.co.uk to your favourites and check the website daily for the latest news from Huish Park.Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, enjoy some retro content on Instagram. Leave us a review and share the pod with a pal.If you want to take part in the quiz, have an idea for the website or just want to send us a message, email gloverscast@gmail.com. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

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Hello friends,Today, a podcast episode!It would not have been possible to have our Everything Emma month here at the Austen Connection without consulting Professor George Justice. Dr. Justice is the editor of the 2011 Norton Critical Edition of Emma, a professor of 18th Century British literature, and a frequent contributor to the Chronicle of Higher Education. And he's also the husband of Austen scholar, author, and friend Devoney Looser, who tells the story of their romantic meet-cute in a previous Austen Connection episode. Consult him we did, and the conversation was really fun, because: Emma is fun, just as it is also complex, surprising, baffling, and romantic. All of this complexity comes out in the conversation with George Justice. We explore what's going on with Austen men, what's going on with Austen women, and how romance and power get wrapped up in the stories of Austen. I first met Dr. Justice on the campus of the University of Missouri, where he served as dean of the graduate school. Now, he is a professor of English at Arizona State University. But in the process of that journey, from Missouri to Arizona, and from administration back to the classroom, he rediscovered the power of teaching Jane Austen.  This journey also has involved a recovery from a serious illness, and Dr. Justice says one of the things that got him through tough times has been reading Jane Austen, and talking about Jane Austen with his students. We spoke on a recent sunny Saturday, by Zoom. Here's an edited excerpt from our conversation:*Please note: There is a light mention of sexual assault in this conversation, about 20 minutes in, and again at 40 about minutes.Plain JaneI'm so glad that you're sharing your beautiful Saturday morning. Let me just ask a little bit about your work, George. So you're obviously on English literature with a focus on women's writing and publishing. And you're writing a book on Jane Austen, as a writer for Reaktion Books, the “Critical Lives” series. You also write about higher education, very compellingly, in the Chronicle of Higher Education. What, in all of this, are you most focused on and most passionate about, like, right this minute?George JusticeI can't say there is one thing because you're right, you just outlined the two major threads of my career as they've evolved. They both involve students, higher education, and places where I think I can contribute. But on the literature side, it feels like a miracle to me to be able to write about Jane Austen, to do research on Jane Austen, and especially, to teach Jane Austen to undergraduate students, which I can't imagine a more enjoyable thing that I can pretend is productive for myself to do. But my most recently published book is How to Be a Dean from the Johns Hopkins University Press. So figuring out ways, outside of administration, to take my passion for higher education to make structural change, structural change that is also focused on the individual. And I think that's something that maybe I'll be able to bring back to a discussion of the novels, genre, and to teaching. I love thinking about what the novel is. But what I also love is what it means to individual human beings to change their lives and do great things in the world.Plain Jane George, you said something else, about your illness, which you handled, it seemed, so gracefully. But I know that it's been huge. And in some ways, you were hit by this turn-the-world-upside-down thing. And then the world itself was turned upside down, not too long later. So in some ways, we're all kind of stunned. But you look the picture of health, and it's so great to see it. What were you reading during this time? Can Jane Austen get you through something like that?George JusticeTo me, it was therapeutic. It was therapeutic not only to reread her books, and to dig back in, more generally, to 18th century literature, but I was a little shaky, you know, I had been very sick. I had not from my own choice been thrust out of a job that I had spent 70 hours working on actively, and the rest of my life kind of thinking about, when I got into the classroom, and started teaching Jane Austen again. And it was absolutely life-changing. And I realized, that is what the life of an educator should be. And it was really … a life-changing class for me, not only because it marked kind of re-entry into a different kind of career: But the students were so shockingly great to me. To me, having these students in that class, loving Jane Austen and understanding things about Jane Austen, was transformational in my understanding about what the rest of my life and the rest of my career are going to be. I can bring together a complete passion for bringing Jane Austen not just to white, upper-middle class students at a private liberal arts college, but at Arizona State University, 120,000 students. It's now a Hispanic serving institution. It serves many, many first generation and low-income students, and they love Jane Austen. Not only with as much passion, but with at least as much insight as any students I've ever had anywhere else in my life. That class changed my life, when I had these students engaging with such depth and brilliance with the texts.Plain Jane That's amazing. I hear you George, I think that's true. It is life changing. And this project arose also from the difficult times, the winter of the pandemic, and just looking for something to lift you up and a community to engage in. What you're describing, going into that classroom, sharing Austen, but then also having some brilliance shared back at you and just literally connecting around the stories. But you know, the Norton Anthology that you edited and curated came out almost 20 years ago. And you may have not looked at it recently. I have. But you were talking about the power of Jane Austen, then, so it's Everything Emma in the Austen connection right now.George JusticeGood for me.Plain Jane Yes. Well, is Emma your favorite novel of all time?George JusticeOh, that is a a very difficult question. And I know because you talked to Devoney and you had Devoney on your podcast a couple of weeks ago. In that now infamous conversation, I declared to Devoney that Mansfield Park was my favorite novel. And I do love Mansfield Park … because it was the first one that grabbed me. I mean, I was assigned it in a class my first year of grad school. I didn't read it until then, and I started reading it and it was just one of those amazing things, but my life was changed: How could I not have seen this or understood this in my past 22 years of life? I stayed up all night reading it, and it was like an onslaught. If you ask me, yes, that was my favorite. Plain Jane Well, I'm just curious. It seems to me like you were a more mature 22 year old. I mean, I read Mansfield Park when I was just out of college. Weirdly, I've never been assigned much Jane Austen at all. I just discovered it after all of the degrees - it was only two degrees - in English. … It wasn't until later that I realized there's a heck of a lot going on with Austen. What were you noticing? Why were you reading it up late at night? I mean … I had kind of a weird education, up until college. But you had a good education. So maybe you did have the training to spot the subtexts.George JusticeI don't know if it was about the subtext. I think it was about Fanny Price. Plain JaneYou like the underdog! Devoney said this … George Justice  The underdog and the person with depth, with a strong, correct, and unassailable moral code, oppressed by the world. I mean, that was a thing that just for whatever reason, maybe, from my high school years, which were kind of miserable, the person who was neglected. I mean, it just spoke to me, this whole world moving around in a cynical and nasty way. And yet, there's a moral center to that world, which was Fanny Price. So it wasn't even, it was not a literary reading, where I was looking at themes and context. It was Fanny Price. Who is, as you know, of such huge controversy in the Jane Austen world, because there are so many self-proclaimed Janeites who hate Fanny Price. To me, Fanny Price is the true center of Jane Austen. Which is why I found the film both interesting and disturbing, because Patricia Rozema melds Jane Austen and Fanny Price together, which I think actually weakens Fanny Price. But I do believe that the role of Fanny Price in the world, and especially in her world, is a truth about the social world. And it grabbed me. To me, Fanny Price is the true center of Jane Austen. … I do believe that the role of Fanny Price in the world, and especially in her world, is a truth about the social world. And it grabbed me. And the unbelievable moment when she turns down Henry Crawford. I always bring it up in class and I ask my students, “Should she have accepted Henry Crawford?” And the ones who read it correctly but glibly, always say, “Of course not.” The ones who are very cynical say, “Of course she should.” The real answer is, “I don't know.” Because that actually is the answer that the narrator provides to some extent. I just thought it captured a truth about the choices we have to make in the world, and the possibility of choosing good, not as an obvious choice, and not as a glibly self-justifying choice. But as a choice that resonates as truth within one's own moral complexity.Plain JaneI agree with everything you're saying about Fanny Price. … She is ascendant. And you talk about Henry Crawford: She's superior. Like, you can't read that without thinking, “This child, this female child of the species, is superior to everyone. What are you gonna do with that, people? What are you going to do with that? Not even the parsonage and Edmund and not even the grand estate of Mansfield Park is worthy of this child. So, take that!” And I don't know if people really see it that way. You say it's still a little controversial. But you saw this when you were 22?George Justice Well, I think it was a weakness in my psychology.Plain Jane No, because Austen was showing you. Austen was showing you. But we just, I feel like there's still so much to unpack with Austen with every new generation. George JusticeAnd she shows it to you both without humiliating her and without glorifying her. So, as you were talking so eloquently, what came into my mind [is] another woman author of the 19th century, George Eliot and Middlemarch and Dorothea Brooke, and Dorothea Brooke is both humiliated and glorified. You are right, Fanny Price tears everything down. The humiliations are our humiliations from society, not from the writer. I mean, Dorothea Brooke is somewhat humiliated by George Eliot. Jane Austen never humiliates Fanny Price, even if Mrs. Norris is there brutalizing her, but she's definitely not glorifying her either. Fanny Price comes back, and in some ways you could say she assimilates herself to the patriarchy, she marries her cousin, the bossy Edmund  - I don't even think he even fully 100% appreciates her but maybe that's just me. I think I would have been better for Fanny Price than he is.Plain JaneYou would have, George! And no, Austen does not want us to love Edmund, you know? That's clear. She does not love Edmund. We're giving our opinions here! So let us know, people, if you disagree. But yeah, but I love what you're saying, George, that Austen is not humiliating. And in fact, it's not really Fanny tearing things down. Right? Fanny is not doing that; Austen is doing that. And the world is humiliating. The world is full of humiliations, insults, injuries. And here's how you stand. Here's how you stand in this. You point out something in your writing that I want to get to too, which is that there's imagination. This is, in some ways, a fantasy of what can happen. This is re-envisioning a world where a young woman, a young person who identifies as female, a young person who identifies as however you identify, whatever your race, color, sexuality, gender, you - just as a human - you can stand, and this is how you might survive and maybe even be ascendant. Even though it's not necessarily going to happen in real life.So, Mansfield Park. The next novel Austen wrote, I believe, right after Emma. How does she go from Fanny Price to this heroine that has so little to vex her?George Justice When you look at Mansfield Park, which is certainly an experiment in light of Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility, and a novelist who is a genius and who is shaping the form and breaking the form at the same time that she's inhabiting it. In a way it's the right next experiment. You take somebody who's very much unlike Fanny Price. She's wealthy. She's beautiful. She's admired. She never makes social mistakes. Really. She is the queen of the world, as opposed to Cinderella. So Fanny Price is Cinderella. Emma is one of the wicked sisters. Yet, and the brilliant ... “I'm going to create a heroine nobody but myself will much like”: That's something an artist would do. It's a kind of intellectual game. But unlike the way postmodern novels sometimes [create] experiments without a heart. It's an experiment in which life overwhelms whatever kind of intellectual experiment may have given rise, to trying to write about an entirely different character, because there is just as much life in Emma, as there is in Mansfield Park. And there is in its own way, just as much integrity in the character of Emma, as there is in the character Fanny Price.Plain Jane It's interesting because she's taking us on this roller coaster ride. So she's like, “Here, I showed you the poor, mousy Cinderella, who becomes ascendent. How does that happen? Now I'm going to show you somebody who - as you say, George - the queen, she's at the top. But she also is going to change and evolve. And in both cases, she's focusing on what matters to her, which is character, and kindness, and how to exist in the world - not to just be on top because that's not the goal, people - we're still getting that memo. But it's to be a contributor, a good citizen, a kind person. How do you feel about that, that aspect of this, that she's got someone on the bottom there, she's got a female character that's already at the top. But yet, what are the themes that remained the same? George JusticeWell, I think you actually just put it in a way that crystallizes something for me. And it's what I become much more self-conscious about …  in life: which is that kindness is at the core. And so that's not something that I wrote about in the introduction that you very kindly mentioned, to the Norton Critical Edition. But it is something that is absolutely true. And I point out to students, you know, [Emma] does what she's supposed to do. She visits the poor, she's charitable to the poor. And that's the kind of structural kindness, and she doesn't do it cynically. So there is a goodness to her character that gets expressed. And kindness. Of course, as we know, she's not always kind to some of the people that are closest to her, including Miss Bates, including Jane Fairfax. … One of the prevalent readings of Emma continues to be that Emma is … humiliated into kindness. The scene on Box Hill, where she is so cruel to Miss Bates, and so out of touch with her surroundings, because one thing about Emma is that she is unbelievably … perceptive about the world around her, at the same time that she doesn't put all the clues together. So she's this detective who's taking in all the evidence, and then she can't quite put it together to understand what's going on. Like Mr. Elton trying to rape her in the carriage - when anybody who had been reading it, anybody in Emma's position should have been able to see exactly what was happening. But that's very different from Box Hill, where she's not even perceptive. … But at the same time, that is a crucial moment in which she certainly sees the world more clearly and is able to correlate her kindness as you put it, this is correlated with her role in the social hierarchy, and her own personal satisfaction and romance. And it doesn't stamp out her imagination. Her imagination is still there. … No, she's a brilliantly imaginative person who doesn't have a job where she can do anything with it. … I love Mr. Knightley. But Emma, Emma wins the novel. And she wins novel not because she makes some sort of cynical or moral change from who she was, to who she will be as Mrs. George Knightley. It's because she has reshaped her world - uncomfortably because we're still in patriarchal, early 19th century England. But she shaped a world in which she can continue to love, be kind, have a lot of nice things, be admired by other people, which she certainly loves to do. And do good in the world. Plain JaneSo speaking of Knightley: You love Knightley. You say something in your intro [to the Norton Critical Edition]: Emma is being forced to recalibrate the cultural and the social hierarchy. She thinks she knows this social hierarchy. She has that classic definition of privilege, where it's not something she has to think about. She's just at the top of it. But she in fact is wrong about it, and then it turns out - you point this out - she's recalibrating, but that recalibration is coming every single time from challenges from Knightley. How does a romance and marriage and all of this fit into this recalibration and what is it like, also George, reading this as as a person identifying as a man reading that?George Justice Hmm, let me backtrack a little bit into how you've set this up in a very interesting, complicated way. It is Austen who has given Knightley those characteristics and that genuine insight into the world. Mr. Knightley really does understand and he's older - I mean, it grosses my students out how significantly older Mr. Knightley is. And he's kind to her and he's loved her since  - that also grosses out the students ...Plain Jane … for some reason Austen likes that older, very older, powerful guy to be the one just kind of showing us the way. I mean, she gives that power, and who knows why she does that. George JusticeBut it's not just giving him the power. It's also, I do believe, he is speaking for her. He is speaking correctly. The brilliant, writer, critic named Sarah Raff wrote a wonderful essay that talks about Emma and Mr. Knightley and Emma's relationship in the context of the letters of advice that Jane Austen is writing to her niece, who's trying to decide whom to marry. And there is a bullying, authoritative voice and approach to her niece, that mirrors a little bit of this relationship. It's a it's a great essay about it.Emma wins the novel. … because she has reshaped her world - uncomfortably because we're still in patriarchal, early 19th century England. But she shaped a world in which she can continue to love, be kind, have a lot of nice things, be admired by other people, which she certainly loves to do. And do good in the world. Plain JaneIf you're a woman, Regency writer, you're a genius, and you see the world and you're reflecting the world, there'll be some things that … occur when you have genius and imagination and art intersecting, right? Some things are going to occur to us 206 years later that you didn't envision, but … she's giving Knightley her viewpoints because people will listen to Knightley. People will listen to Knightley and not necessarily listen to someone else.George Justice And maybe in a romantic relationship - this is utter speculation! - she'd be more the Knightley character. And so you know, we do have these interesting intersections of gender, power and attraction. Plain JaneI love that we don't know how Jane Austen identified 100%. We have no idea. She may have identified with Knightley, she might have been in love with Emma, she might have ... Who knows? I think that's wonderful. And that's a whole other aspect we could dive into which is the LGBTQI critical approaches and queer theory approaches to Austen. Really the question we were discussing, sorry, is how it all ends up in the hands of Knightley, but also how to channel all of this into romance?George Justice Oh, yeah. I mean, because it is romantic. And I know there are some against-the-grain readers who don't find the love between Emma and Mr. Knightley plausible. I am not one of them. I find the scene - and it's a scene in which despite the fact that Mr. Knightley has just dressed her down and made her weep - the narrative is constructed so that Emma is allowed in private to have her moment of internal revelation that no one but she must marry Mr. Knightley. And then she also finally, instead of being clueless, she figures out that he likes her. So in that, it is a, to me, it's a wonderful thing. When he he starts, you know, “Can I talk to you?” And Emma's a little nervous. Because she doesn't 100% know. But as the conversation gets going, she knows exactly what's coming. And so the power is turned. Emma actually knows before he knows that Mr. Knightley is going to propose to her and that she will say yes. Before Mr. Knightley understands that. And so he's, like, mortified: I shouldn't go on. And she's like: No, no, go ahead and go on. And it's an interesting power dynamic. And I'm certainly not the person who's seen this first or seen it best. Claudia Johnson's [written] about Mr. Knightley as a character who is very masculine. And yet he's a kind of new man, because he is truly emotionally sensitive to Emma. [I]t is romantic. And I know there are some against-the-grain readers who don't find the love between Emma and Mr. Knightley plausible. I am not one of them.What is interesting in the romance is that power is so completely built into the sexual energy between Mr. Knightley and Emma. He was a teenager, looking at a little girl. And as they grew up, he would kind of mock her and tease her. And she'd flirt with him, totally unafraid of this older guy, really. So I mean, she was herself, who really has the power there? And …  in the context of Box Hill, where he really has, you know, put his hand down, if you reread the novel from the beginning, Mr. Knightley doesn't have really any power over her. He has her total respect, but she has the power of doing what she wants. And that really is what comes through at the end - that this powerful romance, which I think it is not a kind of dominance-submission thing. It is really a romance of two morally and intellectually equal people. They are very masculine and very feminine - it's interesting if you get into the GLBTQ thing, because there is a long history of people seeing Emma not as being a woman. But we shouldn't forget that it's very clear … and Jan Fergus points this out really beautifully in an essay that I put at the back of my Norton Critical Edition: We linger over the feminine, beautiful form of Emma. But her mind is powerfully intellectual. … Even as it's kind. She is a kind, intellectually brilliant person who answers to nobody. So where you might see it as, “She makes all these lists of books that she hasn't read!” … That shows her power. She has the intellectual power to know what she should do. And she has the intellectual power and the judgment to say, “I'm not going to do it.” And is happy to live within the structures, the class structures, the social structures, the architectural structures of her society. But she kind of scoffs at any structures that would restrain her moral and intellectual worth. Plain Jane  Well, it's almost like she doesn't even notice those structures. She's like, clueless in some interesting ways.George Justice Yes, but I, but I don't think it's clueless overall.  … She's clear-sighted and not insecure. She's totally non-insecure. It's kind of amazing.Plain JaneWell, it's interesting describing her power. It's true. Like you say, Austen's not humiliating these characters with Emma, she's doing the opposite. She's showing someone who is not only superior, but she's artificially superior. Emma's so powerful, she can be as wrong as the Eltons and the, you know, all of the wrong patriarchal figures. Emma's wrong and artificially propped up just like they are. But she has this transformation that comes from this this man. .. There was a little post I did called The Smartest Person in the Room. ...I feel like maybe Austen wanted someone, man/woman/person to be as smart as she was. That's a hard way to go through the world when marriage is your option. Who is going to be smart enough for Jane Austen? She didn't find it. She created stories with people who find it. But at the same time, obviously, she showed us so much more than that romance.George Justice  That's sad! And it's very true. Let's go through from the beginning: I'm just going to ask you. Do you think Mr. Darcy is worthy of Elizabeth Bennet?Plain Jane  Yes, I believe that. It seems to me like Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett make each other worthy of each other. It seems to me like the both characters You want to just focus on Darcy and Elizabeth for a minute? George Justice  Yeah, I mean, I'm going to go through the whole list.Plain Jane Externally, he's worthy, right? He's a ticket. Internally, not so much. But because he transforms, they make each other better. I feel like they make each other better. And I feel like Austin is showing us that marriage - if you're going to get married, make sure it's somebody who will make you better and not make you worse. And she's full of examples of people who make each other worse.George JusticeThe Crofts. Admiral and Mrs. Croft make each other better.Plain JaneAnd are they the only ones?!George JusticeThey probably are. I want to go [through the list] because I think this is something I haven't thought of. We already said that Edmund really isn't worthy of Fanny. But Darcy is worthy of Elizabeth. Would you say that Edward is worthy of Elinor.Plain Jane Almost! He has potential. That little engagement on the side is extremely disappointing. But he needs to speak up. He needs to grow a spine. But he has potential Maybe with Elinor's extremely strong spine, those two will be all right. What do you think?George JusticeI don't think he's worthy of her. But he's whom she chose. And he's not terrible. That's like Edmund. It's, that's who Fanny wanted and he's not terrible. I'd say the same thing about Henry Tilney. Catherine Morland's not as fully developed a character. But he's, he's not a bad guy. We linger over the feminine, beautiful form of Emma. But her mind is powerfully intellectual. … Even as it's kind. She is a kind, intellectually brilliant person who answers to nobody.But if you take Mr. Darcy, and you take Captain Wentworth, and you take, Mr. Knightley, those are characters who embody - as I said, Claudia Johnson talks about it - these new men who are masculine and powerful, and yet have a sensitive intelligence to them, as well. And respect and value deeply the women that they're with. … This conversation has made me want to think about that. And why the last two, thinking about Persuasion, and Emma, the last two of those powerful men are truly worthy, I think. And you know, of course, I think the moment at the end of that letter, in Persuasion, is one of the most intense things. But I know a colleague who thinks it's camp, that it's purposely overdone. I don't believe that at all. I think it's one of the most beautiful things ever written in the English language.Plain Jane  It's so beautiful. I love your categorizing all these leading men, who's worthy, who's not. It's really interesting. You, okay, I had to pick up the Norton Edition, Claudia Johnson. Here's what she says: She says Knightley is “a fantastically wishful creation of benign authority, in whom the benefits and attractions of power are preserved, and the abuses and encroachments expelled.” So what do you think is going on with that as you categorize the leading men? That's Claudia Johnson's Knightley, wrapped up in power.George Justice And because authority and power are inherently not wrong things in these books. When I'm teaching classes, I bring it back to the authority and the power of the narrator, who is the actual authority and power in all of these novels. And I think that's partly why the turn from an epistolary novel, where, you know, it's harder to weld that to increasingly intense narrative strategies that express their authority, often by merging the voice through free indirect discourse, with the voice of the main character. So it is such a trick to have the most fully controlling and authoritative and benign narrators who efface themselves and express their authority and power, almost through their own self effacement.Plain Jane Let me George, read your own writing back to you, because this is so amazing. And it just kind of sums up everything that we said, and I have this kind of as our last question. You write almost 20 years ago in your introduction to the Norton Critical Edition. Here's what you wrote: “Reading Emma requires interaction. We impose meaning on the text just as the text pushes its various meanings on to us. Trying to understand Emma, with its interplay of psychological realism and moral vision, is like trying to understand ourselves and the world. We must be both introspective and exceedingly observant of what lies around us. Complete success eludes us. We must reread, reflect and change our minds, and perhaps become better people for having done so.” I almost cried when I read that!George Justice That's very kind (laughing). I can't believe I wrote that. It does sound pretty good. Plain JaneMy question for you with that is, Do you still think that? Twenty years later, almost 20 years later?George Justice Yeah. And that's an interesting thing I do. And it's an interesting thing, and it's humbling about teaching, and it's a wonderful thing about teaching. Like any teacher, when I teach a novel a lot of times, like I do with Emma, I have go-to points, I have shticks. I have different scenes I like to focus on. … So I'm, you know, leading, I like to talk about the carriage theme, for example, and I do have a strong reading, and Mr. Elton is basically raping Emma, and I want students to see the actual violence that is in that scene. It isn't just the sloppy, silly guy who is physically menacing in that space and in the way that he approached. But then students will say, “Well, I read it in this way.” And any good teacher has to be able to say, “Wow, I hadn't thought about that.” Just as your focusing on just your use of the word kindness, and putting that deeply into our conversation about Emma. I had not articulated it to myself in that way before. That's new to me. And I can tell you, I'm going to be thinking about that for months to come. So I do believe that every time I read this book, it's a new book to me. She's constructed the books so carefully that it's impossible to understand even what's happening, 20 times through the book, for me. And then when you add the increased complexity of how human beings interact with each other, and how the fixed and unfixed parts of their personality come into this complicated matrix of interaction. Yeah, it's a new book every time. And it's a new book that is morally compelling. Because it tells us to look at everything anew.Thanks for joining this conversation, friends.As always, let us know your thoughts on: Austen's men - who's Worthy and who's Not Worthy? Who makes your list? What are your thoughts on Emma, Knightley, and the power dynamics in Austen's romances? You can comment here!You can also find us on Twitter, at @AustenConnect and on Insta at @austenconnection.Meanwhile, stay in touch, and hope you enjoy a beautiful autumn with soups, teas, and lots of great novels.Yours truly,Plain JaneIf you liked this post, feel free to share it!Links:“Critical Lives” series - Reaktion Books: http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/results.asp?SF1=series_exact&ST1=CRITICALLIVES&DS=Critical%20Lives&SORT=sort_titleThe Norton Critical Edition of Emma:  https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393927641More on scholar and critic Claudia Johnson: https://english.princeton.edu/people/claudia-l-johnsonDever Justice LLC: https://deverjustice.com/about/How to Be a Dean - from Johns Hopkins University Press: https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/how-be-dean Get full access to The Austen Connection at austenconnection.substack.com/subscribe

Programming note: Money Stuff will be off tomorrow, back on Monday. One important thing that investment banks do is lend money to hedge funds to buy s... did not have enough moneypublished itthe report responded to the report Bloomberg Terminal headline how that worked out talked yesterdayFrom its websitereported yesterday explained payment for order flow well-capitalized risk management regulatory compliance 100% reliable technology summarized the report AnywaySECJustice Departmentthe indictmentthesevending machine challengeConsiders Going Private Calm Market to Itself Coal-Mine Strike Open Investment FirmSpotted in the HamptonsLike Mr. MetPick the Restaurantsubscribe at this linkhere that is riskier here here

Bible Reading: Psalm 121:1-7"Yip! Yip!" The small terrier yelped and fled across the yard to the back door."Trixie!" shouted Chloe. "Something's happened to Trixie!" Chloe and her brother Carson ran to their pet. Chloe picked up Trixie, and the little dog snuggled in her arms, trembling and whining. "Oh, Carson, I think she's hurt!""Where?" asked Carson."I don't know. I can't see anything wrong," answered Chloe."Let's check her over," said Mom, who had come to see what was going on. Chloe gently lowered Trixie to the ground, and they carefully examined her. "Her legs are all right," said Mom. "I don't see any signs of broken bones.""And she's not bleeding," said Carson. "There's not a spot on her."Both of the kids stroked the dog's sleek fur. "Well, whatever it was, it sure scared her," said Chloe. "I've never seen her run so fast.""She's not the only one who moved fast," said Mom with a smile. "I hope she appreciates her two protectors!""You mean me and Carson, right?" Chloe asked."Just like you and Dad are our protectors?""Last week, my teacher at church said God is our protector," Carson said. "Mr. Phelps said we can call on God for help any time.""When we do that, does He come running like we did?" asked Chloe."Interesting question," said Mom. "Do you think God needs to run?"Chloe shook her head. "I don't think so. God is everywhere, and it would be pretty hard to run somewhere when you're already there."Carson grinned and nodded. "Yeah. Like Mr. Phelps said, Jesus is always with us, so He wouldn't have to come running.""That's true,"said Mom. "He became one of us to save us from the biggest problem of all--sin and eternal separation from God--and we can count on Him to help us with any kind of problem or trouble in our lives. He'll always come to our rescue."Chloe hugged the little dog. "I'm glad Jesus is with me and I don't have to wait for Him to come when I'm in trouble." She laughed as Trixie licked her face.The others laughed with her. "I guess that's Trixie's way of thanking you," said Mom. "Let's be sure to thank our protector too." -Rose GobleHow About You?Do you call on God whenever you're in trouble? Do you trust Him to help you when you're scared, lonely, hurt, or in some other difficult situation? If you know Jesus as your Savior, He is right there with you, willing and able to help you through any troubles. Trust Him to help you and guide you as you face problems in life, and be sure to thank Him for watching over you.Today's Key Verse:God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (NKJV) (Psalm 46:1)Today's Key Thought:God is willing and able to help you

May 2, 2021. In today's sermon we learn more about the story from Acts chapter 8 of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch — the foreign, dark-skinned person who does not conform to gender norms — and ask what is to prevent us or anyone from being baptized. Readings: Acts 8:26-40, John 15:1-8 *** Transcript *** In the relatively new, but definitely classic Disney movie “Zootopia,” bunny Judy Hopps has always been… different. In a world that claims to be inclusive — where anyone can be anything — Zootopia is still largely divided into predator and prey, and you are expected to fit in to whichever group you are born into. So it is assumed that Judy the bunny will do what her entire bunny family has always done — farm carrots. But Judy knows she was born to be a police officer. Her passion for making the world a better place gets her into trouble with bullies, who want to knock her down, and her parents, who wish she would settle for the easy road and not make things so hard for herself and them. In spite of the challenges, Judy does become a police officer, but finds that her colleagues don't take her seriously, and her chief relegates her to parking duty. As the story unfolds, Judy stumbles onto an unsolved case, and in trying to solve it, she becomes friends with Nick Wilde, a fox. Judy unwittingly hurts Nick deeply when her own tendency to see all predators as dangerous “others” gets the best of her. She realizes that while she has struggled to claim her place as a bunny police officer, Nick has been rejected his whole life because people didn't believe a predator like him could ever belong anywhere — and Judy herself wasn't as ready to embrace Nick the fox as she had thought. In the gospels, Jesus often calls people to recognize the walls they have put up between them and others. He shocks by making an outsider, the Good Samaritan, the hero of a parable, and eats with all kinds of people seen as “other.” Jesus is always reaching to the margins and once, Jesus himself gets called out when he refuses to help the Syrophoenician woman whose daughter is ill, and she tells him: even the dogs get to eat the scraps from the table. Of course, Jesus then heals the girl. And I have often wondered, was Jesus trying to teach us a lesson in what not to do, or did he in his humanity also need to be taught? In the early days of what would become the Christian church, chronicled in the Book of Acts that provides our first readings in the Easter season, the followers of Jesus debated about who could belong and who couldn't belong, and what they had to do to belong. The Spirit kept showing them that all people are children of God and welcome into God's promises. After the initial coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the Spirit anointed a group of gentiles, and that led to their baptism, if only because the Apostles could hardly deny baptism to people God had so clearly chosen. In the heat of debate about whether or not following Judaic dietary laws should be required, Peter had a dream in which God revealed to him that no one should be excluded from the fellowship for what they eat. Over and over, the gospel expands the circle, continually challenging us to welcome those who seem outside. The promises of baptism are for all people, but especially for those on the margins. Today's story is no different. The Ethiopian Eunuch, although he was a Jew and he carried some power and authority in the court in which he served, was an outsider on many counts. He was a foreigner, he was viewed as “exotic” because of his dark skin, and he'd been surgically altered — possibly by force — so that he was outside of gender norms. None of that prevents the Spirit from guiding Philip to head to the south, follow a deserted road, find a random chariot, and join the Eunuch as he studied Isaiah. Philip shares the gospel with him, and it never occurs to the Eunuch that it might not be for him. They pass by water, and the Eunuch speaks a profound statement of faith: “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” What indeed? There was water, and the Word of God. And then and there, the Eunuch and Philip claim that the promises of God have no limits. We don't know anything else of the Ethiopian Eunuch, except that he goes on his way rejoicing. It strikes me that, as an Ethiopian, dark-skinned, high court official, he is in the perfect position to carry the good news to new lands. The Spirit, I believe, didn't send Philip to the Eunuch in spite of who he was, but because he was uniquely equipped to embody the love, forgiveness, and faithfulness of a God who knows no boundaries. The Eunuch knew without question that God's promises were for him, in all his uniqueness. Judy Hopps knew without question that she was uniquely equipped to make the world a better place as a bunny police officer, no matter what anyone else thought. As colleagues and I gathered this week to reflect on these texts, we wondered, what would it look like if we lived the truth that all people really are fully included in the gospel? We realized that we pray for this every week, in the Lord's Prayer, asking that God's kingdom and will be done on earth... not just for some, but for all creation. It means letting go of needing to understand, needing to gate-keep, needing to have some control over how things look and how they are done. It means letting go of our own vision and embracing God's vision instead. We humans will never fully be able to grasp it in this life, but we do get glimpses, and it is the gospel nevertheless. My colleagues and I recognized the power of the gospel to heal and transform us and our communities, no matter how imperfectly we embody it. We shared from the witness of our own lives and those we care for that when God's expansive love is embraced and embodied in people around us, it can actually reduce the depression, isolation, and even risk of suicide that comes from being systematically cast out. The challenge of all this is that, for those of us who “fit” easily in different ways, embracing the expansiveness of the gospel, allowing the Spirit to remove the walls and barriers that leave others outside, means being willing to be uncomfortable. Judy was really uncomfortable as she faced her own prejudices and saw the harm that she had done, and she and Nick had to have really hard conversations. In the end, the walls within them and between them that kept them from being who they were created to be fell apart as they claimed their truth. And as easy as it seems for Philip to seek out the Eunuch and baptize him, that was clearly the work of the Spirit, sending and snatching and sending again. And we know from all of the stories of the early church just how much conflict, confusion, and even anger had to be worked through as the Spirit revealed herself to them. Like Judy and Nick, and the people of the early church, we today continue to come up against our own walls and barriers, and the Spirit continues to blow through and take them down because she will not be contained. Today we celebrate the good news of a God so expansive that she embraces a foreign, dark-skinned person who does not conform to gender norms, and connects us all to one another and themselves as surely as branches connect to the vine to receive life and nourishment. Like Mr. Jesse pointed out, we are connected to God, and to each other, and all of creation. The gift of this is that we can help one another feel the expansiveness and connectedness of the love of God when we can't sense it for ourselves. Beyond anything else, it is what we were created to do. Thanks be to God. *** Keywords *** 2021, Christ Lutheran Church, Webster Groves, sermon, podcast, transcript, YouTube, video, Pastor Meagan McLaughlin, Acts 8:26-40, John 15:1-8

April 18, 2021. What are we witness to? How has God shown up in your life, and how have you been changed? Who are you called to share the hope, love, and promise of the resurrection with? In today's sermon, Pastor Meagan asks these questions and talks about how we can know. Readings: Luke 24: 36b-48 *** Transcript *** The disciples were understandably a little bit skeptical when Jesus appeared to them. As Pastor Tina pointed out last week, they were exhausted, traumatized, afraid, confused, even despairing. Jesus showing up, in the middle of that, was the last thing that they expected. And yet, there he was. And there they were, caught up in a tangle of trauma, joy, disbelief, and wonderment. The disciples didn’t know it was Jesus right away. That seems to be a theme of Jesus' appearances after the resurrection, like Mr. Jesse mentioned. Honestly, who can blame them? Trauma is real, and they had been through it. Clear thinking was impossible in the wake of the horror of Good Friday, and Jesus’s appearance was not enough to instantly erase that. On Easter Sunday, we heard that the women were afraid to tell anyone, at the beginning. Last week, Thomas doubts — and as Pastor Tina pointed out, Jesus understood that, and meets him where he is. And today, one more time, the disciples are struggling to make sense out of what is happening right in front of them, how to know what it all meant. How do we know? When we're encountering something unexpected, traumatic, challenging, new, confusing, how do we discern where God is leading? How do we find God, when any sign of God seems completely absent? I remember realizing, soon after starting seminary, that for many reasons it was time to seek out a new church. On the website of one of the ELCA churches in our Minneapolis neighborhood, the tagline read “Traditional Worship — Contemporary Message.” The church we had been attending claimed “Traditional Church with a Modern Message.” I got goosebumps and I thought, “I think I’ve found my people!” And I had. When my Seminary Advisor returned from sabbatical I told her that I had joined the ELCA and was switching to an Mdiv degree, and she exclaimed, “Why not the UCC? Or the Episcopal? How do you know?” To her, the way I had made this decision made no sense. Later, I discovered that she had made a similar change many years before, becoming Presbyterian after months of studying church doctrine. This was my first realization that there are many ways of knowing God's will, and discerning where God is leading. Looking back, I have always relied at least somewhat on instincts when making decisions. I chose St. Olaf for college largely because of a sense of at-homeness when I visited. And when we were looking at St. Louis houses last year, Karen was gratified to discover that our house had a new furnace and AC, but I knew we were at home when I discovered the sound of the rain on the tin roof of the sun porch — my squeal of joy brought our realtor running, sure that something was dreadfully wrong. The disciples had heard the experience of the two who walked the road to Emmaus with Jesus, and knew who it was when they broke bread together. But hearing from their fellows didn’t prepare the rest of the disciples to see Jesus’ themselves. Jesus understands this, and he acknowledges how shocking it must be for them, how confusing for brains and spirits that are still shaken by what they'd been through — and he offers them peace, not as a command, but as a gift to beloveds he knows are confused and afraid. He invites them to enter into the truth that he is there — to see his hands, to touch his feet. He asks for something to eat — as Mr. Jesse mentioned — as if to say, I really am here. I still get hungry and I eat, just like you do. And then he teaches them, opening their minds to the scriptures, and all that he told them all those years along the way. My advisor would have loved that part! And finally, whether because they saw, or felt, or touched, or learned — or maybe because of all of it — the disciples knew that it was Jesus. Connecting with their own embodied experience through their senses grounded them, and they knew. Perhaps not the kind of knowing that means they fully understood everything that was happening or what the future would hold, but a knowing that helped them to trust in something that they still couldn’t quite understand. Jesus embodied in humanity met the disciples in their humanity to share promise, life, and hope. And Jesus, having been fully human, meets us where we are. Whether through goosebumps or rain on the tin roof, or website taglines, church teachings or scripture studies, or seeing or touching or eating, God in Christ continues to reveal to us the good news: death is not the final word, we are not alone, the love of God for all creation cannot be contained, and we are, often despite ourselves, exactly where we need to be. How do you know? In all of the gospels, even in Mark that leaves us hanging with the women at the tomb afraid to speak, Jesus helps us know — and then, as Mr. Jesse talked about, calls us to be witnesses. This can feel impossible — we are overwhelmed by trauma, we're too frightened to speak, we think we don’t know or understand enough, or that we should leave it to the preachers or others better trained, or we feel like our doubts and questions disqualify us from carrying the gospel. But still, we are called. We are witnesses, as Mr. Jesse mentioned. We are sent out together. And today, with the rest of Central States Synod, we remember the witness of our partner in the gospel, the Kote District of Papua New Guinea. Like the disciples, and like us, they have experienced the struggle and despair. They have, like us, lived through the despair of the pandemic, and had limited resources to help their community. They're grieving the loss of beloved President Mutu, and they're seeking wisdom as they choose a new leader and make decisions about how to use their country’s rich natural resources for the good of all. We stand with them as we all seek to know God’s presence and share the good news of God’s abundant love. It's interesting to note that as Jesus reveals himself to the disciples, it is not miracles or perfect knowledge that help them know, but Jesus showing up in his humanity, asking for something to eat. The most powerful witnesses in my life in times of despair and woundedness have been those who have also known despair, and found hope in the presence of God who meets them there. When shame, trauma, and despair bound me and blinded me, others who understood embodied Christ for me, reminding me of the truth of my identity as a beloved child of God. Like Mr. Jesse had us sing, Jesus loves me. People were able to witness that, demonstrating by their presence that God of love and life was there. In the neighborhoods of Minneapolis, as the verdict in the trial surrounding George Floyd’s death looms, trauma, anger, and grief threaten to snuff life out — and guns and tanks and soldiers struggle to contain it. Community is embodying Christ there by bringing food, water, medical supplies, counseling, diapers, and connection, showing up with their presence and demonstrating that the God of life is there. It's like Mary, showing up after the horror of Good Friday and the silent despair of Holy Saturday, proclaiming simply and with great wonder, “I have seen the Lord!” And this is our call: to know, and to witness. What are we witness to? How has God shown up in your life, and how have you been changed? Who are you called to share the hope, love, and promise of the resurrection with? Feel the breath of Jesus as he proclaims peace. See the wounds in his hands, touch the holes in his feet, share your fish — and bread — with him and watch in wonder as he eats, and hear the promises that are revealed in scripture. And then, know that we too are witnesses to these things, and proclaim the good news: We have seen the Lord! Christ is alive! God is still here! Alleluia! *** Keywords *** 2021, Christ Lutheran Church, Webster Groves, sermon, podcast, transcript, YouTube, video, Pastor Meagan McLaughlin, Luke 24: 36b-48, Jesse Helton

We seek to educate you, if nothing else. Will drops some essential knowledge of Puget Sound sharks. Ya, sharks. Michael introduces a new podcast  to the fam and successfully does a wellness check on Adam. Also: why you should go to Port Angeles and turn left, what to watch on MTV/VH1 when you parents aren’t home, and why identity thieves need to keep their hand glued to ALT+F4. Instagram here. Apple here. Spotify here. YouTube here. Will’s 2021 Playlist here. Bad Brothers Pod. Michael and Will Browning. Port Orchard, Washington’s Finest Podcast.

Sometimes we put all out energy into fighting for things that aren't actually that important. Like Mr. Potato Head... This week Adrian Jackson takes us through the story of Jesus flipping tables in the temple. We hope this message speaks to you! Verse: 'They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. He didn't let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. And then he taught them, quoting this text: My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations; You've turned it into a hangout for thieves. Mark 11:15-17 https://my.bible.com/bible/97/MRK.11.15-17 Recorded at Restore Church on the 28th of March. Sermon by Adrian Jackson.

We have two key questions that when answered biblically, begin to renew our minds. WHO DOES GOD DAY HE IS? WHO DOES GOD SAY I AM? This is the Gospel washing fresh over your mind in a way that helps you trust Him, instead of yourself. What does it this have to do with building biblical worldview? Like Mr. Miyagi's karate, you have to trust the process:) Genesis thoughts inspired by Dr. Tim Mackie Show music: “River Runs Deep” by SLPSTRM “Blue” by IamDayLight Episode produced by Jeremy Eagan Discussion Question here --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anakainosis/message

It is important to let God alone define Himself. So who does God say He is? Who will we meet when He reveals Himself in Scripture? What does this have to do with building a biblical worldview? Like Mr. Miyagi's karate, you have to trust the process:) Genesis thoughts inspired by Dr. Tim Mackie Word study helped from Interlinear Bible on Biblehub.com Show music: “River Runs Deep” by SLPSTRM “Blue” by IamDayLight Episode Produced by Jeremy Eagan Discussion Question here --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anakainosis/message

Take a listen this week as we look at how incredibly influential you are in an online world.  Describe how you provide memorable moments when you are on the TV - -I mean online. List ways you can increase engagement in a blended world. Define for yourself – how you want to influence others.

The guys get together and reminisce about their favorite Sandler movies.

Message taught by Rev. Dunamis Okunowo on the 29th of April 2020

Parting doesn't have to be such sweet sorrow. In this episode, Maceo and Puno travel through past, present, and future to connect about Maceo's move to Detroit, the COVID-19 pandemic, and discuss how to keep changes in your life fun. It's all about trusting the process and knowing that most of the fun comes from enjoyin' the ride. Like Mr. Miyaga once said "wax on, wax off."

Like Mr. Miaji tried to explain to the Karate Kid. You become a master by perfecting the ordinary/every day things in life. So Earn your Black Belt - here's my example and WHY a shower may be the perfect thing to start with.

Remember, we're not meant to go through life alone. Just asking a co-worker how their day is going could radically improve their mood and show that you care. In the words of Fred Rogers, “In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts, and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.”Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/aserversjourney?fan_landing=true)

Join host Bud West as he explores the benefits of playing the preferred game of SPECTRE! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thebondbrain/support

Episode 10 of The Case Against examines the documented mental ills of young Damien Echols. #WM3 #DamienEchols #TrueCrime  From "Blood on Black" by Gary Meece          'AN ALIEN, FROM ANOTHER WORLD, NOT LIKE ANY HUMAN ON EARTH"       “I think at the time I probably suffered from what most teenagers suffer from, you know, just teenage angst, maybe depression, maybe sometimes even severe depression,” Damien Echols explained to CNN's Larry King in 2007 about his adolescence, making it sound as if he was a typical moody teenager. Echols painted a self-portrait of a fairly ordinary kid just a little out of the norm: “Things weren't exactly the same — especially in the South — as they are now. I believe that I probably stood out in the small town where we were living just because of the music I listened to, the clothes that I wore, things of that nature. They considered me an oddity. So I drew attention. For example, one of the things they used against us at trial was the fact that I listened to Metallica. You know, back then, 15 years ago, that was something that was considered strange. Now you hear it played on classic rock stations. It's no big deal at all.” The West Memphis police had more promising leads than who was listening to Metallica, which would have been a rich field for suspects. By 1993, Metallica was one of the top rock acts internationally, playing 77 shows worldwide on its “Nowhere Else to Roam” tour, including dates in such Southern towns as Johnson City, Tenn., Lexington, Ky.,  and Greenville, S.C. Five years earlier, Metallica had been one of the headliners for the Monsters of Rock Tour at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, just across the river from West Memphis. Two years before that, Metallica had opened for Ozzy Osbourne at the Mid-South Coliseum at the Memphis Fairgrounds. Then as now, being a Metallica fan was no big deal and not something that would single anyone out as a murder suspect. Echols was known around Marion and West Memphis for his carefully cultivated persona as a sneering specter in black stalking along the side of the road, reveling in his bad reputation as a practitioner of the dark arts. What troubled authorities was not an immature poseur with Gothic pretensions but the deeply troubled youth behind the cliched facade.   In 2001, Dr. George W. Woods, a Berkeley, Calif., psychiatrist, attempted to clarify what was wrong with Damien Echols in a lengthy statement with an encompassing survey of Echols' mental troubles and background, based greatly on suspect self-reporting.   Dr. Woods' evaluation was requested by the Echols defense to determine if his mental illness affected his competency to stand trial. The defense, attempting to appeal the conviction, contended that antidepressants Echols was taking in 1992-1993 heightened his manic episodes, creating a “psychotic euphoria” that included hallucinations and the delusion that “deities” were transforming him into a “superior entity.”   The problems and limitations were longstanding, Dr. Woods explained. “Mr. Echols' mother, Pamela, was adopted under mysterious circumstances and reared as the only child of her adoptive mother, who was trained as a practical nurse, and her adoptive father, who was an illiterate blue collar worker. When Mr. Echols' mother began junior high school, she developed bizarre behavior that intensified as she grew older. She stopped attending high school because, in her words, it made her ‘crazy.' She was unable to cope with the stress of school, stopped leaving her home entirely, and received psychiatric treatment. Her adoptive mother was forced to quit work in order to stay home and care for her. Mr. Echols' mother, Pamela, married Mr. Echols' father, Joe Hutchison, when she was only 15. “Mr. Echols' mother became pregnant with Mr. Echols during the first year of her marriage. Due to her age and mental condition the pregnancy was high risk and marked by numerous complications. According to her, the pregnancy ‘almost killed me.' She remained so nauseated and ill that she lost 50 pounds over the course of nine months. Her diet was very poor; she was not well nourished. Her long, high risk labor necessitated a caesarean section from which she recuperated slowly. “Not surprisingly, Mr. Echols had many problems as an infant and young child. He was ‘fretful and nervous and cried all of the time.' His mother could not soothe him, and he slept fitfully for only three or four hours a night. At a very young age he began to demonstrate troubling behaviors. He repetitively banged his head against the wall and floor until he was three. ... “Following Mr. Echols' birth his mother suffered a miscarriage and soon after became pregnant with his younger sister. ... Mr. Echols' mother was not able to care for her two small children, so she sent Mr. Echols to live with his maternal grandmother. Although Mr. Echols returned to live with his mother and father, his mother was very dependent on her mother for assistance in caring for Mr. Echols and, later, his sister. Pamela Echols was never able to live on her own or care for her children without a great deal of support. She remained dependent on others for guidance and assistance with child rearing. “Like Mr. Echols' mother, his father, Joe Hutchi- son, also appears to have suffered from mental instabili- ty. Joe Hutchison is uniformly described as immature, self absorbed, cruel and capricious. He chronically neglected and abused his family. He berated his wife and son, set unrealistic expectations, called them degrading names, destroyed their most cherished possessions, terrorized them by threatening to break their bones and hurt them in other ways, and isolated them from community and family support by moving frequently -- sometimes impulsively leaving a residence only days or weeks after moving in. On one occasion, he forced his wife to leave her hospital bed to move with him to an- other city. He found sadistic pleasure in donning horrifying rubber masks of hideous monsters and appearing at his son's bedroom window where he terrified Mr. Echols by making gruesome noises. In addition, Mr. Hutchison kept his family anxious with his fixation on the notion that others were trying to hurt him. For ex- ample, he was convinced ‘people were trying to run him down' and constantly harangued his wife and son about the individuals who were trying to kill him. ... “Neither mother nor child was equipped to deal with Joe Hutchison's increasingly disturbed behavior. Fearing for her life and those of her children Pamela Echols finally found the courage to divorce Joe Hutchison in 1986.” Damien was the product of two extremely unstable parents. Damien's troubling and often bizarre behavior from an early age worried family members. None of this suggested that the result would be a teenager whose only complaint would be your average case of ‘“the summertime blues.” Dr. Woods continued: “Mr. Echols first recalls being overwhelmed by distressing and terrifying emotions in the second grade when he was positive there was going to be a nuclear war. He believed he ‘had to get back to where something told him he came from before the war started.' As he grew older this obsession evolved into a driving force that consumed him and ‘took up every bit of brain space and brain power.' He became convinced that he was ‘an alien, from another world, not like any human on earth.'” Problems at home continued, Dr. Woods noted. “Mr. Echols' mental deterioration spiraled against the backdrop of his unpredictable and troubled home life. His mother's confusion and dependence continued. Within days of divorcing Joe Hutchison she married Andy Jack Echols, an illiterate laborer who worked intermittently as a roofer. The family was extremely poor. They found a shack set in the middle of crop fields that were doused with pesticides at regular intervals. Despite the extremely unhealthy conditions, the Echols remained in the shack for five years. …" Damien's adoptive father, the since-deceased Jack Echols, gave his impressions of the young Damien on Sept. 4, 2000: “I married Pam Hutchison in 1986, shortly after she split up from her husband Joe. I had known her from the city through friends that we both had. I adopted both of her children, Michelle and Damien. When I adopted Damien, his name was Michael and he had to change his last name to Echols and while he was doing that he changed his first name to Damien. Damien was reading about a preacher named Damien who he liked and that is how he got his name. “When we first got married, I lived in some apartments in Marion. Pamela and her children moved in with me and we stayed there for a few months. We finally moved into a house that needed a lot of work that was in the middle of a wheat field. Some folks might call it a shack, but it gave us a roof over our heads and a place to go home to. It was only 35 dollars a month and we needed someplace that did not cost very much. I fixed the house up as best I could. We had a toi- let in the bathroom and a sink in the kitchen, but they weren't hooked up right so we could not use them at first. I fixed up a pump that was supposed to pump in water, but it could only handle a little bit of water at a time. We learned to use as little water as possible. Since water was a problem we ate off paper plates so we did not have to do dishes. During part of the year, the water would quit running and we had to bring it in from outside. Most of the time we went to Pamela's mama's house and my children's houses and filled up gallon jugs. We tried to fill up enough at one time so that we only had to go every other day or so. We had to haul in wood to heat the place, and it got plenty cold in that part of Arkansas. I got paid okay when I was roofing but if there was ever a storm or other bad weather then I did not work and we did not get a paycheck for that week. I was the only one working in the family so it was real hard when I missed out on work.” In his writings, Damien has described this portion of his childhood with great bitterness. Jack Echols continued: “Damien was not in very good health while we lived at the old farm house. He was not able to go outside of the house because he got really sick. He had a real hard time with his breathing because of all the crops outside the house. Sometimes his eyes and throat swelled up and he could not swallow or see very good. The place right below his eyes turned to a darkish color kind of like he had been hit in the eye. I think the worst thing for Damien, though, were his headaches. From the time that we moved into that house, he would get terrible headaches. He asked me to squeeze his head so that his pain would go away. I would put my arms around his head, like in a head lock and I squeezed it. I did not want to hurt him but he always asked to squeeze harder, so I did. I think that the pain of the headache hurt more than the squeezing of his head. He got relief for a few moments while I did this but the headache always came back. He took some medicine to help with his breathing and to try and keep his swelling down and it did help a little bit but not near as much as we wanted it to work. “Damien went through these spells where he could not sleep no matter how hard he tried to. He stayed up for three or four nights in a row without sleeping at all. These periods were very hard for him and by the end of the second day of no sleep, he was exhausted, fussy, and miserable. He cried a lot during these times and no one seemed to be able to help him with what he was upset about. We never could figure out what he was so upset about, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was as miserable as a little boy could be. His sister Michelle went in his room to talk to him and he sometimes fell asleep for a couple of hours or so and then he stayed up for another few days before getting anymore sleep. I was worried about Damien but I did not know what to do. I had to work during the day and every evening when I came home, I hoped that he would be asleep but he was normally still up. After many days of this, Damien finally slept for an entire night. Once he got a full night's rest, he went for a few weeks without having trouble sleeping. I always hoped that these times would not come back but they always did. It just about broke my heart to see how hard Damien tried to handle his problems, but he never was able to figure out what made him so sad. “Damien never was a really happy boy. He got really sad sometimes and no one, including Damien, had any idea what was wrong. He cried really hard and I asked him what was making him so sad and he told me that he did not know. I never could figure out how someone could cry so hard and not know why they were sad and it was real hard to watch Damien go through this. Damien used to spend a few days in a row where he cried really hard. Sometimes it seemed like he was having trouble with his breathing because he cried so much. During these periods, Damien sometimes started laughing uncontrollably, just like one of those laughs that comes from the belly. It was very strange to me that he went from crying to laughing and I was confused about why he did this. Michelle and his mama tried to get him to stop being so sad but the only thing that ever seemed to help him was time. After a while, he would finally get to where he could stop crying and being so sad. Damien went through this on a regular basis. “There were other times when Damien had so much energy he did not know what to do. He got really excited and kind of hyper and he always walked at these times. Damien walked to some of the parks in the area, to some of his friends houses, and across town. He told me that he sometimes got confused because he was sure where he needed to go but when he got there he felt like he was in the wrong place. I thought that he meant that he changed his mind about where he wanted to go but he told me that it was not like that. Damien did not decide where he was supposed to walk to but got a feeling about where he should be but, when he got where he was going, his feeling changed and he had to go somewhere else. He was real frustrated at these times and I did not know how to help him. I did not really understand what he meant about not knowing where he wanted to be. I sometimes felt that I should have done a better job trying to figure out what he was talking about and maybe then I could have made things a little better for him. “I remember that Damien had some strange needs. Some things could never be out of place and had to be put in a place just so. He had the same pillow all his life and if it ever got misplaced, he howled his head off. Damien could not sleep with any other pillow for as long as I have known him. He had a lot of fear about the closet in his room and did not want any of his toys ever put in the closet. If his toys were in the closet, he panicked and thought they would die. Damien had these two fire hats; one was black and one was red. We had to keep the hats under the bathroom sink just so and right beside each other. If they were not in their place, it made him panic and afraid. … “Sometimes Damien did not have any appetite and he did not eat for several days. It did not seem to matter what Pamela put on the table, he did not want to eat it. After a few days of not eating, Damien looked weaker and I could tell it was wearing on him. I wished that he would eat for his health but when he did not have an appetite there was nothing any one could do.” Dr. Woods wrote: “Going from Joe Hutchison to Andy Echols was like going from the frying pan into the fire. In addition to increased isolation and poverty and being exposed to toxic pesticides, the Department of Human Services (DHS) records show that Andy Echols sexually abused Mr. Echols' younger sister repeatedly until she mustered the courage to report him to her school counselor. DHS intervened and Pamela moved her children out of the shack. Yet, that was as much as Pamela Hutchison Echols was able to do to protect her children from the ravages of poverty, domestic violence, mental illness and sexual abuse. For, no sooner had she separated from Andy Echols than she, Damien and his sister moved in with Joe Hutchison, along with Joe Hutchison's own mentally impaired son. The return of Joe Hutchison, whom Mr. Echols had not seen for years, coincided with Mr. Echols' first psychiatric hospitalization.” Echols' mental troubles did not get better with age, wrote Dr. Woods. “In adolescence Mr. Echols became frankly suicidal. Unable to find a way out of his depression and hopelessness, he thought the only escape from his constant mental, physical and emotional pain was to kill himself. ... At about the age of 16, his mental illness took a sudden turn for the worst. Mr. Echols describes feeling disorganized and out of control of his racing thoughts and emotions. He began to ‘laugh hysterically and make other people think I was crazy.' For Mr. Echols ‘manic-ness' meant ‘everything sped up and became frantic. Others called it hysterical,' but Mr. Echols described it as ‘... being driven.' When he ‘... went crazy, everything sped up.' He ‘... had no thought process.' He could not remember ‘... all of the weird things I did,' but people would tell him about them lat- er and he was surprised by his actions. For example, he recalled a time when ‘some kids threw a hamburger up on the ceiling' and he reached up, grabbed it, and ate it. “His mania was interspersed with periods of ‘waiting' interminably for ‘an abstract thing that might come in the blink of an eye.' He was mentally confused and ‘did not know what he was waiting for.' Mr. Echols ‘tried cutting' himself to ‘feel different somehow' and ‘to see if it would let some of the pain out.' He felt ‘worn-out.' During the one year of high school he attended in the ninth grade, he kept a journal at the instruction of his English teacher. It became more and more abstract -- ‘when I wrote about one thing it came out as something else. If I wrote about the moon, I was actually describing the grocery store.' “Mr. Echols reported that the intense shift between depression and mania ‘literally drove me crazy.' He remembered that ‘everything hurt, from the smell of water to green grass, brown grass.' He was exquisitely sensitive to ‘the way people smelled' and ‘the smell of water.' He described manic episodes when his ‘brain rolled, like a TV that is not adjusted.' He believed his brain rolled when it rained or when he was near a large body of water. The change of seasons had a strong effect on him also, especially fall and winter, and made ‘his brain roll constantly.' “Mr. Echols' overwhelming depression and other problems with mood during childhood and adolescence caused disabling disturbances in his emotions, thoughts, behavior and physical health. His sleep was irregular; he often had no energy to perform the simplest tasks; his thoughts were paralyzingly sluggish or racing at speeds he could not control. He felt caught in time, and thought it was hopeless even to think about feeling better or gaining control over his life. He ruminated about painful memories and insignificant events. He could not concentrate and became easily confused; it was impossible to make even simple decisions. He cried and ‘sobbed all the time without any understanding of what made ...' him so sad. He had no ability to feel joy or pleasure. He became completely inconsolable and isolated, unable to relate to others in any meaningful way. He was inexplicably sensitive to physical sensations and reacted to the slightest changes in his environment. His body ‘hurt when the sun went up or when the sun went down, when it rained or when it did not rain.' He could not stop or escape from the pain; it became ‘a throb that never went away.' He despised himself and felt worthless; he was consumed with shame and despair.” Dr. Woods added: “Mr. Echols has been evaluated on three separate occasions by three different psychologists, each of whom administered a battery of tests. A prominent feature of each evaluation was the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which was administered on June 8, 1992; September 2, 1992; and February 20, 1994. The independent test results were quite consistent; all revealed valid profiles and strong indications of depression, mania, severe anxiety, delusions and psychosis. “Test results for the June 8, 1992, MMPI reflected elevations on scores of psychotic thinking, including hallucinations, paranoid ideation, and delusions, as well as severe anxiety and other related emotional disturbances. The suggested diagnoses were schizophrenia, disorganized type; and bipolar disorder, manic. Individual responses on this test revealed that Mr. Echols was afraid of losing his mind, had bizarre thoughts, and had very peculiar experiences. Three months later, on September 2, 1992, a second MMPI was administered. The test results very closely paralleled the findings of the earlier MMPI. Shortly before Mr. Echols' trial began in 1994, he was administered the MMPI a third time for the purpose of identifying mitigating evidence. Like the other two, this MMPI revealed psychotic thought processes consistent with schizophrenia. Specific indicators of a thought disorder included mental confusion, persecutory ideas, acute anxiety, and depressed suicidal ideation. ... “Prior to and during his murder trial, Damien Echols suffered from a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by enduring delusions, auditory and visual hallucinations and severe mood swings ranging from suicidal depression to extreme mania.” Dr. Woods wrote: “Mr. Echols' accounts of his symptoms since childhood are consistent with severe traumatic stress disorders and mood disorders. He reported periods of dissociation in which he ‘lost' long spans of time. He also endorsed numerous physical problems, including frequent severe headaches (for which he was treated with prescription medications as a child), heart palpitations, difficulty breathing (he was diagnosed with and treated for asthma), and chronic sleeping problems. He reported having nightmares from which he awakened in a terrified state as often as twice a night. These symptoms persisted throughout his childhood and adolescence and grew to include periods of psychosis. … “ Although he has received no psychiatric treatment on death row Mr. Echols stated his mental illness has improved significantly since his incarceration. ... “Prior to and during his trial, Mr. Echols heard ‘voices that were not really voices' and he ‘was not sure if it was a voice inside' his head or ‘somebody else's voice.' He thought it ‘was nearly impossible' to tell if it was his voice or somebody/something else. He experi- enced visual hallucinations that ‘were personifications of others. They were like smoke, changing shape but present and constant.' The personifications had specific names and activities. One was ‘Morpheus Sandman' who was a hybrid of a human being and a god. Another example was ‘Washington crossing the Delaware.' Mr. Echols saw Washington cross the Delaware with ‘Her- mes on the boat.' Hermes was able to cross with Wash- ington because ‘Hermes was moving backwards through time.' Mr. Echols came to believe that he was the same as these personifications, ‘made of the same material and from the same place.' “Mr. Echols stated that at some point in his adolescence he came to believe he was ‘something that was almost a supreme being that came from a place other people didn't come from.' This transformation caused him to change physically, the pertinent changes appearing in his ‘appendages, hands, feet, hair.' He acquired ‘an entirely different bone structure that was not human.' He developed ‘stronger senses.' His eyesight was better and his ‘ability to smell and taste changed.' He had a different stance, moved his eyes and held his head differently. He grew his nails so that they would be a ‘perfect 1 ½ inches long.' When he looked at his hands, he could see his bones. His weight dropped to 116 pounds, consistent with neurovegetative signs seen in mood disorders. This period of physical change be- gan the year before his arrest and lasted for about two years after he was on death row. …” Echols' lifelong struggle with mental illness took several violent turns in the year leading up to his arrest.   https://eastofwestmemphis.wordpress.com   https://www.facebook.com/WestMemphis3Killers/?epa=SEARCH_BOX https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers/dp/0692802843/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Black-Against-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B06XVT2976/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Where-Monsters-Go-Against-Memphis-ebook/dp/B06XVNXCJV/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_3?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-3-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-West-Memphis-Killers-ebook/dp/B07C7C4DCH/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_4?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-4-fkmrnull https://www.amazon.com/Case-Against-West-Memphis-Killers/dp/B071K8VNBM/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_6?keywords=gary+meece&qid=1550445054&s=gateway&sr=8-6-fkmrnull                        

         Do you like confrontation in conversation?  Like Mr. Jefferson and Flo?  Or maybe you're a HONEYMOONER type of person, where Alice took on Ralph with the greatest of ease.  Debates?  Questions and answers?  You'll find a lot of this and that on this network, fo-sho! (for sure) Fasten your seat belts! Get ready for the RIDE OF YOUR LIFETIME – Nobody gets a pass…  515-605-9376, we will have you on the thrill of a listen-time.  K-I-T-M - Kings In The Morning Right here, Right now!

Homecoming, the latest series with prestige TV bona fides to come to Amazon, is about as subtle and mysterious as a thriller can get. Based on the podcast of same name, it is, on the surface, about a group of soldiers returned from combat and the facility—called Homecoming—that seeks to treat their PTSD. However, as seen in flash-forwards and tiny cracks in the veneer of each person's story, none of that is what it seems, and everyone's motives and actions are suspect.

It's good to share and known what is happening is someone's life.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/aserversjourney?fan_landing=true)

          We are on Monday through Friday each morning at 8a pacific, which is 9a Mountain, 10a central and 11a Eastern.  Everything goes.  Everything.  On Wednesdays, Johnny Davis follows immediately with WILD WEDNESDAY – you'll enjoy it.  When you are on, do not be disruptive, we have fun, but we like the show to run smooth.  If you have noises in your background, they are magnified, so keep a quiet atmosphere or Jay will mute you –                      Jay King – Johnny Davis – Yusuf - Reese Hopkins - – Lynn Tolliver (me)                  Do you like confrontation in conversation?  Like Mr. Jefferson and Flo?  Or maybe you're a HONEYMOONER type of person, where Alice took on Ralph with the greatest of ease.  Debates?  Questions and answers?  You'll find a lot of this and that on this network, fo-sho! (for sure) Fasten your seat belts! Get ready for the RIDE OF YOUR LIFETIME – Nobody gets a pass…  515-605-9376, we will have you on the thrill of a listen-time.  K-I-T-M - Kings In The Morning Right here, Right now!  

               We are on Monday through Friday each morning at 8a pacific, which is 9a Mountain, 10a central and 11a Eastern.  Everything goes.  Everything.  On Wednesdays, Johnny Davis follows immediately with WILD WEDNESDAY – you'll enjoy it.  When you are on, do not be disruptive, we have fun, but we like the show to run smooth.  If you have noises in your background, they are magnified, so keep a quiet atmosphere or Jay will mute you – Jay King – Johnny Davis – Yusuf - Reese Hopkins - – Lynn Tolliver (me)                 Do you like confrontation in conversation?  Like Mr. Jefferson and Flo?  Or maybe you're a HONEYMOONER type of person, where Alice took on Ralph with the greatest of ease.  Debates?  Questions and answers?  You'll find a lot of this and that on this network, fo-sho! (for sure) Fasten your seat belts! Get ready for the RIDE OF YOUR LIFETIME – Nobody gets a pass…  515-605-9376, we will have you on the thrill of a listen-time.  K-I-T-M - Kings In The Morning Right here, Right now!

               We are on Monday through Friday each morning at 8a pacific, which is 9a Mountain, 10a central and 11a Eastern.  Everything goes.  Everything.  On Wednesdays, Johnny Davis follows immediately with WILD WEDNESDAY – you'll enjoy it.  When you are on, do not be disruptive, we have fun, but we like the show to run smooth.  If you have noises in your background, they are magnified, so keep a quiet atmosphere or Jay will mute you –                                  Jay King – Johnny Davis – Yusuf - Reese Hopkins - – Lynn Tolliver (me)                      Do you like confrontation in conversation?  Like Mr. Jefferson and Flo?  Or maybe you're a HONEYMOONER type of person, where Alice took on Ralph with the greatest of ease.  Debates?  Questions and answers?  You'll find a lot of this and that on this network, fo-sho! (for sure) Fasten your seat belts! Get ready for the RIDE OF YOUR LIFETIME – Nobody gets a pass…  515-605-9376, we will have you on the thrill of a listen-time.  K-I-T-M - Kings In The Morning Right here, Right now!

In simplest terms, this episode is about changing the publishing schedule of the podcast. But that came about as The Spaniard dug deep into his ultimate vision and purpose—which happens to be of global proportions. True! Here's a tiny taste of what you'll hear: ”When I'm long dead and gone, generations from now … I don't care about Charlie, I care about what Spaniard represents. I want SPANIARD to be this thing that CHANGES THE WORLD.” The Spaniard explains how it starts with betting on yourself just like one of your favorite figures from childhood did. (Daniel Tiger knows who it is!)

AFTERBUZZ TV — Bob’s Burgers edition, is a weekly “after show” for fans of Adult Swim’s Bob’s Burgers. In this episode hosts Alexis Torres, Emma Fyffe, and Andrew Mena discusses episode 10. RSS Feed: http://afterbuzztv.staging.wpengine.com/aftershows/bobs-burgers-afterbuzz-tv-aftershow/feed/ ABOUT BOB’S BURGERS: Bob’s Burgers… Read the rest The post Bobs Burgers S:7 | There’s No Business Like Mr. Business Business E:10 | AfterBuzz TV AfterShow appeared first on AfterBuzz TV Network.

When Kari Wahlgren (Fairly Odd-Parents, Harvey Beaks, Kung Fu Panda: LoA, Rick and Morty, Mr. Peabody & Sherman) sits down for this weeks episode, we discuss the source of inspiration and how you feed it, the process of character creation and the importance of making strong choices, being flexible, and why zombie nightmares are more terrifying than regular ol' nightmares. Find Kari on Twitter: @kariwahlgren , Instagram: @kari_wahlgren and at her website: www.kariwahlgren.com ALSO: Check out www.learningally.org about how you can give back to kids who need reading materials and things read to them... 

In this episode, the Goods from the Woods Boys are going into the woods for real with the hilarious comedian and outdoor enthusiast, Dave Stone. Like Mr. Goodnight, Dave is an amateur bigfoot researcher. Hear them swap stories of Sasquatch's adventures all across this great country. We also talk about how Dave chose to live in a van on the streets of L.A. for two and a half years. This one is really great. Follow Dave on Twitter @DaveStoneComedy buy his album, 'Hogwash', and listen to his AMAZING podcast, "The Boogie Monster"!  Song of the week this week: "The Countdown" by Caleb Caudle.  You can follow us on Twitter: @TheGoodsPod  Rivers is @RiversLangley  Pat is @ReallyPatReilly  Mr. Goodnight is @SepulvedaCowboy Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt at: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod

Ladies…Have you ever stayed in a bad relationship just because of the way that man blew your back out? If so,Tune into “Barbershop Talk Tuesdays” on “The Dedan Tolbert Show” TONIGHT at 9:00pm EST as we discuss Mary J. Blige's popular song, “Mr Wrong” (which happens to be the most ridiculous song I've ever heard in my life). Listen to the first LIVE show of 2012 by calling 646 200 0366 or online worldwide at DedanTolbert.com

--{ Tubby Money Magi (Now You See It, Now You Don't): "Taxed by Governments, Defrauded by Banksters, The Suit and Tie is Uniform of Gangsters, Yet Common Folk Bow In Their Presence, Ignorant of History, Never Learning Lessons, The Biggest Scams So Carefully Crafted, Use Those Bowing, Bowed Get Shafted, The Tubby Money Magi, Like Mr. Madoff, Sent Billions to Money Heaven, Thousands Laid-Off, So Who Makes Money at the End of Day? The Tubby Money Magi Make Crime Pay" © Alan Watt }-- New World Order, Internationalism - Hitler, Churchill, United Europe - I.G. Farben, Nuremberg Trials - Gary Hart, CFR, Use of Crisis. Britain, Pound Sterling, EU Currency, Euro - Amero, Fortress America - International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Country Takeovers, Modern Farming, Loans, Bankruptcy. Economic Crash - Madoff (Made Off) Ponzi Scheme - Law Enforcement, Criminals, White-Collar Crime - Worship of Mammon, Wealth, the Rich. Rockefeller, Gates, Makeover as "Philanthropist" - Money, "The Good Life". Returning Active Duty Military, "Non-Lethal" Weapons, Microwave, "City Stopper" - Soldiers, Old Firearms - Police, Readiness to Fight and Kill, Night Raids - Bill Cooper. H.G. Wells' books: "Open Conspiracy", "Things to Come", "Outline of History" - Races Slated for Elimination - Aerial Spraying. Socialist System, Denial, Terror of Making Decisions - Acting through Life - Finding Others of Like Mind - Organization Techniques, Communism. Male Sterility, Lowered Sperm Count and Motility - Population Drops in the West and China. Europe, Council of 12 Wise Men, Stars, Trinity - Dollar Symbol, Serpent, Jachin and Boaz - Letter E, M - Knights Templar Pirates, Skull and Bones, Salmon, Solomon, Roe. (Article: "Pound to be left to its fate" by Michael Savage (independent.co.uk) - Dec. 15, 2008.) *Title/Poem and Dialogue Copyrighted Alan Watt - Dec. 26, 2008 (Exempting Music, Literary Quotes, and Callers' Comments)