Podcast appearances and mentions of Mark Norman

In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, host Mark Norman is joined by special guest Bar Fridman-Tell about her debut novel 'Honeysuckle'.Part horror, part fantasy, part magic but completely engaging, the story in an unholy alliance between the flower woman of Welsh mythology and a creation of Victor Frankenstein!Bar talks about her inspirations, the treatment of the original story and the ways in which she combines real-world folklore with her own imagination. You can also hear a short extract from the audiobook, courtesy of the publisher.You can find Honeysuckle wherever books are sold, and visit Bar on the web at https://www.barfridmantell.com/To support The Folklore Podcast on Patreon (for free or for a small donation) and get access to extra content, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The fate of the snowbirds, trouble on the trade front, and mixed messages on China. Our ‘smart person' panel with political junkie Tasha Kheiriddin, retired Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, and China expert Margaret McCuaig-Johnston. 

Ørsted closes its European offshore sale to CIP and weighs a $1 billion exit from the US market. Plus MingYang commissions a 20 MW offshore turbine, and ZF’s plain bearings log 36 GW with no measurable wear. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! [00:00:00] The Uptime Wind Energy podcast, brought to you by StrikeTape, protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit StrikeTape.com. And now, your hosts Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. I’m your host for today, Allen Hall, along with Matthew Stead, Rosemary Barnes, and Yolanda Padron. If you’re going to be in Houston for Clean Power 2026, mark Wednesday, June 3rd on your calendar. The Australian American Chamber of Commerce, Texas is hosting an invitation-only panel and networking reception with cocktails from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at the Houston Club, and I’ll be moderating. We’re bringing together Australian and US wind energy experts to compare notes on how two markets handle O&M, lightning risks, blade inspections, remote monitoring, and where operational gaps [00:01:00] are. The evening also marks the North American commercial launch of EOLOGIX-PING’s satellite-based lightning monitoring system, developed with Adelaide-based satellite IoT company, Myriota. So in joining me on the panel, our own Matt Stead, co-founder of EOLOGIX-PING, and Mark Norman, VP of Edge Solutions at Myriota, and Weather Guard’s Yolanda Padron. EOLOGIX-PING and Myriota have systems already deployed in Japan and Australia, and a little bit in the US here at Weather Guard, and they’re stepping into the North American market at American Clean Power with this advanced lightning monitoring product. So you’ll want to be there and see this new product introduced. It is an invitation-only event, so if you’re at Clean Power and want to be in the room, reach out to us on LinkedIn so we can get you on the list. Orsted finished selling off its European offshore wind business to Copenhagen [00:02:00]Infrastructure Partners, better known as CIP or as it’s a-affectionately called CIP. Now, Bloomberg reports the Danish company is exploring a sale of its US portfolio also, which includes a whole bunch of wind. It’s a decent amount of solar and battery storage in a deal that could bring more than about a billion dollars. Uh, the business generated more than one-fifth of Orsted’s total operating income just last year. Uh, meanwhile, uh, more than 50 US organizers are urging RWE CEO, Markus Kroeker, not to hand back over $1 billion in US offshore wind leases as part of a reported deal with the Trump administration. Uh, so the, the pattern is clear, everybody. European developers are being pushed towards the exit in the American market. The Ørsted situation’s been going on several months now. I, I think it’s pretty much common [00:03:00] knowledge, I would assume at this point. W- we’ve known for months, and I th- think a lot of people we’ve talked to have been saying Ørsted is prepping for a sale. The question is who? And the, the RWE getting rid of their offshore leases in the United States would be a little bit of a odd move. However, a billion dollars back in your bank account is probably a smart move today. So are the, the Germans and the Danish leaving America?  Yolanda Padron: Ørsted’s still keeping their offshore in the US, right?  Allen Hall: Yeah, I don’t know if they’ll be able to sell it off. They own it 100% at this point, right? All the partners have pulled out But I wonder if that’s on the auction block also. That it could be  Matthew Stead: So why? Why are they, why are they selling? I mean, there has to be a reason. I mean, do they have better use for the money elsewhere, or do they just have lost faith in the, the USA?  Allen Hall: It could be a combination of both, right? Both can be true at the same time. I do think the cash flow is an issue [00:04:00] for renewable energy companies at the minute, so if they can get some money back into the coffers and to get ready for the next big run of development, they probably should do it now. But things, especially it does seem a little bit on the slow side on the re- renewable development, except in the UK where it’s going crazy.  Do you think then that they’re looking for American people to sell it to?  Allen Hall: Or Canadian. If Ørsted sells their onshore business, uh, to CIP, it still remains in Danish hands, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a, uh, removal of the Danes from America, not, not quite. Matthew Stead: Yeah. I’m just a bit confused why, you know, why, you know, why would it, um, attract a good price at the moment? So I would’ve thought, you know, if it was me, I would’ve take the long-term view and just hang onto it.  Allen Hall: Well, the, the tax credit’s already built into those businesses, right? I, I at least that’s what I would assume, that the, the tax credits are still [00:05:00] available on a number of the Ørsted sites. They’re not that old. A lot of the wind sites are not that old, so you could gain that tax advantage. It may make sense. It may be a, a Berkshire Hathaway or somebody like that may, may jump into the mix.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah, and maybe because there’s not so much opportunity for new developments at the moment, that might be maybe it’s appealing for that reason, that there’s, yeah, not, not so many wind opportunities around, and companies want wind in their portfolios, so. Allen Hall: Or data centers like we just saw with NextEra and Dominion. The, the drive for, for data centers, uh, is pushing the, the power demand, and if you could buy wind, solar, and battery all together, most of it kind of co-located, you could put some data centers in Texas ’cause a vast majority of that Ørsted fleet is in a place where you could plant a data center right next to it. Maybe that’s, maybe that’s the thought. Uh, if they saw NextEra and Dominion join hands, maybe there’s another partnership in the mix. That would be really interesting. Maybe it’s Elon. Maybe [00:06:00] SpaceX or, uh, Tesla could just buy Ørsted’s onshore wind business. That would be a- amazing.  Matthew Stead: I thought they were going into space. Why would they be bothering with the Earth?  Allen Hall: You gotta power the rockets before you launch them, right? You get so-  Matthew Stead: gotta get some power from somewhere. Allen Hall: Delamination and bondline failures in blades are difficult problems to detect early. These hidden issues can cost you millions in repairs and lost energy production. CIC-NDT are specialists to detect these critical flaws before they become expensive burdens. Their nondestructive test technology penetrates deep into blade materials to find voids and cracks traditional inspections completely miss. CIC-NDT maps every critical defect, delivers actionable reports, and provides support to get your blades back in service. So visit cicndt.com because catching blade problems early will save you millions[00:07:00] China has commissioned what is being called the world’s largest offshore wind turbine. It’s a 20-megawatt machine built by MingYang Smart Energy, installed off the coast of China in the South China Sea. The structure stands about 240 meters tall with blades around 128 meters long. That’s a pretty good-sized blade. And it’s rated to survive gusts up to 80 meters per second. But the real story is what researchers are watching after the turbine starts up. Early reports say that the rotor that is massively big will create measurable changes in local air currents and temperature distribution. At this scale, offshore wind creating a physical footprint that scientists want to measure and We have seen this effect here at Weather Guard Lightning Tech, watching storms go through the big wind farms [00:08:00] in the United States. So you can actually see storm behaviors change because of the quantity of turbines, and the turbines are getting to be high enough with the hub heights approaching 100 meters. But nothing as big as a 20 megawatt machine out on the ocean. It’s mixing the t- the, the air quite a bit, changing the temperature. Uh, is this something that climatologists are looking at, Rosemary, or, or, or watching closely, particularly with the, uh, fish life and sea life around the wind turbines?  Rosemary Barnes: I don’t know. My thing with MingYang is that they’re always, like, you only ever hear about them ’cause they’re announcing the biggest something, right? Um, that’s like the extent of it. It’s not like you hear about, oh, there’s a wind farm near you and it’s gonna have MingYang turbines in it. You never hear that. You only hear about they’ve got the biggest, and now next year they’ve got the new biggest, the biggest, the biggest, the biggest. And, uh, it’s like I know that they do actually make some, like, a lot of turbines. I think they’re in the, we mentioned last week, they’re in the top five manufacturers, um, mostly or maybe [00:09:00] pretty much entirely for the Chinese market. Um, so it’s not like I think they don’t make anything. But I do think it’s quite easy to announce the biggest something. This announcement is also like, yeah, okay, but is it real? Like it’s the, it’s a big, it’s a really big turbine. It’s going pretty high, but like offshore, um, there are, I think, onshore turbines being announced that are gonna go as high or higher because, you know, onshore, um, turbines have much taller towers than, than offshore. So I actually don’t think that it probably is a record for the tallest, like, tip that’s scraping. This is a thing that’s always happened, and sure, that’s interesting to have a look at and see if it has any local impact. It’s not like it’s, it’s not creating energy, right? It’s not gonna warm up, um, the, the planet. I mean, it’s, yeah, taking energy out of the, the air and then converting it to electricity. Um, so overall you’re gonna end up with the same amount of, of energy. But yeah, could be interesting to study, study what’s happening specifically.  Matthew Stead: I think it’s a so what question. You know, so what? I mean, I can sneeze and [00:10:00] I’d change the local environment, but who cares if I sneeze and change the local environment? You know, the, you know, the weather is inherently turbulent and, you know- There’s mixing and there’s all sorts of stuff naturally occurring. Yeah, my question is, so what?  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. I mean, it’s interesting in terms of, like, wakes of wind turbines and, you know, there’s, uh, people are researching that more because it’s not well enough understood, I think, for some of the really big offshore wind regions where there’s heaps of different wind farms and, you know, like, you’re gonna wanna know if you’ve got a win- an existing wind farm or you’re planning one, and then they sell, um, rights to build one immediately upstream of you, then, you know, you’re gonna wanna understand how, how all that local atmospheric stuff is, is happening exactly. Um, but yeah, like, it’s not, it’s not quite new and it’s not, yeah, like you said, it’s not unique to wind turbines. Um, so yeah, it is, like, slightly interesting, I would say. 5 out of 10 interesting.  Allen Hall: How much time should we spend on contrails? [00:11:00] Because we spent a good 20 minutes before we started this podcast talking about contrails, which is a one or maybe a negative one on the scale of should I follow this? Rosemary Barnes: How interesting is the fact that air travel is contributing to climate change? How interesting is that on a scale of one to 10?  Allen Hall: Zero.  Matthew Stead: Eight.  Allen Hall: It’s like the, it’s like the cow argument, right?  Rosemary Barnes: Allen doesn’t care about climate change. That’s okay.  Allen Hall: You asked me to put it on a ranking of where it is in importance. It’s, it’s nowhere near m- even a five.  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. So Yves said zero. Matt said eight. What about you, Yolanda? How, how interesting is the fact that air travel impacts climate change?  Yolanda Padron: I think it’s, like, a six.  Rosemary Barnes: Six. Okay. And so did you know that, um, airplanes are 2.5% of the world’s emissions, um, come from air, air travel? And did you know that I think it’s [00:12:00] 4% of the world’s warming comes from air travel? Of the warming, two-thirds of the warming that is caused by air travel or airplanes, uh, could be freight as well, it’s not to do with CO2. So some of that is, you know, like other, um, gases like NOx is a pretty potent greenhouse gas. Contrails are the biggest single component, the single biggest factor causing warming from, um, from air travel. And it’s not, it’s not necessary. You know, every airplane doesn’t create contrails in every trip. It’s, it’s a small number. Like, it’s a pretty small number of trips that are making contrails, and if we can better understand how like, what are the factors that lead to a contrail being formed or not, then we can avoid them and, you know, get rid of a, a percent or two of the world’s global warming. I think that’s just really huge.  Matthew Stead: What would you do about it, Rosie?  Rosemary Barnes: There’s a couple of solutions I know that other people are working on that sound very interesting to me. So the first is that if you change the fuel, like, [00:13:00] um, to sustainable aviation fuel, like a, a biofuel, some of those that have been tested also produce less contrails. I don’t know the exact reason why. Would be interesting to find out. That’s one thing. But secondly, um, if you can get good data about, like, very local atmospheric conditions and, you know, let the world’s airplane fleet can communicate with each other and some AI processing in real time, you can make small changes to your flight path to avoid making contrails, and yeah, you get, um, a small increase in, in f- fuel burn, I guess, from deviating from the most efficient route, but a big, big inc- um, decrease in contrails. Uh, so I think both of those are really promising solutions.  Allen Hall: It’s not that easy It isn’t like every airplane’s out there changing its altitude to keep away from creating contrails. There’s whole systems, thousands of people working at any one moment to keep airplanes up in the air. So it, it’s not something you just willy-nilly say, [00:14:00] “AI can adjust my altitude or my flight plan to deviate so I can prevent contrails.” It’s not that easy. It’s actually a huge undertaking, and it may end up burning more fuel.  Rosemary Barnes: Oh, I mean, it’s an incredibly complex system to keep airplanes up and not colliding. Um, I believe it’s not centrally planned. It’s not like you’re not logging your whole flight path any- anymore. I, I listened to a podcast about this the other day, and in the past you used to log your entire flight plan and not deviate from it, but now it, it’s done a bit on the fly. So I’m sure that there are already hundreds or thousands of factors that an aircraft computer is taking into account, um, when it’s figuring out exactly where it’s gonna go, and this would be another bit of complexity. I don’t, I don’t think it’s easy, otherwise we’d already be doing it. But I think it’s, it’s promising. And I think it’s easier than making hydrogen airplanes, for example. I think it’s easier than electrifying airplanes. And the fact of it is that even if you do [00:15:00] have sustainable aviation fuel, if it’s still making contrails, it’s still causing warming. So if you wanna actually s- solve, uh, you know, heating from flying, then you have to, you have to tackle the contrail part of the problem. It’s the biggest, it’s the biggest chunk on its own, bigger than CO2.  Matthew Stead: So did we get here by talking about possible contrails from wind turbines? Is that what we were talking about?  Rosemary Barnes: No. It was because Allen was saying before that we were gonna go off the rails, and he’s like, “Oh, you know what? In no time we’ll be talking about contrails,” like using it as an example of a tinfoil hat-wearing person. And I’m like, “Actually, that is a tinfoil hat that I do like to wear,” the contrails one. Um, not because I think the government is controlling me, uh, with with, you know, targeted hor- hormone or chemical releases via contrails, but because of the global warming potential.  Matthew Stead: Could a, a really tall wind turbine create contrails? What, what’s the physics behind that?  Allen Hall: [00:16:00] It’s just, um, water, right? So you’re just condensing water and shoving it out the back. When you’re burning hydrocarbons, it’s one of the byproducts, right? It’s like in, when, in an internal combustion engine, you see water dripping out the tailpipe. It’s this very similar kind of thing. Uh, so how much water comes out is dependent upon somewhat the fuel, as Rosie’s pointed out, so you can slightly change it, but a lot of it has to do with the temperature, altitude, pressure moisture content of the air, all those different factors play into it. So you’d have to have, in order to go look at it, you’d have to have a bunch of sensors on the airplane, which, which the aircraft may have some of them, but probably not enough to determine if they’re creating contrails besides looking out the window to see what’s coming out on the backside of the engine. Matthew Stead: A wind turbine could not create contrails. The pressure differential and the, the vapor pressure-  Allen Hall: Yeah, it’s not enough to, you’re, you’re not, you’re not changing temperatures enough, [00:17:00] right? So you, you basically have to change the dew point. That’s the way I would think about it. You have to change the dew point somehow, which I guess you could do maybe by a degree or so locally, you may be able to, to change it, and maybe you could. Um, well, we have seen tip vortices, right? So tip vortices, you have seen these contrails off the, the tips of, of, of aircraft wings.  Rosemary Barnes: But are they durable? You know, ’cause like, yeah, you see tip vortices off, yeah, off wing, wingtips, off wind turbine tips as well. But I don’t think they stay in the air after, you know, they, um, you can see them, and then they dissipate usually. Allen Hall: Yeah, it, it depends. You’ll see it when aircraft land quite a bit. Depends on what the temperature, humidity is at that particular moment, but th- those will, those will hang around a little bit  Rosemary Barnes: But I mean, certainly you can, you can, um, cause droplets to freeze from a wind turbine being there. That’s how they get iced up, is that their… Or either their water was super cooled to begin with and it just needs a, a surface to latch onto so that the crystal can, [00:18:00] um, form or also, yeah, like, I mean, in the aerodynamics there is that point between where the air goes over and under and you, um, sta- stagnation or-  Allen Hall: Stagnation point?  Rosemary Barnes: Yeah. So you can, um, you, you could get some freezing there. Allen Hall: You can create cold zones.  Rosemary Barnes: I, as far as I know, all that stuff is just causing ice to build up on the blade. I don’t think that it’s, um… Yeah. And anyway, even if it did, like even if you did affect the, um, you know, have some ice particles forming in the, um, the wake then it’s just going to, or I don’t know, get hit the next time the, the, the blade goes through or, yeah, fa- fall out I would think ’cause it’s quite close to the ground  Allen Hall: but- Just to tie into what Rosemary’s saying, although I think wasting time on contrails is not worth the effort, I do think meteorologists do not do enough work on big changes that are happening to the planet in regards to, like, renewable energy is one of them, like wind turbines. I [00:19:00] haven’t seen a lot of work done about are wind turbines changing the temperature locally or not. I mean, they- I’ve seen some top level things, solar panels, but the same thing could be seen about shipping.  Rosemary Barnes: Oh, I mean shipping, shipping was, shipping was, um, cooling the planet until we, um, brought in restrictions on how much, um, sulfur emissions that you could, you could make. But can I use this to actually plug a, um, a, a pro- a collaborative project that we’re about to start where actually, uh, this is quite specific to Australia, to Queensland and Northern New South Wales. We’ve got a study, uh, collaborative study from a bunch of wind farms in that area and getting some academic researchers involved to look at how, like very detailed how lightning is in that region. And one of the questions that we’re gonna look at is what, h- how has the, um, the presence of wind farms, like when wind farms are built, how has that affected the local lightning, um, area? [00:20:00] So we’re gonna be able to answer, uh, you know, like to what extent have these wind farms caused increases in In lightning  Allen Hall: Or decreases  Rosemary Barnes: Or decreases. I’d, I, oof, yeah. I, I’d be surprised if it was decreases, and I will say, like, yeah, that area of Queensland, northern New South Wales, um, you know, they get kind of tropical storms, um, heaps and heaps of lightning, you know, hundreds hundreds of, um, strikes in a single storm sometimes, you know, and, you know, in one wind farm. But even if you think, like, uh, down in Victoria, New South Wales and Victoria, where you look at a lightning map and there should be very little lightning there, there are certain sites that are actually having huge problems with lightning, like way more strikes than you would expect based on the map, and I think that partly that’s also ’cause it just varies locally. But the other thing is, like, a l- a lot more of really damaging strikes. It is something that’s the world needs to do more of, is looking into, like, really local lightning, understanding how the wind farm is interacting with the lightning, causing lightning, how it differs from place to place. [00:21:00] I’m really hoping that, yeah, this, this one study that we’re working on now, and anyone who has a wind farm in that area, Queensland, northern New South Wales, if you wanna be involved, get in touch. The more people involved, the cheaper it is. But I think that that’s definitely something that can improve how lightning protection systems are, are designed, if we just know, like, what’s, what’s happening. ‘Cause there aren’t great links between OEMs doing the design and people in the field experiencing damage. Like, they don’t talk. Even when it’s the same company, you know, if it’s Vestas or GE that designed the turbine and is now servicing the turbines, they, they don’t necessarily talk to each other as much as, um, would be ideal.  Allen Hall: Using the EOLOGIX-PING lightning sensors, we just completed a study over a five-year period, uh, just about that subject. Rosemary Barnes: Where, where did you do that?  Allen Hall: In the States.  Rosemary Barnes: And will you be publishing the results and sending a, a letter to Vestas and GE and Siemens and whoever else and send them a letter, “Attention lightning expert”? [00:22:00] Matthew Stead: We’re probably just gonna put it on the website.  Rosemary Barnes: But is there even a, a, a conference, a, a conference for wind turbines and lightning? Con- considering it’s, like, one of the number one O&M things, like we’re-  Matthew Stead: There’s one in Melbourne next year in February.  Rosemary Barnes: I wasn’t attempting to, um, set the stage for, uh, this is why everyone has to come to our event. I mean, it, it, it’s so strange to me that there isn’t just, you know, like, a big conference every year. I mean, it could be every two years where all of the univ- like there’s heaps of people researching it, heaps of people working on designing on it, heaps of people working on operating it, repairing it when it doesn’t work, and, um-  Allen Hall: I think they’re looking at it from a very, uh, local scale And looking at a turbine taking a lightning strike and the things you can do to reduce damage or what the, the physics are locally, ’cause we don’t understand all that much about lightning, honestly. However, on a, on a larger scale, which is what the effort we’re working on right now, is that we’re looking at several states that are right in the thunderstorm alley and where [00:23:00] there’s a lot of wind turbines, thousands and thousands of wind turbines. What you see is, uh, a real change in the, in the weather patterns and in lightning, but it depends on the time of year. And having the EOLOGIX-PING lightning sensors on gives us a better sense of the number of strikes that are occurring, where they’re occurring on the wind farms. Uh, o- otherwise, all the other services that you could use wouldn’t be nearly as accurate. A lot of false positives.  Rosemary Barnes: But I wanna say, like, I think you’re so right that lightning it- it’s very local, like, and s- lightning behaves differently depending where you are. It dep- dep- behaves differently or it affects your turbine differently depending on what kind of LPS you’ve got. But the problem is that it’s not like there’s, um, you know, a catalog of LPSs and you’re like, “This one suits the lightning in Japan, and this one suits the lightning in Queensland.” It’s one– Y- if you want a GE turbine, this is the, it comes with a certain type of LPS, and the same with, with Vestas and, you know, ev- every other manufacturer. And they’ve all, I’m sure, got types of lightning that [00:24:00] they are better or worse suited to, but the information is, is certainly not out there for someone who’s choosing a turbine, and I don’t think that it’s actually properly understood by, by anyone. Because, like, who’s measuring all of the characteristics that you would need to know to design the LPS better? Almost no one. Most of the people doing that in the world are probably, yeah, on this podcast today. Um, but it’s, uh… And, and when they are being measured, is it being communicated back to every OEM so they can know? Like, of course it’s, it’s not.  Allen Hall: I’ll give you a good example because it happened over the past week or two. Looking at a wind turbine blade that had some damage to it, and the question was, was it caused by lightning? That was the question. And that’s a really good question. So I thought, “Oh, this will be easy,” because there’s gonna be a plethora of- lightning test data reports talking about testing of this particular kind of aluminum mesh on fiberglass surfaces, and [00:25:00] there really is not much. I was shocked by it. So I always think like if, if I can’t put my fingers on it readily, then what is a blade engineer or a site supervisor or someone who owns an asset’s gonna do?  Rosemary Barnes: I saw a presentation at Wind Europe last year or whenever I went, when I met with, with you both, probably both of you there, um, uh, that Polytech did where they had done some fatigue testing, um, of copper mesh and its lightning, um, protecting capabilities. And they did f- they, so they, you know, put some mesh into, um, fatigue testing, I, I think, or they, they damaged it a bit with a bit fatigue, some micro cracks and stuff. And they just did find that it heated up a lot after that. Um, you know, after it was a bit damaged, they were getting like real hot spots. And so then you’re gonna start to see laminate damage, um, in the, the area underneath that. So yeah, I, I think that more, more, like it’s a, it’s a good step that we’re now thinking [00:26:00] of, you know, protecting better than what we used to do with just, you know, one receptor in the, the tip and a cable, especially, you know, throw in carbon fiber and you, you know, make a second electrically conductive path and have flashover and stuff. It’s really great that, you know, we’ve evolved beyond that design, but it’s not finished yet. Like th- all those designs are new. There’s a lot of them out there. It sound like everyone’s like, “Oh, it’s, you know, we don’t have to worry if it’s got mesh over the whole blade.” It’s like, okay, maybe you don’t have to worry. Maybe, maybe you do. We, we kind of have to, have to keep on monitoring those for a few years and sharing the information.  Allen Hall: As wind energy professionals, staying informed is crucial, and let’s face it, difficult. That’s why the Uptime Podcast recommends PES Wind Magazine. PES Wind offers a diverse range of in-depth articles and expert insights that dive into the most pressing issues facing our energy future. Whether you’re an industry veteran or new to wind, PES Wind has the high-quality content you need. Don’t miss out. Visit [00:27:00] peswind.com today. In the current issue of PES Wind Magazine, there are a number of great articles. If you haven’t received your copy, you should just go to peswind.com and where you can read it and download a copy. Well, uh, this issue has an article from ZF and talking about gearboxes. And as we all know, inside every gearbox there are bearings and surfaces. Those tend to be the weak links when things break. And for decades, the industry has used roller bearings and, uh, the same kind basically you find in other machines. Uh, they work, but they do wear out. And how many times have you seen bearings, roller bearings wear out inside of gearboxes? Quite a bit. So– And they, they, they break down, they go offline. It’s, it’s a big problem. But ZF Wind Power says it has cracked the code with its hydrodynamic plain bearings. The company has already installed 36 gigawatts of gearboxes [00:28:00] using this technology, and they say field inspections show no measurable wear. Uh, the next generation, uh, which is a single film design, is heading to production in 2027. So ZF uses a different technique to keep their gearboxes running for a long time, which is, uh, it’s a simple device mechanically, but it is quite complicated in the way you have to design materials. Uh, basically plain bearings are what’s used in, in internal combustion engine around camshafts and things of that sort. But designing those and making sure you have the right materials is the trick, Matthew, and you’ve been around cars for quite a while. It’s, it’s the right approach if you can make it work, and it looks like ZF has done a really good job of making these, uh, bearing services work.  Matthew Stead: Yeah, it sounds like a, a perfect, uh, innovation. I, I heard about this the first time, I think it was a couple of years ago. And, and like you said, Allen, um, you know, cars for the [00:29:00] last 100 years or so have, have been using journal bearings. I probably need to fact check that one. It may not be 100 years yet, but definitely cars from a long time ago have been using these, um, these bearings. Um, I, I think, uh, one question is, though, around condition monitoring. You know, how do you actually monitor the condition of the, the s- the surfaces? Um, you know, with a traditional roller bearing, you can use, you know, vibration techniques. I’m not aware of as many condition monitoring techniques for, for the journal bearings. Um, perhaps, um, obviously the oil, oil particle and, you know, checking the oil quality, et cetera, et cetera. But, um, that might be where the gap might occur. But You know, if they’re lasting, if they’re not degrading, um, there’s no moving parts, um, yeah, great  Allen Hall: The issue is lubrication, right? Because you’ve got basically two well-designed flat metal surfaces that you have to provide lubrication to, and those two surfaces are moving relative to one another. The lubrication [00:30:00] matters ’cause you’re literally riding on a very, very thin layer of lubricant. So making sure the lubricant gets in there, that it’s, it’s clean, and it’s always available, uh, is the trick. That’s why in today’s world, a lot of internal combustion engines can go several hundred thousand miles in a vehicle because the lubrication systems have gotten so much better over the last 50, 60 years. And ZF is probably using something very similar, where the, the technology has gotten better and the metallurg- the metallurgy has gotten way better, and control of that. Because the, the bearing surface really matters, and there’s two pieces to it, right? You got this rotating– To simplify it, you got a rotating shaft, and then you have this bearing surface that that shaft sits on. The, the rotating shaft is gonna be made out of something relatively hard, where the bearing surface is gonna be made out of a mixture of metals that is a little bit soft. So if anything goes wrong, that bearing surface, that little race right there, uh, will wear, [00:31:00] and you can replace it. But if kept lubricated and cleaned and proper, that will run dang near forever, as ZF has proven. Matthew Stead: I think it’s the starting load. I think it’s when it’s at stationary and then starts. So I’m getting that initial lubrication. From my understanding, that’s where the, where the challenge lies. And, you know, obviously in a combustion engine in a vehicle, it’s starting and stopping all the time. So, um, but I just wonder, are the loads higher? Um, how does that occur in a, in a actual, um, gearbox on a, a turbine?  Allen Hall: Right. It’s not like a main, uh, shaft bearing, right? The– It’s, it’s in a gearbox. You have a lot of planetary gears and a lot of rotating com- pieces there But the, I think the trick is, one, understanding what’s happening load-wise, and hydrodynamic bearings can have some issues if things are twisting in weird ways. So a gearbox is probably the right place to do this technique because of it’s a [00:32:00] controlled environment necessarily.  Matthew Stead: Alignment.  Allen Hall: Yeah. So you can, you can control how the, the loads are carried internally to it, which would make it last a lot longer. S- because roller bearings and, and all of the complexities around that, uh, we’ve seen those fail so many times inside of wind turbines because it’s hard to control everything about that. Al- although they, they can be extremely durable, I would say ZF is onto something in, in terms of delivering a gearbox that can actually run longer using, uh, good engineering. That’s what it is. It’s just really good engineering. So if you haven’t seen this issue of PES Wind, you should download it today. Go to peswind.com. That wraps up another episode of the Uptime Wind Energy podcast. If today’s discussion sparked any questions or ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Reach out to us on LinkedIn. And don’t forget to subscribe so you [00:33:00] never miss an episode. And if you found value in today’s conversation, please leave us a review. It really helps other wind energy professionals discover the show. So for Rosie, Yolanda, and Matthew, I’m Allen Hall, and we’ll see you here next week on the Uptime Wind Energy podcast.

The second of two episodes featuring interviews recorded live at the UK Ghost Story Festival in Derby in February 2026.In this second part, host Mark Norman meets two more of the presenters from the event. You will hear:MELANIE ATKINSON: On horror and ghost story writingSUSANNAH WISE: On the tangential way that ghosts appear in her writing, and writing from screen as well as novels.Support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon and get free exclusive bonus material. Join as a free member or on a paid tier at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

In a time of big defence spending and the re-tooling of the Canadian military we spend the hour talking about it what it means for this province.Guest: Mark Norman, retired vice-admiral who commanded Canada's Navy and was vice-chief of Defence.

Folklorist and author Mark Norman, the creator of The Folklore Podcast, looks at the imagery of the fairy, in conversation with illustrator and folklore enthusiast Tamsin Rosewell.As well as chatting with Tamsin about her past, and her interest in folklore and the fairy world more generally, the episode takes a close look at the fairy in art, literature and culture.We also want your views! What are your early memories of fairy images? How do you think the fairy will change over time? Please fill out our micro survey which will inform a future episode on this subject. You will find a short form on this link:https://forms.gle/RQ2C8KiX5XDpDAfz5Thank you for giving us your views.To support The Folklore Podcast and get extra exclusive content, please join our Patreon page. You can subscribe as a free member for some content, explore the site, and choose a paid tier if you want to see and hear more. Please visit:https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The PM has doubled down on his elbows up campaign, so is the US our greatest weakness or our best friend again? The “smart person” panel with Tasha Kheiriddin, Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, and Mark Norman on No Nonsense.

The first of two episodes featuring interviews recorded live at the UK Ghost Story Festival in Derby in February 2026.In this first part, host Mark Norman meets four presenters from the festival to discuss their particular areas of interest. You will hear:DAN WEBBER discussing queer readings of Dracula and theatrical adaptations of ghost storiesTRACY FAHEY on Irish ghosts and the idea of ghost estatesANTHONY KERRIGAN talking about fairy folklore and its links to abduction casesRICHARD FARREN BARBER answering the question 'What mkaes an effective ghost?'Support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon and get free exclusive bonus material. Join as a free member or on a paid tier at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The second of three very special interviews with some of the biggest names in Welsh folklore and ghostlore, in this episode it's author, folklorist and collector of antique Welsh texts, Dr Delyth Badder!As we discuss at the outset, we learned of Delyth's work through her book The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts, which came out the year Three Ravens launched. Her co-author, Mark Norman of The Folklore Podcast, spoke of it way back in Series 5 when he was our Local Legends guest for the English county of Devon. Finally, Martin had a good excuse to invite Delyth for a chat, and in this interview she shares her own story - including that of the haunted home she grew up in - along with her journey from medicine and pathology into folklore studies.She shares her favourite examples of Welsh folklore, unpacks what she thinks separate and unite the English and the Welsh, and unpacks the Afanc for us finally, making sense of that bizarre crocodile/beaver hybrid who, it turns out, is not at all a crocodile or a beaver...Also including Delyth's top recommendations for books and podcasts covering Welsh folklore, places to visit and ideas to bear in mind, we then finish with an extra little bit at the end where Eleanor and Martin discuss the challenges of understanding Welsh maps pre-Henry VIII. We really hope you enjoy the episode, and speak to you again on Saturday for the concluding part of the trilogy - a chat with multi-award winning author, storyteller and illustrator Peter Stevenson!Visit Delyth's website: https://folklorewales.com/The Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOURVisit our website Join our Patreon Social media channels and sponsors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, recorded on location, host Mark Norman meets members of the Turning Tides Project to talk about their Arts Council funded project AND 'OTHER' STORIES which presents the work of a group of artists with and without 'learning disability' and 'autism' labels.And 'Other' Stories reworks fairy tales and folktales in different ways to challenge our ideas about disability. It invites you to:Consider the human tendency to exclude and create "Other".Look for ways we can value our rich heritage of traditional stories in a way that respects everyone, as equal.Immerse yourself in multi-sensory approaches to storytelling.Experience an approach to presenting information that gives everyone equal access to that information.Mark discusses the project with facilitators Abi and Jane from Turning Tides, along with two of the participants.

Vice-Admiral (Ret’d) Mark Norman, former Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy & Dennis Horak, former Head of Mission in Iran; The Front Bench with Brian Gallant, Lisa Raitt, Tom Mulcair and Robert Benzie; Economist Don Drummond.

Former Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. (Ret’d) Tom Lawson & Former Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy Vice-Admiral (Ret'd) Mark Norman; Liberal MP Leslie Church; The Front Bench with Dan Moulton, Laryssa Waler, George Soule and Laura Stone.

BC ends twice-annual clock changes, should others follow suit?  Guest: Dr. Michael Antle, professor of psychology and neuroscience, University of Calgary Conflict in Iran drives up gas prices around the world  Guest: Patrick DeHaan, Head of Petroleum Analysis, GasBuddy No sign of compromise as the Iran war enters a second week Guest: Vice-Admiral (Ret'd) Mark Norman, Canada's former vice chief of defence staff, retired leader of the Royal Canadian Navy Why PM Carney's wealth and past test the limits of Canada's ethics laws Guest: Ian Steadman, associate professor at York University's School of Public Policy & Administration. York University 

A very special feature length episode of The Folklore Podcast, with a panel consisting of the cream of those people associated with the classic children's title THE BOX OF DELIGHTS.Podcast host Mark Norman discusses the enduring love for Box in all its forms with an amazing line-up of guests, consisting of:PHIL ERRINGTON - John Masefield expert and author of 'Opening the Box of Delights'PIERS TORDAY - Children's author and playwright responsible for adapting the Box of Delights for the stage, including the RSC productionCHRIS CHAPMAN - BBC documentary maker and director of 'Time and Tide: Making the Box of Delights' for the BluRay editionYou can support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon and access even more content for free, or with a donation, at http://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

On this episode of Boroughs & Burbs, we head to one of South Florida's most distinctive lifestyle markets: Wellington. Known globally as the equestrian capital of the world, Wellington blends luxury estates, seasonal international buyers, and year-round family living. Joining us are Martha Jolicoeur and Mark Norman of Douglas Elliman, who share insider insight into what makes this community unique. From horse properties and gated enclaves to golf communities and new development, we explore who is buying, why they're coming, and how Wellington fits into the broader Palm Beach County market. Whether you're an equestrian enthusiast, investor, or relocating family, this episode breaks down why Wellington continues to attract global attention and capital.

Bridgegate, F-35s, and why we are staying so quiet when China – our new “strategic partner” – jails a free speech advocate. Our wise person panel joins No Nonsense, Tasha Kheiriddin, Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, and Mark Norman. 

Folklore Podcast host Mark Norman chats with special guest, broadcaster and author Jeff Belanger, about some of the ghosts, folklore and other legends found in New England, in the north-eastern corner of the United States.Jeff is the host of 'New England Legends' on Amazon Prime Video, co-host of a podcast of the same name, and has written for and appeared on 'Ghost Adventures'. His book, 'Wicked Strange' provides a coffee-table collection of the stories covered on this episode and much more.This episode is rounded off with a folk music recording from the archives of American folklorist and singer Ellen Stekert. This previously lost recording of 'Golden Apples of the Sun', performed by Dave Van Ronk, was recorded in 1966 and has been recently remastered as part of the Ellen Stekert Project.Find out more about Jeff on his website at https://jeffbelanger.com/Learn more about Ellen and the project to digitise her archives at https://ellenstekert.com/Join the Folklore Podcast Patreon page at https://www/patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast to access extra content and support the show. There is plenty of free content available, and enhanced material for those who want to sign up for a small monthly amount to support the work of the show.

On this episode of #TheGlobalExchange, Colin Robertson sits down with Mark Norman, Vincent Rigby, Howard Balloch and Paul Meyer to discuss NATO, Carney, Trump and Davos. // Participants' bios: - Mark Norman served as Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy and Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. - Howard Balloch is a career foreign service officer and former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to China, Mongolia and North Korea. - Paul Meyer is a fellow in international security and adjunct Professor of International Studies at Simon Fraser University, and a Director of the Canadian Pugwash Group. - Vincent Rigby is Slater Family Professor of Practice at McGill's Max Bell School of Public Policy and former National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister. // Host bio: Colin Robertson is a former diplomat and Senior Advisor to the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. // Reading Recommendations: - "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" by Tim Weiner - "Quantum Of Menace" by Vaseem Khan - "The Mosquito: A Human History Of Our Deadliest Predator" by Timothy C. Winegard - "The Restless Wave" by James Stavridis // Music Credit: Drew Phillips | Producer: Jordyn Carroll // Recording Date: January 23, 2026 Release date: January 27, 2026

Mark Norman is joined by broadcaster, author and medievalist Dr Eleanor Janega to look at the role of the ghost in the medieval period. What elements of the behaviour of the ghost might we still recognise today? What was the view and the role of the church when it came to ghosts? Did people use ghosts for entertainment as we do now?You can find out more about Eleanor, her broadcasting and her writing on her website at https://eleanorjanega.com/Support The Folklore Podcast on Patreon to get extra content at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast - free and paid tiers available.

The Folklore Podcast returns to its original first principles for the first show of Season 11, with an episode written and presented by creator and host Mark Norman.The episode is a short exploration of the role of proverbs in folklore, and its writing was inspired by a new music track, 'Breadcrumbs' by artist Amy Hopwood which you can hear at the end of the show.Watch a video version of this podcast on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Rn6R_FnqV-YYou can visit Amy's website and get links to her music and art at https://amyhopwood.co.uk/Visit the Folklore Podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast where you can join as a free member for additional episodes. Upgrade to a paid membership later and access even more bonus material.

Want to know what to expect from the show as we head to 2026, and where to find the content you enjoy?Listen to this short announcement from creator and host, Mark Norman.

Witchcraft and witches throughout history have long captured the imagination, yet hidden away in archives are records of long forgotten cases. Many of these are tragic, some are unusual – perhaps even inexplicable – but all are fascinating in their own right. Devon's Forgotten Witches 1860–1910 (The History Press, 2025) by Mark Norman and Tracey Norman takes a deep dive through these records, bringing to the surface accusations of witchcraft in the county that have languished, unacknowledged, in the British Newspaper Archive for decades. These are the stories of ordinary people whose lives were touched in some way by witchcraft. Tracey Norman and Mark Norman examine these cases within their historical context, pulling together details from various news reports to explore what might really have happened. This work provides an intriguing snapshot of press coverage in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, showing how the public were urged to view those who still put their faith in ‘incredible superstition'. Most importantly, the retelling of these stories gives a new voice to those whom the historical record has silenced. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Witchcraft and witches throughout history have long captured the imagination, yet hidden away in archives are records of long forgotten cases. Many of these are tragic, some are unusual – perhaps even inexplicable – but all are fascinating in their own right. Devon's Forgotten Witches 1860–1910 (The History Press, 2025) by Mark Norman and Tracey Norman takes a deep dive through these records, bringing to the surface accusations of witchcraft in the county that have languished, unacknowledged, in the British Newspaper Archive for decades. These are the stories of ordinary people whose lives were touched in some way by witchcraft. Tracey Norman and Mark Norman examine these cases within their historical context, pulling together details from various news reports to explore what might really have happened. This work provides an intriguing snapshot of press coverage in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, showing how the public were urged to view those who still put their faith in ‘incredible superstition'. Most importantly, the retelling of these stories gives a new voice to those whom the historical record has silenced. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/folkore

Witchcraft and witches throughout history have long captured the imagination, yet hidden away in archives are records of long forgotten cases. Many of these are tragic, some are unusual – perhaps even inexplicable – but all are fascinating in their own right. Devon's Forgotten Witches 1860–1910 (The History Press, 2025) by Mark Norman and Tracey Norman takes a deep dive through these records, bringing to the surface accusations of witchcraft in the county that have languished, unacknowledged, in the British Newspaper Archive for decades. These are the stories of ordinary people whose lives were touched in some way by witchcraft. Tracey Norman and Mark Norman examine these cases within their historical context, pulling together details from various news reports to explore what might really have happened. This work provides an intriguing snapshot of press coverage in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, showing how the public were urged to view those who still put their faith in ‘incredible superstition'. Most importantly, the retelling of these stories gives a new voice to those whom the historical record has silenced. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

Witchcraft and witches throughout history have long captured the imagination, yet hidden away in archives are records of long forgotten cases. Many of these are tragic, some are unusual – perhaps even inexplicable – but all are fascinating in their own right. Devon's Forgotten Witches 1860–1910 (The History Press, 2025) by Mark Norman and Tracey Norman takes a deep dive through these records, bringing to the surface accusations of witchcraft in the county that have languished, unacknowledged, in the British Newspaper Archive for decades. These are the stories of ordinary people whose lives were touched in some way by witchcraft. Tracey Norman and Mark Norman examine these cases within their historical context, pulling together details from various news reports to explore what might really have happened. This work provides an intriguing snapshot of press coverage in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, showing how the public were urged to view those who still put their faith in ‘incredible superstition'. Most importantly, the retelling of these stories gives a new voice to those whom the historical record has silenced. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Witchcraft and witches throughout history have long captured the imagination, yet hidden away in archives are records of long forgotten cases. Many of these are tragic, some are unusual – perhaps even inexplicable – but all are fascinating in their own right. Devon's Forgotten Witches 1860–1910 (The History Press, 2025) by Mark Norman and Tracey Norman takes a deep dive through these records, bringing to the surface accusations of witchcraft in the county that have languished, unacknowledged, in the British Newspaper Archive for decades. These are the stories of ordinary people whose lives were touched in some way by witchcraft. Tracey Norman and Mark Norman examine these cases within their historical context, pulling together details from various news reports to explore what might really have happened. This work provides an intriguing snapshot of press coverage in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, showing how the public were urged to view those who still put their faith in ‘incredible superstition'. Most importantly, the retelling of these stories gives a new voice to those whom the historical record has silenced. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

In this episode of the podcast, host Mark Norman discusses some points relating to the folklore of rivers, with a particular focus on their perceived need for sacrifice and to 'claim a heart' each year.This is followed by a discussion with writer Darren Simpson, the author of a new folk horror book for young adults, 'Thirst', which uses similar themes in its plot.And finally, the show is closed with a new single from folk duo Lunatraktors, 'Yarrow', based on a Child Ballad.You can find Darren Simpson online at https://darrensimpsonwrites.co.uk/Lunatraktors have a website at https://www.lunatraktors.space/To support The Folklore Podcast, please visit https://wwwpatreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The federal budget has billions of dollars allocated for defence spending. Today on the show we dive into a dicussion with industry experts on how the provincial government and business can maximize our slice of the pie. GUESTS - Florian Villaumé, CEO of techNL; Michelle Simms, CEO of the regional economic development agency Advantage St. John's; Karen Moores, Atlantic Canada at the Council of Canadian Innovators' senior advisor; Charlie Oliver, property management specialist with Martek and also with Think N.L; Mark Norman, retired vice-admiral who commanded Canada's Navy and was vice-chief of Defence.

Do we risk the wrath of the US and NATO partners by walking away from the F-35 in the name of sovereignty – costing us jobs and millions in the process? Our “really smart” panel has the inside story on No Nonsense. 

A note that the audio for this episode isn't the best it could be. We had a few internet connectivity issues and Julian, our editor, did his best with what I gave him.Folkrist and author Mark Norman of The Folklore Podcast joined me this month to talk about reading and collecting folklore, publishing on niche topics (including pop-culture folklore), and what draws us to the darker stories of the past and present.You can find out more about Mark's most recent book Hallowed Ground: The Folklore of Churches and Churchyards (Crossed Crow) and all of his many project including the podcast and his nonprofit, The Folklore Archives, on his website. Though Mark sells his books directly from his online shop in the UK, he advises US readers to purchase locally, unless of course you'd like it signed.WitchLit listeners receive 15% off their purchases at La Panthére Studio with the code WITCHLIT.Please support Black, Indigenous, queer, trans, and women-owned, local, independent bookstores and occult shops.Transcripts of all episodes are available at witchlitpod.com.Support WitchLit by using our affiliate link to purchase books from Bookshop.org or buy us a coffee on Ko-fi. Please follow us on BlueSky for episode updates.You can also support WitchLit by purchasing books published by 1000Volt Press. Our latest release is Pagan Roots: Reclaiming Concepts of the Sacred by Yvonne Aburrow available wherever you buy books. Death in the Dry River, a crime novella set in 1930s colonial Trinidad, by Lisa Allen-Agostini is out now and available to order wherever you buy books or direct from 1000Volt Press.The award-winning books Changing Paths by Yvonne Aburrow and Conjuring the Commonplace by Laine Fuller & Cory Thomas Hutcheson are both available from 1000Volt Press or to order wherever you buy books.My book, Verona Green, is available in all the usual places. Autographed copies are also available from 1000Volt Press.

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Greg Ebel, Enbridge CEO; The Front Bench with: Christy Clark, Marco Mendicino, James Moore & Monte Solberg; Vice Admiral (Ret’d) Mark Norman, Former Royal Canadian Navy Commander.

Michael Kovrig, Crisis Group; The Front Bench with: Muhammad Ali, Laura D’Angelo, Jamie Ellerton & Sebastian Skamski; Vice Admiral (Ret’d) Mark Norman, Former Commander of Royal Canadian Navy.

Will Carney deploy troops to make peace in the Middle East and Ukraine? The political panel with Tasha Kheiriddin, Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, and Mark Norman reconvenes.

This is the normal episode for Friday morning, it does not contain any Kimmel content because it had already been recorded to accomodate my schedule.FOR JIMMY KIMMEL CONTENT there were two bonus episodes yesteray afternoon, and I will be back later today with another Kimmel Only bonus epsiode, and plan on doing Kimmel Content through the weekend.David Letterman reflects on the lessons from his failed morning show and how it paved the way for Late Night. Caleb Hearon drops his first HBO Max special Model Comedian. Mark Normand calls Jimmy Fallon fake and Joe Rogan real. Jim Jefferies delivers a top-tier special. Plus: Santino's charisma, Nate Bargatze's stock plummets, Guy Branum's Delta dust-up, and Theo Von's date-for-Tate bit goes too far.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/daily-comedy-news-with-johnny-mac--4522158/support.Become a premium subscriber! (no ads). For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app which says UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING and the bonus “DCN8” show.You also get 25+ other series  (it's only $4.99 a month with a free-trial month)Contact John at john@thesharkdeck dot com  Media Thoughts is mcdpod.substack.com dailycomedynews.substack.com DCN on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dailycomedynews https://linktr.ee/dailycomedynews www.buymeacoffee.com/dailycomedynews  

Folklore Podcast creator Mark Norman once again meets up with children's author Claire Barker, this time to discuss the final version of her new book 'Hettie Nettle's Handbook for Hedgewitches'.Described in the episode as a groundbreaking book, and not without good reason, Hettie Nettle introduces children to the subjects of solitary witchcraft, seasonal workings, our relationship with nature and much more in a safe and meticulously researched way.In this episode, we chat about the ethos of the book, the ways in which it deals with folklore and how it fuses real-world practice with fiction.Support the work of The Folklore Podcast on Patreon and get extra rewards, either as a free member or from just £1 a month for bonus content. Visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast for more details.

In this episode of the podcast, host Mark Norman takes an in-depth look at the White Witch of Exeter. Most times, when we speak of 'white witches' we are talking about a particular person, but in the case of the Devon city of Exeter, the White Witch was something a little different.Mark discusses the history of this character from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, and looks and some of their practices and cures.The content of this episode is drawn from the book DEVON'S FORGOTTEN WITCHES, 1860-1910 written by Tracey and Mark Norman and published by The History Press. Order a copy from the Folklore Podcast website or wherever books are sold.To support the Folklore Podcast please join the Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast for free or on a paid support tier and get extra content.

The Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast mini-series collaboration comes to a close. In this final episode, Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore once again join folklorist and author Mark Norman to discuss some of their favourite stories from the three years of research they have undertaken, before reflecting on the podcast as a whole and where it will go next.The Seven County Witch Hunt blog will continue to be updated with new articles even though the primary research stage is complete. Make sure to follow it at https://medium.com/@Witches7HuntIf you have enjoyed this series and want to help to support the work of The Folklore Podcast in creating more content, please visit the Patreon page and join up at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

What did the Trump-Putin summit achieve — and what comes next for Ukraine? CBC senior defence reporter Murray Brewster helms this security-focused episode of The House, featuring a debrief with former U.S. diplomat Michael Carpenter on what came out of the sit-down between the U.S. and Russian presidents late Friday in Alaska. Then, two Canadian experts — a former NATO assistant secretary general and a former naval commander — dive deep into whether Canada can realistically reduce its dependence on U.S. military equipment and support.Also: as global leaders watch closely for what could happen next in Ukraine, Chief of the Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan discusses what possible role Canada could have in any ceasefire — and whether armed forces have the bench strength for a prolonged engagement.Finally, Canadian researcher and author Alicia Wanless joins The House to explain why she believes the world's democracies should look to the past — the far past — as governments continue to fight against disinformation.This episode features the voices of:Michael Carpenter, former U.S. ambassador and permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, now senior fellow for transatlantic affairs at the International Institute for Strategic StudiesWendy Gilmour, former NATO assistant secretary general for defence investment Mark Norman, retired vice-admiral of the Royal Canadian NavyGeneral Jennie Carignan, chief of the defence staffAlicia Wanless, author and director of the Information Environment Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Mark Norman is in conversation with medical herbalist Jenny Carden, who practices as The Dartmoor Herbalist.In an interview recorded live in Jenny's workshop in the courtyard of the Museum of Dartmoor Life in Okehampton, Devon, Jenny discusses her work and the differences between a medical herbalist legally dispensing herbal blends and other forms of herbalism, both current and historic.Find out all about Jenny and her work on her website at https://thedartmoorherbalist.wordpress.com/Support the Folklore Podcast and its work providing ongoing free folklore content for everyone at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast from just £1 a month

Our six part mini-series examining the seventeenth-century witch hunts across the eastern counties of England continues with a discussion looking at a topic not generally explored in this context: the environment.Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore of the Leverhulme Foundation funded Seven County Witch Hunt Project join folklorist and host Mark Norman once again. Topics include the influence of the weather, farming and crops and the coastal fishing trade and how all of these have a bearing on the witch trials.To support the work of The Folklore Podcast in creating more specialist mini-series and other folklore content, please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

In this episode, Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore turn their attention to the families involved in the witch hunts. Were all family members tarred with the same brush? How did dynamics work when families were accusing each other of witchcraft?Moving on from this, we also look at the role of familiars - not necessarily the animal familiars which are more well recognized, but ghostly assistance provided from within the family and beyond, and the role of spectral evidence that emerges from this time period.Once again, podcast host Mark Norman leads the questioning.To support the Folklore Podcast is producing more mini-series' and content such as this, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast and sign up for a membership tier for extra rewards. Or make a one-off donation at www.thefolklorepodcast.comRead the Seven County Witch Hunt Project blog at https://medium.com/@Witches7Hunt

The third episode of our mini-series looking at the witch hunts headed up by Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne looks at the most stereotypical of subjects - that of gender. Just how many of the accused were women and how did gender figure in the hunts and the ways in which they were carried out?The Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast series is produced by The Folklore Podcast, and host Mark Norman is in conversation with Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore.The Seven County Witch Hunt Project was based at the University of Exeter, and funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

In this lively episode of the Opie Radio podcast, Opie pays tribute to the late Michael Madsen, sharing unforgettable stories from his appearances on the Opie and Anthony show, including a hilarious tale of breaking into a liquor store with Chris Penn. Opie also dives into a Fourth of July recap, from beach bonfires and rogue fireworks to Montauk's canceled show over a single piping plover bird. Plus, he reflects on Jaws turning 50, inspired by a legendary Montauk fisherman, and riffs on everything from ticks and eels to Ozzy Osbourne's bittersweet final performance. Don't miss the full Michael Madsen interview with Jim Norton and Mark Norman, available now on Opie Radio!

In the second episode of the Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast mini-series, we look at the accusations that were being levelled against people accused of witchcraft in the English witch hunts of the 17th century. Were these people in league with the Devil, or did the accusations reflect other tensions within the community? We also dispel some myths about the witch hunters themselves, particularly Matthew Hopkins.The Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast series is produced by The Folklore Podcast, and host Mark Norman is in conversation with Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore.The Seven County Witch Hunt Project was based at the University of Exeter, and funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Scotland has a broad mix of folklore. Some is found elsewhere, or has variations in other areas, and some is unique to the country. Some is well-known and some is much more obscure.In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, host Mark Norman is in conversation with Scottish writer Lyndsey Croal about the subject. Lyndsey often works with elements of Scottish lore, most recently that connected with the sea which she uses to good effect in a collection of short stories recently published under the title Dark Crescent. Do you know your Frittening from your Mither? There's only one way to find out!Find Lyndsey online at https://lyndseycroal.co.uk/To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and access extra bonus material, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast where you can join as a free member or on one of a number of paid support tiers.

In the years 1645–1647, when England was embroiled in a traumatic and bloody Civil War, roughly three hundred people in the South East were accused of witchcraft. Received wisdom — and some shameless self-promotion on the part of the chief investigators — has dictated that the largest witch-hunt in English history was driven by the obsessive enthusiasm of two men: John Stearne and Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General. Much of the scholarship surrounding the so-called “Hopkins Trials” trials has focused on these two men, placing them centre-stage in a story that affected hundreds, if not thousands, of people.“England's Mass Witch-Hunt: A Seven County History of the Hunt” is a Leverhulme-funded Project run by Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore. The aim is to create a people's history of the witchcraft trials of 1645–1647 and to recover the voices which were once deemed unimportant: the accused women and men, their neighbours and accusers.This 6-part mini-series produced by The Folklore Podcast and hosted by folklorist Mark Norman uncovers the stories and findings of the project. In discussion with Marion and Tabitha, we bring these new stories to a global audience for the first time.Follow the project on BlueSky at https://bsky.app/profile/witches7hunt.bsky.socialRead the project blog at https://medium.com/@Witches7Hunt

This episode of The Folklore Podcast is an interview of two halves, as host Mark Norman sits down to chat with herbalist and writer Su Bristow.In an interview recorded live at Su's dining table, the first half of the show explores her work as a herbalist. We chat about the history of using plants in folk medicine, the approaches used and how valuable or otherwise volumes such as Culpeper's Herbal are in the modern world. Su discusses her techniques and dispels some of the myths about herbal treatments and plants in folklore.Moving on from this, the conversation turns to Su's writing. As well as two non-fiction books on herbalism, Su is also the author of two folklore-themed novels. The conversation begins with her prize-winning first novel 'Sealskin' which is a reimagining of the Scottish selkie legends, before turning to 'The Fair Folk' and a foray into fairy folklore.Finally, Su discusses the novel that she is currently working on, and reads a short extract from her work in progress.Find Su on the internet at https://subristow.weebly.com/To help to keep The Folklore Podcast going and producing even more folklore content, please consider joining the Patreon page at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast with a small monthly donation from just £1. A small contribution makes a massive difference. Thank you.

Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman delves into the topic of folk music and performance with special guests Lunatraktors. The duo, formed in 2017 and made up of Carli Jefferson and Dr Clair Le Couteur aim to strip folk back to the bare essentials of rhythm and voice, and use in-depth research methods to investigate Anglo-Celtic music, to which they then apply a modern twist.Carli and Clair also discuss their latest release Wassail, which you can also hear in the episode.To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and help to keep the show going, please visit https://www.patreon.com/c/thefolklorepodcast where you can sign up as either a free or paid supporter and access bonus content.Explore the Lunatraktors website at https://www.lunatraktors.space/Watch Lunatraktors performances on their YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/LunatraktorsWatch the Lunatraktors TEDx Talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v-5QB1QQpM&t=605s

In this 'Meet the Author' bonus episode of The Folklore Podcast, creator and host Mark Norman introduces a conversation between literary correspondent Hilary Wilson and university lecturer and poet Kailey Tedesco.Kailey discusses her poetry collection 'Motherdevil' which takes the story of the Jersey Devil and the Pine Barrens as its inspiration for an exploration of folklore and motherhood.Kailey Tedesco is a university lecturer delivering courses in horror writing and gothic literature. This episode is part of the 'Folklore Podcast Rewind' strand, and was recorded at Halloween, 2024.Visit Kailey's website at www.kaileytedesco.comTo support The Folklore Podcast as well as accessing extra bonus content, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast