Podcasts about Multimedia

Susanne Siegert, geboren 1992, wuchs in Kirchweidach auf. Nach ihrem Abitur in Altötting studierte sie Journalistik sowie Multimedia und Autorschaft mit Schwerpunkt Online-Journalismus. Sie ist eine der bekanntesten Stimmen der digitalen Erinnerungskultur in Deutschland. Sie klärt auf Instagram und TikTok über den Holocaust auf. Am 28. März liest sie aus ihrem aktuellen Buch „Gedenken neu denken“ in der Heimat – in Halsbach im Landkreis Altötting. (Bild: © Ina Lebedjew)

Episode 817 features Ryan Dowden of Shellshock Multimedia discussing his new Batman short film, upcoming mental health film projects, and multimedia production services. The post Shellshock Multimedia's Ryan Dowden PARS817 first appeared on Build the Scene.

#TSGMultimediaPodcast #HistoricPreservation #ModelRailroading #Trains #RailroadsThis month's TSG Podcast includes:1:06 Intro/Welcome2:03 SBHRS | A Rare American Flyer Find5:22 Santa Clara Tower | Foaming6:45 Obscure Railroad Museum Revisited8:30 West Side Lumber Company No. 12 Arrives At YMSPRR16:40 Sparky107107 Caboose Tours SVL & SBHRS20:24 Talking Trainshttps://www.youtube.com/live/VJF8J2a-0eo?si=DVCgJxwy8kj1hxdD26:26 4014 Big Boy Coming To Western Pacific Railroad Museum In Portola, CAhttps://wplives.org/43:03 SBHRS | Artifact Archiving | A Rare Find46:18 Op Session | Dave Loveless's R&D | Amazing Brass Cab Forward Kithttps://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/05bh-h2QdtNOQPm7xPWMyYEKQ#AM-2_Assembly51:21 Catch Of The Month54:01 ConclusionHere are some of the ways you can support the content you love:Support our sponsors!Model Railroad Control Systems - Electronics for Operationshttps://modelrailroadcontrolsystems.com/Western Pacific Railroad Museumhttps://wplives.org/https://www.podomatic.com   Use code: TSGPODEngagement & Sharing:If you enjoy this content, please hit the "like" button and share it with your friends on social media! Leaving comments on this video's comment section also helps.Direct Financial Support:https://www.patreon.com/TSGMultimediahttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tsgmultimediahttps://tsgmultimedia.com/shop/Join TSG Multimedia on these other social media channels:FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tsgmultimediafaceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tsg_multimedia/BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/tsgmultimedia.bsky.social©2026 TSG Multimedia. All Rights Reserved.

The Whitney Biennial returns this year, surveying the contemporary American art landscape and featuring 56 artists, duos, and collectives. Whitney curators Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer preview the exhibit, which opens to the public on March 8. Multimedia still image from 'Sanhattan, 2025,' courtesy of the artist, Ignacio Gatica

Mat Groom returns to talk about Inferno Girl Red Book 2 (and spoilers,) as well as his other works, including Immortal Legend Batman, his history in the industry and more!  Intro (0:00) Mat Groom, what'cha doin'? (1:55) Mat's transition from podcaster to comic writer (5:49) How'd they get Christina Vee to be the voice of Inferno Girl Red? (13:49) Prepping for kids/all-ages programming in the household (15:50) Immortal Legend Batman (21:58) Inferno Girl Red Book 2 *spoilers ahead* (32:27) Why the bracelet/gauntlet for the "morpher?" (36:35) Crafting a good villain (43:40) Josh stumps Mat (48:49) Josh is media literate! (53:03) Compliments to the chefs (55:54) Teasing/paying off teases from other Massive-verse stories (58:33) Multimedia plans for IGR or other Massive-verse properties? (1:05:50) Goodbyes and social media plugs (1:11:33) Please remember to join our Discord!

Igorrr Live und The Callous Daoboys Live! Gleich 2 Konzerte hat Sir Pommes besucht mit unterschiedlichen Eindrücken und Erlebnissen, aber mit einer Menge Spaß. Währenddessen hat Dengeki Gamer Bayonetta Origins nachgeholt und würde von einem eh wunderbaren Spiel am Ende noch mal richtig gepackt. Und wie geht es mit der Dreamcast von Dengeki Gamer weiter? Nach eine (längeren) Runde Ikaruga steckt die fast zu Verkauf gepackte Konsole, wieder im Schrank. Außerdem in dieser Folge der Kontent Knechte, Evil Dead Rising und King Kong vs. Godzilla, aber ohne King Kong. Timetable 0:00:00 Intro 0:01:36 Themen 0:03:05 Neon Genesis Evangelion Ankündigung 0:10:08 Laid Back Camp Staffel 4 0:11:38 The Callous Daoboys Live 00:11:38:15 0:25:58 Igorrr Live 0:42:10 Bayonetta Origins 0:44:22 Spoiler Bayonetta Origins 1:07:42 Ikaruga 1:18:42 Evil Dead Rise 1:41:20 King Kong - Dämonen aus dem Weltall 1:54:46 Outro Die Kontent-Knechte von a Hat of Media, das sind Dengeki Gamer und Sir Pommes, die stets mit Ihrem (Halb-)Wissen glänzen und Euch mit interessantesten Themen, Denkanstößen, viel Wahnwitz und persönlichen Einblicken in das Leben zweier Content Schaffenden versorgen. Die Kontent Knechte erscheinen alle zwei Wochen und können Inhaltlichen alles abdecken, auch wenn der Schwerpunkt auf Spiele, Filme und Musik, bzw. Multimedia liegt. Die Hutzentrale: -►Homepage: http://ahatofmedia.de/ Unser Archive auf YouTube: -►Twitch Live Archiv: https://www.youtube.com/@aHatofMediaLive -►YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0qU1jdHeY2zWh97QzVGu4A Oder joined unseren Discord: -►Discord: https://discord.gg/hYhw88PPp2 Support: -►Spenden: https://ko-fi.com/ahatofmedia Hier gibt es mehr Sir Pommes: -►YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sirpommes87 -►Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sirpommes87 Hier gibt es mehr Dengeki Gamer: -►YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DengekiGamer -►Twitter: https://twitter.com/dengekigamer? -►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dengekigamer/ Hier gibt es mehr Voll Verpixelt: -►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Voll-verpixelt-1391650974211749/ -►Twitter: https://twitter.com/voll_verpixelt -►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/voll.verpixelt/

What does courage look like under fire? In captivity? In command? In service? This edition of Long Blue Leadership was recorded on location at the U.S. Air Force Academy's 33rd National Character and Leadership Symposium. We've explored these questions with our guests and captured the conversations for you. Ted Robertson, Multimedia and Podcast Specialist for the Air Force Academy Association and Foundation, hosts this special episode featuring voices shaped by combat, crises and lifelong service. Their message to cadets is clear: Leadership is earned through character, and character is forged in hard moments. - Seg. 1: Lt. Col. Mark George and C1C Jaime Snyder, officer and NCLS cadet director, respectively, set the stage for this year's NCLS and for the podcast. - Seg. 2: Senior Master Sgt. (Ret.) Israel "DT" Del Toro on courage in times of crisis. - Seg. 3: Task Force Hope developer and facilitator Maj. Tara Holmes on preparing future leaders to handle crisis before it happens. - Seg. 4: Former POW Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Edward Mechenbier '64, on leading in circumstances out of your control. - Seg. 5: Annapolis grad and Vietnam-era aviator, Capt. (Ret.) J. Charles Plumb on how character breeds courage. All of our guest's lives and careers reflect the reality of this year's theme through combat, crisis and service.     CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LINE PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Ted Robertson | Producer and Editor:  Ted.Robertson@USAFA.org Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org   Ryan Hall | Director:  Ryan.Hall@USAFA.org  Bryan Grossman | Copy Editor:  Bryan.Grossman@USAFA.org Wyatt Hornsby | Executive Producer:  Wyatt.Hornsby@USAFA.org      ALL PAST LBL EPISODES  |  ALL LBLPN PRODUCTIONS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS     FULL TRANSCRIPT OUR SPEAKERS:  - Host, Ted Robertson, Multimedia and Podcast Specialist, United States Air Force Academy Association and Foundation  - Seg. 1: C1C Jaime Snyder, NCLS Cadet Director; Lt. Col. Mark George, NCLS Officer  - Seg. 2: Senior Master Sargent Israel Del Toro  - Seg. 3: Maj. Tara Holmes, Task Force Hope  - Seg. 4: Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Edward Mechenbier '64  - Seg. 5: Capt. (Ret.) J. Charles Plumb   Ted Robertson 0:00 Welcome to Long Blue Line Podcast Network coverage of the 33rd annual National Character and Leadership Symposium. I'm Ted Robertson, multimedia and podcast specialist for the Air Force Academy Association & Foundation, coming to you from Polaris Hall located here at the United States Air Force Academy. This year's symposium centers on the theme Courage to Lead in the Profession of Arms: Combat and Crisis-tested Character, where attendees and cadets will explore how courage in all its forms shapes leaders when uncertainty, fear and consequence are real. Our coverage will start with the Center for Character and Leadership Development's Lt. Col. Mark George and NCLS director, Cadet 1st Class Jaime Snyder. They'll set the stage not only for NCLS, but for today's coverage. Then we'll talk with four key leaders speaking at the symposium, including Senior Master Sgt. (Ret.) Israel Del Torro on keeping courageous during times of crisis. We'll also talk with Task Force Hope developer and facilitator, Maj. Tara Holmes, on preparing leaders to handle crisis before it happens. Then, former POW, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Edward Mechenbier, USAFA Class of '64, on leading in circumstances out of your control. And finally, Annapolis grad and Vietnam-era aviator, Capt. (Ret.) J. Charles Plumb, on how character breeds courage. All of our guests' lives and careers reflect the reality of this year's theme through combat, crisis and service. So I want to bring in our first two guests to help, as I said, frame the discussion today. We're going to dig in to learn what this is all about and sort of the “why” behind it. Cadet Jaime Snyder, 2026 NCLS director. Cadet Snyder, you've helped lead the organizing of the National Character and Leadership Symposium — 33rd year for this, as you know, and part of that work, you've trained cadets and permanent party. I'm going to ask you to explain permanent party, all of which helps strengthen your own public speaking and leadership communication skills. You want to kind of expound on that a bit? C1C Jaime Snyder 2:20 Yes, sir. So a part of my role being in NCLS is to, one, provide the guidance, the support and resources on the cadet side to succeed. But what really makes NCLS special is that we integrate permanent party with cadets. So oftentimes me, in supporting and training permanent party, is giving them cadet perspective, because while they're over here and the Center for Character and Leadership Development, we're over there in the Cadet Wing, and I can be the mediator between both parties. Ted Robertson 2:46 Let's talk a little bit about permanent party. What does that term mean? Who does that describe? C1C Jaime Snyder 2:52 Oh yes. Permanent party describes the civilian and military faculty that works in the Center for Character and Leadership Development that assists with the execution of NCLS — the National Character and Leadership Symposium. Ted Robertson 3:05 How big is the team behind this event every year? C1C Jaime Snyder 3:08 It's kind of complex where we'll get search cadets. We'll get a large number of volunteers, approximately around 300 from the Cadet Wing. Internal staff consists of 50 cadets who work it throughout the entire year, and around 50 staff members who are permanent party who work in the Center for Character and Leadership Development. Ted Robertson 3:29 I want to bring in next Lt. Col. Mark George, who is the experiential and training division chief and NCLS program director, the very fortunate man that gets to work for some incredibly talented cadets. Col. Mark George 3:43 That is absolutely true. Thanks to for having us on. Cadet Snyder has done an outstanding job leading this team. I came into this a little bit late. You know, we've had some reorganization here at the Academy, and after some shuffling, I got the honor and the privilege to take over NCLS while the planning was well underway. So my job was to just make sure this train kept rolling, that people had the resources that they needed, the top cover they needed. And as Jamie said, he was training me as a permanent party member to make sure that I had the cadet perspective. And then, you know, we were moving this ball forward as we got to this event. Ted Robertson 4:23 So coming up in the podcast we'll get to the sort of “why” and what's at the core of NCLS. Colonel, let's start with you. What is National Character and Leadership Symposium designed to do for cadets?   Col. Mark George 4:38 Sure. The National Character and Leadership Symposium — NCLS — is designed to bring exemplars that embody the core values and the traits that we want cadets to have when they become leaders on Day 1 and inspire them to a lifetime of service.   Ted Robertson 4:57 Cadet Snyder?   C1C Jaime Snyder 4:59 We definitely see at USAFA, there is a clear correlation with NCLS and character development. One thing we want cadets to get out of NCLS is to further develop leaders of character who are going to join the fight in the Air Force and Space Force, and that's why I see the epitome of NCLS as it's an opportunity to hear people's perspectives as well as learn from it and apply it to their daily lives. Ted Robertson 5:24 Gentlemen, this year's theme focuses on the courage to lead in the profession of arms. Cadet Snyder, we'll start with you. How did that theme come together, and why is it especially relevant for cadets right now? C1C Jaime Snyder 5:40 With our current structure at USAFA, we've had some implement of change. We recognize that the future war conflict is more prevalent than ever, and that it's important for the cadets to understand that we're changing the way we approach training, as well as what we're learning in curriculum. So this NCLS was an incredible opportunity to discuss courage when leading in the profession of arms, but furthermore, courage and crises-tested character. Which is what we're trying to further push along with what we do in training as well as what we teach in leadership. Ted Robertson 6:15 You make good decisions when your character is strong. You make those decisions with integrity when your character is intact and it's strong. Would you agree with that, Colonel? Col. Mark George 6:25 Absolutely. And I think Cadet Snyder hit the nail on the head that we really want the cadets to understand that the environments that they're stepping into are going to require that courage to do hard things. In my day, like we didn't necessarily think about the fight in that way. You know, we were kind of stovepiped in. And these cadets, whatever environment they may be stepping into, the next conflict is going to require a lot, a high demand of them, and their character is their foundation for that. Ted Robertson 6:59 One of the things you can say about this event is that it brings together voices from combat, crisis, athletics, academia and industry. How intentional is that mix, Cadet Snyder, and what do cadets gain from hearing such different perspectives on leadership and character? C1C Jaime Snyder 7:18 I think by hearing different perspectives, you get to see how universal courage is. When we say courage, it's not just one thing, it's also moral, social, spiritual. And by looking at different versions of courage, you can understand that there's different ways to actually apply courage. Understanding that courage is not the absence of fear, also knowing that courage is not simply being a confident individual. That it's more complex than you may define courage, and so you can then apply it that way — by looking at different perspectives. Ted Robertson 7:53 Colonel, I'll address this one to you as well. Col. Mark George 7:56 Sure. Courage — we're talking about courage here, and there's a heavy focus on the combat side with this year's speakers. The thing that sticks out to me is that courage always involves a decision to do the hard thing. And that's what all of our speakers brought this year. They're showing how in different environments, whether it's in a prison cell in Hanoi or up on the Space Station or — there's a hard decision and the right thing is sometimes pretty obvious, but it doesn't mean it's easy. It does not mean it's easy to do. And so courage always involves a decision to do the right thing. Ted Robertson 8:39 Cadet Snyder? C1C Jaime Snyder 8:40 What he said I find to be very true — understanding that courage is not simply doing something physical, but also in a leadership role, especially — we're talking to cadets who are going to soon be commissioned officers. It's important to know that you need to make the right decision on and off the battlefield. Ted Robertson 8:58 So from your perspective as a cadet — and this one is just for you, Cadet Snyder — what does it mean to help shape an event like NCLS while you're still developing as a leader yourself? C1C Jaime Snyder 9:10 What I've seen through NCLS is taking the time to relax. Don't focus on the future and focus where you're at right now, and that's character development. So don't let the pursuit of tomorrow diminish the joy today. We all have this aspiration to graduate, throw our hats in the air, Thunderbirds fly over. But right now it's important to focus on character development as that's going to be important as future officers. Ted Robertson 9:35 That makes 1,000% very clear sense. But I do want to ask you, less than 100 days from the day you toss your hat — you're giving me a big smile right now — talk about how that feels right now for you. C1C Jaime Snyder 9:47 It's incredible, and a part of it is less daunting, because I can say this institution has really prepared me to commission, and so it's more liberating than daunting for me. Ted Robertson 9:58 Col. George, I'm going to direct this one straight to you, and this is an ask of you from the leadership perspective: How do we events Like NCLS fit into the broader effort to intentionally develop leaders of character here at the Academy. Col. Mark George 10:14 So I get the honor of leading the experiential and training division in the Center for Character and Leadership Development. So we're all about creating experiences and those opportunities for cadets to have different types of environments where they'll learn about character. And right now, NCLS is an opportunity to listen to where people's character was tested, how they overcame it. And then we also have different events that we try to put the cadets in where we'll actually test their character. And that could be on the challenge tower, it could be through our character labs where we're having discussions. NCLS is a huge part of that, because the planning cycle is so long. Ted Robertson 10:59 Cadet Snyder? C1C Jaime Snyder 11:00 Yes, sir. One thing I wanted to add on to that is with NCLS, one thing that makes this event the most unique experience that I've had is the fact that we get to engage in meaningful dialog. This isn't a brief. This is an experience for everyone who attends. I've had the opportunity to talk to Col. George's son, who aspires to possibly come to the Air Force Academy. So I don't want to say this is just for cadets, but it's also a promotion tool. And understand that what we do at NCLS is very important. And anyone who wants to attend can come and see what we're doing and how important it is.   Col. Mark George 11:33 I want to thank you for that, by the way. He looks up to you, and that meant a lot.   Ted Robertson 11:37 That's pretty visionary stuff. That's touching the next generation. That's fantastic. All right, this is for you both. When cadets look back on NCLS years from now, what do you hope they're going to remember feeling or being challenged to do differently?   C1C Jaime Snyder 11:56 There is a very strong human component to NCLS, and with that, there's a human experience. Understanding that we're getting speakers and we'll see their bios that they're incredible. They have incredible stories of making the right decision when tensions were high, and getting to hear their stories and understand that they ultimately were no different than we are. Some of them were Air Force Academy graduates. Some graduated from the Naval Academy, West Point, other colleges, but they were young, 20-year-old people like we were as cadets. And so getting to understand where they're coming from, human experience is vital to NCLS, and how do we grow and understand where they're coming from? Ted Robertson 12:38 Col. George? Col. Mark George 12:39 Yeah, I think what I would want the cadets to remember is how these speakers made them feel. You're right, you won't remember every nugget of wisdom that was said. I just had the opportunity to talk with Gen. Scott Miller, and he was an incredible leader. And I feel like everything he was saying was gold. I wish I'd been able to write it down. But he really makes you feel like you understand just how important your role is going to be as a young leader. And when you come away as second lieutenants from this place, you've had incredible opportunities and now you're stepping out in the real world. I would think I want the cadets to remember that like, “Hey, what I do matters, and how I lead is very important to getting this mission done.”   Ted Robertson 13:24 Lt. Col. Mark George and C1C Jaime Snyder, officer and cadet in charge of the 33rd NCLS. Congratulations on the event. Well done, and thank you for spending time here with us on the podcast today. Hearing from both the cadet perspective and the senior leadership behind NCLS makes one thing very clear: This symposium is intentionally designed not just to inspire but to prepare future leaders for moments when character will be tested. And that brings me to my first featured guest, a man whose life story embodies what combat and crisis-tested character truly means. Israel “DT” Del Toro, welcome to the podcast. It's an honor to be with you here at the National Character and Leadership Symposium. Senior Master Sgt. (Ret.) Israel Del Toro 14:18 Thank you, Ted. Thanks for having me. Good to see you again.   Ted Robertson 14:21 Yes, it's not the first time we've gotten to spend some time together. Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 14:24 It's always great to talk to people, try and spread the word of the whole spark and the promise of my dad. Ted Robertson 14:30 The spark and the promises are the two things that really stood out to me about that interview — your heart and your soul man, from a very, very early age. Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 14:39 You know, losing my dad at 12, and then a year and a half later, losing my mom to a drunk driver, and being the oldest, you know, having to now kind of step up to be, like, the parent figure to my younger siblings. It was challenging.   Ted Robertson 14:55 Out of all of that, you wound up as a retired — you are currently a retired senior master sergeant. You took responsibility for your siblings, as you say, after you were orphaned as a teenager, and ultimately in the service combat-wounded airmen, and you survived catastrophic injuries against incredible odds, and that did not keep you down. One of the things that you did was you became an Invictus Games gold medalist. You're now a national speaker, and you talk a lot about resilience and purpose.   Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 15:27 Yes, sir. Yeah, Invictus, I won gold in shot put. It was pretty awesome. You know, everyone was just going nuts. Ted Robertson 15:37 You kind of make me feel like that was a soul-feeding, motivating time for you.   Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 15:42 It was. At that time, I was probably one of the senior guys, kind of. Obviously, I was one of the senior guys, wounded guys on the team, and so a lot of people looked up to me. And sometimes I wish — people would say, “Man, it's great. You're such trailblazer.” You're sometimes like, “Man, I just want to be one of the guys. I just, I just want to be No. 10.” You know, everything's all done, and no one's focusing everything on me. But it's a burden that I'm willing to carry on to try and continue to help people.   Ted Robertson 16:19 I want to linger here in your background a bit, because it's more than just impressive. I think impressive is pretty trite to describe what your background is. Let's start with before the Air Force and before combat, and just how your life demanded responsibility at such a young age. And what I want to ask is, how did stepping up for your family shape the leader that you became? Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 16:40 Well, I contribute that totally to my dad. I truly do. My dad was there. My dad, you know, I went everywhere with my dad. My dad — you know, he came from Mexico to this country, and he gave up a lot. You know, my family in Mexico is very wealthy, their ranchers and all that. He came here with nothing. And he always used to tell me, he's like, “Don't ever be envious of someone that's successful. Learn from them. Ask them questions.” He also used to tell me, “If you don't succeed, it's no one else's fault by yourself. Don't blame where you came from, where you grew up from, the situation. It is only your fault.” So my dad always had told me these little lessons and obviously the last lesson he gave me the night before he passed: Always take care of your family. And that just stayed with me, that kind of continued to shape me all throughout my life, all through my journey, at a young age to teenager to young adult to the military and to now, to this day, that really guided me to who I am. Now, it's like, I always hear people say, “Oh, man, I don't know if I can do it.” I was like, “Yeah, you can. You Just never know. You weren't ever put in that situation” I always believe — you always hear the fight or flight. “What are you gonna do?” I just fight, and I continue to fight. I just don't see the flight in me. And, you know, being the promise of take care of your family. Yes, I tell people, that originated with my family — my brothers and sisters. But throughout time it has evolved to now anyone I see that's having a hard time that needs maybe to hear a story or read a book or hear a journey to help them find that spark, because I see them now as my family. I see that as my family, as my mission now.   Ted Robertson 18:50 Let's stay with spark for a minute. It's just one of my favorite things that you've ever talked about. You're down, you've been badly burned, you're worried about whether you're going to survive, and a medic is helping you out, and he does something for you. He says something to you.   Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 19:07 Yeah, you know, the medic — I always like to say, you know, yes, I'm Air Force. Those guys were Army, and we bust each other's chops. But, we're all brothers and sisters, and we're down range, you know? We take care of each other, we tell stories, we talk about our family. So these guys knew what had happened in my past with my family. So when I'm, you know, laying there, after I coordinate getting air, and I started the adrenaline going down, I started getting scared. I was having a hard time breathing, and I just wanted to lay down and sleep. The medic came and reminded me, “DT, remember what you promised your son, that you'll never let him grow without his dad. Fight for your son. You got to fight for your son.” And he's just making me yell it. You use anything you can to keep your guy motivated, to help that spark go, keep going. And that's what he did. He found that spark to keep me going, to keep me fighting until that medevac came and to get me on that helicopter, to the FOB, to the hospital, and then to eventually San Antonio. Ted Robertson 20:24 After that injury, that's when the fight shifted. You had to get off the battlefield. You had to get that out of your head. You had to start battling for your recovery. So what did courage look like when progress seemed like it was slow and at one point nothing was guaranteed? Israel Del Toro 20:46 Yeah, it, you know, when he had a shift from now being on the battlefield to now a different kind of battle and your recovery, your way of life — it's difficult because you have people telling you this is what your life's going to be. You know, being told that you're never going to walk again. You got to be in a hospital for another year and a half, respirator for the rest of your life and your military career is pretty much over. You know, I like to say there's two choices again: Who you're going to be? Are you going to take the easy path, which is, I'm going to sit in a chair, accept what they say, hate life, you know, curse the world. Are you going to take the hard path where I want to fight? I'm going to show you I can do this. I'm going to prove that I still have value, and I want to come out of this ahead and show not only my son but the rest of the world. You stay positive, you find that spark, you will come out ahead. Ted Robertson 21:48 All right, last question on your background, because we're going to roll all this into why you're here and what messages you want to share with the cadets and the attendees that are here. You did something I don't think most human beings would even think about after that ordeal that you had been through all those years, everything. You reenlisted, and it wasn't just a medical milestone. It wasn't because you could, it was a conscious decision. So what internal commitment had to come first for you to make that decision. Israel Del Toro 22:22 You know, I guess it was, for me it was I loved my job. I knew I could teach, I could be prepare these next guys to [be] the next generation operators. Ted Robertson 22:38 You've never stopped being committed. You've never stopped. So it brings you to NCLS. This is the 33rd year for NCLS, and when you speak to cadets here, what message do you want them to take away with them? Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 22:53 I guess my message more is about that when you're in the military, no matter whatever happens to you, you still have a role to play. Even when I got hurt, did I miss being with my teammates? Yes, but now refocusing, OK, I'm here in this hospital, and I see all these wounded guys here as I guess I'm wounded also, but in my head is like I was still NCO in the Air Force. I still have a job to do. Yes, I'm hurt, I'm wounded, but the job of a leader is, no matter where you're at, is you try and take care of your troops. You try and make things better for them, even if you never see any of the benefits — that is your role. And so that's kind of what I want to leave with these guys that, you know, you're going to always have  challenges throughout your career, but you've always got to remember it's not about you, it's about the guys under you to take care of you. You know, I had a group of cadets yesterday and they were just asking me about leadership. So you know what? The best way to be a great leader is to earn the respect of yourtroops. If you demand it, you're not a leader, but when you earned the respect and they'll die for you, that is the greatest feeling. You know, I gave an example of one of the best moments I had after my injury, is after I got hurt, they sent my replacement, and he comes in and obviously introduce him to the scout team, to the Army company, individuals in leadership, and then the SF team, and all these guys I'm supporting. And the guy comes in like, “Hey, I'm here to replace DT.” And all of them, “You can't replace DT.” And I told that was the best moment that that's the best moment of respect, because I had Army guys saying, “He's our guy.” And that's the thing I told them, it's like, when you get to that moment when your guys say, “Nah, he's our guy,” I was like, “He can't replace him.” That is where you've truly earned the respect of your troops.   Ted Robertson 25:21 Israel, the only word that I can pull out of myself right now for your journey to describe it as “remarkable,” and you continue to give of yourself, and that's a wonderful thing. Your opportunity for a couple of final thoughts here, before we close out.   Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 25:38 Final thoughts, man, putting me on the spot, aren't you. I guess my final thoughts would be, you can't do it on your own. I'm not here right now, because I did it my own. I did it. I'm never gonna say that I did. I had friends, I had family, I had my wife that were by my side all throughout my journey to medical individuals. And I had those dark times, and I'm going down that spot, that rabbit hole, they were there to pull me out of it. So I think it's like, you know, don't try and do it on your own. We all need help. You know, the goal is, don't be prideful. There's a reason pride is one of the seven deadly sins. But, you know, ask for help, ask for advice. It's not going to hurt you. If anything, it will make you stronger and better. That's parting thoughts for the individuals listening to this. Ted Robertson 26:53 Perfect. Israel “DT” Del Toro, what a privilege to sit with you again. Want to say thank you from all of us for your service and continuing to lead by the example, which is a very rich and broad and deep example. Your story reminds us, and should remind us, that courage doesn't end with just survival. It always continues in service to others. Israel, thank you for being here.   Senior Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro 27:18 Thanks, Ted. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me again.   Ted Robertson 27:21 Israel's story reminds us that crisis and moral injury don't always arrive on a schedule, and that leaders are often expected to navigate those moments without ever having been taught how. That's where our next conversation takes us: into the intentional work of preparing leaders before crisis arrives. Maj. Tara Holmes, welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you with us as part of the National Character and Leadership Symposium.   Maj. Tara Holmes  27:46 Thanks for having me; glad to be here.   Ted Robertson 27:48 You are currently deputy chief of staff here at Headquarters USAFA. You are formerly chief of cadet development for CCLD, the Center for Character and Leadership development. By way of background, you flew.   Maj. Tara Holmes  28:01 So I am a B-52 electronic warfare officer by trade, and then moved over into white jets. So instructed in the in the T-1 and I've kind of been in education and training for, I'd say, since about 2017.   Ted Robertson  28:19 You also hold a Doctorate in Business and Management, and you are an AETC master instructor. I will let you explain AETC.   Maj. Tara Holmes  28:27 Air Education Training Command, that's one of the that's our majcom that's responsible for education and training, and they have a pathway to become a master instructor. So I finished the qualifications for that while I was in white jets and working over at Squadron Officer School.   Ted Robertson  28:46 So let's talk about your work with Task Force Hope. We'll talk about what Task Force Hope is, but you are and have been a developer and facilitator of Task Force Hope, which is a crisis and moral injury leadership workshop.   Maj. Tara Holmes  29:01 Task Force Hope is about providing immediately useful tools to our workshop participants to prepare them to lead through crisis, whether that is no-kidding combat related, or whether that's crisis on the home front, going through stuff in life that's really hard. We work through a series of key concepts and exercises, through storytelling and participant engagement that hopefully provides our participants some self-awareness and some tools to recover as it deals with their relationships.   Ted Robertson  29:39 We talked about this. There's a lot of nuance in what you're teaching these people. There's discernment in it. Who should you talk to, who you should trust with information that you want to share? Because ultimately, some of this becomes a pressure release valve, right?   Maj. Tara Holmes  29:52 Yeah, so one of the key concepts that we talk about is worthiness, right? I think often people feel pressure to not share what they're going through because they don't think their problems are worthy of attention, whether theirs or someone else's. That's one thing that we spend a lot of time on. And like you said, you know, who to who to share with, and at what level, some people are more free with sharing than others, and that's OK. So we work through some frameworks that help illustrate how people can kind of work through those levels, or gain some self-awareness and some clarity around where they fall. Something that is a, you know, deep seated secret for you, maybe something that somebody else is willing to openly share, they just don't see it as that big of a deal. So it's definitely about self-awareness and learning some tools to help relieve some of the pressure and drain on our batteries, as it were, that comes from holding these things in.   Ted Robertson  30:52 People who are attending the workshop are going to learn some things that they may not realize are draining their batteries. You're teaching them to discern what those are, and to be careful to try to avoid those. It sounds like an example to me of things that we don't realize we do, that drains us, right, instead of energizes us.   Maj. Tara Holmes  31:10 So we use the kind of metaphor of a smartphone, right? So there are things that drain us, that are big, that we're taking a lot of energy to conceal the hard things that we're dealing with in our life. But then there's, like, the pesky background apps, there's the things that are always running in the background of our lives that drain our energy without us really even noticing it. You know, so for me as an officer, but also as a mom and a spouse, some of the things that are always draining my batteries are my to-do list, the laundry app, maybe social media apps. Sometimes I've probably spend way too much time reading the news these days. That's kind of always on for me. We have these big things that are draining our batteries, but then we have these like small things that are constantly going on, right? So Task Force Hope is about recognizing what those things are for us and then making a commitment to ourselves to make this space and time to recover.   Ted Robertson  32:09 So that brings us to a really unique place. You kind of function at the intersection of character, leadership and development pretty much every day. So how do you define character when you're responsible for shaping it across an entire Cadet Wing.   Maj. Tara Holmes  32:24 To me, character is the essence of who they are. It is how you show up day after day. It's the habits that you have. That's why, when you do something out of character, people are able to say that. You know, we talk about building character strengths as building blocks towards certain virtues. And virtues is really excellence of character. So it's easy to talk about how to be an excellent athlete, or how to be an excellent academic, right? And that's one of our core values, is being excellent. Well, how do you have excellent character? It's really about leveraging your character strengths in a way that can lead you to be more virtuous, and that's the goal.   Ted Robertson  33:05 You've served, both operationally and as an instructor. Tell me how those things shape the way you think about preparing leaders not just to perform but to endure.   Maj. Tara Holmes  33:19 What comes to mind is the importance of training and building those habits. We're, you know, in the previous question, we talked about it in terms of character. You know, you can, you can use any kind of training. It's about building readiness, right? And being able to build those habits so that when you are faced with a challenge, you have a way to work through the challenge, right? That really came out for me, both operationally and as an instructor. So operationally, you rely on your training to get your job done, and then as an instructor, you're helping others build those habits so that one day when your students are faced with challenges, they can rely on their training as well.   Ted Robertson  34:01 We've talked a bit about your experiences and how they shape the way you think about preparing leaders, not just to perform but to endure. And now let's bring it right down to the direct connection between Task Force Hope and why you are here talking about this program to attendees at NCLS. When we talk about Task Force Hope, it's a program that is really designed to prepare leaders to navigate crisis and recover from both emotional and moral injury. What can you tell me about a gap that a workshop like this fills, that traditional leadership education sometimes or often misses?   Maj. Tara Holmes  34:38 Task Force Hope is preventative in nature. It's training to prevent people from letting their burdens get the best of them so that they can show up. They have the tools to show up fully charged when stuff hits the van. And not only that they do that for themselves, but then they can help their teammates or their subordinates also get there. It's self-awareness, because we all perform self-care differently, and what you need to recharge your batteries is different from the way that I would do it. So it's being intentional and having some tools to be able to identify what works for you and then how to make space in your life, and building that commitment to yourself, to make that space so that the next time that you face a crisis, you're not facing it at 10%, you're full up, you're ready to go. So it's that sustained self-care, if that's what you want to call it. And it's important to say that you know, in a 75-minute session, we're really doing our best to provide exposure to key concepts and these tools. What we hope is that people walk out with the start of something. It's not it's not the end of their work to be done.   Ted Robertson  35:54 How often do you hear the question, “Why didn't I hear this earlier in my career?”   Maj. Tara Holmes  36:00 Every workshop. Last year, after the workshop, we had a 1970-something graduate say that exact thing. For me personally, I had four people say something, you know, “Hey, I was a cadet here in '90-something, '80-something, 2000-something. And, you know, I really wish that I would have had this earlier.” So that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to bring it as early as we can.   Ted Robertson  36:26 OK, so our last question of our visit, if cadets take just one lesson from Task Force Hope and NCLs this year, what is your hope for that lesson to be?   Maj. Tara Holmes  36:39 My hope is that they're worth it. No problem is too big or too small to be dealt with, and like we talked about earlier, I think often people keep things to themselves because they feel like they shouldn't bother others, or there's their supervisors or their teammates with what's going on in their lives. And that's a drain. Like, that's a drain on the system. It eats up your energy, right? But our cadets are worth it. Whatever they're dealing with, big or small, is worthy of being addressed. I hope that's the takeaway, and that we all deal with things, right? We don't always know what other people are dealing with.   Ted Robertson  37:22 Maj. Holmes. Thank you for the work you're doing to prepare future leaders, not just to lead in moments of clarity, but to stand firm in moments of crisis. We appreciate you being here.   Maj. Tara Holmes  37:32 Thanks, Ted.   Ted Robertson  37:33 That focus on preservation, resilience and moral courage brings us to our next conversation, one shaped by combat, captivity and a life of service under the most demanding conditions. Coming up next, my conversation with Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Edward Mechenbier. Gen. Mechenbier, welcome to the podcast. It is a huge honor having you here, sir.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier 37:56 I hope you feel that way in a half hour so well,   Ted Robertson  37:59 Well, the conversation does promise to be interesting, because your life is… interesting. That was a pregnant pause, sir.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier 38:07 Yeah, I've enjoyed it. It's different.   Ted Robertson  38:11 Just to sort of frame things, you retired as a major general, and what year was that, sir,   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier 38:15 2004   Ted Robertson  38:16 And you were USAFA Class of '64. You're a Vietnam-era pilot, having flown F-4s, you were shot down on your 113th combat mission, but that was you also your 80th over North Vietnam. OK, prisoner of war. Then for almost those entire six years following that, being shot down. You come with 3,600 flying hours across lots of different aircraft.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  38:42 I was privileged fly either for primary capability or for familiarization with 43 different airplanes.   Ted Robertson  38:49 And now you describe yourself as a lifelong advocate for veterans and public service.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  38:56 Well, yeah, I mean, I go to a couple prisons in Ohio, and “work with” is probably overstating my role. Veterans who are incarcerated for long periods of time. But my role is just to go there, spend some time, shoot the breeze with them, no agenda, no desired learning objective and let them know that somebody outside knows that they're there.   Ted Robertson  39:19 What I want to do is spend some time in your background. All right, I want to start with combat and captivity and how that tests leadership in its most extreme forms. And this is in course in keeping with the theme of NCLS here, what did character mean to you when circumstances were entirely beyond your control?   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  39:38 The Vietnamese kept us in small groups of one and two or three guys. I mean, we never really until near the end and later on when we got a little organization. But it got very down, very personal, when at one time, I was in a cell with four guys, three Class of 1964 Air Force Academy graduates and one poor Oklahoma State University graduate, and amongst the four of us, we had a senior ranking officer. And of course, you got the same rank, you go alphabetical. And so we made Ron Bliss the senior ranking officer in our room. We had a communication system. We had guidelines that, you know, which were basically consistent with the code of conduct. You know, name, rank, serial number, date of birth, don't answer further questions. Keep faith with your fellow positions. That was the key. Keep faith. Never do anything that you'd be embarrassed to tell somebody you did.   Ted Robertson  40:34 What you're explaining is how different leadership looks, and even how you describe it, how different it is from command. So now it comes down to trust and accountability and courage, and how do those show up in those conditions?   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  40:51 It was really a matter of, we always knew we were still in the fight. That was one thing that was with us, and so you just kind of conducted yourself with, OK, I'm not going to let myself be used. Now, we also knew that the more you resisted pushed back, the less likely they were to make you go meet an antiwar delegation or write a confession or do something else like that. So they tend to pick on, if you will, the low-hanging fruit or the easier guy to get to. So we always wanted to set the bar just a little bit out of their reach.   Ted Robertson  41:25 All right, having gone through all of that, it really can change people quite profoundly. So when you look back at it, what leadership lessons stayed with you long after you got out of captivity?   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  41:39 In the movie Return of Honor. Capt. Mike McGrath, Navy guy, describes the guys in their ability to resist torture and do things. And that's what you learn. Everybody's got a breaking point. If mine's here and somebody else's is there, that doesn't make me better or worse than them. So you learn to appreciate the talents and the weaknesses. If you know the foibles, the cracks in everybody around you and not to exploit them, but to understand them, and then to be the kind of leader that that they need.   Ted Robertson  42:12 Sir, one of the recurring themes when you're discussing leadership with leaders right is knowing something about each of your people so that you can relate to them in a way that that works for them and motivates them.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  42:23 Yeah. Mark Welch, who's also a graduate and he is a chief of staff of the Air Force, always had a saying: “If you don't know what's going on, it's because you didn't ask.”   Ted Robertson  42:32 Now we're going to roll all that into your long journey between captivity and your visit here to NCLS this year. When you're speaking to the cadets at this year's event, what's your main hope? What do you hope they understand about courage before they even ever face combat?   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  42:54 Well, courage is a reaction to a clear and present threat. Nobody knows how they're gonna — know he's gonna say, OK, I'm gonna go to Vietnam and I want to get shot down, and when the Vietnamese capture me, I'm going to give them a middle finger and I'm going to be the meanest bad ass and hardest-to-break prisoner. Yeah, it's how you respond to the to the immediate perception of bodily harm or being used or something else like that. So courage is, yeah, it just happens. It's not something that you can put in a package and say, “OK, I've got courage.” It's how you respond to the situation, because you might respond quite differently than what you think.   Ted Robertson  43:35 And I have to say, you presented your story and you delivered your message in kind of a unique way. You drew from some contemporary references, specifically three clips from a movie that you like, that I was curious. How did you sum up your entire life in three movie clips from Madagascar? How did you do that?   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  43:57 Well, the three movie clips — when I watched the movie, I was looking at it, I have got two favorite movies. Madagascar is one, and the other is a Kelsey Grammer movie, Down Periscope. I mean, I think that is a perfect study in in leadership. But in the movie Madagascar, the premise was penguins can't fly, but yet it opens up with them applying resource, innovation imagination, and they eventually get this airplane to fly. OK, great. Success. Well, like everything else in life, things go wrong, and you got to have, No. 1, a backup plan, an exit ramp or a control mechanism for the disaster that's pending. So that's the second movie clip we saw. And then the third one was towards the end of the movie, when the crash landing has happened and the skipper asks for an accounting, and he's told that all passengers are accounted for, except two. And he says, that's the number I can live with. And the message there is, you go through life — you're going to have successes, but you're going to have failures, and failure has a cost, and it's not always pleasant, but that's OK, because that's life.   Ted Robertson  45:15 How do you explain how leaders can prepare themselves morally and mentally for moments they can't predict or control.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  45:25 Watch movies like Madagascar and Down Periscope. You know, there's a breadth of unintentional, if you will, guidance on how to be a leader, if you know where to look or if you're looking for it. I mean, that's part of the whole progress program at the Academy. Nobody's going to say, OK, here's a scenario, lead these resources to a proper conclusion. It's kind of like, OK, here's the situation. What do we do? What can we do? What can't we do? It's like, in my presentation, I talk about being able to run across a pasture in nine seconds, in 10 seconds, but if the bull can do it, you're in trouble. So you got to realign your thinking, you got to realign your goals and you got to realign the application of resources. So that's the leadership part, right there. It's a realization of what you can and what you can't do. It's a realization of what you, your people, your resources, can and can't do. It's a realization of what the technology you have at your disposal to do your mission can and can't do. So it's all about workarounds and being flexible. And then the other thing is, we live in a world that just seems to be everything's got a prescription and a protocol on exactly how to do everything. Doesn't work that way. You got to be able to go left and right. You got to be able to be a little imaginative.   Ted Robertson  46:42 What parting thought did you leave the cadets with?   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  46:45 That failure is part of life. It's not death. And I'm part of an organization called American 300 — we go around and talk to young enlisted people and all the services to get them to understand that failure is a learning opportunity. It's not a dagger in the heart, and don't be afraid or ashamed to try, because if you don't, you'll never know what your true potential is. So with the cadets, we close with that last part from the movie Madagascar that basically said, OK, success comes with a price. Be aware and accept it.   Ted Robertson  47:23 All right, we've got to close it out here, but recap, if you would one more time that message that you want cadets to leave here with from having heard you speak.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  47:32 You are now a living, breathing, viable, productive part of our United States Air Force. You bring talents that are unique. Apply them, but understand that they're all very transitory, and you have part of a larger community. If you stick with a community rather than the “I did,” “I want,” I have,” you'll go a long way.   Ted Robertson  47:54 All right, and stepping outside of that very briefly for your final thoughts, what would you like to leave listeners with today.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  48:01 Be proud of the young men and women who are in our military now, not just those at the Air Force Academy. You know, our whole military structure has changed over the years. You know, it's a dynamic world. You got to be flexible and embrace change. We're so reluctant to change. Change is fine, except when you try to change me, is the old saying, but we all have to change. We have to be part of the world in which we live.     Ted Robertson  48:26 Gen. Mechenbier, I want to thank you from all of us for being here sharing those leadership lessons of yours and a lifetime of service that will continue to shape others — future leaders — for a very, very long time to come. We appreciate you very much.   Maj. Gen. Edward Mechenbier  48:43 Thank you much.   Ted Robertson  48:44 Our final conversation brings us to leadership at the strategic level, where decisions affect institutions, alliances and the nation itself. Capt. Charles Plumb, welcome to the podcast today, sir.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  48:56 Thanks, Ted. Appreciate being here.   Ted Robertson  48:59 It is a privilege to have you. You retired as a Navy captain in 1991 and you have not slowed down, not one inch since. We're going to talk a little bit about the work that you're doing in some very interesting spaces. And what informs all of that. Naval Academy, Class of '64.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  49:15 Yep, the Great Class of '64.     Ted Robertson  49:17 The great —that's how you express class pride?   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  49:20 Everybody knows the Great Class of '64.   Ted Robertson  49:23 So you are an Annapolis man.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  49:25 I am, in fact.   Ted Robertson  49:26 No doubt. And a pilot. You flew F-4 Phantoms, and you are a Vietnam-era pilot. You spent most of your time over North Vietnam. Sometimes you got sent to South Vietnam, depending on what was going on. But you said that you have flown 74 combat missions.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  49:45 Actually 74 and a half, Ted. I have one more takeoff and I have landings.   Ted Robertson  49:50 We should remember that, because it's a very important part of your life we haven't talked about yet. Since you got out of captivity, and then you retired a few years later, you became a published author and a speaker, and as such, you have been to every state, several countries, 5,000 presentations you've delivered in the leadership and character development space. Is there any reason you should not be here at NCLS?   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  50:24 Well, I appreciate that. You know, this is a great symposium, and I'm really proud to contribute to it.   Ted Robertson  50:32 Captain, you are a former POW.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  50:36 Yes, I was shot down on my 75th mission and captured, tortured and spent the next 2,103 days in communist prison camps.   Ted Robertson  50:49 You said you got moved around a lot.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  50:52 We did. I was in six different camps, and some of those camps more than once. We never really understood why. We kind of suspected that they wanted to try to deny any fraternization with their guards, and they wanted to keep us on our toes, because they recognized that being military guys, we were going to have leadership, and we were going to have organization and community and we were going to organize, to fight them, and they didn't want that. So they moved us around and kind of shuffled us up, which didn't work. We always had a military organization in every camp that I ever went to.   Ted Robertson  51:31 You found ways to support each other. You found ways to have a leadership structure, even in captivity.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  51:39 We were all fighter pilots or air crews and most of us were we, you know, we had 10 Air Force Academy grads from '64 in five Naval Academy grads from '64 and so we had in a lot of other academy grads. I don't remember how many, but probably 70 total academy grads. And so, you know, we were, we were dedicated. We were lifers. We were, you know, we were very focused guys, which helped out a lot that we knew a lot about military leadership.   Ted Robertson  52:11 You grew up in the Midwest, and you married a Midwestern girl.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  52:15 I did, my high school sweetheart the day after I graduated from Annapolis, we got married in the chapel, and my buddies were holding up their swords as we came out of the chapel. So it was a beautiful day.   Ted Robertson  52:27 Let's go back to how you found your way to the Naval Academy.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  52:32 I was a farm kid from Kansas. Never seen the ocean, never been out of the four states of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri. Never been in an airplane, and I needed an education. Found that the Naval Academy offered me an education.   Ted Robertson  52:50 Outside of Air Force Academy circles, you probably already know that we think of, you know, salty sea dog sailors when we think of people going in the Navy, but you chose aviation.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  53:02 I did. As a kid, I would see these Piper Cubs fly over and I was fascinated by flight, and wondered if I'd ever be able to ride in an airplane. That was my thought when I was a kid. I didn't have any hopes of ever being a pilot, you know, let alone a fighter pilot. That was, I was out of the realm. Nobody, as I grew up, ever told me that I could do that, or I should do that, or, you know, it would be a hope of mine to ever pilot an airplane. But I went to the Naval Academy and found out that was one of the options, and I took advantage of that option.   Ted Robertson  53:43 Yeah, and it led you, of course, to over North Vietnam, and the rest is that part of your history   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  53:51 Launched on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk on my wife's birthday, the 5th of November, wave goodbye to her, and promised her I'd be back in eight months. I didn't make it.   Ted Robertson  54:04 Hard. Very hard story to hear. Let's talk about all of that informing your presentation now, again, 5,000 of these delivered in the leadership and character development space, but you talk a lot about, in your presentation — and you keynoted here at NCLS — the mental game side of this, the integrity, the choices that you have to make, and character that sort of frames all of that.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  54:38 My message to the cadets, and really to most of my audiences, is around challenge and adversity. And I tell the cadets that they work awfully hard trying to get a degree. They study, they go to computers, they read books all to get a degree. And what I point out to them is that more important than the degree that they will get from the Air Force Academy is a character that they build while they are here. That the integrity first, you know, is part of their motto. And if, in fact, they can learn and live that integrity, if they can learn and live the commitment that they have, if they can learn in and live these kind of ethereal things, the things that you can't measure, things you can't define, the things that, you know, that crop up in your in your mind, in the back of your mind, are more important than the lessons they learn from a computer. And so that's kind of my message.   Ted Robertson  55:49 You know, we're in a leadership laboratory here. The art and the science is character development. And you're talking about a kind of character that leads people to make good decisions and make those decisions with integrity in mind. How did that play into your captivity and getting you through that?   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  56:09 You know, of course, I studied leadership at the Naval Academy, and I think that my period of experience more than teaching me anything, it validated what I had learned. And the whole idea — and I love the fact that this is called, you know, the Character and Leadership Symposium, because lots of times you see leadership without character, that's a negative kind of leadership. And if a leader does not have character, he doesn't last very long, and he's not very effective. And so if you can keep your character up front, the leadership can follow easily. And that's pretty much what we had in the prison camps. Several of the qualities of leadership that I promote are the things that almost came natural in a prison camp. First of all, we had to find a focus, a reason. We had to find, you know — and that was developed by our leadership in the prison camp. Return with honor — that was our motto, return with honor. And we all rallied around that.   Ted Robertson  57:22 So all of that said, you're standing here in front of a really big group of people as a keynote speaker, lot of cadets, mostly cadets, yeah.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  57:31 Now there were cadets. I'm speaking on a panel with Ed Mechenbier, my good buddy, and we're on a panel with mostly cadets. The first presentation, the keynote was by invitation only. So there were a number of civilians in the audience, number of cadets. There were Naval Academy midshipmen in my audience today. And we had ROTC people, and, you know, from all over the country. So it was quite a wide audience.   Ted Robertson  58:04 Quite a wide audience. And so if we were just focusing on what you leave with cadets, what do you want them to take away from their experience today?   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  58:15 I hope they understand my message, that more important than the degree that they graduate with, is the character that they graduate with, and the importance of the integrity that that they learned here, because that was vital in the prison camp, is integrity. We had to have each other's back, and when we when we finally were released, we refused to be released until all the sick, injured and enlisted men had gone home, and it was a question of integrity, is a question that this is the right thing to do. It's not the easy thing to do. Largely, the integrity thing to do is not the easiest thing to do, and that's what I wanted to leave with the cadets. In addition, I want them to know that regardless of what situation they're in, they still have a choice, and their choice is the way they respond to the surrounding adversity situation that they're in.   Ted Robertson  59:21 An Annapolis grad of '64, Midwest kid from Kansas who makes it into the cockpit, and like you said, 74 and a half flights, then some time in captivity, then to a published author with thousands of presentations all over the country, and some in in other countries. What final thoughts would you like to leave today, sir?   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  59:47 Well, you know, I think I've already told you, you know, you're a great interviewer, Ted, and I appreciate your questions. I think, finally, this whole idea of self-determination and I think that we all, and not just the cadets, but graduates and families and business people, families. You know that we all have choices, and sometimes when we deny the choice and give up that ability to make our life better for ourselves. And you know, we do it sometimes even when we're not even thinking about it. It's just automatic to blame somebody else for the problem, and in doing so, we give away that choice.   Ted Robertson  1:00:34 Don't give away the choice. Yeah, build that character and stick by your integrity all the time. Capt. J. Charles Plumb, what a privilege it is to meet you, sir. Glad that you're here at NCLs and keynoting like you are, and I do hope that our paths cross again.   Capt. J. Charles Plumb  1:00:52 Ted, thank you very much. I appreciate your willingness to tell my story. Thanks for that.   Ted Robertson  1:00:57 You're welcome, sir. Thank you. Ted Robertson Close As we've heard throughout these conversations, courage isn't a single moment. It's a lifelong practice, from cadets just beginning their journey to leaders shaped by combat and crisis to senior commanders responsible for forces and futures. Character is tested when certainty disappears and it's revealed by how we choose to lead. That's the challenge of the National Character and Leadership Symposium, and it's a challenge that extends far beyond these walls. I'm Ted Robertson, thank you for joining me for our Long Blue Line Podcast Network coverage of the 33rd National Character and Leadership Symposium. This podcast was recorded on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026.         The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation      

Durante este mes de febrero la provincia de Jaén ha vivido semanas muy intensas en torno al Día Mundial contra el Cáncer. Hoy en este espacio, hacemos balance con la coordinadora de voluntariado de la Asociación Española contra el Cáncer en la provincia de Jaén, María Dolores Valero

Community Kevin Brannon takes us on a walk-through of the Reel Guppy Dockside Learning & Multimedia Center in Port Hueneme and tell us about the program and its history.

En este espacio dedicado a la Asociación Española contra el Cáncer, hablamos con la pediatra y consejera de la asociación en Jaén, Carmen Espín, sobre Cáncer Infantil.

ARTS R US MICHELE SCHWEMMER MULTIMEDIA ARTIST FEBRUARY 22 2026

Japan goes after arcades, Nintendo's Famicon gets its first licensee & Gamers come together online These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM! This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in October 1994.  As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Alex Smith of They Create Worlds is our cohost.  Check out his podcast here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/ and order his book here: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/book Get us on your mobile device: Android:  https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz iOS:      https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/video-game-newsroom-time-machine And if you like what we are doing here at the podcast, don't forget to like us on your podcasting app of choice, YouTube, and/or support us on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/VGNRTM Send comments on Mastodon @videogamenewsroomtimemachine@oldbytes.space Or twitter @videogamenewsr2 Or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vgnrtm Or videogamenewsroomtimemachine@gmail.com Links: If you don't see all the links, find them here:      7 Minutes in Heaven: Mortal Kombat 2 (SNES, Genesis, Game Gear, Game Boy) Video Version: https://youtu.be/KI-X2NobWF0     https://www.mobygames.com/game/600/mortal-kombat-ii/ Corrections: September 1994 Ep - https://youtu.be/CvMg_FUb3p0 Ethan's fine site The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/     https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131646/     https://www.mobygames.com/company/8/software-toolworks-inc-the/     Console Wars Readthrough - https://youtu.be/wYhpTBPXZkI     LGR Never Obsolete PC - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQo0yOqOb_4     George Morrow -      Krzysztof Kieslowski - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001425/      1994     Nintendo caves to E3     Nintendo of America to attend E3 show in Los Angeles, Business Wire, October 4, 1994, Tuesday CES interactive postponed     Nintendo of America to attend E3 show in Los Angeles, Business Wire, October 4, 1994, Tuesday Nintendo lowers investor expectations     NINTENDO TO SEE 2ND SALES, PROFIT DROPS, Jiji Press Ticker Service, OCTOBER 4, 1994, TUESDAY     Nintendo revises FY '94 performance downward, Report From Japan, October 5, 1994          Nintendo sales, profits to post 2nd yearly fall,The Daily Yomiuri, October 5, 1994, Wednesday     Nikkei lower on new issue worries, Financial Times (London,England), October 5, 1994, Wednesday, London, Section: World Stock Markets (Asia Pacific); Pg. 41, Byline: By EMIKO TERAZONO           SEGA HITS '94 LOW ON TSE,Jiji Press Ticker Service,OCTOBER 4, 1994, ,TUESDAY Thornton warns of UK video game market decline     THORNTON ISSUES WARNING AS VIDEO GAMES SALES PLUMMET, The Guardian (London), October 6, 1994, Section: THE GUARDIAN , CITY PAGE; Pg. 19 CentreGold buys Core     CentreGold picks up Core, The Independent (London), October 27, 1994, Thursday, Section: BUSINESS & CITY PAGE; Page 42 Convergance  is the name of the game     Merging on The Information Superhighway The New Comfort Zone Where Public Meets Private - Correction Appended,  The New York Times, Correction Appended, Distribution: Home Design MagazineHome Design Magazine, Section: Section 6; ; Section 6; Part 2; Page 40; Page 21; Column 3; Column 2; Home Design MagazineHome, Design Magazine ; Part 2; ; Column 3; Column 2;Byline: By Phil Patton; By JULIE V. IOVINE     "Media Futures: SRI denounces superhighway claims, Financial Times (London,England), October 31, 1994, Monday, Section: Pg. 13 Length: 507 words, Byline: By RAYMOND SNODDY"     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Simon Microsoft to buy Intuit     Microsoft To Acquire Intuit, Shareholder Sues, Newsbytes News Network, October 14, 1994        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Money        BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Banks Going Interactive to Fend Off New Rivals, The New York Times, October 19, 1994, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final, Distribution: Financial Desk, Section: Section D; ; Section D; Page 1; Column 3; Financial Desk ; Column 3; First Virtual Holdings brings banking into cyberspace         A Credit Card for On-Line Sprees, New York Times (National Edition), October 15, 1994, Business and Industry, Section: Pg. Y17; Vol. 144; No. 49,850; ISSN: 0362-4331    https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/first-virtual        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einar_Stefferud     HOME SHOPPING NETWORK STORE LAUNCH ON PRODIGY SUCCESSFUL, PR Newswire, October 18, 1994, Tuesday - 10:04 Eastern Time, Section: Financial News MicroTime Media is bringing ads to games     Media: Watch out Sonic, the admen are coming; Maggie Brown meets the founder of an advertising agency that is putting commercials into computer games, The Independent (London), October 18, 1994, Tuesday, Section: MEDIA PAGE; Page 29         https://danielbobroff.com/     https://www.mobygames.com/game/1777/push-over/     https://www.mobygames.com/game/581/james-pond-2-codename-robocod/ Dreamworks announced     Spielberg, Katzenberg, Geffen Troika Launch Entertainment Venture. The Associated Press. October 13, 1994, Thursday, PM cycle. Section: Business News. Byline: By JOHN HORN, AP Entertainment Writer     https://archive.org/details/menwhowouldbekin0000lapo Sega expands Model 2 offerings     https://archive.org/details/edge-013-october-1994/page/10/mode/1up?view=theater     https://segaretro.org/Sega_Model_2 Namco's Empire of Egg ups the ante     https://archive.org/details/edge-013-october-1994/page/16/mode/1up?view=theater     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Eggs Sega VR parks coming to Canada     --The Business Report--, Broadcast News (BN), October 25, 1994 Tuesday         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playdium         https://web.archive.org/web/19970223190650/http://www.playdium.com/      Aussie arcades go family friendly     ARCADE GAMES ARRIVE, The Courier Mail (Australia), October 30, 1994 Sunday, 2 - STATE, Section: Pg. 13, Byline: VEITCH C      Next Gen battle lines drawn at Japan Electronics Show     Next-Generation Game Machines Battle at Japan Electronics Show, The Associated Press, October 4, 1994, Tuesday, AM cycle, Section: Business News, Byline: By DAVID THURBER, Associated Press Writer     https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_063_October_1994 pp178     JVC to Enter Video Game Machine Market Through Sega OEM, Japan Industrial Journal, October 5, 1994         https://segaretro.org/JVC        JVC to market Sega's Saturn video game machines, Japan Economic Newswire, OCTOBER 24, 1994, MONDAY, Dateline: TOKYO, Oct. 24 Kyodo       https://segaretro.org/Sega_Saturn#Models Sega announces Saturn launch price     Sega to sell new generation of video game machines, Japan Economic Newswire, OCTOBER 7, 1994, FRIDAY     SEGA SHARES FALL BELOW 5,000 YEN ON TSE,Jiji Press Ticker Service, OCTOBER 17, 1994, MONDAY, Dateline: TOKYO, OCT. 17         SEGA HITS NEW 1994 LOW ON TSE, Jiji Press Ticker Service, OCTOBER 24, 1994, MONDAY, Dateline: TOKYO, OCT. 24         Shanghai A shares decline by 8.1 per cent, Financial Times (London,England), October 27, 1994, Thursday, Section: World Stock Markets (Asia Pacific);,pg. 49, Byline: By EMIKO TERAZONO     https://archive.org/details/edge-013-october-1994/page/9/mode/1up?view=theater        https://archive.org/details/edge-013-october-1994/page/7/mode/1up?view=theater Matsushita announces cheaper 3DO     Matsushita introduces cheaper game machine, The Daily Yomiuri, October 21, 1994, Friday, Byline: Yomiuri Shimbun     https://archive.org/details/egm-2-october-1994/page/n39/mode/1up Sony announces PSX price     Sony to Launch New Video Game Machine, Associated Press Worldstream, October 27, 1994; Thursday 08:44 Eastern Time         Sony to introduce next-generation video game machine, Report From Japan, October 28, 1994 NEC reveals PC-FX launch date and price     NEC joins video game war, Agence France Presse -- English, October 31, 1994 05:54 Eastern Time 3DO to charge developers $3 fee     3DO kicks off holiday season with aggressive national advertising campaign, Business Wire, October 21, 1994, Friday 3DO devs revolt     3DO FACES REVOLT BY GAME DEVELOPERS OVER FEE TO CUT MANUFACTURERS' LOSSES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 24, 1994, Monday, Section: Section B; Page 3, Column 1, Byline: BY JIM CARLTON Toys R Us to stock Jaguar     Toys R Us stocks up on Jaguar, the world's first 64-bit video game system; Atari launches multi-million dollar marketing campaign for Jaguar, Business Wire, October 10, 1994, Monday         https://youtu.be/ndcTWeaVbLQ?si=kX5qo8st8oPI1wT0     https://archive.org/details/GamePro_Issue_063_October_1994 pp178        https://songbird-productions.com/jagdomain/jvmfaq.html Nintendo retakes 16 bit crown     "Nintendo Retakes 16-Bit Sales Crown, Wall Street Journal (3 Star, Eastern (Princeton, NJ) Edition), October 28, 1994, Business and Industry Section: Pg. B3; Vol. LXXVI; No. 11; ISSN: 0099-966" Nintendo nixes Play it Loud campaign     PLAY IT GONE, ADWEEK, October 31, 1994, Western Advertising News Edition     https://youtu.be/FArjEUhBgP4?si=JkfYhRH8hkeB8-_M Nintendo mails out 2 million video cassettes     Mario Homes in on D-Base, Ad Day, October 10, 1994, Section: DMK; Pg. 14, Byline: By Terry Lefton        https://youtu.be/Rv_YCSbWP78?si=jYmiIbfLxG87xjbv         Video game king invades cyberspace jungle; Nintendo of America enters the information super highway to launch Donkey Kong Country, Business Wire, October 13, 1994, Thursday         Nintendo Is Expecting Revenue From Game To Top $100 Million, Wall Street Journal (3 Star, Eastern (Princeton, NJ) Edition), October 26, 1994, Business and Industry, Section: Pg. B12; Vol. 224; No. 82; ISSN: 0099-9660     NINTENDO'S BIGGEST EVER GAMES LAUNCH AND BRITAIN IS AHEAD OF THE REST., PR Newswire Europe, October 28, 1994, Origin Universal News Services Limited, 1994, Section: GENERAL AND CITY NEWS Acclaims gets Marvel license     TCI may form Acclaim alliance, United Press International, October 19, 1994, Wednesday, BC cycle, Section: Domestic News, Dateline: ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct. 19 TCI buys into Acclaim     TCI to buy 10 percent of Acclaim, United Press International, October 20, 1994, Thursday, BC cycle, Section: Domestic News, Dateline: ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Oct. 20 Virtuality is virtually everywhere     Atari plans to put virtual reality into home computer games, The Sunday Times (London), October 30, 1994, Sunday, Section: Features, Byline: Steve Boxer        https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Project_Elysium_pg_1.jpg       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_VR        Atari joins forces with Virtuality to offer home virtual reality games by,Christmas 1995, Business Wire, October 25, 1994, Tuesday     https://en.namu.wiki/w/%EC%A0%84%EB%87%8C%EC%A0%84%EA%B8%B0%20%EB%84%B7%20%EB%A8%B8%ED%81%AC     Laser Quest transforms itself to push virtual reality 'tag' game, The Financial Post (Toronto, Canada), October 15, 1994, Saturday,WEEKLY EDITION, Section: SECTION 4, SPECIAL REPORT: COMPUTERS; Pg. C26; PROFILE, Byline: Johanna Powell ESRB announces rating milestone     ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE RATING BOARD ANNOU CES 100 INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS RATED IN FIRST MONTH, PR Newswire, October 5, 1994, Wednesday - 19:40 Eastern Time      RSAC rates Doom     CONSUMER SOFTWARE RATING SYSTEM RECEIVING STRONG INDUSTRY SUPPORT, PR Newswire, October 6, 1994, Thursday - 07:00 Eastern Time Sega breaks budget records         Video, Playback, October 10, 1994, Section: Pg.VI-1, byline: Laura Pratt      Mobile phones set to be hot Xmas item in UK     And only 75 shopping days to go . . ., The Independent (London), October 9, 1994, Sunday, Section: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 6 Bible goes Gameboy         Game Boy offers competition to Gideons, St. Petersburg Times (Florida), October 8, 1994, Saturday, City Edition, Section: CITY TIMES; Religion; Pg. 8          October 10th is Doomsday      DOOM II: Hell On Earth now available, Business Wire, October 10, 1994, Monday     Doom II' video game rates an 'M', USA TODAY, October 11, 1994, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION, Section: LIFE; Pg. 1D IBM falls to 4th place among Aptiva sell out     "IBM Sells Out New Aptiva PC Shortage May Cost Millions in Potential Revenue, Wall Street Journal (3 Star, Eastern (Princeton, NJ) Edition), October 7, 1994, Business and Industry, Section: Pg. B4; Vol. 224; No. 69; ISSN: 0099-9660"     TECHNO-POP; PCs Embrace Mass Market Promos, Partners, Ad Day, October 17, 1994, Section: PROMOTIONS; Pg. 1, Byline: By Karen Benezra and Gerry Khermouch     IBM GETS BACK TO ITS ROOTS, The Australian Financial Review, October 24, 1994 Monday, Late Edition, Section: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY; Pg. 40, Byline: DAVID CROWE Packard Bell rises to 3rd place in PC biz     Packard Bell's Surpirsing PC Rise, New York Times (National Edition), October 12, 1994, Business and Industry, Section: Pg. C1     https://vintage-packard-bell.fandom.com/wiki/Spectria_610_AN        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packard_Bell Microsoft Revenues jump!         Computer Update, The Independent (London), October 24, 1994, Monday, Section: NETWORK PAGE; Page 27, Byline: TIM JACKSON     Microsoft's Gates Heads Richest Americans List, Newsbytes, October 3, 1994, Monday, Section: NEWS Build to Order PCs boom     THE GLOBAL GUARD: THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION; The young pretenders ready to stake their claim, The Guardian (London), October 20, 1994, Section: THE GUARDIAN FEATURES PAGE; Pg. T15 Hyundai and DLT see PC-to-TV as the future of multimedia     Display Research In Technology Pact With Hyundai, Newsbytes, October 4, 1994, Tuesday, Section: NEWS, Dateline: KWAI CHUNG, HONG KONG FMV goes software only     Full-motion, full-screen realism without MPEG chips in GameTek's Quarantine CD-ROM, using Duck TrueMotion video, Business Wire, October 10, 1994, Monday     https://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php/Duck_TrueMotion_1          https://segaretro.org/TrueMotion Mindscape buys SSI     MINDSCAPE, INC. ACQUIRES STRATEGIC SIMULATIONS, INC.; ACQUISITION STRENGTHENS ENTERTAINMENT DEVELOPMENT, EFFORTS, PR Newswire, October 20, 1994, Thursday - 08:16 Eastern Time, Section: Financial News Corel gets into games     Corel decides to spread its software bets around; Company moves, aggressively into new markets, The Ottawa Citizen, October 8, 1994, Saturday, FINAL EDITION, Section: BUSINESS; Pg. E1          https://www.mobygames.com/company/2075/cascade-parent-limited/ Will Wright working on Project X     Meet Mr. SimCity, Newsweek, October 24, 1994 , UNITED STATES EDITION, Section: Pg. 48, Byline: BARBARA KANTROWITZ Politicians are concerned about the internet     "Ottawa seeks advice about privacy Information highway raises new questions, paper says, The Toronto Star, October 15, 1994, Saturday, FINAL EDITION, Section: BUSINESS; Pg. C3, Byline: BY ROBERT BREHL TORONTO STARPRIVACY RIGHTS CANADA COMPUTER TELECOMMUNICATIONS            Regulator may police culture at infohighway phone booths, The Ottawa Citizen, October 1, 1994, Saturday, FINAL EDITION, Section: BUSINESS; Pg. D1, Byline: ALANA KAINZ; CITIZEN" College kids are becoming email  junkies     "On campus, there's a letter in the e-mail, USA TODAY, October 5, 1994, Wednesday, FINAL EDITION, Section: LIFE; Pg. 6D; Education, Byline: Karla Price            Internet the focus of Calgary computer sho Calgary Herald (Alberta, Canada), October 6, 1994, Thursday, FINAL EDITION, Section: COMPUTERS; Pg. D10, Byline: MEL DUVALL"     Commercial services: where content is king, The Toronto Star, October 27, 1994, Thursday, METRO EDITION, Section: FAST FORWARD; Pg. J2 Compuserve to open service to the Internet     DRIVE FOR INFORMATION, The Courier Mail (Australia), October 25, 1994 Tuesday, 2 - FIRST WITH THE NEWS, Section: Pg. 34, Byline: COX P Apple to Cyberdog it     Secret Apple Cyberdog unleashed on Internet, USA TODAY, October 24, 1994, Monday, FINAL EDITION, Section: MONEY; Pg. 1B, Byline: James Kim         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberdog      The file format of the web is still in doubt     Dial-a-catalog, Forbes, October 10, 1994, Section: ON THE COVER; Computers/Communications; Pg. 126, Byline: By David C. Churbuck Cybersquatting demo'd     Computer Update, The Independent (London), October 24, 1994, Monday, Section: NETWORK PAGE; Page 27, Byline: TIM JACKSON Maryland's Sailor Project sees expansion need     TESTIMONY OCTOBER 4, 1994 BARBARA G. SMITH ON BEHALF OF MARYLAND'S SAILOR PROJECT HOUSE SCIENCE/SCIENCE INTERNET ACCESS, Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony, October 4, 1994, Tuesday, Section: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY      Pearson buys Future     PEARSON BUYS FUTURE PUBLISHING FOR 52.5 MLN STG: 2, Extel Examiner, October 24, 1994, Monday - 08:25 Eastern Time, Section: Company News; Takeovers and Acquisitions Ziff family sells Ziff Davis     ZIFF FAMILY SELLS ZIFF-DAVIS PUBLISHING COMPANY TO FORSTMANN LITTLE FOR $1.4 BILLION, PR Newswire, October 27, 1994, Thursday - 12:52 Eastern Time Ziff Davis launches Family PC     NEW COMPUTER MAGAZINE APPEALS TO FAMILIES, The Columbian (Vancouver, A.), October 09, 1994, Sunday, Section: Money; Byline: By MICHAEL J. HIMOWITZ The Baltimore Sun Computer Living breaks records in Australia     Computer Living Largest Launch In Australian History, Newsbytes News Network, October 21, 1994     PC USERS RESUME AFFAIR WITH MAGS, Philadelphia Daily News, October 28, 1994 Friday PM EDITION, Section: BUSINESS , MONEYTALK; Pg. 75, Byline: Michael Connor, Reuters      Supreme Court won't review Game Genie case     No Headline In Original, WALL STREET JOURNAL, October 13, 1994, Thursday, Section: Section B; Page 2, Column 4 Mario Paint suit dismissed     Nintendo claims victory in inventor's patent suit, The Toronto Star, October 15, 1994, Saturday, FINAL EDITION, Section: BUSINESS; Pg. C7          NINTENDO PREVAILS IN PATENT INFRINGEMENT CASE, PR Newswire, October 14, 1994, Friday - 11:00 Eastern Time, Section: Financial News      Jail time first for software pirate     https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1994/08/22/software-pirate-is-first-to-get-prison-time/         https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-1994-10/page/n15/mode/2up Nintendo donates to epilepsy research     Nintendo to help study video-epilepsy link, The Daily Yomiuri, October 15, 1994, Saturday, Byline: Yomiuri Shimbun      UK to begin game preservation     SuperMario and Aladdin meet Marlon Brando; The National Film and Television Archive, preserver of artistic heritage, is planning a collection of video games. Nick Wray reports, The Independent (London), October 10, 1994, Monday, Section: NETWORK PAGE; Page 24, Byline: NICK WRAY Home office furniture goes upscale     COMPUTER STATIONS GO HIGH-STYLE HOME-ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEMS AND WORK PODS HIGHLIGHTED AT SHOW. / WANT A LOUIS XV ARMOIRE FOR YOUR TELEVISION SET AND SEREO AND VCR? JUST LIKE THOSE IN,THE 18TH-CENTURY FRENCH COURT?, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 21, 1994 Friday FINAL EDITION, Section: FEATURES MAGAZINE: HOME & DESIGN; Pg. E01, Byline: Susan Caba, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER Taco Bell gameifies employee performance     Users eye game technology to spice up service, Computerworld, October 10, 1994, Section: NEWS; MULTIMEDIA; Pg. 24, Byline: Suruchi Mohan; CW Staff MK Album     https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_63_October_1994_U/page/n157/mode/1up?view=theater MK Live coming to an arena near you     Fishof Producing $2.5 Million Mortal Kombat Arena Show, Amusement Business, October 31, 1994, Business and Industry, Section: Pg. 14; Vol. 106; No. 43; ISSN: 0003-2344, Byline: Susan Ray          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat:_Live_Tour Raul Julia RIP     Puerto Rico to salute late actor Raul Julia, USA TODAY, October 25, 1994, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION, Section: LIFE; Pg. 1D, Byline: Ann Oldenburg Quote of the month:      CBS is No. 1 with older viewers, but other networks say 'So what?' The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), October 2, 1994, Sunday, FINAL EDITION, Section: ENTERTAINMENT: SHOWCASE; Pg. F4, byline: ED BARK; DALLAS MORNING NEWS Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/ Games That Weren't - https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/ Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play. Copyright Karl Kuras

Spotify (SPOT) rallied close to 20% intraday at the height of Tuesday's trading session. David Schulhof believes investors are relieved to see strong earnings after a stark price correction. While he notes Spotify needing to put more focus on advertising revenue, David points to a audiobook push, Netflix (NFLX) partnership, and merchandise as other ways to generate long-term revenue. Seth Schachner adds that Spotify greatly expanded internationally and saw premium subscriptions "way up." He makes the case the company remains "undervalued."======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

#TSGMultimediaPodcast #HistoricPreservation #ModelRailroading #Trains #RailroadsThis month's TSG Podcast includes:1:06 Intro/Welcome1:43 SBHRS3:30 San Francisco Railway Museum Shoot6:12 Talking Trains          https://www.youtube.com/live/z1oDrgpUtHA?si=Qep2tVEIBLWsxOPC10:42 Op Session | Dave Loveless's R&D15:02 Bay Area Layout Design & Operations Weekend | Day 117:16 Bay Area Layout Design & Operations Weekend | Day 2          https://bayldops.com/2026/19:48 Catch Of The Month21:20 ConclusionHere are some of the ways you can support the content you love:Support our sponsors!Model Railroad Control Systems - Electronics for Operationshttps://modelrailroadcontrolsystems.com/Western Pacific Railroad Museumhttps://wplives.org/https://www.podomatic.com   Use code: TSGPODEngagement & Sharing:If you enjoy this content, please hit the "like" button and share it with your friends on social media! Leaving comments on this video's comment section also helps.Direct Financial Support:https://www.patreon.com/TSGMultimediahttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tsgmultimediahttps://tsgmultimedia.com/shop/Join TSG Multimedia on these other social media channels:FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tsgmultimediafaceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tsg_multimedia/BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/tsgmultimedia.bsky.social©2026 TSG Multimedia. All Rights Reserved.

It’s actually a good thing that some books push you to the edge of your ability to understand. But there’s no doubting the fact that dense, abstract and jargon-filled works can push you so far into the fog of frustration that you cannot blame yourself for giving up. But here’s the truth: You don’t have to walk away frustrated and confused. I’m going to share with you a number of practical strategies that will help you fill in the gaps of your reading process. Because that’s usually the real problem: It’s not your intelligence. Nor is it that the world is filled with books “above your level.” I ultimately don’t believe in “levels” as such. But as someone who taught reading courses at Rutgers and Saarland University, I know from experience that many learners need to pick up a few simple steps that will strengthen how they approach reading difficult books. And in this guide, you’ll learn how to read challenging books and remember what they say. I’m going to go beyond generic advice too. That way, you can readily diagnose: Why certain books feel so hard Use pre-reading tactics that prime your brain to deal with difficulties effectively Apply active reading techniques to lock in understanding faster Leverage accelerated learning tools that are quick to learn Use Artificial Intelligence to help convert tough convent into lasting knowledge without worrying about getting duped by AI hallucinations Whether you’re tacking philosophy, science, dense fiction or anything based primarily in words, the reading system you’ll learn today will help you turn confusion into clarity. By the end, even the most intimidating texts will surrender their treasures to your mind. Ready? Let’s break it all down together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HLbY4jsFg Why Some Books Feel “Too Hard” (And What That Really Means) You know exactly how it feels and so do I. You sit down with a book that people claim is a classic or super-important. But within a few pages, your brain fogs over and you’re completely lost. More often than not, through glazed eyes, you start to wonder… did this author go out of his or her way to make this difficult? Are they trying to show off with all these literary pyrotechnics? Or is there a deliberate conspiracy to confuse readers like me? Rest assured. These questions are normal and well worth asking. The difficulty you might feel is never arbitrary in my experience. But there’s also no “single origin” explanation for why some books feel easier than others. It’s almost always a combination of factors, from cognitive readiness, lived experience, emotions and your physical condition throughout the day. This means that understanding why individual texts resist your understanding needs to be conducted on a case-by-case basis so you can move towards mastering anything you want to read. Cognitive Load: The Brain’s Processing “Stop Sign” “Cognitive load” probably needs no definition. The words are quite intuitive. You start reading something and it feels like someone is piling heavy bricks directly on top of your brain, squishing everything inside. More specifically, these researchers explain that what’s getting squished is specifically your working memory, which is sometimes called short-term memory. In practical terms, this means that when a book suddenly throws a bunch of unfamiliar terms at you, your working memory has to suddenly deal with abstract concepts, completely new words or non-linear forms of logic. All of this increases your cognitive load, but it’s important to note that there’s no conspiracy. In Just Being Difficult: Academic Writing in the Public Arena, a variety of contributors admit that they often write for other specialists. Although it would be nice to always compose books and articles for general readers, it’s not laziness. They’re following the codes of their discipline, which involves shorthand to save everyone time. Yes, it can also signal group membership and feel like an intellectual wall if you’re new to this style, but it’s simply a “stop sign” for your brain. And wherever there are stop signs, there are also alternative routes. Planning Your Detour “Roadmap” Into Difficult Books Let me share a personal example by way of sharing a powerful technique for making hard books easier to read. A few years ago I decided I was finally going to read Kant. I had the gist of certain aspects of his philosophy, but a few pages in, I encountered so many unfamiliar terms, I knew I had to obey the Cognitive Load Stop Sign and take a step back. To build a roadmap into Kant, I searched Google in a particular way. Rather than a search term like, “Intro to Kant,” I entered this tightened command instead: Filetype:PDF syllabus Kant These days, you can ask an LLM in more open language to simply give you links to the syllabi of the most authoritative professors who teach Kant. I’d still suggest that you cross-reference what you get on Google, however. If you’re hesitant about using either Google or AI, it’s also a great idea to visit a librarian in person to help you. Or, you can read my post about using AI for learning with harming your memory to see if it’s time to update your approach. Narrowing Down Your Options One way or another, the reason to consult the world’s leading professors is that their syllabi will provide you with: Foundational texts Core secondary literature Commentaries from qualified sources Essential historical references Once you’ve looked over a few syllabi, look through the table of contents of a few books on Amazon or Google Books. Then choose: 1-2 foundational texts to read before the challenging target book you want to master 1-2 articles or companion texts to read alongside In this way, you’ve turned difficulty into a path, not an obstacle. Pre-Reading Strategies That Warm Up Your Reading Muscles A lot of the time, the difficulty people feel when reading has nothing to do with the book. It’s just that you’re diving into unfamiliar territory without testing the waters first. Here are some simple ways to make unfamiliar books much easier to get into. Prime Like a Pro To make books easier to read, you can perform what is often called “priming” in the accelerated learning community. It is also sometimes called “pre-reading” and as this research article discusses, its success has been well-demonstrated. The way I typically perform priming is simple. Although some books require a slight change to the pattern, I typically approach each new book by reading: The back cover The index The colophon page The conclusion or afterword The most interesting or relevant chapter The introduction The rest of the book Activate Prior Knowledge Sometimes I will use a skimming and scanning strategy after reading the index to quickly familiarize myself with how an author approaches a topic with which I’m already familiar. This can help raise interest, excitement and tap into the power of context-dependent memory. For example, I recently started reading Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht. Since the Renaissance memory master Giordano Bruno comes up multiple times, I was able to draw up a kind of context map of the books themes by quickly going through those passages. Take a Picture Walk Barbara Oakley and Terence Sejnjowski share a fantastic strategy in Learning How to Learn. Before reading, simply go through a book and look at all the illustrations, tables, charts and diagrams. It seems like a small thing. But it gives your brain a “heads up” about upcoming visual information that you may need to process than prose. I used to find visual information like this difficult, but after I started taking picture walks, I’m now excited to read “towards” these elements. If still find them challenging to understand, I apply a tip I learned from Tony Buzan that you might like to try: Rather than struggle to interpret a chart or illustration, reproduce it in your own hand. Here’s an example of how I did this when studying spaced repetition: As a result, I learned the graph and its concepts quickly and have never forgotten it. Build a Pre-Reading Ritual That Fits You There’s no one-sized-fits-all strategy, so you need to experiment with various options. The key is to reduce cognitive load by giving your mind all kinds of ways of understanding what a book contains. If it helps, you can create yourself a checklist that you slip into the challenging books on your list. That way, you’ll have both a bookmark and a protocol as you develop your own pre-reading style. Active Reading Techniques That Boost Comprehension Active reading involves deliberately applying mental activities while reading. These can include writing in the margins of your books, questioning, preparing summaries and even taking well-time breaks between books. Here’s a list of my favorite active reading strategies with ideas on how you can implement them. Using Mnemonics While Reading On the whole, I take notes while reading and then apply a variety of memory techniques after. But to stretch my skills, especially when reading harder books, I start the encoding process earlier. Instead of just taking notes, I’ll start applying mnemonic images. I start early because difficult terms often require a bit more spaced repetition. To do this yourself, the key is to equip yourself with a variety of mnemonic methods, especially: The Memory Palace technique The Pegword Method The Major System The PAO System And in some cases, you may want to develop a symbol system, such as if you’re studying physics or programming. Once you have these mnemonic systems developed, you can apply them in real time. For example, if you come across names and dates, committing them to memory as you read can help you keep track of a book’s historical arc. This approach can be especially helpful when reading difficult books because authors often dump a lot of names and dates. By memorizing them as you go, you reduce the mental load of having to track it all. For even more strategies you can apply while reading, check out my complete Mnemonics Dictionary. Strategic Questioning Whether you take notes or memorize in real-time, asking questions as you go makes a huge difference. Even if you don’t come up with answers, continually interrogating the book will open up your brain. The main kinds of questions are: Evaluative questions (checking that the author uses valid reasoning and address counterarguments) Analytical questions (assessing exactly how the arguments unfold and questioning basic assumptions) Synthetic questions (accessing your previous knowledge and looking for connections with other books and concepts) Intention questions (interrogating the author’s agenda and revealing any manipulative rhetoric) One medieval tool for questioning you can adopt is the memory wheel. Although it’s definitely old-fashioned, you’ll find that it helps you rotate between multiple questions. Even if they are as simple as who, what, where, when, how and why questions, you’ll have a mental mnemonic device that helps ensure you don’t miss any of them. Re-reading Strategies Although these researchers seem to think that re-reading is not an effective strategy, I could not live without it. There are three key kinds of re-reading I recommend. Verbalize Complexity to Tame It The first is to simply go back and read something difficult to understand out loud. You’d be surprised how often it’s not your fault. The author has just worded something in a clunky manner and speaking the phrasing clarifies everything. Verbatim Memorization for Comprehension The second strategy is to memorize the sentence or even an entire passage verbatim. That might seem like a lot of work, but this tutorial on memorizing entire passages will make it easy for you. Even if verbatim memorization takes more work, it allows you to analyze the meaning within your mind. You’re no longer puzzling over it on paper, continuing to stretch your working memory. No, you’ve effectively expanded at least a part of your working memory by bypassing it altogether. You’ve ushered the information into long-term memory. I’m not too shy to admit that I have to do this sometimes to understand everything from the philosophy in Sanskrit phrases to relatively simple passages from Shakespeare. As I shared in my recent discussion of actor Anthony Hopkins’ memory, I couldn’t work out what “them” referred to in a particular Shakespeare play. But after analyzing the passage in memory, it was suddenly quite obvious. Rhythmical Re-reading The third re-reading strategy is something I shared years ago in my post detailing 11 reasons you should re-read at least one book per month. I find this approach incredibly helpful because no matter how good you get at reading and memory methods, even simple books can be vast ecosystems. By revisiting difficult books at regular intervals, you not only get more out of them. You experience them from different perspectives and with the benefit of new contexts you’ve built in your life over time. In other words, treat your reading as an infinite game and never assume that you’ve comprehended everything. There’s always more to be gleaned. Other Benefits of Re-reading You’ll also improve your pattern recognition by re-treading old territory, leading to more rapid recognition of those patterns in new books. Seeing the structures, tropes and other tactics in difficult books opens them up. But without regularly re-reading books, it can be difficult to perceive what these forms are and how authors use them. To give you a simple example of a structure that appears in both fiction and non-fiction, consider in media res, or starting in the middle. When you spot an author using this strategy, it can immediately help you read more patiently. And it places the text in the larger tradition of other authors who use that particular technique. For even more ideas that will keep your mind engaged while tackling tough books, feel free to go through my fuller article on 7 Active Reading Strategies. Category Coloring & Developing Your Own Naming System For Complex Material I don’t know about you, but I do not like opening a book only to find it covered in highlighter marks. I also don’t like highlighting books myself. However, after practicing mind mapping for a few years, I realized that there is a way to combine some of its coloring principles with the general study principles of using Zettelkasten and flashcards. Rather than passively highlighting passages that seem interesting at random, here’s an alternative approach you can take to your next tour through a complicated book. Category Coloring It’s often helpful to read with a goal. For myself, I decided to tackle a hard book called Gödel Escher Bach through the lens of seven categories. I gave each a color: Red = Concept Green = Process Orange = Fact Blue = Historical Context Yellow = Person Purple = School of Thought or Ideology Brown = Specialized Terminology Example Master Card to the Categorial Color Coding Method To emulate this method, create a “key card” or “master card” with your categories on it alongside the chosen color. Use this as a bookmark as you read. Then, before writing down any information from the book, think about the category to which it belongs. Make your card and then apply the relevant color. Obviously, you should come up with your own categories and preferred colors. The point is that you bring the definitions and then apply them consistently as you read and extract notes. This will help bring structure to your mind because you’re creating your own nomenclature or taxonomy of information. You are also using chunking, a specific mnemonic strategy I’ve written about at length in this post on chunking as a memory tool. Once you’re finished a book, you can extract all the concepts and memorize them independently if you like. And if you emulate the strategy seen on the pictured example above, I’ve included the page number on each card. That way, I can place the cards back in the order of the book. Using this approach across multiple books, you will soon spot cross-textual patterns with greater ease. The catch is that you cannot allow this technique to become activity for activity’s sake. You also don’t want to wind up creating a bunch of informational “noise.” Before capturing any individual idea on a card and assigning it to a category, ask yourself: Why is this information helpful, useful or critical to my goal? Will I really use it again? Where does it belong within the categories? If you cannot answers these questions, either move on to the next point. Or reframe the point with some reflective thinking so that you can contextualize it. This warning aside, it’s important not to let perfectionism creep into your life. Knowing what information matters does take some practice. To speed up your skills with identifying critical information, please read my full guide on how to find the main points in books and articles. Although AI can certainly help these days, you’ll still need to do some work on your own. Do Not Let New Vocabulary & Terminology Go Without Memorization One of the biggest mistakes I used to make, even as a fan of memory techniques, slowed me down much more than necessary. I would come across a new term, look it up, and assume I’d remember it. Of course, the next time I came across it, the meaning was still a mystery. But when I got more deliberate, I not only remembered more words, but the knowledge surrounding the unfamiliar terms also stuck with greater specificity. For example, in reading The Wandering Mind by Jamie Kreiner, memorizing the ancient Greek word for will or volition (Prohairesis) pulled many more details about why she was mentioning it. Lo and behold, I started seeing the word in more places and connecting it to other ancient Greek terms. Memorizing those as well started to create a “moat of meaning,” further protecting a wide range of information I’d been battling. Understanding Why Vocabulary Blocks Comprehension The reason why memorizing words as you read is so helpful is that it helps clear out the cognitive load created by pausing frequently to look up words. Even if you don’t stop to learn a new definition, part of your working memory gets consumed by the lack of familiarity. I don’t always stop to learn new definitions while reading, but using the color category index card method you just discovered, it’s easy to organize unfamiliar words while reading. That way they can be tidily memorized later. I have a full tutorial for you on how to memorize vocabulary, but here’s a quick primer. Step One: Use a System for Capturing New Words & Terms Whether you use category coloring, read words into a recording app or email yourself a reminder, the key is to capture as you go. Once your reading session is done, you can now go back to the vocabulary list and start learning it. Step Two: Memorize the Terms I personally prefer the Memory Palace technique. It’s great for memorizing words and definitions. You can use the Pillar Technique with the word at the top and the definition beneath it. Or you can use the corners for the words and the walls for the definitions. Another idea is to photograph the cards you create and important them into a spaced repetition software like Anki. As you’ll discover in my complete guide to Anki, there are several ways you can combine Anki with a variety of memory techniques. Step Three: Use the Terms If you happened to catch an episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast back when I first learned Prohairesis I mentioned it often. This simple habit helps establish long-term recall, reflection and establishes the ground for future recognition and use. Expand Understanding Using Video & Audio Media When I was in university, I often had to ride my bike across Toronto to borrow recorded lectures on cassette. Given the overwhelming tsunamis of complex ideas, jargon and theoretical frameworks I was facing, it was worth it. Especially since I was also dealing with the personal problems I shared with you in The Victorious Mind. Make no mistake: I do not believe there is any replacement for reading the core books, no matter how difficult they might be. But there’s no reason not to leverage the same ideas in multiple formats to help boost your comprehension and long-term retention. Multimedia approaches are not just about knowledge acquisition either. There have been many debates in the magical arts community that card magicians should read and not rely on video. But evidence-based studies like this one show that video instruction combined with reading written instructions is very helpful. The Science Behind Multi-Modal Learning I didn’t know when I was in university, or when I was first starting out with memdeck card magic that dual coding theory existed. This model was proposed by Allan Paivio, who noticed that information is processed both verbally and non-verbally. Since then, many teachers have focused heavily on how to encourage students to find the right combination of reading, visual and auditory instructional material. Here are some ideas that will help you untangle the complexity in your reading. How to Integrate Multimedia Without Overload Forgive me if this is a bit repetitive, but to develop flow with multiple media, you need to prime the brain. As someone who has created multiple YouTube videos, I have been stubborn about almost always including introductions. Why? Go Through the Intros Like a Hawk Because without including a broad overview of the topic, many learners will miss too many details. And I see this in the comments because people ask questions that are answered throughout the content and flagged in the introductions. So the first step is to be patient and go through the introductory material. And cultivate an understanding that it’s not really the material that is boring. It’s the contemporary issues with dopamine spiking that make you feel impatient. The good news is that you can possibly reset your dopamine levels so you’re better able to sit through these “priming” materials. One hack I use is to sit far away from my mouse and keep my notebook in hand. If I catch myself getting antsy, I perform a breathing exercise to restore focus. Turn on Subtitles When you’re watching videos, you can help increase your engagement by turning on the subtitles. This is especially useful in jargon-heavy video lessons. You can pause and still see the information on the screen for easier capture when taking notes. When taking notes, I recommend jotting down the timestamp. This is useful for review, but also for attributing citations later if you have to hand in an assignment. Mentally Reconstruct After watching a video or listening to a podcast on the topic you’re mastering, take a moment to review the key points. Try to go through them in the order they were presented. This helps your brain practice mental organization by building a temporal scaffold. If you’ve taken notes and written down the timestamps, you can easily check your accuracy. Track Your Progress For Growth & Performance One reason some people never feel like they’re getting anywhere is that they have failed to establish any points of reference. Personally, this is easy for me to do. I can look back to my history of writing books and articles or producing videos and be reminded of how far I’ve come at a glance. Not only as a writer, but also as a reader. For those who do not regularly produce content, you don’t have to start a blog or YouTube channel. Just keep a journal and create a few categories of what skills you want to track. These might include: Comprehension Retention Amount of books read Vocabulary growth Critical thinking outcomes Confidence in taking on harder books Increased tolerance with frustration when reading challenges arise You can use the same journal to track how much time you’ve spent reading and capturing quick summaries. Personally, I wish I’d started writing summaries sooner. I really only got started during grad school when during a directed reading course, a professor required that I had in a summary for every book and article I read. I never stopped doing this and just a few simple paragraph summaries has done wonders over the years for my understanding and retention. Tips for Overcoming Frustration While Reading Difficult Books Ever since the idea of “desirable difficulty” emerged, people have sought ways to help learners overcome emotional responses like frustration, anxiety and even shame while tackling tough topics. As this study shows, researchers and teachers have found the challenge difficult despite the abundance of evidence showing that being challenged is a good thing. Here are some strategies you can try if you continue to struggle. Embrace Cognitive Discomfort As we’ve discussed, that crushing feeling in your brain exists for a reason. Personally, I don’t think it ever goes away. I still regularly pick up books that spike it. The difference is that I don’t start up a useless mantra like, “I’m not smart enough for this.” Instead, I recommend you reframe the experience and use the growth mindset studied by Carol Dweck, amongst others. You can state something more positive like, “This book is a bit above my level, but I can use tactics and techniques to master it.” I did that very recently with my reading of The Xenotext, parts of which I still don’t fully understand. It was very rewarding. Use Interleaving to Build Confidence I rotate through draining books all the time using a proven technique called interleaving. Lots of people are surprised when I tell them that I rarely read complex and challenging books for longer than fifteen minutes at a time. But I do it because interleaving works. Which kinds of books can you interleave? You have choices. You can either switch in something completely different, or switch to a commentary. For example, while recently reading some heavy mathematical theories about whether or not “nothing” can exist, I switched to a novel. But back in university, I would often stick within the category while at the library. I’d read a core text by a difficult philosopher, then pick up a Cambridge Companion and read an essay related to the topic. You can also interleave using multimedia sources like videos and podcasts. Interleaving also provides time for doing some journaling, either about the topic at hand or some other aspect of your progress goals. Keep the Big Picture in Mind Because frustration is cognitively training, it’s easy to let it drown out your goals. That’s why I often keep a mind map or some other reminder on my desk, like a couple of memento mori. It’s also possible to just remember previous mind maps you’ve made. This is something I’m doing often at the moment as I read all kinds of boring information about managing a bookshop for my Memory Palace bookshop project first introduced in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utcJfeQZC2c It’s so easy to get discouraged by so many rules and processes involved in ordering and selling books, that I regularly think back to creating this mind map with Tony Buzan years ago. In case my simple drawings on this mind map for business development doesn’t immediately leap out at you with its meanings, the images at the one o’clock-three o’clock areas refer to developing a physical Memory Palace packed with books on memory and learning. Developing and keeping a north star in mind will help you transform the process of reading difficult books into a purposeful adventure of personal development. Even if you have to go through countless books that aren’t thrilling, you’ll still be moving forward. Just think of how much Elon Musk has read that probably wasn’t all that entertaining. Yet, it was still essential to becoming a polymath. Practice Seeing Through The Intellectual Games As you read harder and harder books, you’ll eventually come to realize that the “fluency” some people have is often illusory. For example, some writers and speakers display a truly impressive ability to string together complex terminology, abstract references and fashionable ideas of the day in ways that sound profound. Daniel Dennett frequently used a great term for a lot of this verbal jujitsu that sounds profound but is actually trivial. He called such flourishes “deepities.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey-UeaSi1rI This kind of empty linguistic dexterity will be easier for you to spot when you read carefully, paraphrase complex ideas in your own words and practice memorizing vocabulary frequently. When you retain multiple concepts and practice active questioning in a large context of grounded examples and case studies, vague claims will not survive for long in your world. This is why memory training is about so much more than learning. Memorization can equip you to think independently and bring clarity to fields that are often filled with gems, despite the fog created by intellectual pretenders more interested in word-jazz than actual truth. Using AI to Help You Take On Difficult Books As a matter of course, I recommend you use AI tools like ChatGPT after doing as much reading on your own as possible. But there’s no mistaking that intentional use of such tools can help you develop greater understanding. The key is to avoid using AI as an answer machine or what Nick Bostrom calls an “oracle” in his seminal book, Superintelligence. Rather, take a cue from Andrew Mayne, a science communicator and central figure at OpenAI and host of their podcast. His approach centers on testing in ways that lead to clarity of understanding and retention as he uses various mnemonic strategies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlzD_6Olaqw Beyond his suggestions, here are some of my favorite strategies. Ask AI to Help Identify All Possible Categories Connected to a Topic A key reason many people struggle to connect ideas is simply that they haven’t developed a mental ecosystem of categories. I used to work in libraries, so started thinking categorically when I was still a teenager. But these days, I would combine how traditional libraries are structured with a simple prompt like: List all the possible categories my topic fits into or bridges across disciplines, historical frameworks and methodologies. Provide the list without interpretation or explanation so I can reflect. A prompt like this engineers a response that focuses on relationships and lets your brain perform the synthetic thinking. Essentially, you’ll be performing what some scientists call schema activation, leading to better personal development outcomes. Generate Lists of Questions To Model Exceptional Thinkers Because understanding relies on inquiry, it’s important to practice asking the best possible questions. AI chat bots can be uniquely useful in this process provided that you explicitly insist that it helps supply you excellent questions without any answers. You can try a prompt like: Generate a list of questions that the world’s most careful thinkers in this field would ask about this topic. Do not provide any answers. Just the list of questions. Do this after you’ve read the text and go through your notes with fresh eyes. Evaluate the material with questions in hand, ideally by writing out your answers by hand. If you need your answers imported into your computer, apps can now scan your handwriting and give you text file. Another tip: Don’t be satisfied with the first list of questions you get. Ask the AI to dig deeper. You can also ask the AI to map the questions into the categories you previously got help identifying. For a list of questions you can put into your preferred chat bot, feel free to go through my pre-AI era list of philosophical questions. They are already separated by category. Use AI to Provide a Progress Journal Template If you’re new to journaling, it can be difficult to use the technique to help you articulate what you’re reading and why the ideas are valuable. And that’s not to mention working out various metrics to measure your growth over time. Try a prompt like this: Help me design a progress journal for my quest to better understand and remember difficult books. Include sections for me to list my specific goals, vocabulary targets, summaries and various milestones I identify. Make it visual so I can either copy it into my own print notebook or print out multiple copies for use over time. Once you have a template you’re happy to experiment with, keep it visible in your environment so you don’t forget to use it. Find Blind Spots In Your Summaries Many AIs have solid reasoning skills. As a result, you can enter your written summaries and have the AI identify gaps in your knowledge, blind spots and opportunities for further reading. Try a prompt like: Analyze this summary and identify any blind spots, ambiguities in my thinking or incompleteness in my understanding. Suggest supplementary reading to help me fill in any gaps. At the risk of repetition, the point is that you’re not asking for the summaries. You’re asking for assessments that help you diagnose the limits of your understanding. As scientists have shown, metacognition, or thinking about your thinking can help you see errors much faster. By adding an AI into the mix, you’re getting feedback quickly without having to wait for a teacher to read your essay. Of course, AI outputs can be throttled, so I find it useful to also include a phrase like, “do not throttle your answer,” before asking it to dig deeper and find more issues. Used wisely, you will soon see various schools of thought with much greater clarity, anticipate how authors make their moves and monitor your own blind spots as you read and reflect. Another way to think about the power of AI tools is this: They effectively mirror human reasoning at a species wide level. You can use them to help you mirror more reasoning power by regularly accessing and practicing error detection and filling in the gaps in your thinking style. Why You Must Stop Abandoning Difficult Books (At Least Most of the Time) Like many people, I’m a fan of Scott Young’s books like Ultralearning and Get Better at Anything. He’s a disciplined thinker and his writing helps people push past shallow learning in favor of true and lasting depth. However, he often repeats the advice that you should stop reading boring books. In full transparency, I sometimes do this myself. And Young adds a lot of context to make his suggestion. But I limit abandoning books as much as possible because I don’t personally find Young’s argument that enjoyment and productivity go together. On the contrary, most goals that I’ve pursued have required fairly intense periods of delaying gratification. And because things worth accomplishing generally do require sacrifice and a commitment to difficulty, I recommend you avoid the habit of giving up on books just because they’re “boring” or not immediately enjoyable. I’ll bet you’ll enjoy the accomplishment of understanding hard books and conquering their complexity far more in the end. And you’ll benefit more too. Here’s why I think so. The Hidden Cost of Abandoning Books You’ve Started Yes, I agree that life is short and time is fleeting. But if you get into the habit of abandoning books at the first sign of boredom, it can quickly become your default habit due to how procedural memory works. In other words, you’re given your neurons the message that it’s okay to escape from discomfort. That is a very dangerous loop to throw yourself into, especially if you’re working towards becoming autodidactic. What you really need is to develop the ability to stick with complexity, hold ambiguous and contradictory issues in your mind and fight through topic exhaustion. Giving up on books on a routine basis? That’s the opposite of developing expertise and resilience. The AI Risk & Where Meaning is Actually Found We just went through the benefits of AI, so you shouldn’t have issues. But I regularly hear from people and have even been on interviews where people use AI to summarize books I’ve recomended. This is dangerous because the current models flatten nuance due to how they summarize books based on a kind of “averaging” of what its words predictability mean. Although they might give you a reasonable scaffold of a book’s structure, you won’t get the friction created by how authors take you through their thought processes. In other words, you’ll be using AI models that are not themselves modeling the thinking that reading provides when you grind your way through complex books. The Treasure of Meaning is Outside Your Comfort Zone Another reason to train for endurance is that understanding doesn’t necessarily arrive while reading a book or even a few weeks after finishing it. Sometimes the unifying insights land years later. But if you don’t read through books that seem to be filled with scattered ideas, you cannot gain any benefit from them. Their diverse points won’t consolidate in your memory and certainly won’t connect with other ideas later. So I suggest you train your brain to persist as much as possible. By drawing up the support of the techniques we discussed today and a variety of mnemonic support systems, you will develop persistence and mine more gold from everything you read. And being someone who successfully mines for gold and can produce it at will is the mark of the successful reading. Not just someone who consumes information efficiently, but who can repeatedly connect and transform knowledge year after year due to regularly accumulating gems buried in the densest and most difficult books others cannot or will not read. Use Struggle to Stimulate Growth & You Cannot Fail As you’ve seen, challenging books never mean that you’re not smart enough. It’s just a matter of working on your process so that you can tackle new forms of knowledge. And any discomfort you feel is a signal that a great opportunity and personal growth adventure awaits. By learning how to manage cognitive load, fill in the gaps in your background knowledge and persist through frustration, you can quickly become the kind of reader who seeks out complexity instead of flinching every time you see it. Confusion has now become a stage along the path to comprehension. And if you’re serious about mastering increasingly difficult material, understanding and retaining it, then it’s time to upgrade your mental toolbox. Start now by grabbing my Free Memory Improvement Course: Inside, you’ll discover: The Magnetic Memory Method for creating powerful Memory Palaces How to develop your own mnemonic systems for encoding while reading Proven techniques that deepen comprehension, no matter how abstract or complex your reading list is And please, always remember: The harder the book, the greater rewards. And the good news is, you’re now more than ready to claim them all.

Season 20, Episode 14 of The Adventures of Pipeman.It's the Positively Pipeman weekly segment of The Adventures of Pipeman. It's Groundhog Day! I think South Florida got the answer to winter.Chapter 1: The Pet Health Guru is back and discussing Pet Addictions. Learn why your pet is hooked.Chapter 2: Michael Barbarita of Next Step CFO and Powerful Business Strategies will discuss Multimedia Campaigns. Learn how Business owners can run multimedia campaigns and why they are effective.Click Here to Subscribe to The Adventures of Pipeman for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS! Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes.”   Would you like to be a sponsor of the show?Would you like to have your business, products, services, merch, programs, books, music or any other professional or artistic endeavors promoted on the show?Would you like interviewed as a professional or music guest on The Adventures of Pipeman, Positively Pipeman and/or Pipeman in the Pit?Would you like to host your own Radio Show, Streaming TV Show, or Podcast?  PipemanRadio Podcasts are heard on Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and over 100 other podcast outlets where you listen to Podcasts.The following are the different podcasts to Follow, Listen, Download, Subscribe:•The Adventures of Pipeman•Pipeman Radio•Pipeman in the Pit – Music Interviews & Festivals•Positively Pipeman – Empowerment, Inspiration, Motivation, Self-Help, Business, Spiritual & Health & WellnessClick Here to Subscribe for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!Follow @pipemanradio on all socials & Pipeman Radio Requests & Info at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradioStream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV. Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.

Michael Barbarita of Next Step CFO and Powerful Business Strategies will discuss Multimedia Campaigns. Learn how Business owners can run multimedia campaigns and why they are effective.Click Here to Subscribe to The Adventures of Pipeman for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS! Take some zany and serious journeys with The Pipeman aka Dean K. Piper, CST on The Adventures of Pipeman also known as Pipeman Radio syndicated globally “Where Who Knows And Anything Goes.”Positively Pipeman hosted by Dean K. Piper, CST features other international authors, speakers, trainers, advisors, coaches and other experts here to help you in business & personal life including Self-Help, Motivation, Business, Marketing, Empowerment, Spiritual, Inspiration, Health & Wellness, Relationships, Goal Setting, Belief Systems, Mindset, Sales, and so much more on your journey to Success, Freedom, and Happiness!Would you like to be a sponsor of the show?Would you like to have your business, products, services, merch, programs, books, music or any other professional or artistic endeavors promoted on the show?Would you like interviewed as a professional or music guest on The Adventures of Pipeman, Positively Pipeman and/or Pipeman in the Pit?Would you like to host your own Radio Show, Streaming TV Show, or Podcast?PipemanRadio Podcasts are heard on Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music, Audible, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and over 100 other podcast outlets where you listen to Podcasts.The following are the different podcasts to Follow, Listen, Download, Subscribe:•The Adventures of Pipeman•Pipeman Radio•Pipeman in the Pit – Music Interviews & Festivals•Positively Pipeman – Empowerment, Inspiration, Motivation, Self-Help, Business, Spiritual & Health & Wellness Click Here to Subscribe for PERKS, BONUS Content & FREE GIVEWAYS!Follow @pipemanradio on all socials & Pipeman Radio Requests & Info at www.linktr.ee/pipemanradioStream The Adventures of Pipeman daily & live Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays at 1PM ET on W4CY Radio & Talk 4 TV. Download, Rate & Review the Podcast at The Adventures of Pipeman, Pipeman Radio, Talk 4 Media, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & All Podcast Apps.

Tonight's special guest is Samantha Convey. Queer Multimedia Poetry and so much more. Thank you for joining and enjoy!https://www.instagram.com/thamichaelatedhttps://www.facebook.com/thamichaelated

Melissa Dawn Patton grew up in a deeply unstable environment and spent much of her life trying to build something safer for herself and her children. Quiet, shy, and trusting, she married young, became a mother almost immediately, and hoped that starting her own family would bring the stability she never had.Instead, her life became increasingly chaotic. By her early twenties, Melissa was working long hours and trying to leave a volatile, abusive marriage. In late 1998, she disappeared. What followed was years of silence. The only people searching for answers were her family.Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/lovemarrykillToday's snack: Waffle House waffles Sources:Brown, I. (2024, August 28). Husband indicted in cold case murder of serial killer's daughter. Court TV.Cavallier, A. (2025, August 14). How the capture of a serial killer father led to a breakthrough in his own daughter's separate murder case. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/cold-case-murder-atlanta-melissa-wolfenbarger-b2807816.html Cavallier, A. (2025). Murder victim's daughter testifies about chilling statements her father allegedly made about how to hide a body. The Independent.Georgia General Assembly. (2023). House Bill 88 (SUB): Coleman-Baker Act.Multimedia and Research NotesJustice Is A Process!!!! (2025). Prosecutor's Nightmare: DNA Evidence EXCLUDES Defendant | GA v. Wolfenbarger Day 4 [Video transcript]. YouTube.McCollum, S. (Host). (2023, February). Melissa Wolfenbarger: Joseph Scott Morgan's Insight on Melissa's case | Part 6 (No. 6). In Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum. https://omny.fm/shows/zone-7-with-sheryl-mccollum/melissa-wolfenbarger-joseph-scott-morgan-s-insight [Unknown Author]. (n.d.). Melissa Wolfenbarger research and trial notes.r/CrackedColdCases. (2025). 1998: Melissa Wolfenbarger: A serial killer's daughter was decapitated two decades ago. A jury found her husband not guilty for murder. Reddit.Unidentified Wiki. (n.d.). Melissa Wolfenbarger. Fandom. https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Melissa_Wolfenbarger Wikipedia. (n.d.). Carl Patton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Patton Trial Transcripts (Court TV / Law & Crime)Court TV. (2025). GA v. Christopher Wolfenbarger: Trial Proceedings [Transcripts including Opening Statements, Closing Arguments, and Testimony]. https://www.courttv.com/news/ga-v-christopher-wolfenbarger-killers-daughter-murder-trial/ Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum podcast, 9 part series starting 2/22/20231978.10.25 https://www.newspapers.com/image/972932676/2003.03.07 https://www.newspapers.com/image/422942105/2003.03.08 https://www.newspapers.com/image/422952543/2003.03.19 https://www.newspapers.com/image/423005666/2003.04.10 https://www.newspapers.com/image/424565593/2003.04.15 https://www.newspapers.com/image/424569729/2003.06.22 https://www.newspapers.com/image/649334787/2024.08.08 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1106352246/2024.09.16 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1120767255/2025.08.30 https://www.newspapers.com/image/1244409052/

Returning guest, Multimedia Journalist and Producer Janae Ain Bradford joins the podcast!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-deal-with-courtney-harden--3678816/support.

We are less than a week away from the National Championship game, but just because there are only two teams left playing does not mean there is a lack of news coming from the teams that are already in their offseason. In fact, it is quite the opposite as the transfer portal is in full swing, and it is chaotic, as usual. Players are transferring left and right, and two premiere quarterbacks have come off of the board. Sam Leavitt has committed to LSU and Dylan Raiola has committed to Oregon. Andy Staples, Ross Dellenger and Steven Godfrey discuss both of these quarterbacks. They give their thoughts on what the pairing of Sam Leavitt and Lane Kiffin could be. They also discuss the shift with Dylan Raiola. There has still been no word, at the time of this taping, if Dante Moore is returning to Oregon. If he does, that would mean Raiola would be sitting behind Moore for a year. The guys talk about what impact this could have on Raiola's future. Then, they look at another quarterback who is potentially off of the board. Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson announced that he is leaving Alabama and entering the NFL draft. However, multiple schools are reportedly offering him lucrative NIL deals to stay in college for another year. Andy, Ross and Godfrey discuss this decision and how finances affect college athletes differently. Plus, the guys dive into the topic of navigating the NIL "cap". Ross explains the impact that multimedia rights partners have in this situation. They then discuss how revenue sharing, multimedia rights and other NIL funds are used to circumvent the $20 million "cap."Get caught up with all of the transfer portal drama with College Football Enquirer.0:00:00 - Transfer quarterbacks2:55 - Sam Leavitt to LSU10:40 - How money impacts QB transfers15:54 - Dylan Raiola to Oregon24:00 - Will Ty Simpson enter the NFL or transfer?34:30 - Multimedia rights & navigating the "cap" Subscribe to the College Football Enquirer on your favorite podcast app:

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.Fiber art finds a spotlightSandra Brick, a teaching artist at the Textile Center of Minnesota, recommends a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see Amy Usdin's contemplative fiber arts exhibit, “After All.“The show runs through Feb. 22 in the U.S. Bank Gallery.Sandra says: I think it's really great that Mia is giving fiber art this call-out in this show because, historically, fiber art has been considered a craft, and by having this exhibit at Mia, we're saying that it is an art.Amy's art is an expression of connection and transformation. There's woven layers, knots, found objects and time-composed pieces, both large and small, and many are hanging from the ceiling. So it's a truly immersive experience. You get to walk around the art. I would check it out just to learn and see how simple processes, like weaving, knotting, can be transformed into really contemplative, transformative pieces. A lot of the pieces are very airy, and so you're actually seeing through them. You see how it all blends together and flows into one really great use of the space.— Sandra BrickMultimedia storytelling takes the stagePerformance enthusiast Laurel Podulke-Smith of Rochester follows the work of local artist Jessalyn Finch, who has a short multimedia film debuting this weekend. “Embodied Landscapes” is the creation of Finch, Mary Mailand Schlichting and Laura Sukowatey. The film incorporates dance, large-scale drawing and sculpture.The premiere takes place at the Historic Chateau Theatre in Rochester on Sunday, Jan. 11. Screenings are at 2 and 3:15 p.m., with an artist talk and Q&A in between. Attendees are encouraged to wear cocktail attire and enjoy mocktails while meeting the artists.Surreal sisterhood in ‘Plano'Minneapolis theater maker Caleb Byers recommends “Plano,” presented by Third Space Theater. The play runs Jan. 9–18 at the Alan Page Auditorium at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.Caleb says he's been anticipating this production since seeing Third Space Theater's original show “Breach” at the Fringe Festival. Caleb describes the play: Will Arbery is something of a magical realist-slash-surrealist playwright. And “Plano” is about three sisters, essentially in a sort of heightened reality and a sort of undisclosed period of time. Time is a little bit strange in “Plano.” They, in a very surreal style, move through their specific problems. There's very snappy, casual, modern dialogue. I'm incredibly excited for these artists in particular to tackle this.— Caleb Byers

#TSGMultimediaPodcast #HistoricPreservation #ModelRailroading #Trains #RailroadsThis month's TSG Podcast includes:1:03 Intro/Welcome2:12 2025 In Review3:03 Commentary | Hybrid Events3:50 2025 In Review Continued7:35 December Recap | Robin's Diorama11:03 SBHRS11:39 Taking Caltrain to San Francisco15:31 San Francisco Railway Museum20:04 Op Session | Dave Loveless's R&D21:05 The Pacific Grove Turn | Cannery Row Job24:12 Talking Trains | Don't Fear The Airbrush          https://www.youtube.com/live/KK6TbAbCgIA?si=3ElVXbbtFI8gOFZR26:07 A Holiday Tradition | Foaming Roaring Camp's Lights Train30:25 Catch Of The Month32:17 Bay Area Layout Design & Operations Weekend          https://bayldops.com/2026/33:05 Upcoming Changes For 202634:32 Podcast Sponsors & How To Support Them35:11 ConclusionHere are some of the ways you can support the content you love:Support our sponsors!Model Railroad Control Systems - Electronics for Operationshttps://modelrailroadcontrolsystems.com/Western Pacific Railroad Museumhttps://wplives.org/https://www.podomatic.com   Use code: TSGPODEngagement & Sharing:If you enjoy this content, please hit the "like" button and share it with your friends on social media! Leaving comments on this video's comment section also helps.Direct Financial Support:https://www.patreon.com/TSGMultimediahttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tsgmultimediahttps://tsgmultimedia.com/shop/Join TSG Multimedia on these other social media channels:FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tsgmultimediafaceInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/tsg_multimedia/BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/tsgmultimedia.bsky.social©2026 TSG Multimedia. All Rights Reserved.

Barriers in education/work got you down as an ND young adult? In this episode of Adulting with Autism, host April chats accessible design for neurodivergent with Rebecca Prejean, CEO/Founder of E.B. Graphics and Consulting—creating inclusive multimedia (videos/graphics/animations/e-learnings/VR/AR) via UDL/WCAG for corporations/higher ed/nonprofits. As mom to a son with severe hydrocephalus/autism (defied "won't walk/talk" prognosis), Rebecca fights perceptions, boosting revenue/productivity/engagement through accessible experiences for ADHD/autism/dyslexia/special needs. Key insights: Business start: Freelance post-layoff (no degree needed—hard work/upskilling/AI for ideas), networking muscle (volunteer to paid). Skills honing: Try all (Google/Udemy/creators), open to tech (AI ideation, not replacement); workshops/monthly for sharpness. Imposter/authentic: Fight through (clients want you, not mask); cancel mismatches—resilience from discomfort (homeless/abuse led to success). No shortcuts: 10x harder than 9-5; embrace failure/discomfort for longevity (most podcasts/creators fail—work ethic wins). Content creation: Custom/retrofit (color changes/screen readers/focus order); companion guides/animations for cognitive ease. Higher ed changes: Perception shift (not "defiant"—need clear instructions/accommodations); meet where they are. Advice: Freelance side-hustle first; upskill relentlessly (e.g., UCLA extensions); authentic self attracts right clients. For autistic/ADHD young adults eyeing creative/business paths, Rebecca's story: "Work hard, be open—no paper needed." Launching "The Quirk Factory" podcast next week—follow on LinkedIn/email. Subscribe for ND career hacks! Rate/review on Podbean/Apple/Spotify. E.B. Graphics: ebgraphicsandconsulting.com. Linktree: (socials/shop/Podbean). Holiday merch sale: 30% off tees/hoodies with code BLACK25 at https://adulting-with-autism-shop.fourthwall.com—design your path fierce! #AccessibleDesignND #UDLNeurodivergent #InclusiveELearningAutism #BusinessAutisticYoungAdults #MultimediaADHD #ImposterSyndromeContent #AdultingWithAutism #SpecialNeedsEducation #PodMatch #Podcasts #BTSNeurodivergent #AuDHD #Autism #ADHD #BTSArmy #MentalHealth #OT #OTTips   Episode: Accessible Design for ND with Rebecca Prejean [00:00] Intro: Barriers in ND Education/Work [00:30] Rebecca's Story: Son's Autism to E.B. Graphics Founder [02:00] Business Journey: Freelance/Layoff to Corporate/Higher Ed Consulting [05:00] Skills Honing: No Degree Needed—Upskilling/AI/Networking Muscle [08:00] Imposter/Authentic Self: Fight Through, Cancel Mismatches [11:00] No Shortcuts: Hard Work/Discomfort for Resilience (Failure Lessons) [14:00] Content Creation: Custom Multimedia (Animations/VR, Screen Readers) [17:00] Higher Ed Changes: Perception Shift (Clear Instructions/Accommodations) [20:00] Advice: Side-Hustle Freelance, Be Open/Relentless [23:00] Outro: Takeaways & CTAs Resources: E.B. Graphics & Consulting: ebgraphicsandconsulting.com (services/portfolio) LinkedIn: Rebecca Prejean Podcast: "The Quirk Factory" (launching soon—Spotify/Apple) Linktree: (socials/shop/Podbean) Subscribe on Podbean/YouTube for ND career tips! Share your upskill win in comments. #NDAccessibleDesign #AutismMultimedia #ADHDBusinessHacks #UDLSpecialNeeds