Podcasts about mishaps

Who dares to make predictions in the current landscape? We do!  Our Predictions are back. Will our track-record continue on a high or will we be fundamentally wrong? Listen in to our Predictions for 2026 Navigation: Intro What will 2026 be all about? AI, AI and … more AI The big Hardware movements Of Start-ups and VCs Regulatory & Geopolitical Headwinds… and the Wars Fintech, Crypto and Frontier Tech Conclusion Our co-hosts: Bertrand Schmitt, Entrepreneur in Residence at Red River West, co-founder of App Annie / Data.ai, business angel, advisor to startups and VC funds, @bschmitt Nuno Goncalves Pedro, Investor, Managing Partner, Founder at Chamaeleon, @ngpedro Our show:   Tech DECIPHERED brings you the Entrepreneur and Investor views on Big Tech, VC and Start-up news, opinion pieces and research. We decipher their meaning, and add inside knowledge and context. Being nerds, we also discuss the latest gadgets and pop culture news Subscribe To Our Podcast Bertrand Schmitt Introduction Welcome to Tech Deciphered Episode 74. That would be an episode about some predictions about 2026. What will be 2026 all about? I guess this year is probably starting with a bang. We saw the acquisition of xAI by SpaceX. We saw an acquisition from Grok by NVIDIA. What’s your take about what would be the big themes in 2026? I guess it would be for sure about AI and space. Nuno Goncalves Pedro What will 2026 be all about? Yeah. I predict a year that will be a little bit more of a year of reckoning in some way. There will be a lot of things that I think we’ll start seeing through. The fact that we are in the midst of an amazing transformational era for technology, the use of AI, but at the same time, obviously, a ridiculous bubble that is going alongside it as we’ve discussed in previous episodes. I think that we’ll start seeing some early reckonings of that, companies that might start failing, floundering, maybe a couple of frauds along the way, etc. I’ll tell you what I will not make many predictions about today, which is geopolitics. Geopolitics, I will not make predictions at all. Who the hell knows what’s going to happen to the world this year in 2026? I don’t dare making any predictions on that. Back to things where I would make predictions. I think on AI, we’ll have a little bit of reckoning. We’ll talk about it a little bit more in detail during this episode. Interesting elements around the hardware and physical space. Physical space, we just dedicated a full episode to it. We won’t go into a lot of details on that, but definitely on the hardware side, we’ll talk a little bit more about it. The VC landscape is going through an incredible transformation. We’ll talk about it today as well and some of our predictions for this year. What will happen to the asset class? It seems to be transforming itself dramatically. Obviously, that has a very direct impact on startups, so we’ll talk about that as well. And then to close a little bit the chapter on this, we will address some regulatory and geopolitical, let’s call it, headwinds without making maybe too many complex predictions. We shall see. Maybe by that time of the episode, we will be making some predictions. You guys should stay and listen to us, and maybe we will actually make some predictions about the geopolitical transformations that we will see this year in the world. Then last but not the least, we’ll talk about fintech, crypto, frontier tech, and a couple of other areas before concluding the episode. A classic predictions’ episode. We normally have a pretty good track record on some of these, but right now, the world is going a bit interesting, not to say insane. Bertrand Schmitt Yes, and going back to some news, Groq technically was not acquired, but, practically, it’s as if it got acquired. I’m talking about Groq, G-R-O-Q. The AI semiconductor company focused on inference AI, and it was late December. It was a way to end the year. This year, we started again with an acquisition of xAI by its sister company, SpaceX. I guess that’s where we are starting. AI, AI and … more AI We are going to start on AI. That’s definitely the big stuff. Everything these days, I guess, is about AI or has to have some connection with AI, or it doesn’t matter. I think every company in the world has seen that. You have to have the absolute minimum on AI strategy. You better execute on this strategy and show results, I would say. For the companies that were not AI native, you truly have to have a way to transform yourself. I guess at some point, the stretch might be too much, and it’s not really reasonable. Then you maybe better stay on what you are doing, especially if you’re in tech, you better be moving faster to AI. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Just to highlight, and I think throughout the episode, you’ll see that there’re obviously a lot of implications that would manifest themselves into capital markets. I mean, we’ll specifically talk about VCs and startups later on. But the fact that everything needs to be AI, the fact that there’s so much innovation happening right now, in my opinion, and this is maybe the first pre-topic to AI, is we’ll see a tremendous increase in M&A activity this year across the board. I mean, we’ve seen already some big acquihires we mentioned in some of our previous episodes, but we’ll see a lot more activity on M&A this year. Normally, that’s a precursor to the opening of capital markets. I predict also that there will be a reopening of the IPO market that never really reopened last year, to be honest. M&A, a lot more, reopening of the IPO market. Normally, it happens in the second or third quarter of the year. That’s what my M&A friends tell me. First quarter of year, everyone’s figuring out stuff. Then last quarter of the year, things should be more or less closed. Maybe the third quarter is the big quarter. We shall see. But definitely, as a precursor to our conversation today, I think we’ll see a lot of M&A, and we’ll see reopening of the IPO mark. Bertrand Schmitt I guess last year was not as big as you could expect on M&A given the tariff situation announced in April and May. I mean, it became quite tough to do IPO in such market conditions. Definitely, we can hope for something dramatically different in 2026. I guess talking about public markets and IPO, I guess the big one everyone is waiting for is SpaceX. SpaceX getting even more interesting with its xAI acquisition. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Do you think that because of the acquisition, it’s more likely that it will happen this year, or because of the acquisition, it’s less likely that it will happen this year? Bertrand Schmitt That’s a good question. My guess is the acquisition of xAI is all about xAI needing more financing and cheaper financing. This acquisition is a pathway to that. SpaceX being a much bigger company, a company that is also making much more revenues. I could bet that there is higher probability that, actually, SpaceX will go public in order to finance itself. At the same time, will it have enough time to prepare itself for the IPO given this acquisition just happened? Can they do that in 6 months? I mean, if anyone can do it, I guess it’s Elon Musk. It’s a strategy to present an even more attractive company with an even more interesting story, a story of vertical integration from AI to space. I guess the story as it’s presented itself right now, it’s one about having your AI data centers in space. Because in space, you have much better solar energy production with solar panels. You have a perfect cooling situation because you are in space. Thanks to Starlink, you have the mean to communicate between the satellites and with Earth itself. I think if someone can pull up a story like AI data center in space, I guess Elon Musk can. There is, of course, a lot of questions about is it practical? Is it economical? Yes. I certainly agree. I’m not clear on the mass, and can you make it work? Again, I mean, Elon Musk single-handedly, with SpaceX, managed to transform the space market on its head. I mean, they are the biggest satellite launching company in the world. They have the most satellites in the world. I mean, I’m not sure I would bet against him, and I guess I would probably believe that he could pull up something. Time frames, different story. The 2-3 years data center in space for AI as cheap as on Earth, I have more trouble with that one. I mean, it’s a usual suspect with Elon Musk. You promise something unachievable in a few years, but, ultimately, you still manage to reach it in 5 or 10. Again, I would not bet against the strategy. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Yeah. I’ve talked to a couple of space experts, people that have launched rockets, and have worked JPL, NASA, and a couple of other places, etc. For what it’s worth, their feedback is, “No way in hell, and we’re decades away.” We’ll see. I mean, to your point, Elon has pulled very dramatic stuff. Not as fast as he normally says he’s going to pull it, but within a time span that we all see it. Difficult to bet against him. In terms of actually the prediction, maybe to respond to the prediction as well, will SpaceX IPO? I’m going to make a prediction that has a very high likelihood of missing the mark, but I think Tesla’s going to buy and merge them both into it. It’s going to become a public company through Tesla. That’s my hypothesis. Bertrand Schmitt No. That’s supposed to be it. That’s how you solve that. Nuno Goncalves Pedro And Elon controls the whole universe. X, xAI, Tesla, SpaceX, all under one umbrella beautifully run. And SolarCity is well in there, of course, so wonderful. Bertrand Schmitt That’s possible. Certainly, you are not the only one thinking Tesla will acquire or merge with SpaceX. To remind everyone, Tesla is around 1.3, 1.5 trillion market cap. Depending on the day, SpaceX seems to be valued at similar range, 1.2, 1.3 trillion. It looks like it’s the most valued private company at this stage. These are companies of similar size, so that’s one piece of the puzzle. When you think about the combined company, we could be talking about a 3 trillion entity. Playing right here with the biggest companies in the marketplace today. Nuno Goncalves Pedro With a couple of tweets from Elon, it will rapidly get to 4 to 5 trillion. Bertrand Schmitt That’s so tricky. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Yes. On AI and back to AI, one thing I think that we’re about to see is this will probably be the year of agentic AI. Obviously, we predict a lot of growth on that side of the fence, in particular on the enterprise B2B side. We see a lot of opportunities coming through. From our perspective, at least at Chamaeleon, we generally believe that there’s going to be a lot of movements on agentic AI. It’s also going to be probably the year of the first big fails of agentic AI that will be newsworthy. There will be some elements about that loop and how it gets closed that will happen. I think we might see some scandals already. We’re already seeing the social network of bots talking to bots. We will see other scandals going on this year even in the consumer space and in the bot to bot space, which we now can talk about or in the AI agent to AI agent space. My prediction is we will see some move forwards. There’ll be some dramatic funding rounds along the way. We’ll see a couple of really cool things out of the gates coming out that are really impressive, but we’ll also see the first big misses of the technology stack. I don’t think we’ll go fully mainstream yet this year, so it’s probably maybe something more for 2027 along the way. That would be my prediction again. I think enterprise will lead the way. We’ll definitely see a lot of stuff on consumer as well that is cool. Then we’ll all have our own personal assistance in our hands, basically, literally in our phones. Bertrand Schmitt Going back to agentic AI, we also started the year with some pretty dramatic move. I mean, the launch of Clawdbot, renamed OpenClaw. I mean, this stuff took fire in like a week or 2. It was coded by just one person who actually didn’t even code the product but used AI to build the product, 100% used AI, proposing some new ways also to leverage AI to do coding. He has a pretty unique approach. It’s not vibe coding. I would say it’s a better way to do that. Then the surprising evolution with the launch of a social network for AI agents, Moltbook. I mean, this stuff, probably there is some fake in it. But at the same time, I think it’s quite impressive because it’s the first time we see truly 100,000 plus agents communicating directly to each other. Yeah. I mean, that’s the first time we see surfacing the possibility of some sort of hive mind on the Internet. It’s pretty surprising. Right now, all of this is a hack done in a few days. By end of year, by 2 years, 3 years, we might discover that, actually, the best approach to AI might not be the AI assistant like we are doing today, but a combination of hundreds of thousands of AI working closely together. We might be witnessing the first sign of new intelligence in a way. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Things like this social network might either be Skynet, the beginning of Skynet. They might be the beginning of Her, or they might just be a fad and nothing really happens. It’s just interesting to see what these agents are doing. Bertrand Schmitt Totally. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Obviously, there are real and clear and present dangers of some of the integrations of AI we’re seeing in the market. Interesting enough, and I’ll ask you for your prediction a bit, Bertrand. I think we’ll probably see the first big mishap of AI being used in some infrastructural decision in the age of AI. I mean, we’ve seen AI issues in the past and software issues in the past. We talked in previous episodes about that as well. Mishaps of software that have led to people dying. But I think probably the first big mishap will happen this year as well. Very public mishap of the use of AI and serve its interactions with infrastructure or something that’s very platform related, etc, that will have big impact that everyone will notice. That’s my prediction for the year as well. We’ll have the first big oops moment, as I would call it, for AI in this new age of full on AI. Bertrand Schmitt I would say first some perspective. I think today, people are not using AI directly for life and death decision, at least not that I’m aware. We’re not going to let AI fly a plane, for instance, tomorrow so you can be, reassured. At the same time, given there is such a race to AI, there definitely might be some mistakes. We were talking about the social network for AI agents, Moltbook. Apparently, all the keys used to secure the AI were shared by mistake because it was not properly locked down. We can see that indirectly, mistakes will be made for sure. Two, it’s highly probable that some people will trust AI too much to do some stuff, and this stuff might not work and might have some grave consequence. Hopefully, there is not so much of this. Hopefully, it’s mostly AI used for the good. But you’re right. I mean, at some point, the more we use the technology, the more there would be issue. I mean, it’s highly probable. Nuno Goncalves Pedro That will lead me to another prediction, which is, and we’ll talk about more of it later, but it probably will lead to the first significant movement in terms of regulatory environment certainly in the US at some point if it happens in the US in particular, where there will be some movement that will be like, “Hey, you guys can’t do this anymore.” Because this will probably emerge from mismanaged interfaces. From systems having access to stuff that they shouldn’t have access to in the first place. Talking a little bit more about what’s happening in AI. You’ve already mentioned some of the issues that relate actually to security and cybersecurity. We keep talking about AI. We keep talking about all these infrastructure pieces and platforms that are being built. I think we’ll have a lot more incidents like the one you just mentioned where things will be shared that shouldn’t have been shared, where people will break systems and get into it, etc. Let’s see where that takes us, which is a little bit ironic because, obviously, with AI, the promise is that cybersecurity becomes more robust as well because there’re agents working on our behalf on the cybersecurity side. There’s also agents working on the other side. Bertrand Schmitt It’s a constant race. It’s the attackers, defenders. Each time you have new technology, you have a new race to who is going to attack or defend the best. Each new wave of technology, it’s an opportunity to challenge the status quo. Nuno Goncalves Pedro The attackers have been winning, and I feel they’ll continue winning in 2026. I think it’s going to still be a year of attack. We’ll see more and more breaches, more and more stuff that will happen. Bertrand Schmitt I don’t know if they will win. I mean, it’s normal that they win once in a while. For sure, some infrastructure is not updated as it should. Some stuff are not managed as it should, so there will always be breaches. I don’t know if things are dramatically going to change because, again, everyone who cares who is going to update his infrastructure with AI for defense. There is no question that you have no choice. We will see. That I don’t know. For sure, AI will be used to attack directly with AI. Maybe you’re able to do bigger, larger scale attack. Or thanks to AI, you are simply able to create new type of attacks more easily. AI can be used behind the scene as a way to prepare and organise new type of attacks, even if it’s not used directly live in the battle. Nuno Goncalves Pedro One topic that we’ll come back to later is the geopolitics of everything, but maybe more broadly. On the geopolitics of AI, it’s very clear that we have an arms race going on. Obviously, the US on the one hand, China on the other hand is the two extremes, putting tremendous amount of capital into data centers just at the base of that infrastructure. Chipset development, chipset access, a huge theme in terms of the export restrictions, etc, that are being forced by the US. I think it will continue. From a European standpoint, obviously, they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, to be very honest. Let’s see what happens on that side of the fence. My view of the world is that certainly from a US and China perspective, we’re going to see a lot more movements in 2026, like big movements. The Chinese movements we always see in delay.  It takes us a couple of months, sometimes even more than that to understand exactly what’s going on. I think we’re going to see some huge moves this year in terms of the States, the United States of America, and China really pouring capital into the creation of the next big winners around AI. I think the US is obviously more visible. We see a lot of these companies. We’ve just discussed xAI and its acquisition by SpaceX or merger. I don’t know what they’re calling it exactly. Effectively, on the China side, the movements I think are already very big. As I said, it will take a while to figure out exactly what those moves are. One thing that I propose is that at some point, China will have very little dependency on chipsets from the US. I’m not sure it’s going to happen this year, but I think the writing is on the wall. Irrespective of any other geopolitical issues that is coming to the fore at this moment in time. That’s one of the key areas or in arenas of fight. Bertrand Schmitt It makes sense. If you are China, you will look at what happened. You would think that you cannot just depend on the largest of one country. It makes rational sense, the same way it makes rational sense for the US to limit exports to China because there is value to delay some peer pressure that could use these technologies for good but also for bad. If you were an ally of the US, that would be one thing. But when you are not an ally of the US, that certainly should be a different perspective. Maybe one last point concerning agents, I think there will be a lot that will revolve around coding. We can see OpenAI with Codex. We can see Cloud with code. There was, of course, [inaudible 00:18:28] that was trying to be big on agentic coding. I think agentic coding was one of the big transformation in 2025 and is going to get bigger in 2026. I think for a lot of people who do coding, there was a radical transformation in terms of what you can achieve, what you can do, how much you can trust AI to help you code. I start to think we might see this year, the replacement of not just one AI replace one coder, but one AI replace a full team because of the new ability to manage that at scale. Coding might be a common activity where you are going to think about outcomes, think about objective, think about how you organise, but not really coding by itself anymore. A big change, like you used to code, directly your hand on the stuff, but step by step, everyone is going to become a manager of agent. I think in one year, we saw enough transformation to think that in the coming year, the transformation can be even more dramatic. Nuno Goncalves Pedro The big Hardware movements Now switching gears to hardware. Obviously, a lot of movements in 2025 and over the last few years. One piece of thesis that we’ve had long-standing at Chamaeleon is that we will see the emergence of AI devices. Some of them have been tremendous failures as we discussed in the past. I predict that we’ll have a couple of really interesting full stack AI devices in the market this year. Why does that matter? Because, as many of you know, obviously, there’s compute that can happen in data centers and cloud infrastructure all over the world, but also there’s compute that can happen at the edges. The more you can move to the edges and the more you can create devices that actually allow you to have user experiences that are very distinctive at the edge, the more powerful some of these devices might become. I predict Apple will not be the first to launch anything on this. I predict probably OpenAI, after the acquisition of IO, will maybe not launch something this year, but will announce something this year. I’ll step back on that prediction. They’ll announce something this year, but maybe not launch. But we’ll start seeing some devices that have some interesting value in the market, probably devices that are AI devices, but they are very focused on very specific user flows, and so very much adequate to specific activities. I won’t make a prediction on that, but I think areas that would make sense for that to happen would be obviously around fitness, health, et cetera, et cetera, where we already have the ascendancy of products like Oura Ring and others out there. Definitely, that’s one area that might have quite a lot of developments. I think AI-first devices, devices that are very focused on compute at the edges, providing user flows that are AI-enabled to end users, we’ll see a lot more of that and a lot more activity this year. Again, I don’t think Apple will be necessarily ahead of the game. Again, maybe OpenAI will give us something to at least think about and look forward to. Bertrand Schmitt First, I’m not sure it will be that transformational because if it’s not in your phone, in your pocket, there is only so much you can do with it, and there is only so much computing power you will have. I’m doubtful it would be really impactful this year. Nuno Goncalves Pedro I feel we’ve been discussing this shift of paradigm in input and output. For me, some of these devices could lead to that shift. Because, again, a mobile phone is not a great long-term paradigm for the usage that we have because it’s really constrained by the screen. The screen is really what takes most of the battery life away. If we didn’t have that screen, what could we do? If we have the block that is as big as a mobile phone, and it didn’t have a screen, it was just compute, that’s a mini computer, a microcomputer. Bertrand Schmitt That’s a fair point, but I don’t see that transformation this year. That’s really more my point. I can see that you can have AI-enabled smart glasses, and it’s clear there is a race to AI-enabled smart glasses. My point is more to go beyond the gadget, it would take quite a while. It would need to have cameras. It would need to analyse what you see. It would need to hear what you hear. Again, it might come, but then at some point, it would be okay, what do you do with it? We have the example of the movie Her. That’s showing Her what it could be. There are definitely possibilities. It’s clear that if you take the big VR headset like the Apple Vision Pro, there is a failure from that perspective in the sense that I think it’s a great, amazing device. The big problem is that it’s doing way more that makes sense. I think there will be a clearer separation between your smart AR glasses that has to be light, that has to be always unconnected, and that’s primarily there to help you make sense of the world around you. The true VR headset that doesn’t really require much in terms of AI, and it’s just there to immerse you in a different world. For this, we know, unfortunately, in some ways, that there is not a lot of demand for it. Maybe there is little demand because you are too hidden in your own world. The technology is not working well enough yet. There are a lot of reasons. But I think Apple trying to do both at the same time, AR and VR, with the Vision Pro, was a pretty grave structural mistake. I think we would see a clearer line of separation between the two. There is bigger market opportunity for AR glasses. That, I certainly agree. There is opportunity to connect that to a computing device. As you talk about, your glasses are your screen, your phone becomes something in your pocket connected to your glasses. Nuno Goncalves Pedro For me, Apple has their way of doing things. From the perspective of what you said, they normally really plan their devices. Even if it’s a big shift in terms of a new area, like they tried with the Vision Pro, and we criticised them for launching it as a device that should have been more of a dev device that they really launched as a full-on device, but that’s their playbook, classically. I think Apple needs to change how they put products out and how they experiment with those products, et cetera. I think they have enough money to be doing everything all the time and figuring it out. If they don’t want to put it out, then they need to do a lot more hell of testing internally with their silos, but they should be playing across all these arenas, VR, AR, everything. They just should put devices out that are either ready for prime time, or they should call it something else. They should call it like this is a dev device or whatever it is. Bertrand Schmitt I agree with you. My complaint is more that it was marketed as a consumer device when it was not. It was a true developer device. Two, they tried to mix the two at once, and it made no sense. No one is going to walk in their home or in the street with their Vision Pro on their head. You have to be deranged, quite frankly, to have use cases like this. I think that for me is a crazy mistake from a company like Apple that prides itself in pure UI, pure user interface, very well-designed device for one specific use case, not mixing the two use cases. We still don’t have Macs with a touchscreen, you know?  We still don’t have an iPad with a good OS that makes use of this great hardware. For some strange reason, they decided to mix everything in the Vision Pro with a device that weighs a ton on your head and is so uncomfortable. That’s why, for me, I’m like, “Guys, what is wrong? Why did you let this team run crazy?” I hope at some point, Apple will go back to the drawing board. My understanding is that that’s what they are doing. They are going to have two devices, one smart glasses, an evolution of the Vision Pro, just focus on VR. They might actually abandon the concept of the pure VR-oriented headset. Because, from a market size perspective, it might not be big enough for Apple, quite frankly. Nuno Goncalves Pedro I read on all of the above, and people at this point was like, “Why are then players like Samsung and others not doing it. LG, et cetera?” Because those players historically have not invented new categories. They’re amazing at catching up once the category is invented, and then they scale the hell out of it, and that’s what these companies have been exceptional at. I wouldn’t see a dramatic innovation, I think, in terms of devices coming from any of the big ones on that side of the fence. Not to disrespect them in any way, but I think that’s not been their playbook ever. Again, if the origination doesn’t come from a start-up or from an Apple, I don’t see those guys going after it. My bet is that we’ll see some start-up activity and, again, hopefully, some announcement from IO now within the OpenAI world. Bertrand Schmitt I would slightly disagree with you. I see where you are coming from. But take the Samsung Galaxy Note, that sudden much bigger headphone that no one was doing that was launched by Samsung, at some point, it forced Apple to launch an iPhone Max. Let’s look at the Z Fold that Samsung launched 7 years ago, copied by everyone. Now Samsung launching a trifold. Apple has still not launched their foldable phone. I think there is a mix, actually, of sometimes- Nuno Goncalves Pedro For me, that’s not a proper new category. It’s still a mobile phone. It just happens to have a screen that folds in half. Bertrand Schmitt The iPhone was still a mobile phone, you could argue.  Nuno Goncalves Pedro No. I think the iPhone was…  I could actually agree with you on that point. Maybe Apple is not as innovative in that case. I think what Steve Jobs was exceptionally good at in terms of his ability as this master product manager was to be an exceptional curator of user flows and user experiences, and creating incredible experiences from devices based on that. That was his secret sauce. Could you say, “Wasn’t all of this stuff already around?” It was. You just put it all together very neatly and very nicely. But if you’re talking about significant shifts in how a category is done, the iPhone was a significant shift in how the category was done. The Fold is still an interesting device. I actually have a Fold right now in front of me. The 7 that you highly recommended to me that we both got, the Z Fold 7. I think they do amazing devices. I don’t think they normally are the most innovative players. Then, when they come to innovation, it comes from technology edges. Obviously, they have Samsung Display, there’s a bunch of other things. They had the ability to do foldable screens in-house themselves. Bertrand Schmitt I don’t disagree with you. I think there is an interesting situation where some companies have some strengths, another one has some strengths. My worry with Apple is that this was not demonstrated with the Vision Pro. The Vision Pro was a hot pot of technologies barely integrated together, with use cases absolutely not well-defined and certainly not something that makes sense for most of us. There is a question of has Apple lost it? While Samsung actually keeps doing their own stuff, that, yes, might be more minor improvements, but at least they are doing it. Because it looks like Apple is missing the train on even the minor improvements. By the way, you might not be aware, but Samsung launched its Vision Pro competitor. Interestingly enough, it might be a better product in some ways, being much lighter and much more comfortable. Nuno Goncalves Pedro We should play around with that and report back to our listeners. Of Start-ups and VCs Moving to venture capital and the startup ecosystem and what’s happening there, I think it is very much a bifurcated environment, and it’s bifurcated for both VCs and for startups. If you’re a startup in the AI space, and you have the hottest team since sliced bread, and you can create FOMO at the speed of light, you can raise ridiculous rounds. Five hundred million at the $3 billion, or $4 billion, or $5 billion valuation, and you still haven’t really even started. First round, you can raise 500 million. That’s back to the whole discussion on Bubble and where are we, et cetera. Some of these companies might actually become huge, some of them might not. But definitely, we are seeing really the haves and have-nots on the startup ecosystem with incredible teams raising a lot of money very, very early on or mid-stage if they’ve already existed for a while, and then the rest not being able to raise. We see a lot of non-necessarily AI sectors, some of the areas of SaaS that don’t necessarily have AI in it, or fintech, or the consumer space that are really, really struggling. If you don’t have an AI story for your startup right now, it’s extremely difficult to raise money unless your numbers are just the best numbers ever. That’s, I think, the first part of the element of bifurcation that we’re seeing today. The second element of bifurcation that we’re seeing today in terms of fundraising is for VCs themselves, and really propelled by the large VC firms raising more and more capital in recent orbits, announcing 15 billion across funds raised. Lightspeed, I think, had made an announcement a couple of weeks ago as well. They’ve raised a bunch of money as well. The big guys are all raising a lot of money. At some point in time, the question some of you might ask is, “These VCs are redeploying more and more money if they have a couple of billion for a VC fund. How does that look like? Is that still VC?” My perspective, I’ve shared before in some of our previous episodes, is that that’s no longer venture capital. At that point in time, we’re talking about something else. Private equity hedge funds, if you want to call them, maybe funds that are really driven by growth investment or late-stage investment. If you have a couple of billion under management, you’re not going to make your returns by writing a $3 million check in a series seed and leading that round.  That has implications for everyone in the ecosystem. It has implications for smaller funds that obviously have a lot more difficulty in raising capital. It’s difficult to differentiate. Last but not least, also for startups that really continue searching for that capital that is out there. Andreessen Horowitz, for example, runs Speedrun, which is a great program for companies around consumer in particular. Initially, it was a lot for gaming. But at some point in time, Andreessen Horowitz could decide that they don’t want to invest more in you. They just put money from Speedrun, which is obviously a very small check compared to the very large checks they could write mid to late stage and that will have an effect on you as a startup. What happens at that point in time if Andreessen Horowitz is not backing you up in later stages? More than that, what happens if I can’t get these big funds interested in me? Are the small funds still valuable to me? Punchline, my view is yes. Obviously, we’re a smaller fund, so there’s parochial interest in what I’m saying. Small funds can still create a ton of value for you, also in terms of credibility, ability to accompany you in those first stages of investment, and the ability to bring other larger investors later down the road as well. There’s definitely a big movement happening in terms of the fundraising for VC funds, which we shouldn’t neglect, which is the big guys are raising a lot more capital and are therefore emptying the market to smaller funds that are having more and more difficult raising at this point in time. We had discussed that there would be a need for concentration in the industry, that micro funds would need to concentrate, and we didn’t have the space for so many micro funds as we had around. But the way it’s happening is extremely dramatic at this moment in time. I think it will continue through 2026. Bertrand Schmitt Remember a few years ago, with the rise of AI, there was more and more of the question about, “What’s the point of SaaS at this stage?” Because SaaS was around for 15 years. Basically, how do you come up with something new that was not already tested, validated by the market? How do you bring something new? We say this was reinforced to the power of 10. If your product is not clearly built from the ground up for a new use case enabled by AI, anyone could then might have built your product 5, 10 years ago, and therefore, why now has no clear answer, and it’s a big problem. I’m still surprised myself to still see some entrepreneurs where you talk to them about AI because you don’t see them in the deck, and they explain to you, “It’s not yet there,” and you’re like, “What’s wrong with you guys?” Fine. Do whatever you want. Do a small business and whatever, but don’t think you can come up pitch and raise without an AI story. The second category is people who come with an AI story, but you can feel very quickly, I guess you saw that many times, Nuno, where just a story layered on top with little credibility. It’s not better. It’s not enough to just have a story. Your business needs to be radically built differently or radically proposing some brand-new use cases that were impossible to solve 5 years ago. Nuno Goncalves Pedro To stack up on that, absolutely in agreement. If you’re just adding to the story, and it’s an afterthought, and you’re just trying to make the story somehow gel, once you go into one or two layers of due diligence, your investors will very quickly realise that you’re not really AI-first or dramatically AI-enabled or whatever. It’s just you’re sort of stacking something on top of another thesis. It needs to make sense from the product onwards. It’s not just, let’s just put it together with chewing gum, and magically, people will give you money. It was true also if we remember the good old crypto blockchain days, where everyone’s investing in crypto. A lot of stories that didn’t make much sense. In that sense, it’s not very different. I would go one step further. I think in the world of the VC winter that we’re a little bit in, where it’s more and more difficult if you’re a smaller fund to raise your fund at this moment in time, there’s a lot of sources of distinctiveness still talked about, like proprietary networks, access to deal flow, fast track record, all that stuff that really, really matters. But our bet continues at Chamaeleon continues being that you need to be AI-first as a VC fund yourself. You need to have core advantages in using not only readily-available AI tools or third-party available AI tools, data sources, technology stacks, but actually building your own stack over time, which is what we did with Mantis at Chamaeleon. Again, just to reinforce that, I think we’re at the beginning of that stage. We, Chamaeleon, are ahead of the game, but we think that the rest of the market will have to move towards that as well. Still, to be honest, very surprising to me to see that many significant large players are doing very little still around some of these spaces. They have data scientists. They’re running some tools. They’re running some analysis and all that stuff, but it’s still, again, back to the point I was making for startups, all glued up with chewing gum. It doesn’t all come together nicely, which it does need to from a platform standpoint. Bertrand Schmitt It’s quite surprising. I agree with you that some VC funds might think that they can do business as usual in that brand-new world. It’s difficult to believe. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Maybe moving a little bit toward the capital formation piece. We already discussed the M&A space really accelerating. We’ve also discussed the IPO market and some predictions on that. Secondaries, there’s obviously a lot of liquidity coming from secondaries from mid to late stage. I think it will continue throughout the rest of 2026. A lot of activity in buying, selling in secondaries as some asset managers are becoming more distressed, as some very high net worth individuals and family offices are becoming more distressed as well, at the same time, where there’s a lot of opportunities to potentially arbitrage around some investments. I believe a lot of money will be made and lost this year by decisions made this year, just to be very, very clear in terms of equity, purchases, et cetera. Exciting year ahead of us. Definitely a very, very interesting market ahead of us. Secondaries, M&A, growth, and late-stage investing, also, early-stage investing will continue just for those that were wondering. Last but not least, the public markets, the IPO market as well. Bertrand Schmitt One of the big questions for the IPO market would be, will SpaceX go public? Would it be good for the startup ecosystem? Because suddenly that they go public, it would be to raise money. If they raise money, will there be any money left for anybody else? That would be an interesting test of the market. For sure, it would be proof that market are risk on financing a new IPO like this one. Or as you said, maybe there is no IPO, and it’s a merger with Tesla. Time will tell. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Regulatory & Geopolitical Headwinds… and the Wars Moving maybe to our topic of regulation and geopolitical headwinds, as we’re seeing … definitely not tailwinds. The Google antitrust verdict and, obviously, the remedies are expected to come forward now, and a lot of people are saying, “There are some risks of structural separation.” What do you think? Is it cool, but nothing will happen in the end dramatically? Alphabet or Google? I’m not sure, actually. It’s Google LLC. I think that’s the case. It’s The United States versus Google LLC. Bertrand Schmitt I’m not sure. Personally, I’m not a big fan. I think there needs to be a better way to manage some anticompetitive behavior. I’m not a big fan. There was this temptation to do that for Microsoft 25 years ago. Look at what happened. No one needed to buy Microsoft to leave space for others. I see the same with Google, and I guess they are happy to not be the number 1 in AI today, but to have an open AI in front of them. Even if they are doing a great job, by the way, to move forward and go faster and faster. Personally, quite impressed now with some of what they have released. Gemini 3 is doing great from my perspective. I’m not a big fan of this. I think to be clear, it’s important that bigger companies don’t behave anticompetitively, but at the same time, we need to find the right approach where it’s not about breaking these companies, and it’s also not about forbidding them to do acquisitions. Because then you end up with what NVIDIA just did with a $20 billion acquihire IP licensing type of acquisition, because they didn’t want to have the uncertainties. They didn’t want to wait 1–2 years in order to acquire the people and the technology, so they organised it in a different way. But I don’t like that. I think they should be able to acquire companies without facing so much uncertainty. To be clear, it’s not new. Uncertainty when you are Google, NVIDIA, or others, it happens. It has happened for a decade plus, 2 decades. I think there needs to be, for sure, some safety valves. At the same time, we want an efficient capital market. An efficient capital market need companies that can acquire other companies. If you don’t do that efficiently, it will be worse for the entrepreneurs, it will be worse for the investors, it will be worse for everybody. I think we have not reached a good equilibrium from my perspective. We need more efficient acquisition process. And at the same time, we need to also enforce faster anticompetitive behavior. Because what you talk about concerning Google, this is a case that was what? That is 10 years old. You see what I mean? This is way too long. If you’re a startup, you are dead by then. It’s like the story of Netscape facing Microsoft. They were dead long after the fact. I think we need a different approach. I’m not sure the best answer. I’m not sure we’ll get a better approach. There are probably too many vested interest. My hope is that it will get better with this current administration because, certainly, the past administration was very anti acquisition and efficient markets. Nuno Goncalves Pedro We’ve talked about the European Union AI Act a bunch of times, so I don’t want to spend too many cycles on that. The only effect that I would say is we are seeing in very slow motion the splitting of the Internet. I once had Tim Berners-Lee, by the way, shouting at me that we were going to break the Internet when we were applying for the .mobi top-level domain. I was part of that consortium that eventually did get the .mobi top-level domain, and I had him shouting at us. But, apparently, this is going to split the Internet, Tim. So in case you’re listening. Because it will create all these different rules. If your data is relating to consumers there, then it’s treated in a different way, and The US is… Well, obviously, we have the case of California with its own rules and laws. I don’t know. I feel we’re having a moment of siloing that goes beyond economic and geopolitical siloing. It will also apply to the digital world, and we’ll start having different landscapes around it. We’ll see how this affects global expansion of services, for example, around AI, particularly for consumer, but I don’t foresee anything dramatically positive. Recently, we had the whole deal around TikTok finally having a solution for their US problem where there’s now a US conglomerate magically that owns it. The conglomerate doesn’t magically own it, they just straight up own it for the US. But it was driven by many of these concerns around data ownership. Where’s the data? Where is it based? I think a lot of other concerns that have to do with the geopolitics of China, obviously, being the basis of ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, that still is a significant owner, by the way, in TikTok in US. Then also the interest in the economics of making money out of something as powerful as TikTok, to be honest, in The US. Just to be clear, I don’t think this was all about the best interests of consumers. It was also about money. Just follow the money. Bertrand Schmitt There are for sure, some powerful interest at play. But let’s be clear. I think one is data, as you rightfully said, but the other one is algorithm. It’s not as if China is authorising any competitor on its territory. They have blocked access to most of the Internet platforms from the US, either finding new rules or just trade blocking them. So I don’t think it’s fair competition. You don’t want some of that data in China about the US or European consumer. Three, it’s about the algorithm. If suddenly, you are a foreign power, and you can as we know in China, you better follow what’s required of you from the Chinese Communist Party. You cannot take a chance with influencing other stuff like elections in other countries. It’s fair from the US perspective. One could even argue it’s fair from a Chinese perspective to want that. I think the only one in the middle who doesn’t really know what they want is Europe because on one side, they want to benefit from American platforms, on the other end, they want to have some controls. On the other end, they don’t create the environment for startups to flourish. So in that weird situation where they have to accept some control by the big US providers and either provider of underlying infrastructure or provider of consumer business facing services. Then they try to regulate them. But I think they are misunderstanding the power relationship, and I think some of this regulation would get some blowback, at least by the current administration. Just, I believe, this morning, there was some news around X being under a criminal investigation in France. This is not going to end well for the French startup and VC ecosystem. This is not going to end well for France and Europe when you depend so much from your American friends. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Regulation will be weaponised. Regulation constraints around exports, all of this will be weaponised geopolitically, and the bigger guys will normally win. I think that’s normally what we’ve seen. Just on TikTok just to… And you guys, if you’re listening to us, just see if you see a pattern here, but obviously, 19.9% still owned by ByteDance of the TikTok entity in the US. It was initially said that 80% of the TikTok entity is owned by non-Chinese investors. Initially, people were saying US investors, and then they changed it to non-Chinese because MGX, I think, has 15% of it. MGX is based in the UAE, connected obviously to Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. Silver Lake is in there, I think, with 15% as well. Oracle as well with 15%. Those three are the big bucket owners together, 45%. Silver Lake having collaborated with MGX before, and I’m sure a lot of connectivity there. Then you still see a pattern in this in terms of shareholders. If you don’t, then just Google it. Dell Family Office, Vastmir Strategic Investments, which is owned by billionaire Jeff Yass, Alpha Wave Partners, obviously involved with a bunch of things like SpaceX and Klarna, Virgoli, Revolution, which is Steve Case’s, a former founder of AOL, is also in there. Meritway, which is managed by partners, I think, of Dragonair. Vinova from General Atlantic, an affiliate of General Atlantic. Also, NJJ Capital, which I believe is Xavier Nil, the French billionaire that founded Iliad. Mostly American, I think, if the math is correct. 80% non-Chinese, which was what mattered, I think, in many cases. But do see if you saw a pattern in most of those investors. I won’t say anything more than that. Maybe moving to other topics, maybe just to finalise on regulation and geopolitics. In geopolitics, we should talk about wars if we predict anything. Not that we are nasty and one want to be negative, but what the hell is going on? Will we have ending to the wars we already have ongoing or not? But before that, the struggles on the App Stores, I think, will continue both for Apple and for Google Play Store. The writing’s on the wall, the EU keeps pushing it dramatically and Apple keeps just doing stuff. I’m on the board of an App Store company. Apple just creates all these things that basically make you not really… It doesn’t work. You can’t provision then an App Store on Apple devices. On iPhones, et cetera. We’ll see how that will continue going, but I feel the writing’s on the wall. Both Apple and Google will have to open up a bit more of their platforms. I’m not sure it will have a huge impact in the medium to long term, but definitely we need to see more openness in access to apps as given by the two big platform owners, Apple and Google, out there. Bertrand Schmitt Let’s be clear. Google is way more open than Apple. We both have Android devices. You can install alternative app stores. It’s a different ballgame by very far. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Google does other nasty stuff. It’s public. You can check which board I’m a part of. You can see what that company has done towards Google over time. But to your point, yes. It is true that Google has been more open than Apple, but Google has done their own things. Just to be very clear, so I’ll just leave that caveat bracketed there for people to think about it and maybe read a little bit about it as well. Bertrand Schmitt I can say that, me, from my perspective, that path of total control that Apple has been going through on all their devices, that includes macOS, pushed me to, over the past 2, 3 years, to completely live and abandon the Apple ecosystem. I just couldn’t accept that level of control, that golden handcuff approach of the Apple ecosystem, each their own obviously, they are golden, their handcuffs, but they are still handcuffs. Personally, that pushed me way more to Linux, Android, Windows, back to Windows after all these years. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I want to pick my devices. I want to pick what I install on them, and I don’t want to be controlled like this by just one entity for all my tech devices. For me, at some point, it was just not acceptable anymore. It’s still very warm, very golden handcuffs, but for me, they were just handcuffs at this stage. Yes, what they are doing with the App Store is very typical of that mindset. I think it’s quite sad because I think it started with good intention in some ways. “We need a new computing paradigm, we need to make things smoother and safer,” but it has really become a way to control your clients. For me, it has reached a point where it’s just way too much. Nuno Goncalves Pedro There’s obviously the great power comes great responsibility that uncle Ben told Spider-Man or Peter Parker. But there’s also with great power comes shitload of money, and control. So it’s like, “Yeah. Should we open the server? Do we want to delay opening it up?” “Yeah.” Anyway, it is what it is. Maybe let’s end on the more difficult note of the episode, which is going to be around wars. What’s our prediction? Will we have an end to the Gaza situation with Israel? Will we have an end to Ukraine and, obviously, Russia? What will happen in Iran? Those are the three big, big conflicts right now. Then, obviously, if we want to add just bonus points, what’s going to happen to Greenland, and what’s going to happen to Taiwan, and what’s going to happen to Venezuela? Let’s throw the whole basket in there. We’ve never had like… Let’s talk about all these territories and all these countries. At some point in time, I’m saying this in a light manner, but it’s obviously more tragic than it should be light, and people are dying, and there’s a lot of implications of all of that that is happening right now. Do you have any predictions, Bertrand, for this year? Bertrand Schmitt No. It’s tough to predict on an individual basis. I think on a more bigger picture basis is on one side, obviously, the rise of China on one side. You have also the rise of other countries like India, while very indirectly connected to some of these conflicts are still part of the game, buying oil from Russia, for instance. At the same time, I think overall, the US is more clear about with the sheriff in town. I think it’s good because in some ways, you cannot pay for the goods, you cannot have such a massive advantage versus nearly every other country on earth and just not be clear about who is the boss in some ways. As a result, what are the rules of the game and how it should be played? The US is not alone, obviously, you have China, you have Russia, you have India, you have Europe. You have different other countries. But at some point, it’s not good when countries are not rational and are not clear. I think I prefer the current situation where things are more clear and where you have to assume responsibilities about what you are doing. It’s time to be rational again about how the world behave. Yes, the concept of power and balance of power. I think there has been that dream, maybe mostly coming from Europe, about the end of history. I think that’s simply not the case. It’s not the end of history. It’s still about the balance of power. It has always been about the balance of power. If you are dumb enough to think it was not about that anymore, I just have a bridge to nowhere to sell you. I don’t have specific prediction, but I think it’s clear there is a new sheriff in town. There is a new doctrine about the Western Hemisphere that has been in some ways resurrected on the [inaudible 00:51:35] train, and I think we’ll see more of it. I think at this point, the biggest question is for the Europeans. What do they want to do? Because right now, their position of being a dwarf militarily while being a pretty big giant economically, I don’t think it works. Nuno Goncalves Pedro I agreed on everything that you said. I do have predictions. I’ll stick a flag on the ground just with my predictions. Bertrand Schmitt Good luck. Nuno Goncalves Pedro They are mostly positive. I do think we’ll see an end or, for the most, end to the two big conflicts, the one in Gaza and the one in Ukraine. I think Ukraine will end up in readjustment of territory and splitting between Russia and the Ukraine, but the end of hostilities, I think that we will see an end to the conflict in Gaza also with a readjustment on what that will mean for the Palestinian territories and the Palestinians in general. That I’m not sure, but I feel that there will be an end to those two big conflicts. Iran, I have no clue. I will not put a stick on the ground that I have no clue. There are so many things that could go wrong there. I’ve been reading some really interesting thoughts about even some aggressive thoughts that this might be the time to really change regimes in Iran and for the US to have a bit more of an aggressive stance. I really don’t have a perspective. Obviously, there’s a lot at stake there. Then, if we talk about the other parts, Greenland, I will not opine too much on. Maybe we’re done for now. Maybe there’ll be some other concessions to the US that weren’t already there in the ’50s. Taiwan, I won’t bet either. I’m sad to say I think it might happen at some point in time, but I’m not sure when and what would drive it. Last but not the least, Venezuela is my only really negative prediction. I feel it will continue to be a significant dictatorship as it was before managed enough by other people with the difference now that it has a tax to be paid to the US in the form of oil of some sort, etcetera, and maybe gas, maybe other things as well that it didn’t have before. That’s probably my most negative prediction for the coming year on the geopolitical side. Bertrand Schmitt Without going into detail, I would mostly agree with what you shared. At least that makes sense. But as we know, it’s not always what makes sense, but what might happen. I can tell you 100% I would not have guessed this operation against Maduro. This was so well done, well executed, and shocking at the same time that it’s… I think it shows that it’s hard to guess some of this stuff because there are certainly some new ways to wage limited war, for instance. So it’s certainly interesting, and we certainly need to get used to pretty bombastic statements. But for Venezuela, I don’t think it can be worse than what it was before. I’m probably more optimistic that gradually it can get better. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Just to put perspective on why we’re not making predictions on some of these elements, I think this is a funny story, but I was in Madeira. Actually, first time I was in Madeira, although I’m originally from Portugal. I’ve never been to the islands. Obviously, as you guys know, or some of you might know, there’s a lot of connection between Madeira and Venezuela. There’s a lot of immigration from Madeira Islands to Venezuela. One of my Uber or Bolt drivers there in Madeira was Venezuelan. Was born in Venezuela, but Portuguese descent, et cetera. He was telling me this was still last year. Late last year. Because I told him I lived in US, et cetera, and he was like, “Oh, hopefully, Trump will get Maduro out of there.” In my mind, I was like, “Dude.” No disrespect to the gentleman, but it’s like, “Okay. Mike, your perspective on geopolitics is maybe a little bit exaggerated.” And a couple of days later, we know what happened. When geopolitical decisions are better predicted by some probably very astute Uber drivers, you’re like, “Maybe I shouldn’t make a bet. I have no clue what’s going to happen, no clue what’s going to happen in Greenland, et cetera.” Anyway, a couple of predictions on that element. Bertrand Schmitt That’s why it’s so right. You have to be careful with the prediction, but it doesn’t remove the fact that I think nations and companies that have to play a global game have to understand in some ways what is the game, what are the powers in place, what could happen potentially, but also be realistic. Not be about wish and dreams, but more about, what’s the power relationship? Who has the money? Who has the means? Who has the capacity to do this or that? Because if you start that way, at least the scope of what’s possible, what’s reasonable is more and more clear more quickly. Some stuff like happened with Maduro, I would never have predicted, but for sure, if there’s one country that can do this sort of stuff, it’s the US. I’m not sure anyone has a technology and the means in terms of support infrastructure to do something like this. It’s tough to predict what will happen a year from now for any specific country, but I think that even trying to get a better understanding about the forces in play and their capacity and understanding and accepting that at some point, it’s all about real politic and relationship of power, the more your eyes would be wide open about what’s possible versus simple, wishful thinking. Nuno Goncalves Pedro Fintech, Crypto and Frontier Tech Moving maybe to our last section around fintech, crypto, and frontier tech. For me, just two very quick predictions, views of the world. I think on the frontier tech side, I won’t make a prediction. I will just tell you all to go and listen to our episodes, the one on infrastructure, which is immediately prior to this one, and the episodes that we’ve had around a couple of other topics including AI, what’s the future of your children, because I think they illustrate a lot of the points that we’re seeing and manifesting themselves over the next year and over the next 2 or 3 years as well beyond that. I feel those tomes are complete in and out of themselves, so you can just go and listen to them. Then my second comment is on crypto. I feel crypto has become of the essence, particularly under the current administration in the US, very favored. Obviously, we are now in a world where crypto is just part of the economic system, and I think we’ll see more and more of that emerging, and in some ways, crypto is becoming mainstream. Question is what blockchains will be the blockchains of the future? Obviously, there’s a bunch of bets put out there. We, ourselves, as Chamaeleon, have one investment in one of the significant bets in the space. But besides that, who’s going to win or not, we feel that we’re past the crypto winter. It’s now mainstream days, and we’ll see a lot more activity in there. Bertrand Schmitt I must say with crypto, I’m a bit confused. As you say, we are past the crypto winter. There is much less uncertainty in regul

The results are in from the first primaries of the midterm election cycle, and Senate races are starting to take shape. We discuss key takeaways from primary contests in North Carolina and Texas.This episode: senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, political correspondent Ashley Lopez, and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro.This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What happened to Nebraska last night, and was it worth watching?

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There's so many different visions floating around Lakeside... what does it mean??

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Shemeka Michelle, Anthony Walker, and Virgil Walker join Jason in reviewing the NAACP Image Awards. The introduction mocked prayer and Jesus. The "image" aspect of the awards never recovered. ➢ Subscribe Jason's other channel https://www.youtube.com/@JasonWhitlockHarmony  https://www.youtube.com/@JasonWhitlockBYOG  ➢ Connect with Jason on Social Media:  https://x.com/WhitlockJason https://www.instagram.com/realjasonwhitlock/ https://www.facebook.com/jasonwhitlock ➢ Send Jason an Email FearlessBlazeShow@gmail.com ➢ Support The Blaze Visit https://TheBlaze.com. Explore the all-new ad-free experience and see for yourself how we're standing up against suppression and prioritizing independent journalism. Support Conservative Voices! Subscribe to BlazeTV at https://www.fearlessmission.com and get $20 off your yearly subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send a textMoses is tired. The people are loud. The situation feels familiar. And instead of responding with trust, he snaps. This week is for anyone who's been “fine” until they suddenly weren't—and now they're dealing with the fallout. We're talking about what triggers you, what your anger is trying to protect, and how God meets you in the mess without excusing it.

The party rushes to support Winnifred after she suffers her first major loss.

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Link Up w/The Morning Sickness Digitally All Over:Instagram: @hms_98_official, @bosskupd, @bretvesely, @dickToledoX/Twitter: @HMSon98, @DickToledo, @bretveselyFacebook: @HMSKUPDYouTube: @hmspodcast9320, @98kupdRequest/Call in/Wakeup Song line:(IN AZ) 585.9800More HMS: holmbergpodcast.com, 98kupd.comEmail: dtoledo@98kupd.com, bvesely@98kupd.com, bbogen@98kupd.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Seth and Josh are back with the monthly listener episode, and it's a very special one because THE Hilary Meyers subs in for Seth this month! Josh and Hilary listen to hilarious stories from a temple visit gone wrong, to one woman's recounting of her father telling the kids to prepare to jump out of a moving car, and we even hear the podcast's first poem submitted by a listener! Want to submit your family trips story for our next listener episode? Or send a question in to Seth and Josh? Submit your voicemail to https://speakpipe.com/familytripspod! Watch more Family Trips episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlqYOfxU_jQem4_NRJPM8_wLBrEEQ17B6 Support our sponsors: Cheers Same night out — way better morning with Cheers. For a limited time our listeners are getting 20% off their entire order by using code trips at https://CheersHealth.com #Cheers #ad Warby Parker Our listeners get 15% off plus free shipping when they buy two or more pairs of prescription glasses at https://WarbyParker.com/trips — using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad Superpower Take the guesswork out of getting healthy in 2026. Get full body testing that goes 5x deeper than an annual physical and a personalized action plan that tells you exactly what to do next. All for just $199. Go to https://Superpower.com and use code TRIPS for $20 off your membership this year. Hexclad Find your forever cookware @hexclad and get 10% off at https://hexclad.com/trips #hexcladpartner Kachava Go to https://kachava.com and use code TRIPS for 15% off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's show, Patrick Gray, Adam Boileau and James WIlson discuss the week's cybersecurity news. They cover: Low skill actors compromise 600 Fortinets with AI-generated playbooks Anthropic calls out Chinese AI firms over model distillation Meta's director of AI safety tells her ClawdBot not to delete her mail… so of course it does Peter Williams cops 7 years in jail for selling L3 Harris Trenchant's exploits to Russia Ivanti got hacked in 2021 via… bugs in Ivanti This episode is sponsored by line-rate network capture system Corelight. CEO Brian Dye joins to discuss what AI can do for defenders, and what it can't. This episode is also available on Youtube. Show notes AI-augmented threat actor accesses FortiGate devices at scale "this reads to me like: they ran existing tools.... but with a cool dashboard :D" Anthropic accuses Chinese labs of trying to illicitly take Claude's capabilities | CyberScoop Detecting and preventing distillation attacks Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use the company's AI tech as it sees fit, AP sources say Anthropic Rolls Out Embedded Security Scanning for Claude AWS's AI Coding Bot Kiro Caused a 13-Hour Outage Running OpenClaw safely: identity, isolation, and runtime risk Former Adobe, Cisco and Salesforce CISO talks AI pentesting History Repeats: Security in the AI Agent Era Meta Director of AI Safety Allows AI Agent to Accidentally Delete Her Inbox Microsoft says Office bug exposed customers' confidential emails to Copilot AI | TechCrunch The (tangential) fix: Microsoft adds Copilot data controls to all storage locations Ex-L3Harris executive sentenced to 87 months in prison for selling zero-day exploits to Russian broker Treasury Sanctions Exploit Broker Network for Theft and Sale of U.S. Government Cyber Tools Risky Bulletin: Russia starts criminal probe of Telegram founder Pavel Durov Ukraine pushes tighter Telegram regulation, citing Russian recruitment of locals The watchers: how openai, the US government, and persona built an identity surveillance machine that files reports on you to the feds Persona emails customers saying they don't work with ICE or DHS amid ‘surveillance' claims Inside the Fix: Analysis of In-the-Wild Exploit of CVE-2026-21513 Ivanti hacked in 2021 via its own product Fed agencies ordered to patch Dell bug by Saturday after exploitation warning | The Record from Recorded Future News From BRICKSTORM to GRIMBOLT: UNC6201 Exploiting a Dell RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines Zero-Day

Dean of Higher Education and Applied Research and Sport at Holmesglen Institute, Dr Sam Duncan, joined Jacqui Felgate to discuss Mykelti Lefau's indiscretion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dean of Higher Education and Applied Research and Sport at Holmesglen Institute, Dr Sam Duncan, joined Jacqui Felgate to discuss Mykelti Lefau's indiscretion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ON TODAYS SHOW: Over the weekend, Azur had a bit of a bathroom mishap which is a reoccurring issue. K'Lees daughter has had a realisation when it comes to Siri and Alexa. Are they cousins? For more, follow our socials: Instagram Facebook TikTokSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NASA has released findings from a report by the Program Investigation Team examining the Boeing CST-100 Starliner Crewed Flight Test. NASA completed a successful wet dress rehearsal for the SLS rocket that'll be used for the Artemis II mission. MDA Space has launched a wholly-owned subsidiary exclusively focused on delivering mission-critical capabilities for Canada's national defense priorities outside the space domain, and more. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Be sure to follow T-Minus on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠. T-Minus Guest ⁠Maria Varmazis⁠ and ⁠Alice Carruth⁠ wrap up the last daily T-Minus show. Selected Reading ⁠NASA Releases Report on Starliner Crewed Flight Test Investigation⁠ ⁠NASA Begins Artemis II Launch Pad Ops After Successful Fuel Test⁠ ⁠MDA Space Launches 49North, a Canadian defence business delivering multi-domain and mission-critical capabilities⁠ ⁠Axelspace Secures Japan Ministry of Defense Satellite Constellation Project⁠ ⁠SpaceX launches second Falcon 9 rocket to return to a landing in The Bahamas – Spaceflight Now⁠ Share your feedback. What do you think about T-Minus Space Daily? Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our ⁠brief listener survey⁠. Thank you for helping us continue to improve our show.  Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our ⁠media kit⁠. Contact us at ⁠space@n2k.com⁠ to request more info. Want to join us for an interview? Please send your pitch to ⁠space-editor@n2k.com⁠ and include your name, affiliation, and topic proposal. T-Minus is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we're joined by Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) thru-hiker Nicholas "Sgt Pepper" Kindred. Sgt Pepper was part of the THRU-r Trail Team of trail correspondents in 2025, and here he goes into his PCT experience - including his favorite gear, best, scariest, and worst moments, best food stops, and more!In this episode, you'll learn about:His top rain gear pick - which is especially versatile and durable High and low points of the Pacific Crest TrailThe best advice for taking on a thru-hike & more!Connect With Sgt Pepper:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sgt Pepper's Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠Sgt Pepper's Facebook⁠⁠⁠Sgt Pepper's Articles For The Trek⁠Sign up for the ⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r mailing list ⁠⁠⁠⁠so you don't miss a thing! (No spam, no selling, just thru-hiker things.) Help fellow hikers find the show by following, rating, and reviewing the podcast on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!Connect With THRU-r & Cheer:⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Mailing List⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join The Trail Family⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠THRU-r Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cheer's YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cheer's Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Episode Music: "Communicator" by Reed Mathis

S05E44 | Friday, February 20, 2026   It's a big one today! We cover EIGHT stories including breaking news from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a damning independent report into the Boeing Starliner crisis, two astonishing dark matter discoveries, the first ancient Jellyfish Galaxy, SpaceX rocket pollution science, and a cosmic farewell to a comet we'll never see again. Plus — yes — we briefly and responsibly address the UFO/UAP conversation.   Stories in this episode: •       Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal — Did NASA just clear the path to a March 6 launch? •       Starliner Independent Report — NASA says 'we failed them' as Type A mishap is confirmed •       UAP Files — Trump hints at declassification: should we get excited? •       Hubble finds CDG-2: the most dark matter-dominated galaxy ever discovered •       Jellyfish Galaxy spotted 5 billion years after the Big Bang — earlier than thought possible •       First real-time observation of SpaceX rocket re-entry pollution cloud •       First confirmed dark galaxy — a structure with no stars at all •       Comet Wierzchoś at closest approach today — and it's never coming back  

Nick, Jacob, and Rakeman are in the studio this week. The fellas give another update on the tail end of ice season. The guys also touch on the slight issues they have been having with the wheel houses.

Lakeside has it's own troubles. What will the Horde Hunters do about it?

Michael Jordan is under fire, but is it really warranted? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Fluent Fiction - Swedish: From Hot Chocolate Mishap to New Friendships in Stockholm Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/sv/episode/2026-02-16-23-34-02-sv Story Transcript:Sv: Alrik steg in i det lilla hörncafét i Stockholm.En: Alrik stepped into the small corner café in Stockholm.Sv: Snön föll stilla utanför och kylde den brusande staden.En: The snow fell quietly outside, cooling the bustling city.Sv: Inne i cafét var det varmt och välkomnande.En: Inside the café, it was warm and welcoming.Sv: Doften av nybakade bullar och nybryggt kaffe fyllde luften.En: The scent of freshly baked buns and freshly brewed coffee filled the air.Sv: Trätaken sörjde för en hemtrevlig känsla.En: The wooden ceiling provided a homely feel.Sv: Alrik kände sig som hemma, trots att han var en turist, långt från sina egna breddgrader.En: Alrik felt at home, despite being a tourist, far from his own latitude.Sv: Alrik gick fram till disken.En: Alrik approached the counter.Sv: Baristan, en ung man med namnet Bjorn, log vänligt.En: The barista, a young man named Bjorn, smiled kindly.Sv: "Vad kan jag fixa till dig?"En: "What can I fix for you?"Sv: frågade han.En: he asked.Sv: Alrik log tillbaka.En: Alrik smiled back.Sv: Han bestämde sig för att beställa på svenska, för att känna sig som en av lokalbefolkningen.En: He decided to order in Swedish, hoping to feel like one of the locals.Sv: "En varm choklad, tack," sade han, osäker på om han uttalade rätt.En: "A hot chocolate, please," he said, unsure if he pronounced it correctly.Sv: Bjorn nickade och vek sig över maskinerna.En: Bjorn nodded and leaned over the machines.Sv: Alrik kände sig nöjd, tills hans dryck kom.En: Alrik felt satisfied, until his drink arrived.Sv: I stället för en traditionell varm choklad, serverades han en udda mix av örtte och espresso, dolt under ett lager kanel.En: Instead of a traditional hot chocolate, he was served an odd mix of herbal tea and espresso, hidden under a layer of cinnamon.Sv: Han rynkade på näsan men kände att han inte kunde erkänna sitt misstag.En: He wrinkled his nose but felt he couldn't admit his mistake.Sv: Vid bordet bredvid satt Sofia.En: At the table next to him sat Sofia.Sv: Hon hade redan lagt märke till Alrik och hans märkliga dryck.En: She had already noticed Alrik and his peculiar drink.Sv: Hon log roat när hon fångade hans blick.En: She smiled amusedly when she caught his gaze.Sv: "Det där ser spännande ut.En: "That looks interesting.Sv: Hur smakar det?"En: How does it taste?"Sv: frågade hon vänligt.En: she asked kindly.Sv: Alrik skrattade lite nervöst och tog modigt en klunk.En: Alrik laughed a bit nervously and bravely took a sip.Sv: Hans ögon vidgades av överraskning.En: His eyes widened in surprise.Sv: Smakerna var minst sagt... oväntade.En: The flavors were, to say the least, unexpected.Sv: Det hördes ett lätt skratt från borden omkring.En: A light laughter was heard from the surrounding tables.Sv: Sofia reste sig och kom över till hans bord.En: Sofia got up and came over to his table.Sv: "Låt mig hjälpa dig nästa gång," erbjöd hon.En: "Let me help you next time," she offered.Sv: Tillsammans gick de till disken igen.En: Together they went to the counter again.Sv: "Han skulle vilja ha en riktigt varm choklad," sa Sofia till Bjorn med ett snäll leende.En: "He would like a real hot chocolate," Sofia said to Bjorn with a kind smile.Sv: Bjorn skrattade och gav Alrik rätt beställning.En: Bjorn laughed and gave Alrik the correct order.Sv: Alrik kände sig tacksam och lättad.En: Alrik felt thankful and relieved.Sv: De satte sig tillbaka vid bordet med varsin kopp het choklad.En: They sat back at the table with a cup of hot chocolate each.Sv: Alrik log och sa: "Jag antar att jag inte är så bra på svenska än."En: Alrik smiled and said, "I guess I'm not very good at Swedish yet."Sv: Sofia skrattade mjukt.En: Sofia laughed softly.Sv: "Det är okej, vi gör alla misstag.En: "It's okay, we all make mistakes.Sv: Det viktigaste är att försöka," svarade hon.En: The important thing is to try," she replied.Sv: De fortsatte prata, och Alrik kände sig glad.En: They continued to talk, and Alrik felt happy.Sv: Han insåg att även om han inte alltid skulle passa in, så var det äkta vänskap som spelade roll.En: He realized that even if he wouldn't always fit in, it was genuine friendship that mattered.Sv: Och ibland kunde en varm choklad leda till ett helt nytt kapitel i livet.En: And sometimes a hot chocolate could lead to a whole new chapter in life. Vocabulary Words:stepped: stegbustling: brusandewelcoming: välkomnandelatitude: breddgraderapproached: gick fram tillbarista: baristanbrew: bryggtmachine: maskinernatraditional: traditionellherbal: örtteespresso: espressocinnamon: kanelwrinkled: rynkanose: näsanpeculiar: märkligagaze: blicktranslate: översättasip: klunkunexpected: oväntadelaughter: skrattoffer: erbjudasatisfied: nöjdsmile: leendefriendly: vänligtpronounce: uttaladerelieved: lättadgenuine: äktafriendship: vänskapchapter: kapitellight: lätt

Fluent Fiction - Italian: Cupid's Mishap: How a Valentine's Gaffe Sparked Romance Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/it/episode/2026-02-15-08-38-20-it Story Transcript:It: Nell'ufficio aziendale di una grande società a Milano, l'aria era piena di tensione e eccitazione.En: In the company office of a large corporation in Milano, the air was filled with tension and excitement.It: Era il giorno di San Valentino e, nonostante il freddo invernale, il profumo di cioccolatini e rose riempiva l'ambiente.En: It was Valentine's Day and, despite the winter cold, the scent of chocolates and roses filled the environment.It: Alessio, un giovane impiegato un po' goffo ma sveglio, sedeva alla sua scrivania.En: Alessio, a somewhat awkward but sharp young employee, sat at his desk.It: Il rumore delle tastiere lo distraeva mentre si perddeva nei suoi pensieri su Gianna, la sua collega di cui aveva una cotta segreta.En: The sound of keyboards distracted him as he got lost in his thoughts about Gianna, his colleague on whom he had a secret crush.It: Alessio aveva preparato un biglietto romantico per Gianna, sperando di farle sapere i suoi sentimenti in modo discreto.En: Alessio had prepared a romantic card for Gianna, hoping to let her know his feelings in a discreet way.It: Ma, distratto e nervoso, commise un terribile errore.En: But, distracted and nervous, he made a terrible mistake.It: Invece di inviare il biglietto solo a Gianna, lo inviò per errore a tutta l'azienda.En: Instead of sending the card only to Gianna, he accidentally sent it to the entire company.It: "Oh no!"En: "Oh no!"It: esclamò Alessio, vedendo la notifica sullo schermo del suo computer.En: exclaimed Alessio, seeing the notification on his computer screen.It: Il rumore dell'ufficio si fermò per un attimo mentre tutti leggevano il biglietto.En: The noise in the office paused for a moment as everyone read the card.It: Le guance di Alessio erano rosse dall'imbarazzo.En: Alessio's cheeks were red with embarrassment.It: Tutti iniziarono a bisbigliare e guardarlo con sorrisi divertiti.En: Everyone started whispering and looking at him with amused smiles.It: "Cosa devo fare adesso?"En: "What should I do now?"It: pensò Alessio, in preda al panico.En: thought Alessio, in a panic.It: Il capo, Lorenzo, convocò una riunione straordinaria.En: The boss, Lorenzo, called an extraordinary meeting.It: Alessio capì che era il momento di affrontare la situazione.En: Alessio realized it was time to face the situation.It: Durante la riunione, Alessio si alzò.En: During the meeting, Alessio stood up.It: Con un sorriso nervoso, disse: "Cari colleghi, credo che tutti abbiate ricevuto una mia... corrispondenza speciale.En: With a nervous smile, he said, "Dear colleagues, I believe you all received some of my... special correspondence.It: Non era il mio intento pubblicare i miei sentimenti in questo modo."En: It wasn't my intention to publish my feelings in this way."It: La sala scoppiò in una risata collettiva.En: The room burst into collective laughter.It: Alessio continuò, approfittando del momento: "Sapete, l'amore a volte ci fa compiere gesti folli.En: Alessio continued, taking advantage of the moment: "You know, love sometimes makes us do crazy things.It: Volevo solo dire che, se non vi dispiace, stasera, vorrei invitare Gianna a cena.En: I just wanted to say that, if you don't mind, this evening, I'd like to invite Gianna to dinner.It: Accetti, Gianna?"En: Will you accept, Gianna?"It: chiese, finalmente guardandola negli occhi.En: he asked, finally looking her in the eyes.It: Gianna era sorpresa, ma colpita dalla sincerità di Alessio.En: Gianna was surprised but touched by Alessio's sincerity.It: Gli sorrise e rispose con gioia: "Sì, Alessio, mi piacerebbe molto."En: She smiled at him and joyfully replied, "Yes, Alessio, I would love to."It: L'ufficio esplose in un applauso e tutti si congratularono con Alessio per il suo coraggio.En: The office erupted in applause, and everyone congratulated Alessio on his courage.It: La giornata di San Valentino, che poteva trasformarsi in un disastro, era invece diventata un ricordo prezioso per Alessio.En: Valentine's Day, which could have turned into a disaster, instead became a cherished memory for Alessio.It: Aveva imparato che l'onestà e l'umorismo possono trasformare anche le situazioni più imbarazzanti in qualcosa di bello.En: He had learned that honesty and humor can turn even the most embarrassing situations into something beautiful.It: Da quel giorno, Alessio camminava per l'ufficio con più fiducia, consapevole che mostrare il vero sé non era solo liberatorio, ma anche incredibilmente attraente.En: From that day on, Alessio walked around the office with more confidence, aware that showing his true self was not only liberating but also incredibly attractive. Vocabulary Words:tension: la tensioneexcitement: l'eccitazionewinter: l'invernalescent: il profumoenvironment: l'ambienteawkward: goffosharp: svegliokeyboard: la tastierathoughts: i pensierisecret crush: la cotta segretadiscreet: discretomistake: l'errorenotification: la notificared: rosseembarrassment: l'imbarazzowhispering: bisbigliareamused smiles: i sorrisi divertitipanic: il panicoextraordinary meeting: la riunione straordinariacollective laughter: la risata collettivaadvantage: il vantaggiocrazy things: i gesti follicourage: il coraggiodisaster: il disastrocherished memory: il ricordo preziosohonesty: l'onestàhumor: l'umorismoembarrassing situations: le situazioni imbarazzanticonfidence: la fiduciaincredibly attractive: incredibilmente attraente

Fluent Fiction - Danish: A Roskilde Flower Festival: Kasper's Colorful Mishap Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/da/episode/2026-02-14-08-38-20-da Story Transcript:Da: Det var en kold februardag i Roskilde.En: It was a cold February day in Roskilde.Da: Blomsterfestivalen fyldte den lille by med farver og liv.En: The flower festival filled the small town with colors and life.Da: Kasper, som ikke var nogen mester i blomsterbinding, gik målrettet rundt blandt de mange boder.En: Kasper, who was not a master of flower arranging, walked purposefully among the many stalls.Da: Han ville skabe den mest fantastiske Valentinsbuket til Sofie, hans kone.En: He wanted to create the most fantastic Valentine's bouquet for Sofie, his wife.Da: Sofie elskede enkle, kærlige gestusser, men Kasper havde planlagt noget stort i år.En: Sofie loved simple, loving gestures, but Kasper had planned something big this year.Da: Mens han gik rundt, kom han til en stor plads, hvor folk ivrigt samledes.En: As he walked around, he came to a large square where people eagerly gathered.Da: "Floristry Competition" stod der på et skilt.En: "Floristry Competition" was written on a sign.Da: Kasper kiggede nysgerrigt.En: Kasper looked curiously.Da: Han vidste, han ikke kunne konkurrere, men tænkte, han måske kunne få nogle idéer.En: He knew he couldn't compete, but he thought he might get some ideas.Da: Pludselig blev han puflet fremad af den ivrige skare omkring ham.En: Suddenly, he was pushed forward by the eager crowd around him.Da: Før han forstod, hvad der skete, stod han på scenen med en højrøstet dommer ved navn Mikkel, der netop havde råbt hans navn.En: Before he understood what was happening, he stood on stage with a loud judge named Mikkel, who had just called his name.Da: "Velkommen til konkurrencen, Kasper!"En: "Welcome to the competition, Kasper!"Da: sagde Mikkel med et skævt smil.En: said Mikkel with a crooked smile.Da: Kasper rødmede og forsøgte at forklare, men publikum klappede allerede, og det var for sent at trække sig.En: Kasper blushed and tried to explain, but the audience was already clapping, and it was too late to back out.Da: Kasper kiggede på de andre deltagere.En: Kasper looked at the other participants.Da: Buketterne var kunstværker med perfekte farvekombinationer og elegante former.En: The bouquets were works of art with perfect color combinations and elegant shapes.Da: Han følte sig akavet, men besluttede at spille med.En: He felt awkward but decided to play along.Da: Måske kunne han få lidt hjælp til sin egen buket til Sofie.En: Maybe he could get a little help for his own bouquet for Sofie.Da: Med rystende hænder begyndte han at arrangere blomsterne på sit bord.En: With trembling hands, he began to arrange the flowers on his table.Da: Roser, tulipaner og liljer fløj i alle retninger.En: Roses, tulips, and lilies flew in all directions.Da: Kasper tænkte på Sofie og hendes smil.En: Kasper thought of Sofie and her smile.Da: Han ønskede kun at få hende til at le.En: He only wanted to make her laugh.Da: Konkurrencens højdepunkt nærmede sig, og Kasper var færdig med sin buket.En: The highlight of the competition approached, and Kasper was finished with his bouquet.Da: Den var en rodebutik af farver og forskellige retninger.En: It was a jumble of colors and directions.Da: Publikum lo sammen, da Mikkel præsenterede hver buket.En: The audience laughed together as Mikkel presented each bouquet.Da: Kasper skælvede ved Mikkels blik, men dommeren nikkede og smilede.En: Kasper quivered under Mikkel's gaze, but the judge nodded and smiled.Da: Mens Mikkel nævnte Kaspers navn, brød hele salen ud i latter og applaus.En: As Mikkel mentioned Kasper's name, the whole hall burst into laughter and applause.Da: "Publikums favorit!"En: "Audience favorite!"Da: grinede Mikkel, mens han rakte Kasper en lille præmie.En: laughed Mikkel, as he handed Kasper a small prize.Da: Til sidst fandt Kasper Sofie blandt publikum.En: Finally, Kasper found Sofie among the audience.Da: Hun lo stadig, men hendes øjne glitrede af kærlighed.En: She was still laughing, but her eyes sparkled with love.Da: "Det er tanken, der tæller," sagde hun og gav ham et kys.En: "It's the thought that counts," she said, giving him a kiss.Da: Kasper lærte, at han ikke behøvede store handlinger.En: Kasper learned that he didn't need grand gestures.Da: Det var de små, kærlige gestusser, der virkelig talte.En: It was the small, loving gestures that truly mattered.Da: Sammen gik de gennem festivalen, hånd i hånd, mens sneen stille dalede ned over Roskilde.En: Together they walked through the festival, hand in hand, as the snow quietly fell over Roskilde. Vocabulary Words:cold: koldfestival: festivalenfilled: fyldtepurposefully: målrettetstall: bodercreate: skabegesture: gestussersquare: pladseagerly: ivrigtcompetitor: deltagerecrooked: skævtblushed: rødmedeawkward: akavetquivered: skælvedejudgment: dommertrembling: rystendeappeared: nærmedejumble: rodebutiksparkled: glitredecompetition: konkurrencecolor combination: farvekombinationerlaughed: loglance: blikapplause: applausgesture: handlinghand in hand: hånd i håndthought: tankengesture: gestusseraudience: publikumquietly: stille

Topics discussed: Patriots fans voice their displeasure toward Josh McDaniels for Seahawks dud (The Drive) // Sharing our best bets for this weekend's slate of games in our "Pick-Six parlay" // Reacting to the NFL's ruling to keep player report cards from being shared publicly (Odds and Ends)

Matt Spiegel and Laurence Holmes shared the latest update following a White Sox gaffe.

Marc and Sue Thomas kick off with birthday wishes for Sue before diving into health and lifestyle insights, including how certain sleeping positions can cause nerve damage and shoulder strain. They then cover a bizarre car wash incident in Pennsylvania where a woman was trapped for nearly an hour, and finally discuss Eddie Bauer filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. and Canada, sharing the company's history and the implications for fans. Hashtags: #InOtherNews #SleepHealth #CarWashIncident #EddieBauer #RetailNews #MarkCoxMorningShow

Masterpiece Podcasts: Collection of Chinese Classic Novels

The Horde Hunters make it to Lakeside, with a less than warm reception...

Masterpiece Podcasts: Collection of Chinese Classic Novels

The news to know for Tuesday, February 10, 2026! We'll tell you what lawmakers now say about what wasn't included in the version of the Epstein Files released to the public. And the ultimatum from Ghislaine Maxwell. Also- why A.I. experts are now getting involved in the search for Savannah Guthrie's mother. Plus, which game has been found to protect aging brains, why Olympians are being told to use caution around their newly-earned medals, and how a group of monks ended up inspiring people all over the country.  Those stories and even more news to know in about 10 minutes!    Join us every Mon-Fri for more daily news roundups!  See sources: https://www.theNewsWorthy.com/shownotes Become an INSIDER to get AD-FREE episodes here: https://www.theNewsWorthy.com/insider Get The NewsWorthy MERCH here: https://thenewsworthy.dashery.com/ Sponsors: Blueland has a special offer! Get 15% off your first order by going to Blueland.com/NEWSWORTHY Visit TrustDirectMail.com to grab your FREE 2026 Direct Mail Lookbook from Gundir — hand-delivered, of course. To advertise on our podcast, please reach out to ad-sales@libsyn.com  

Kurt Schlichter, retired Army Colonel, trial attorney, senior columnist at Townhall.com, and author most recently of the Kelly Turnbull novel PANAMA RED, on the numerous recent protests against the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Minneapolis, former CNN host Don Lemon’s involvement in the forced intrusion of a worship service at Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, His recent Townhall piece, “The Curse of Conservative Inc.” and much more!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you've seen the freshly dropped trailer for 'The Drama' featuring Zendaya and Rob Pattinson you'll be asking one huge question. Plus, more family members weigh in on the Peltz Beckham drama and Travis Kelce brings the LOLs ☕ Chris Hemsworth opens up about a tough family diagnosis ☕ Brooklyn Beckham's father in law speaks ☕ The OG cast of Jurassic park reunite on screen ☕ The pop star reunion leaving Aussie fans disappointed ☕ A new trailer drops for Rob Pattinson and Zendaya's 'The Drama' and it has us all guessing ☕ Travis Kelce breaks....a chair. THE END BITS Once you’ve devoured this morning’s celeb stories, get your daily news headlines from The Quicky here. Our podcast Watch Party is out now, listen on Apple or Spotify. Support independent women's media Follow us on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. And subscribe to our Youtube channel. Read all the latest entertainment news on Mamamia... here. Discover more Mamamia Podcasts here. CREDITS Host & Producer: Ash London Executive Producer: Monisha IswaranBecome a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Horde Hunters have been captured by a demon from the Old World... will they be able to forge an alliance or will more desperate actions be needed?

Today we'll be talking about a deadly crash during a Royal Thai Air Force training mission, a British Tourist hurt in an illegal paragliding mishap, and a little later a Danish-Arab Influencer's videos mocking Thai culture have gone viral. Sounds like bad news but don't worry I've got some feel good stuff at the end of the show brought to you by the inimitable LaLisa.

Ted joins Cliff to help breakdown the weekly movers, meta shifts, cards to watch and the mistakenly leaked TMNT rares and mythics due for release later this spring. Intro/Outro Music by Skylarka

Winnie is back, and the party is right in the middle of an intense battle with a demon. Do they have what it takes to win or will the dice rule against them?

We return to discuss tech, CES trade shows, travel, and TSA mistreatment. As well as fun updates on what we were doing while we were away Tags: comedy, Star Wars, family, news, sci-fi, children, home birth, travel, CES, Vegas, business Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ydekcast/ email us: ydekcast@gmail.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi-hJ40EEb26f08wbZWhOEw

The Horde Hunters set off on the road once again. What sorts of things will they discover in this new, sunless world?

On today's Free Swim we are joined by the typical crew. We get into a discussion of living a simpler life out in the wild and how that simple of life would differ as the simple life lived if we were billionaires. We then get into some good On Or Off The Leash discussions, and recap White Sox Dave's wild behavior at a Steak House in Milwaukee in 2023.You 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/thedogwalk

We created a new bit to try to get to know our listeners a little more. You give us your name and age, and we make up your origin story. We think we were pretty spot on...and in Group Therapy, we talked to "Paige" about an incident involving her BF's brother she's wondering if she tells him about. Plus some Little Kid or Drunk Adult and the search for love involving the feminine products aisle at Kroger. Oh boy....

Fluent Fiction - Dutch: Monopoly Money Mishap: Poker Night's Unforgettable Twist Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/nl/episode/2026-01-16-23-34-02-nl Story Transcript:Nl: In het hart van Amsterdam, op een koude winteravond, verzamelde zich een groep vrienden in een gezellig café genaamd "De Knusse Hoek."En: In the heart of Amsterdam, on a cold winter evening, a group of friends gathered in a cozy café named "De Knusse Hoek."Nl: Het café was druk en warm, perfect schuiloord tegen de kille wind buiten.En: The café was busy and warm, the perfect refuge against the chilly wind outside.Nl: De geur van vers getapt bier en knapperige snacks vulde de lucht terwijl mensen om hen heen lachten en verhalen deelden.En: The scent of freshly tapped beer and crispy snacks filled the air as people around them laughed and shared stories.Nl: Maar in de hoek, bij een imposante eikenhouten tafel bij het knetterende haardvuur, vond een intense pokergame plaats.En: But in the corner, at an impressive oak table by the crackling fireplace, an intense poker game was taking place.Nl: Aan de tafel zaten Jeroen, Kees en Piet.En: At the table sat Jeroen, Kees, and Piet.Nl: Ze waren oude vrienden die regelmatig bijeenkwamen om te kaarten.En: They were old friends who regularly gathered to play cards.Nl: Jeroen, met zijn glimlach en half opgerolde mouwen, was vandaag vastberaden om te winnen.En: Jeroen, with his smile and half-rolled-up sleeves, was determined to win today.Nl: Hij wilde eindelijk die felbegeerde titel van beste pokerspeler onder hen veroveren.En: He wanted to finally capture that coveted title of the best poker player among them.Nl: Maar Jeroen, altijd gretig om erbij te horen, had een klein geheimpje dat niemand wist: hij was kleurenblind.En: But Jeroen, always eager to fit in, had a little secret that no one knew: he was colorblind.Nl: Vandaag, ongezien voor zijn vrienden, had hij per ongeluk wat Monopoly-geld in zijn portemonnee gestopt.En: Today, unseen by his friends, he had accidentally put some Monopoly money in his wallet.Nl: De avond vorderde en de rondes werden gespeeld.En: The evening progressed and the rounds were played.Nl: Jeroen hield zijn kaarten dicht bij zich en gooide met zelfvertrouwen zijn fiches in de pot.En: Jeroen kept his cards close and confidently tossed his chips into the pot.Nl: Zijn vrienden, Kees en Piet, volgden zijn inzetten met nieuwsgierige ogen, niet wetende dat Jeroens "geld" eigenlijk speelgoed was.En: His friends, Kees and Piet, followed his bets with curious eyes, not knowing that Jeroen's "money" was actually toy money.Nl: Zijn fouten bleven ongezien, vooral omdat hij alle kleuren als variaties van grijs zag.En: His mistakes went unnoticed, particularly because he saw all colors as variations of gray.Nl: Toen de spanning toenam, besloot Jeroen alles op een groot spel te zetten.En: As the tension increased, Jeroen decided to bet everything on a big hand.Nl: Hij schoof met een zelfverzekerde blik de stapel fiches en zijn 'biljetten' naar het midden van de tafel.En: He pushed the stack of chips and his 'bills' to the middle of the table with a confident look.Nl: Kees en Piet keken elkaar even verbaasd aan.En: Kees and Piet exchanged surprised glances.Nl: De stilte hield even aan voordat Kees hakkelend zei: "Jeroen, ik denk dat je speelt met...En: The silence lingered for a moment before Kees hesitantly said, "Jeroen, I think you're playing with...Nl: Monopoly-geld!"En: Monopoly money!"Nl: Jeroen's ogen werden groot van verbazing.En: Jeroen's eyes widened in surprise.Nl: Hij keek naar de tafel en begon te lachen, zijn wangen rood van schaamte.En: He looked at the table and began to laugh, his cheeks red with embarrassment.Nl: Het was zo'n moment dat alleen echte vrienden kunnen creëren, luidkeels lachen en de absurditeit van de situatie omarmen.En: It was a moment that only true friends can create, laughing loudly and embracing the absurdity of the situation.Nl: Kees en Piet konden hun lachen niet inhouden en stootten elkaar aan terwijl ze de lach met hem deelden.En: Kees and Piet couldn't hold back their laughter and nudged each other as they shared the laugh with him.Nl: Op dat moment realiseerde Jeroen zich dat het niet het winnen van het spel was dat ertoe deed, maar het plezier en de vriendschap die ze samen deelden.En: At that moment, Jeroen realized that it wasn't winning the game that mattered, but the fun and friendship they shared together.Nl: Hij schudde zijn hoofd en lachte hardop mee, blij dat hij zulke vrienden had.En: He shook his head and laughed out loud, grateful to have such friends.Nl: In deze warme hoek van het café, met hun kaarten en grapjes, was het duidelijk dat hun vriendschap het belangrijkste was.En: In this warm corner of the café, with their cards and jokes, it was clear that their friendship was the most important thing.Nl: Vanaf die dag keek Jeroen naar elke volgende pokernacht als een kans om te genieten, en hij accepteerde dat zijn fouten gewoon deel waren van wie hij was.En: From that day on, Jeroen looked at every subsequent poker night as an opportunity to enjoy himself, and he accepted that his mistakes were just part of who he was.Nl: En zijn vrienden hielden van hem precies daarom.En: And his friends loved him for exactly that. Vocabulary Words:cozy: gezelligrefuge: schuiloordchilly: killeimpressive: imposantecrackling: knetterendedetermined: vastberadencoveted: felbegeerdeeager: gretigcolorblind: kleurenblindaccidentally: per ongelukconfidently: zelfvertrouwentoy money: speelgoedunnoticed: ongezienvariations: variatiessubsequent: volgendeembracing: omarmenabsurdity: absurditeitopportunity: kansmistakes: foutenshared: deeldenlinger: aanhoudenhesitantly: hakkelendimperceptible: onopgemerktsubsequently: vervolgensintense: intensecapture: veroverenhesitant: aarzelendgestures: gebarenopportunity: gelegenheidcheeks: wangen

Guests - Halle Mastroberardino and Donna Michelle VaughnHosted By - Courtney Ortiz and Lesley MealorOur throwback episode of Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast covers the many ways things can go wrong at a live dance performance, from costume malfunctions to dropped props and more! Joining us for this discussion are professional dancers and IDA judges Halle Mastroberardino and Donna Michelle Vaughn to give you some tips and tricks to salvage any mishaps that might happen on stage! This episode originally aired on November 17, 2022.Topics Include: Best practices for a dropped prop The one time you MUST leave stage when something goes wrong How to avoid costume mishaps before they happenHelp support our podcast! Join Making The Impact's Platinum Premium Subscription today! Your membership includes:Monthly Q&A episodes released to members onlyPriority to have your questions answered each month on the live Q&A.Ad-free listening for all of Seasons 4 through 7. No sponsored ads!20% off all IDA MerchandiseExclusive bonus content released throughout the yearDiscounted IDA Online CritiqueGroup Zoom check-ins 3x per season with Courtney Ortiz!Your support helps us produce future episodes of Making The Impact for years to come!Making The Impact's Platinum Premium - Sign up now for only $5/month!Follow your Hosts & Guests!Courtney Ortiz - @courtney.ortizLesley Mealor - @miss.lesley.danceHalle Mastroberardino - @hallemastroberardinoDonna Michelle Vaughn - @Slimglam_dThis episode is sponsored by:Check out our service: IDA Online Judge's CritiquesSend us a video of your dance and an IDA Judge will critique your routine! You can request a genre-specific specialty judge or add on 10 minutes of additional feedback. 24 hour rush delivery available! Submit your video now!   Join our FREE Facebook Group and connect with us! Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast Community Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts! We would love to hear from you! Join our Newsletter for weekly episode releases straight to your inbox! Follow Impact Dance Adjudicators on social media @impactdanceadjudicators and for a list of IDA Affiliated dance competitions, visit our website at www.impactdanceadjudicators.comSupport the show

Omar's Rug Mishap full 596 Fri, 09 Jan 2026 16:24:00 +0000 HSP3LfkTbzsbo5Ik3w7erbrvDIx265Zh society & culture Klein/Ally Show: The Podcast society & culture Omar's Rug Mishap Klein.Ally.Show on KROQ is more than just a "dynamic, irreverent morning radio show that mixes humor, pop culture, and unpredictable conversation with a heavy dose of realness." (but thanks for that quote anyway). Hosted by Klein, Ally, and a cast of weirdos (both on the team and from their audience), the show is known for its raw, offbeat style, offering a mix of sarcastic banter, candid interviews, and an unfiltered take on everything from culture to the chaos of everyday life. With a loyal, engaged fanbase and an addiction for pushing boundaries, the show delivers the perfect blend of humor and insight, all while keeping things fun, fresh, and sometimes a little bit illegal. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Society & Culture False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwav

Award winning author and podcaster Rick Kaempfer joins Brent to talk about vacation mishaps. There’s broken arms in Switzerland, broken legs in Montana, and an unwanted pig farm vacation. Plus, getting kicked out of a hotel in France and a suspicious credit card misplacement. [Ep 371] Show Notes: Destination Eat Drink foodie travel guide ebooks Destination Eat Drink blog Rick’s publishing company Eckhartz Press Minutia Men podcast Minutia Men Celebrity Interview podcast Rick’s Free Kicks podcast

Fluent Fiction - Dutch: Frozen Hot Chocolate Mishaps atop Rotterdam's Skydeck Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/nl/episode/2026-01-09-08-38-20-nl Story Transcript:Nl: De winterwind sneed als een mes over het Skydeck van de Rotterdam Euromast.En: The winter wind cut like a knife across the Skydeck of the Rotterdam Euromast.Nl: Sander, Maarten en Femke stonden dicht bij elkaar, hun gezichten rood van de kou.En: Sander, Maarten, and Femke stood close together, their faces red from the cold.Nl: De stad onder hen lag te glinsteren in een dunne laag sneeuw.En: The city below them shimmered under a thin layer of snow.Nl: De lucht was zo helder dat je de haven in de verte kon zien liggen.En: The air was so clear that you could see the harbor lying in the distance.Nl: "Ik ga winnen," zei Sander koppig, zijn ogen gevuld met vastberadenheid.En: "I'm going to win," said Sander stubbornly, his eyes filled with determination.Nl: "Niemand kan mij verslaan in een warme chocolademelk-drinkwedstrijd!"En: "No one can beat me in a hot chocolate drinking contest!"Nl: Maarten lachte en maakte een grap om de sfeer te verlichten.En: Maarten laughed and made a joke to lighten the mood.Nl: "Misschien winnen we wel een prijs voor de snelst bevroren chocolademelk!"En: "Maybe we'll win a prize for the fastest frozen hot chocolate!"Nl: Femke, met haar gebruikelijke praktische blik, keek naar haar beker waarin het schuim al begon te kristalliseren.En: Femke, with her usual practical outlook, looked at her cup where the foam was already beginning to crystalize.Nl: "Misschien moeten we het idee van de wedstrijd laten varen en gewoon genieten."En: "Maybe we should abandon the contest idea and just enjoy it."Nl: Maar Sander schudde zijn hoofd, vastberaden.En: But Sander shook his head, determined.Nl: Hij rommelde in zijn jaszak en haalde een kleine handwarmer tevoorschijn.En: He rummaged in his jacket pocket and pulled out a small hand warmer.Nl: "Kijk, ik heb dit meegenomen.En: "Look, I brought this.Nl: Hiermee verwarm ik mijn beker.En: I'll use it to warm my cup.Nl: Dan kan ik winnen."En: Then I can win."Nl: Femke fronste haar wenkbrauwen.En: Femke furrowed her brow.Nl: "Ik weet niet of dat een goed idee is, Sander.En: "I don't know if that's a good idea, Sander.Nl: Misschien is het gevaarlijk."En: It might be dangerous."Nl: Sander luisterde niet.En: Sander didn't listen.Nl: Hij plaatste zijn beker boven de handwarmer, in de hoop de warme chocolademelk te ontdooien.En: He placed his cup above the hand warmer, hoping to thaw the hot chocolate.Nl: Langzaam werd de chocolademelk weer vloeibaar.En: Slowly, the chocolate became liquid again.Nl: Maar precies op dat moment gebeurde het: Sander verloor zijn grip en de beker kantelde.En: But just at that moment, it happened: Sander lost his grip, and the cup tilted.Nl: Een stroom van warme chocolademelk gleed over het dek, terwijl Sander een poging deed het te vangen.En: A stream of hot chocolate glided across the deck, while Sander made an attempt to catch it.Nl: Het hele tafereel was als in slow motion, en Maarten barstte in lachen uit.En: The whole scene was like in slow motion, and Maarten burst into laughter.Nl: "Nou Sander, dit was zeker de meest spectaculaire chocolademelk-slip."En: "Well Sander, that was certainly the most spectacular hot chocolate slip."Nl: Femke lachte mee.En: Femke laughed along.Nl: "Geen winnaar vandaag, maar wel een goede herinnering."En: "No winner today, but a good memory nonetheless."Nl: Sander stond op, zijn gezicht nog steeds rood, maar nu van de lach.En: Sander stood up, his face still red, but now from laughter.Nl: "Oké, oké, jullie hebben gelijk.En: "Okay, okay, you're right.Nl: Het gaat niet om winnen.En: It's not about winning.Nl: Het gaat om plezier maken met vrienden."En: It's about having fun with friends."Nl: Ze besloten om de wedstrijd te vergeten en in plaats daarvan een foto te maken.En: They decided to forget about the contest and instead take a photo.Nl: Ze stonden naast elkaar, met de bevroren chocolademelk in hun handen, en glimlachten breed.En: They stood side by side, with the frozen hot chocolate in their hands, and smiled broadly.Nl: De skyline van Rotterdam strekte zich uit achter hen, als een schilderij van ijs en lucht.En: The Rotterdam skyline stretched out behind them, like a painting of ice and sky.Nl: Die foto, gevangen in een moment van vriendschap en plezier, zou altijd een herinnering blijven aan die koude dag op de Euromast.En: That photo, captured in a moment of friendship and joy, would always be a memory of that cold day on the Euromast.Nl: Sander, Maarten en Femke lachten terwijl de zon langzaam onderging, de lucht in vlammen van oranje en roze doopte.En: Sander, Maarten, and Femke laughed as the sun slowly set, dipping the sky in flames of orange and pink.Nl: Het was de perfecte afsluiting van een dag vol verrassingen en een les in de waarde van samen zijn.En: It was the perfect end to a day full of surprises and a lesson in the value of being together. Vocabulary Words:winter wind: winterwindcut: sneedknife: messhimmered: glinsterendetermination: vastberadenheidstubbornly: koppigpractical outlook: praktische blikrumaged: rommeldepocket: jaszakhand warmer: handwarmerthaw: ontdooientilted: kanteldegrip: gripstream: stroomglided: gleedcatch: vangenspectacular: spectaculaireslip: slipmemory: herinneringbroadly: breedskyline: skylinestretched: strekte zich uitpainting: schilderijcaptured: gevangenjoy: pleziersunset: ondergangdipping: doopteflames: vlammensurprises: verrassingenvalue: waarde

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(SPOILER) Your Daily Roundup covers yesterday's Bachelorette social media mishap and how it came to be, a message I received from someone about it, and thoughts on the Survivor finale – the winner, the final immunity challenge, social media, and much more.   Music written by Jimmer Podrasky (B'Jingo Songs/Machia Music/Bug Music BMI) Ads: ZocDoc – Click on https://zocdoc.com/RealitySteve to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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