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EP166 Interview With Mark & Simon From Elinchrom UK I sit down with Mark Cheatham and Simon Burfoot from Elinchrom UK to talk about the two words that matter most when you work with light: accuracy and consistency. We dig into flash vs. continuous, shaping light (not just adding it), why reliable gear shortens your workflow, and Elinchrom's new LED 100 C—including evenly filling big softboxes and that handy internal battery. We also wander into AI: threats, tools, and why authenticity still carries the highest value.   Links: Elinchrom UK store/info: https://elinchrom.co.uk/ LED 100 C product page: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-led-100-c Rotalux Deep Octa / strips: https://elinchrom.co.uk/elinchrom-rotalux-deep-octabox-100cm-softbox/ My workshop dates: https://masteringportraitphotography.com/workshops-and-mentoring/ Transcript: Paul: as quite a lot of, you know, I've had a love affair with Elinchrom Lighting for the past 20 something years. In fact, I'm sitting with one of the original secondhand lights I bought from the Flash Center 21 years ago in London. And on top of that, you couldn't ask for a nicer set of guys in the UK to deal with. So I'm sitting here about to talk to Simon and Mark from Elinchrom uk. I'm Paul and this is the Mastering Portrait Photography podcast. Paul: So before we get any further, tell me a little bit about who you are, each of you and the team from Elinchrom UK Mark: After you, Simon. Simon: Thank you very much, mark. Mark: That's fine. Simon: I'm, Simon Burfoot. I have, been in the industry now for longer than I care to think. 35 years almost to the, to the day. Always been in the industry even before I left school because my father was a photographer and a lighting tutor, working for various manufacturers I was always into photography, and when he started the whole lighting journey. I got on it with him, and was learning from a very young age. Did my first wedding at 16 years old. Had a Saturday job which turned into a full-time job in a retail camera shop. By the time I was 18, I was managing my own camera shop, in a little town in the Cotswolds called Cirencester. My dad always told me that to be a photographic rep in the industry, you needed to see it from all angles, to get the experience. So I ended up, working in retail, moving over to a framing company. Finishing off in a prolab, hand printing, wedding photographers pictures, processing E6 and C41, hand correcting big prints for framing for, for customers, which was really interesting and I really enjoyed it. And then ended up working for a company called Leeds Photo Visual, I was a Southwest sales guy for them. Then I moved to KJP before it became, what we know now as Wex, and got all of the customers back that I'd stolen for them for Leeds. And then really sort of started my career progressing through, and then started to work with Elinchrom, on the lighting side. Used Elinchrom way before I started working with them. I like you a bit of a love affair. I'd used lots of different lights and, just loved the quality of the light that the Elinchrom system produced. And that's down to a number of factors that I could bore you with, but it's the quality of the gear, the consistency in terms of color, and exposure. Shooting film was very important to have that consistency because we didn't have Photoshop to help us out afterwards. It was a learning journey, but I, I hit my goal after being a wedding photographer and a portrait photographer in my spare time, working towards getting out on the road, meeting people and being involved in the industry, which I love. And I think it's something that I'm scared of leaving 'cause I dunno anything else. It's a wonderful industry. It has its quirks, its, downfalls at points, but actually it's a really good group of people and everyone kind of, gets on and we all love working with each other. So we're friends rather than colleagues. Paul: I hesitate to ask, given the length of that answer, to cut Simon: You did ask. Mark: I know. Paul: a short story Mark: was wondering if I was gonna get a go. Paul: I was waiting to get to end into the podcast and I was about to sign off. Mark: So, hi Mark Cheatham, sales director for Elinchrom uk this is where it gets a little bit scary because me and Simon have probably known each other for 10 years, yet our journeys in the industry are remarkably similar. I went to college, did photography, left college, went to work at commercial photographers and hand printers. I was a hand printer, mainly black and white, anything from six by four to eight foot by four foot panels, which are horrible when you're deving in a dish. But we did it. Paul: To the generation now, deving in a dish doesn't mean anything. Simon: No, it doesn't. Mark: And, and when you're doing a eight foot by four foot print and you've got it, you're wearing most of the chemistry. You went home stinking every night. I was working in retail. As a Saturday lad and then got promoted from the Saturday lad to the manager and went to run a camera shop in a little town in the Lake District called Kendall. I stayed there for nine years. I left there, went on the road working for a brand called Olympus, where I did 10 years, I moved to Pentax, which became Rico Pentax. I did 10 years there. I've been in the industry all my life. Like Simon, I love the industry. I did go out the industry for 18 months where I went into the wonderful world of high end commercial vr, selling to blue light military, that sort of thing. And then came back. One of the, original members of Elinchrom uk. I don't do as much photography as Simon I take photos every day, probably too many looking at my Apple storage. I do shoot and I like shooting now and again, but I'm not a constant shooter like you guys i'm not a professional shooter, but when you spent 30 odd years in the industry, and part of that, I basically run the, the medium format business for Pentax. So 645D, 645Z. Yeah, it was a great time. I love the industry and, everything about it. So, yeah, that's it Paul: Obviously both of you at some point put your heads together and decided Elinchrom UK was the future. What triggered that and why do you think gimme your sales pitch for Elinchrom for a moment and then we can discuss the various merits. Simon: The sales pitch for Elinchrom is fairly straightforward. It's a nice, affordable system that does exactly what most photographers would like. We sell a lot of our modifiers, so soft boxes and things like that to other users, of Prophoto, Broncolor. Anybody else? Because actually the quality of the light that comes out the front of our diffusion material and our specular surfaces on the soft boxes is, is a lot, lot more superior than, than most. A lot more superior. A lot more Mark: A lot more superior. Paul: more superior. Simon: I'm trying to Paul: Superior. Simon: It's superior. And I think Paul, you'll agree, Paul: it's a lot more, Simon: You've used different manufacturers over the years and, I think the quality of light speaks for itself. As a photographer I want consistency. Beautiful light and the effects that the Elinchrom system gives me, I've tried other soft boxes. If you want a big contrasty, not so kind light, then use a cheaper soft box. If I've got a big tattoo guy full of piercings you're gonna put some contrasty light to create some ambience. Maybe the system for that isn't good enough, but for your standard portrait photographer in a studio, I don't think you can beat the light. Mark: I think the two key words for Elinchrom products are accuracy and consistency. And that's what, as a portrait photographer, you should be striving for, you don't want your equipment to lengthen your workflow or make your job harder in post-production. If you're using Elinchrom lights with Elinchrom soft boxes or Elinchrom modifiers, you know that you're gonna get accuracy and consistency. Which generally makes your job easier. Paul: I think there's a bit that neither of you, I don't think you've quite covered, and it's the bit of the puzzle that makes you want to use whatever is the tool of your trade. I mean, I worked with musicians, I grew up around orchestras. Watching people who utterly adore the instrument that's in their hand. It makes 'em wanna play it. If you own the instrument that you love to play, whether it's a drum kit a trumpet a violin or a piano, you will play it and get the very best out of your talent with it. It's just a joy to pick it up and use it for all the little tiny things I think it's the bit you've missed in your descriptions of it is the utter passion that people that use it have for it. Mark: I think one of the things I learned from my time in retail, which was obviously going back, a long way, even before digital cameras One of the things I learned from retail, I was in retail long before digital cameras, retail was a busier time. People would come and genuinely ask for advice. So yes, someone would come in and what's the best camera for this? Or what's the best camera for that? Honestly there is still no answer to that. All the kit was good then all the kit is good now. You might get four or five different SLRs out. And the one they'd pick at the end was the one that they felt most comfortable with and had the best connection with. When you are using something every day, every other day, however it might be, it becomes part of you. I'm a F1 fan, if you love the world of F1, you know that an F1 car, the driver doesn't sit in an F1 car, they become part of the F1 car. When you are using the same equipment day in, day out, you don't have to think about what button to press, what dial to to turn. You do it. And that, I think that's the difference between using something you genuinely love and get on with and using something because that's what you've got. And maybe that's a difference you genuinely love and get on with Elinchrom lights. So yes, they're given amazing output and I know there's, little things that you'd love to see improved on them, but that's not the light output. Paul: But the thing is, I mean, I've never, I've never heard the F1 analogy, but it's not a bad one. When you talk about these drivers and their cars and you are right, they're sort of symbiotic, so let's talk a little bit about why we use flash. So from the photographers listening who are just setting out, and that's an awful lot of our audience. I think broadly speaking, there are two roads or three roads, if you include available light if you're a portrait photographer. So there's available light. There's continuous light, and then there's strobes flash or whatever you wanna call it. Of course, there's, hybrid modeling and all sorts of things, but those are broadly the three ways that you're gonna light your scene or your subject. Why flash? What is it about that instantaneous pulse of light from a xenon tube that so appealing to photographers? Simon: I think there's a few reasons. The available light is lovely if you can control it, and by that I mean knowing how to use your camera, and control the ambient light. My experience of using available light, if you do it wrong, it can be quite flat and uninteresting. If you've got a bright, hot, sunny day, it can be harder to control than if it's a nice overcast day. But then the overcast day will provide you with some nice soft, flat lighting. Continuous light is obviously got its uses and there's a lot of people out there using it because what they see is what they get. The way I look at continuous light is you are adding to the ambient light, adding more daylight to the daylight you've already got, which isn't a problem, but you need to control that light onto the subject to make the subject look more interesting. So a no shadow, a chin shadow to show that that subject is three dimensional. There are very big limitations with LED because generally it's very unshapable. By that I mean the light is a very linear light. Light travels in straight lines anyway, but with a flash, we can shape the light, and that's why there's different shapes and sizes of modifiers, but it's very difficult to shape correctly -an LED array, the flash for me, gives me creativity. So with my flash, I get a sharper image to start with. I can put the shadows and the light exactly where I want and use the edge of a massive soft box, rather than the center if I'm using a flash gun or a constant light. It allows me to choose how much or how little contrast I put through that light, to create different dynamics in the image. It allows me to be more creative. I can kill the ambient light with flash rather than adding to it. I can change how much ambient I bring into my flash exposure. I've got a lot more control, and I'm not talking about TTL, I'm talking about full manual control of using the modifier, the flash, and me telling the camera what I want it to do, rather than the camera telling me what it thinks is right. Which generally 99% of the time is wrong. It's given me a beautiful, average exposure, but if I wanted to kill the sun behind the subject, well it's not gonna do that. It's gonna give me an average of everything. Whereas Flash will just give me that extra opportunity to be a lot more creative and have a lot more control over my picture. I've got quite a big saying in my workshops. I think a decent flash image is an image where it looks like flash wasn't used. As a flash photographer, Paul, I expect you probably agree with me, anyone can take a flash image. The control of light is important because anybody can light an image, but to light the subject within the image and control the environmental constraints, is the key to it and the most technical part of it. Mark: You've got to take your camera off P for professional to do that. You've got to turn it off p for professional and get it in manual mode. And that gives you the control Paul: Well, you say that, We have to at some point. Address the fact that AI is not just coming, it's sitting here in our studios all the time, and we are only a heartbeat away from P for professional, meaning AI analyzed and creating magic. I don't doubt for a minute. I mean, right now you're right, but not Mark: Well, at some point it will be integrated into the camera Paul: Of course it will. Mark: If you use an iPhone or any other phone, you know, we are using AI as phone photographers, your snapshots. You take your kids, your dogs, whatever they are highly modified images. Paul: Yeah. But in a lot of the modern cameras, there's AI behind the scenes, for instance, on the focusing Mark: Yeah. Paul: While we've, we are on that, we were on that thread. Let's put us back on that thread for a second. What's coming down the line with, all lighting and camera craft with ai. What are you guys seeing that maybe we're not Simon: in terms of flash technology or light technology? Paul: Alright. I mean, so I mean there's, I guess there's two angles, isn't there? What are the lights gonna do that use ai? What are the controllers gonna do, that uses ai, but more importantly, how will it hold its own in a world where I can hit a button and say, I want rebrand lighting on that face. I can do that today. Mark: Yeah. Simon: I'm not sure the lighting industry is anywhere near producing anything that is gonna give what a piece of software can give, because there's a lot more factors involved. There's what size light it is, what position that light is in, how high that light is, how low that light is. And I think the software we've all heard and played with Evoto we were talking about earlier, I was very skeptical and dubious about it to start with as everybody would be. I'm a Photoshop Lightroom user, have been for, many years. And I did some editing, in EEvoto with my five free credits to start with, three edits in, I bought some credits because I thought, actually this is very, very good. I'll never use it for lighting i'd like to think I can get that right myself. However, if somebody gives you a, a very flat image of a family outside and say, well, could you make this better for me? Well, guess what? I can do whatever you like to it. Is it gonna attack the photographer that's trying to earn a living? I think there's always a need for people to take real photographs and family photographs. I think as photographers, we need to embrace it as an aid to speed up our workflow. I don't think it will fully take over the art of photography because it's a different thing. It's not your work. It's a computer generated AI piece of work in my head. Therefore, who's responsible for that image? Who owns the copyright to that image? We deal with photographers all the time who literally point a camera, take a picture and spend three hours editing it and tell everyone that, look at this. The software's really good and it's made you look good. I think AI is capable of doing that to an extent. In five years time, we'll look back at Evoto today and what it's producing and we'll think cracky. That was awful. It's like when you watch a high definition movie from the late 1990s, you look at it and it was amazing at the time, but you look at it now and you think, crikey, look at the quality of it. I dunno if we're that far ahead where we won't get to that point. The quality is there. I mean, how much better can you go than 4K, eight K minus, all that kind of stuff. I'm unsure, but I don't think the AI side of it. Is applicable to flash at this moment in time? I don't know. Mark: I think you're right. To look at the whole, photography in general. If you are a social photographer, family photographer, whatever it might be, you are genuinely capturing that moment in time that can't be replaced. If you are a product photographer, that's a different matter. I think there's more of a threat. I think I might be right in saying. I was looking, I think I saw it on, LinkedIn. There is a fashion brand in the UK at the moment that their entire catalog of clothing has been shot without models. When you look at it on the website, there's models in it. They shoot the clothing on mannequins and then everything else is AI generated they've been developing their own AI platform now for a number of years. Does the person care Who's buying a dress for 30 quid? Probably not, but if you are photographing somebody's wedding, graduation, some, you know, a genuine moment in someone's life, I think it'd be really wrong to use any sort of AI other than a little bit of post-production, which we know is now quite standard for many people in the industry. Paul: Yeah, the curiosity for me is I suspect as an industry, Guess just released a full AI model advert in, Vogue. Declared as AI generated an ai agency created it. Everything about it is ai. There's no real photography involved except in the learning side of it. And that's a logical extension of the fact we've been Photoshopping to such a degree that the end product no longer related to the input. And we've been doing that 25 years. I started on Photoshop version one, whatever that was, 30 years More than 33. So we've kind of worked our way into a corner where the only way out of it is to continue. There's no backtracking now. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think the damage to the industry though, or the worry for the industry, I think you're both right. I think if you can feel it, touch it, be there, there will always be that importance. In fact, the provenance of authenticity. Is the high value ticket item now, Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: because you, everything else is synthetic, you can trust nothing. We are literally probably months away from 90% of social media being generated by ai. AI is both the consumer and the generator of almost everything online Mark: Absolutely. Paul: Goodness knows where we go. You certainly can't trust anything you read. You can't trust anything you see, so authenticity, face-to-face will become, I think a high value item. Yeah. Mark: Yeah. Paul: I think one problem for us as an industry in terms of what the damage might be is that all those people that photograph nameless products or create books, you know, use photography and then compositing for, let's say a novel that's gone, stock libraries that's gone because they're faceless. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: there doesn't have to be authentic. A designer can type in half a dozen keywords. Into an AI engine and get what he needs. If he doesn't get what he needs, he does it again. All of those photographers who currently own Kit are gonna look around with what do we do now? And so for those of us who specialize in weddings and portraits and family events, our market stands every chance of being diluted, which has the knock on effect of all of us having to keep an eye on AI to stay ahead of all competitors, which has the next knock on effect, that we're all gonna lean into ai, which begs the question, what happens after Because that's what happened in the Photoshop world. You know, I'm kind of, I mean, genuinely cur, and this will be a running theme on the podcast forever, is kind of prodding it and taking barometer readings as to where are we going? Mark: Yeah. I mean, who's more at threat at the moment from this technology? Is it the photographer or is it the retouch? You know, we do forget that there are retouchers That is their, they're not photographers. Paul: I don't forget. They email me 3, 4, 5 times a day. Mark: a Simon: day, Mark: You know, a highly skilled retouch isn't cheap. They've honed their craft for many years using whatever software product they prefer to use. I think they're the ones at risk now more so than the photographer. And I think we sort of lose sight of that. Looking at it from a photographer's point of view, there is a whole industry behind photography that actually is being affected more so than you guys at the moment. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: Yeah, I think there's truth in that, but. It's not really important. Of course, it's really important to all of those people, but this is the digital revolution that we went through as film photographers, and probably what the Daguerreotype generators went through when Fox Tolbert invented the first transfer. Negative. You know, they are, there are always these epochs in our industry and it wipes out entire skillset. You know, I mean, when we went to digital before then, like you, I could dev in a tank. Yeah. You know, and really liked it. I like I see, I suspect I just like the solitude, Mark: the dark, Paul: red light in the dark Mark: yeah. Paul: Nobody will come in. Not now. Go away. Yeah. All that kind of stuff. But of course those skills have gone, has as, have access to the equipment. I think we're there again, this feels like to me a huge transition in the industry and for those who want to keep up, AI is the keeping up whether you like it or not. Mark: Yeah. And if you don't like it, we've seen it, we're in the middle of a massive resurgence in film photography, which is great for the industry, great for the retail industry, great for the film manufacturers, chemical manufacturers, everything. You know, simon, myself, you, you, we, we, our earliest photography, whether we were shooting with flash, natural light, we were film shooters and that planes back. And what digital did, from a camera point of view, is make it easier and more accessible for less skilled people. But it's true. You know, if you shot with a digital camera now that's got a dynamic range of 15 stops, you actually don't even need to have your exposure, that accurate Go and shoot with a slide film that's got dynamic range of less than one stop and see how good you are. It has made it easier. The technology, it will always make it. Easier, but it opens up new doors, it opens up new avenues to skilled people as well as unskilled people. If you want, I'm using the word unskilled again, I'm not being, a blanket phrase, but it's true. You can pick up a digital camera now and get results that same person shooting with a slide film 20 years ago would not get add software to that post-production, everything else. It's an industry that we've seen so many changes in over the 30 odd years that we've been in it, Simon: been Mark: continue Simon: at times. It exciting Mark: The dawn of digital photography to the masses. was amazing. I was working for Olympus at the time when digital really took off and for Olympus it was amazing. They made some amazing products. We did quite well out of it and people started enjoying photography that maybe hadn't enjoyed photography before. You know, people might laugh at, you know, you, you, you're at a wedding, you're shooting a really nice wedding pool and there's always a couple of guests there which have got equipment as good as yours. Better, better than yours. Yeah. Got Simon: jobs and they can afford it. Mark: They've got proper jobs. Their pitches aren't going to be as good as yours. They're the ones laughing at everyone shooting on their phone because they've spent six grand on their new. Camera. But if shooting on a phone gets people into photography and then next year they buy a camera and two years later they upgrade their camera and it gets them into the hobby of photography? That's great for everyone. Hobbyists are as essential, as professional photographers to the industry. In fact, to keep the manufacturers going, probably more so Simon: the hobbyists are a massive part. Even if they go out and spend six or seven or 8,000 pounds on a camera because they think it's gonna make them a better photographer. Who knows in two years time with the AI side, maybe it will. That old saying, Hey Mr, that's a nice camera. I bet it takes great pictures, may become true. We have people on the lighting courses, the workshops we run, the people I train and they're asking me, okay, what sessions are we gonna use? And I'm saying, okay, well we're gonna be a hundred ISO at 125th, F 5.6. Okay, well if I point my camera at the subject, it's telling me, yeah, but you need to put it onto manual. And you see the color drain out their faces. You've got a 6,000 pound camera and you've never taken it off 'P'. Mark: True story. Simon: And we see this all the time. It's like the whole TTL strobe manual flash system. The camera's telling you what it wants to show you, but that maybe is not what you want. There are people out there that will spend a fortune on equipment but actually you could take just as good a picture with a much smaller, cheaper device with an nice bit of glass on the front if you know what you're doing. And that goes back to what Mark was saying about shooting film and slide film and digital today. Paul: I, mean, you know, I don't want this to be an echo chamber, and so what I am really interested in though, is the way that AI will change what flash photography does. I'm curious as to where we are headed in that, specific vertical. How is AI going to help and influence our ability to create great lip photography using flash? Mark: I think, Paul: I love the fact the two guys side and looked at each other. Mark: I, Simon: it's a difficult question to answer. Mark: physical light, Simon: is a difficult question to answer because if you're Mark: talking about the physical delivery of light. Simon: Not gonna change. Mark: Now, The only thing I can even compare it to, if you think about how the light is delivered, is what's the nearest thing? What's gotta change? Modern headlamps on cars, going back to cars again, you know, a modern car are using these LED arrays and they will switch on and switch off different LEDs depending on the conditions in front of them. Anti dazzle, all this sort of stuff. You know, the modern expensive headlamp is an amazing technical piece of kit. It's not just one ball, but it's hundreds in some cases of little arrays. Will that come into flash? I don't know. Will you just be able to put a soft box in front of someone and it will shape the light in the future using a massive array. Right? I dunno it, Simon: there's been many companies tested these arrays, in terms of LED Flash, And I think to be honest, that's probably the nearest it's gonna get to an AI point of view is this LED Flash. Now there's an argument to say, what is flash if I walk into a living room and flick the light on, on off really quickly, is that a flash? Mark: No, that's a folock in Paul: me Mark: turn, big lights off. Paul: Yeah. Mark: So Simon: it, you, you might be able to get these arrays to flush on and off. But LED technology, in terms of how it works, it's quite slow. It's a diode, it takes a while for it to get to its correct brightness and it takes a while for it to turn off. To try and get an LED. To work as a flash. It, it's not an explosion in a gas field tube. It's a a, a lighter emitting diode that is, is coming on and turning off again. Will AI help that? Due to the nature of its design, I don't think it can. Mark: Me and s aren't invented an AI flash anytime soon by the looks of, we're Simon: it's very secret. Mark: We're just putting everyone off Paul, Simon: It's alright. Mark: just so they don't think Simon: Yeah, Mark: Oh, it's gonna be too much hard work and we'll sort it. Paul: It's definitely coming. I don't doubt for a minute that this is all coming because there's no one not looking at anything Simon: that makes perfect sense. Paul: Right now there's an explosion of invention because everybody's trying to find an angle on everything. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: The guys I feel the most for are the guys who spent millions, , on these big LED film backdrop walls. Simon: Yep. Mark: So you can Paul: a car onto a flight sim, rack, and then film the whole lot in front of an LED wall. Well, it was great. And there was a market for people filming those backdrops, and now of course that's all AI generated in the LED, but that's only today's technology. Tomorrow's is, you don't need the LED wall. That's here today. VEO3 and Flow already, I mean, I had to play with one the other day for one of our lighting diagrams and it animated the whole thing. Absolute genius. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: I still generated the original diagram. Mark: Yeah, Paul: Yeah, that's useful. There's some skill in there still for now, but, you gotta face the music that anything that isn't, I can touch it and prod it. AI's gonna do it. Mark: Absolutely. If you've ever seen the series Mandalorian go and watch the making of the Mandalorian and they are using those big LED walls, that is their backdrop. Yeah. And it's amazing how fast they shift from, you know, they can, they don't need to build a set. Yeah. They shift from scene to scene. Paul: Well, aI is now building the scenes. But tomorrow they won't need the LED wall. 'cause AI will put it in behind the actors. Mark: Yeah. Say after Paul: that you won't need the actors because they're being forced to sign away the rights so that AI can be used. And even those that are standing their ground and saying no, well, the actors saying Yes. Are the ones being hired. You know, in the end, AI is gonna touch all of it. And so I mean, it's things like, imagine walking into a studio. Let's ignore the LED thing for a minute, by the way, that's a temporary argument, Simon: I know you're talking about. Paul: about today's, Simon: You're about the. Mark: days Paul: LEDs, Simon: we're in, We're in very, very interesting times and. I'm excited for the future. I'm excited for the new generation of photographers that are coming in to see how they work with what happens. We've gone from fully analog to me selling IMACON drum scanners that were digitizing negatives and all the five four sheet almost a shoot of properties for an estate agent were all digitized on an hassle blood scanner. And then the digital camera comes out and you start using it. It was a Kodak camera, I think the first SLRI used, Paul: Yeah. Simon: and you get the results back and you think, oh my God, it looks like it's come out of a practica MTL five B. Mark: But Simon: then suddenly the technology just changes and changes and changes and suddenly it's running away with itself and where we are today. I mean, I, I didn't like digital to start with. It was too. It was too digital. It was too sharp. It didn't have the feel of film, but do you know what? We get used to it and the files that my digital mirrorless camera provide now and my Fuji GFX medium format are absolutely stunning. But the first thing I do is turn the sharpness down because they are generally over sharp. For a lovely, beautifully lit portrait or whatever that anybody takes, it just needs knocking back a bit. We were speaking about this earlier, I did some comparison edits from what I'd done manually in Photoshop to the Evoto. Do you know what the pre-selected edits are? Great. If you not the slider back from 10 to about six, you're there or thereabouts? More is not always good. Mark: I think when it comes to imagery in our daily lives, the one thing that drives what we expect to see is TV and most people's TVs, everything's turned up to a hundred. The color, the contrast, that was a bit of a shock originally from the film to digital, crossover. Everything went from being relatively natural to way over the top Just getting back to AI and how it's gonna affect people like you and people that we work with day to day. I don't think we should be worried about that. We should be worried about the images we see on the news, not what we're seeing, hanging on people's walls and how they're gonna be affected by ai. That generally does affect everyone's daily life. Paul: Yeah, Mark: Yeah. But what Paul: people now ask me, for instance, I've photographed a couple head shots yesterday, and the one person had not ironed her blouse. And her first question was, can we sort that out in post? So this is the knock on effect people are becoming aware of what's possible. What's that? Nothing. Know, and the, the smooth clothing button in Evoto will get me quite a long way down that road and saves somebody picking up an eye and randomly, it's not me, it's now actually more work for me 'cause I shouldn't have to do it. But, you know, this is my point about the knock on effect. Our worlds are different. So I didn't really intend this to be just a great sort of circular conversation about AI cars and, future technology. It was more, I dunno, we ended up down there anyway. Simon: We went down a rabbit hole. Mark: A Paul: rabbit hole. Yeah Mark: was quite an interesting one. Simon: And I'm sorry if you've wasted your entire journey to work and we Paul: Yeah. Simon: Alright. It wasn't intended to be like that. Paul: I think it's a debate that we need to be having and there needs to be more discussion about it. Certainly for anybody that has a voice in the industry and people are listening to it because right now it might be a toddler of a technology, but it's growing faster than people realize. There is now a point in the written word online where AI is generating more than real people are generating, and AI is learning that. So AI is reading its own output. That's now beginning to happen in imagery and film and music. Simon: Well, even in Google results, you type in anything to a Google search bar. When it comes back to the results, the first section at the top is the AI generated version. And you know what, it's generally Paul: Yep. Simon: good and Paul: turn off all the rest of it now. So it's only ai. Simon: Not quite brave enough for that yet. No, not me. Mark: In terms Paul: of SEO for instance, you now need to tune it for large language models. You need to be giving. Google the LLM information you want it to learn so that you become part of that section on a website. And it, you know, this is where we are and it's happening at such a speed, every day I am learning something new about something else that's arriving. And I think TV and film is probably slightly ahead of the photography industry Mark: Yeah. Paul: The pressures on the costs are so big, Simon: Yes. Paul: Whereas the cost differential, I'm predicting our costs will actually go up, not down. Whereas in TV and film, the cost will come down dramatically. Mark: Absolutely. Simon: They are a horrifically high level anyway. That's Paul: I'm not disputing that, but I watched a demo of some new stuff online recently and they had a talking head and they literally typed in relight that with a kiss light here, hairlight there, Rembrandt variation on the front. And they did it off a flat picture and they can move the lights around as if you are moving lights. Yes. And that's there today. So that's coming our way too. And I still think the people who understand how to see light will have an advantage because you'll know when you've typed these words in that you've got it about right. It doesn't change the fact that it's going to be increasingly synthetic. The moment in the middle of it is real. We may well be asked to relight things, re clothe things that's already happening. Simon: Yeah. Paul: We get, can you just fill in my hairline? That's a fairly common one. Just removing a mole. Or removing two inches round a waist. This, we've been doing that forever. Simon: Mm-hmm. Paul: And so now it'll be done with keyword generation rather than, photoshop necessarily. Simon: I think you'll always have the people that embrace this, we can't ignore it as you rightly say. It's not going away. It's gonna get bigger, it's gonna feature more in our lives. I think there's gonna be three sets of people. It's gonna be the people like us generally on a daily basis. We're photographers or we're artists. We enjoy what we do. I enjoy correctly lighting somebody with the correct modifier properties to match light quality to get the best look and feel and the ambience of that image. And I enjoy the process of putting that together and then seeing the end result afterwards. I suppose that makes me an artist in, in, in loose terms. I think, you know, as, as, as a photographer, we are artists. You've then got another generation that are finding shortcuts. They're doing some of the job with their camera. They're making their image from an AI point of view. Does that make up an artist? I suppose it still does because they're creating their own art, but they have no interest 'cause they have no enjoyment in making that picture as good as it can be before you even hit the shutter. And then I think you've got other people, and us to an extent where you do what you need to do, you enjoy the process, you look at the images, and then you just finely tune it with a bit of AI or Photoshop retouching so I think there are different sets of people that will use AI to their advantage or completely ignore it. Mark: Yeah. I think you're right. And I think it comes down, I'm going to use another analogy here, you, you know, let's say you enjoy cooking. If you enjoy cooking, you're creating something. What's the alternative? You get a microwave meal. Well, Paul Simon: and Sarah do. Mark: No. Paul: Sarah does. Simon: We can't afford waitress. Mark: You might spend months creating your perfect risotto. You've got it right. You love it. Everyone else loves it. You share it around all your friends. Brilliant. Or you go to Waitrose, you buy one, put it three minutes in the microwave and it's done. That's yer AI I Imagery, isn't it? It's a microwave meal. Paul: There's a lot of microwave meals out there. And not that many people cook their own stuff and certainly not as many as used to. And there's a lesson. Simon: Is, Mark: but also, Simon: things have become easier Mark: there Simon: you go. Mark: I think what we also forget in the photographic industry and take the industry as a whole, and this is something I've experienced in the, in the working for manufacturers in that photography itself is, is a, is a huge hobby. There's lots of hobbyist photographers, but there's actually more people that do photography as part of another hobby, birdwatching, aviation, all that sort of thing. Anything, you know, the photography isn't the hobby, it's the birds that are the hobby, but they take photographs of, it's the planes that are the hobby, but they take photographs. They're the ones that actually keep the industry going and then they expand into other industries. They come on one of our workshops. You know, that's something that we're still and Simon still Absolutely. And yourself, educating photographers to do it right, to practice using the gear the right way, but the theory of it and getting it right. If anything that brings more people into wanting to learn to cook better, Paul: you Mark: have more chefs rather than people using microwave meals. Education's just so important. And when it comes to lighting, I wasn't competent in using flash. I'm still not, but having sat through Simon's course and other people's courses now for hundreds of times, I can light a scene sometimes, people are still gonna be hungry for education. I think some wills, some won't. If you wanna go and get that microwave risotto go and microwave u risotto. But there's always gonna be people that wanna learn how to do it properly, wanna learn from scratch, wanna learn the art of it. Creators and in a creative industry, we've got to embrace those people and bring more people into it and ensure there's more people on that journey of learning and upskilling and trying to do it properly. Um, and yes, if they use whatever technology at whatever stage in their journey, if they're getting enjoyment from it, what's it matter? Paul: Excellent. Mark: What a fine Paul: concluding statement. If they got enjoyment outta it. Yeah. Whatever. Excellent. Thank you, Mark, for your summing up. Simon: In conclusion, Paul: did that just come out your nose? What on earth. Mark: What Paul: what you can't see, dear Listener is the fact that Mark just spat his water everywhere, laughing at Si. It's been an interesting podcast. Anyway, I'm gonna drag this back onto topic for fear of it dissolving into three blokes having a pint. Mark: I think we should go for one. Simon: I think, Paul: I think we should know as well. Having said that with this conversation, maybe not. I was gonna ask you a little bit about, 'cause we've talked about strobes and the beauty of strobes, but of course Elinchrom still is more than that, and you've just launched a new LED light, so I know you like Strobe Simon. Now talk about the continuous light that also Elinchrom is producing. Simon: We have launched the Elinchrom LED 100 C. Those familiar with our Elinchrom One and Three OCF camera Flash system. It's basically a smaller unit, but still uses the OCF adapter. Elinchrom have put a lot of time into this. They've been looking at LED technology for many years, and I've been to the factory in Switzerland and seen different LED arrays being tested. The problem we had with LEDs is every single LED was different and put out a different color temperature. We're now manufacturing LEDs in batches, where they can all be matched. They all come from the same serial number batch. And the different colors of LED as well, 15 years ago, blue LEDs weren't even possible. You couldn't make a blue LED every other color, but not blue for some unknown reason. They've got the colors right now, they've got full RGB spectrum, which is perfectly accurate a 95 or 97 CRI index light. It's a true hundred watts, of light as well. From tosin through to past daylight and fully controllable like the CRO flash system in very accurate nth degrees. The LED array in the front of the, the LEDA hundred is one of the first shapeable, fully shapeable, LED arrays that I've come across and I've looked at lots. By shapeable, I mean you put it into a soft box, of any size and it's not gonna give you a hotspot in the middle, or it's not gonna light the first 12 inches of the middle of the soft box and leave the rest dark. I remember when we got the first LD and Mark got it before me And he said, I've put it onto a 70 centimeter soft box. And he said, I've taken a picture to the front. Look at this. And it was perfectly even from edge to edge. When I got it, I stuck it onto a 1 3 5 centimeter soft box and did the same and was absolutely blown away by how even it was from edge to edge. When I got my light meter out, if you remember what one of those is, uh, it, uh, it gave me a third of a stop different from the center to the outside edge. Now for an LED, that's brilliant. I mean, that's decent for a flash, but for an LED it's generally unheard of. So you can make the LED as big as you like. It's got all the special effects that some of the cheaper Chinese ones have got because people use that kind of thing. Apparently I have no idea what for. But it sits on its own in a market where there are very cheap and cheerful LEDs, that kind of do a job. And very expensive high-end LEDs that do a completely different job for the photographer that's gone hybrid and does a bit of shooting, but does a bit of video work. So, going into a solicitor's or an accountant's office where they want head shots, but also want a bit of talking head video for the MD or the CEO explaining about his company on the website. It's perfect. You can up the ISO and use the modeling lamp in generally the threes, the fives, the ones that we've got, the LEDs are brilliant. But actually the LED 100 will give you all your modifier that you've taken with you, you can use those. It's very small and light, with its own built-in battery and it will give you a very nice low iso. Talking head interview with a lovely big light source. And I've proved the point of how well it works and how nice it is at the price point it sits in. But it is our first journey into it. There will be others come in and there'll be an app control for it. And I think from an LED point of view, you're gonna say, I would say this, but actually it's one of the nicer ones I've used. And when you get yours, you can tell people exactly the same. Paul: Trust me, I will. Simon: Yes. Mark: I think Paul: very excited about it. Mark: I think the beauty of it as well is it's got an inbuilt battery. It'll give you up to 45 minutes on a full charge. You can plug it in and run it off the mains directly through the USB socket as well. But it means it's a truly portable light source. 45 minutes at a hundred watt and it's rated at a hundred watt actual light output. It's seems far in excess of that. When you actually, Simon: we had a photographer the other day who used it and he's used to using sort of 3, 2 50, 300 watt LEDs and he said put them side by side at full power. They were virtually comparable. Paul: That is certainly true, or in my case by lots. Simon: I seem to be surrounded Paul: by Elinchrom kit, Which is all good. So for anybody who's interested in buying one of these things, where'd you get them? How much are they? Simon: The LED itself, the singlehead unit is 499 inc VAT. If you want one with a charger, which sounds ridiculous, but there's always people who say, well, I don't want the charger. You can have one with a charger for 50 quid extra. So 549. The twin kit is just less than a thousand quid with chargers. And it comes in a very nice portable carry bag to, to carry them around in. Um, and, uh, yeah, available from all good photographic retailers, and, Ellen crom.co uk. Paul: Very good. So just to remind you beautiful people listening to this podcast, we only ever feature people and products, at least like this one where I've said, put a sales pitch in because I use it. It's only ever been about what we use here at the studio. I hate the idea of just being a renta-voice. You it. Mark: bought it. Paul: Yeah. That's true. You guys sold it to me. Mark: Yeah, Simon: if I gave you anything you'd tell everyone it was great. So if you buy it, no, I've bought Paul: Yeah. And then became an ambassador for you. As with everything here, I put my money where my mouth is, we will use it. We do use it. I'm really interested in the little LED light because I could have done with that the other night. It would've been perfect for a very particular need. So yes, I can highly recommend Elinchrom Fives and Threes if you're on a different system. The Rotalux, system of modifier is the best on the planet. Quick to set up, quick to take down. More importantly, the light that comes off them is just beautiful, whether it's a Godox, whether it's on a ProPhoto, which it was for me, or whether if you've really got your common sense about you on the front of an Elinchrom. And on that happy note and back to where we started, which is about lighting, I'm gonna say thanks to the guys. They came to the studio to fix a problem but it's always lovely to have them as guests here. Thank you, mark. Thank you Simon. Most importantly, you Elinchrom for creating Kit is just an absolute joy to use. If you've enjoyed the podcast, please head over to all your other episodes. Please subscribe and whatever is your podcast, play of choice, whether it's iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, or a other. After you head, if you head across to masteringportraitphotography.com the spiritual home of this, particular, podcast, I will put in the show notes all the little bits of detail and where to get these things. I'll get some links off the guys as to where to look for the kit. Thank you both. I dunno when I'll be seeing you again. I suspect it will be the Convention in January if I know the way these things go. Simon: We're not gonna get invited back, are we? Mark: Probably not. Enough. Paul: And I'm gonna get a mop and clean up that water. You've just sprayed all over the floor. What is going on? Simon: wish we'd video. That was a funny sun Mark: I just didn't expect it and never usually that sort of funny and quick, Simon: It's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Paul: On that happy note, whatever else is going on in your lives, be kind to yourself. Take care.

“I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon” (Philippians 2:19-24). In our text for today, Paul is doing something very practical. He is commending to the church in Philippi one of his co-workers in the gospel, a young man named Timothy, in anticipation of his visit, and the hope that Paul himself will also eventually return to them. But Paul's commendation of Timothy isn't only practical. It is an indication of the ways in which Timothy serves as an example to the church of the kinds of things Paul has been exhorting them toward in the first part of his letter. Paul had encouraged the believers to look “not only to their own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:3-4). In our text for today, he speaks of Timothy as showing “genuine concern for [the church's] welfare.” As we have seen repeatedly, Paul emphasizes the importance of relationships among believers as key to demonstrating the gospel message of grace. Paul also indicates that the Philippian church is aware of Timothy's character in the context of his relationship to Paul, which he compares to a son with his father. Again, think of earlier in Philippians 2 and the way that Jesus is described as obedient to the will of his Father, being humbled and then exalted. Paul's description of Timothy as a son is an indication of Timothy's own Christ-like character. So Paul sends Timothy with encouragement and, in doing so, invites the Philippian church to welcome him with gratitude and graciousness and to imitate his example. He identifies himself with Timothy, speaking of him as a co-labourer. While he hopes he can visit the community again one day, he entrusts their welfare to Timothy in the event he cannot.  This kind of sending and receiving is part of the way that churches continue to do kingdom work today. It's one of the ways we embody the mission of God that we are committed to as a church.  Immanuel has its own relationships with people it sends and receives, including various Faith Promise and missionary partners we believe are advancing the kingdom alongside us, but in other contexts. As a church committed to this work, we have a similar responsibility to Paul: To send these people with encouragement, and to cheerfully and prayerfully receive their reports about the work we have commissioned them to do. We are called to identify ourselves with them as co-labourers, and with the local and global church communities to which we send them, whether or not (like Paul) we get a chance to visit ourselves. We are one body, all of us together, and to tangibly live that out is part of the commitment a sending and supporting church makes.  So when is the last time you prayed for or intentionally encouraged those this church has committed to sending and receiving, or the communities to which you have sent them? Perhaps consider doing so today. This is part of the missional task God has given to the church, and I can speak from personal experience about how meaningful it is to receive this kind of support as a missional worker. And, as Paul himself anticipates, you may find yourself cheered by this effort too! So as you journey on, go with the blessing of God: May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing; at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.  

In this amuse bouche episode, you'll learn what Seared: Stories From The Stove is all about and who the hell is running this kitchen-slash-podcast. This short intro will give you a run-down on what to expect from this new and unique podcast. Yes, there are over 5 million podcasts out there, but none are like this one. So sit down, dig in, and nourish yourself in all different ways. Bon appétit,Paul To find out more about working with me, go to the website to find out more about how life and creativity coaching can work for you.You can also find me on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.Watch the episode on YouTube as well! You can drop me a comment or question at: paul@paulsilvacoaching.com

This is the big one!   Today, we put some Bitcoin (1,432,047 Satoshis to be precise) in the hands of kids. It's theirs, they own it, and we don't have any say in how they save it or spend it.   I'll not spoil the results here, but I do have some thankyous to give.    The Artists and their Parents  Bowdog Jr; Charlotte; Jasper; Evie; Harriet; Niels; Regan; India; Luna; Archer; Sabine; Frankie; Sena; Bellemy; Claudia; Samuel; and, Ava.    The Judges  Our kids    Those who kindly donated.   With a special mention to:  Scott, Mallory and Charlotte from www.shamory.com  HaggisHodl and AnAverageSalmon whose generosity kicked this off    The Inspiration  Pixel and Paul    To see the winning entries, go to:  https://bitcoin-first.com/kids-art-competition/  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! In this episode, I'd like to tell you about America's actual First Thanksgiving. In the spring of 1618, four gentlemen met in London, England, to negotiate the formation of a new company, The Berkeley Company, and to start a town and plantation in the colony of Virginia. They had received a grant from King James I for 8,000 acres there. On September 16, 1619, at 8:00 in the morning, the “Good Ship Margaret” set sail. The vessel weighed 47 tons and was 35 feet long and carried 55 souls, Captain John Woodlief, 19 crew members, and 35 settlers. The Margaret arrived at the Chesapeake bay on November 28, 1619, which was on the Lord's day. They proceeded up the James river and finally dropped anchor at their destination on December 4, 1619. Back in England, The Berkeley Company provided a list of 10 instructions. The very first instruction was upon landing that they give a prayer of Thanksgiving for their safe voyage and to do so annually and perpetually thereafter. As soon as they disembarked the Margaret onto the Berkely Hundred they immediately were called to prayer by Captain Woodlief, who proclaimed: “We ordain that the day of our ship's arrival at the place assigned for the plantation in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” America's first Thanksgiving occurred one year and 17 days before the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts and almost 2 years before the pilgrims held a 3-day Harvest Feast, commonly considered to be the first Thanksgiving. But in Virginia, the annual day of thanksgiving was strictly a religious observance, dedicated to prayer. It was a solemn affair, not a harvest feast. When Christ instituted the new covenant, he initiated it by first giving thanks, which in Greek is "eucharist." This was not a harvest party at which Christ or the disciples made merry. No, this was a ceremonial institution of Christ's sacrificial offering for the salvation of mankind. Christ's voluntary sacrifice was neither sweet nor sensual. The bitter cup of death did not pass From Him. And though His death brought forth salvation, for some it brings forth condemnation. What exactly does all this have to do with Thanksgiving? Well, hopefully, it will help us reorient our minds so that we may truly understand how and in what context God wishes to receive our thanksgiving. As he is loath to receive offerings marred by sin and sensuality, so we must strive to offer thanks to Him in purity, which is wrought through the fire of tribulation. Thus, in all things, we can truly give thanks because according to St. Paul: To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. (Titus 1:15) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepodvigpod/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thepodvigpod/support

#SecurityConfidential #DarkRhinoSecurity Paul is an experienced Cybersecurity executive with many skills, including being an expert on Cloud Computing. He has worked as an information security leader for Truist, Head of Cloud Security for SunTrust, and Security Architecture for Capital One. He is also a contributor to CIO Review and most recently in IDGs CIO Think Tank Roadmap report on Setting the Multi-Cloud Agenda. 00:00 Introduction 01:58 Pauls Background 13:24 Learning to take risks with your job 17:31 Advice for your career 19:00 More about Paul's background 26:00 Clear Program 28:04 Malware and Bad Actors 37:20 True Stories 42:05 Microsoft, Google, Amazon 45:10 The Cloud 47:00 Top 5 tips for Companies to look at when mobilizing 49:50 Asset managers 51:45 Connecting with Paul To learn more about Paul visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulhamman/ To learn more about Dark Rhino Security visit https://www.darkrhinosecurity.com SOCIAL MEDIA: Stay connected with us on our social media pages where we'll give you snippets, alerts for new podcasts, and even behind the scenes of our studio! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/securityconfidential/ Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Dark-Rhino-Security-Inc-105978998396396/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/darkrhinosec LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dark-rhino-security Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs6R-jX06_TDlFrnv-uyy0w/videos

A reminder: We recently dropped the first installment of a new series called Offline Recs, a monthly compendium of the movies, music, books, meals, and other cultural ephemera that we can't stop thinking about — regardless of where they fit in the news cycle. We're making the March edition available to everyone, but if you sign up for a paid subscription, we'll be sending Offline Recs straight to your inbox every month, along with full pod episodes and other goodies. Yes, you heard that right: Paid subscribers get access to the full version of every episode, including this one. Especially in the internet age, it's hard to say who an artist's story belongs to. Musicians can communicate with audiences directly, fan armies rise up to defend their faves against narratives they don't agree with, and even if we haven't met the artist in person, we all have tales of the ways their music has touched our lives. But when veteran music journalist Paul Cantor set out to write a biography of the late, great rapper Mac Miller, an artist whose generosity and infectious kindness were as palpable on record as they were in his day-to-day life, he came up against this question in the starkest way possible. After the artist's tragic passing from an accidental drug overdose in 2018, at the age of 26, Paul secured the participation of a number of Mac's closest friends and collaborators. But the musician's family was wary about a writer with no direct personal connection to Mac writing a book about him. In fact, they circulated a statement on social media telling people not to talk to Paul: “To artists, management, & friends: There is a writer doing a Mac Miller biography that some you have been approached about or will be,” they wrote on Instagram. “This book is not authorized/approved by Mac's family or Estate. We are not participating and prefer you don't either if you personally knew Malcolm.” In time, the family made it clear that they would be supporting a competing biography instead: The Book of Mac: Remembering Mac Miller, by journalist Donna-Claire Chesman, which they designated as the only authorized biography of two. But after years of research, hundreds of hours of interviews, and what Cantor's publicist described to us as a “massive bullying campaign” that included death threats (you can read his article about the experience here), his book, Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac Miller, finally hit bookstores this year. It's an exhaustive, strikingly intimate account at the places, people, societal forces, and personal challenges that shaped Mac's singular view of the world — even down to the history of the neighborhood in Pittsburgh where he grew up. On today's episode, we discuss the controversy's impact on Paul's experiences reporting and writing the book, and the role of the biographer in a world where artists have unprecedented control over their own narrative. We also take a look at what Mac's story can tell us about the fraught relationship between mental health and music, and how Mac's evolution as an artist and public figure reflected wider changes in technology, the music industry, and public discourse in the late aughts and the tens. Purchase Most Dope: The Extraordinary Life of Mac MillerRead more by Paul “The story of Combat Jack, hip-hop's flagship podcaster”“Fans were surprised to get more Gang Starr. They almost didn't.” “Suge Knight reflects on Doggystyle 20 years later”“Arular 10 years later: M.I.A. reflects on globe-shaking debut”“Roc of Ages: Dame Dash's Second Chance at a Second Act” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for visiting ArtisanEnglish.jp today. This episode was published on Saturday, March 26, 2022. The idiom we're delving into today is ‘the wolf is at the door.' The idiom the wolf is at the door means you are facing financial ruin or at least economically challenging times. You can read along as you listen by clicking HERE or by copying and pasting this link into your preferred browser: https://links.artisanenglish.jp/TheWolfIsAtTheDoor Try a Weekly Thursday Quiz from ArtisanEnglish.jp. You listen to the podcast episodes. Now check to see if you learned from what you heard. Visit ArtisanEnglish.jp and go to the Weekly Quizzes page. https://links.artisanenglish.jp/Quiz Below are four terms from today's episode that may have been new for you. Breadwinner: A breadwinner is a person who brings home a salary to their family. If a family is a two-income family, then both parents are breadwinners.https://links.artisanenglish.jp/Breadwinner Catalyst: In chemistry, a catalyst speeds up chemical reactions without itself being changed. Events that cause significant change are also catalysts. https://links.artisanenglish.jp/Catalyst Fiasco: A fiasco is a complete and utter failure. Not only is a fiasco a failure, but it is a humiliating and stupid one. https://links.artisanenglish.jp/Fiasco Rob Peter to pay Paul: To rob Peter to pay Paul means to take money from one person or thing and give it to another. You take on one debt so you can pay off another. https://b.link/RobPeterToPayPaul --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/artisanenglishjp/message

KBP 026 - What are you doing with that gift? “All I need is one mic.” - Nas “If your gift is serving others, serve them well.” - Paul “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given.” - Jesus Thanks for joining us for another episode of the #KeepBreathingPodcast! We hope it has been an encouragement to you. If it has, please share it with others, and leave a rating and review if wherever you listen allows that. Don't forget to check out our sponsors https://anchor.fm and https://newsponsor.org. One dollar a day can bring tangible hope and change the trajectory of a child's life forever! If you have questions or comments, email us at whygoalone@gmail.com. 3.17.21

KBP 026 - What are you doing with that gift? “All I need is one mic.” - Nas “If your gift is serving others, serve them well.” - Paul “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given.” - Jesus Thanks for joining us for another episode of the #KeepBreathingPodcast! We hope it has been an encouragement to you. If it has, please share it with others, and leave a rating and review if wherever you listen allows that. Don't forget to check out our sponsors https://anchor.fm and https://newsponsor.org. One dollar a day can bring tangible hope and change the trajectory of a child's life forever! If you have questions or comments, email us at whygoalone@gmail.com. 3.17.21 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Intro (1 min) Lebert & Paul: Happy Saturday everybody! You are currently tuned into another episode of Thoughts From A Counselor. We are your hosts Lebert Lester III, Paul Singleton II, and today we are excited to introduce our newest guest. Rather than us talking for these wonderful guests, we’ll toss the microphone to them so they can introduce themselves Paul: Who are we? (2 min) Two Black counselors in training who are bridging the gap between what they were taught, what they know, and what they think they know. All through understanding the world by recognizing the world is still being formed. Paul pass to Lebert to introduce the topic Episode topic: Anime and You. How Would Shonen Depict YOU Part 1: Perceptions and Experiences with anime (Lebert) Question 1: How did you get into anime? I’m sure between all of us we have seen a good amount. (insert guests name), would you like to kick it off? (Paul) Question 2: Now that we are discussing anime, Were there any anime characters you identified within particular? More specifically, how do those characters speak to your identity? (Lebert) Many casual fans like how anime brings “lost” or “misunderstood” souls together. It is their escape from whatever issues they may be dealing with and even a teacher to some. What thoughts and experiences have the anime you enjoy helped you navigate? Part 2: Representation in anime/animation Play before question 1:18-3:41 Black Representation in Anime https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAyIy3bEIZk by-Sistah Punk (Paul) One of the common terms in anime is ganbatte. It means, "Do your best." Characters say it because they want to make sure that everyone does their best, works together, and works hard. I like this concept because to me it embraces the concept of persistence. Bringing their team together making them into a cohesive group. Which leads to order and outcomes. However when we discuss the progression of black and brown representation in anime we seem to still be behind or misinformed. (Paul ) With that in mind, What do you think about the fact that anime character archetypes tend to be recycled (i.e. main characters having blue eyes and blonde hair, not being Black, women rarely being the lead, etc)? Was that a barrier to engagement for you? (Lebert ) Are there examples of animes where you feel like characters were misrepresented or even stereotyped? In what ways have you seen common themes in this way (Paul) Outside of anime fan culture at conventions like Otakon, Comic-Con, etc do you feel social media has affected anime and how people view it? Skip to next section? We’re at 1 hour Part 3: Fuuuuu-sion-ha!!!!: Intersecting Anime with identity (Lebert) Did your enjoyment of anime ever conflict with your identity? By that, we mean the way folk expected someone like you to consume media (ex. “Why would a woman enjoy anime”) (Lebert) Some people say they don't think about the race of anime characters since it's not live-action. How do you think that concept influences people's perceptions of themselves and the world around them? 1` (Paul) To you, are there parallels between anime/Japanese culture and your own cultural identity? Paul-Lead by Example: Where we highlight those doing good work, or who did good work Close

The Frogtown Walking Tour is an audio tour of St. Paul Minnesota's most culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, Frogtown. Each audio episode shines a spotlight on a Frogtown business or organization. This episode focuses on the Safe City Project, an organization that has developed an organic way of helping at-risk young adults on a case-by-case basis, that includes a diverse demographic of cultures and identities. Safe City Project is located at 561 EDMUND ave in St. Paul, 55013. The Frogtown Walking tour is made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Music produced and provided by DialekMusic”. Follow him on Instagram @dialekmusic . Production by Sounds Powerful Productions. The Frogtown Walking Tour is aired on WFNU Frogtown Community Radio at 94.1FM in St. Paul To see photos and learn more about the more of St. Paul’s Frogtown Walking Tour, visit www.FrogtownTunedin.org

The Frogtown Walking Tour is an audio tour of St. Paul Minnesota's most culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, Frogtown. Each audio episode shines a spotlight on a Frogtown business or organization. This episode spotlights Mr. Deli, a deli inside Speedy Market at Thomas and Dale Streets in St. Paul. Mr. Deli has occupied The Speedy Market since the summer of 2019. Mr. Deli makes traditional mediterranean food as well as American favorites such as chicken wings. And fresh Sambosas are made daily! Mr. Deli is located at 589 Dale Street in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Frogtown Walking tour is made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Music produced and provided by DialekMusic”. Follow him on Instagram @dialekmusic . Production by Sounds Powerful Productions. The Frogtown Walking Tour is aired on WFNU Frogtown Community Radio at 94.1FM in St. Paul To see photos and learn more about the more of St. Paul’s Frogtown Walking Tour, visit FrogtownTunedin.org

The Frogtown Walking Tour is an audio tour of St. Paul Minnesota's most culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, Frogtown. Each audio episode shines a spotlight on a Frogtown business or organization. Kolap Restaurant is a family-owned restaurant featuring authentic Cambodian cuisine. The restaurant was established by Sarun and his wife, Sopheang, in October 2003. Sarun and Sopheang were both born in Cambodia and fled the country during the Khmer Rouge genocide. They each lived in refugee camps for several years before moving to the United States. After many years of owning an auto mechanic shop, Sarun’s Auto Repair, the couple opened Kolap restaurant. Kolap is located a t601 Dale Street N in St. Paul, MN. The Frogtown Walking tour is made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Music produced and provided by DialekMusic”. Follow him on Instagram @dialekmusic . Production by Sounds Powerful Productions. The Frogtown Walking Tour is aired on WFNU Frogtown Community Radio at 94.1FM in St. Paul To see photos and learn more about the more of St. Paul’s Frogtown Walking Tour, visit www.FrogtownTunedin.org

The Frogtown Walking Tour is an audio tour of St. Paul Minnesota's most culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, Frogtown. Each audio episode shines a spotlight on a Frogtown business or organization. This episode spotlights Heritage Tea House, a full-service restaurant, hosting entertainment and cultural events for the Twin Cities. They feature over 20 flavors of loose leaf tea and serve a full Soul food menu with a healthy twist. Heritage Tea House is a family owned business that honors and celebrates the history and heritage of the African American community of Minnesota. Heritage Tea House is located at 360 University Ave W #103, St Paul, MN. The Frogtown Walking tour is made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Music produced and provided by DialekMusic”. Follow him on Instagram @dialekmusic . Production by Sounds Powerful Productions. The Frogtown Walking Tour is aired on WFNU Frogtown Community Radio at 94.1FM in St. Paul To see photos and learn more about the more of St. Paul’s Frogtown Walking Tour, visit www.FrogtownTunedin.org

The Frogtown Walking Tour is an audio tour of St. Paul Minnesota's most culturally and economically diverse neighborhood, Frogtown. Each audio episode shines a spotlight on a Frogtown business or organization. This episode spotlights the history of Frogtown's Western Sculpture Park. Now, a popular place for festivals and music gatherings, this land has belonged to the Dakota people for hundreds of years, ox-cart traders once occupied the land trading furs and meats, the land then became part of the St. Paul's booming African-American community and business district, Rondo. During the construction of interstate I-94, in the 1960's the park fell into disrepair after the Rondo neighborhood was torn apart. In an effort to revitalize the neighborhood, in the 1990's St. Paul Public Art hired artists to create interactive art pieces in Western Park and developed art programs for youth. The park is open to the public and is now thriving. Western Sculpture Park is located at 387 Marion Street in St. Paul. The Frogtown Walking tour is made possible by a grant from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Music produced and provided by DialekMusic”. Follow him on Instagram @dialekmusic . Production by Sounds Powerful Productions. The Frogtown Walking Tour is aired on WFNU Frogtown Community Radio at 94.1FM in St. Paul To see photos and learn more about the more of St. Paul’s Frogtown Walking Tour, visit FrogtownTunedin.org

The State Department is known as the agency that solves conflicts with words but a closer look reveals that it’s much more connected to war than most of us think. By examining the State Department’s funding for 2018, discover the State Department’s role in regime changes past, current, and future. In this episode, you’ll also get an introduction to the National Endowment for Democracy, a scandalous organization with a noble sounding name. Mike Glaser joins Jen for the Thank You’s. View the updated Omnibus Please Support Congressional Dish - Quick Links Click here to contribute a lump sum or set up a monthly contribution via PayPal Click here to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Use your bank’s online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North Number 4576 Crestview, FL 32536 Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Additional Reading Article: It's time for a coup in Venezuela by Jose R. Cardenas, Foreign Policy, June 5, 2018. Opinion: Venezuela needs a new government after rigged election keep socialist criminal Maduro in power by Roger F. Noriega, Fox News, May 23, 2018. Opinion: Venezuela's sham election by The Editorial Board, The New York Times, May 21, 2018. Report: Trump bans purchase of Venezuelan debt in new sanctions by John Paul Rathbone, Financial Times, May 21, 2018. Article and Video: Pompeo vows U.S., Mideast allies will 'crush' Iranian operatives around the world by Carol Morello, The Washington Post, May 21, 2018. Article: Venezuaela's Maduro re-elected amid outcry over vote by Luc Cohen and Andreina Aponte, Reuters, May 20, 2018. Opinion: It's time to hasten Maduro's exit from power by Marco Rubio, CNN, May 16, 2018. Letter: 34 organizations oppose rescission of Complex Crises Fund, FCNL, May 14, 2018. Report: Egypt population surge must be met with job growth, IMF says by Ahmed Feteha, Bloomberg, May 6, 2018. Opinion: A new hope for NGOs in Egypt by Andrew Miller, The Hill, April 23, 2018. Article: John Bolton is cleaning at the National Security Council by Eliza Relman, Business Insider, April 12, 2018. Opinion: The observer view: The west's ill-founded support for Sisi and his brutal regime, The Guardian, April 2, 2018. Article: John ("Bomb Iran") Bolton, the new warmonger in the White House by Robin Wright, The New Yorker, March 23, 2018. Report: State Dept. announces $1B in weapons sales to Saudi Arabia by Ellen Mitchell, The Hill, March 22, 2018. Report: Here's how many Americans don't have access to a 401(k) plan by Emmie Martin, CNBC, March 12, 2018. Report: Egypt's IMF program: Assessing the political economy challenges by Bessma Momani, Brookings, January 30, 2018. Article: Egypt: Time to entrench growth and make it more inclusive, IMF, January 23, 2018. Report: Arab Republic of Egypt : 2017 Article IV Consultation, Second Review Under the Extended Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility, and Request for Modification of Performance Criteria-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Arab Republic of Egypt, International Monetary Fund, January 22, 2018. Article: Beyond the Iran nuclear deal by John Bolton, WSJ, January 15, 2018. Article: Allison's goal: Keep Summit Point humming by Tim Cook, The Journal, December 11, 2017. Interview: An interview with Carl Gershman '65, President of the National Endowment for Democracy by Adrianne Owings, The Politic, November 20, 2017. Working Paper: Household wealth trends in the United States, 1962 to 2016: Has middle class wealth recovered? by Edward N. Wolff, The National Bureau of Economic Research, November 2017. Article: Millions of Americans are left out of the stock market boom by Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Money, October 20, 2017. Article: Egypt's Sisi meets Kushner after U.S. holds back aid by Ahmed Aboulenein, Reuters, August 23, 2017. Article/Video: Trump alarms Venezuela with talk of a 'military option' by The New York Times, August 12, 2017. Article: Why is Egypt's new NGO law controversial? by Farah Najjar, Aljazeera, May 31, 2017. Video: Construction progress on the new Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC), U.S. Department of State, April 1, 2017. Article: An actual American war criminal may become our second-ranking diplomat by Eric Alterman, The Nation, February 2, 2017. Report: National Endowment for Democracy is first 'undesirable' NGO banned in Russia by Alec Luhn, The Guardian, July 28, 2015. Article: Did State Dept. mislead Congress about findings in an OMB report? This lawmaker says so. by Colby Itkowitz, The Washington Post, May 12, 2015. Report: Two years after Benghazi, State battles lawmakers over training site for agents by Ben Kamisar, The Hill, April 12, 2015. Article: To stop Iran's bomb, bomb Iran by John R. Bolton, The New York Times, March 26, 2015. Article: Price to avoid another Benghazi? House leaders question $461 million training center by Josh Siegel, The Daily Signal, June 25, 2014. Report: CIA admits role in 1953 Iranian coup by Saeed Kamali and Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, August 19, 2013. Article: Egyptian military ousts Morsi, suspends constitution by Abigail Hauslohner, William Booth, and Sharaf al-Hourani, The Washington Post, July 3, 2013. Report: McCain's rules on lobbying face test by Matthew Mosk and Jeffrey H. Bimbaum, The Washington Post, May 23, 2008. Article: Bush aims to raise whose budget? by Brendan Koerner, Slate, January 22, 2004. Article: The networks of "democratic" interference by Thierry Meyssan, Voltairenet, January 22, 2004. Article: Venezuala coup linked to Bush team by Ed Vulliamy, The Guardian, April 21, 2002. Article: Venezuela gets big I.M.F credit, backing market reforms by Paul Lewis, The New York Times, July 13, 1996. Resources Archive.org: National Endowment for Democracy: Form 990 (2002-2015) Campaign Contributions: Maurice Tempelsman Political Campaign Contributions 2016 Election Cycle Congressional Research Service: State, Foreign Operations Appropriations: A Guide to Component Accounts Energy Report: BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2017 Friends Committee on National Legislation: The Complex Crisis Fund International Republican Institute: Board of Directors International Republican Institute: FAQs LinkedIn Profile: Alison Fortier LinkedIn Profile: Judy Black National Democratic Institute: Board of Directors National Democratic Institute: FAQs National Endowment for Democracy: History National Endowment for Democracy: William Blum Paladin Capital Group Info: Michael Steed Publication: Journal of Democracy USAid: Office of Program, Policy, and Management U.S. Department of State: Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) U.S. Government Accountability Office: Retirement Security Reports Website: National Endowment for Democracy Sound Clip Sources Testimony: State Department Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Request, Foreign Affairs Committee, C-SPAN, May 23, 2018. 5:32 Chairman Ed Royce (CA): The National Endowment for Democracy in particular should be strongly supported. Let’s face it: democracy is on the ropes worldwide; supporting it is a moral and strategic good. NED is backing critical programming in Venezuela and Nigeria and worldwide. It is no time to cut this programming. 6:00 Chairman Ed Royce (CA): The administration has rightly provided lethal arms to Ukraine, which remains under siege by Russian proxies. 6:16 Chairman Ed Royce (CA): A far more severe threat is Moscow’s information war. This committee has heard that Moscow’s goal isn’t so much to make Western citizens think this or think that; Russia’s goal is to destroy all confidence in objective thought. By undermining fact-based discussions with lies, our enemies hope to gravely damage Western democracies. The State Department must aggressively counter disinformation through its global engagement center, other means, and with department officials speaking out for the truth. 18:05 Mike Pompeo: On Monday I unveiled a new direction for the president’s Iran strategy. We will apply unprecedented financial pressure; coordinate with our DOD colleagues on deterrents efforts; support the Iranian people, perhaps most importantly; and hold out the prospect for a new deal with Iran. It simply needs to change its behavior. 19:40 Mike Pompeo: This budget request seeks $2.2 billion to help stimulate American economic growth by expanding markets for U.S. investment and ensuring the partner countries can fully participate in the global economy. 19:55 Mike Pompeo: America’s message, a noble one, must be shared with the world at all times. Gentleman Royce, you mentioned the global engagement center. We will work with the 55-plus-million dollars available to cover both its original mission, counter extremism, plus countering state-sponsored disinformation campaigns. We will not tolerate Russian interference in our 2018 elections. Much work has been done; there’s more to do. Rest assured that we will take the appropriate countermeasures in response to the continued Russian efforts. 35:05 Mike Pompeo: First, with respect to Venezuela, we did this morning receive a formal notification that our charged affairs had been PNG’d. We will respond appropriately, certainly reciprocally, but perhaps more than that. Perhaps proportionately. We understand that there’s a second U.S. officer who will also be PNG’d. We’re well aware. We’re watching the Maduro regime continue to engage in destructive behavior for the Venezuelan people. 1:44:35 Paul Rep. Cook (CA): Foreign military sales. A number of the countries are concerned. Peru is— Mike Pompeo: Mm-hmm. Rep. Cook: —I think they’re putting in a plug for the C-130Js. Very, very interested. And so I obviously am very, very concerned. Before, in the past, we’re much more involved in that. And as I said, there’s a lot of countries, most notably China and Iran, that are involved in that. What can we do to increase foreign military sales in that region? Pompeo: I, for one, would advocate for working closely with them and encouraging them to purchase U.S. equipment that fit their country, that was the right tool set for them, for themselves and their security interests. I hope that we can, across the board, streamline the State Department’s process connected with foreign military sales. There’s work to do. Rep. Cook: And I brought up this subject before in regards to NATO. You know, Eastern Europe, they’re still reliant on the parts from Russia. Once you go with another country, you’re going to be dependent on that. So, I think we’ve got to look at that whole situation, or once they buy, they’re going to be buying there for the next five generations or something. Pompeo: Yes, sir. Rep. Cook: Thank you very much. I yield back. 1:54:17 Rep. Scott Perry (PA): And in Bosnia, I’m concerned that there’s an October election and there’s a problem with the constitution. The date and accords were never supposed to last 20 years. They have. But I’m concerned that we’re not headed in the right place there. And I just want to get your thoughts on that, if we’re going to wait to see what happens, if we’re going to take preemptive action. I would hate to see that thing burn down and then—with the United States having troops on the ground there to try and secure the peace, and also if we’re interested in pursuing putting some forces there, again, to thwart Russia, and if that’s a consideration. So, those two topics, sir. Mike Pompeo: So, let me start first with Bosnia. We’re working on the very issue you described. I can’t say a lot about it, but know that the State Department, others, Department of Defense are there. We understand the risk. We think the region’s very important. We know the—and this transitions to your second part of the question which is, we know the Russians are hard at work there destabilizing— Rep. Perry: As are the Turks, right? Pompeo: Yes. And so there are a handful, although admittedly not sufficiently sized levers currently being employed, and we’re working to develop a strategy that puts us in a better place. 1:55:35 Rep. Scott Perry (PA): Mr. Secretary, this is a picture—I’m sure you’re well aware—of an M1 tank manufactured right here in the United States, paid for by the citizens of the United States, with their taxes. That is a Hezbollah flag on it. I am concerned and have written letters regarding the Train and Equip Program in Iraq and the Shia Crescent and the land bridges they’re building across Iraq with the militias there again. Many of the Iranian people want freedom, they want peace, and the don’t agree with the regime that they’re working—living under. But I offered amendments in the NDAA to stop the funding and the Train and Equip Program. One was found in favor; one was not. So we leave it up to you. I want to make sure that you’re aware that this is happening, including militias like Kata’ib Hezbollah, listed as a terrorist organization for killing American soldiers. And if the Congress is unwilling to stop it, I hope you will be willing to stop the funding and the Train and Equip Program in Iraq and funding the Iranian militias that are willing to kill Americans and Jews and everybody across the Crescent that disagrees with them. Mike Pompeo: I’ll say this: it is the case that when we perform Train and Equip functions from time to time, equipment ends up in the hands of the wrong people. It’s a risk inherent in those operations. The question becomes, is the value we’re getting from that training, those exercises, outweigh the risk that that happens? You should know that the U.S. government works diligently to put rules and processes in place to make that picture, or pictures like that, as infrequent as possible. Rep. Perry: I don’t think the Iraqis are complying. 2:03:45 Rep. Ron DeSantis (FL): In terms of what’s going on in Venezuela, there’s a pretty significant Cuban presence of military intelligence. Is that your estimation? Mike Pompeo: I’m sorry. Could you repeat the question? Rep. DeSantis: In terms of the situation in Venezuela, propping up the Maduro regime, is part of that the Cuban military and intelligence apparatus? Pompeo: In this setting I can say there are a great deal of Cuban influence that is working alongside the Maduro regime. Rep. DeSantis: And it’s not helpful to what America wants. Pompeo: It runs adverse to U.S. interests, directly adverse to U.S. interests. 2:05:42 Rep. Ron DeSantis (FL): The Iranian people, obviously, are not happy with this regime. I mean, this is a militant, Islamic regime that’s been really imposed on relatively pro-Western populous, educated middle class. We see the protests. The president has spoken out, I think correctly. What can we do to help, because it seems like the regime cracks down on the social networks, they don’t want there to be a free flow of information, but I think it’s certainly in our interests to empower people who view this regime as illegitimate and not representative of their ideals. Mike Pompeo: It’s long been U.S. deeply held position that we will do the things we can to ensure that peoples all around the world have their human rights, their political rights, their capacity to express themselves. We shouldn’t shy away from that with respect to Iran, either. There are a number of tools that we can use, some of which I’m now responsible for their implementation; others exist other places in government. We should bring them all to bear to allow the Iranian people to be governed by the leaders that they choose. 2:59:44 Rep. Ted Lieu (CA): I’d like to ask you now about Yemen. As you know, the war in Yemen is now the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. Over 22 million people are now at risk of starvation, 8 million don’t know where their next meal will be, and every 10 minutes a child dies of preventable causes. So the U.S. is involved in Yemen in two ways. One is we are striking terrorists. Now, I don’t have a problem with that. But the other way we’re involved is we are assisting the Saudi-led military coalition. And again, I don’t have a problem with assisting our allies, but I do have a problem when that coalition is killing large numbers of civilians through airstrikes that are nowhere near military targets. And as of last September, more than 5,000 civilians have been killed, the majority from these airstrikes. In 2016 the State Department, its lawyers, have wrote a memo saying that because we’re refueling these planes, the Saudi jets, and also providing them other assistance, that U.S. personnel could be considered a co-belligerent and liable for war crimes. I know you just came on as secretary of state. Wonder if you’ve had a chance yet to read that memo. Mike Pompeo: I have not. Rep. Lieu: At your convenience. Pompeo: But I will. I will review the memo. Rep. Lieu: Thank you. I appreciate that. And if you could also make a request to your state department to see if members of Congress could also review that memo in a classified setting as well, that’d be appreciated. Pompeo: Have you—You’ve not had a—I take it you’ve not had a chance to see it. Rep. Lieu: We have not. Pompeo: Yes, sir. Rep. Lieu: So if you could make that request, that’d be great. Pompeo: I will review that, absolutely. Rep. Lieu: Thank you. So, when this conflict first started, we had all these airstrikes from Saudi-led coalition, and what it turned out is that it’s not that they were trying to hit a Houthi vehicle that was moving and they missed and struck a bunch of civilians; what ended up happening is they intentionally struck those civilian targets. So they struck hospitals, weddings, schools, markets, and last year they struck a funeral, that killed hundreds of people, twice. So they hit this funeral, and the jets went around and hit it again a second time. Very precise. That’s why the Obama administration actually stopped a shipment of precision-guided munitions because they realized actually these jets are intending to strike their targets and they were civilians. It’s my understanding that the Trump administration is now going to go forward with that sale. Just wondering why do you think anything has changed in Yemen that would authorize this sale to go forward? Mike Pompeo: So, I’m cursorily familiar with the incidents you’re describing. There are a very rigid set of rules that are thought deeply about in every national security agency that I’ve been part of—at the CIA before, now at State Department—with respect to providing munitions to organizations that are intentionally engaging in civilian targeting. We have a complex set of rules and prohibitions. We would never do that. It is this administration’s judgment that providing the precision-guided munitions actually decreases the risk to civilians. And it’s for that reason we think this actually makes sense, certainly for our allies and partners but also for citizens that are engaged in ordinary activity inside of Yemen. And if I might, this administration’s also taken serious action to do our best to reduce the humanitarian crisis that is Yemen as well. We’ve not resolved it, but we’ve made real progress. Rep. Lieu: Thank you. News Interview: Bolton: 'Our goal should be regime change in Iran', Fox News, January 1, 2018. Video: 2004 State of the Union Address , C-SPAN, January 20, 2004. Congress: Ron Paul: War with Iran has already been decided by the Financial Elite, C-SPAN, January 3, 2012. 1:40:39* Senator Rand Paul (KY): I think many people would admit that the Iran agreement had some deficiencies. One of the largest deficiencies might have been that the $100 billion was released all at once instead of maybe gradually to help modulate behavior over a longer period of time. That being said, the $100 billion that was released was a great inducement to get Iran to sign the agreement. That was a carrot, and that carrot’s gone. They’ve gotten the good thing, and now we want compliance, and now we’re pulling out. And so the question is, what are the next inducements to get them to sign things, or will there not be? I think there’s a question with—there are two possibilities, basically, of what will happen. So you reintroduce the strongest sanctions ever. They either don’t work—that’s one possibility—because they’re unilateral, and some say unilateral sanctions won’t work. Let’s say they don’t work. That means Europe, China, and Russia continue to trade with them, and Iran says, “Well, they’re going to continue to trade with us. We’ll just keep abiding by the agreement.” They don’t develop any more nuclear weapons or technology towards that, but they don’t do anything else that you would like—ballistic missiles, less terrorism. So, really, basically, we don’t get what we want if the sanctions don’t work. Second possibility. Let’s say the sanctions do work. We have enough manipulation of money that flows through us from Europe. Europe does a lot of trade with us. Europe buckles. I think Russia and China still will trade with them, but let’s say Europe buckles. And let’s say it works, and it puts enough pressure on Iran, then there are two possibilities of what Iran does. The first possibility is they say, “Oh, Secretary Pompeo. We love Secretary Pompeo’s 12-point strategy, and we’re going to accept that.” I think that’s unlikely. The second possibility, if the sanctions work and they put enough pressure on them—Iran feels the pressure—is that they restart their nuclear centrifuge program. So those are two possibilities. But what I’d like to do is go through the 12 steps that you’d like Iran to do and sort of explore what these would mean if we thought about them in terms of bigger than Iran. So one of your first things is—and this came up during JCPOA, but nobody really could really get this done—you want Iran to reveal the military dimensions of its nuclear program. Well, let’s substitute Israel for Iran there. Does anybody think Israel’s going to reveal the military dimensions of their nuclear program? Well, you’ll say, “Well, they’re our friend.” Well, yeah, but from Iran’s perspective they see Israel as a rival and a regional rival. Let’s put Saudi Arabia in there. Well, Saudi Arabia revealed the military dimensions of its nuclear program. Well, some might say, “Mm, they don’t really have it.” But I’m guessing there are files over at the CIA that say, “Well, you know what? They have talked to people about purchasing it. Some say they have purchased nuclear technology.” I can guarantee we know that, and you probably can’t admit it, but let’s put Saudi Arabia in there. Are they willing to discuss anything they have done to develop nuclear weapons? So really what you’re asking for is something that they are never going to agree to. Okay? You can try to crip them. It’s sort of like unconditional surrender. You’re not getting that. Let’s move on. Proliferation of ballistic missiles. I don’t like them threatening surrounding countries or us with ballistic missiles. Nobody does. But they respond not just to us; they respond to Saudi Arabia. There’s a 1,000-year-old war over there. There’s a 1,000-year-old religious war over there, and there’s hostility between the two. So when we supply weapons and the Saudis buy ballistic missiles—the Saudis have a ballistic program—they respond to that. The Saudis and their allies, the Gulf sheikhdom, spend eight times more than Iran. So when you tell Iran, “Oh, well, you have to give up your ballistic-missile program,” but you don’t say anything to the Saudis, you think they’re ever going to sign that? They would have to be crippled and starving people in the streets for them ever to agree to give up their ballistic-missile program. Had we kept the Iran agreement with them and you said to the Iranians, “Well, we want less of an arms race over there. We’d like to have peace with Saudi Arabia. Could we get Saudi Arabia to the table, with Iran, to discuss either a freeze of ballistic missiles—” you know, when we went to Russia, we didn’t just succumb and say we’d give up our weapons. Neither did Russia. We did it in parity. We had an agreement. If you leave Saudi Arabia out of it and you leave Israel out of it and you look at Iran in isolation, that’s not the way they perceive it. So, don’t think they’re going to jump at your 12 notions here of what you’d like them to do. Mike Pompeo: Senator, may I make this one point? Paul: Go ahead. Pompeo: I think the example of Saudi Arabia’s a reasonable one. We have told the Saudis exactly what I asked from the Iranians. Paul: To talk about their nuclear program? Pompeo: They have said they want a peaceful nuclear-energy program, and we have told them we want a gold-standard, Section 123 agreement from them, which would not permit them to enrich. That is simply all I’ve asked of Iran as well. Paul: Do we have information that the Saudis have talked to actors in Pakistan and other places about purchasing nuclear technology? Pompeo: Sir, I can’t answer that here this morning. Paul: Which is to say we, in all likelihood, do have that information. And so the thing is it’s a one-way playing field. Unless we understand that there are two big players over there—really, three big players: you got Iran, you got Israel, and you got Saudi Arabia—we want Iran to do things we’re not willing to ask anybody else to do and that we would never do. So— Pompeo: Senator, I disagree with you. I think we ask most nations to do precisely what we’re asking Iran to do. Paul: Let’s move on to another one of your 12 points and the military support for the Houthi rebels. Well, once again, you’re asking them to end it, but you’re not asking the Saudis to end their bombardment of Yemen. I mean, if you look at the humanitarian disaster that is Yemen, it is squarely on the shoulders of the Saudis. And so we’re going to ask the Iranians to quit supplying—they, in all likelihood, are the ones supplying the missiles—and we get reports, and the Defense Department comes and says, “There’ve been 32 missiles strikes in Saudi Arabia.” Well, there’s been, like, 16,000 bombings of Yemen by Saudi Arabia. Nobody even mentions that. We act as if it didn’t even happen. If we are so ignorant that there’re two sides to this war, we’re never getting anywhere. Iran’s not going to stop doing that, but they might if you sat them down with the Saudi Arabians, said, “This arms race doesn’t make sense,” and Saudi Arabia’s willing to sit down at the table. You know, is Saudi Arabia willing to stop, another one’s withdrawal all forces under Iran’s command throughout the entirety of Syria? There were dozens of groups in there, even ISIS, that were getting weapons from Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In fact, one of the leaked emails from WikiLeaks was from Clinton to Podesta, saying, “My goodness. We’ve got to stop Saudi Arabia and Qatar from funding ISIS.” That’s a direct email. They were acknowledging they knew about it, and they were acknowledging it was a problem, but weapons were flowing in to all kinds of radicals in there. So if you want Iran to stop—and I mean, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are 10 times the problem, you know? The whole Syrian war has all of these radical jihadists. The people who attacked us came from Saudi Arabia. We ignore all that, and we lavish them with more bombs. So, really, until we acknowledge there are two sides to the war—or three sides to the war in the Middle East—you’re not going to get the agreement. I think it was naïve to pull out of the Iran agreement, and I think in the end, we’ll be worse off for it. United Nations Address: Jon Bolton U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., June 18, 2006. Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)  

Self-Loathing is rampant in addiction, and it needs to be addressed and curtailed if we want to find long-term recovery.  Self-trash talk is a double whammy when we judge ourselves harshly.  We are both the attacker, and the attacked.  Dr. Kristin Neff’s book “Self Compassion” is summarized. Tori with 16 days since her last drink, shares her story.   SHOW NOTES   [9:25] Paul Introduces Tori.  I am from Gainesville Florida; I have lived here since I was 10.  I am 24 years old.  I am a proud mom to a Chi Wawa named Tucker.  I like to craft, and go to the springs.    [14:39] Paul- What was the deciding factor to listen to the RE podcast, and contact the host? Tori- My DUI was my bottom, the way I portrayed myself to the officer in December of 2015.    [18:35] Paul- I’m going to read one sentence from the email you sent to me. “I don’t drink everyday, I don’t have withdrawals, what I do have is the inability to control myself once I start drinking”.  Talk to me more about that.  Tori- During the workweek I like to keep my head on straight.  The culture in town is to drink, and to binge drink.  I have been doing these bar tours since I was 17.    [24:34] Paul- What has it been like these past 16 days? Tori- I have been preoccupied with work.  I was moving for one of the weekends.  The hardest day was when two of my best friends came over and brought wine.  I didn’t drink, and they didn’t care.  I haven’t had that breakthrough of clarity yet.  I kind of feel that I am in limbo.   [32:58] Paul- To this point, what have you lost to alcohol? Tori- A lot of my dignity, you gain more dignity in sobriety.  Other things I have lost are trust with my parents.  I have lost my sense of safety.  I was taken to the back seat of a car and taken advantage of.  I was beaten up, and had a concussion; I lost a ton of money.      [37:01] Rapid Fire Round What was your worst memory from drinking? The DUI, it affected many more people than myself.  The sexual assault was the worst, but I try not to associate drinking with that. Did you ever have an “oh-shit” moment?  Every single time I do something dumb.  Every time I lose a notch of my dignity.  What’s your plan moving forward? What I have been doing has been working.  I like listening to the podcasts.  Most of my friends probably all have a drinking problem. What parting piece of guidance can you give listeners who are in recovery or thinking about quitting drinking?  Take it one day at a time; realize that you are better than your addiction. You might be an alcoholic if spend the night on a chair that is not yours in front of a house that you do not own or rent.  Or if you choose to not take the advice of the people that care about you the most, and continue with your bad habits.   Resources mentioned in this episode: Self-Compassion Dr. Kristin Neff Dr. Kristin Neff- CMSC website Recovery Elevator Retreat Connect with Cafe RE- Use the promo code Elevator for your first month free Sobriety Tracker iTunes Sobriety Tracker Android Sober Selfies! - Send your Sober Selfie and your Success Story to info@recoveryelevator.com     “We took the elevator down, we gotta take the stairs back up, we can do this!”  

Paul and Jonathan Totty have a conversation about the state of the restoration movement. Paul: To my mind, this is the pernicious influence that we’re combatting: Donald McGavran church-growth philosophy which flows with American utilitarianism, pragmatism, and consumerism to produce the model of the mega-church as the goal which is pervasive—and I don’t mean just the big churches, but even in the little churches, the mega-church is just the goal. Is that your perception? John: Yes, even in smaller congregations in smaller communities, Instead of thinking in terms of how do we best serve the community, how do we grow spiritually,and how do we grow deeper in our knowledge of the Word, the emphasis is still on how we grow numerically. Paul: Right, and how you grow numerically is not through a scholarly engagement with the Old Testament, but a kind of concealed light treatment—a kind of “gospel-light.” But the whole trend in preaching is toward a kind of spectacle and production—as is the music—all bent upon delivering a product. If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Music: Bensound