Podcasts about Mounted police

The Karen Owen story had potential podcast written all over it from the moment I interviewed her after a recent Randwick win with Fay's Angels. A horse devotee from an early age, Karen was a whiz at pony club before transitioning to the eventing sport.  She dreamed of a job around horses, and jumped to attention when an opportunity came up with the NSW Mounted Police. Thirty three years later she left the force with the rank of Sergeant, and immediately embarked on a racehorse training career. Karen says she rarely has more than ten horses in work on the Killawarra property. She explains that most of her horses have been bred by clients. Karen says she's too busy to pursue her first equestrian love of eventing, but still has a presence in the dressage arena. The trainer says she likes to keep her horses as close to nature as possible. The property offers several options. Karen says the horses are floated to the nearby Taree racecourse when a serious gallop is required. She pays tribute to veterinarian husband Adrian who had to build up a new practice from scratch when the family moved to Wingham. Karen talks of daughter Maddy who was literally born to the saddle, and wanted to become a jockey from the moment she started riding trackwork. The talented horsewoman looks back on early days in Sydney's western suburbs and her very first pony- a gift from parents who knew nothing about horses. Karen talks of her first year as a Probationary Constable with the NSW Police. She was restricted to general duties for the first year of her new career. Most of her work was located in Sydney's King's Cross. She looks back on her long awaited introduction to the Mounted Police Headquarters in Redfern. She's never forgotten the immaculate condition of the stables and gear. Karen says she was one of only three females in the mounted unit. It's a very different story today. The former Sergeant Owen takes us through her many and varied duties with the “Mounties” including a very intimidating situation during the Cronulla race riots of 2005. She makes no secret of the fact that race day duty at nearby Randwick was easily her favourite working commitment. She says the buzz of the track whetted her appetite for racing. Karen looks back on a few notable former racehorses who found their way into the Mounted Police Unit. She talks of her first meeting with Veterinarian Adrian Owen whose duties included regular visits to the Mounted Police stables at Redfern. Karen looks back on Adrian's  stint as a hobby trainer in the late 1990's. She got the job as chief work rider before going off to work. Eventing was still very much a part of her life. She looks back on a trip to NZ for a Trans Tasman Challenge. Adrian came along as babysitter for first born Damian. Karen affectionately recalls a dream trip to England in 2012 when she got to ride before Queen Elizabeth. She recalls a conversation with Her Majesty and a humorous comment from the Duke Of Edinburgh. She's never forgotten the moment she saw the Queen in the saddle at 86 years of age. Karen looks back on the thrill of receiving the Australian Police Medal, and her promotion to the rank of Sergeant. She talks of the riding talents of sons Damian and Callum. Karen looks back fondly on the thrill of her first training win at Bowraville. She talks of a Taree Gold Cup win with Sound And Vision, part owned by former Mounties working associate Ed Quilty. Karen acknowledges daughter Maddy's clever ride on Sound And Vision. She delights in relating the story behind her first Randwick winner  Fay's Angels. Another former work associate was responsible for Karen being given the mare to train. She says the quirky mare is well suited to farm life. Karen talks of the mare's veteran owner breeder Ed Meadows who's now 97 and going strong. It's a nice chat with a lady who can't imagine a single day without horses.  

This episode comes with a big…fat…warning, and required a lot of editing to ensure it remained clean! Sergeant Brad Richards-Scully tells you what it's like to be paid to ride a horse at work…it's a job unlike any other. But in this interview you'll hear what happened the night Mounted Police came across a partygoer who just wouldn't move on.   Want to help us solve cases just like these? Let's Join Forces.Find out more about a career with WA Police: https://letsjoinforces.wa.gov.au/ Disclaimer:This podcast may contain references to violence, explicit material and sexual abuse and may be disturbing for some listeners. If this content has caused you distress or you need support with issues related to abuse or trauma, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Follow us on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WA.Police Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wa_police/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/WA_Police TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wapolice YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/wapolice1829 Privacy Policy: https://www.police.wa.gov.au/PrivacyCopyright: https://www.police.wa.gov.au/CopyrightCreditsExecutive Producer: Joey CatanzaroProducer and Host: Sandra Di GirolamoAssistant Producer: Courtney Atkinson

From anti-dacoity operations to crowd control to participation in equestrian games, mounted police enjoy a distinct position in Indian law enforcement. In this episode of Police Chowki, we delve into the fascinating world of mounted police, exploring their historical and modern-day role in law enforcement, public safety, and ceremonial functions. Tune in to Shrikrishna Upadhyaya speaking to former police officers S. Ramakrishnan and Javeed Ahmad, who share their rich experience. Do check out Takshashila's public policy courses: https://school.takshashila.org.in/courses We are @‌IVMPodcasts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. https://twitter.com/IVMPodcasts https://www.instagram.com/ivmpodcasts/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/ivmpodcasts/ You can check out our website at https://shows.ivmpodcasts.com/featured Follow the show across platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Gaana, Amazon Music Do share the word with your folks    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's guest is Justin Ling. Justin is an award winning investigative journalist whose work has appeared in Vice, Maclean's Foreign Policy, and The Globe and Mail, among other publications. He's also the author of the book Missing from the Village, which is about Toronto based serial killer Bruce MacArthur and has hosted two seasons of the Uncover Podcast for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Today, Justin dives into a story he wrote in April, 2021 titled "The Rise and Fall of a Double Agent". It's the story of Cameron Ortiz, a senior member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who was arrested after a classified document was found in the possession of a businessman providing encrypted phones to criminal organizations worldwide.Connect with Justin:substack.com/@justinlingConnect with Spycraft 101:Check out Justin's latest release, Covert Arms, here.spycraft101.comIG: @spycraft101Shop: spycraft-101.myshopify.comPatreon: Spycraft 101Find Justin's first book, Spyshots: Volume One, here.Download the free eBook, The Clandestine Operative's Sidearm of Choice, here.A podcast from SPYSCAPE.A History of the World in Spy Objects Incredible tools and devices and their real-world use.Whale Hunting Newsletter Read about the world's richest and most dangerous individuals, often unknown to the public.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

A forgotten battle deep in the Rhodesian Bush…   A handful of Mounted Police battling over a thousand Shona rebels in a running battle.    Its an epic fight that deserves to be remembered.    Today we are talking about the Mazoe Patrol in what is now known as Zimbabwe.    A special thanks to Cam Simpson who researched and wrote this episode. His books on military history are excellent and can be purchased here: https://amzn.to/3QEWtX9    If you are interested in the Zulu War, then please sign up for my mailing list to receive my free book on the subject: https://redcoathistory.com/newsletter/   If you are very generous, you can also buy me a coffee and help support the channel via https://ko-fi.com/redcoathistory  

Ren Frew Of The Mounted 1948-03-15 Canadian Mounted Police

The Natal Mounted Police suffered terrible casualties at the Battle of Isandlwana fighting in the donga alongside Colonel Durnford.  In today's episode of the Redcoat History Podcast Cam Simpson joins us once more to talk about the history of the unit and its fascinating men. He calls them the Blue-blood troopers, as a number were sons of generals and senior figures from across the empire.  Cam's new book on the subject is out today and can be purchased at Amazon. amzn.to/44ihFHL  He should also have some paper copies for sale at the Clash of Empires Zulu War exhibtion happening now in London (July 2023).  If you want tickets to the event please order via clashofempires.org   

What a brilliant week we have had with the pomp and pageantry of Trooping The Colour to mark The King's birthday and The Order of The Garter Service and Procession at Windsor Castle. In today's Royal Podcast episode, we are chatting about the controversy surrounding Catherine's outfit choices - especially surrounding her Order of the Garter Outfit, which was very similar to one she already owns. We are asking the questions:    Are Catherine's outfits too similar?  Should Catherine re-wear a similar outfit?  Is Catherine wasting money on outfits that are very similar? Should The Princess of Wales be buying whatever she wants?  We are also keeping you up-to-date with the this week's Royal engagements during our Royal Round-up including:    The King's upcoming appearance in a BBC documentary and portrait commission for The Royal Collection celebrating the Windrush Generation Queen Camilla is appointed Order of the Thistle and attend the naming ceremony of the amazing Shire horse, Juno (Michelle was very happy) The Prince of Wales announces a new social housing project for The Duchy of Cornwall The Duchess of Edinburgh is invested as Grand President of St John's Ambulance The Princess of Wales opens the National Gallery after a 3 year refurbishment  The Duchess of Gloucester celebrates her 77th birthday Plus so much more…  

The annual Police Community Expo showcases the various units within the NSW Police Force including Police Helicopter, Mounted Police, Dog Squad, Riot Squad, Highway Patrol Vehicles, Tactical Operations Unit and much more. Sozan Jabur is the multicultural community liaison officer within the Crime Prevention Unit in the Fairfield City police area. She spoke to SBS about the aim of the expo and its important role in raising awareness of the police force in NSW.

The first of my two guests tonight is Michele, and she is here to share her encounter with a Sasquatch back in the 1980's while she was a member of the RCMP.My second guest is Stephen from New Mexico, and he is here to share his close up encounter with what he beilves to be three Sasquatch outside his home.Check Out The Shows Sponsor Vitalis Sleep And Support Our Sponsorshttps://vitalissleep.comUse Promo Code ODYSSEY20 at check out for 20% Off Your Entire Order!Sasquatch Odyssey Podcast YouTube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@sasquatchodysseypodcast5373/videosSend Brian A Voicemail Or Tell Your Storyhttps://www.speakpipe.com/SasquatchOdysseyPodcastSupport The Showhttps://www.patreon.com/paranormalworldproductionsShow Website And Bloghttps://paranormalworldproductions.comAll The Socials And Stuff/Contact Brianhttps://linktr.ee/ParanormalWorldProductionsbrian@paranormalworldproductions.com Follow The Show On Instagram And TikTok https://www.instagram.com/sasquatchodyssey/https://www.tiktok.com/@sasquatchodysseypodcast?_t=8XRHQxPMFYo&_r=1https://www.tiktok.com/@paranormalodyssey?_t=8XBoR6h7Pkk&_r=Sasquatch Odyssey Fans Group On Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/sasquatchodysseyfans

More of the government's £5.2 billion flood management budget is to be spent on nature-based methods of flood prevention. The Environment Agency has been trialing 60 Natural Flood Management projects over the last five years, they use techniques like targeted tree-planting and restoring wetlands to prevent flooding further downstream, and on the back of those pilot schemes Natural Flood Management is now to be more widely incorporated into flood defence strategy in years to come. A mounted police ‘volunteer scheme' is being trialed in Cumbria - with members of the public on horseback supporting the work of the county's police officers. Cumbria Constabulary's 'citizens in policing team' is working with riders in some rural parts of the county to help with crime prevention and building relationships within their communities. And nearly a third of all the milk produced in the UK goes in to making cheese, 70 per cent cheddar. 130,000 tonnes of it is exported, worth more than half a billion pounds. But since Brexit, trade has been more complicated. Presented by Caz Graham Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

Hi-tech gizmos and body parts washing ashore, eccentric newcomers building retreats in the remote forests, break-ins and attacks. Things are building up for sleep-deprived and over-prescribed Doug Shasta.This week on APOCALYPSE ROCK it's time for the Town Hall meeting, bringing together the local community of old-timers and green horns alike, to discuss — in the most sleep-inducing ways — local news, views and plans. But sometimes we're our own worst enemies. And other times nature calls, screams, howls…Hit play above to listen, or scroll down to read, but either way, I hope you enjoy.

Straight from the horse's mouth. Our Mounted Enforcement Detail is a crowd favorite at events and ceremonies. This unit is also used in critical situations including crime suppression, crowd management, search and rescue and more. In today's RSO Roundup, our team reveals the challenges of working with a four-legged partner and the rigorous training needed to respond to a variety of situations.

Denny Chapman has an adventurous lifestyle and has made many accomplishments in the firearms industry. Denny was a contestant on the first season of Top Shot, was a Stunt Performer, a former mounted police officer, and a former mounted shooting competitor. Denny is now the Media Host for Big Daddy Unlimited so you may have seen his trick shot videos he's filmed. Denny is genuinely excited about his work in the industry and is one of the friendliest people you'll meet. He spends time in the studio at Big Daddy Unlimited, but on the weekends, he's out shooting USPSA or Steel Challenge. Denny is a positive voice for the Second Amendment and shares a little bit about his beliefs in this episode. Give the new episode a listen and drop any comments or questions you have for Denny below! Be sure to subscribe to the Reticle Up Podcast wherever you get your podcasts from. Leave us a review online and be sure to follow us on social media! Follow the host at @3gunkenzie on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mckenzie-fitzpatrick/support

Ep. 154 Unexplained Mass Disappearances   Today we're talking about unsolved stuff…but in a different way. We're talking about unexplained mass disappearances. How can large numbers of people just disappear without a trace? Where'd they go? Why'd they go? Did somebody make them leave? Bigfoot again? Aliens? Supernatural? Chainsaw? We may never know….but that won't stop us from discussing, speculating, and inevitably making really bad jokes on today's episode. So all aboard bitches let's roll!   Let us begin back…back…waaaaay back in 1918. We're talking about the USS Cyclops. Aside from having a great name, it fits the bill on mass disappearances. USS Cyclops (AC-4) was the second of four Proteus-class colliers built for the United States Navy several years before World War I. A collier is a fancy name for a big ass coal cargo ship. The USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier in the US Navy, was a converted collier. This was actually the second ship to bear the name Cyclops. She had been swimming around hauling coal and helping refugees between the Baltic sea, the Bahamas, and Mexico since 1910. In 1917 she was covered to help haul troops and coal all over the world during WW1.  In March 1918, the ship was given a new cargo: tons and tons of dense manganese ore, used in steelmaking. She left Brazil loaded up with the brittle metal, then voyaged to Barbados to resupply for the long journey home to Baltimore. That's where things get interesting. On the journey home something went wrong and the ship was never heard from again. Not even an sos. The last known transmission from the Cyclops was "weather fair, all well" at the beginning of the trip home. When the ship did not reach Baltimore a massive search was undertaken. Every naval ship from Cuba to Puerto Rico was sent out to search for debris. At the time, given it was during the war, the general consensus was that she was sunk by the Germans. But during the search, ships could not find any debris field that would be evident if it was torpedoed. In fact no one found anything…anything at all. It seemed the ship just disappeared. 306 people were just… gone. It remains to this day, the single largest loss of life in the history of the United States Navy that did not directly involve combat! Wow that's pretty crazy. So what exactly happened? Well there are theories abound my friends!    First there is a mini conspiracy theory that the captain sabotaged the ship or even took it all the way to Germany! Why, you ask? Well let us tell you. It is said that the crew was unhappy with the captain. You see, Captain Worley was hated by his staff and officers and was accused of being pro German. It was discovered later that Worley was actually German born and had changed his name at some point. It's not known why he changed his name. On top of that, the US Consulate General of Rio, named Gottschalk, boarded the ship with 73 other local sailors. Gottschalk was very popular with the German community in Brazil. Couple this with the fact that upon leaving Brazil, the ship was said to have been overloaded and people began to speculate. They say that Worley and Gottschalk purposely sabotaged the ship in some way to favor the Germans back home. Either that or the thought is that they essentially stole the crew and cargo and headed back to Germany. Seems plausible, until you try and figure how a few men could have forced 300 men to go back to Germany.  There are several theories of the ship being struck by a rogue wave or breaking up at sea. One sailor reported when they reached Rio, that on the way, the deck of the ship would sway when the ship was struck with large waves. He says the ship was showing signs of structural failure. Could that have been the issue? If so…where was the debris? Another theory was that the ship was overloaded and ran into a storm in which the unstable ship overturned and sank to the bottom of the ocean. Again…why no debris though?   For a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Tom Mangold had an expert from Lloyds investigate the loss of the Cyclops. The expert noted that manganese ore, being much denser than coal, had room to move within the holds even when fully laden, the hatch covers were canvas, and that when wet, the ore can become a slurry. As such, the load could shift and cause the ship to list. Listing is caused by the off-centerline distribution of weight aboard due to uneven loading or to flooding. By contrast, roll is the dynamic movement from side to side caused by waves. If a listing ship goes beyond the point where a righting moment will keep it afloat, it will capsize and potentially sink. Combined with a possible loss of power from its one engine, it could fill with water and go down in bad weather.   Then there's our personal favorite…the Bermuda triangle just straight fucked it up and aliens took it. That's right passengers…this happened in the infamous Bermuda triangle!!! So of course there are numerous theories involving the Bermuda triangle and supernatural goings on.  Most of these Bermuda triangle theories involve either aliens coming down and abducting the ship and crew, or aliens under the ocean coming up and claiming the ship for themselves. We here at the train, well at least Moody, think that this is the most plausible explanation of course.    So what do you guys think? Aliens?.... Yea it was aliens…   Ok so up next we're heading up to the great white north. For those of you who don't know…that's Canada.. You know America's hat. Anyway.. we're looking at the lake Anjikuni incident. The telling of this mystery was taken from mysterioustrip.com.  Anjikuni Lake is located deep in the Kivallig area of rural Nunavut in Canada. Placed near the Kazan River, the lake is perfect for fishing and trout. Anjikuni fastly became a home for the Inuit tribe; it developed soon into a colony and became popular almost instantly on a cold November day in 1930. Joe Labelle, a Canadian fur trapper, was more than an efficient individual who spent a lot of time doing outdoor activities. He was very familiar with the area; he knew that the people established a community. Joe was acquainted with the Inuit stories of wood ghosts that were reportedly harmful, and this remote part was soaked in the tales of the Wendigo. Labelle generally didn't have any fear or anxiety; however, this specific night at the lake became different. The full moon was casting a spooky luminosity all over the village, and no one was moving. The Huskies that were usually loud with the influx of travelers were quiet as well. The only sound he could hear was of his own steps made on the snow and the concave reverb of his greeting. He quickly understood something was not normal, and he started investigating as soon as he entered the village. The village was in complete silence, and he could see no one. No noise of conversation or laughter was detected. What's worse was the complete lack of smoke originating from chimneys that denoted the presence of living beings.   Joe noticed a fire at a distance and went towards it to inspect; the fire seemed to be burning for a significant amount of time. Upon further investigation, he found that someone started their supper preparations; however, they didn't finish making it. LaBelle continued towards the village, ready to bump into someone who could tell her what was really happening here. Joe, stepping out of his uncontrollable feelings, began an investigation into the Inuit's homes to search for any clues related to the silence and made a sudden and quick decision to leave the village.   He found that several homes were well-stocked with food and weapons; he further found a burnt meal in another house. In one spot, he found a repair of a junior sealskin that was yet to be finished. Sadly, he couldn't conclude anything.   As there wasn't any conclusive answer concerning what took place, it must certainly have been an unexpected event that spread widely and involved all 30 men, women & children in the village. Food, clothing, and weapons were left behind. But Why? There was no answer   More investigation directed him to a pair of findings that was enough to give him goosebumps. To the extent that he was able to tell, whatever happened, had happened recently.   He examined the entire village and found no new traces in the snow apart from his own. The most ghastly discovery he made was of the dogs. Seven of them had starved to death. This evidence was enough to persuade him to head to the nearest telegraph office located farther away. That would mean that Joe had to overlook basic requirements such as shelter and food; however, he was in a hurry to leave the place and seek assistance. As beaten and frostbitten as Labelle was, he finally stumbled into the telegraph office. In a few minutes, he sent an emergency message to the nearest RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) camp. By the time the Mounties reached, many hours later, Labelle had calmed himself enough to talk about his distressing stories.   According to 1984's article – The world's most significant UFO mysteries, written by Roger Boar and Nigel Blundell– the Mounties, when on their way to the Angikuni Lake mystery, took a bit of time to rest at a shack alongside a trapper and his two sons. They explained to the trapper and his sons that they are heading towards Anjikuni Lake to solve a ‘problem.' The Mounties asked the trapper if he had seen anything strange these past few days. Upon asking this question, the trapper was compelled to admit that he and his two sons had noticed an eerie luminous object flying all over the sky a few days ago. He further stated that he had seen giant, gleaming ‘flying objects' changing shape right before their eyes. And this object was flying towards the village at Anjikuni lake.   So did this event even happen? Or was LaBelle making it up. According to skeptoid.com( see we look at both sides equally) here are a number of things about the Joe Labelle story that raise red flags. For one thing, it happened in November, when average temperatures are 13°C degrees below freezing. Angikuni Lake is a sheet of ice; kayaks pulled up on the beach would not be "battered by wave action". The very presence of kayaks so far inland is suspect, though not impossible. Migratory Inuit would often park their kayaks to hunt caribou. These eastern Iglulik kayaks were made of sealskin stretched over willow branches. But the small Angikuni Lake is landlocked so far inland on the Barrens that neither willow nor sealskin were available, and this would be, by far, the farthest inland that the historical use of Iglulik kayaks would have ever been documented. Not impossible, but highly suspect.   Labelle described a permanent settlement, a "friendly little Eskimo village" of "about thirty inhabitants" that he'd known "for many years". A statement from the Mounted Police says "A village with such a large population would not have existed in such a remote area of the Northwest Territories." They had left sealskin garments behind, in a region where there was caribou hide rather than sealskin; and as a trapper Labelle should have been able to identify it properly. So there was either a series of quite improbable circumstances, or Labelle was wrong.    Today, no physical evidence exists of a village at Angikuni Lake, and nobody has ever published an account of going up there and clearing away any remnants. So we have to rely on documentary evidence to find the true history of the vanishing village.   So with all the contradictory evidence what is real and what isn't. Was there a group of Inuits that completely disappeared or was it a tall tale? Could it be a combination of both and the truth is somewhere in the middle? Who knows…either way…crazy story! Next up we head to Brazil and the village of Hoer Verde! We got the following info mostly from coolinterestingstuff.com. The Mysterious legend of Hoer Verde, the town with 600 inhabitants that vanished, is certainly confusing and troubling.   The case will cause you to ask questions, questions like “how can anything like that ever happen with absolutely no evidence to suggest anything unusual had happened?”   Like so many legends from the area, information on Hoer Verde is difficult to track down. But what information is accessible is not only disturbing, but incredibly perplexing.   As visitors to the village entered the small town they were immediately struck by how dead everything was. Unlike other villages of six hundred no one was walking through the streets.   Hanging signs waved in the gentle wind creaking noisily juxtaposed with the uneasy footsteps and subdued whispers of those passing through. As they passed by local houses and looked in the windows it was evident immediately that something wasn't right. No one was anywhere to be seen.   The police were called, and investigators descended on the town to look through the village. As they came to the town's school they found a gun, which they took to be forensically examined. And then the investigators looked to the blackboard on which the words, “There is no salvation” were written. After a cursory examination, they realized that it had been fired the day before, but by whom they were unsure.   A manhunt ensued for the 600 villagers in the small town. Despite this, no trace of any of the locals was ever unearthed.   As newspaper reports of the town's disappearance reached the west it was considered a curiosity, but with the shifting political climate of Brazil in 1923 it was considered possible that the town had evacuated to avoid conflict with guerrillas.   Another mysterious element is the original language of the phrase “There is no salvation.” Though the phrase has been largely translated into English, the phrase holds little significance in English or Portuguese. However, if the words had been “Illic est haud salus.” in Latin or some variation of it, this could have been related to the phrase “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” which is a Catholic phrase meaning “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” If this was the case in a largely Catholic area, the lesson could have been a religious lesson which was interrupted by some unknown force, but with no specific significance itself.    So what happened…we don't know…but you know there are some crazy theories!!   Let's start with the most bizarre theory that is floating around. This theory states the 600 residents of Hoer Verde were swallowed by a black hole taking them all to a fourth dimension. yes…that's a theory. Along those lines there's the inevitable alien abduction talk. Could aliens have really come down and abducted 600 people? We like to think so but who knows.    The next  theory people point to is the political landscape in Brazil leading to soldiers or revolutionaries forcing all the villagers to evacuate. The only thing is the villagers disappeared in 1923. There was no civil war going on at the time, as is sometimes referred to with the legend. Also the revolution didn't occur until 1930 and another occurred in 1932. In neither case was a village of 600 reported to be wiped out or relocated.    And then there's the issues of the names of the towns, one town is completely nameless in the legend while Hoer Verde is a rather strange name for a village or town in Brazil, for one Verde translates to green from Portuguese to English but Hoer is not a word in Portuguese. It seems to be a Dutch word that is a derogatory word for sex workers.   Second, the legend states the town has been forgotten to time but one source we found says they were able to find multiple lists of towns and villages dating back to the 16th century for Brazil. No name comes close to Hoer Verde except for Ouro Preto, which translates to black gold and the history for it goes back to 1698.   So this story is pretty crazy huh. Well turns out it may also be completely made up. There's been a research dive that traces the origins of this story to a fairly recent article in a sketchy Russian newspaper written by a man named Mikhaylov Andrei. To put this guy into perspective, in the same article he blames the disappearance at the colony of Roanoke on protoplasm coming from the ocean and devouring the people off the colony…yea…he claims it happens every few millennia. So while the myth of Hoer Verde lives on…it may just be that…a myth!   Next up we are gonna look at the Moche civilization. Information for this tale we got from an article on Fodors.com. The Moche culture remains one of the most mysterious unknowns of Peruvian history, and with the more prominent Incas filling up most of the pages in the history books, the Moches do not receive as much attention. The Moche believed in gory human sacrifice and produced famously beautiful pottery, built huge, bizarre brick pyramids and had a complex and efficient irrigation system. Some of the aqueducts are still in use today.   All researchers can glean from the Moche civilization is through a collection of artistic masterpieces from archaeological digs, writings from Spanish invaders (the Moche did not use a predominant written language), and other fragments left behind in Peru's northern coastal regions. The Moche civilization lived and flourished along the northern coast of Peru from the 1st to the 8th century A.D., with their highest concentration of residents in the popular Trujillo region and Chicama valley. Due to the riches of this land, which included access to sturdy clay and precious metals, the Moche civilization accumulated significant wealth and power during this pre-Incan period. At the foot of the Cerra Blanca Mountain, Moche's capital city covered 300 hectares, or 3 million square meters of an opulent environment that offered residents a tight community of people, storehouses, open plazas, and ramps for easy entry to multiple-level structures. The upper elite also planned fields surrounding the city (indicating a class-based society). Building this capital took the Moches 600 years to complete and involved no fewer than six construction phases.          In addition, the capital included two now-famous pyramids often open to tourists today: the Huaca Del Sol (Temple of the Sun), a structure standing more than 50 meters in height and encompassing an area of 340 by 160 meters, and the Huaca De La Luna (Temple of the Moon), built using millions of adobe bricks. Which, if you know anything about photoshop, is quite a feat. Researchers believed both were used as prodigious religious tombs.     Although monuments and temples remain for archeologists to research today, most of the tangible objects left behind by the Moches were artistic, creative artifacts full of intricate designs and pops of bold colors. Considered skillful metalworkers and adept potters, the Moches produced sophisticated headdresses made of real gold for their goddesses, jewelry of valuable metals, chest plates to show prestige, textiles for ornamentation and wardrobe, utensils for eating, and tools for working in the fields.           In 700 A.D., the Moches moved their capital city to Pampa Grande in the Lambayeque Valley, approximately 40 miles from the Pacific Ocean. They constructed this city to include large pyramids and temples made of dirt using a method called chamber and fill, which allowed loose dirt to clump into cribbed walls. No one knows exactly why the Moche civilization eventually disappeared. Many researchers believe El Niňo caused substantial damage to the fields and irrigation systems, as they found confirmation of flooding at every single ceremonial site. (The chamber and fill approach appeared to hurt them significantly.) Archeologists also think the Moches abandoned Pampa Grande quickly and as they left, set their city on fire—but why?   The El Nino mentioned above is a prevailing theory. It is said that it was…wait for it… A SUPER EL NINO!!!!! So basically the easiest way to describe it is that the Moche faced 30 years of flood condition weather and rain followed by 30 years of drought conditions. Harsh. Some say this led to an issue with fertile soil so the citizens couldn't really dig, plant and grow crops. Also, because of the El nino theory, Dramatic changes in the ocean's environment could also be one of the reasons why the Moche, an early pre-Columbian civilization in Peru, fell apart over 1000 years ago.    No one is 100 percent sure what happened to the Moche. The Moche are not the only civilization to have disappeared without a discernible reason. They are scattered throughout history and the world from the Aztalan civilization in the American West to the inhabitants of great Zimbabwe. The disappearances of civilizations is definitely an interesting topic overall.   Changing the tone a bit, we're next going to look at an airliner that disappeared with 95 military personnel on board. Flying Tiger Line Flight 739, a Lockheed Super Constellation airliner, was scheduled to transport 96 military personnel from the US to Vietnam and disappeared on March 16, 1962.    According to the military, the men were under orders to relieve soldiers in Saigon tasked with training Vietnamese troops to fight the Viet Cong guerillas. As such, the flight was operated by the Military Air Transport Service (MATS). A few stopovers were made along the route—one in Honolulu, one in Wake Island, and a final one in Guam. With nine and half hours of fuel remaining, their final stretch was estimated to take around six hours. Sadly, however, they were never seen again.   Guam Centre grew concerned when the flight failed to make its scheduled position report at 15:30. They attempted to contact the aircraft without luck. When the flight also failed to make its destination, a distress status was initiated, and one of the largest search and rescue operations to date commenced. The search was conducted by the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines and covered more than 200,000 square miles. It came up empty, and nearly 60 years later, not a trace of the flight has been found.    Strangely, another MATS-operated Super Connie in the Flying Tiger Line, this one carrying secret military cargo, also met with tragedy that day. Departing from the same airport at roughly the same time as Flight 739, Flight 7816 (N6911C) crashed during an attempted instrument approach to Adak Island, Alaska. Of the seven people on board, six crew members suffered minor injuries, and one died after becoming trapped in the fire. The timing of the incident with Flight 739's disappearance raised many red flags.   The only potential clue to Flight 739's fate came from onboard a Liberian tanker, the SS T L Linzen, where witnesses noticed vapor trails moving west and disappearing into a layer of cumulus clouds. A few seconds later, they observed a large, two-pulse explosion, followed by two fireballs falling from the sky at different speeds. The ship's radar flagged a target approximately 17 miles from its current position, or roughly 500 miles off the coast of Guam. The location fell in line with the approximate flight path of 739, so search and rescue operations gave focus to the area. It is in the remote Pacific Ocean, so it's a wonder that anyone witnessed the event at all.    The idea of a Super Connie exploding mid-flight was too improbable for aircraft experts to believe, leading many to the conclusion of sabotage. For one, L-1049Hs were not known to have any fuel problems or electrical issues near fuel tanks. Additionally, nothing on board would have been powerful enough to blow apart. So, if the plane did explode, the theory goes, it would likely have been caused by impact with an external force, such as a meteor or, more sinisterly, a missile. With the United States in the throes of the Vietnam and Cold Wars, proponents of the shoot-down theory have pointed toward the Soviet Union as a possible villain in this scenario.    Assuming the explosion was unrelated, another possibility is that the flight was hijacked and those onboard taken hostage. However, the kidnappers would have likely made demands for the men's release at some point, and such demands never came—or were at least not made public knowledge. Kidnapping theories are common with disappearances of aircraft, including Malaysia Flight 370.    For surviving families, the most popular theory has always been that the men were part of a secret military operation gone awry. This is supported by claims that they left behind important items, such as their IDs and wedding bands, and gave long, drawn-out goodbyes—as if they knew they were never coming back. Still desperate for answers, some family members recently attempted to submit their DNA to the military database used to identify bodies found abroad. The government denied those requests, citing legal reasons. It has also denied decades of pleading to have the servicemen's names added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, remaining adamant that they were never part of any war mission.   Maintenance problems had already been addressed while the plane was in Guam, but it's rare for a mechanical issue to cause an explosion, though it can't be completely ruled out—likewise with sabotage. While neither option can be dismissed entirely, there's no evidence that they happened.    The missile theory is also speculative. If an enemy had chosen to shoot down this flight, who would that have been? The Soviet Union, which was a Cold War adversary, was the only other nation capable of downing a high-flying plane mid-ocean. But why would the Soviets have done it? And why in such a remote expanse of the Pacific? There's no clear motive and no evidence to support such a claim. A more likely explanation is the explosion of ordinance, accidentally or as an act of sabotage by some unknown actor, aboard the secret military flight.    In late 2020, surviving family members constructed a monument in South Portland, Maine, honoring the servicemen of Flight 739. We got most of this indoor from a cool article on planeandpilotmag.com   How about some of your favorite quick hitters!   SS WARATAH   In July 1909, the SS Waratah was heading for Cape Town, South Africa, on its way back from Melbourne, Australia, making a scheduled stop in Durban on the way. It was carrying over 200 people, both passengers and crew, but as it left port to complete its journey, one passenger elected to remain behind.    Engineer Claude Sawyer had made many journeys by sea, and he was so concerned by the behavior of this brand new ship that he disembarked in Durban and sent a message to his wife describing the ship as "top heavy." The Waratah left port at 8 a.m. on July 26, and headed into rough seas for its journey to Cape Town. At 6 a.m. the following day it overtook another ship, the Clan McIntyre, and exchanged signals, before the Waratah disappeared into the distance, never to be seen or heard from again.    According to the Master of a vessel called the Clan McIntyre, when the Waratah passed him, his ship was sailing into nine meter waves and a violent storm. Two ships later claimed to have seen bodies and debris in the water, however nothing was ever actually recovered.    An expedition sponsored by author Clive Cussler claimed to have found the ship in the 1980s. However, when the searchers eventually reached the wreck, they actually discovered a World War II transport vessel instead. The mystery of the SS Waratah's fate remains.   AZTALAN INDIANS   Just outside the small town of Lake Mills in south central Wisconsin, on the banks of the Crawfish River, lie the remains of a Native American city called Aztalan. The Wisconsin settlers who discovered it in 1836 named it "Aztalan" due to a misplaced assumption that the Native Americans who lived there had a connection to the Aztecs.   The ancient city contained stepped pyramids, conical mounds, evidence of housing, fishing, and farming, and even a substantial defensive stockade wall containing up to 30 watchtowers. And according to local legend, they even built large stone pyramids in the bottom of what's now called Rock Lake in Lake Mills. But the valley was later flooded, meaning that evidence to prove this legend true is hard to come by.    At its peak, Aztalan would been occupied by around 500 people between 700 to a thousand years ago. But at some point after 1300 AD, the site was mysteriously abandoned, and no one really knows why.    According to an article published by Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine, evidence points to a few different theories about their fate: a lack of resources, drought, and violence from other nearby Native American settlements.    Despite a very obvious intention of these early Wisconsinites to remain — nothing says "I'm staying!" like a large defensive wall — they're now nothing more than local history and legend.   ROMAN 9TH LEGION   The Ninth Legion was a Roman military formation of around 5,000 soldiers stationed in York in Northern England during Rome's occupation of Britain. This unit maintained control of the wild inhabitants of what would later become northern England and Scotland. In 108 AD, an inscription in the City of York places the legion in the city. However, 50 years later, when a new record of the legions was completed, no mention of the ninth appeared   What could've happened to erase the existence of 5,000 soldiers? No one really knows.   According to a Roman writer, many Roman soldiers were killed in Britain at the beginning of the second century, necessitating several reinforcements. This included the arrival of a new Legion, the Sixth, in 122 AD, which took up residence in the now presumably empty York.    No records describe the Ninth Legion's fate. Some theories suggest the Legion was simply sent elsewhere, though there's little evidence to support this. Meanwhile, Emperor Hadrian visited the British Isles at the beginning of the second century. To take control of the Briton-on-Roman violence, he ordered the construction of a 73 mile long, 15 foot high, fortified wall across the island to keep the invaders out of Roman territory. And you don't go doing that unless you've got a good reason — like say losing an entire legion.    Hadrian's wall still stands today. However, there's still no sign of the ultimate fate of the Ninth legion — and there probably never will be.   SS POET   The SS Poet was a former World War II troop transport that was mothballed for 20 years after the war, before being bought and converted to carry cargo. Considered "old but sturdy" in October 1980, the ship had an experienced crew of 34 men — including the captain who'd been at sea for 41 years — when it mysteriously disappeared.   On the morning of October 24, 1980, the SS Poet sailed from Philadelphia with a load of corn bound for Egypt, where it was due to arrive on November 9. As it passed Cape Henlopen later the same morning, the Poet sent its last message before heading out into the Atlantic, and into history.   The following day a storm blew up in the North Atlantic with 30 foot waves and 60 mph winds. But for a ship like the Poet that shouldn't have mattered. When the storm finally passed it left behind no trace of the Poet, no debris, and no distress signal was ever heard.   A popular explanation for the loss proposes an undiscovered hull leak that would have caused the ship to become unstable and founder in the bad weather. However with no evidence to back that up, fingers were soon pointed at the owner who had failed to report the ship missing for several days after losing contact, and at the coast guard who didn't begin a search for another four days after that. Well-built ships with experienced crews don't just vanish without cause, but that doesn't mean we'll ever know what it was.   we got these quick hitters from an article on grunge.com.

For over 100 years, the Detroit Mounted Police Unit has been not only keeping the community safe, but also helping to build relationships with the community. The latest Daily J takes an in-depth look at one of the most storied units in the country.

Over 100 demonstrators were arrested on Friday after the Ottawa police service began to dismantle the Freedom Convoy protests. Some protesters were trampled by mounted police, including a handicapped elderly woman, as riot cops advanced with support from armored vehicles and SWAT units. Protesters remain camped outside Canadian federal buildings as of Friday night, though Ottawa police have managed to significantly tighten the perimeter. Images and video coming from the Canadian national capital of Ottawa today sent shockwaves around the globe. Hundreds were arrested and went peacefully, but police were at times brutal. One group of Canadian police officers on horseback were caught on video trampling protesters. The violence the Prime Minister has expressed concern about during the three-week protest in Ottawa didn't unfold until Justin Trudeau's Emergencies Act police army was sent in to disperse the crowd. The three major incidents Friday, under a form of martial law, were grotesque. Video of Toronto Police Mounted Unit officers charging into the crowd and at least one horse trampling multiple people — including an elderly woman with a walker — was disturbing. Help fund our coverage of the Freedom convoy! We are covering the freedom convoy to show you the other side of the story the mainstream media won't. Please donate to fund our journalism and to offset the cost of our coverage: https://anchor.fm/freedom-reportage/support --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/global-reportage/support

Peace N

In this bonus episode, Kate and Becky are joined by Jess, Conquest centre manager as they go behind the scenes with the Mounted Police. It was an interesting visit and we watched some desensitisation training and visited the horses in their Stables. Lots to learn and lots of ideas....watch this space. If you are enjoying our podcast please share, like and subscribe. You can follow Kate and Becky on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube: Equilogical Positive Equine Partnerships and Little Green Stables. To see all our training videos, behind the scenes with the Police videos and so much more, join us on Patreon/Little Green Stables

Lou interviews LAPD Sergeant Mark Williams, a 36-year veteran.  He spent several years on Patrol. He was involved in Vice, Narcotics, Gangs (crash), Homicide, Surveillance, Metro, Internal Affairs, Mounted Unit, and Air Support/ Head of Maintenance. This show is about trying to fix heavy societal problems in a practical way, using common sense logic, and reasoning. Lou brings his perspective as a former police officer, global personal security specialist to some of the most iconic companies and individuals on the planet. However, Lou's most important perspective as a father. In the end, it's about us handing over a better place for the next generation.Our show is interactive with our audience, callers, and renowned guests. No topics are ignored, however, be prepared to get an earful and interact as there are no sound-bite answers to these meaningful questions. Our show is passionate yet not snarky nor patronizing – we listen to both sides, ask relevant questions, stay on topic, and then Lou chimes in with a recap and practical breakdown with problem-solving that lays out a foundation for change – “heavy lifting” rather than kicking the can down the road. Visit our website:  www.betweenthelines.tvCreditsIt City Entertainment Production In association with Tenacity Entertainment Executive ProducersBrian B WilliamsLloyd Bryan Molander  Produced and Directed by Lloyd Bryan Molander Story ProducerRyan Rossell Recorded at Studio Podcast Suites, Jacksonville FLExecutive Producer Gary Spurgeon 

Where did the idea to have police on horseback in Australia come from? Australia's mounted police date back to the early 1800s and played a key role in sending messages and controlling the convict workforce.

Hi, I am here with Steve Prentice, He is a professional speaker, published author, writer, journalist, project manager, university lecturer, and consultant, who helps people, businesses, and technology understand each other. he wears a few hats, but ultimately it's all about communicating and implementing the ideas, plans, and skills that are vital for surviving and thriving in a quickly changing world.CHECK THIS AMAZING WEBSITE BY STEVE FOR MORE INFOhttps://www.steveprentice.com/JOIN NOW!! AND BE PART OF MASTERMIND PROGRAMlearn how to activate yourself for a better future!https://createanewtomorrow.com/master...CHECK THIS LINK FOR A FREE GIFT FOR YOU!https://www.createanewtomorrow.com/giftDO YOU WANT TO BE OUR NEXT SPECIAL GUEST?Book an appointment now and let's create a new world together!https://booking.builderall.com/calend...CHECK THIS OTHER WEBSITE FOR MORE INFORMATION!https://www.CreateAnewtomorrow.comhttps://www.Achievehealthusa.comCreate a fundamental change in the global community from a strictly reactive system of medicine that focuses on symptom and emergency treatment to a proactive system based on whole-being health as well as illness and injury prevention. Personally teach and influence at least one million people.We are a multifaceted Health and Wellness company that specializes in Corporate Wellness and Culture Consulting, Industry Speaking engagements and Continuing education for the industry.We Help corporations by solving the most costly problems they have with Productivity and Health Care while creating a culture that thrives on accomplishment and community.We help organizations think outside of the box and gain tools that allow them to be nimble and strong as tides and markets shift.We Up level the skills and tools of other practitioners by providing them continuing education that actually leads to greater success and standing in the business community.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Ari Gronich 0:00  I'm Ari Gronich, and this is create a new tomorrow podcast.Welcome back to another episode of create a new tomorrow I am your host, Ari Gronich. Remember to like subscribe, rate review, comment below. Anything that you have to say good, bad, indifferent, we want to have the conversations. That's the whole important point. Let's have these conversations that created a new tomorrow today and move our country forward so we can activate our vision for a better world. Today, I have with me, Steve Prentice. Steve is, you know, he works in the space where people and technology collide. He's got degrees in organizational psychology and journalism. And he focuses on the way humans work with our in spite of technological advances to help companies become more pragmatic in their usage. Steve, why don't you tell us a little bit about your your history and what got you and interested in what you're doing and, and how you became you.Steve Prentice 1:22  I just love technology. And I love what it can do. My father was an engineer. And even though I'm not, I still have that desire to see how things work, take them apart and bring them back together again. So when I was trying to find work as a student in university, I got a temp job. And this was in the days when dos based computers with a thing before windows before the internet. And what I noticed was that people were having trouble with things such as the F keys on the keyboard, it sounds very arbitrary right now. But what those F keys mean. And if you go back, if you're as old as I am, you can remember when dealing with things like WordPerfect, these these programs, before Microsoft became the ruler of everything. In order to print a document, you have to memorize this combination of things, it's actually Shift F seven and one in case anybody's checking. But the fact is, this is totally not a human thing. This is an engineering thing. And people got stuck on this, and people had to get training courses on how to use technology. And I thought, well, you know, this is not really what it should be about, there should be some sort of intuitive way that we can get together with our technology. And to this day, that hasn't fully happened. And it's not blaming engineers at all, but there's just always a disconnect between those who create the technologies and those who have to use them. So I've created kind of a style and an ability to speak, to write, to teach and also to consult organizations, including for some very large, you know, huge, well known high tech firms on how to explain their technologies, you know, how to take concepts like artificial intelligence or facial recognition away from being simply a technological cool thing. A factoring in the fear people may have about these technologies, identity, privacy, or even job loss, and saying, How can we make these things mixed together? And that's, that's really what I've been doing now for almost 30 years. And it just keeps on happening. And I just love it.Ari Gronich 3:17  Well, yeah, I happen to be old enough to remember WordPerfect wordstar. You know, writing code in basic, and then DOS and Harvard graphics. What was thatSteve Prentice 3:33  Harvard graphics? That PowerPoint?Ari Gronich 3:36  Yes. You know, trying to create a game like Pong right? Back in, in the days of, of the old green and orange monitors, things. That's actually while I was going to school, one of the things that I did is I used to repair old 286 sX computers, the ones that are massively huge and heavy. And for some reason, I had a ability to figure out having not known much at the time, which jumper was out of place and which one needed to be put back into place. But these days, I'll tell you the truth, my my technological prowess has been depleted into almost nothingness. And technology is moving at such a an exponential rate, that it makes it difficult for my old foggy brain to to learn a new trick. So, you know, why don't you kind of give us a little bit about this current side of technology, and maybe some ways either that people can understand it, and actually do it. Because for me, like I understand the concepts of what they say too. Do but the technology and the integrations and the minutiae are so unique, that I find that I think that a lot of people are having trouble reaching their goals simply because of the technology that they don't know how to use rather than not having products or services that are valuable and worthy of people finding out about them.Steve Prentice 5:23  Absolutely. I mean, here's, here's number one, we've we've been going through extremely tough year, we're not out of the woods yet with regards to everything going on. And one of the major offshoots, aside from the tragedy of this year is job losses, and just people who have had real trouble just keeping afloat because of the changes in commerce. Now, one thing that I do say, and I was saying this, even before the COVID thing happened, was, there's never been a better time to be at work right now. But there's also never been a better time to be out of work. And that sounds like a cynical statement, but it's not intended to be. What I'm saying here is that there's never been a better time to find new work. And the mindset, you were talking about the old foggy brain a moment ago, and the mindset from, let's say, a couple of decades ago, with regards to what a job was, and what a career was, was largely focused on maybe staying with the same job for your entire career, staying employable within a company, we're now moving into an era where people of all ages are much more aware of their career mobility, we have the technologies, you know, the job sites, the websites, and the simple networking capacity for people to do so much more with themselves in terms of what they would like to do rather than what they think they should do. So it doesn't mean that it's easy, as you know, just a simple little thing. But it does mean that it's eminently possible for people to maintain their careers, move on to other jobs, take the non transferable skills that they have learned, and market themselves. We've seen job sites getting more intelligent over the years, matching people up with jobs and recruiters and so forth. But we've also got things like LinkedIn, which are largely underused, because people don't quite understand how to use LinkedIn. Everyone's sort of opened up a profile, they're stuck their resume there, and nothing really happened. But this is an example of a tool that can be used extremely proactively in the the art and science and magic of career self fulfillment. What I mean, for example, is you could go on and what I recommend to people to do always two key rules about LinkedIn. And there's no other platform that is similar to them to this for this opportunity for us. Number one is to make sure you have a great profile that describes you, what you do, what you can do what you have done, perhaps with a couple of endorsements from past managers, employers or customers, and to have a picture of yourself, I mean, I recommend some people may not want to do that for personal security reasons. But aside from that, you know, if you can put your picture up, you're immediately now connecting with people on the emotional and instinctive level, which is what my you know, my sort of primary focus of work is, I doesn't matter what you look like, it's just that I want to have a face that I can relate to. And this is where trust starts, when I can, I can see who I'm dealing with. So we're having a, a place on LinkedIn, that is you that is step number one. And step number two, is as you build your group of people, your contacts, and they're not accepting just anybody who asks to join, but the pedigree of your contacts based on people that you would recommend and trust, and you know them and respect them professionally. Once a day, once a day, you go on to LinkedIn, and you just see what LinkedIn tells you about your contacts who's celebrating a work anniversary today, who has just got a new job who has posted an Instagram in an article and just say, hey, congratulations, well done. Thumbs up. Because what you're doing when you do that, is you are warming your the memory of you in their minds and hearts and you are building what is the most significant and important asset to your career, which is your network, it doesn't mean that individual is going to hire you, per se, or you don't sort of say, hey, happy birthday, oh, by the way, please hire me or please buy my product, you just build a network. And this network is responsible for finding new opportunities for giving you references or leads. And also you can do the same for them. So all I'm saying is that back in the day before the LinkedIn existed, I would have been talking about this with regards to business card Rolodex is a collection of business cards that just having 10,000 business cards does not make you well connected, you're much better connected with a little black book of 100 names than a box of 1000 business cards. So in this era, the active and the proactive dynamic and artificially intelligent Lee enhanced concepts behind LinkedIn and I don't work for them by the way, I just simply saying this is what they can do for you is to further your connections in the world and open up those opportunities. So it doesn't matter how old you are. There's never been a better time to be looking for work. And I described this about myself. All the time, for 30 years I have been looking for work. problem is I keep finding it. And I find it because I just always keep in touch with the people who can refer me other business I have never advertised in my life, it can be done. And so what I'm saying is when you tie in to tech technology and people and old mindsets and new mindsets together, what you're seeing is, there's a remarkably great opportunity to take just a little bit, a little slice of what LinkedIn can offer and turn that into a key that opens the door for your future that you're much more in control of. And I think that's a very satisfying place to be. So that's one example. I'll pause for a second, but I have a second one coming up too. Well,Ari Gronich 10:41  I appreciate that. That's, it's good advice for people to remember that these platforms are really about relationship building versus, you know, cold selling.Steve Prentice 10:54  Absolutely. cold call selling was was a thing. Of course, we know that and some people still do it. I used to teach courses in sales to a big bank. And I was shocked. This is only about 20 years ago. And I was shocked that they were still using 1950s concepts called smile and dial you know you're performing, you just have a list of numbers you call them. And you expect a 98% rejection rate You're doing well, if you get two calls out of 100 that don't hang up on you. Now, is that really a way to do business? Wouldn't you rather have someone who says, Hey, I'm looking for a good accountant? Can you recommend one? And when a trusted friend of mine says yes, I know this person. Now I've got the word of mouth and the trust factor at a much higher level. And there are technologies that allow retailers to do that, for example, if you are a small business owner, a store owner, or if you own a larger store with lots of sales associates, what can you do to pull in the data that your customers may have entered into their profile on your website, talking about the things that they like what they love, so that when you do speak to them, you're speaking to them on a much higher level saying, Oh, yes, last time you were in the shop, you bought this, you know, these are examples. There's there's so many examples we could use that show this kind of connection between people. And it's been a difficult year for people who are now learning to work from home. And that's that's a big challenge not only for adults, but for school aged children as well. And one of the biggest problems that we see from a technological standpoint with people is security in terms of we hear all the stories all the time about companies getting breached, and data being leaked, and malware and ransomware. And hospitals being held hostage by this is terrible stuff. And so much of this comes from us humble humans, you know that most of the the bad stuff it gets into an organization isn't done through a sophisticated drilling technique. It's done by fooling us humans to let them in at the vampires in. So this means that we have to learn how to use passwords and passwords have been for the last 20 years. For a lot of people, it's going to be the names of their kids, the dogs their first school, the most common password to this day is something like password 123 or 123456. And even administrators who look after the computers for us, will so often use admin or admin 123 is their password to save time. It's a hassle trying to think about passwords. So my point is, well, why should it be? You know, first of all, it shouldn't really be up to us to have to do this. But unfortunately we do because we are the weak link in the chain, whether we're working from home or getting that email in the you know, in your inbox at work that says hey, click on this, it's a job application or it's a it's a COVID hygiene update, something like that, then we get fooled into clicking on the bad stuff. Now when it comes to managing passwords, we should never have to write another password. Again, there are password management software programs out there, which will generate passwords for you that are amazingly complicated. They're strings of letters and numbers and punctuation that you could never possibly memorize. Now, reason I'm saying this is because they do work, of course. But for the end user, there's a trust factor that says How can I let go of this thing. I'm comfortable maintaining passwords that I can remember, now you're asking me to give this over to a piece of software to use. And I'm letting go of the control of using these passwords. So this is the Rubicon, if you'd like the river that I have to get people over to say, to understand how password management software works, that you don't have to memorize them any longer. It will take care of this for you. Every time you log on to your favorite web page, it will log you in but nobody else can get in because these are too difficult to figure out. And they say oh, I couldn't possibly let go of this. I need to I need to have control over my passwords. So I say okay, quick little test here. Think about the third person on your contact list in your phone and tell me what their phone number is. And they'll say, I don't know. I just pull it up and it dials for me. And it's an aha so you're not worried about forgetting there. numbers because your phone will take care of it. And it's like, it's a bit like a gotcha moment to show that we have emerged into some areas where we have let go of the control and given it over to our machines, not in any way to lose control, but to share the control. And those are the kinds of fear concepts that I work with. So I'm not plugging in the individual password management brand, other than saying, everybody should use one, you know, choose the one that your trusted colleagues recommends. But you should not be using passwords. And you certainly should not be using, for example, honest answers to challenge questions like What was the name of your first high school, or what was the name of your first pet, because anybody who's a good troller, and cybercriminal, can find those things out from your Facebook profile or any other social thing. So we got to move away from an old school mindset that was good 2030 years ago. But now it's a matter of sharing the technology, sharing the intelligence and letting go a bit of the grunt work if you'd like, but feeling trust that you're still in control. So that's what I try to help people do is to recognize that these technologies do indeed work extremely well for us, they can make your career, your life, your finances are so much more satisfying and successful. But it does require a little bit of, you know, putting a toe in the water and trying these things out and seeing just what they can do for you.Ari Gronich 16:23  Got it. So that's cool. And we've got this situation going on right now in the world where the technology that we've been trusting to use and connect and network is beginning a systematic process of censorship and echo chamber algorithmic, you know, delivery systems that basically keep us inside of a bubble that is based on our preconceived notions. And, you know, we've we're basically in this very odd, strange place where most people don't even know where they've been taken to in the last 510 years. And on the level of both technology and organizational psychology, that psychology part of how does one, you know, kind of step out of the matrix, so to speak, and yet still utilize the matrix for the benefit that it's that is there without falling into the traps of it?Steve Prentice 17:36  A two word answer critical thinking, people need to regain their capacity to think critically and think for themselves. What has happened over the last couple of decades is we have moved from a thinking society to exactly as you said, which is an echo chamber in which people seek out the news and the truth that matches their current biases. That could be a freedom of expression type concept, really, I want to seek out the news source that matches my political ideology. Okay, that's fair enough. But as a sort of a side story to illustrate this point. I come from England originally, and a lot of people who visit England are surprised, or at least they were in again in previous years, how well educated the taxi drivers seem to be, you know, you can have a conversation with a cab driver in London, and that person will tell you anything and everything about whatever you want to know. In fact, comedian George Burns once said, you know, it's amazing that taxi drivers and barbers aren't running the world because they seem to know so much about everything. But what it came down to was an education system not just only in the UK, but just just in the times where it was okay to learn stuff more than just simply what was there for your job. You know, you might say, Why does a taxi driver need to know about the the civil war you know, the US revolution, anything like that Revolutionary War, knowledge is a powerful thing, the enjoyment of knowledge, the learning, the capacity to think and see both sides is the kind of stuff that has been lost as we have channeled our way into exactly that individual channels of enjoyment. You know, every member of your family may be watching different TV shows on different TVs are on their devices, so there's no opportunity for collective discussion, it's a matter of just simply slurping in the stuff that you want to see. So honestly, if you want to break free of the echo chamber without endangering, but instead of actually perhaps strengthening your political beliefs or ideologies, whatever they happen to be, we have to have a critical thinking the capacity to think and question things, see both sides and then come to a conclusion. This by the way, our is something that the future of work specialists are speaking about all the time, you know, no matter what line of business you want to be in, whether it's in mechanical trade or in in high tech or in US professional service of some sort. The future of work is going to be based around a human skills such as critical thinking, and empathy and it can capacity to listen actively to others, because certain of our skills will be swallowed up by AI technologies. And they're getting better at certain jobs like travel agents, and so forth. Now, you can do it all online, as you know. But what's going to make us as individuals still valuable, is as we surf the career waves looking for what we want to do, the ability to do those very human and subtle concepts, such as once again, thinking critically. This means going back to our previous concept that when you get an email coming into your inbox that might be from me from Steve says, Hey, you know, click on this thing, it's a really great piece of instruction on how to do better COVID hygiene in your office, you pause and say, wait a second, is that really from Steve, should I really click on this? It's stopping and thinking rather than just rushing headlong into everything on a reactionary level. And I want to add one more thing to that, if I may. We are working with technologies that are primary light source based technologies, you know, we're looking at screens and the computers in our phones. And this is not tinfoil hat thinking here, it's quite straightforward is that your optical system, your brain and your eyes are designed to process information that is pretty analog and are based on reflected light, you know, pen and paper, just stuff that you can see. So when you start getting into stuff that it's coming at you from a light source, it is actually routed through the brain differently. And that's one of the reasons why it's so hard to resist wanting to respond to an email message or a text message. It's not the nature of the message, it is actually how it impacts your nervous system to say this is urgent, you must deal with it right now. And so we combine therefore, again, a micro channeling of information, you know, by choosing the the channels that match your current mindset, with the fact that we are still slaves to biological reflexes that haven't caught up with the technologies that we have at our disposal. And so we respond to them in disproportionately urgent ways. And together, these things have created a kind of a perfect storm, stopping people from really being able to think clearly as individuals. And so that would be my long winded answer. For us. That's the approach we need to take, once again, the solution is within us. It's easy, and it's free. But it does require that we focus back again on the capacity to think critically, from one or two or 10 sides of an argument and pull in as much information as possible before moving forwards. And those who seek to do this, again, it becomes one of those intangible but highly valuable skills that can be applied to all kinds of businesses and jobs moving forward.Ari Gronich 22:37  Yeah, so in my book, a new tomorrow, I talk a lot about critical thinking common sense and recognizing the butterfly effector cause and effect in general, and how the consequences to our actions don't just stop with the direct consequences, but there's a consequence to the consequences to the consequence to the consequences and etc. And in some ways, we need to get back to a place where common sense critical thinking is common again, because right now, it's it's not common. But at the same time, I also talk about the things like the poisons that are in our air and our water, and the neurotoxic abilities of those that chemistry to affect whether we can cognitively thinking critically think as well as we used to be or if that's being suppressed via some of those chemicals. And like one of those chemicals is fluoride in our water does absolutely zero good. But it was originally used by the war machine in in Germany, to control the minds of the soldiers so that they were easily programmable. And all of a sudden, like mid 1940s, all of a sudden, we're putting it now in our water here in the United States and claiming that it's going to help with our teeth when we know that scientifically speaking, you have to have a different form of fluoride, and it has to be a direct application of this different form in order for to do any benefit for our teeth. But that's not the only thing that's a neurotoxin, that's kind of causing this situation of lack of critical thinking, lack of common sense. What have you found as a psychologist, you know, basically, difference between 20 years ago and today in the ability to have common sense and critical thinking in the population. Have you have you found that it's had a significant drop or a minor drop Are you know, What have you found,Steve Prentice 25:01  I don't see that it's had a drop or an increase, I think we have just simply expanded logarithmically the volume of everything. If you go back 20 3040 100 years, you're still gonna have organizations that have a vested interest in suppressing the truth. You know, they're Photoshop, you know, is a new technology, but faking photographs has been around since photographs existed, the concepts like fluoride, or sodium in the water, suppressing the information for situations like Love Canal, and other places where, you know, lots of industrial dumping went on. Organizations have always continued to suppress the capacity to find the truth and not saying suppress the truth, but suppress people's capacity to find the truth. You know, in the era where we had three or four major television channels, and we had trusted news readers like Walter Cronkite, it was, that was the target was was how to manage that particular narrow flow of information. But now, in this age, of course, you know, as we've seen, with the rise of some large social media platforms, anybody can post anything and and basically generate a circle of followers very, very easily. So the the problem has magnified exponentially, as you know, and in league with the opportunities for us to use the technologies for our own devices. So yeah, it really hasn't changed, you know, in terms of additional subtraction, just simply expansion. But I always say that the everybody's got the the the knowledge of the world at their fingertips, literally, I mean, your phone can find you anything you want to find. just choosing one source of knowledge is going to, once again, keyhole you into one particular line of thinking. So we have that opportunity to think critically using our devices to say, Okay, if someone tells me about a particular city or town or situation going on how many areas how many different directions Can I actually find that information from and you know, come to my own educated conclusion. So no, I haven't seen it change, I just seen it, expand in scope, if you learn to me and same level, just louder, and but we now have much more opportunity to fix that problem as individuals. And it's quite a pleasurable experience just going online and seeing what I can learn from different sources before coming to a conclusion.Ari Gronich 27:17  Yeah, I just want to add that those different sources probably should be different than, you know, starting differently than just the search engine of Google or just Yahoo, or just being or just any specific search engine, because I know, my my stepdaughter is, is in college. And she does a lot of research and show look something up on Google and get completely different responses than if she looks it up on DuckDuckGo. Or being or one of the other search engines. And so, you know, let's talk a little bit about why it might be, you know, people have prescribed an agenda to Google, and an agenda to certain search engines and certain algorithms that they think is a cute, you know, conspiracy from some, you know, outside source that controlling the inside, right. But can it is it? Is it just that or is it what what makes that algorithm for Google completely different than the search results that you might get on a being or Yahoo or DuckDuckGo? And why is it important to to look on all of those versus just one?Steve Prentice 28:45  Well, the the algorithm of Google when it first when Larry Page and Sergey Brin were at the at the helm of it completely was remarkably different from those that hadn't before, which were largely keyword based. Their algorithm was based on all kinds of the number of connections and and sort of back back connections between, you know, links between websites, it was incredibly brilliant at the time. And I can't confess to knowing what they're doing with it right now. I mean, things like Google and Amazon have grown into enormous, enormous world changing beasts and the number of things they have going. It just boggles the mind literally. But But again, I always want to stop and say, Well, you know, who's a who's on the board of directors of any of these organizations. And I'm not pointing to anyone in particular, but who is now guiding the overall philosophy of this group. Because that's obviously with any organization or company how you're going to sway the the slant is is, who your directors are and who the shareholders are responding to. So something like Google Of course, it has become the industry leader of searching something it has the honor of becoming a verb, which is the the big definition here is go and Google something now, however, are there other resources and I tell people once again, I mean, when you look at these sort of the big, big top five social things, I always talk about Twitter. And I get some eye rolling because people think all they've ever seen about Twitter is certain, you know, high profile individuals abusing it for their own purposes. And yes, there's a lot of junk and a lot of offensive material on Twitter. But there's also a lot of really good people that I thought leaders intelligent people in your industry you know, even if you are working in something that you don't think is high tech, let's say you're a carpenter, you build you do floors, hardwood flooring, okay? What can I possibly learn from Twitter about hardwood flooring? Well, there are people out there who are talking about trends and design new techniques and procedures for treating woods and so forth. These are thought leaders, and they're not necessarily going to be putting up a big website, or even their own podcast, they're going to be just simply posting a thought here or there. So one of the best ways of micro learning because lifelong learning is one of these key future steps to think about as well. Lifelong Learning doesn't mean taking courses all the time, it's also about taking five minutes to read the tweets of these thought leaders who have chosen to follow. So ignore the 10 billion other people who are saying stupid stuff and just focus on 10 or 20. People who are thought leaders, researchers, people, you'd want to meet at a at a conference, let's say, and just see what they're saying about your industry or about something peripheral to that industry. That is where knowledge can come from as an ultimate source to running through the Google matrix or any other search engine metrics, find those leaders who don't have a vested interest in being found on Google, they just simply exploring the world their own way. One of my favorites is the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. I mean, I'm not a marine biologist, I just happen to love nature in the water, I just love oceans and ocean life as as just from a lay person's perspective. So I love reading some of the scientists who go down in the diving submarines and just look around and so forth. It's very, very enlightening, but also enjoyable, even though I have no desire to become a marine biologist. So those are people on my special list, and I enjoy learning, just learning peripherally peripherally, from what they have to share. So micro learning opportunities in places that aren't, let's say structured and guided, the way that perhaps the major search engines might be is one opportunity. Once again, just looking for a doing searching by keywords across not only the standard search engines, but there are sort of micro search engines within universities or looking deeper, it'd be on page one, into what else is out there. It's obvious that the internet is the easiest way to do this. It's at your table, it's right there physically at your fingertips, rather than going to a library or taking the course somewhere. But once again, just a matter of spreading out the searching not only a sort of outbound searching by typing in keywords, but more importantly, inbound searching by reading articles.I like for example, Google news alerts. And even though that's going back to Google, I can set up some news alerts with keywords. And it will bring in stories from the the news wires that are of importance to me, but there because I've that I've set up those search terms rather than going through their actual algorithms. So I guess bottom line is to cast your net wide, but don't simply rely on search engines and their collected wisdom that way, but search out those people, if I read an essay that has been posted by somebody who I'm following on Twitter, now I'm reading their white paper, their documents, and that's moving me into another world of knowledge that Google may not have caught up with yet. So that's what I would say is just just diversify your intellectual portfolio by just looking for people thought leaders, once again, it's the human connection that I think is going to drive people further and give you whether it's just directly applicable knowledge or peripherally peripherally applicable knowledge, or just simply connections to other people. That's that's the true dividend of being connected online, I think.Ari Gronich 33:57  Cool. So I'm gonna ask you to contradict yourself a little bit, but not really, which is why Does somebody want magazines and newspapers and the printed word to stay printed versus just be online or audioSteve Prentice 34:19  printed word has a far greater impact on your brain than does do the same words on screen much further. The reason I said before, the pace by which your eyes and brain process information is far more in line with analog than with digital. So you can read the same essay or the same article on screen as you could with a paper version as well and you will retain more from that paper version. This is just a nature of how your our brains are constructed. So I would very much be in favor of of sitting down and reading something on paper. As much as I am a technical enthusiast. I just think that's a great way of really pulling information in at the pace that you want. Obviously, there's a sidebar to that. In fact, the most things that are published are published by once again, multinational media companies who have a vested interest in you buying stuff, I mean, when only had to look has to look at all the magazines you could possibly buy in a, you know, brick and mortar bookstore, there's just so many special interest magazines. But there is an actual haptic tangible pleasure for many people in thumbing through a magazine is a different interaction completely from being on screen. And even younger people who have grown up completely surrounded by the information online, can recognize that there's a tangible difference when actually sitting down and reading a magazine or a book. So it's always going to be people's personal choice. It's obviously much more expensive to create and manufacture, hardcopy, and it's also less ecologically sound to do so. But from an information processing perspective, it is it is a few marks above, in terms of its efficacy as a deliverer of information.Ari Gronich 36:04  Yeah, so you know, I look at things like what you're saying, economical, you know, benefits to not printing, because of that extra resource. But then I saw a statistic about how much electricity it takes for you to do one single Google search. And the amount of energy it takes for a single Google search was exponential, comparatively to the call of nature of paper, especially if you went back to some of the sustainable sources of paper, like hemp paper, and things like that. So it's an interesting conundrum, I believe that we are trying to do things that are good for nature, we're trying to create more sustainability and sustainable practices. But we end up creating situations where we literally are doing the exact opposite of the intention. And this is a place for critical thinking and common sense to start playing in. And I'll give a really quick example of that, and that is the original Prius, and I'm not sure if they changed this or not, but they were, you know, digging the nickel mines in Canada. And then they would ship those raw nickel, you know, material to China, on oil driven, you know, ship barges, and then they would have to go and do all of the taking of that material and turning it into and processing it into the battery, and then it would ship somewhere else for them to actually start to assemble. And that was another layer of waste and lack of sustainability. And so, by the time a Prius got back to the States, it had gone back and forth, I think a few times or parts of it had and you had already consumed. I think it was four or five times more. And I don't remember the numbers Exactly. But the the amount of lifetime value of the savings of the electric benefit, right. And it's also given rise to this massive industry of electric vehicles, which could one day be more sustainable than they are expendable or more than were expending. So is the benefit and does they outweigh the benefit outweigh the loss is the the consequence to the action? Right? And the consequences to those actions? Are they relative and sustainable? And when it comes to profit, does the profit really matter? If we're talking about human lives and the ability to live on a planet that we've been kind of raping?Steve Prentice 39:35  Well, there's there's two big questions there, he said is that one is actually sustainable. And the other one is, does the profit concept really matter? With regards to sustainability, it's a horse race, obviously, I mean, ultimately, if you could sort of say that the all those electric cars will eventually get manufactured more locally, or if they do need to be shipped across the world. They'll be shipped on on boats that are maybe wind powered. There are New, you know, sales like sale based freighters out already. You could you could see that the leveling of that particular curve over time as all the technologies that support the manufacturer, that electric car, and all of the the grid supports the electrical charging, including your own capacity to recharge from your home using the solar powers and solar panels rather.If we can win that horrible horse race, then yes, I think you can move ahead and generations to come would look back on the 19th and 20th centuries as a dark ages unto itself. But when you look back on the Dark Ages prior to this, or even in the 17 1800s, during the Industrial Revolution, where there were smokestacks belching out coal and wood effluent everywhere, we've come a long way from burning anything in sight to make heat and make power and horses dropping their stuff all over the all over the place. And the diseases that came from that sewage systems, you know, just the infrastructure that we have, has brought us a long way from the dirt. We were scrabbling around with just a mere 300 years ago. So can we do it? Can we get to that utopia where these things are actually making a net gain in terms of ecological sustainability? Yes, but are we going to do it in time? Or? That's the big question because people may scoff at the concept of when when the scientists once again say the average temperature is going up by two degrees Celsius. And everyone says, what, two degrees Celsius big deal, that means nothing. And the scientists themselves have admitted perhaps they were wrong in the way they marketed that because when they say two degrees, they're talking about an average global average. So countries like Australia or, or places like California may be burning themselves to the ground. And that's raising temperatures on one extreme there. And there are extremes of cold happening elsewhere. And so they average it out. That's again, the problem with scientists and technologists as they are way too literal, and they expect the rest of the world to follow that. So that's an average guys, which means that there's a lot of up and down happening. So is it sustainable, maybe if we can beat the the kind of landslide we have created in in in warming the earth jus to not only carbon effluence of our own, but you know, as the as the ice is retreating, of course it's releasing methane in the ground. It is cutting back on the Earth's capacity to reflect light so there's all these ancillary ways in which we're heating the earth is not all industry. But to your second point, you know, is this profitable to do this? I'm always kind of amazed when I watch the the it's not only in the states of course but around the world the the the big oil and the big industry bigwigs who fight tooth and nail against progress because they have too much money to be made still in oil and coal. And I wonder if they were to turn their their manufacturing processes into creating solar and tidal power, they could still make money there there's a profit margin there too, if that was it, and that is the thing that motivates most people, sadly, is that we are a we are a predatory species we are there to to beat our way to the top of the human pile as well as you know, just just to survive that there's no question that we are a predatory species so the profit motive will never die away. I'm not saying I agree with it, but I'm saying that will never die away because it is just fundamental to human instinct to survive and thrive and if I have a billion dollars and you have zero Well too bad for you, I've got my world community and I'm safe and that is again I'm not in not condoning that or agreeing with it. But it is a fundamental principle of survival. So the profit margin will not go away but it's very easy to turn around and say well you can make as much money building wind farms as you can drilling into the ground and fracking all the all the limestone you there's ways you can generate renewable energies, why not simply transfer that and that's that's what I have a hard time grasping. I mean, I know when I'm on level why they do it, but it's it's not like everyone says, Okay, let's stop drilling oil. And you guys just just twiddle your thumbs for 100 years? No, there's there's a lot of things they could do to replace that. And these technologies are emerging. Wind turbines Do not kill bald eagles by the millions. But even with new technologies and turbines do not have to spin around like big blades that are wavy ones that look like the ripple fins of a jellyfish or a cuttlefish that wiggle around the oscillates rather than rotate. So can we do this? Boy, that's not what I want to put any money on because we are in a horse race against the the ecology and the the the climate change that is inevitably happening here is undoubtedly happening. But if we can turn it around to speak the language of profits, because hand in hand with profit motive, of course, his political motive people want their voters to continue to vote for them. This is again, every country in the world that has vote Democrat democracy or a parent democracy, so they're not going to want to lay off 100,000 oil wells. occurs, because that gets remembered during an election. So the politicians themselves must also come on board with this, I'm seeing a slow shift towards this. But the matter is, is that shift that is slow, sufficiently fast to get us out of this this pincer movement that's happening between us and the ecology. So it's, it's a big long way of saying, I'm not quite sure.Ari Gronich 45:24  I appreciate that. And, and I'm going to ask you another one you might not be so sure about, but is there something other than money, that, psychologically would be more important for a profit because you can profit with money, or you can profit with, you know, a purpose? Meaning that you have a purpose and the purpose reaches its its goal? And so where is the money on the scale of motivation? You know, if you're looking at motivating factors, profit might be here, is there something above financial profit or not, because we already know that people are below financial profit in most people's value books, so or at least in in the way that we've arranged our society.Steve Prentice 46:26  To my understanding, the only thing higher than profit as a goal is power. And when you look at people who have more money than they could possibly spend, you know, their grandchildren or possibly spend, the next thing they seek is power, political power. And that is inevitable. I mean, I like reading books on history from the last few centuries, because none of what's happening right now is new. It's happened over and over again. You know, we had a pandemic in 1918, almost 100 years ago. Some of the extreme right wing movements that are happening, happened 100 years ago, they happen 300 years ago, the madness of crowds, which is an actual title of a book, popular delusions and the madness of crowds, is all about how crowds do sort of come together around a concept. And then they whip that up into a frenzy that becomes a movement. And this again, has happened over the centuries over tulip bulbs and over all kinds of either profit making ventures in the New World, or the fear of witchcraft, or the fear of communism, or now the fear of cryptocurrency and blockchain, it's, it's all the same, the same kind of thing, that there's a collective fear that comes from the contagion of emotion that people share. So I don't think the profit is ever going to go away as the as the primary motivator for all of human undertakings. Many who disagree with that point, there's a lot of selfless people out there, there's a lot of those who are working, almost, you know, working themselves to death to save lives right now. Yes, on an individual level, but when you look collectively at any country that has millions of people, and it has a leader, the leaders tend to evolve, or ones that are focused primarily on profits, and on the power that comes from that. And when you look at countries that had had a strong socialist base, some of the Scandinavian countries, for example, and Canada, there's, there's a social safety net, and so on. It's a wonderful thing to have. But it's still not looked upon with great trust by the majority of the world, it just seems to wrong. So I would love to be wrong. On this point, I would love for humanity as a whole to come back to I think what a lot more of our ancestors are First Nations people in all countries that had that symbiosis with nature, and recognized how we all can exist together, I'd love for us to go back to some sort of mindset from that. But this particular Millennium has been focused right from, you know, at 1000, right through to now has been focused just on pure, just just getting as fast and as far as you can, and reaping the profits along the way. So I don't see that ending anytime soon. So any solutions have to be built into that language? And there's little bits of cracks of light here and there that we're seeing, but it is quite the struggle.Ari Gronich 49:19  Yeah, you know, it's interesting to me, because I look at I look at the world and and I'm kind of disappointed that people haven't quite figured out that we made this stuff up that this is all a figment of our collective imagination. And they can choose to have the outcomes that we currently have, or we can choose to create different outcomes if we get brave enough to change the constructs of how we've constructed the society. And so just on that psychological level, I you know, I'm I'm curious about that power versus profit or profit, leading to power being the ultimate motivation, because I'm not sure that I've met too many people that truly want power over another person. And so I feel like like there might be a conversation about how somebody can get power over themselves, without having to have power over somebody else. So that they can become that fulfill, you know, have that fulfillment of having that power. And I think that most attempts at power over other people are because they feel like they have no power over themselves.Steve Prentice 50:55  It's very possible. Indeed, I think when you look at any cross section of political leaders in any country, you're seeing exactly that people who perhaps weren't able to have power over themselves. And so they do pursue that that other path to have power over others. There's there's a, it's a mindset, they're about justifying your existence by having power over others. And you don't need to have a country of 300 million people, we're all 300,000,001 of the presidents and they want to have that power, you only need a few to climb that particular ladder. But I think going back to one of our earlier points, if you want to have power over yourself, you want to have a sense of self fulfillment and destiny, and just being able to drive your life the way you'd like it. Yes, I think that is eminently in anybody's hands. And once again, the the capacity we have for career management's and for just being aware of what's available out there in the world, that allows you to step out from under a shadow of fear that you may have whoever's holding power over you. Now the question becomes, why are they holding power over you now? And what can you do about it? So what number one is going to be your employer because you fear losing your job? Okay, well, remember that fear, there are two sides to the human existence, which is central to this, this statement here, we have an emotional side and a rational side. And the emotion side always wins. And the most powerful emotion of all, is fear. So fear is going to guide people and drive people to do things. When you look at the the masking controversy, you know, people who want to wear masks or don't want to wear masks in this particular situation. Those who do wear masks have recognized the logic of the the the transmission barrier that a mask provides. Those who do not largely are either fearing an invasion of their privacy or doubting it's the masks capacity, or fearing the reality that the mask symbolizes of the current pandemic that we're in is a big, big thing. We go down in that particular rabbit hole, but it's all about fear. So we have the fear of all kinds of things in the world. And so my question becomes, how can we now step out from under our own shadow of fear? And use logic to say, what can I fix about this? If I'm afraid of my boss, and I'm afraid of getting fired. So I work 18 hours a day, I do everything that is asked of me, because I fear getting fired. I'm going to say, Okay, let's change that fear. I wrote a I'm not plugging my book. But I just wanted to share the title that I wrote a book called work like a wolf. And the reason I wrote the book called work like a wolf is because when you compare wolves to dogs, wolves know how to find the next meal, they know how to go out there and hunt down their next meal. Dogs, my love, I have to have my own. But dogs have been domesticated, they traded their, their freedom for a regular meal and a warm place to sleep. So they wait to get fed. But a wolf has always got to keep his or her hunting instincts sharp to find out where their next opportunity is going to come from. When people can turn that on with themselves. So rather than being afraid of being fired, I want to say, I'm not afraid of being fired. I want to I want to build in myself my capacity of knowing what my skills are, where I can sell them and what I can do to always feel that I am in control, I have the power of myself career wise, by not being afraid of being fired. So that would be one of my answers to you there is power of oneself comes from learning what is causing you fear, and learning, recognizing how that fear dominates us purely physiologically and psychologically. And then saying, Okay, how can I eliminate that fear through facts? How can I find the facts to neutralize the fear? If I fear getting fired? Okay, what can I do to avoid getting fired? Well, I can learn more skills, I can learn more relationship management with the people around me, but I can also ensure my future by knowing what else is out there and how I can find it. And I really strongly believe everyone deserves to do that even if you're in a highly specific line of work that requires a factory if it let's say you're an aircraft engine mechanic. Great, you know, you can't open up your own competitor to Boeing. But you can find out what else is out there for aircraft manufacturers to, to, to sell their skills on. And similar to that, look at personal financial management, how to eliminate debt, how to pay down or eliminate credit card debts and all the things that at least in my generation, we were never taught in school never taught financial literacy. So learn how to take control of your own money. So you're no longer afraid of debt collectors, or banks and credit ratings and stuff like that. There's a lot of stuff much like the whole fluoride thing you were saying before that has been kind of implanted in US culturally, I was never taught about mortgages or credit cards, and I went to school.In fact, I remember that you had to be 21. And you had to qualify to get your first credit card. This is not so long ago, it was maybe 25 years ago. But now of course, you can get them they sent to you all the time. So the point is, learn about career management, learn about financial management, by taking control of those two things alone, you now step out from under the shadow of fear, and you start that particular an individual path of self power, power over self power over your own life. Nobody can fire you if you are able to sell your job or sell your skills somewhere else. And I'm saying that somewhere else exists, it exists. And then once again, it's at your fingertips to find it. Cool. SoAri Gronich 56:27  on that psychological level of fear, versus the psychological level of hope. I find that in my experience with people fear typically beats out hope. So what are some techniques that somebody can who's listening, can actualize can do when the fear of something has outweighed the hope. And they see and it stops them in their tracks.Steve Prentice 57:13  Once again, a short answer, write it down. I know that sounds weird to say it. But when you get the things that are circling in your head that are causing you fear, so long as they stay in your head, you will not be able to to slay those dragons, you have to get them physically out so you can see them. And here's what we have different kinds of memory in the body and the mind, we have short term memory long term memory and physical muscle memory, the thing that reminds you, you know, which which drawer which which which cupboard your coffee cup is, and you just simply open it by by default, you drive by physical by muscle memory, largely long term memory is where most of our memories are stored for most of our lives. The short term memory, however, is very limited. The two most people will say about eight items at one time. So if I was to dictate a 10 item list for you to go out and buy some stuff for me, without writing it down somewhere, you'd be lucky. If you remember eight, then if you get a phone call along on the way you'll be lucky if you remember to or even which store you're going to because your short term memory has been used up, it's been flushed, it's like the ram of a computer. So when you're wrestling with fear with problems with worry, the the more they circle around in that short term memory, there is no space for anything else to come in. So I always tell people, this is therapy, right? Whether it's self therapy, where you use a surface like paper, or a dry erase board or a smartboard on a conference call video conference. Or you use the vessel that is a counselor or a psychologist or therapist, someone who takes those thoughts and holds them for you. No matter what vessel or surface you use, you get these things out. Because when you get them out, number one, you can see them, you can see them again, you vet them from the outside and you reprocess them, which allows you to think them through even further. But secondly, you give your short term memory permission to let go of them. It actually won't forget them The moment you stop trying to remember them. That's ironically weird. But that's the one forget it as soon as you stop trying to remember. But it allows you now to work on the next level of solving your own problems. So when you go to a counselor or a psychologist, that person should not tell you what to do. I mean a physician, a doctor might prescribe something for you, a psychiatrist might prescribe a medicine or a technique for you. But psychologists and therapists are supposed to ask you how did this make you feel? You know, what do you think about this and pull out the the answers from you so you can solve your own problems with their guiding hands to help you along the way. So my answer once again is for people who are stuck in this this storm of worry and fear. The best way to get out of that is to write these things physically down somewhere. The act of writing especially handwriting as opposed to typing will give your brain the chance, as I said to look at it vetted, question it again. And create the space for the next thoughts and ideas to come in. And on a larger scale, if you're dealing with a problem that you wish to share with others, or if it's a work related problem, a crisis or an opportunity to innovate on a new product, same thing, get it out on a surface where everyone can see it, because then you're also going to benefit from the collective wisdom and experience of others in the room, the sum becomes greater than the parts when they can all see things. But the longer you keep things bottled up inside your head, the longer the problem will live with you. So that's my short answer is just write it down.Ari Gronich 1:00:33  Awesome, thank you. So what other kinds of things do you like to chat about when it comes to the collision of technology and people? What you know, what do you think of the idea that we soon are going to be part human part technology?Steve Prentice 1:00:56  Oh, we already are, I think I mean, we are. So imagine leaving your house and forgetting your phone. Oh, my goodness, I gotta go back. Gotta go get it. So we are part human part technology, you can't live without your phone. I remember one, sort of public speaker, psychologist type person doing this, it's something I would never do for a live audience. But he actually went and collected people's phones from the audience and watching the fear in their eyes when they lost this cherished device. So I think that ship has already sailed, we have, we have the greatest advice ever known to humankind. Isaac Asimov once said, The perfect machine is something with no moving parts. And that's what we have here is that a phone, you know, which is only one small part of your smartphone has no moving parts, per se, it could be anything you want it to be in terms of the apps that are available. So we have learned to create great tools, you know, hugely powerful thing much on on line with invention of steam power, and or even just meat, being able to make fire, you know, this, these are really great advances. So I want to see how we can make those, again, serve humanity in better ways. And one of the best ways I have found is in education. There's a concept that I love following called flipped schooling. And looking at all the young people out there, and especially when you keep track of the innovations that are happening with people who are 13 years old, or 19 years old, just just young people who've just come up with these amazing ideas, because they're there, they're not yet under the yoke of their employer and other particular restraints. They have brilliance that the traditional schooling system in most countries has, has always credit keep channeled into like a sausage factory, just move people through and push them out the other end, the flipped schooling, if you haven't heard of that before, have you heard of that before? You know, No, I haven't. Okay, so So what it is essentially is, you know, you and I went to school, you're the teacher would tell you a bunch of stuff boring in the way that the teachers taught back then, and send you home with a big bunch of homework, and you got to work this stuff through by yourself on the kitchen table, trying to figure out what the heck you just learned, flipped schooling, says, Okay, let's take those two things and turn them around. So we send students home with, let's say, videos, videos that are not not just your average YouTube video, but carefully created videos on a topic, let's say maybe it is a math topic that's visual and a bit more better explaining how a math topic works. So you learn that stuff on your own time at home, then you go back to class. And that's when you can capitalize on the teacher's knowledge to work through what you're trying to understand. Because learning is not about just hearing words, it's about massaging them into your brain and your soul in a way that will will stay and become something useful. So if I learn about, let's say, a component of algebra, or trigonometry, or geometry, or whatever, then I can go back to class during the day and ask the teacher What do you mean by this? Or how would it apply to that, I can now leverage the teacher's knowledge and skills to add to this sort of static knowledge I learned in the evening. So flipped schooling, paired with the fact that we are living in the era of the audience of one now that your educational requirements, your attention span, your personality type are going to be different from mine. If you're a Type A and I'm a Type B, we're going to learn differently. If you're a morning person, and I'm a night owl, we're going to learn differently. If I've got to look afte

Red Cross and Ipswich City Council reach a new agreement following discovery of a 75 year lease, Chris Gratton Sheds secures a favourable decision from council to keep operating in Walloon for a limited time, and what is a waste and circular economy and what does it mean for Ipswich? These local Ipswich stories and more including the Anywhere Festival and USQ students survive better than most during Covid. Published: 19 March 2021. Music: www.purple-planet.com Image: Officers from the Mounted Police take part in Operation Wildflower (supplied by Ipswich City Council) Circular economy waste principles: http://bit.ly/3tzwWl9 Current and future council works and projects: maps.ipswich.qld.gov.au/civicprojects Council agendas and minutes: bit.ly/2JlrVKY Council meetings on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/IpswichCityCouncilTV Ipswich Civic Centre: www.ipswichciviccentre.com.au/ Discover Ipswich: www.discoveripswich.com.au/

Episode Fifteen Boe yarns with Lynley A. Wallis who is an Australian archaeologist and Associate Professor at Griffith University. The Queensland Native Mounted Police operated for over 50 years, from 1849 until 1904. It was organised along paramilitary lines, consisting of detachments of Aboriginal troopers led by white officers. It operated across the whole of Queensland and was explicitly constituted to protect the lives, livelihoods and property of settlers and to prevent (and punish) any Aboriginal aggression or resistance. This was often accomplished through violence in many forms, leading Henry Reynolds to characterise the NMP as “the most violent organisation in Australian history”.

Episode Fifteen Boe yarns with Lynley A. Wallis who is an Australian archaeologist and Associate Professor at Griffith University. The Queensland Native Mounted Police operated for over 50 years, from 1849 until 1904. It was organised along paramilitary lines, consisting of detachments of Aboriginal troopers led by white officers. It operated across the whole of Queensland and was explicitly constituted to protect the lives, livelihoods and property of settlers and to prevent (and punish) any Aboriginal aggression or resistance. This was often accomplished through violence in many forms, leading Henry Reynolds to characterise the NMP as “the most violent organisation in Australian history”.

Today's show dives into the details of policing, with guest David Kroman from Crosscut joining Crystal to go over alternatives to armed police response, what other cities have tried, and what metrics we use to measure policing. Additionally, they cover what the new Seattle mayor and the city council can actually do in the face of Seattle Police Officer's Guild power. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii. More information is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources: Listen to the This Changes Everything podcast, hosted by Sara Bernard, featuring David Kroman here: https://thischanges.podbean.com/. Specifically check out this episode about the political reality of defunding the police: https://thischanges.podbean.com/. Learn about the challenges to fundamentally changing Seattle policing here: https://crosscut.com/news/2021/02/coalition-building-could-be-harder-ever-race-seattle-mayor. Learn about Eugene, Oregon's alternatives to policing here: https://crosscut.com/podcast/changes-everything/2/4/podcast-oregon-citys-decades-old-alternative-police  Read about barriers to police accountability here: https://www.aclu-wa.org/story/barriers-police-accountability-role-collective-bargaining-agreements-and-private-arbitration    Transcript: Crystal Fincher: [00:00:00] Welcome to Hacks and Wonks. I'm your host, Crystal Fincher. On this show, we talk to political hacks and policy wonks to gather insight into local politics and policy through the lens of those doing the work and provide behind-the-scenes perspectives on politics in our state. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes.  Well today, we are pleased to be welcoming David Kroman who is a Crosscut Reporter covering Seattle politics and policy. Thank you so much for joining us. David Kroman: [00:00:59] Hi Crystal, thanks for having me. Crystal Fincher: [00:01:01] Well we are really excited to talk to you, because we've been paying attention to what's been happening with the Seattle Police Department - different developments. And you have been covering all facets of policy and events with the Seattle Police Department - and have been doing a wonderful job. So we thought we wanted to have you in to just give us an overview, to start, on where things stand with the SPD right now - after the council voted last year to reduce funding for the SPD, invest in some community alternatives. How is that proceeding right now and what's going on? David Kroman: [00:01:43] I would say that it's sort of in a holding pattern right now would be the best way I can describe it. I mean, there was obviously the flurry of activity in the summer and then to a certain extent in the fall. We saw a lot of officers leave the force and not be replaced, so there was this reduction. And so it was this frantic moment - but now it feels more like we're in this phase where the City Council is still charting its path forward for the year. Which includes working with community groups, figuring out how they're going to be working with those community groups, which community groups. And then questions going forward about how they want to address the size of the police force, whether they want to continue letting officers leave and not be replaced, or whether they want to wait until they have more programs in place before they allow that to happen. I think it's this, maybe eye of the storm you could say - had a lot of activity towards the end of last year and I'm sure we will have a lot of activity in the coming year. But I think for right now it feels a little quiet as people prepare themselves for that. Crystal Fincher: [00:03:02] It does feel a little quiet and so on the issue of staffing - are staffing levels at where they're going to be for at least the next year? Is there any plan to reduce any more or where does that stand? David Kroman: [00:03:16] I think a lot of that actually, it probably depends on the cops themselves. I mean the thing is, I mean - the City Council expressed their desire to reduce the size of the police force but the way it reduced - they never actually had to do that. I mean, the cops left on their own and then because of the hiring freezes that were in place because of COVID-19, they just didn't get replaced. So that achieved the City Council's goal for them but it also means that maybe they didn't have quite as much control over that situation. And so I think it remains to be seen what the staffing level looks like, because we'll see how many cops decide to leave. We'll see what the city does around hiring freezes and its budget with COVID-19. And so the staffing - I think could do anything from actually - grow this year, if they decide that they want to replace people who are leaving, to reduce fairly dramatically, if they don't. And I don't know that we have a great read on how that's going to play out just yet. Crystal Fincher: [00:04:25] There was conversation I know from Councilmember Morales questioning how police are - how, I guess, the funding formula is provided and them using the amount of calls coming in to 911 as the basis for how many police they need to have on patrol. And questioning, well, should we be looking at that as all police calls or should we be limiting that to calls that require an armed emergency response? And has that conversation gotten anywhere, is that policy or the ability to change that on the docket at all? David Kroman: [00:05:05] Yeah, I think that's on the docket and that's also this larger debate around - you get at this point that there are certain metrics by which police departments like to measure their stats - make their arguments for greater staffing. One is comparing it to cities with similar populations, another is 911 response times, that sort of thing. But there's a lot of question as you get at around whether or not those are the best ways to actually measure that. And maybe the better way of thinking about this is priorities - what does or does not need to be responded to. There's not a ton of disagreement that dangerous, violent crime could use a police response, but there is a lot of disagreement around exactly how often what the police department are responding to actually falls under that category. So it goes into this damn lies and statistics saying, People can crunch the numbers in different ways that look differently and serve different arguments. So I think going forward though, the thing that we will probably hear the most about is crisis calls and how cops are responding to people in crisis. In part because there are concrete models that exist already for substituting police response to those calls with crisis calls. I think it'll be less about numbers and response times and more about priorities and what should or should not the police department would be responding to. Crystal Fincher: [00:06:48] Well, you mentioned those concrete models that were already in place and a lot of people are wondering - what are these community alternatives? What are the models that are alternatives to an armed police officer response? David Kroman: [00:07:06] I mentioned crisis calls and a lot of my coverage have focused on crisis calls, I think in part, because a) it seems to be the area where there's the broadest agreement between politicians and even people in law enforcement - that this is a thing that police officers maybe should be doing fewer of and want to be doing fewer of. And b) it's also an area where there are places like, in Eugene, Oregon - CAHOOTS, or Denver - their STAR program. And I think even up in Snohomish County there might be a program, or at least a pilot program, in which they have really made a concerted effort to not send police to a lot of these calls and it seems to be working. In Eugene, again, a much smaller city than Seattle. So it's a little simplistic but something like 20% of their total call volume now goes to these people who are not actually police officers. And so - that I think is the most concrete area, because there are these proven programs or they've been tested.  Some of the trickier stuff, I think, is about community safety and how you change that because that isn't necessarily always about people in crisis or people dealing with substance use. I mean, that's the broader question around when police show up, is it actually making communities safer? A lot of people are arguing, no. That's the area where I think to have these community level programs, or almost community watch groups - that's really new territory that would be genuinely innovative and also in some ways trickier because they don't really have these concrete models that they can follow. There's some talk around it - Community Passageways talking about having rapid response teams that can be ready to respond to even incidents of domestic violence or things like that. So I think those are in the earlier stages because they would be truly new and innovative programs, whereas crisis calls and substance use - they can pluck these programs from other places. Crystal Fincher: [00:09:30] So have any of these been funded or where is implementation standing in Seattle? David Kroman: [00:09:38] Well, there's money - we know that. I mean, the mayor early on promised a $100 million dollars, the Council has increased that amount a bit. And so the money is out there - the question is how it gets allocated and to whom? We've seen the effort to figure out where this money should go splintered into a few different pots. There's the mayor's pot, which is this taskforce. The Council itself has dedicated - I think it was $18 million or something to start looking into alternatives to crisis response, so there's real money there. And then on the community safety level, there's this other $30 million that will theoretically be budgeted out through a "participatory budgeting program" which is basically a highly democratic approach to spending money. That is still in its really early stages and just this last week, there was some hiccups around the organizations that were involved with that and some tension there. But at least in theory, that's what the plan is to get this money out the door - but we're not there yet. The money is not really flowing yet in any super meaningful way. Crystal Fincher: [00:10:59] Where a lot of the conversation is centering right now is on the Seattle Police Officers Guild contract - their collective bargaining agreement and how much control that actually has over the issue of police reform, what's possible with officer discipline. Why is it so important and so consequential when it comes to officer discipline? David Kroman: [00:11:24] Because police union contracts are really unique in how much say they have over accountability measures and discipline. We had a pretty good example of just how powerful - in 2017, the City Council passed a bunch of new accountability processes for police officers that - no one at the time was really even arguing these were revolutionary ideas. They were just strengthening the pre-existing systems that they had, but they never really even got the chance to go into place because even the changes that were made in that 2017 legislation were - a lot of them were weakened or rolled back in a 2018 contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild. Which I think just goes to show the power that these contracts have, especially at the state level. They're just given a ton of authority - basically meant that the City Council's efforts to close off friendly appeals processes was rolled back, their efforts to insert more civilian oversight into the systems were rolled back. So it was this fairly stark example of just how powerful these contracts can be. So going forward, when talking about accountability measures, getting language into a contract that guarantees that when there's discipline it will stick. And that the discipline that does exist is done independently and not with influence through friends of the officers, becomes really, really paramount. Not - setting aside the question of money, which is obviously a big part of contracts too, just these police officer contracts have a ton of power when it comes to how officers are or are not held accountable. Crystal Fincher: [00:13:16] Does it look likely that in this contract negotiation they will be able to negotiate that out? And what is the path forward if the police union says, "Absolutely not." And the City says, "Well, we're not moving forward without it." What happens then? David Kroman: [00:13:31] We've seen just how politically far apart the City is from the leadership of the Police Officers Guild. I mean, the president of the Police Officers Guild was blaming left-wing provocateurs for inciting the insurrection in Washington DC. So these two sides really could not be more different, and so coming together on accountability measures that the City is happy with is going to be a struggle. I would say as a sign of just how hard people in City Hall think it's going to be, Mayor Durkan has been in Olympia lobbying the State to basically pass a law rolling back how broad these contracts can reach and how easily officers can go to appeals and arbitrators to get out of discipline. Because she understands that without state level changes, that the City is going to have to negotiate these things and it's going to be a really tough battle. The things she's advocating for are almost certainly not going to pass Olympia, which means the City is going to be left to figure out how to deal with the police union. I think it's going to take years, at least. And then at risk of getting too wonky, the extra layer of wrinkle here is a federal judge who is involved because of the City's longstanding obligations to reform its police department under a consent decree. That federal judge is also really unhappy with the Seattle police contracts. So there's a question around what he might do and how he might step in and demand changes to bargaining processes, which would open up a whole new can of worms. I can say that it is going to be one of the most thorny legal and political things to happen. Not to mention - the mayor has not started these negotiations yet with the police union, even though the contract is now technically expired. She has a year to start them. I don't know if that's going to happen, but then at the end of that year, she's not going to be in office anymore. You're going to have a new mayor who might come in and decide that he or she has an entirely new strategy and wants to go a different direction on contract negotiation. So I think it's a minefield of complexities when it comes to renegotiating this contract and yet the stakes are really, really high. Crystal Fincher: [00:16:02] How is it going to be possible for them to meaningfully lay forward or lay down a plan that they feel is achievable when this contract isn't settled? Do you think that they're going to be able to speak credibly and come up with a plan that they can deliver without knowing what's going to wind up in the contract? David Kroman: [00:16:24] Yeah, I do. I mean, I think what they can do - what the contract doesn't prevent the Council from doing is building out the alternatives that we talked about. There are certain working conditions and pay questions and accountability questions that are real, legitimate things that are going to be really hard to get around in the contract. But what it doesn't prevent is budget cuts. I mean, the City Council can cut the police department's budget. And how layoffs happen is a contract issue, so that's sort of thorny. But if a mayor comes in and wants to cut the police department's budget, the contract can't stop that because that's a city level thing. And again, similarly, if the mayor wants to fund replacements for the police department, the contract also doesn't stop that.  What the contract does really make difficult is if there are certain sorts of officers that you want to get rid of and other officers that you want to keep, that's kind of tricky. We've seen some debate around - can you target layoffs at officers that you see as problem officers? I don't know that the contract makes that really hard. Can you prevent officers who have been fired or disciplined from having that discipline overturned? That is something that the contract makes really difficult. As far as wholesale trying to build a brand new public safety system, the City Council and the mayor can do that. That's a policy question. But as far as reforming the police department from inside out, that is the thing that the contract makes really difficult and will almost certainly make the job of the next mayor more difficult. Crystal Fincher: [00:18:22] Well, that's a really good point and in one way encouraging - that preventing contacts that then lead to a variety of things is within their wheelhouse. Working within the existing system, working through officer discipline, seems that's still very reliant on what the contract dictates - but they can move forward with some alternative models, as you talked about. Some of them have some real concrete examples of success in other areas that actually seems like they can accomplish and set forth quite a bit in terms of a plan of how to move forward. David Kroman: [00:19:02] I would say the caveat to that is how the police department is structured - is really just up to the Police Chief. We saw some of the limitations of the Council pretty quickly in the summer and the fall when they started making cuts to the budget and they passed these resolutions saying, "We would like to see these cuts targeted in this way. We want to cut Harbor Patrol and we want to cut Mounted Police." So we could see what their priorities were but the reality was they can't dictate that at all - it's up to the Police Chief to decide. The Police Chief has to absorb these cuts and make do with them, but it's the Police Chief's job to decide where those cuts should be targeted.  And so what we saw pretty quickly is that Interim Chief Adrian Diaz was absorbing some of those cuts and saying, "I'm going to pull people off of specialty units and put them towards 911 response, because that's my priority." Which meant we were seeing reductions in things like domestic violence response or internet crimes response, which were things that actually the City Council didn't want to see cut as much. They were interested in reducing the number of people who were responding to 911 calls. So the contract, maybe doesn't explicitly prevent the City Council from making targeted cuts, but what really prevents it is just that all of that authority really rests with currently, Adrian Diaz. And they can express to him what they would prefer to see, but it is his decision at the end of the day. Crystal Fincher: [00:20:30] And one thing that we're also going to see with the new mayor is an appointment of a permanent chief - looks like after they take office. What's on your radar most as you're looking at what's next with policing in Seattle? What are you watching? And what do you think is going to be most consequential? David Kroman: [00:20:47] Not going to be super interesting but I'm watching how this money is spent. There's money on the table in a way that there wasn't necessarily before. Where's it going to go, and who's going to get it? I think the City Council and the mayor understand that their changes have to be felt on the ground in a meaningful way. I think that was a lot of the frustration that we felt in the protest, which was promises from people like City Hall - we're working on things, things are getting better - but it just was not being felt or perceived in a real, tangible way on the ground. You've made these promises that you're going to create this new public safety system, and it's not going to come at the expense of individuals' feeling of being safe in the city. So are they going to succeed in that? I think a year from now, if they can't point to very specific things and people don't feel like things have improved, it only gets harder from there on out - the clock is ticking. I'm also going to be watching as you alluded to - whoever the next mayor is - is going to immediately launch a search for a new Police Chief. Mayor Durkan didn't formally acknowledge that she would leave it to the next mayor but has made it fairly clear that she's not going to launch a search for a permanent chief right now. So who that police chief is, I think will be a big symbolic and practical statement by the new mayor about which direction they want to head. Not to mention we still have this consent decree, that's been hanging in the background. The judge recently made it clear - he was going to get more involved in the daily budgeting and politics of City Hall, so that could be another wrinkle. Crystal Fincher: [00:22:33] Well, and it seems to be a present wrinkle - it looks like the judge and what he might rule has impacted a decision, even yesterday, on how to proceed with whether to ban tear gas or not. So is the consent decree helpful? Is it putting handcuffs on what the City Council is able to do? How does that impact the whole scenario? David Kroman: [00:22:59] The consent decree has become really interesting recently - you'll remember that over the summer the City actually filed to basically dismiss most of the consent decree, not all of it. I think the timing on that was really bad, because it came right as these protests were hitting their peak. And so it came across as the City trying to get out from underneath the accountability eye of a federal judge. So the symbolism of it was not great, got a pretty bad reaction, and the city backed off of it. At the same time, I was hearing from surprising people, people that you wouldn't necessarily expect to say this, "Look, the consent decree has run its course. What we are talking about in these protests - which is creating this fundamentally new form of public safety - that is not going to be achieved by the consent decree. And in fact, the consent decree could end up being a barrier to it because the federal judge wants to know every single change that is happening to the police department and he wants to be involved." This judge, Judge Robart, he's a really interesting judge. I think some judges pretend as if they live in this sealed capsule in their courtroom or whatever, and they will only consider things that come in via official filings. This judge is not like that - he reads the news, he comments on the news, he makes decisions based on what he reads in the news, he follows city politics and will readily comment on it. And just the other day, he made fairly clear that he was concerned about the way in which the City Council is operating. And you're totally right - the City Council not only was considering this bill on less lethal weapons, it was also considering cuts of another about $5.5 million dollars to the police department to make up for money that they said they needed last year to cover overtime expenses. They tabled that so that they could have more conversations with the Department of Justice and the consent decree. So the fact that this pretty liberal City Council has to run everything they do through - pass it over the desk of a long-serving judge who was appointed by George W. Bush, makes for a really interesting dynamic. And if you're the City Council, I'm not sure it's one that is all that helpful to your goals. Crystal Fincher: [00:25:24] So do you anticipate action, based on especially what we've seen recently, in preventing the Council from being able to pass more progressive policies with the expectation that they can be implemented? Are they going to move to get out from under the consent decree? David Kroman: [00:25:44] I don't know if they're going to move - and frankly, I think if they did move to get out from under the consent decree, he would reject it. I don't think he would grant that - I think he's not pleased with the current moment. He really liked Kathy O'Toole, the former police chief, and then he really liked Carmen Best, the successor. And he made it fairly clear he did not like her exit. He blamed the City Council for the fact that she left, which we could debate - we can have a whole conversation around whether that's a fair interpretation of things, but it is his interpretation of things. And as a federal judge, that's all that really matters. So I'm not sure he would let the City Council or the City get out from underneath the consent decree anymore. Whether or not he issues a ruling or not, I'm not sure. He likes to issue these kinds of threats - he has done blustery things in the past that don't always necessarily come with a commensurate hard-hitting demand or order. But it's possible he could hold the City in contempt of court if he feels like they are moving forward on things without properly checking in with him first. So that itself is going to be a really interesting dynamic to watch and I frankly don't think he's going to go anywhere. I think he's going to be here for at least the next year - we'll see. Crystal Fincher: [00:27:10] Okay, well that's certainly interesting and there are so many factors that we've covered here - that are outside of the City and not the mayor or the City Council - that are highly influential or that can straight up dictate what is going to happen with policing. And so is there any remedy beyond the judge? Can his decisions be appealed or is he just in control? David Kroman: [00:27:40] I don't know - that's a good question. I don't think I'm smart enough legally to know what happens when there's this fundamental disagreement. It'd be interesting to see how the Department of Justice, who is technically the opposition in this case that the city has to deal with. It'll be interesting to see their tone change - because for the last four years, they have been pretty absent from this whole thing because of who was in the White House. Now that there is a new president, it's possible that they might take a little more interest in what the City is or is not doing.  So I don't actually know the answer to that question - if they could elevate this to another level or not. I think at least with the current mayor and the current City Attorney, Pete Holmes, I think that's fairly unlikely. They've always been pretty deferential to this judge and wanted to do what he's asked. If there's a new more lefty mayor who - Lorena González said, over the summer, that she was over this reform stuff and wanted to rebuild in a more radical way. It's possible she would want the City to move to dismiss this in a more complete way - I don't know. But like you said, I think the broader point is that there are the things the City Council wants to do, and there's the things that the mayor wants to do, but the fact that you have both this contract with the Seattle Police Officers Guild to deal with and this federal judge to deal with is a hint that it might not always be up to them, exactly how this goes. Crystal Fincher: [00:29:32] We'll be staying tuned and certainly reading your coverage at Crosscut, to stay up to date on what is happening. You have been so informative, we've filled up the entire half an hour with talk about the police and you cover so much more. So maybe we can have you on again sometime to talk about the election and other events in the City. But sincerely appreciate you taking time to help enlighten us on where things stand and just what the situation is on what is possible and what's in our control in the City of Seattle and what's not. David Kroman: [00:30:02] Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. Crystal Fincher: [00:30:07] Thank you for listening to Hacks and Wonks. Our chief audio engineer at KVRU is Maurice Jones Jr. The producer of Hacks and Wonks is Lisl Stadler. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. And now you can follow Hacks and Wonks on iTunes, Spotify or wherever else you get your podcasts just type in "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe, to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. You can also get a full text transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced during the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the podcast episode notes.  Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.

The Queensland Native Mounted Police were a violent organisation set up in the mid 1800s to systematically wipe out the Aboriginal population from Queensland.  If you would like to support the podcast, you and Buy Me a CoffeeListen to the lyric video on YouTube.Shadow of a Shark Available to stream on SpotifyThis episode is designed to go with a Senior Modern History unit on the Frontier WarsThis episode is proudly sponsored by Amped Up Learning You can find classroom ready resources, games and decor for a huge range of subjects from Prep to Year 12. Accompanying teaching resources for this episode can be found on my Amped Up Learning StoreReflection QuestionsExplain the two different perspectives about the Native Mounted Police were printed in the newspapers of the time.What were some of the motives of the Queensland Government in setting up the Native Mounted police?What is one of the main issues in terms of finding balanced evidence for primary sources of the time?Explain why Aboriginal troopers were the preferable as troopers for the tracking police.How do the naming practices for the troopers represent a white washing of indigenous culture?Why would the majority of the people writing about the massacres and killings use euphemisms instead of direct language?Contact: Twitter @HistoryDetect, Instagram @HistoryDetective9, email  historydetective9@gmail.comHistory Detective WebsiteTranscript All original music written and performed by Kelly Chase.Shadow of a Shark mastered at REDMOON MUSIC AUSTRALIAArchaeology on the FrontierFrontier Conflict Database 

Captain Lisa Rakes joined the Lexington Police Department in 1990 and served as a patrol officer, mounted police officer and instructor, defensive tactics instructor, recruiter, field training officer, honor guard officer and a member of the emergency response team. Captain Rakes was a member of the Lexington Mounted Police Unit from 1996 until 2013 when she retired to join the Kentucky Horse Park Police.Captain Rakes now leads the Kentucky Horse Park Police who consists of 10 sworn officers and 4 civilian staff members. Captain Rakes has attended and completed numerous clinics and schools in the United States, Canada and London England, to not only improve her equitation and obstacle skills, but to build a better relationship with her horse. She has been a guest instructor and competed in numerous mounted police competitions and events.Tune in to learn more about mounted police work, to hear the inside scoop on what makes a good police horse, and to find out more about the Kentucky Horse Park! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Metis Nation of BC is recommending the province make a tip line for anyone who's seen or experienced racism in our health care system. I am joined by the President of the Metis Nation of BC Clara Morin Dal Col. Acumen Law's Kyla Lee joins me to talk about the circumstances surrounding the way the man who went on a shooting rampage in Nova Scotia and killed 22 people was able to withdraw $475,000 in cash and how some within the RCMP feel that there may be a tie with the Mounted Police, although the RCMP have denied any such relationship. And Angus Reid is out with a new survey in which it asked Canadians who self-identify as ethnically Chinese how their experience with racism has changed throughout the pandemic.

Acumen Law's Kyla Lee joins me to talk about the circumstances surrounding the way the man who went on a shooting rampage in Nova Scotia and killed 22 people was able to withdraw $475,000 in cash and how some within the RCMP feel that there may be a tie with the Mounted Police, although the RCMP have denied any such relationship.

Get your horses ready, we've got some special guests from the South Yorkshire Mounted Police talking more about Equestrian sport on #InTheGame!

Get your horses ready, we’ve got some special guests from the South Yorkshire Mounted Police talking more about Equestrian sport on #InTheGame!

The stories in this podcast are taken from a book called, "The Living Legend," by Alan Phillips. They are so much more interesting than I ever would've imagined and I give a special thanks to Mr. Joseph Gensens for suggesting this book. My website: https://catholic-mens-podcast.pinecast.co/ Leave me a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/CatholicMensPodcast Email me at: michaelsword7@gmail.com Attributions: Malicious Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Source: https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/collections.html?collection=44&Search=Search Artist: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod Sonatina by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Source: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod/Classical_Sampler/Sonatina Artist: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kevin_MacLeod

Back in May 2018, a Whatsapp message, with a malicious file attached to it, was sent to the Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos' phone to hack it. The sender was the Saudi crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman. In the first segment, Shruti Dhapola talks about how this hack was carried out, why was Bezos targeted and what the latest forensic reports about the case reveal. Next, Khushboo Narayan, talks about Mondelez India Foods Pvt Ltd (earlier Cadbury India) settling one of its most controversial tax disputes by paying Rs 439 crore under the amnesty scheme. And last, Srinath Rao explains why Mumbai police's horse-mounted unit is making a come back after 88 years. Further listening: The WhatsApp Pegasus attack, its implications and the government’s response (https://indianexpress.com/audio/3-things/the-whatsapp-pegasus-attack-its-implications-and-the-governments-response/6101613/)

We are joined by CaTari Jackson, Shreveport Police Department 's first Black female mounted patrol officer and Stanford is back from Black Reins. Plus, Cliff Williamson, Director of Health & Regulatory Affairs of the American Horse Council, explains the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act and weird news and pricey gifts. Listen in...HORSES IN THE MORNING Episode 2323– Show Notes and Links:Link to Sound File for Sight Impaired: Click HereThe HORSES IN THE MORNING Crew: Glenn the Geek: co-host, executive in charge of comic relief; Jamie Jennings: co-host, director of wacky equestrian adventuresTitle Sponsor: State Line Tack - Use coupon code HRN for 30% off through 12/31/2019Guest: Cliff Williamson, Director of Health & Regulatory Affairs of the American Horse CouncilGuest: Stanford from Black Reins Guest: CaTari Jackson, Shreveport Police Department 's first Black female mounted patrol officer. There’s an App for that! Check out the new Horse Radio Network app for iPhone and AndroidFollow Horse Radio Network on Twitter or follow Horses In The Morning on FacebookAdditional support for this podcast provided by Ovation Riding, Listeners Like You Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=87421)

We are joined by CaTari Jackson, Shreveport Police Department 's first Black female mounted patrol officer and Stanford is back from Black Reins. Plus, Cliff Williamson, Director of Health & Regulatory Affairs of the American Horse Council, explains the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act and weird news and pricey gifts. Listen in...HORSES IN THE MORNING Episode 2323– Show Notes and Links:Link to Sound File for Sight Impaired: Click HereThe HORSES IN THE MORNING Crew: Glenn the Geek: co-host, executive in charge of comic relief; Jamie Jennings: co-host, director of wacky equestrian adventuresTitle Sponsor: State Line Tack - Use coupon code HRN for 30% off through 12/31/2019Guest: Cliff Williamson, Director of Health & Regulatory Affairs of the American Horse CouncilGuest: Stanford from Black Reins Guest: CaTari Jackson, Shreveport Police Department 's first Black female mounted patrol officer. There’s an App for that! Check out the new Horse Radio Network app for iPhone and AndroidFollow Horse Radio Network on Twitter or follow Horses In The Morning on FacebookAdditional support for this podcast provided by Ovation Riding, Listeners Like You Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=87421)

Horses are all set to come back into the Mumbai police force, and the lads are mighty curious. Catch them try to make sense of this rather peculiar decision. Next they move to the story of a young Filipina who avoids paying excess baggage simply by wearing all her clothes. And lastly they are out protect the basic rights of drinkers of all income brackets as they try to the solve the problem of adulterated alcohol in Delhi. Cheers! + Music credit - Simon D’Souza + Write to us - hello@farfromfact.in (mailto:hello@farfromfact.in) + Follow us https://www.instagram.com/farfromfact/

In this episode, we talk with Joel Gough, a mounted police officer and horse trainer, from the Virginia Beach, Virginia Police Department Mounted Patrol. Joel shares how he got his start with training horses, some critical principles to understand when undergoing sensitivity training with horses, and lessons he has learned from working with horses on a daily basis. Joel also shares lessons about horsemanship and how farriers can get the contract to do the farrier work for a local mounted police force in their area. You'll get a lot of insight into the behavior of horses in this episode which will help you improve your horsemanship skills as a farrier.

In the early 2000s, Greg Sokoloski, a police officer in the Houston Mounted Police Department, decided to run an "experiment" on the horses in the police force. With some preparation and commitment, Greg pulled the shoes on these hardworking horses and put them back to work. Greg talks about how the Houston Police Department now keeps 40 police horses happy and sound barefoot.  If you are interested in his story and the transition process he took, feel free to contact Greg at hpdmp3486@sbcglobal.net. 

Mounted Police Senior Riding Instructor, Also International Three Day Event Competitor (Listeners' Choice)    Time Stamp and Contact Details for this Episode are available on  www.HorseChats.com/KarenOwenLC   Music - BenSound.com   Interviewed by Glenys Cox

A New Review of the Podcast Before I reprise the story of Crowfoot, I wanted to give a shout out to an iTunes listener with the screen name Jul121314 in the U.S. for the kind review. The review is titled "Great Storytelling". They continue saying: "Love listening to the stories - current and historical. I love the Canadian Rockies and this podcast gives me a much deeper understanding. " Thank you so much. Those that know me will tell you that I'm always trying to find the "story" hidden within a subject. Science and history are full of fascinating stories, and my goal with this show is to make sure that you always have a great story to enjoy. Crowfoot and Treaty 7 In last week's episode, I introduced you to the Blackfoot Chief Crowfoot. He was born at a time when the Blackfoot ruled the plains from Cypress Hills to the Continental Divide and from Montana to the North Saskatchewan River. If you haven't listened to that episode, you can enjoy it at www.MountainNaturePodcast.com/ep062. When I wrapped the episode, the Northwest Mounted Police had marched westward to chase away whiskey traders that had invaded Canadian territory from Montana. Crowfoot was happy the government would remove the whiskey that had ravaged his people, but he still wanted to better understand the role of the Mounties on Blackfoot territory. Once the Mounties were settled into their camp at Fort MacLeod, Colonel Macleod requested a meeting with the leaders of the Blackfoot Nation. When the meeting finally took place, and the leaders of the Blackfoot, Blood, and Piegan were gathered, Crowfoot asked Macleod to help the people understand the role of the police in their territory. By the time Crowfoot left Fort Macleod, he felt a strong affinity to the Colonel. Both understood the importance of peaceful relations and Crowfoot had already seen how the police were able to put an end to the trade of whiskey to his people. Crowfoot also felt Macleod was a man of his word. It was a precarious time for the nations of the Confederacy, and trust was critical if they were to move forward. Crowfoot saw this as a sign that the old ways had to change. He began to discourage his followers from raiding enemy camps to steal horses. The era of intertribal warfare would need to end. On the short term, the fortunes of the nations of the Blackfoot improved. With the expulsion of the whiskey trade, the Blackfoot Nation began to rebound. Rather than booze, they once again began to trade for horses and other goods necessary for their people. Despite this short-term feeling of complacency, Crowfoot saw disheartening changes within their territory. What had started as a trickle, was gradually becoming a flood of white men into Blackfoot territory. At the same time, the once plentiful buffalo were beginning to decline. For a nation so culturally tied to the previously endless herds of bison, Crowfoot imagined a time when the buffalo may no longer roam the plains. As incomprehensible as it would have been to him a few years earlier, Crowfoot worried for the future of his people. Reverend MacDougall, Crowfoots long-trusted friend explained that other First Nations had signed treaties with the Canadian government and that these treaties would ensure the rights of the Blackfoot by spelling out their claims to what must have felt like an endlessly shrinking landscape. It's likely that Crowfoot could not have any real concept of what a treaty would mean for his people, as well as what they would be giving up. What he did know was that more whites came every year and along with them fewer buffalo were available to hunt. It was only a matter of time before once endless herds were a memory and he knew there needed to be some agreement with the government of the whites. There was ample reason to be sceptical of any treaty with the government. The southern members of the Blackfoot Nation signed a treaty with the American government in 1855. It wasn't long before it became obvious it wasn't worth the paper it was written upon. Monies due were never on time, the quality of the promised supplies continually dropped over time, and more settlers meant the government continually insisted on changing terms of agreements already signed. When gold was discovered in Montana in the 1860s, the trickle of white settlers became a torrent. This led the Bloods and Piegan to defend their territory prompting Americans to send in the cavalry. The "Blackfoot War" as the dispute became known was finally settled when the Cavalry slaughtered 173 Piegan in an undefended camp. Most of the victims were women and children. When the Mounties arrived in the west, several of the Chiefs that would be asked to sign the Canadian Treaty were also signatories of the disastrous American one as well. Late in 1875, Crowfoot called a council of chiefs to discuss the possibility of a treaty with the Canadians. Along with all five head chiefs representing the three tribes, an additional 10 minor chiefs took part. They created a petition which was presented at the newly built Fort Calgary. They complained that white settlers were homesteading without restriction, usually in the best hunting grounds, and that incursions were increasingly common with Cree and mixed-blood Metis that were also hunting buffalo in their territory. Since no Indian Commissioner had been sent to them, they insisted that one: "visit us this summer at the Hand Hills and [state] the time of his arrival there, so we could meet with him and hold a Council for putting a [stop] to the invasion of our country, till our Treaty be made with the government." South of the border, a treaty with the Sioux, like the Blackfoot Treaty of 1855, had been signed in 1868, giving them hunting rights along the North Platte River and east of the Bighorn Mountains. Whites were to be excluded as long as there was good hunting for the Sioux. Well, all of that quickly fell apart when gold was found in the Black Hills in 1874. Prospectors flooded Sioux lands, and despite the pleas of the Sioux that the government honour the treaty, they were instead met with soldiers of the United States Cavalry. When the Sioux rebelled, the cavalry led by General George Crook, descended upon a large gathering of Cheyenne and Sioux along the Powder River. The carnage forced many to surrender and return to their reservation, but it also radicalized many who moved west to gather their strength for the coming conflict. Central to this was the great Sioux chief Sitting Bull. He sought to build a broad alliance, among both friend and enemy, to fight a common foe. Emissaries were sent to neighbouring tribes to seek allies in the coming conflict. One of these messengers was sent to the camp of Crowfoot. He offered a gift of tobacco, as well as horses, mules, and should they defeat the Americans, white women slaves. They also promised that once the Cavalry were defeated, they would ride north to rid the plains of the white men. The police were few and the people of the plains were many. Crowfoot needed little time to turn down offers of war with the whites, particularly with the Sioux who had long been their enemies. His message was met with a threat. The Sioux were strong and had a plan to destroy the soldiers; then they would come for the Blackfoot along with the police. As is often the case, timing is everything. When the news of the threat arrived in Crowfoot's camp, Inspector Cecil Denny happened to be present. Crowfoot shared with him the entire story. Denny promised the protection of the police to the Blackfoot, and Crowfoot offered 2000 warriors should the Sioux march north. The year was 1876 and Crowfoot stated: "we all see that the day is coming when the buffalo will all be killed, And we shall have nothing more to live on…  Then you'll come into our camp and see the poor Blackfoot starving.  I know that the heart of the capital white soldier will be sorry for us, and they will tell the great mother who will not let her children starve. We are getting shut in.  The Crees are coming into our country from the north, and the white men from the south and east, and they are all destroying our means of living; but still, although we plainly see these days coming, we will not join the Sioux against the whites, but will depend upon you to help us." This speech impressed Denny who sent a copy to Queen Victoria who personally responded to the chief to thank him for his loyalty. While this was playing out in Canada, Sitting Bull had already routed General George Armstrong Custer at the Little Bighorn in Montana. However, rather than following up on their threats, the Sioux realized their time in American territory was finished and they fled north into the Cypress Hills within Canadian territory. Sitting Bull, who had threatened to wipe the Mounties from the landscape, instead assured these same Mounties that he would break no laws in Canada. Again, Sitting Bull sent gifts of tobacco to Crowfoot's camp. This time the message was one of peace and friendship. The chief refused to smoke the tobacco until he understood Sitting Bull's true intentions. To his surprise, a party of Sioux, including Sitting Bull himself arrived at his camp. They both pledged peace and smoked the tobacco. The following year, the Canadian Government arranged to negotiate a treaty with the Blackfoot. Colonel James Macleod and Lieutenant Governor David Laird were appointed as commissioners charged with negotiating a treaty with the nations of the Confederacy. The presence of Sitting Bull in Canadian territory helped hasten the urgency of cementing a positive arrangement with such a powerful nation. At the same time, cattle were beginning to make their presence known on the plains and many envious eyes were looking westward towards the plentiful grasslands of Alberta, or what would eventually be Alberta. To complicate matters, in 1872 the government had promised a railroad link to British Columbia to connect it with the rest of the nation. This meant that a ribbon of steel would have to cross the country; the territory of the Blackfoot lay smack dab along the future line. As the various groups of the Blackfoot Confederacy, Sarcee, and Stoney nations gathered, Commissioner Laird summarized the changing conditions on the plains: “in a very few years, the buffalo will probably be all destroyed, and for this reason, the queen wishes to help you to live in the future in some other way.  She wishes you to allow her white children to come and live on your land and raise cattle, and should you agree to this she will assist you to raise cattle and grain, and thus give you the means of living when the buffalo are no more.  She will also pay you and your children money every year, which you can spend as you please.” His speech essentially asked them to share their hunting grounds in return for some land, cows, potatoes, ammunition and a whopping $5.00 per year. In return, they would be signing a treaty that would essentially strip them of their rightful ownership of their traditional territories; territories won through generations of war, blood, and sacrifice. Laird had little empathy for these first nations and often belittled claims that, to the Blackfeet, were not trivial matters. One of the Blood Chiefs, Medicine Calf had already signed one treaty - with the Americans. He saw that treaty continually broken and the terms ignored. He spoke: “the Great Mother sent you to this country, and we hope she will be good to us for many years…  The Americans gave at first large bags of flour, sugar, and many blankets; the next year was only half the quantity, and the following year grew less and less, and now they give only a handful of flour." When he asked about compensation for firewood used by the police and settlers, Laird responded: “Why, you Indians ought to pay us for sending these traders in fire water away and giving you security and peace, rather than we pay you for the timber used.”… The negotiations were hard and contentious. The many leaders of the various nations all had different ideas of what would be necessary to sign a treaty. According to one story, a white man spread a line of dollars on a table and informed Crowfoot that this was the currency by which the white man traded…not skins. Crowfoot took a handful of clay, made a ball, and placed it in the fire. He then looked to the white man and said: “Now put your money on the fire and see if it will last as long as the clay.” When the white man responded that his money will burn, Crowfoot retorted: "Oh your money is not as good as our land, is it? The wind will blow it away; the fire will burn it; water will rot it. Nothing will destroy our land. You don’t make a very good trade.” The chief handed the white man a handful of sand and asked him to count the number of grains of sand. When the white man admitted that he couldn't possibly count every grain, Crowfoot replied: “Very well, our land is more valuable than your money. It will last forever. It will not perish as long as the sun shines and the water flows, and through all the years it will give life to men and animals, and therefore we cannot sell the land. It was put there by the Great Spirit and we cannot sell it because it does not really belong to us. You can count your money and burn it with a nod of a buffalo’s head, but only the Great Spirit can count the grains of sand and the blades of grass on these plains. As a present, we will give you anything you can take with you, but we cannot give you the land.” Crowfoot showed that he truly understood the idea of ownership, but it is debatable as to whether he truly comprehended what the loss of all their land would mean to the Blackfoot. As negotiations continued to drag on, there were rumours that the northern Piegan were pondering massacring the government representatives. Crowfoot was against any violence towards the commission. The situation began to improve when the remainder of the leaders of the Blood tribe finally arrived at the treaty site. As the last of the great chiefs of the Confederacy arrived, even though the negotiations were difficult, the presence of the entire nation in one place helped raise spirits. Crowfoot consulted a medicine man for whom he had great respect. When asked if he should sign a treaty, the response was: “I want to hold you back because I am at the edge of the bank.  My life is at its end.  I hold you back because your life henceforth will be different from what it has been.  Buffalo makes your body strong.  What you will eat from this money will have your people buried all over these hills.  You will be tied down, you will not wander the plains; the whites will take your land and fill it.  You won’t have your own free will; the whites will lead you by a halter.  That’s why I say don’t sign.  But my life is old, so sign if you want to.  Go ahead and make the treaty.”… In the end, the various chiefs trusted Crowfoot to make the final decision as to whether they should sign. Finally, Crowfoot rose to speak: “While I speak, be kind and patient.  I have to speak for my people, who are numerous, and who rely upon me to follow that course which in the future will tend to their good.  The plains are large and wide.  We are the children of the plains.  It is our home, and the buffalo has been our food always.  I hope you look upon the Blackfeet, Bloods, and Sarcees as your children now, and that you will be indulgent and charitable to them.  They all expect me to speak now for them, and I trust the Great Spirit will put into their breasts to be a good people into the minds of the men, women and children, and their future generations... The advice given me and my people has proved to be very good.  If the police had not come to the country, where would we all be now?  Bad men and whiskey were killing us so fast that very few, indeed, of us would have been left today.  The police have protected us as the feathers of the bird protected from the frosts in winter.  I wish them all good, and trust that all our hearts will increase in goodness from this time forward.  I am satisfied.  I will sign the treaty.” With Crowfoot's words, the other chiefs also made their mark upon the treaty. The next order of business was to decide where their reserves would be located. Crowfoot believed that a single large reserve would help to keep their nation strong and strengthen their negotiating power with the whites. When there was no resistance he selected a long strip of land four miles wide extending some 320 km east into buffalo country. While the whites wanted the Blackfoot to take up farming, Crowfoot could not see his people surviving by "scratching the land" to grow food. He picked rich hunting grounds, but poor land for farming. Crowfoot was the first to sign. He expressed the concerns many of the Blackfoot had: “Great Father!  Take pity on me with regard to my country, with regard to the mountains, the hills and the valleys; with regard to the prairies, the forest and the waters; with regard to all the animals that inhabit them, and do not take them from myself and my children forever.” After Crowfoot, all the other chiefs, true to their word to him, also made their mark on the treaty. A missionary that was present at the signing, Father Scollen, was later asked if he thought the Blackfoot understood the magnitude of the document they had signed. He replied: “Did these Indians, or do they now, understand the real nature of the treaty made between the Government and themselves in 1877?  My answer to this question is unhesitatingly negative… Crowfoot, who beyond a doubt, is considered the leading chief of the plains, did not seem to have a faint notion of the meaning of the treaty…  All the other chiefs followed Crowfoot, and the substance of their speeches was that they agreed with him in all that he said…” How could they understand the implications of the treaty? Interpreters whose job it was to explain the terms had no words that would help the chiefs truly understand the concept of giving up vast territories to be settled on tiny plots of land. The Blackfoot would soon learn what signing this treaty meant. For generations, they had relied on winter snows to force the bison towards their winter hunting grounds in the foothills. This year the snows didn't come. Instead, winter fires on the prairies forced the bison to stay north of the Cypress Hills. The Blackfoot, as they had always done, had no choice but to follow the herds. Soon they found themselves on the edge of their territory and within spitting distance of their traditional enemies the Crees, Assiniboines, and Sioux. The winter was very difficult and starvation was a regular visitor to the camps. Sitting Bull once again visited Crowfoots camp and, while Crowfoot had no issues with the great chief, he advised that the Sioux stay away from their camps in such stressful times. He was worried that he would not be able to control his warriors. While spring brought a few buffalo back to the plains, Crowfoot could see that the future would no longer see them as master of territories occupied by vast numbers of buffalo. The bison were fewer and fewer and the many competing nations were all desperate for the same few animals. Crowfoot also learned that his friend Red Crow, chief of the Bloods, had decided, against the advice of Crowfoot, that he wanted a reserve farther south. This meant the joint reserve Crowfoot hoped for would not happen, and the single voice they might have with the government would now be partitioned. Crowfoot felt betrayed by his friend Colonel Macleod who had approved the request by Red Crow. He knew that this would weaken the power of the Blackfoot and was sure there was treachery on the part of the commission. The next winter was no better. The bison were scarce and the Blackfeet began to starve. Instead of bison, in desperation, they began to kill anything that was edible, whether it was a rabbit, ground squirrel, mouse, porcupine, or even badgers. If it had meat, it was fair game. Pleas to the government who had previously promised to feed the nation fell on deaf ears. Over the winter, they began to eat the camp dogs, and in time, began to eat anything made of leather, from moccasins, leather bags, and any piece of animal skin that might contain nourishment. The winter was terrible. In addition to the starvation, a party of 1,000 equally weak Crees camped just a few miles away. After a heated argument led to one of the Cree being killed, they finally moved on. Finally, in July of 1879, Edgar Dewdney was appointed as Indian Commissioner. He heard the pleas of Three Bulls and the other Blackfeet and brought beef along with flour and tea to offer relief to the starving. As he reported: “On arriving there, I found about 1300 Indians in a very destitute condition and many on the verge of starvation.  Young men who were known to be Stout and  hearty fellows some six months ago, were quite emaciated and so weak they could hardly work; the old people and widows, who, with their children live on the charity of the younger and more prosperous, had nothing, and many a pitiable tale was told of the misery they had endured.” That summer, the Blackfoot were advised by Dewdney and Colonel Macleod that many bison were being seen around the Cypress Hills. The Blackfoot followed their advice and sent the old and sick to Fort Macleod to be cared for by the police. As it turns out, those headed to the fort would fare far better than the warriors that headed out to hunt as their forefathers had done before them. As they approached Cypress Hills, Crowfoot met his foster brother Three Bulls who told him the animals that had previously been there had now moved out of the area. American hide hunters had set fires south of the border to prevent the normal northward migration of the buffalo, trapping them south of the border. While Crowfoot had never taken his people south of the American border before, the southern Piegan had always hunted there. Crowfoot had no choice but to head south into unknown territory. Unfortunately, his reputation preceded him and his arrival was heralded by a scalding news story in the American media: “Crowfoot has always been the leader of noted murderers, and is responsible for the death of more than one emigrant and prospector, yet this red butcher has been the pet of the Mounted Police ever since the latter arrived in the country” It hurts me to share quotes like this, but it's necessary to show the difference between Canadian and American views towards First Nations. At the same time, it was the Canadian government, with whom the Blackfoot had signed treaties with the promise of fair treatment and supplies of food, that had forced them to be there in the first place. The Americans resented the presence of so-called Canadian Indians and they had a good reason. Dewdney, in private correspondence, admitted as much: “I advised them strongly to go and gave them some provisions to take them off.  They continued to follow the buffalo further and further south until they reached the main herd and there they remained…  I consider their remaining away saved the government $100,000 at least.” Americans saw their territory swarmed by natives of every affiliation, from Blackfeet to Sarcee to Gros Ventres, and on and on. Each of these nations had no other choice, except starvation. The bison were quickly vanishing and these were all people of the bison. In addition to the scorn and risk of cavalry attacks from travelling south of the border, suddenly they were back in the lands of the whiskey trader. No sooner were their bellies full, did the whiskey wagons arrive in their camps. Suddenly, in addition to the whiskey, there was a new voice trying to whisper into their heads, a Metis by the name of Louis Riel. Riel had been a leader of the Metis when confederation transferred the lands of the Red River Settlement to the fledgeling Canadian government. He understood that the transfer of lands would be done with little consultation to the first nations and Metis that were already living there. In 1869, when the government sent surveyors to partition and run the area, Riel led his people in a rebellion. The government sent out soldiers and Riel fled to the U.S. to escape prosecution where he continued to promote mixed-blood rights. His resistance led to the founding of the province of Manitoba, and despite living in exile, he was elected three times to the federal government in absentia. Also in his absence, his colleague Father Nol Ritchot, managed to stare down John A. Macdonald and his Conservatives in negotiations and have the province of Manitoba established in May of 1870 while Riel was still in hiding. It was just a tiny postage stamp in terms of its present size. While merely one-eighteenth the size of modern-day Manitoba, it accomplished its goals of protecting the Red River settlement and the Metis for whom Riel had fought. Riel was gone from the political scene in Manitoba, but he was still working to coordinate a much larger rebellion that would take control of the Northwest Territories. While in Montana, Riel met with Crowfoot. As Crowfoot described the meeting: “He wanted me to join with all the Sioux, and the Crees, and half-breeds.  The idea was to have a general uprising and capture the North-West, and hold it for the Indian race and the Métis [mixed-bloods].  We were to meet at Tiger Hills, in Montana; we were to have a government of our own.  I refused, but the others were willing…” Riel had persuasive words, but Crowfoot could see they led only to ruin for his people. Like Sitting Bull a few years earlier, he was able to see past the passion and the fervour to the ruinous results. Somehow, despite being starved into another country, he still had confidence in the Mounted Police. In his conversations with Riel, there was an interpreter present, a false-priest by the name of  Jean L’Heureux. While L'Heureux had never been ordained as a priest, he roamed the plains preaching the gospel. Despite this official stature as a false-priest, others like Father Lacombe hired him as an interpreter due to the very close relationship with the first nations of the plains, in particular, the Blackfoot. He was a confidant of Crowfoot and he described Riel's words: “I soon learned the whole plan of the affair, which was nothing less than the invasion and taking possession of the North-West Territories, with the help of a general uprising of all the Indian tribes, united to the half-breeds…  That R…was to be governor, and Riel the first minister of his cabinet, where a seat was to be given to the Indian chief who, with his people, would help the half-breeds most in the contemplated invasion… Riel planned for his allies to meet at Tiger Hills and from there to march on the Canadians. Unfortunately, the Americans in whose territory Crowfoot's people were currently residing, also heard these stories of war parties. Like Sitting Bull, Crowfoot didn't want anything to do with Riel's rebellion and soon Riel realized that with the Americans aware of his plans, it was best for him to make tracks for the Judith Basin in Montana and talk no more…for now of rebellion. Oddly enough, Sitting Bull also met with Crowfoot in Montana. He had slipped south of the border as he had done numerous times to hunt. His people, like the Blackfoot, were also forced south of the Medicine Line in the quest for bison. He wanted no quarrel with the Blackfoot as he knew that he needed to return to Canada as soon as possible. He said to Crowfoot: “my children will be your children and your's mine.  From now on we will never fight again and we will be on the same side at all times.” He even named one of his children Crowfoot. Unfortunately, within days, a Sioux war party raided Crowfoot's camp and stole numerous horses. The two men never spoke again. While Sitting Bull's people were officially still in Canada, the situation for them got increasingly worse. Prime Minister John A Macdonald didn't like having the Sioux warrior on Canadian soil and he believed that Major James Walsh of the fort that bore his name in the Cypress Hills, was too lenient with Sitting Bull. However, Walsh had gained a great respect for the old Chief, as long as he kept his people peaceful. Macdonald had Walsh transferred to Fort Qu’Appelle, some 250 km distant. He was replaced by an officious inspector Lief N.F. (‘Paddy’) Crozier. He was instructed to convince Sitting Bull to go back to the U.S. Finally, in July of 1881, Sitting Bulls remaining followers rode south and surrendered at Fort Buford on the Yellowstone River. In the meantime, Walsh had taken vacation time and travelled to Chicago to meet with an American Indian Agent with whom he was friends. He pleaded for fair treatment for the Sioux. Sitting Bull was imprisoned for 20 months at Fort Randall in South Dakota and was freed in May of 1883. The following year, while touring Canada and the U.S. he met Annie Oakley. The Minnesotan sharpshooter deeply impressed the old chief and he adopted her as his daughter, giving her the name "Little Sure Shot". She continued to use that name throughout her career. He joined the Wild West Show of Buffalo Bill Cody in 1885 but only stayed for four months before returning to his reserve at Standing Rock. Around this time, a new native religious movement called the ghost dance became popular. The military was fearful of it and became convinced that Sitting Bull was an instigator. They ordered him arrested and during the scuffle, the old chief, along with numerous other Sioux, were killed. The plains had lost another great chief and songs of mourning filled the air at Standing Rock. Like Crowfoot, Sitting Bull was a man trapped in time. He was from a once proud and powerful nation that saw his way of life destroyed. While he chose a different path than Crowfoot, he did so with the conviction that he was doing what was best for his people. Next week, I'll finish the story of Crowfoot and the Blackfoot as they are eventually forced back to Canada amidst Cavalry threats, sickness, and starvation. Yellow Ladyslipper Orchid A few episodes back, in episode 60, I talked about the Calypso orchid and how it tricked bumblebee queens into pollinating it without providing any nectar reward. This week, I want to look at another related orchid, the yellow ladyslipper orchid. Orchids are a very old family of plants, and along with the dandelion or daisy family, represent the two largest plant families on the planet. There are more than 28,000 different orchid species on the planet today. Each one has evolved a slightly different strategy to attract their specific pollinator. Few plant families have diversified as much as the orchids in order to attract a very specific insect to act as courier to transplant pollen from one flower to another.  Orchids are also part of the major plant group called monocotyledon. This includes most of the grasses and sedges, along with lilies and irises. Monocots, as they are commonly referred, usually have grass-like leaves, with the veins running parallel to the leaf margin. Their petals are also usually arranged in multiples of threes, for instance, three or six petals. Most flowers reward pollinators with treats of nectar or pollen. Pollen is one of nature's most perfect foods. It contains everything that a honey bee needs to survive: sugar, proteins, enzymes, minerals and vitamins. The nectar is used to make honey to feed the larvae in the hive. So many plants have evolved specifically to provide one or both of these as a reward for pollinators visiting the plant and taking a bit of pollen to another plant to assist in cross-pollination. Across the orchid family, there are both nectar rewarding species and food deceptors like the Calypso which trick the bee into visiting but leave them hungry when they leave. Most orchids have three petals and three sepals. Unlike most plants though, where the sepals are usually nondescript, in orchids, often the sepals look just like the petals. This is particularly true of the ladyslippers. The yellow ladyslipper has three sepals that resemble the petals. One rises vertically above the plant and the other two fall behind and below the flower. It also has three petals, although the third one is modified into the pouch so distinctive in ladyslipper orchids. The other two petals, which resemble the sepals, tend two twist and curve forward as if they were the shoelaces that would tie the slipper onto the imaginary foot was this really a slipper. Above the pouch is a yellow triangular structure used to guide the bees into the pouch. Just in case they need further direction, there are purple markings that literally point down on the lip. To the bee, this means "follow this arrow to get pollen and/or nectar". Unfortunately for the bee, it gets neither. Like the Calypso, the yellow ladyslipper doesn't produce any nectar for the production of honey. That's alright, then a feed of pollen will do just fine. Unfortunately for the bee, the pollen of these orchids is all packed together into a single sticky mass. This allows a single bee visit to produce thousands of tiny seeds. When the bee follows the arrow on the lip into the pouch, it becomes trapped. Inside the pouch though, there's another series of purple lines that guide the bee towards the rear of the flower where there are two exit points for bees that are the right size. Too large and they may find themselves trapped in the pouch. Tiny angular hairs also serve to nudge the bee in the right direction towards these exits…oh and yah…the orchids reproductive organs. First, it passes the stigma or female part of the plant. If the bee has visited another orchid previously, the sticky pollen mass will be deposited here. Then, just before it exits the flower, an additional pollen mass will be placed on its back where it can't access it for feeding purposes. It will just stick there on the hopes that the bee gets duped once again. Without a pollen or nectar reward, there is little to motivate bees to keep visiting these orchids. That's why allowing a single visit to produce thousands of seeds is a good strategy - it makes every visit count. Why do bees come back? In part because of the seductive fragrance of the flower. It resembles the bees own pheromones. In addition, any bees that have already visited and escaped, leave their scent as well. This also serves to attract other unwitting bees. Once the flower is pollinated, it will produce a hard, vertical pod that contains thousands of tiny, wind-dispersed seeds. Once the seeds are released, for most plants the story would end. They would hopefully find their way to a place with good soil and germination would take place. For orchids, the story is not quite that simple. The seeds of the yellow ladyslipper are tiny and have very little in the way of food reserves. All plants need help in obtaining nutrients from the soil. Their roots need nitrogen and phosphorous to promote growth. Specialized fungi in the soil called mycorrhizal fungi are able to make these minerals available to the plants in return for a little of the sugar produced by the leaves. The fungi wraps itself around and, in some cases, within the roots. The plant provides sugar in return for these essential nutrients. Some 90% of all plants on the planet rely on these beneficial fungi for their growth. There are thousands of species of mycorrhizal fungi, and for most plants, they are not too fussy as to which species their roots associate with. They have sugar to trade, and the fungi have nitrogen. You give me yours and I'll give you mine. Some plants, as in the case of orchids though, are very particular. The yellow ladyslipper only associates with a small number of fungi species. It also needs their help to even germinate. Each of the seeds of the orchid are tiny and lack any food reserves. They need to land on just the right soil, which contains just the right fungi. Before they can germinate, the fungi have to wrap themselves around the seeds and provide not just nitrogen at this stage but also sugars. The plant seed has none so the fungus has to sustain the seeds until they can germinate. Essentially, at this time, the plant is parasitic to the fungus as it's not providing any sugars in return for the nourishment it is taking. Later, as the fungus feeds the seed until it germinates and grows, a period that can take years, The plant will begin to reciprocate and provide sugars to the fungus. In most plant relationships. Essentially, the relationship varies between one of parasitism and one of mutual benefit. Yellow ladyslippers also take hiatuses at different times in their lifespan where they won't sprout at all for several years. During these dormant times, it will, once again, rely on the fungi for nourishment. Unfortunately, this intense reliance on very specific soil fungi means that you can't transplant ladyslippers. The plants produce thousands of seeds specifically because the chance of germination is very rare. Only those few seeds that land in the right place, which contains the right fungal partner, have any chance of survival. It's important to think of orchids as a kind of compound species. The flower is only one component of the living plant. The fungi is intricately wound around and within its roots. One cannot exist without the other. If you see people tempted to dig them up or pick them, please let them know just how fragile these flowers are and that picking them today may mean that we never again get the pleasure of seeing another flower in that location. The more I learn about orchids and the orchid family, the more impressed I am. They are one of the most uniquely diversified group of plants on the planet. Because most don't offer nectar to their pollinators, they have to develop innovative ways of attracting them and making sure that each visit counts. And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. Remember that Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source for all things Rocky Mountain. We offer nature, hiking, step-on, and photography guides to make sure your visit is a memorable one. Expert guides share the stories behind the scenery. If you'd like to reach out to me personally, you can hit me up on Twitter @wardcameron, or drop me a line at info@wardcameron.com. Don't forget to check out the show notes at www.MountainNaturePodcast.com/ep063 for links to additional information, and while you're there, don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss another episode

Bill Richey of National Mounted Police Services, Inc. shares some fun and facts about what make a great police horse and officer. Bill has over 30 years experience in the Mounted Police, and talks about how he helps train people become better horse men and women. He talks about the clinics he teaches as well, which sound like a lot of fun! And that's what this podcast is-FUN! National Mounted Facebook

Mounted Police Senior Riding Instructor, Also International Three Day Event Competitor   Time Stamps and Contact Details for this Episode are available on  www.HorseChats.com/KarenOwen   Music - BenSound.com

RCMP swears in 32 women police officers. One of Canada’s most notable icons is the Mountie – and people expect to see a man. Traditionally, of course, Mounties were male. But the RCMP, like all workplaces, changed in the 1970s. On September 16, 1974, the venerable police force swore in 32 women cadets from across Canada, and sent them to their Regina, Saskatchewan training facility. Six months later, 30 emerged as officers. Dispersed across the country, they met with mixed experiences. .They faced colleagues who didn’t want them there, wives who objected to them working alongside their husbands, and a public that wanted to talk to “real Mounties.” The rookie officers felt forced to prove themselves to each new detachment they joined. As one pioneer constable, Barb Alexander, recalls, "You're not one of the guys. You're not one of the secretaries. You're not one of the wives. You're something different. You couldn't go out with just anyone. You were such an oddity." Women like Alexander, however, made things a bit easier for the women who followed. Today, women are integral to Canada’s Mounted Police and make up about 17% of the police force. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week I take a look at one of our most secretive animals, the northern flying squirrel. It also looks like B.C. has broken a record this summer for the worst fire season on record. Finally, I'll share the story of the Greatest Canadian Railroader, that wasn't well Canadian, William Cornelius Van Horne. And with that said, let's get to it. Flying Squirrels We're all familiar with the red squirrel, that ubiquitous little scavenger that invades bird feeders and constantly chatters at us whenever we enter its forested domain. However were you aware that the red squirrel is NOT the only squirrely resident of our western forests? The northern flying squirrel shares the forest with its more gregarious neighbour but for most residents of the mountain west, these squirrels remain virtually invisible.  They range from 25 to 37 cm in length and they have a light underside and dark backs. They give birth to just a single litter each year and may live communally in the winter in order to huddle together to share warmth. They are far more secretive than the red squirrel and are usually only active at night. Like red squirrels, their diet is very flexible, including seeds, cones, tree sap, fungi and even eggs, and nestlings. They are characterized by a skin membrane that runs from their front feet to their back which, when stretched out, gives them a large leathery sail that allows them to fly like a furry kite from tree to tree to tree. The proper name for these membranes are patagia. If this doesn't give them enough of a wing, they have cartilage spurs on each wrist that can help to extend the patagia even further. As they leap from their perch, they stretch out their arms and legs and soar away. When they approach their landing site, they'll rapidly raise their flat tail which, in turn, shifts their body upwards. This positions all four legs forward for landing and the patagia also forms a breaking parachute to slow them down for 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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Globally, there are 43 species of flying squirrels and in some cases, flights of up to 300 feet can be made. The northern flying squirrel averages around 20 metres, but flights of up to 90 metres have also been recorded. If you've ever seen a youtube video of humans wearing squirrel suits, you will noticed that they don't just fly in a single direction, they can execute sharp turns by changing the orientation of their arms and legs. Squirrles are the real master at this. They can make incredibly sudden corrections and turns mid-flight, even completely reversing direction if needed. While they're foraging on the ground though, they're clumsy as they collect seeds and cones to store in their caches. Large eyes help them to see in the dark and they quietly scurry about looking for tasty morsels. The range of the northern flying squirrel covers almost all of Canada. With the exception of southeastern Alberta and southern Saskatchewan. Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they're uncommon. In fact in many areas, they are very common, and like red squirrels, they're not above invading an attic or two.  If you're out at night and see two big eyes staring at you from the treetops, you may just be seeing one of our most secretive residents. Take a few minutes and watch, you may just get lucky and see it make a quick aerial exit. In the winter, you will sometimes come across a set of squirrel tracks that mysteriously just begins in the middle of a field. That's a sure sign that a flying squirrel has been passing through. Next up…a record breaking season - for all the wrong reasons Worst Fire Season Ever It's now official. 2017 already has become the worst fire season in British Columbia history - and the season isn't even over yet. As of Aug 16, fires had blazed across an estimated 894,941 hectares in the province since April 1 according to a CBC story. To battle these fires, the federal and provincial governments have spent in excess of $315 million dollars. That number doesn't yet surpass the $382 million dollars spent in 2009, but again, the season isn't over yet. Perhaps even more important than financial costs to fight the fires, has been the loss of homes and lengthy evacuations of some 45,000 people over the course of the summer. As of August 22, there were still 3,800 people unable to return to their communities due to evacuation orders. Currently firefighters are fighting a single fire that covers some 4,674 square kilometres making it the largest single fire in B.C. history. It was created when 19 individual fires converged to create one single monster blaze near Quesnel. From end to end it stretches 130 kilometres. This is more than double the previous record held by a 1958 fire that charred 2,250 sq km. Province wide, there are still 135 fires burning. This season is far from over. Many of the fires currently burning will continue until the snows of winter douse them. Let's hope for some good solid rains for B.C. this fall. Next up…a rainmaker saves the CPR Van Horne’s Line The building of the Canadian Pacific Railway was an epic adventure for a small nation. There are many stories related to this line but I wanted to introduce you to one of the key characters responsible for helping us to get the job done. His name is Sir William Cornelius Van Horne. As Canada struggled to build its railroad, the epic struggle against an unforgiving landscape and diminishing coffers made for a very difficult undertaking for a small population. We had little experience with such an immense railroad project and the politics around the construction managed to topple two governments. As time passed, and funds diminished, the disorganization around the construction began to become overwhelming. The final straw occurred during the 1881 season where the company only managed to lay just over 200 km of track and in the process squandered $10 million. We still had some 3,000 left to finish. It became clear that we needed to bring in a rainmaker. As it turns out there was just a man south of the border: William Cornilius Van Horne. Van Horne had begun his career as a telegraph operator during the civil war. While working one day, a train rolled into the station and he saw the grand private car of the railroad superintendent…and he was impressed. He immediately declared that someday, he would also have his own private car. In order to accomplish this, he knew that he would need to learn everything there was about railroading; and so, he set out to learn. He began staying after work to copy the drawings of the railroad engineers…until he was caught. Fortunately for him, he was pretty good. They hired him to do their lettering from that point on, and for the rest of his life he was an amateur engineer. He was only 29 when he got his private car, and was named the superintendent of the St. Louis, Kansas City, and Northern Railroad, making him the youngest Railroad Superintendent in the world. Van Horne was a gambler and he never hesitated to gamble on his own abilities. He gained a reputation for taking bankrupt railways and making them pay. Since broke railroads didn’t have a lot of money, but had a lot of useless stock lying around, he would negotiate as much of his pay in stocks as possible. He could later sell them for a fortune; once he turned the fortunes of the railway around that is. One of his contemporaries, Colonel Allan Magee stated: "You always knew when Sir William Van Horne was approaching his office, even when he had just got off the elevator, was still coming down the corridor, but had not yet turned the corner. The sounds were unmistakable--the heavy tread, the wheeze, the shuffle, the snort, all warnings that a portentous figure was about to loom into view" He had a reputation of being everywhere at once, and he took great pains to cultivate that reputation. At one point he learned that some of his workers were taking pillows from passenger compartments to make beds in the luggage compartment. He arranged for a telegram to meet them in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and all that telegram said was: “put those pillows back! Van Horne” Even though he had his private car, he would often travel 2nd class as that was the best way to see the operation of your line the way your customers saw it. On one trip, some roughians were taunting a young African American woman with a child that wouldn’t stop crying. He sat quietly until one of the youths got up and slapped the child. Van Horne, who was a man of rather generous proportions launched to his feet, grabbed the youth by the scruff of the collar and said: “Leave that child alone!” When the youth responded with: “Who the hell are you?” Van Horned replied: “Never mind! Be careful how your conduct yourself or I shall throw your off the train” By this time the tempers were flaring, and the testosterone was pumping, but the angry stare of Van Horne caused the youth to back down. Things were very tense until they got into the next station when the youth’s sidekicks hustled him off the train. Van Horne watched as they unloaded on the platform, all the while wondering where his conductors had been during this entire time. Suddenly one of them appeared and ordered Van Horne to duck down:  "Do you know who those men are?" he whispered..."That's Jesse and Frank James and the Younger brothers. Lie as you are or they may take it in their heads to shoot you as the train leaves." The story of how the ‘super’ had bested the most notorious train robbers of all time helped to cement his reputation. It was stories like these that eventually brought him to the attention of the builders of the Canadian Pacific Railway. When Van Horne was hired to take over the Canadian Pacific he was paid $15,000/year, making him the highest paid general manager in North America. As one author put it: -"Van Horne...took the CPR in his hands like a giant whip, cracked it once to announce his presence, cracked it again to loose the sloth and corruption and cracked it a third time simply because the 1st two had felt so good" On Jan. 1 of 1882, Van Horne officially took over and appeared at the end of track in Winnipeg. R.K. Kernighan wrote about Van Horne's first visit to end of track at Flat Creek, Manitoba--the headline: "Massacre at Flat Creek" "...when manager Van Horne strikes the town there is a shaking of bones. He cometh like a blizzard and he goeth out like a lantern. He is the terror of Flat Krik. He shakes them up like an earthquake and they are as frightened of him as if he were old Nick himself. Yet Van Horne is calm and harmless looking. So is a she mule, and so is a buzz saw. you didn't know their inwardness till you go up and get the feel of them. To see Van Horne get out of the car and go softly up the platform, you might think he was an evangelist on his way west to preach temperance to the Mounted Police. But you are soon undeceived. If you are within hearing distance you will have more fun than you ever had in your life before. He calls the first official he comes to just to get his hand in and leads the next one by the car, and pointing eastward informs him that the walking is good as far as St. Paul. To see the rest hunt for their hides and commence scribbling for dear life is a terror. Van Horne wants to know. He is that kind of man. He wants to know why this was not done and why this was done. If the answers are not satisfactory, there is a dark and bloody tragedy enacted right there. During each act, all the characters are killed off and in the last scene the heavy villain is filled with dynamite, struck with a hammer and by the time he has knocked a hole plumb through the sky, and the smoke has cleared away, Van Horne has discharged all the officials and hired them over again at lower figures." Van Horne met with railroad officials in Winnipeg and boasted that he would lay 500 miles of track during the 1882 season. The room was filled with echoes of laughter, but nobody was laughing at the end of the year when he had bettered that claim by some 48 miles. J.H.E. Secretan, the man in charge of the railroad surveys on the prairies complained that: “construction was moving so quickly that grating crews passed him during the night, grading ground that hadn't yet been surveyed” With the efficiency with which Van Horne was laying track the railroad coffers were also quickly being drained. As the railroad struggled to keep up with financing this breakneck pace of track laying, the 1883 season led off with a bang. They began grading in March and were laying track only a few weeks later. My the end the season they had reached the Kicking Horse Pass. During one 42 day period, they laid an average of 5.6 km of track per day. July 28 was a particularly good day with 10.3 km of track laid. Van Horne was just the man the railroad needed, but as he pushed the crews, the finances of the railway were quickly falling into ruin. Eventually the railway would push through those financial challenges and complete the route. William Cornelius Van Horne was the right man at the right time. We are just beginning to tell his story in this episode and I promise he will be an important part of future episodes. Suffice it to say that without his unrelenting leadership the CPR, the tie that binds this nation together coast to coast might never have been completed. Today you can see his likeness in front of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. His statue stands in front of one of the railroad hotels that he had built in order to provide high class accommodation to passengers traveling his line, but that is a story for another day. Next week I'll look at the completion of the line as there were still major challenges ahead of the railroaders before the last spike could be hammered. And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. I want to thank you for sharing your time with me and remember, if you're looking for a hiking or step-on guide, speaker or workshop facilitator, Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source when it comes to the mountain west. We will make sure that your western Canada memories last a lifetime. If you'd like to connect with me directly, you can contact me through the show notes at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep041 or hit me up on twitter @wardcameron.

Katherine Ryan, “the real Klondike Kate,” is born in New Brunswick. When people think of Klondike Kate, they conjure up images of a dance-hall entertainer or gold mine prostitute. The real Klondike Kate was Katherine Ryan, born August 20, 1869 in Johnville, New Brunswick. Ryan became a nurse in Seattle, Washington before journeying in 1898 to the Klondike, where she staked three gold claims. When she reached Whitehorse, she used her nursing skills to tend to the sick, but had many other occupations. A sign on her tent read, “Kate’s Café, open for business.” There she served food for two years before moving into more permanent quarters. At six feet tall, she was capable at handling unruly characters that led the northwest Mounted Police to make her a special constable so she could help with female prisoners. This job made Ryan the first woman to join the Mounted Police. Later, she became a guard at the Whitehorse jail. There she met a prostitute and dancer named Kitty Rockwell, who took on the name Klondike Kate, confusing anyone who didn’t know that Ryan was the real Klondike Kate. Ryan moved to British Columbia in 1919 and died in Vancouver in 1932. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Sergeant Craig Richards talks about the training the Mounted Police Horses go through, what it takes to be a mounted officer, whilst being operational these horses also make up the the 'Activity Ride' which you can see at events, they jump through fire, ride bareback whilst holding saddles in the air, the Activity Ride Riders are the most elite in the police force and Sergeant Craig leads it all. Follow the Mounted Team on twitter: @MetTaskForce Join in the conversation on Twitter just use #HorseHour, Mondays 8pm GMT/3pm EST. Follow us @HorseHour @AmyStevenson1 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Toronto's Mounted Police are a very visible and highly decorated unit of Toronto's Police force. But can they become a traffic issue? Libby spoke about her personal encounter with the Mounted Police with Toronto Police Constable Clint Stibbe.

The female police officers who have, until now, spoken about being sexually harassed/abused/assaulted and otherwise bullied have been mainly RCMP members and civilian employees. Today, we talk to  28-year veteran, and recently retired, RCMP officer Rob Creasser, who is also the Media Relations Director for the Mounted Police Professional Association.  Rob Creasser does not dispute that sexual harassment and bullying happen in the RCMP.  In fact, he saw it while he was a police officer.  Creasser blames this situation on RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and senior officers who turn a blind eye to the toxic workplace the RCMP has become.  He argues the RCMP needs an accredited Association to assure transparency and accountability. He also calls for collective bargaining for the RCMP, without the right to strike. So what is going on within the RCMP, from the perspective of the Mounted Police Professional Association? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The female police officers who have, until now, spoken about being sexually harassed/abused/assaulted and otherwise bullied have been mainly RCMP members and civilian employees. Today, we talk to  28-year veteran, and recently retired, RCMP officer Rob Creasser, who is also the Media Relations Director for the Mounted Police Professional Association.  Rob Creasser does not dispute that sexual harassment and bullying happen in the RCMP.  In fact, he saw it while he was a police officer.  Creasser blames this situation on RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and senior officers who turn a blind eye to the toxic workplace the RCMP has become.  He argues the RCMP needs an accredited Association to assure transparency and accountability. He also calls for collective bargaining for the RCMP, without the right to strike. So what is going on within the RCMP, from the perspective of the Mounted Police Professional Association? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The female police officers who have, until now, spoken about being sexually harassed/abused/assaulted and otherwise bullied have been mainly RCMP members and civilian employees. Today, we talk to  28-year veteran, and recently retired, RCMP officer Rob Creasser, who is also the Media Relations Director for the Mounted Police Professional Association.  Rob Creasser does not dispute that sexual harassment and bullying happen in the RCMP.  In fact, he saw it while he was a police officer.  Creasser blames this situation on RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and senior officers who turn a blind eye to the toxic workplace the RCMP has become.  He argues the RCMP needs an accredited Association to assure transparency and accountability. He also calls for collective bargaining for the RCMP, without the right to strike. So what is going on within the RCMP, from the perspective of the Mounted Police Professional Association? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The female police officers who have, until now, spoken about being sexually harassed/abused/assaulted and otherwise bullied have been mainly RCMP members and civilian employees. Today, we talk to  28-year veteran, and recently retired, RCMP officer Rob Creasser, who is also the Media Relations Director for the Mounted Police Professional Association.  Rob Creasser does not dispute that sexual harassment and bullying happen in the RCMP.  In fact, he saw it while he was a police officer.  Creasser blames this situation on RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson and senior officers who turn a blind eye to the toxic workplace the RCMP has become.  He argues the RCMP needs an accredited Association to assure transparency and accountability. He also calls for collective bargaining for the RCMP, without the right to strike. So what is going on within the RCMP, from the perspective of the Mounted Police Professional Association? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In episode seventy-nine of Paul and Rach, Paul Murray and Rachel Corbett are live via Skype while Paulie is living it large in Cooma.  They discuss Paulie's entourage, why Rach is OCD, the Oscars, the mounted police and how you can be too clean.  They chat why Paulie is pro-Trump, why Rach feels like a meth head, the reality of one word reviews and why small weddings are the way of the future.  They wrap it up with a five star shout out so Paulie can finally get to eating his chicken schnitzel. www.paulandrach.com.au

In episode seventy-nine of Paul and Rach, Paul Murray and Rachel Corbett are live via Skype while Paulie is living it large in Cooma.  They discuss Paulie's entourage, why Rach is OCD, the Oscars, the mounted police and how you can be too clean.  They chat why Paulie is pro-Trump, why Rach feels like a meth head, the reality of one word reviews and why small weddings are the way of the future.  They wrap it up with a five star shout out so Paulie can finally get to eating his chicken schnitzel. www.paulandrach.com.au

Dr Ben Bradford, Centre for Criminology - 30 October 2014

Mounted Police, Greek Yoghurt, and Steve Jobs Style

Bugs Bunny is wanted "dead or alive" by the Mounted Police, led by Elmer Fudd. Animation by Manuel Perez, story by Michael Maltese, supervising producer I. Freeleng. Produced in 1942. Director: Carl W. Stalling Producer: Leon Schlesinger Production Company: Warner Brothers & Vitaphone Corporation Audio/Visual: sound, color Keywords: bugs bunny; merrie melodies; elmer fudd