Podcasts about northern pacific

Crested Auklets are small seabirds that nest on remote cliffs in the Northern Pacific and the Bering Sea. But it's their smell that really sets these birds apart. They smell like tangerines! Experiments show that females go for males that emit the strongest scents.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible. 

You can learn a whole lot about a person just by following their money, so there's a level of vulnerability inherent in the financial planning process that many find it difficult to overcome in the initial stages. Donna and Nathan take us through the steps involved in launching a financial plan, and the liberating effect that financial transparency can bring. Also, on our MoneyTalk Moment in Financial History, Nathan and Daniel tell a story of corruption and bloodshed: the building of the second transcontinental railroad, the Northern Pacific. Hosts: Donna Sowa Allard, CFP®, AIF® & Nathan Beauvais, CFP®, CIMA®; Special Guest: Daniel Sowa; Air Date: 6/11/2025; Original Air Dates: 2/16/2023 & 10/11/2023. Have a question for the hosts? Visit sowafinancial.com/moneytalk to join the conversation!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this date in May of 1884, another wild weekend began in Wahpeton. Some homeless individuals showed up at a house south of the Northern Pacific depot. The Wahpeton Times reported that one man "picked up a plate and knocked the mistress of the establishment down. She got up with a revolver in her hand, ordered the intruders out, and started shooting. The fly chaps flew, and it was thought that one of them went away with a perforated hide and took the train the next morning for the east."

In this episode, I speak with Kellen Parrish of Ocean Cowboy Outfitters. Kellen and I discuss his time spent in the Peace Corps and his experiences diving up in the cold dark waters of the Northern Pacific where hiking to your spot is a way of life. This led him to develop a spearfishing specific backpack for long hikes into dive spots . Check out more from Kellen @kellenlp and his spearfishing backpack at @oceancowboyoutfitters . . Announcements WANT TO LEARN MORE? 100% Online Spearfishing Course www.spearfactor.com Or at  www.spearfishingmentor.com This podcast is a part of the Waypoint TV Podcast Network. Waypoint is the ultimate outdoor network featuring streaming of full-length fishing and hunting television shows, short films and instructional content, a social media network, Podcast Network. Waypoint is available on Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, IoS devices, Android Devices and at www.waypointtv.com all for FREE! Join the Waypoint Army by following them on Instagram at the following accounts @waypointtv @waypointfish @waypointhunt @waypointpodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Japan, Russia, China and six other economies kicked off on Monday an annual meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission in Osaka to discuss this year's saury catch quota.

If in your historical memory, the open range of the northern badlands is fully stocked with lanky longhorns, then it's time for a reset. With the opening of the Northern Pacific railroad bridge at Bismarck in 1882, Shorthorn cattle, purchased in the northern midwest, flowed in freely.

On this date in 1922, Joseph Gleason fell ill after enjoying a hearty pork steak dinner at his restaurant and rooming house near the Northern Pacific depot. He had also eaten some candy purchased elsewhere. Blind Joe, who lived with his mother and business partner, Mrs. Skeel, was a well-known figure on the streets of Wahpeton for 23 years.

Feliks Banel's guests on this live broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY are Kent Sullivan of the Northern Pacific Historical Association on the conference which just concluded in Everett, WA (and the Great Northern conference which continues for a few more days in the same location); Elisa Law of Friends of Magnuson Park on the upcoming world flight centennial event at Sand Point/NOAA on Sept. 28, 2024; Michael Sullivan and Mick Flaaen on their new documentary (and exhibit at the Washington State History Museum) about the Willits Brothers' famous cedar canoes; plus, a tribute to Al Berry, piano player for The Viceroys and composer of their biggest hit, "Granny's Pad"; and the second installment in our listen back to Stan Freberg's "Oregon, Oregon!" centennial musical from 1959. This LIVE broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY was originally presented at 8pm Pacific Daylight Time on Sunday, September 15, 2024 via SPACE 101.1 FM and streaming live via space101fm.org from studios at historic Magnuson Park – formerly Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

California homeowners face a complex puzzle in decarbonizing their homes: electrification without rooftop solar could increase bills due to expensive electricity, while installing solar first risks oversizing or underutilizing the system. Balto Energy, a startup founded by James Quazi, uses AI to analyze utility bills and recommend the most cost-effective clean energy strategy. In this episode, we discuss Balto's tool, its potential to empower contractors, and what California's situation reveals about the future of clean energy policy nationwide.(PDF transcript)(Active transcript)Text transcript:David RobertsHello everyone. This is Volts for September 13, 2024, "A tool that enables solar first home electrification." I'm your host, David Roberts. Californians who want to decarbonize their homes face something of a conundrum. If they electrify their cars and appliances without getting rooftop solar, they could end up paying higher overall bills thanks to California's notoriously expensive electricity and cheap natural gas. If they install rooftop solar before electrifying their cars and appliances, they could either undersize the system for their eventual needs or oversize it and over-produce and export solar power to the California grid. Thanks to California's recent NEM 3.0 decision on rooftop solar compensation, utilities pay much less for that exported rooftop solar power than they used to.The most economical strategy for most homeowners is likely to be some mix of electrification, batteries, and rooftop solar. The more a California homeowner stores and consumes their own cheap rooftop solar power, the more value they get out of that solar and the lower their total bills. It is a complex calculation, though, that most homeowners are in no position to make. That's where the startup Balto Energy comes in. Founder James Quazi, a longtime energy modeler and entrepreneur, has built a tool that can use a home's utility bills to create a model of its consumption patterns, predict what they will be as appliances are electrified, and recommend the maximally economical approach.It's part of a larger effort to help contractors and solar companies navigate a post-net-metering world. I'm excited to talk to Quazi about why his tool is needed and how it works, how it will empower contractors, and what California's present says about the future of clean energy policy in the rest of the country.With no further ado, James Quazi, welcome to Volts. Thank you so much for coming.James QuaziThank you for having me. That was a great intro.David RobertsThanks. So, you know, I sort of went over it a little quickly in the intro there. But let's talk a little bit about this conundrum for Californians who are trying to decarbonize. So, just by background — I don't even know if everyone's been following the California rooftop solar wars, I kind of assume everybody has — but just by way of background, California recently basically issued a new policy on rooftop solar, and the long and short of it is that they're going to compensate homeowners much less. It used to be that basically you could get paid the retail rate for your excess solar, and now they're just going to pay much, much less than that.On the surface, this really damages the economical case for solar for homeowners, they'll get compensated much less. This has resulted in a huge blow to the solar industry in California. There are solar companies shutting down, jobs being lost, etcetera, etcetera. So, talk a little bit about the conundrum and how you think about solving it.James QuaziYeah, so about a year ago, the net energy metering policy in California changed from NEM 2.0 to NEM 3.0, now called Net Billing Tariff. The difference is, as you mentioned, that now customers get paid on a schedule. Each hour per year is a different rate. But generally, you can think of it as between like $0.05 and $0.08 for exported energy, while imported energy for me in San Diego is between $0.38 and $0.52 an hour. So it degrades the value proposition for residential solar for a homeowner. For contractors, it's also proven really difficult. So in the past, it was really easy to have rule of thumb sizing or heuristics, or if you took annual energy over the last twelve months and you designed a system that produced around that same amount of energy, it was generally going to be a good value proposition for the homeowner.But now, what you need to understand is, like, how much of that solar production is actually coincident with the load on the house, because the export of energy is devalued.David RobertsRight. So, the economics now have shifted to make it so that, I mean, maybe this was true already, but more true now that the ideal thing for Californians with rooftop solar to do is to consume as much of the generated power as conceivably possible.James QuaziThat's absolutely correct. So, if you can think of it as, and I'm sure your listeners are familiar with the terminology, like LCOE. So, the cost of solar, residential rooftop solar, is somewhere between, let's say, $0.10 and $0.12 a kilowatt-hour to produce, whereas the retail rate is much higher depending on the IOU that you're a part of. To the extent that you can consume cheap on-site electricity, you are hugely benefited as a customer.David RobertsRight. So then the question becomes, well, there's a bunch of different ways of approaching this question, but from this sort of like, if I'm trying to sell solar, right, I need a little bit of a new pitch, right? Because before, with full retail compensation, it's kind of a no-brainer, you could make a lot of money, but now you can make a lot less money. So this changes the value proposition for solar. So, explain exactly how the sort of calculation shifts.James QuaziSure, I would actually reframe it a little bit in terms of, like, I believe so in the previous net metering paradigm. We often saw simple solar paybacks in the five to seven years. I believe that those paybacks are still available to homeowners, but it's just a different set of products and services than simply rooftop solar on the roof. So, I think our goal is to help retool the solar industries, to help look at a house as a whole, maybe converting a lot of the energy on site that we previously ignored, whether that's natural gas or gasoline, and then power that all with cheap onsite renewables, and that will drive the value proposition for that homeowner.David RobertsRight. It's still worthwhile getting solar, even maybe still a comparable payoff period, but a different approach. And basically, it's going to be a little bit more of a complicated approach. Right? Like, it's one thing just to stick solar on the roof. Like, how much energy do I use, let's stick that much solar on the roof. Pretty easy. Once you bring in the whole home, just the combinatorial, you know what I mean? Just the calculations get a lot more complicated.James QuaziFor sure. So, like, I think in two respects. One, it's more complicated for the contractor to feel confident in the system that they're proposing and the financial outcome for the homeowner. And then two, from a homeowner's perspective, it's more complicated to understand and digest and comprehend a suite of services that might include solar and a battery and a heat pump and an EV, than it is simply like panels on a roof. Our goal at Balto Energy is to sort of do the modeling and ingest the complexity and then deliver it in a way that's consumable for both a contractor and a homeowner.David RobertsRight. So, talk briefly about what your tool does. What is the outcome supposed to be? What is it trying to accomplish?James QuaziYeah, so our perspective on it is that oftentimes in the past, if you asked for a solar quote, you would get maybe one option, two options, or three options, max. Really, like, if I take my own house as an example, so I live in San Diego, I can fit up to 30 panels on the roof, which is constrained by roof geometry, area shading, what have you. So let's call it maybe 20 to 30 different flavors of solar systems that I could possibly engage in. If I layer on batteries, I could have 1, 2, 3, 4 batteries. And then EVs, one or two EVs, and heat pump or not heat pump, water heater or not water heater.And our first step in the process is to ingest an address and then interval bill data. So, we need hourly electric reads and daily gas.David RobertsAnd that, just to be clear, this is the sort of raw information that's going into the model?James QuaziYeah, that's correct.David RobertsIt's utility bills. And this, these are available from the utility. There's no, it's not difficult to get this information.James QuaziSomewhat loaded question. It should be available. I just finished listening to your podcast on "Free the energy data." I have —David RobertsThat's why I ask. I'm wondering how straightforward it is to get the raw data that you need.James QuaziI would say that having been in this industry for 20 years, it's much easier now than it has ever been before. That being the case, there are still hurdles. There's a lot of missing intervals. There's patchwork to be done. There are services that provide synthetic intervals. It's not as clean of a dataset as I would ideally like, but it's generally like the authorization, and there are a couple of third-party companies now that do it and are making it easier.David RobertsIs it notably easier in California than it is in other states? Different in California than in other states? Or is this just a utility by utility thing across the country?James QuaziOur focus is in California right now. So, I have the most depth and experience there for this problem. Even within California and the IOUs, it is utility by utility.David RobertsSo are you restricted geographically where you can sell your product based on the utilities, whether you can get these to utility information or not?James QuaziOur position is that to accurately model a home's energy use and consumption profiles, you need two things. One is you need a physics-based model of the building, and then you need to be able to calibrate that with what is actually happening in the home. I've done a lot of energy modeling, auditing, that sort of thing. I think the one definitive thing that I've learned is that the best site observed data is actually bills. It will help you ferret out how people use their home, what their preferences are, and is actually the ground truth data.So, our position as a company is because we want to be able to confidently project — like, let's say if I converted a gas furnace to a heat pump, and I want to know on an hourly basis, what is the energy input to that system. To do that accurately, I believe that you need interval data.David RobertsSo you are in some sense beholden to utilities here or dependent on utilities to be forthcoming?James QuaziYeah, I think, unfortunately. And then to "Free the energy data" podcast. Yes, this is true, and it is being in some ways held hostage, and that's not great for the industry. I would say that our success rate right now is like, it's significant enough that we see this as somewhat of a hurdle, but not a deal breaker.David RobertsRight, right. So, I mean, getting utility bills seems straightforward enough. You just ask the homeowner and they give them to you. But when you say a physics-based model of the house, you have to go do that in person. Can you construct that from publicly available data?James QuaziYes, you can. We've done this in several iterations in the past. So, the background engine that does this is an NREL product called EnergyPlus. And it has, let's say, a full set of data requirements, which you can imagine has a lot of physical attributes of the specific house. And what we do ourselves and through partners, is comb, let's say, permit record databases and MLS listings. And we can get close enough with that set of information to build the first model. And then it's really, in comparing that model to the billing data, what's actually happening on an hourly basis, that allows us to calibrate it.David RobertsInteresting. So, you don't have to do a site visit to do any of this, really. You could theoretically do all of this modeling remotely?James QuaziYep. Everything like roof geometry, shading, building modeling, tariff engines, all the things that are sort of the processes to get to an output, can be done remotely.David RobertsAll right. And so, you put all this information into the model, and then what is the model supposed to do? And here's a question I had also: Am I the homeowner, interacting with this model in any way, or is the model a tool for contractors?James QuaziOur plan, at the very start, we're working with a set of contractors, and we're in Napa and Sonoma to start, most notably Northern Pacific. Our plan is to deliver a tool to a solar contractor that they can use to propose a wide range of solutions that a homeowner might want. I think that this will become a customer-facing tool or exploratory tool in the future, but we are definitely starting with solar contractors.David RobertsInteresting. Yeah, because one of the questions I had about this is just that I'm sure I'm not telling you anything as someone who's worked in energy for a long time, but just like, people are pretty lazy, and the way people make decisions about appliances and stuff like that is generally to ignore it until it breaks and then go to Home Depot. So, like this comprehensive, long-term, holistic planning, I'm just like, wondering, like, how many homeowners are really that committed?James QuaziSo, let me give you an idea of, like, what the output of the tool is, then where I see this going. So, you know, back to my house, 30 panels, batteries, EV's, all the things. What we want to do is expand the solution set for all possible outcomes for that house. So, if I permutate those things, it ends up being a set of maybe like a couple hundred to a thousand different individual pathways. It could be 28 panels —David RobertsAnd these are like mixes of the number of panels, the number of batteries, what kind of appliances, that kind of thing.James QuaziThat's absolutely correct. And then what we've created is sort of a decision-making framework that allows you to search that space for the thing that's right for you. At first, contextualized in one of three goal seeks. So the first one being a very standard solar approach, which is "Deliver me the best financial outcome." The second one, which we're seeing a sort of increasing adoption around, is like, "Yeah, I want a great financial outcome, but I also want to power this set of critical loads or my entire house through an outage of this duration. And I'm not cost-sensitive around that."So, like, if I need to add a battery or two batteries and it provides that service, that's fine. And then the third one is a sort of immersion. Ten years ago, when I was in the solar industry, it was like there was a time when we thought we had to deliver day one savings to get adoption. And it turned out there was a segment of the population, mostly retirees or people that were about to retire, who, let's say, had a $150 utility bill. And they're like, "You know, saving money isn't as important to me as, you know, I experienced the grid cost is volatile, but always volatile in the upward direction.And if you are going to put on the system and it has a 20-year lifespan, can you lock in this $150 for 20 years? And I don't experience any increase in costs." So those are starting points. I will say that I think there's more out there. So, there are a segment of customers that could be interested in just like the environmental outcome, and there's ways to calculate that based on grid dynamics. That's where we're starting, and I think we'll kind of learn our way into the solution.David RobertsRight, so you can tweak the model depending on what your goals are, depending on what your aims are. And I guess one of the questions I had about it is, like, in California at least, grid electricity is so expensive and natural gas is so cheap, and solar compensation is now so low, that it seems like the most economical outcome for homeowners is always going to be to electrify all your appliances and put a bunch of rooftop solar to power your appliances. It seems like that's always going to be the cheapest outcome, is it not? And that's also always going to be the most environmentally preferable outcome, right?Because it's zero carbon. In other words, what if I, as a contractor, just came to you and said, "Look, I can do all these complicated calculations, but trust me, you want to electrify all your appliances and put rooftop solar on your roof. That's what it's going to end up showing you." Does it ever show otherwise?James QuaziSo, if we were to implement generalized or rules of thumb, I think that would be a good one. What I have seen is there are time when your're roof constrained, so you might not have the roof capacity to power all the things, and then you'd want to make better decisions. To the extent that you have vast plains of south-facing, west-facing roof area, we want to make sure that we're installing the right amount of solar and batteries. So, I think that there's an optimization problem there. But, I think you're right in the sense that to the extent that you can self-consume a ton of energy that you generated on-site, that will be the best outcome for you.David RobertsSo then, if I'm a homeowner and I run this model, or a contractor comes to me and runs this model, and the outcome of the model is the most economical approach for you, the homeowner, is to buy a heat pump, buy a heat pump water heater, buy an induction stove, et cetera, buy a bunch of batteries and put a bunch of rooftop solar on the roof. On the one hand, I might believe, I might find it perfectly plausible that that is the end state that will yield the lowest ongoing operating costs for my house. But on the other hand, that's a daunting upfront investment. Do you know what I mean?In a sense, if I'm a homeowner and a contractor comes to me, he's like, "I'm selling solar. And by the way, I have this fancy tool that shows me that you also need to buy a bunch of other stuff from me." I guess I'm just a little suspicious.James QuaziI think the intent of the tool is to allow a homeowner to make the best decision for them. To the extent that the best decision is, in fact, a larger PV system, more batteries, maybe a heat pump, and all of those things in aggregate end up being expensive directionally , but have great payback. I think that hits on like sort of the second vein of Balto. So the first is like, how do we create a decision framework and compute engine to give you the scenarios and help you make a decision? Once you've made a decision —David RobertsWill the model also crank out a preferred order of operations for that? You know what I mean? Not just like an end state that would be best, but like, what steps in what order are economical?James QuaziThis is getting back to the solar-led electrification vision for this. Our position is that solar and storage should lead always , and we should be building 20 or 25-year products for the future energy consumption. The tool is there to say, can we share a vision of the future and what applies and things you'll be engaged in, whether that's EVs or heat pumps or whatever. Once we have that, can we build 25-year renewable infrastructure on site to support those things over time? We think that there are interesting ways. And I'll touch on the financing in a little bit about how to transact this and make it consistent.David RobertsYeah, I want to get to the financing in a minute, but before I leave this question. So, why always solar and batteries first? Or put it this way, why shouldn't I put a little bit of solar and batteries on, enough to power my current appliances? And then, you know, when I switch out my furnace for a heat pump, just stick a couple more solar panels on the roof. Why not do it incrementally like that?James QuaziYes, I myself have a background, and then we've got some deep partnerships with contractors. They are not a fan of that approach for a number of reasons. One is if I take a five-kilowatt system and then I append a three-kilowatt system on later, that is not the cost of an eight-kilowatt system. It's much more costly.David RobertsBecause just coming out to the site again and all—James QuaziRedesign, permitting. Yeah, all the things. And then separately, depending on the time lag between system one and system two, there are at times, compatibility issues with modules that make it more difficult. I think solar's gotten inexpensive enough where if you were going to engage in one of maybe the three big electrification projects, which would be EV, heat pump, heat pump water heater, I mean, you should be sizing for at bare minimum that. And I would argue for the whole thing if that's what you intend to do, on day one. And then if you're doing other things, let's say that have a more de minimis impact on your meter or your electrical consumption, like a stove, then maybe it's fine to wait.But to the extent that, like, you're considering solar and storage and one of the other things, I think it makes a lot of sense to size appropriately for future loads.David RobertsSo, you would say to any homeowner contemplating solar that the financially smartest thing to do is to size a system for your projected total need in the future, not your current need.James QuaziYeah, no, I feel strongly that that is the case. I will take myself as an example again. I have an EV. I am considering a heat pump. I have a tankless hot water heater that is in a closet and is not easily replaceable with a heat pump water heater given form factor. But given those things, I did size the PV to the anticipated heat pump. Even if that doesn't happen on day one, it might happen on year one, three, five, or seven, right?David RobertsSo, are you not then, while you have the solar that's oversized for your current needs, are you not sort of financially losing out in the interim, in the meantime?James QuaziSo, I think that again, the export value for solar today directionally is much lower. So, there is some value, it's not a lot. I would categorize it as you're not optimizing the system today.David RobertsSuboptimal, then let's see.James QuaziBut I think that what you're really doing is putting together the infrastructure to adopt more products in the future.David RobertsRight. A contractor comes to me as a homeowner, says, "Let's look at how much solar you will need once you've electrified your home," basically, and install that amount. Do you envision these same contractors who are trying to sell solar, selling these other things to homeowners as well? Sort of like offering, like moving beyond solar to offer kind of total home electrification packages type of things.James QuaziI think there's going to be a couple of different flavors, and we'll see what sorts out. In San Diego, one of the biggest residential installers actually has historically had a heat pump division of their company. That's probably not the norm. I do see a lot of solar installers — I mean, certainly, a solar installer is now installing storage by default. A lot of them install EV chargers. I've seen some interest in heat pump water heaters as the installation is quite a bit easier than heat pumps, HVAC. So, I think that we'll see some adoption of product over time.I do believe that the heat pump is probably the one thing that is a set of expertise that is probably different than what solar providers have in-house. What they can do, and we anticipate doing, is a lot of pre-wiring work. It's taken as an industry axiom that HVAC products get replaced when they break. To the extent that that infrastructure, whether it's a 240 circuit to the existing furnace location, is not in place, it's very likely that the existing thing gets replaced with something very similar, and then we're locked into this pattern for 15 years.So, we're very interested in, again, sizing appropriately, but then also doing some of the pre-work that allows these things to be adopted.David RobertsTrey, interesting. And so, from your perspective, you're going to put the tool in the hands of contractors, and then to some extent, the contractors are going to figure out exactly how best to use it and what kind of packages to offer and stuff like that. Is Balto out being a contractor, like running this, interacting with homeowners?James QuaziNo, we are not. So, what we're doing is providing a toolset, which is computational tools, finance tools that allow existing contractors today to be more effective.David RobertsGot it. And so, talk about the financial side of this. So, I'm guessing I'm borderline illiterate when it comes to money issues. But I'm guessing that part of the promise of this is that if you can more accurately and reliably project future energy needs in a home, you're going to have an easier time financing the sort of oversized solar system that you want in anticipation of those loads. Is that right? Part of this is like giving confidence to financial institutions to finance these things, right?James QuaziYeah, that's exactly right. So, I would say that the first step is having a shared vision of what the future of this home looks like. So, what are the appliances that are on the list and off the list? EVs, whatever the case is. And then, from past learnings at Solar City and Dandelion, really what you have to do is package it in a way that people can experience the savings at the same rate as they chunk off the capital cost of these projects. And then, in terms of energy savings over time and confidence, I think the goal there is, and we could think of it as if you were getting a loan.One factor in the loan might be your debt-to-income ratio. How much debt do you have, and can you actually service this loan over time? And our position is, to the extent that these suite of products actually lowers your obligations to pay, so your utility bills, that should be factored into any financial product as well. Does that make sense?David RobertsYeah. So, it's almost like future income increases, almost like.James QuaziYeah, so if I had, like, if my obligations to pay a loan provider were $1,000 a month, just randomly, and I made x amount of income, if the obligation was less, if it was $500 a month, given all these energy savings, I would have a greater ability to pay back that loan, and that should be factored in.David RobertsOh, I see, I see. So, is the idea here just for this tool you've created to give confidence to homeowners who are going to banks and stuff, or are you getting in the finance game at all?James QuaziOur intention is to provide the financing for it as well. I mean, like, I think any time we're trying to make the process as seamless as possible. So, it's sort of like a one-stop shop in terms of assessing what's right, what's the best fit for you in terms of these projects, and then packaging it in a way that — we're hoping it incentivizes people to do more sooner, but to the extent that they want to do things over time, it is also like a flexible facility that allows you to adopt a heat pump water heater in year three, if that's what you want.David RobertsSo the contractors are the ones offering the homeowners this sort of financing package?James QuaziYep, that's correct.David RobertsRight. And the contractors are able to do it because they have this information from your tool that gives them confidence?James QuaziHand in glove.David RobertsRight. So, just having gone over all this, let's rewind and just imagine I'm a homeowner, and a contractor knocks on my door. What do you envision the contractor sort of like, what is the homeowner facing pitch from the contractor? Because there's a lot of complicated stuff going on behind the scenes for the contractor. What is the homeowner hearing? What is the pitch to the homeowner?James QuaziYeah, we see it as a stepwise process. So, because our go-to market is through solar contractors, the first step is to say, if I were any other solar contractor, and you called me for a solar and potentially storage system, what I would have done is looked at your current electrical bills and size the system this way, and this is what... "You want a five kilowatt solar array and one battery, 110 kilowatt hour battery." The next step is to say, "Hey, listen, we're actually in that world. We're only looking at one of probably three silos of energy that you're using."So, we're ignoring the natural gas side of the bill. We're ignoring everything that's happening at the pump. But, if we look at your energy spend holistically, here are a suite of options that are available to you. And this is the differential sort of financial outcome versus just a solar system, versus, like, resiliency versus bill stability kind of thing.David RobertsSo, the idea here is, I go to the contractor and say, "Hey, I've been thinking about solar and battery," and the contractor says to me, "Well, hey, what about this larger package? You could have even bigger savings, and you could have resilience," and stuff like this. So, it's a little bit like an upsell for a contractor.James QuaziYeah, I mean, I would think of it as like, being able to more holistically address energy spend. Like, that's our goal, is to say, "It's not just one flavor that we're dealing with. We're looking at the entire house and things, and we want the best solution for you."David RobertsIt makes me wonder how long it will be before homeowners think that way, or if they ever will. Because homeowners just think of products as separate products. I don't know that a lot of homeowners, especially outside our world, even sort of think of the home as a system, right? With certain energetic inputs and outputs that should be dealt with as a holistic system. Like, that's just — I'm not even sure homeowners are at all accustomed to thinking that way.James QuaziI wonder if I myself am, like, blinded by sort of a friend group or whatever the case is. But I would say that, like, I don't know of a lot of people that aren't at least considering an EV, right? Even if they're not, like, actively join in. But it's like, "Hey, listen, this is actually a real option." I don't think that heat pumps are very far behind that curve. It's interesting, like when people, like historically, when people inquire about solar, we often times have thought of that as they want bill savings. But I am not entirely sure that that is the reason.David RobertsDo we know? Have we done surveys and polls? I'm so curious. I would also assume, just out of a sort of, I guess, a low, like a background degree of cynicism, that that's going to be the dominant motivation. But is it? Like, I don't feel confident about that at all.James QuaziWell, I don't either. My belief is that bill savings are part of a decision-making process, but probably very rarely the primary driver. And that is the thing. And even if you look at, like, the funnel conversion metrics of, like, the solar industry as a whole, it's just like, for every hundred people that inquire, single-digit people actually do the things. And our perspective is like, you know, they're getting stuck somewhere in the process. And it's oftentimes with questions that cannot be answered, and that's when they stall out. And that is our reason for expanding the set to everything that's possible in your home and letting you search that, because we think we'll figure out what are the motivations. I think that there's a strong cohort of people that are just anti-utility.David RobertsThat's a piece of it. There's an environmental piece of it. There's a sort of independence, anti-utility piece of it. There's a vague mix. There's just social contagion, there's just peer pressure. You see it around you. It's the whole stew of motivations. I'd love to understand that better. So, I mean, it kind of seems like what you'd want is for your tool to be in the hands of everybody involved in any of those products. Do you know what I mean? Like, if I want an EV and I go to the car dealership, you know, it'd be cool if the car dealer could say to me, "Hey, you know, save even more money if you threw in a heat pump with this and a solar panel."You know, like if, or the heat pump, people are like, "Hey, throw in an EV and solar panels." Like, it'd be nice if homeowners confronted the idea of total electrification everywhere they looked, right? I mean, that'd be ideal.James QuaziYeah, 100%. I really think that's the vision, and that's where we're going. I think the entry point into a lot of this stuff will be varied. Like, it will be through an EV at the start, or a broken furnace that gets replaced by a heat pump or whatever the case is. I think our goal is to engage homeowners in a way where we have a persistent bill connection. I think that this is why that episode resonated so much with me. If we have an address and a persistent daily, hourly, monthly, whatever the case is, bill connection, you can drive insights over time to a homeowner at very meaningful times to intercept them.Right now, I think this business, like solar in general, is very transactional. We think of it as like, we get leads in the top of the funnel, we set them at this rate, we convert them at this rate, we install them. It's a 30% gross margin, and then that's the end. Whereas, I don't believe that that's the way the products will be adopted and people will have to, I mean, internally we call it energy literacy. Like, how do I start to understand the problem and the solutions?David RobertsRight. So, in the same way, you sort of have a financial advisor, you could have like a home advisor, basically. A home energy advisor.James QuaziAnd we also think it's got to be low impact, so it can't be like, "Hey, you've got to go do this detailed sort of appliance audit or whatever the case is." So it's bills and address, and then, you know, this is a great state of change problem where utility rates are constantly changing, prices of products are changing, incentives are changing, and there's always a chance to message. I very viscerally feel this in the sense that, like, when I took four years off and then reengaged with the industry, I was like, "Wow, we like, crossed the threshold, like, the point of no return, where electrification now makes sense for everyone," and I had missed it, and this is the only thing I'd ever done.David RobertsYeah, I mean, it's moving so quickly. I will say, though, one thing I hear from, you know, and there's been articles written about this. It's just like, it's all out there from people who have tried to do this total electrification thing. It's just incredibly difficult, just incredibly difficult to synchronize everything and arrange everything. And so, in that context, the idea of having a kind of home advisor where, like, your hot water heater breaks and you just call your home advisor, you figure out, like, what's the right approach here, what's the economical approach, where to look, what kind of thing to get?A lot of people would very much welcome having one of those, I feel like.James QuaziAnd I think that this speaks to the general funnel conversion in the industry, but generally, a lead comes in, and then what we're trying to do is furiously convert them to a sale and install as quickly as possible, hopefully within 30 days, hopefully in one set. And I just don't believe that that's the way that people will consume products. It will be through a bunch of different experiences over time. And I think that's a meaningful difference. Like, you know, we're in such a rush to do all the things. Like, I'm in a rush to do all the things at once, but I think we have to also meet people where they are and, like, engage them in some way over time so they can make a decision, so they can make another decision.David RobertsI hope it changes because, honestly, like, you know, I've thought about solar. Ten years ago, we did one of those sort of, like, online audit things, and it was like, "No, you're too shaded." But I think it's just changed since then. Uh, just like, what's possible. But, like, I know that if I got a solar contractor and sat down at a table with that person, that they would just be sweaty and desperate, you know what I mean? To sell me just like it, exactly like I feel at the auto dealership, which is just like, "Ew," kind of uncomfortable, you know what I mean?And rushed and don't feel like I have a full sense of all the pieces in play, and that I can't trust the person I'm talking to, to help me out, you know what I mean? I'm sort of, like, adversarial. I hate that whole model, you know what I mean? And just like, I would be, I don't know how representative I am, but I'd be inclined to spend more money if I just had a person who was like, had the big picture, had the model, had the data in hand, said, "You know, like whenever you're ready, this is the right first step."Just like a better environment for homeowners to deal with these things and think about these things.James QuaziYeah, no, I get it. I feel very similarly. I totally understand from the other perspective, like solar sales reps are expensive and they're hired to do one thing. I just don't know that it's the way that most people want to adopt the things.David RobertsYeah, I can't believe that it's going to go to truly, truly mass penetration running on this model. It's going to have to evolve into something else. As we near the end here, let's pull the camera back a little bit and talk about the Agile Electrification project. My understanding basically is that the NEM 3.0 decision in California threw the solar contracting world into a bit of a tizzy. And there are efforts now to organize and figure out how to move forward and how to help contractors and what the right approach for contractors is in this new world.So, tell us a little bit about what the Agile Electrification project is.James QuaziIt is an industry-sponsored project that's hosted at the Design and Innovation Center at UCSD. The genesis of it was a lot of, quite honestly, hammering around NEM 3.0. It was like if you read Canary or any of these publications, a lot of it is doom and gloom. This industry is down 70%.David RobertsYeah, there's a lot of "sky is falling" sentiment flying around.James QuaziYeah, I think there have been. And you know, a lot of people are like, "Hey, listen, a lot of the bad actors are going to get flushed out with this," which I believe. I also believe a lot of some good actors will go out of business. So this is like a real issue. In times of turmoil, there's oftentimes opportunity and there's a group of people, contractors, manufacturers, investors, who have come together in this venue where sometimes it would be competitive or driven by business interests and they're coming together to solve problems for the industry. So right now it's a series of three projects to expand from there.One is like energy modeling for the entire state of California. It's something that everyone needs. We want to do it and open source it. Another one that we touched on earlier is understanding customer motivations and understanding where they got stuck and how to unstick them, because our general sense is they want to save money. And I don't know if that's the primary motivation. And then the third one is around incentives and rebates and how to, like, it's a constantly evolving landscape and just staying on top of it is like a challenge and maybe a full-time job.So, it's how to open-source that aspect of it, and how to qualify people for rebates and make sure that they're up to date, make sure they're not over-allocated, and deliver that information to the people on the ground that are actually installing the systems.David RobertsRight. And so, I'm stuck on this point. I just wanted to reiterate one more time. So, it's your belief that, because I think this sort of popular belief is that the NEM 3.0 decision has radically reduced homeowner incentives to get solar power, that it's just not as worth it anymore to get solar power. What you're saying is, with the right holistic approach, solar power is as valuable as ever and just as worth getting as ever. Is that your position?James QuaziThat is my position, yes.David RobertsDo you think that that is widely, like solar contractors believe that, or are you having to sort of buck them up and convince them of that?James QuaziWell, I think we're in a stage right now where, I mean, we set up the simplest possible website, have done very little marketing. We've had directionally 75 to 100 contractors sign up and say they're interested. I believe that the contractors are looking for solutions. For sure. That is definitively true. I think they should believe this because it is true that there is a great value proposition in homeowners. I think the issue here, maybe the persistent issue that's undeniable, is that it's more complex. Describing the value proposition has become more complex. For sure. There's no way around that.So, we're trying to find ways to — I mean, the back-end compute engine is great. The real challenge is finding ways to deliver that information to customers in a way that's actionable.David RobertsFor sure. Final question then. A lot of this seems very Californian. The fears and the solutions and all of it seems sort of very customized to California's current circumstances. How applicable is all of this, do you think, outside of California? Would your model be helpful to a homeowner in, I don't know, like Arkansas?James QuaziYeah. So, I would take it in two flavors. One is, I think there's the expectation, for good reason, that these policies in California will get exported to other states. So, it will become hugely relevant soon.David RobertsYou mean rooftop solar compensation getting cut way back? It's already happened in a couple of other states. I mean, it's definitely a trend.James QuaziYeah. So, that's true. NEM 3.0, or like the difference between export energy valuation and import and parity, does not have to be true for this general value proposition to hold true. So, to that extent, I would say that it's portable anywhere. We chose to start in California because it is by far the biggest solar market. It accounts for about 50% of solar and there was a demonstrated need. I will say that it's a very complex problem to solve and it has geographic sides to it. So, as you move location, utilities change and their tariffs change and the way that they charge and weather changes.David RobertsThe information they make available.James QuaziExactly, exactly. So, we've tactically started it in California for those reasons and constrained it. But there's no reason why this shouldn't be applicable to, like, any other place.David RobertsRight. It's sort of interesting. The big fear, or I guess the thing that solar people used to say to utilities when warning them away from NEM 3.0, is like, "Look, if you cut compensation too much, we're just going to self-consume and then install more electric appliances and then slowly wean ourselves off the grid and then not need the grid anymore. And then you're losing customers." The much-fabled death spiral. It seems like you're organizing to make that real, to make that happen.James QuaziI have some thoughts on this. I really do think, and I don't know the answer, but at some point down the road, we're going to have a fork. That fork will be either we find a way to use essentially distribution resources to cooperate, and I think that is the best societal outcome, or we find that we can't cooperate and everyone has to be their own, like a little micro picogrid, and that we have to build the infrastructure to do it. And, you know, I think that it's probably more likely that that's going to happen, which is unfortunate, but I do think that, as always, the affluent will serve themselves first and make good decisions and the rest of the costs will be pushed on to everyone else. And actually, in my heart of hearts, what I think will happen is we'll find a way to cooperate, but only after we've sort of incurred a huge amount of pain.David RobertsThat sounds like the American approach that I know and love. We'll stumble through some disasters and then eventually get our act together.James QuaziYeah, you end up doing the right thing when you're forced to. So, I think that that's the way I see it happening.David RobertsAll right, well, cool. James, this is really interesting. I've been meaning to look into solar in California, how they're dealing with all this. And this is a really interesting approach. I mean, it's never funny. Until I sort of read about this, it never occurred to me, even though it's really obvious, that like, of course, electrifying your appliances and getting your battery and getting your solar panels are — that's like the same thing. You know what I mean? Like, that's all one. That's all one thing. Like I said, it's like a switch that kind of flips in your mind.You're like, "Oh, like, it's a holistic system." It would be interesting to try to train homeowners to think that way more. Thank you so much, James. Thanks for taking the time.James QuaziThank you. Appreciate it.David RobertsThank you for listening to Volts. It takes a village to make this podcast work. Shout out, especially to my super producer, Kyle McDonald, who makes my guests and I sound smart every week. And it is all supported entirely by listeners like you. So, if you value conversations like this, please consider joining our community of paid subscribers at volts.wtf. Or, leaving a nice review or telling a friend about Volts, or all three. Thanks so much, and I'll see you next time. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe

Join Patrick and Ryan for episode 14 of Trick Talkers: Tea Time - (not so) shorter length episodes where they talk about different topics within the trick-taking, climbing, and shedding world! In this episode, we recap the events and games played at the UKGE for Patrick and Winsome Choose Some for Ryan. Contact us: Discord - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠discord.gg/DBJzczy5km⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email - tricktalkers@gmail.com Twitter - @tricktalkers Linktree - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/tricktalkers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Patreon - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/tricktalkers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Topics discussed during the episode: (01:16) - ⁠⁠⁠Dois (07:10) - Expecting More From Trick Takers? (11:17) - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠UKGE (Altoids) (12:40) - UKGE: Dual (16:20) - UKGE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Blood on the Clocktower⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (23:54) - UKGE: Life in Reterra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (26:49) - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Winsome Choose Some (The Train Rush Podcast, TableTapas Games) (29:48) - Winsome Choose Some: Erie Railroad, Zoutkaartje aka Santa Claus Takes The Intercity, Dutch Intercity, Southern Pacific, Northern Pacific, Chicago & Northwestern, GM&O, Southern Rails, Age of Rail: South Africa, Age of Steam, Age of Scheme: Routes to Riches, Colorado Midland, West Riding Revisited, and Riding through England (33:00) - Riding through England⁠ (41:35) - ⁠Santa Claus Takes The Intercity⁠ (50:45) - ⁠CityTriXX (54:04) - Ryan's Challenge Update: ⁠Dutch Intercity, Colorado Midland⁠, ⁠West Riding Revisited⁠ & Patrick's Update: Cheese Thief, 1000 Year Old Vampire (55:58) - ⁠Northern Pacific (58:05) - ⁠⁠⁠D'raf (01:07:28) - Spectaculum (01:14:10) - Tricktakers song by ChunkyPiglets

Zoologist Julie Murphy comes in to chat about her new childrens book titled "cheer up blobfish", Also on the show is Dr. Elodie Campasse, marine ecologist to talk about mass aggregations of sea creatures like giant spider crabs. and Neil Blake chats about the correlation between sea life deaths and the mass influx of northern pacific sea stars.

Japan and eight other economies agreed on a new rule Thursday that reduces the 2024 catch quota for saury in the high seas in the northern Pacific to 135,000 tons from 150,000 tons.

“This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/GUNTER and get on your way to being your best self.” Get started today and enjoy 10% off your first month. Your discount code “gunter" will be automatically applied.This week on Inspire Change and after a fabulous conversation on storytelling with our guest Karen Sander. Gunter is going to dive a little deeper into the power literature in storytelling and how it affects us as a society and the world around us: "The Power of Storytelling Navigating Change with Mountains of the Sea," Mountains of the Sea is Gunters  historical novel., It is getting a new look and publishing deal soon through Bonfire Cinema. It has been praised by The New York Times  as - "Visually enticing, with a very masculine, but fractured lead character trying to find his way.…keeps you engaged all the way to the last page.”About Mountains of the Sea - After accidentally shooting an army recruiter, Walter Beaumont is forced to flee England and finds himself on the HMS Resolution, Captain James Cook's ship of exploration to the South Seas. On board he befriends Omai, a Tahitian navigator who takes Walter under his wing. A fish out of water, Walter Beaumont struggles with the Spartan conditions of seafaring, eventually falling ill with consumption. James Cook, knowing that Walter would never survive the rigors of the Northern Pacific and the Bearing Straights, is forced to leave the young man and Omai behind in the newly discovered Hawaiian Islands. Recovering his health, his hopes of returning to England are shattered by the news that Captain Cook has been killed and the Resolution has returned to England without him. Determined to make the most of his fate and intrigued by the Hawaiian culture and their close relationship with the ocean, Walter tries to adapt as best as he can. In a rite of passage that sees him transverse the globe and face the uncertainties of being a stranger in a strange land, Walter Beaumont well and truly rises to the challenge. It is quite literally a watershed of epic proportions, where faces the many moods of an ocean culture that is the center of the Hawaiian world. Together with his Tahitian friend, Omai, his teacher Kanoa, and his newly found love, Lani, he comes face to face with political intrigue, war, and the most enigmatic experience for an English aristocrat, that of riding the giant swells of Hawai'i.Do you want to Inspire Change? Or maybe you are because many of us inspire change everyday, but what about making a global difference? Become a CHANGEMAKER  or an Agent of Change because well that just sounds really COOL!  For only  $12 per month to join and you will get EARLY RELEASE special guest episodes, exclusive Changemaker members only content, one on one tips and quick sessions and meet and greets with Gunter, there will always be swag, a quarterly newsletter and more. SIGNUP HERE https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inspire-change-with-gunter--3633478/supportDon't miss out be sure to signup up here: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inspire-change-with-gunter--3633478/supportAlso Check out Gunter, the Making Good Men Great Movement, his books and the podcast feature in Variety, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter and here in the lifestyle section of Podcast Park https://lifestyle.thepodcastpark.com/story/48663818/gunter-swobodas-debut-historical-novel-mountains-of-the-sea-about-masculinity-surfing-and-a-privileged-aristocrat-learning-to-adapt-is-criticallyMake sure you also check out Gunter's 5 Things to get Satisfaction video on #Buzzfeed today: https://www.buzzfeed.com/miranda10/gunter-swobodaas-5-things-to-get-satisfaction-5aerlsc57mAnd there is more: In an interview in Authority Magazine/Thrive with Drew Gerber, Gunter shares why so many of us are feeling unsatisfied & what we can do about it. Full Article HereTo purchase Gunter's books:Making Good Men Great: Surfing the New Wave of Masculinity you can get it on Amazon Prime, Barnes & Noble and most online retailers: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Good-Men-Great-Masculinity/dp/0999266802 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Making-Good-Men-Great-Surfing-the-New-Wave-of-Masculinity-Paperback-9780999266809/685658548In Australia:https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/books/making-good-men-great-gunter-swoboda/p/9780999266809In the UK:https://www.waterstones.com/book/making-good-men-great/gunter-swoboda/9780999266809To watch the Venice TV Award nominated documentary created by Gunter and directed by Miranda Spigener-Sapon you can rent or buy on Amazon Prime:https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07RVD89XZ/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/inspire-change-with-gunter--3633478/support.

Happy St. Patricks Day Weekend! While yes, we chat about the parade and everything St. Paddy's day on this episode, the focus of today's show is everything Northern Pacific Center. The guys catch up with Mike Higgins, owner of the NPC, who really dives into the Boxing event coming there this weekend. Mike also chats about the history of the NPC, what led him to buying it five years ago, weddings, the businesses that are located there and what his favorite event that they host is. Thanks to Mike for joining, and always look forward to the events out at the Northern Pacific Center. Topics also talked about on this show:*Bye bye Captain Kirk, and other Vikings talk*A WILD finish for the Wild*Local Happenings and news*Colton is BACK! for now...*and much, much more! Thanks so much to our sponsors Hanneken Insurance, Lakes Area CPAs, Hills Detailing Center, Posture Pro Chiropractic and of course our presenting sponsor Tyler Gardner with Pequot Lakes and Gull Lake Sanitation! Instagram: ListenLocalMNBlazeAirMNWoodsToWaterMNNorthwoodsAgent Facebook:Listen Local MNBlazeAirMNWoodsToWaterMN

Bron Burton and Kade Mills are joined by Port Phillip Baykeeper Neil Blake, Charles Darwin University PhD student Julia Constance, and two surfing ambassadors for Patagonia Australia (Lauren Hill and Dave Rastovich). Blake discusses areas of Port Phillip Bay where Northern Pacific seastars can be removed. Constance details her research into the extinction of the Java stingaree. Hill and Rastovich provide information on Patagonia's newest short film ‘Kin,' which from February 29 will be available to stream for free on Patagonia's website in a bid to motivate other communities to take steps to protect Australia's marine ecosystems.

Feliks Banel's guests on this live broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Jack Christensen, longtime Northern Pacific employee on the history of the Belt Line and the Wilburton Trestle (recorded in 2017); Jean Sherrard on the social-media snowstorm of February 2019 (recorded in 2019); Janet Way on the Fircrest Chapel in Shoreline being added to the National Register of Historic Places; and the fourth and final heartbreaking installment in the 1951 vintage “Blackie of Naches Valley” episode of the Seattle centennial educational radio program “Their Name Was Courage.” This LIVE broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY was originally presented at 8pm Pacific Standard Time on Sunday, January 7, 2024 via SPACE 101.1 FM and streaming live via space101fm.org from studios at historic Magnuson Park – formerly Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

TONIGHT: The show begins at the UN and moves to Donbas, to the Bering Sea, to Moscow.  From Mexico City to bogota.  From INDOPACOM to Shanghai to Ottawa.  From Berlin to Bucharest..From Boca Chica to Gale Crater.  From Occitanie to Greece. With much attention to the PRC besieging Islands of the Northern Pacific.. 1921 Rigid Framework Zeppelin

In episode 184 of the Simple Flying podcast, your hosts Jo and Tom discuss, The latest Pratt & Whitney engine issues Qatar Airways saves the world's loneliest lion Northern Pacific's new branding Own part of Emirates' 1st Airbus A380 A week of crazy dog stories

On episode 50, Micah and I discuss my turnaround flight on Northern Pacific Airways. But first, Micah and I play some feedback from Eric the Map Maker, owner and publisher of Bella Terra Maps. Listener Lu sent in a recording asking about the use of VOIP on an airplane. As you can probably guess, Micah and I are firmly against it. Next, Micah and I discuss my review flight of Northern Pacific Airways. Yes, I was given the ticket but that doesn't stop me from sharing my opinion on the flight and the airline. Thanks once again to all of our listeners and especially our international (Non-US) listeners.  Please write in and let us know how you found the show and why you listen.  We love hearing from you!!! The opening and closing music is provided by the Madalitso Youth Choir as they sing their Welcome Song and their Good By song, recorded at the lobby of The Royal Livingston Hotel in Zambia. We hope you enjoy the show!

On this week's episode of AvTalk, a United 767's escape slide escapes the aircraft just before landing in Chicago, Northern Pacific is off to a shaky start, and some airline worker unions are quite pleased while others are ready to strike. Escape slide escapes A United Airlines 767 on approach to Chicago from Zurich lost […] The post AvTalk Episode 225: The escaping escape slide appeared first on Flightradar24 Blog.

The airline currently is operating a single 757-200. The airline launched its very 1st flight Friday July 14th 2023. They had a mechanical issue resulting in the suspension of flights for a few days. The next flight is set to resume Friday July 21st 2023. Congratulations NPA!!

TL>DL: Episode 50 is going to be delayed for a while due to some recent and upcoming host vacation schedules. Stay tuned for our next episode coming sometime in May. In the meantime, go to https://forms.gle/jWSGLAju547spScY8 and leave your review for one of the games: Northern Pacific, Quo Vadis?, and Santiago!FOLLOW US:Email: hiddengemsboardgamepodcast@gmail.comWeb: https://hiddengems.gamesPatreon: https://patreon.com/hiddengemspodcastInstagram: @hiddengems.gamesFacebook: @hiddengemsboardgamepodcastTwitter: @hiddengemsboardYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR8wU2vjV2RJ7C6iRuq2WcABGG Guild #: 3874Discord: https://discord.gg/hcvThGfjHidden Gems: A Board Game Podcast was produced and edited by Chris Alley, Cameron Lockey, and Jason Yanchuleff in Raleigh, NC.

Doug is back from Kona and Denver and Drew had an unexpected deicing event, and major delays due to winds and a single runway operation, the next day.  Also on this episode:Aviation word of the week - RAT, ram air turbineNew Saudi airline RIA hopes to challenge the ME3Flair Airlines 737s seizedAlaska's Northern Pacific first route is LAX to Las Vegas (?)SFO runway incident https://www.nexttripnetwork.com/

THE 2023 KICKSTARTER IS LIVE NOW! Before listening, get on over there and support the Cabal! First we endure Steve and his horrible jokes celebrating the episode number and onward to some of the great games we've been playing including Theurgy, Northern Pacific, Magic the Gathering, Old London Bridge, City of the Great Machine, and a feature review of Uwe Rosenberg newest game, Atiwa! Then Tony T busts out the actual official tabletop gaming news and the gang wraps up the episode by discussing thematic mechanisms in board games. Atiwa Review 00:48:54, News with Tony T 01:15:39, Thematic Mechanisms 02:02:37

In honor of Women's History Month, THS Communications Manager Kim Davenport interviews Kimberly Klontz, a longtime BNSF engineer and leader in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen 238 in Tacoma. Kimberly has an interest in railroad labor and mechanical history dating back to her childhood, when her family volunteered at several railroad museums in the local area. She developed an interest in labor history by listening to the older volunteers talking about their experiences on the railroad. She was fortunate have met one of the last motormen for the Tacoma Trolley system, several women who had hired out as operators for the Northern Pacific Railroad during the second world war, and numerous men who worked on the railroad in a variety of positions from entry level labor to upper management. Most had worked for the Northern Pacific, Milwaukee Road or the Burlington Northern. She continues to have an interest in preserving railroad labor history, and volunteers at the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archives.

Learn more about the history behind the "Great Big Baked Potato," a long-time staple of Northern Pacific Railway dining cars, on our blog here: https://tacomatales.org/2023/02/04/the-great-big-baked-potato-song/

This week we actually get a couple of shipwrecks for the price of one, in our discussion of the SS Northern Pacific, which served in both civilian and military capacities during her 7-year sailing career. [sources - full list to come]Gentile, Gary. Shipwrecks of Delaware and Maryland. Gary Gentile Productions, 1990.Support the show

Ritzville, located in eastern Washington, is the hub of a significant wheat-growing region. When the Northern Pacific railroad made it a station stop, it came into being in 1881. It was given the name Ritzville to honor Philip Ritz, an early resident who won the bid to grade 10 miles of the railroad bed. At first, the town was primarily populated by railroad workers, but soon wheat growers began to move in—first from South Dakota, then from Russia via Germany. The Volga Germans, a sizable colony of Germans who had arrived in Russia for centuries, liked the dry-land wheat producing conditions. Ritzville was the only town of any size in the newly constituted county, therefore it was chosen to serve as the county seat of Adams County in 1883.Listen now to learn more about this fascinating Evergreen State town!A special thank you goes out to Al Hirsch for providing the music for the podcast, check him out on YouTube.Find merchandise for the podcast now available at:     https://washington-history-by-jon-c.creator-spring.comIf you enjoy the podcast and would like to contribute, please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EvergreenpodIf you have any questions, episode ideas you'd like to see explored, or just have a general comment, please reach out at Historyoftheevergreenstatepod@gmail.comTo keep up on news for the podcast and other related announcements, please like and follow:https://www.facebook.com/HistoryoftheevergreenstatepodcastThank you for listening!

The Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway was built solely to connect the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railways to Portland, Oregon.It was never intended to have a long-term identity, but when many attempts to merge the so-called "Hill Lines" failed, it hung on for nearly seven decades.The SP&S was built late, owing in part to continuous disagreements with Union Pacific and its affiliate, the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company. SP&S's 379.5-mile main line was ultimately finished in 1909, after years of court conflicts over access to Portland and ownership of the powerful Columbia River's north bank.Listen now to learn more!A special thank you goes out to Al Hirsch for providing the music for the podcast, check him out on YouTube.Find merchandise for the podcast now available at:     https://washington-history-by-jon-c.creator-spring.comIf you enjoy the podcast and would like to contribute, please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/EvergreenpodIf you have any questions, episode ideas you'd like to see explored, or just have a general comment, please reach out at Historyoftheevergreenstatepod@gmail.comTo keep up on news for the podcast and other related announcements, please like and follow:https://www.facebook.com/HistoryoftheevergreenstatepodcastThank you for listening!

In episode 134 of the Simple Flying podcast, your hosts Jo and Tom discuss, Israel bans quadjets, Rolls-Royce ditches its new Boeing 747-400 Saudi Arabia's big aviation plans Lufthansa battles against strikes Northern Pacific's cabin is revealed

In 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad was completed with the driving of the Golden Spike. The railroad ran from Omaha in Nebraska Territory to Sacramento in California. It was the first means of mass transportation to cross the country. And as the first, the Transcontinental Railroad overshadowed the later Northern Pacific. The Northern Pacific, however, has its own inspiring story. It also reached the far west, but had to overcome financial challenges to do it without government loans.

Crested Auklets are small seabirds that nest on remote cliffs in the Northern Pacific and the Bering Sea. But it's their smell that really sets these birds apart. They smell like tangerines! Experiments show that females go for males that emit the strongest scents.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.

Shark Week: The Podcast, goes behind the scenes of the Shark Week special, Jaws vs The Blob. Host Luke Tipple, chats with one of the stars of the show,  Madison Stewart aka Shark Girl to discuss the beauty of great white sharks and the dangers looming in their habitat due to “The Blob”, a mass of warm water in the Northern Pacific linked to climate change and the shifting ocean ecosystems. Maddie talks about her time at Baja California's Guadalupe Island where she studied the unusual presence of juvenile great white sharks and recounted her harrowing dive in the not-so-safe shark cage.Connect with the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shark-week-the-podcast/id1527053422Follow Discovery+ on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discoveryplus/Follow Luke Tipple on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luketipple/Learn More About Shark Week: https://www.discovery.com/shark-weekFind episode transcripts here: https://shark-weeks-daily-bite.simplecast.com/episodes/s3-ep-7-the-huge-blob-threatening-great-white-sharksFor more about sharks, head to SharkWeek.com

On this date in 1910, the pioneer town of Timmer established a Post Office. Located along the Northern Pacific railroad about twelve miles southeast of Flasher, the town was named after C. L. Timmerman, a Mandan banker, rancher and merchant.

The Pacific has been ground zero for some of the most interesting UFO activity -- from the Tic Tac encounters reported by the Navy to strange sounds picked up by observatories that monitor the oceans for either nuclear activity or meteor detection. Recently, there has been a viral video making the rounds on the internet showing some red anomalous objects gathered in the Northern Pacific. A commercial pilot that flies through the area on a frequent basis says he has never seen lights like this over the area. Additionally, a mysterious red light was observed in the sky of Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Residents say they have seen these red lights being launched from what they believe to be some sort of alien base in the area. Tonight on Ground Zero, Clyde Lewis talks with UFO investigator and author, Preston Dennett about RED SCARE. #GroundZero #ClydeLewis #RedScare https://groundzeromedia.org/7-19-22-red-scare-w-preston.../ Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis is live M-F from 7-10pm, pacific time, and streamed for free at groundzero.radio. There is a delayed broadcast on our local Portland affiliate station, KPAM 860, from 9pm-12am, pacific time. For radio affiliates near you, go to talkstreamlive.com. To listen by phone: 717-734-6922. To call into the show: 503-225-0860. The transcript of each episode will be posted after the show at groundzeromedia.org. In order to access Ground Zero's exclusive digital library which includes archived shows, research groups, videos, documents, and more, you must sign up at aftermath.media. Check out the yearly specials!

Our CEO was invited to attend the unveiling of the first Boeing 757 for the airline startup Northern Pacific. The ceremony occurred in an airport hangar in San Bernardino, California this January. During that event she also had the privilege of interviewing Rob, McKinney, the CEO of Northern Pacific. Hear how this new airline brings some of the most innovative ways to fly! Do you have any fun travel experiences you'd like to share with the Discoverlist travel community? Contact us!Email us at iwanttotravel@discoverlist.comFollow us on Twitter: @IWantToTravel_PFollow us on FB & Instagram: @Discoverlist

In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America. Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech Al Zambone is a historian and the host of the podcast Historically Thinking. You can subscribe to Historically Thinking on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-west

Episode 91: The Undiscovered CountryRussian, Spanish, and British explorers converge on a blank spot on the map in the Northern Pacific.

In this episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik interviews Derek Grossman about the recent security agreement between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Solomon Islands, what it means for the United States and our Indo-Pacific allies, and what America should do moving forward. Guest Biography Derek Grossman is a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation focused on a range of national security policy and Indo-Pacific security issues. He closely tracks intensifying U.S.-China competition throughout the region, to include in Northeast, Southeast, South, and Central Asia as well as Oceania. He has led or participated in numerous RAND studies assessing regional responses to competition, with a particular emphasis on Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Pacific Island states, Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan. Grossman is widely quoted regionally and globally. He has interviewed with Australian Broadcasting Corp, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNN, LA Times, New York Times, NPR, Sydney Morning Herald, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and others. Grossman has published dozens of commentaries and journal articles, including for Asia Policy, Foreign Policy, International Security, Nikkei Asia, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Studies in Intelligence, The Diplomat, The Hill, War on the Rocks, and World Politics Review. Before RAND, Grossman served over a decade in the Intelligence Community, where he served as the daily intelligence briefer to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and to the assistant secretary of defense for Asian & Pacific Security Affairs. He also served at the National Security Agency and worked at the CIA on the President's Daily Brief staff. Grossman is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California and an Indo-Pacific Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre. He holds an M.A. from Georgetown University in U.S. national security policy and a B.A. from the University of Michigan in political science and Asian studies. Resources from the Conversation Read background about the China-Solomon Islands security pact Follow Derek's work at the RAND Corporation Check out the Lowy Institute's Pacific Aid Map Read Michael's analysis of the strategic importance of the Northern Pacific to the United States in RealClearDefense Follow Derek on Twitter

On Episode 61 we reveal the winner of the DoaM Madness Tournament & Prediction Contest, and James takes Sanchez to task over his controversial voting motives. Also recent plays of Bridge City Poker, Butterfly, & King of Tokyo - and the best travel games to take on the road. Enjoy the show! (:30) DoaM Madness Champion (4:21) Prediction Contest Winner & Prize Choice (7:36) #BlameSanchez (23:16) New Patrons & DoaMcoN Dallas Upcoming! (25:30) Bridge City Poker (36:56) King of Tokyo (42:11) Northern Pacific (46:40) Butterfly (53:46) Travel Games   http://www.challonge.com/DoaM22 - See the final bracket! http://www.dadsonamap.com Support the Show - Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/dadsonamap Twitter and Instagram - @dadsonamap BGG Guild - http://tiny.cc/DoaMGuild Merch Store - https://teespring.com/stores/dads-on-a-map Contact us at dadsonamap@gmail.com

IN THIS EPISODEWhy you shouldn't visit any Northern-Pacific national parks before MayWhat Crater Lake is the deepest and clearest in the USWhy know one knows where 2 million gallons of seepage an hour disappears toSHOW NOTESFollow me on instagram: @joyugiCrater Lake National ParkDownload the 2022 National Parks Seasonal Trip PlannerDownload the 2022 National Parks Roadtrip ChecklistDownload the 2022 National Parks Airbnb Cheat SheetSupport the show

We chatted to Mike Simons of Tres Amigo Realty about what's happening in the Northern Pacific Markets of Playas del Coco, Hermosa, Ocotal and Papagayo.  He tells us about his community charity project 'Tank Tops & Flip Flops' and its impact on the community.Mike chats with us about where the opportunity is in the market at the moment, where he's investing and where prices are moving in the area.Contact Us:  info@investingcostarica.comGuests today:Mike Simons: michael@tanktopsflipflops.comTres Amigos Realty: https://www.tresamigos-cr.com/

In 1871 an expedition entered the territory now encompassed by Yellowstone National Park. Led by doctor and self-taught geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, it was to be the first scientific expedition into that mysterious place. But it was also, says my guest Megan Kate Nelson, part of a larger struggle over the expansion of federal power during Reconstruction. Hayden would be one of the three men who would strive for control of Yellowstone, and the surrounding territory. The others were Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia investment banker raising capital for the Northern Pacific Railroad; and a Lakota leader known to English speakers as Sitting Bull, who was determined to stop the building of the Northern Pacific. These are some of the protagonists of Nelson's new book Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America.   Megan Kate Nelson is a writer and historian, living in Massachusetts. She was previously on the podcast in Episode 23 discussing her book Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War. For Further Investigation An excerpt from Megan's book appears on the website of Smithsonian magazine If you're interested in learning more about the historical discipline of Environmental History, you should listen to this very early conversation with my old friend Brian Leech

Tom Hsieh It was a matter of time until the crypto boom came knocking the door of the airline industry. For today's episode we connect with California where a bunch of entrepreneurs are preparing the launch of a crypto-based airline loyalty programme. Well, to be more accurate, it is starting as an airline loyalty programme, but the idea is that it ultimately you earn and redeem this new crypto currency with a broad network of partners and trade it in crypto markets too. Lenny Moon Tom Hsieh and Lenny Moon are, respectively, the president and CEO of FlyCoin, a new crypto-based loyalty programme based on Ethereum. They are both also part of the managerial team of a group of airlines that includes Northern Pacific Airways (whose launch we covered not long ago) and Ravn Alaska. Both airlines are the launchpad for this new type of frequent flyer programme.This was, thus, my chance to ask lots of questions about how crypto works and what are the potential applications for airlines and, perhaps more importantly, what this means for passengers in practice.So tune in for an interesting conversation about one of the hottest topics in tech and business right now! Download this episode from:Apple Podcasts / iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher Things we talk about in this episode:Tom and Lenny's background, from the early days of the internet to Wall StreetTom and Lenny's involvement in a number of airline ventures What is FlyCoin and how does it workHow FlyCoin differs from traditional loyalty programmesWhat the FlyCoin user experience is going to be likeWhat is the plan to grow FlyCoin's user base Resources:FlycoinThe Flycoin white paper Flycoin ERC-20 contractNorthern Pacific AirwaysRavn FLOATEthereumEarthlink, the internet provider where Tom worked during the early years of the internetMy chronicle of the Northern Pacific Airways presentation gala in CaliforniaPodcast Music: Five Armies by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3762-five-armiesLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Interview Transcript(please note that, although we strive to make it as close as possible to the original recording, the transcript may not be 100% accurate)Hello and welcome to the Allplane podcast Here with the people that are redefining the future of commercial aviationAs usual, before I introduce today's guest, let me remind you that you can find all the previous episodes of this podcast as well as many other aviation stories on the Allplane website: that's allplane.tv - allplane.tvToday it's one of those episodes in which we have not one, but two top-calibre guests.And we are also going to touch upon one of the hottest topics right now in the world, not just in aviation, but in a more general societal way and that is crypto and how it can be used by airlines.Tom Hsieh and Lenny Moon are, respectively, the president and CEO of a California-based startup called Flycoin, a crypto-based loyalty programme for airlines and other partnersWhat's more, both are also in the managerial of a group of airlines that includes Northern Pacific Airways, Ravn Alaska and FLOAT, so the moment Flycoin becomes fully operative this new generation loyalty programme will have a stable of real airlines ready for its deployment.So far so good, but how does this work in practice? What are the advantages of a crypto-based loyalty programme compared to a traditional one? And how will the average passenger deal with the technicalities of crypto?We talk about this and more in this episode of the podcast…tune in!Hello, Lenny Tom, how are you? Well, right. So we we've got two guests today on the podcast. Let me just briefly introduce you, you are both leading a very interesting project, actually several interesting projects related to aviation. One of them is the Northern Pacific airways project, which I had the chance to attend the launch off recently in California, it's going to be an airline connecting the US and Asia via Alaska. Then you also run an airline in Alaska called Ravn, which was an airline that got relaunched recently, you also are involved in another project in the LA area, which is a commuter airline, with light airplanes that hasn't taken off yet, but it's there in the making. And then another project that I found really interesting that we're going to talk about extensively today, which is called Flycoin, which is basically, as you say, the first blockchain based loyalty program for airlines. Well, not only for airlines, but you're gonna start using it in an airline context. Let's put it this way. But first of all, let me ask you to introduce yourselves and explain who you are and what your background is because you've got a very, very interesting background in aviation and in other areas of the technology industry. So who, what, who wants to start?I'll kick it off first, and then pass it off to Tom. So for everybody in the podcast, this is Lenny Moon. I'm CEO of flycoin. In terms of my career, before business school, I worked for about six years doing both startups as well as venture capitals. So I helped start a softening clinic company, as part of the original founding team back in 2000. And then also was on the investment side, investing in new early stage companies for a couple of years as a venture capitalist. And then after getting my MBA in New York, I became a mergers and acquisitions and m&a investment banker for several years. So I worked in Wall Street, focused primarily on what they call either large cap publicly traded companies or large private equity backed transactions, where I advise companies across a whole spectrum of types of complex transactions. So after several years as an investment banker, I went back into startups, to the startup world. And I was an executive at several startups. And since then, I've essentially held various executive roles, primarily CFO and CEO roles, helping to grow out startups, as well as doing a couple turnarounds. And then back in August of 2021, I joined as CEO of flycoin. And that might be a good segue for Tom to introduce himself, because he's the one that actually brought me into this enterprise. Yeah, indeed.So, Tom, it's your turn.Yeah. Great. Great to be here. Thanks again. So my name is Tom Hsieh. I'm the president of Flycoin. And before starting flycoin had been involved in a couple of airline startups. As you mentioned, way back early in my career, I actually started my career working for JPL, jet propulsion laboratories, for a little while. And then I went to work for what was then an early Internet startup called Earthlink. Earthlink dotnet.Yeah, I've seen it on LinkedIn that that was the very first wave of internet companies. So a very early start in the internet business.Exactly. Yeah. And when I joined the company pretty early on the technical team was just 10 engineers and myself and working out of a comfort dentist's office. And so I grew up the company as VP of engineering. So I helped grow that team from that 10 to about 450. Engineers, nationwide, software engineers and systems engineers, and through our company's IPO. So we were one of the early .com or $1.2 billion IPO. And it was a great ride, being with that company for the first 10 years. When I left that company, I went off and started a number of other businesses and also nonprofits. That's been something that's been very important for, for my wife and our involvement in our community and in the nonprofit space. And then a few years ago and back in 2020, had just launched an urban air mobility service to take people to and from work across track over traffic in LA. That's cool. All right. That's FLOAT. That's right, which stands for “fly over all traffic”. And we had a very, very successful first week after launch, a first week and a half, having started in March of 2020. And then two weeks later, we had to…COVID…Yeah, well, yeah.So you were flying between the different airports in the LA area, right? Well, yeah, most people don't realize that there are 44 or 40 general aviation airports in Southern California. That's a lot. That's I think that's even more than the number of train stations in Southern California. And if you ever, you know, ever been to LA, you know, it's ranked in the top six worst traffic places in the world. And so this was a solution that surprised me that no one had done that before. Yeah, I actually, when I was in San Bernardino for the launch of Northern Pacific, I had a couple of days off. And I drove around the LA area. And yeah, I realized how long the distances can be, even if you're still in the LA area, but you can spend hours every day. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. And then during non COVID seasons, the traffic is even much worse than you would have experienced. I can imagine. Yeah, yeah. So now you are leading this project, flycoin. This is very closely linked to the two airlines, you are also managing northern Pacific airways, and Ravn. But this project is a standalone project. Right? So that's correct. The idea is, it becomes a loyalty program. It's going to be Northern Pacific's and Ravn's loyalty program. But the idea is that it can be adopted by other other airlines, and eventually other partners outside of the airline industry as well outside the travel industry. So what can you tell me about flycoin? What is unique about Flycoin, as a loyalty program is blockchain based, built on ethereum? You know, for people like me that we are, I have to say, I, I follow the news about crypto and all this, but I'm not an expert. I'm kind of a newbie, and trying to make sense of it all, from a technological and from a business point of view, please guide me through the process. I mean, what's unique? And how does it work?Yeah, so I'll start off, and then Tom, feel free to add in, you know, flycoin, you're right exists not just for Ravn or Northern Pacific, but then we already are securing partnerships with companies across the travel hospitality industry, it's just helpful, obviously, that we do have affiliated companies that are airlines that we could see as our initial customers, in terms of Flycoin and rewards programs. In general, the reason why we exist is the rewards, the travel rewards industry hasn't really progressed over the past, you know, in 20-30-40 years, essentially, it acts as some form of program where you receive a discount or you receive, you know, a free ticket. And it's expanded on over the past so many years with additional partnership, partnerships with the issuers to potentially redeem it for products, or maybe you can transfer it to, you know, other partners, such as other hotel companies, or you can go transfer back and forth between, you know, certain sectors. The problem, though, is with that sort of model, you still have limitations, limitations are, the reward itself, still is something that you don't know, the issuer can decide what the conversion rate is. So they can actually depreciate the value if they want. There's also expiration to these rewards, at any point in time to give you a little bit of a heads up, and sometimes they extend it. But then they can also expire the rewards, which means that there's nothing you can really do. Furthermore, when you do have the ability to transfer it, you actually lose value, when you try to transfer, you know, between different entities. So for example, if you have 20,000 miles with some airline, and you try to transfer to your hotel points, typically you're going to take a discount whenever you do that. And what also makes it more difficult is you sometimes have to reach certain thresholds before you can even do anything. So you continue to have these limitations with rewards programs. And what makes it also more limiting is the issuer will decide where you can redeem it, right? We call it a walled garden, they tell you that you could only redeem it for these functions and so on. But now we're sitting here in 2022, where consumers continue to have more options, right, they continue to have more things at their disposal, and especially at a time where cryptocurrency is becoming more well understood within the broader consumer base. It really is a nice intersection because a cryptocurrency is almost a perfect use case for rewards. So now how has it shifted? Well, if cryptocurrency now becomes a reward you can earn, that gets rid of the limitations that were previously there. So now it's a reward that you own. Because it's on the blockchain. It's something that is easily transferable, because it's something that you own, and you can do whatever you want with it. It also has value outside of the ecosystem of the issuer, because eventually we want our token to be tradable on the exchanges. And so this really now creates value for the consumer where the consumer has full optionality with what they have earned as reward. And we think that that is a paradigm shift in terms of how you think about loyalty, that the customer is not forced back into a particular walled garden where they can spend it. But they now actually are rewarded in a good way where they've earned something that's theirs, that they can hold on to, that potentially may even appreciate in value. And they could really use it for whatever they want. They could trade it for cash on exchanges, or they can redeem it with any of our partners.I read the white paper you have on your website. And then it says, there's going to be a limited number of coins issued pre launch. But now I'm going to make a question that possibly all the all the advanced crypto users are going to thing is completely completely stupid question. But what prevents you from issuing more later on of this coin? What the warranty is that there's going to be a stable number that it's going to and that's going to have an effect, of course on the value if there was a limited supply.Yeah, well, the answer to that it's actually written right into the code of the coin itself. So in the code on the you know, that you that's available, the public can read it, it will show that this is a one time event and cryptographically, we were prevented from ever minting any additional coins to this. So there's something in the code where you program it to have just a limited amount of units. I don't know if that's the right wording for it. Yes. But then you issue this amount. And you said that it's not going to be available immediately. You're going to be releasing it progressively over a period of time. How does this work? I mean, what is this coin in the meantime? So you it's been issued, but it hasn't really been released into the market? Again, I might be using words that are not the proper ones. I'm just curious about the mechanism. Like how is this created technically? And how is it stored in the meantime? And how is it released? And who's going to have access to that new supply that is going to be coming into the market at certain points in time? Yeah, so technically, the ways these tokens are created. They're minted, and they're minted on a chain. So if you think you know, Blockchain, this one is on this is minted on the Ethereum blockchain. This is an ERC 20 token. So it means the contract. So you actually write a code, it's called the blockchain contract. And that contract is available for others to read and audit and scan and verify what it says. And our contract is very simple. It just says that 100 million of these tokens are minted and can be ever be minted100 billion tokens. That's correct. And then the value of those tokens is what's going to be varying over time, it's going to be depending on the amount of demand and the and the users it has, the value is going to be what's going to be changing based on just like any market, right? That is true, although for our airlines and our partners initially we are agreeing to set a minimum redemption value of two cents for each each fly token. And so as you know, the token's name is Flycoin, but the ticker symbol is FLY. And so, our airlines will redeem it for two cents each. And our launch partners will also agree to always set the minimum floor of two cents for these tokens.So what does this mean that there's going to be a minimum floor? as a user, what are the implications?So, as a user that means regardless of what the trading value is on exchange, that we are airlines and other launch partners will always redeem fly for at least two cents for fly or the higher up right so if the market value is higher than the redeem at the higher market value.Okay. And then you are already using Flycoin for Ravn, Alaska. Is that right? Or you're planning to do it shortly…So Ravn Alaska has already launched the use of their loyalty program that they are calling Flycoin. But what they're handing out right now is not the tokenized Flycoin. It's just a database of points. And then when we're very soon what we'll do is we'll replace all those points with the actual Flycoin token.Because Flycoin, you say in the website, it's technically, legally, managed by Ravn, right? No, it's actually flycoin. Ravn is just one of the customers. But thank you for clarifying that, because that's actually sometimes that's a confusing element people Flycoin Inc is a separate entity. Ravn is just one of our customers. And to answer your prior question, in terms of who holds that token, it's really the flycoin entity. And our customers whether through our partners, or through, you know, Ravn, Northern Pacific, the other travel hospitality partners, as their customers earn it, and it gets distributed, it leaves in a way, our ownership into the ownership of our customers.Okay. And as a traveler, let's say, I'm just a regular traveler, I fly on Northern Pacific, and I'm entitled to get a number of tokens, I guess, for having flown a sector with the airline. Is it always going to work just like a regular loyalty program where you air miles based on the number of flights that you you make?I think that's the best way to think about it, that for the most part, the way you earn rewards is not going to change. And the only thing that's different is, instead of earning your points, you're going to earn an equivalent dollar amount of FLY, the actual token. So that's probably the best way to think about it, where nothing has really changed, except instead of earning, let's say, you're flying on a landing on “Moon airlines” and you typically earn 11 points. Now you're going to be just earning FLY.And what's going to be the, let's say, the user interface of this, if I am just a regular traveler, that I'm not on blockchain, not knowledgeable…how I'm going to manage this, on a personal level? What sort of tokens will I have, and how can I use them, at the practical level? how are people going to interact with this coin? Because one of the main criticisms of blockchain and cryptocurrency is that it's still kind of quote-unquote, very geeky, and like the normal user, it can be hard to understand how to use it and how to manage it.Well, first, I'm glad that you asked that question, because that's a key point that we want out there is really, you don't have to be crypto savvy. To actually interact with this, you can almost look at it just as a reward, program itself or reward point. And so similar to the way that you currently own your rewards, you would log in to whether it's that partner website, or ideally a Flycoin website, you can see your entire balance. Now where it becomes a little bit more, quote unquote, crypto, is you can start transferring, and if you want to a wallet, to a crypto wallet and from there, ideally, you can trade. But up until that point, you'd be interacting with this in a very similar way that you are currently interacting with your rewards programs.And we'll have to sign up, is it going to be opt in? or every passenger is going to be allocated a number of tokens? What in terms of registration or the sign up?Yes. So that's going to depend on each partner. But for example, for Ravn Alaska, customers are already earning, whenever they fly, they earn, I think seven cents worth of Flycoin for every mile they fly. And that's put into their account so they can use that. You know those flies towards future flights, actually. Many of them are already in the hands of about 250,000 users today, almost almost $7 million worth of FLY tokens have been distributed to Ravn Alaska customers. They're using them to fly today. They don't have to know anything about cryptocurrency. They won't ever need to do any of the geeky stuff.Okay. And then what if, if, let's say you've got a segment of passengers that are really crypto savvy, and they transfer it to their wallets can then transfer that coin to trade flycoin separately on their own with other users? Do they have this ability?Yeah, they will, they will have. The more crypto savvy at this point can actually transfer to a crypto wallet and do whatever they want with it. Because it is there's, I think a similar sort of kind of scenario would be, for people that are currently earning rewards, they just log into that partners account, let's say United Airlines, they log into United Airlines, they see their status, they see the points, the more savvy people within points will go to like points.com on the backend and try to start transferring or trading or figuring out other ways to innovate arbitrage was points. In a similar way, I would kind of say that that's an example of somebody that's more crypto savvy, would then take the points that are the the fly that token that they earn, and then take it to the next level and do some other things that they can through exchanges or trading it.And again, maybe a question that might sound weird, stupid, but what happens if…is there a risk that you run out of tokens? You mentioned that the 100 billion figure…let's say you are super successful, and you get millions of travelers flying with your airlines and with your partners? At what point do you run out of tokens? And then what happens? You need to buy them in the secondary market to keep offering them? Or do you need to stop offering them? What happens?Yeah, so potentially, we could face a situation where we'll have to buy the tokens back from customers to keep offering it to new customers, you can imagine that scenario, but practically, that probably won't happen. Will probably realize with experience that it is more of an asymptotic curve, you know, where as the closer we get to depleting the tokens, the more valuable that token becomes, and so the higher the price. Therefore, the smaller a portion of the token, you know, the smaller fraction of a token you'd have to give out for the same value. And so you end up with a kind of an asymptotic curve where you'd never get to depleting it because as you get closer to running out and get more and more and more valuable.Okay, yeah. So you imagine a world where if the token is, let's say, right now, worth two cents. And then so many years down the road, it's worth $1, you'll be earning less fly 10 years from now, because the exchanges, the exchange rate is much different.You will be changing the let's say the amount of units that are given, but the value would be that would remain constant, the amount of value that the passenger gets In this simplified example, yes, that's correct. What about the tax implications of this? Because I read in some article saying…I'm not sure how in the US are treated, from a tax point of view, coins and crypto coins and, then, frequent flyer miles? I don't know if they have a specific treatment with the IRS. Are they considered money or not? Yeah, it's a very good question. So rewards do fall under kind of a different sort of guidance for IRS purposes. And then crypto falls under different guidance for IRS purposes. The rules are still being kind of worked out. So this is something that we're keeping a very close pulse on to understand the tax implications. Because right now, things are still being, I think, a little vague in terms of the tax treatment for this. So to answer your question, it's something that we're very aware of, but it's hard to speak on what the actual tax implications are right now.One thing I wanted to speak about as well, is that you recently announced a new funding round for Flycoin $33 million funding round. What can you tell me about this? Who are the new investors and what are these 33 million going to be invested in?Yeah, so it's a very exciting announcement for us to come out with a significant seed raise of a little over $33 million. In terms of our investor base, our investor base includes some high net worth individuals, people that are tech entrepreneurs, as well as others that own significant properties, whether it's in sports teams, or other hotel and wine properties. So that's exciting because that provides some additional partnerships as well. We do have other institutional VCs some actual funds as investors to which provides additional validation. In the belief from an institutional level of what we are building at Flycoin in terms of the proceeds. As you discussed a little bit earlier. Some of it will be used intercompany loan to fund a portion of the Pacific spelled out, but it's also the remaining proceeds will be used to build up a Flycoin team, which includes not only resources, personnel engineers, this sort of companies, a lot of good developers, engineers. So if anybody's listening to this podcast and wants to work for fly, please let us know.We can put a link to your website career in the career section, so that people can apply Yeah, we will, we'll do that and follow up with you. And they will then be used to build out the technology platform, the solution of working with our partners, as well as a solution for the end customer meaning those that actually earn fly, providing working to build the app and the website and other functionality that's needed in order to, you know, create a cryptocurrency and eventually really a FinTech company. So that's what we're aggressively building out. Now, we've already had several hires on the engineering side, and continuing to hire on the product development, as well. So it's an exciting time for growth. And we're excited to now build what we're doing. The other portion is we're also securing partnerships, additional partnerships beyond Ravn and Northern Pacific.Yeah, actually, that was my next question: what sort of partnerships are you seeking at this point in time, because that's an important part as well of the expansion from what they read in your website.That's correct. Building the partnerships is extremely important in building out what we like to say, as the flycoin ecosystem, because we really want to get this distributed as widely as possible, as well as increase the utility of it. Because the more partners you have, the more opportunities there are for people to earn and redeem, that provides additional utility. So though we can't necessarily name the the discussions that we're currently in, it's a company's in the broader travel hospitality space, which would include other airlines, hotel companies, and other ancillary sectors that are related to travel hospitality, whether it's food and beverage, you know, buying companies and so on. So we're in the very final phases of some of these wonderful discussions, which would really be beneficial to those that are earning FLY, because it provides an opportunity for them to have additional utility, you know, other places that they can earn and redeem. Yeah, but the other reason why it's important is it creates additional value for the token itself. Where are you physically located in California, or somewhere else?Yeah, so we are, the physical office is headquartered in the Los Angeles metro area, in an area called Pomona, which is a little bit east. But I would say that, given our ties, we have operational presence in LA and all throughout the US. We do have a big remote employee base. That's important for hiring really, top level developers and engineers.Okay, so your you are recruiting not just in the LA area, but just remote as wellAbsolutely. All over the US.That's an important point for people that may be considering. And so basically, that you describe the status you are in, what are the next milestones that we can expect? Any major milestones? Yeah, I'll just mention a few. Some of the milestones are…we will be over the next few months coming out with announcements in terms of additional partnerships, which should excite our community, because that's, each one is in a way a distribution channel, we will also be we're working toward a path toward treatability on the exchanges, the crypto exchanges as well, which will also be some key milestones, because that provides sort of a market value for the actual token. So those are some of the I think, the more simplified version of what the milestones would be,Are there going to be possibilities to exchange that with, let's say, rewards from non crypto loyalty programs? Is there going to be an exchange rate between Flycoin and, I don't know, American Airlines miles or whatever, American Express or another travel operator that has a traditional loyalty program.So you should be part of our strategy to send him topics that we talked about internally! To answer your question, long term, you know, we are thinking through that. Right now. I think in the more immediate term, there would be a couple steps, like you would take fly in exchange for cash, fiat, and then you know, maybe buy points separately, but we are thinking through what it would take to do that more directly.I guess it's complicated to manage all of this. From a technical point of view, I think pretty much Flycoin is ready or almost to go live? Do you have a timeframe for when it's going to be fully operational, fully active and tradable?Yeah, so I think that it's going to still be in phases. In the coming weeks, we are going to provide the functionality where it's going to be tokenized, meaning we can actually transfer the token into people's crypto wallets. And so that'll be I would say, the first phase, the trainability is something that is a full process with the various crypto exchanges. So for that, it's been an ongoing back and forth dialogue, as well as processes and protocols that we're going through. So we can't give a specific timing on that. But we're targeting that it will be within the next four to six months, potentially earlier. But that is the current timeline in the roadmap on that.And what about the Ravn passengers that you said, are already entitled to Flycoin? What are they going to do? How are they getting these tokens? Do they have some escrow accounts where it's deposited in the meantime? How does it work?Yeah, so right now it's just being tracked in his internal database, like reward points with the airline. Once we tokenize them…in the terminology of any of the crypto currencies, we will AirDrop them into their accounts and in that way, they will have access to them.So people that want to learn more about Flycoin, where should they go?For now you can visit our website flycoin.org. Yeah, that's very important, because if you google Flycoin, there's Flycoin.com that is a different company! I think they do ATM Terminals, something like that. So that's a different company than the flycoin we're talking about here, which is Flycoin.orgYou're one step ahead of me, thank you for clarifying! Just gonna clarify that as well. So make sure you go to flycoin.org. But also it has links to our social media channels that are more crypto focused, but I think will be very interesting for people to follow and to learn. So check out the website. Feel free to follow our Twitter account, which is meant earlier on for our initial crypto community. But I think it'll provide a lot of people a good sense of the direction that we're moving toward.Excellent. And before closing today's conversation, I just wanted to ask you about the other airline projects that we mentioned earlier, Northern Pacific Airways. I had the chance to be at the great event you had in San Bernardino presenting the first aircraft and the livery. Is there already, like a timeframe for the launch? Has there been any news on that front?Yeah, so we were still on track hoping to launch this year. In the meantime, we're busy acquiring and preparing additional aircraft like the one you saw in Sn BernardinoAnd Ravn? you relaunched an Alaskan brand, it's not exactly the previous one, because it's just part of the fleet, I think, that you kept, but you are just operating normally, I guess, and connecting different Alaskan destinations with Anchorage?That's right. Ravn Alaska is doing well. It serves 14 Different communities14?Yes, yeah. One four. And it's a crucial part of the transportation infrastructure for the state. And we're glad to be part of that.Yeah, actually, the listeners can not see it. But we are talking on Zoom. And behind you have a very nice photo of Ravn hangar with all the planes, well not all the planes, but a significant portion of the fleet there. So it's a magnificent view! And finally FLOAT. Is it coming back?Well, our hope is to bring FLOAT back when the timing is right. Obviously, it's still not the right time right now, during the pandemic. But Rob McKinney our CEO, he's talking about potentially a 2023 date to bring FLOAT, float shuttle back So we'll see, we'll look and see how, you know, how the economy shifts and how things develop.That's gonna be an interesting one. I'm not sure if there are any other cases of airlines that are serving just one big metro area. I mean, Southern California, but still,it's mainly LA. I don't know if you get all the way to San Diego or something like that. But, but that's quite an interesting concept…All right…So Well, thank you very much. It's been very interesting to learn about all these different projects that you are managing and Litecoin definitely, it's something that I will be following. Because I think it's at the intersection of two major trends that I'm trying to be on top of. Obviously, I'm monitoring the airline industry, but also getting more and more interested by the day on everything that's going on in the crypto world, obviously, nowadays, it's, you know, it's hot! Well, Miquel, thank you for having us. You know, this is fun, and you really provide a nice and calm, relaxing atmosphere to speak. So we look forward to hearing more podcasts from you but also being invited back at some point to speak more about whether it's Northern Pacific, Ravn or Flycoin.Yeah, that would be a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time today, and all the best with your projects! Thank you.

We talk to Melanie Engel, Broker, and Owner of Flamingo Beach Realty in the Northern Pacific area of Costa Rica about where she sees the opportunity and deals in Real Estate in her area.  She tells us about the community in Flamingo and what anyone looking to invest there can expect of their investment.I ask her about which of her listings she is most excited about and where she would invest her own money in Real Estate in Costa Rica.  We discuss her experience building in Costa Rica and advice for anyone looking to build here in Costa Rica.We chat about how much a 2-3 bedroom condo would cost in Flamingo, Tamarindo and Playa del Coco.Guests today:Flamingo Beach Realty: https://www.flamingobeachrealty.com/Melanie Engel: melanie.engel.cr@gmail.com 

Draw your arrows and take aim!  Recent adventures include Terraforming Mars Ares Expedition, Northern Pacific and more!  Legends battle and the heroes cast their best spell: the 8-bit breakdown, on Unmatched, Battle of Legends with brand new Deadpool Expansion!  Gather 'round the campfire as adventurers discuss when the "hype" let them down.  Finally, our adventure on the horizon features a narrative game book that is available for late pledge now... SPACE KRAKEN!