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Periodically around these parts the audience demand for unpaywalling certain subscribers-only episodes becomes too clamorous to ignore. So it was with Members Only #286, our gripping conversation with celebrated author Sebastian Junger about his harrowing new book, In My Time of Dying.“Please consider making this a non-members only episode,” wrote beloved subscriber James G. “Ditto,” seconded Daniel Cavelli. “I wanna send this to many people.” Similar beseechings from random_academic, Jake O'Finkelstein, [Dr.] Jeff Singer, Lara Merkel Ross, and Oren, who added: “I have a friend who barely survived a massive heart attack last month. And I can think of many others who will be inspired by this incredible conversation.”To our longtime paying customers: We hear you! Please share the episode widely, either as a one-off or a come-on!To our many brand new paying subscribers, brought here by a generous gift, welcome to this weird & wonderful community, and please enjoy full run of the Comments and Chat. And to those seeing/hearing us for the first time, or just flying in the very back of the plane, here is the type of content that can come with a paid subscription. As our dear old D.C. pal Maura Flynn put it, “You make my support increasingly worthwhile and I encourage everyone who can to contribute on the highest possible level. Great stuff, rock on!”You know what to do.•You can always start drinking again•Enough to make ⅔ of these grown men cry•Sebastian's (most recent) near-death experience•Danger in, insight out•Momento Mori•There's nothing so dangerous as a wounded Apache•Don't have an aortic rupture in Truro in July•ICU humor•Hi dad•An existential digression•Better than the one with Will Farrel•Ideological Duolingo•Hot tip from an immigration officer•Old-time antisemitism•Bestselling author sleeps with chainsaw•Sarajevo & the Spanish Civil War•Men's Journal and the good old days of war reporting•The folly of Afghanistan and nation-building on the cheap•Some things are sacred•Investigating near death experiences•Don't test Santa Claus•Etymology of a curse•Atheists, physicists, and consciousness•God of the gaps•Yes, we are literally talking about quantum physics•The science of myth•The reason for the need the idea of heaven•Restrepo•Why we all need a tribe•Things were better when they were bad•If you're not sufficiently terrified, you're not getting it.•A tribute to dangerous jobs•Making meaning in a meaningless universe•A Bostonian goodbyeYouTube link:Follow The Fifth ColumnYouTube: @wethefifthInstagram: @we.the.fifthX: @wethefifthTikTok: @wethefifthFacebook: @thefifthcolumn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe
Periodically on Trust Me, I Know What I'm Doing, we share a SPOTLIGHT conversation and feature brief chats with an individual from the community about a very special topic or a unique endeavor. Now, we live in an era where lessons and memory of the past seems to get crystallized and presented with increasing speed and accuracy. But perhaps now more than ever, it's equally important to actually pause and reflect and synthesize and process our experiences as rich human lessons to share and express to the world. Vinita Gupta is a pioneering entrepreneur and technology leader who made history as the first woman of Indian origin to take a company public in the US. With over 40 years in Silicon Valley, she's a celebrated leader in engineering and innovation, and a staunch advocate for women in tech. To add to that, Vinita is an internationally recognized bridge champion, an artist, and a writer. And she recently wrote about her multifaceted journey in her memoir, The Woman Indeed: Road to IPO, Bridge Tables, and Beyond, which is available everywhere.Big shout out to INDIASPORA for sparking this one, to anyone who is sick of the six seven trend, to the American South Asian Network at americansouthasiannetwork.comIt's Thanksgiving week in the US, so please, find someone in need and consciously practice a random act of kindness!
What would you do differently when starting your business? Periodically you need to evaluate and tune-up some of your processes. Listen as we discuss if you could go back what would you do differently. Do you want to do things differently? Take advantage of a complimentary business strategy session to discover the opportunities in your business! Book a strategy call today! https://actioncoachwi.com/contact-us/ Daily Dose of Business: https://actioncoachwi.com/daily-dose/ Sign up today! 12-Week Management MasterClass: https://actioncoachwi.com/management-training/ Sign Up Today!
Do you really know if your fragrance works? Or are you just hoping for compliments? In this episode, Karen reveals why friends and family are not likely to be giving you the feedback you really need. She shares the essential steps needed to truly evaluate your perfume - like a pro. Karen takes you through setting a clear brief and mastering technical checkpoints. She shares the tools and mindset that separate hobbyists from serious creators. Tune in to transform the way you judge your scents and take yourself one step closer to making fragrances that always deliver. KEY TAKEAWAYS The opinions of friends and family feel good, but their noses can´t be the final word. Often, they are biased and rarely fit your target demographic. Investing time in learning how to professionally evaluate your scents is essential. Without a clear goal for your scent, you'll never know if you've hit the mark, so start every creation by writing out a solid brief and use a checklist to keep your evaluation honest and well organised. Don't just sniff and forget. Track and assess your fragrance over hours to see how it really lasts, evolves, and performs on skin or in the bottle. You need to test for smoothness, strength, longevity, harmony, diffusion and evaluate it in the base and conditions your customer will actually be using your scent in. Sensory fatigue is real. Periodically, step away and reset your nose. Allow plenty of time to evaluate your scents. BEST MOMENTS “Evaluation is a whole separate skill. You could be good at blending, you could be good at putting different materials together, but also still not know whether what you made actually works.” “If you don't know what you were intending to create, you're not going to know whether you hit that mark or not.” “Make yourself a little checklist that you can actually go through every time you create a fragrance, every time you do modifications.” EPISODE RESOURCES In-Person Course - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/studio-classes Fragrance For Skincare Course: https://www.onlineperfumeschool.com/creating-fragrance-for-skincare-products-online-course How to create a scent story episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-and-why-to-create-a-scent-story/id1693602939?i=1000630627487 VALUABLE RESOURCES Getting Started Guide: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/podcast-getting-started-guide Artisan Perfumery Mastermind: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/artisan-perfumery-mastermind Website: https://www.karengilbert.co.uk ABOUT THE HOST Fragrance expert, author, teacher, and speaker; Karen Gilbert runs courses in the UK and online which demystify the secretive world of perfumery in a fun and interactive way. Karen has inspired thousands of students to explore their olfactory sense and create their own personalised fragrances. With extensive product development experience in both the commercial perfumery and the organic skincare industry, Karen is able to offer a unique insight into creating natural and mixed media fragrances for fine fragrance, room scents and skincare/bodycare products using commercial perfumery techniques. Karen is also a certified meditation teacher and has a passion for helping people to create daily rituals that integrate scent with other modalities to shift state and increase your sense of wellbeing. CONTACT DETAILS Website - https://www.karengilbert.co.uk/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/karengilbert/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KarenGilbert.co.uk YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@KarenGilbertPerfumeMaking Email - karen@karengilbert.co.uk This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/
In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I reveal how Palantir leapfrogged the competition with 63% cloud growth, shaking up the Cloud Wars Top 10.Highlights00:14 — Periodically, I do an update on what I call the Cloud Wars Growth Chart. The latest list shows that Palantir — new to the Cloud Wars Top 10 — is number one in fastest growth, by a long shot. Google Cloud, which for the last six quarters had been the fastest growing, is now in the number two spot. Oracle comes in at number three.01:06 — So let's see here: Palantir — look at this — 63% growth to $1.12 billion. Previous quarter growth rate: 48%. Pretty nice when you can go from 48% to 63% in a market like this. So the question is: What is Palantir doing that has allowed them to grow at these dramatically higher growth rates?02:05 — Number two, Google Cloud. 34% growth to $15.2 billion. That's an acceleration from the previous quarter's 32% growth. The third: Oracle. 28% growth, $7.2 billion in cloud revenue — up from 27%. SAP grew 27% in Q3, $6.14 billion. Previously 28%. Then Microsoft grew 26% in cloud revenue to $49.1 billion for the quarter, down from the previous quarter's growth rate of 27%.03:07 — We saw growth throughout the Cloud Wars Top 10. Six of the nine that report their cloud revenue said that they are seeing accelerating growth from one quarter ago to their most recent quarter. So six out of nine growth rates going up, even as they're getting bigger. Now the outlier there is IBM, which does not break out its cloud revenue.03:47 — The other big thing I see coming along is that we are moving into a place now where it's becoming fuzzy between cloud and AI. Because cloud, after all, is the delivery vehicle that has made AI now something accessible to every individual in the world.04:40 — So, we see these sort of intertwined, bonded pairs of cloud and AI. It's been fascinating to watch this. And these growth rates show the market is getting hotter. These companies are growing faster — for the most part — remarkable. So, hats off to Palantir, Google Cloud, Oracle, and all the others on this list. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
Co-hosts Ryan Piansky, a graduate student and patient advocate living with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and eosinophilic asthma, and Holly Knotowicz, a speech-language pathologist living with EoE who serves on APFED's Health Sciences Advisory Council, interview Evan S. Dellon, MD, and Elizabeth T. Jensen, PhD, about a paper they published on predictors of patients receiving no medication for treatment of eosinophilic esophagitis. Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is designed to support, not replace, the relationship between listeners and their healthcare providers. Opinions, information, and recommendations shared in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice. Decisions related to medical care should be made with your healthcare provider. Opinions and views of guests and co-hosts are their own. Key Takeaways: [:52] Co-host Ryan Piansky introduces the episode, brought to you thanks to the support of Education Partners GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda. Ryan introduces co-host Holly Knotowicz. [1:14] Holly introduces today's topic, predictors of not using medication for EoE, and today's guests, Dr. Evan Dellon and Dr. Elizabeth Jensen. [1:29] Dr. Dellon is an Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. He is also the Director of the UNC Center for Esophageal Diseases and Swallowing. [1:42] Dr. Dellon's main research interest is in the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and eosinophilic GI diseases (EGIDs). [1:55] Dr. Jensen is a Professor of Epidemiology with a specific expertise in reproductive, perinatal, and pediatric epidemiology. She has appointments at both Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [2:07] Her research primarily focuses on etiologic factors in the development of pediatric immune-mediated chronic diseases, including understanding factors contributing to disparities in health outcomes. [2:19] Both Dr. Dellon and Dr. Jensen also serve on the Steering Committee for EGID Partners Registry. [2:24] Ryan thanks Dr. Dellon and Dr. Jensen for joining the podcast today. [2:29] Dr. Dellon was the first guest on this podcast. It is wonderful to have him back for the 50th episode! Dr. Dellon is one of Ryan's GI specialists. Ryan recently went to North Carolina to get a scope with him. [3:03] Dr. Dellon is an adult gastroenterologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He directs the Center for Esophageal Diseases and Swallowing. Clinically and research-wise, he is focused on EoE and other eosinophilic GI diseases. [3:19] His research interests span the entire field, from epidemiology, diagnosis, biomarkers, risk factors, outcomes, and a lot of work, more recently, on treatments. [3:33] Dr. Jensen has been on the podcast before, on Episode 27. Holly invites Dr. Jensen to tell the listeners more about herself and her work with eosinophilic diseases. [3:46] Dr. Jensen has been working on eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases for about 15 years. She started some of the early work around understanding possible risk factors for the development of disease. [4:04] She has gone on to support lots of other research projects, including some with Dr. Dellon, where they're looking at gene-environment interactions in relation to developing EoE. [4:15] She is also looking at reproductive factors as they relate to EoE, disparities in diagnosis, and more. It's been an exciting research trajectory, starting with what we knew very little about and building to an increasing understanding of why EoE develops. [5:00] Dr. Dellon explains that EoE stands for eosinophilic esophagitis, a chronic allergic condition of the esophagus. [5:08] You can think of EoE as asthma of the esophagus or eczema of the esophagus, although in general, people don't grow out of EoE, like they might grow out of eczema or asthma. When people have EoE, it is a long-term condition. [5:24] Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell, specializing in allergy responses. Normally, they are not in the esophagus. When we see them there, we worry about an allergic process. When that happens, that's EoE. [5:40] Over time, the inflammation seen in EoE and other allergic cell activity causes swelling and irritation in the esophagus. Early on, this often leads to a range of upper GI symptoms — including poor growth or failure to thrive in young children, abdominal pain, nausea, and symptoms that can mimic reflux. [5:58] In older kids, symptoms are more about trouble swallowing. That's because the swelling that happens initially, over time, may turn into scar tissue. So the esophagus can narrow and cause swallowing symptoms like food impaction. [6:16] Ryan speaks of living with EoE for decades and trying the full range of treatment options: food elimination, PPIs, steroids, and, more recently, biologics. [6:36] Dr. Dellon says Ryan's history is a good overview of how EoE is treated. There are two general approaches to treating the underlying condition: using medicines and/or eliminating foods that we think may trigger EoE from the diet. [6:57] For a lot of people, EoE is a food-triggered allergic condition. [7:01] The other thing that has to happen in parallel is surveying for scar tissue in the esophagus. If that's present and people have trouble swallowing, sometimes stretching the esophagus is needed through esophageal dilation. [7:14] There are three categories of medicines used for treatment. Proton pump inhibitors are reflux meds, but they also have an anti-allergy effect in the esophagus. [7:29] Topical steroids are used to coat the esophagus and produce an anti-inflammatory effect. The FDA has approved a budesonide oral suspension for that. [7:39] Biologics, which are generally systemic medications, often injectable, can target different allergic factors. Dupilumab is approved now, and there are other biologics that are being researched as potential treatments. [7:51] Even though EoE is considered an allergic condition, we don't have a test to tell people what they are allergic to. If it's a food allergy, we do an empiric elimination diet because allergy tests aren't accurate enough to tell us what the EoE triggers are. [8:10] People will eliminate foods that we know are the most common triggers, like milk protein, dairy, wheat, egg, soy, and other top allergens. You can create a diet like that and then have a response to the diet elimination. [8:31] Dr. Jensen and Dr. Dellon recently published an abstract in the American Journal of Gastroenterology about people with EoE who are not taking any medicine for it. Dr. Jensen calls it a real-world data study, leveraging electronic health record patient data. [8:51] It gives you an impression of what is actually happening, in terms of treatments for patients, as opposed to a randomized control trial, which is a fairly selected patient population. This is everybody who has been diagnosed, and then what happens with them. [9:10] Because of that, it gives you a wide spectrum of patients. Some patients are going to be relatively asymptomatic. It may be that we arrived at their diagnosis while working them up for other potential diagnoses. [9:28] Other patients are going to have rather significant impacts from the disease. We wanted to get an idea of what is actually happening out there with the full breadth of the patient population that is getting diagnosed with EoE. [9:45] Dr. Jensen was not surprised to learn that there are patients who had no pharmacologic treatment. [9:58] Some patients are relatively asymptomatic, and others are not interested in pursuing medications initially or are early in their disease process and still exploring dietary treatment options. [10:28] Holly sees patients from infancy to geriatrics, and if they're not having symptoms, they wonder why bother treating it. [10:42] Dr. Jensen says it's a point of debate on the implications of somebody who has the disease and goes untreated. What does that look like long-term? Are they going to develop more of that fibrostenotic pattern in their esophagus without treatment? [11:07] This is a question we're still trying to answer. There is some suggestion that for some patients who don't manage their disease, we very well may be looking at a food impaction in the future. [11:19] Dr. Dellon says we know overall for the population of EoE patients, but it's hard to know for a specific patient. We have a bunch of studies now that look at how long people have symptoms before they're diagnosed. There's a wide range. [11:39] Some people get symptoms and get diagnosed right away. Others might have symptoms for 20 or 30 years that they ignore, or don't have access to healthcare, or the diagnosis is missed. [11:51] What we see consistently is that people who may be diagnosed within a year or two may only have a 10 or 20% chance of having that stricture and scar tissue in the esophagus, whereas people who go 20 years, it might be 80% or more. [12:06] It's not everybody who has EoE who might end up with that scar tissue, but certainly, it's suggested that it's a large majority. [12:16] That's before diagnosis. We have data that shows that after diagnosis, if people go a long time without treatment or without being seen in care, they also have an increasing rate of developing strictures. [12:29] In general, the idea is yes, you should treat EoE, because on average, people are going to develop scar tissue and more symptoms. For the patient in front of you with EoE but no symptoms, what are the chances it's going to get worse? You don't know. [13:04] There are two caveats with that. The first is what we mean by symptoms. Kids may have vomiting and growth problems. Adults can eat carefully, avoiding foods that hang up in the esophagus, like breads and overcooked meats, sticky rice, and other foods. [13:24] Adults can eat slowly, drink a lot of liquid, and not perceive they have symptoms. When someone tells Dr. Dellon they don't have symptoms, he will quiz them about that. He'll even ask about swallowing pills. [13:40] Often, you can pick up symptoms that maybe the person didn't even realize they were having. In that case, that can give you some impetus to treat. [13:48] If there really are no symptoms, Dr. Dellon thinks we're at a point where we don't really know what to do. [13:54] Dr. Dellon just saw a patient who had a lot of eosinophils in their small bowel with absolutely no GI symptoms. He said, "I can't diagnose you with eosinophilic enteritis, but you may develop symptoms." People like that, he will monitor in the clinic. [14:14] Dr. Dellon will discuss it with them each time they come back for a clinic visit. [14:19] Holly is a speech pathologist, but also sees people for feeding and swallowing. The local gastroenterologist refers patients who choose not to treat their EoE to her. Holly teaches them things they should be looking out for. [14:39] If your pills get stuck or if you're downing 18 ounces during a mealtime, maybe it's time to treat it. People don't see these coping mechanisms they use that are impacting their quality of life. They've normalized it. [15:30] Dr. Dellon says, of these people who aren't treated, there's probably a subset who appropriately are being observed and don't have a medicine treatment or are on a diet elimination. [15:43] There's also probably a subset who are inappropriately not on treatment. It especially can happen with students who were under good control with their pediatric provider, but moved away to college and didn't transfer to adult care. [16:08] They ultimately come back with a lot of symptoms that have progressed over six to eight years. [16:18] Ryan meets newly diagnosed adult patients at APFED's conferences, who say they have no symptoms, but chicken gets caught in their throat. They got diagnosed when they went to the ER with a food impaction. [16:38] Ryan says you have to wonder at what point that starts to get reflected in patient charts. Are those cases documented where someone is untreated and now has EoE? [16:49] Ryan asks in the study, "What is the target EGID Cohort and why was it selected to study EoE? What sort of patients were captured as part of that data set?" [16:58] Dr. Jensen said they identified patients with the ICD-10 code for a diagnosis of EoE. Then they looked to see if there was evidence of symptoms or complications in relation to EoE. This was hard; some of these are relatively non-specific symptoms. [17:23] These patients may have been seeking care and may have been experiencing some symptoms that may or may not have made it into the chart. That's one of the challenges with real-world data analyses. [17:38] Dr. Jensen says they are using data that was collected for documenting clinical care and for billing for clinical care, not for research, so it comes with some caveats when doing research with this data. [18:08] Research using electronic health records gives a real-world perspective on patients who are seeking care or have a diagnosis of EoE, as opposed to a study trying to enroll a patient population that potentially isn't representative of the breadth of individuals living with EoE. [18:39] Dr. Dellon says another advantage of real-world data is the number of patients. The largest randomized controlled trials in EoE might have 400 patients, and they are incredibly expensive to do. [18:52] A study of electronic health records (EHR) is reporting on the analysis of just under 1,000. The cohort, combined from three different centers, has more than 1,400 people, a more representative, larger population. [19:16] Dr. Dellon says when you read the results, understand the limitations and strengths of a study of health records, to help contextualize the information. [19:41] Dr. Dellon says it's always easier to recognize the typical presentations. Materials about EoE and studies he has done that led to medicine approvals have focused on trouble swallowing. That can be relatively easily measured. [20:01] Patients often come to receive care with a food impaction, which can be impactful on life, and somewhat public, if in a restaurant or at work. Typical symptoms are also the ones that get you diagnosed and may be easier to treat. [20:26] Dr. Dellon wonders if maybe people don't treat some of the atypical symptoms because it's not appreciated that they can be related to EoE. [20:42] Holly was diagnosed as an adult. Ryan was diagnosed as a toddler. Holly asks what are some of the challenges people face in getting an EoE diagnosis. [20:56] Dr. Jensen says symptoms can sometimes be fairly non-specific. There's some ongoing work by the CEGIR Consortium trying to understand what happens when patients come into the emergency department with a food bolus impaction. [21:28] Dr. Jensen explains that we see there's quite a bit of variation in how that gets managed, and if they get a biopsy. You have to have a biopsy of the esophagus to get a diagnosis of EoE. [21:45] If you think about the steps that need to happen to get a diagnosis of EoE, that can present barriers for some groups to ultimately get that diagnosis. [21:56] There's also been some literature around a potential assumption about which patients are more likely to be at risk. Some of that is still ongoing. We know that EoE occurs more commonly in males in roughly a two-to-one ratio. Not exclusively in males, obviously, but a little more often in males. [22:20] We don't know anything about other groups of patients that may be at higher risk. That's ongoing work that we're still trying to understand. That in itself can also be a barrier when there are assumptions about who is or isn't likely to have EoE. [23:02] Dr. Dellon says that in adolescents and adults, the typical symptoms are trouble swallowing and food sticking, which have many causes besides EoE, some of which are more common. [23:18] In that population, heartburn is common. Patients may report terrible reflux that, on questioning, sounds more like trouble swallowing than GERD. Sometimes, with EoE, you may have reflux that doesn't improve. Is it EoE, reflux, or both? [24:05] Some people will have chest discomfort. There are some reports of worsening symptoms with exercise, which brings up cardiac questions that have to be ruled out first. [24:19] Dr. Dellon mentions some more atypical symptoms. An adult having pain in the upper abdomen could have EoE. In children, the symptoms could be anything in the GI tract. Some women might have atypical symptoms with less trouble swallowing. [24:58] Some racial minorities may have those kinds of symptoms, as well. If you're not thinking of the condition, it's hard to make the diagnosis. [25:08] Dr. Jensen notes that there are different cultural norms around expressing symptoms and dietary patterns, which may make it difficult to parse out a diagnosis. [25:27] Ryan cites a past episode where access to a GI specialist played a role in diagnosing patients with EoE. Do white males have more EoE, or are their concerns just listened to more seriously? [25:57] Ryan's parents were told when he was two that he was throwing up for attention. He believes that these days, he'd have a much easier time convincing a doctor to listen to him. From speaking to physicians, Ryan believes access is a wide issue in the field. [26:23] Dr. Dellon tells of working with researchers at Mayo in Arizona and the Children's Hospital of Phoenix. They have a large population of Hispanic children with EoE, much larger than has been reported elsewhere. They're working on characterizing that. [26:49] Dr. Dellon describes an experience with a visiting trainee from Mexico City, where there was not a lot of EoE reported. The trainee went back and looked at the biopsies there, and it turned out they were not performing biopsies on patients with dysphagia in Mexico City. [27:13] When he looked at the patients who ended up getting biopsies, they found EoE in 10% of patients. That's similar to what's reported out of centers in the developed world. As people are thinking about it more, we will see more detection of it. [27:30] Dr. Dellon believes those kinds of papers will be out in the next couple of months, to a year. [27:36] Holly has had licensure in Arizona for about 11 years. She has had nine referrals recently of children with EoE from Arizona. Normally, it's been one or two that she met at a conference. [28:00] Ryan asks about the research on patients not having their EoE treated pharmacologically. Some treat it with food avoidance and dietary therapy. Ryan notes that he can't have applesauce, as it is a trigger for his EoE. [28:54] Dr. Jensen says that's one of the challenges in using the EHR data. That kind of information is only available to the researchers through free text. That's a limitation of the study, assessing the use of dietary elimination approaches. [29:11] Holly says some of her patients have things listed as allergies that are food sensitivities. Ryan says it's helpful for the patients to have their food sensitivities listed along with their food allergies, but it makes records more difficult to parse for research. [30:14] Dr. Dellon says they identify EoE by billing code, but the codes are not always used accurately. Natural Language Processing can train a computer system to find important phrases. Their collaborators working on the real-world data are using it. [30:59] Dr. Dellon hopes that this will be a future direction for this research to find anything in the text related to diet elimination. [31:32] Dr. Jensen says that older patients were less likely to seek medication therapy. She says it's probably for a couple of reasons. First, older patients may have been living with the disease for a long time and have had compensatory mechanisms in place. [32:03] The other reason may be senescence or burnout of the disease, long-term. Patients may be less symptomatic as they get older. That's a question that remains to be answered for EoE. It has been seen in some other disease processes. [32:32] Dr. Dellon says there's not much data specifically looking at EoE in the older population. Dr. Dellon did work years ago with another doctor, and they found that older patients had a better response to some treatments, particularly topical steroids. [32:54] It wasn't clear whether it was a milder aspect of the disease, easier to treat, or because they were older and more responsible, taking their medicines as prescribed, and having a better response rate. It's the flip side of work in the pediatric population. [33:16] There is an increasingly aging population with EoE. Young EoE patients will someday be over 65. Dr. Dellon hopes there will be a cure by that point, but it's an expanding population now. [33:38] Dr. Jensen says only a few sites are contributing data, so they hope to add additional sites to the study. For some of the less common outcomes, they need a pretty large patient sample to ask some of those kinds of questions. [33:55] They will continue to follow up on some of the work that this abstract touched on and try to understand some of these issues more deeply. [34:06] Dr. Dellon mentions other work within the cohort. Using Natural Language Processing, they are looking at characterizing endoscopy information and reporting it without a manual review of reports and codes. You can't get that from billing data. [34:29] Similarly, they are trying to classify patient severity by the Index of Severity with EoE, and layer that on looking at treatments and outcomes based on disease severity. Those are a couple of other directions where this cohort is going. [34:43] Holly mentions that this is one of many research projects Dr. Jensen and Dr. Dellon have collaborated on together. They also collaborate through EGID Partners. Holly asks them to share a little bit about that. [34:53] Dr. Jensen says EGID Partners is an online registry where individuals, caregivers, and parents of children affected with EGIDs can join. [35:07] EGID Partners also needs people who don't live with an EGID to join, as controls. That gives the ability to compare those who are experiencing an EGID relative to those who aren't. [35:22] When you join EGID Partners, they provide you with a set of questionnaires to complete. Periodically, they push out a few more questionnaires. [35:33] EGID Partners has provided some really great information about patient experience and answered questions that patients want to know about, like joint pain and symptoms outside the GI tract. [36:04] To date, there are close to 900 participants in the registry from all over the world. As it continues to grow, it will give the ability to look at the patient experience in different geographical areas. [36:26] Dr. Dellon says we try to have it be interactive, because it is a collaboration with patients. The Steering Committee works with APFED and other patient advocacy groups from around the world. [36:41] The EGID Partners website shows general patient locations anonymously. It shows the breakdown of adults with the condition and caregivers of children with the condition, the symptom distribution, and the treatment distribution. [37:03] As papers get published and abstracts are presented, EGID Partners puts them on the website. Once someone joins, they can suggest a research idea. Many of the studies they have done have come from patient suggestions. [37:20] If there's an interesting idea for a survey, EGID Partners can push out a survey to everybody in the group and answer questions relatively quickly. [37:57] Dr. Dellon says a paper came out recently about telehealth. EoE care, in particular, is a good model for telehealth because it can expand access for patients who don't have providers in their area. [38:22] EoE is a condition where care involves a lot of discussion but not a lot of need for physical exams and direct contact, so telehealth can make things very efficient. [38:52] EGID Partners surveyed patients about telehealth. They thought it was efficient and saved time, and they had the same kind of interactions as in person. In general, in-state insurance covered it. Patients were happy to do those kinds of visits again. [39:27] Holly says Dr. Furuta, herself, and others were published in the Gastroenterology journal in 2019 about starting to do telehealth because patients coming to the Children's Hospital of Colorado from out of state had no local access to feeding therapy. [39:50] Holly went to the board, and they allowed her to get licensure in different states. She started with some of the most impacted patients in Texas and Florida in 2011 and 2012. They collected data. They published in 2019 about telehealth's positive impact. [40:13] When 2020 rolled around, Holly had trained a bunch of people on how to do feeding therapy via telehealth. You have to do all kinds of things, like make yourself disappear, to keep the kids engaged and in their chairs! [40:25] Now it is Holly's primary practice. She has licenses in nine states. She sees people all over the country. With her diagnosis, her physicians at Mass General have telehealth licensure in Maine. She gets to do telehealth with them instead of driving two hours. [40:53] Dr. Jensen tells of two of the things they hope to do at EGID Partners. One is trying to understand more about reproductive health for patients with an EGID diagnosis. Only a few studies have looked at this question, and with very small samples. [41:15] As more people register for EGID Partners, Dr. Jensen is hoping to be able to ask some questions related to reproductive health outcomes. [41:27] The second goal is a survey suggested by the Student Advisory Committee, asking questions related to the burden of disease specific to the teen population. [41:48] This diagnosis can hit that population particularly hard, at a time when they are trying to build and sustain friendships and are transitioning to adult care and moving away from home. This patient population has a unique perspective we wanted to hear. [42:11] Dr. Jensen and Dr. Dellon work on all kinds of other projects, too. [42:22] Dr. Dellon says they have done a lot of work on the early-life factors that may predispose to EoE. They are working on a large epidemiologic study to get some insight into early-life factors, including factors that can be measured in baby teeth. [42:42] That's outside of EGID Partners. It's been ongoing, and they're getting close, maybe over the next couple of years, to having some results. [43:03] Ryan says all of those projects sound so interesting. We need to have you guys back to dive into those results when you have something finalized. [43:15] For our listeners who want to learn more about eosinophilic disorders, we encourage you to visit apfed.org and check out the links in the show notes below. [43:22] If you're looking to find specialists who treat eosinophilic disorders, we encourage you to use APFED's Specialist Finder at apfed.org/specialist. [43:31] If you'd like to connect with others impacted by eosinophilic diseases, please join APFED's online community on the Inspire Network at apfed.org/connections. [43:41] Ryan thanks Dr. Dellon and Dr. Jensen for joining us today. This was a fantastic conversation. Holly also thanks APFED's Education Partners GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda for supporting this episode. Mentioned in This Episode: Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH, Academic Gastroenterologist, University of North Carolina School of Medicine Elizabeth T. Jensen, MPH, PhD, Epidemiologist, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Predictors of Patients Receiving No Medication for Treatment of Eosinophilic Esophagitis in the United States: Data from the TARGET-EGIDS Cohort Episode 15: Access to Specialty Care for Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) APFED on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram Real Talk: Eosinophilic Diseases Podcast apfed.org/specialist apfed.org/connections apfed.org/research/clinical-trials Education Partners: This episode of APFED's podcast is brought to you thanks to the support of GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda. Tweetables: "I've been working on eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases for about 15 years. I started some of the early work around understanding possible risk factors for the development of disease. I've gone on to support lots of other research projects." — Elizabeth T. Jensen, MPH, PhD "You can think of EoE as asthma of the esophagus or eczema of the esophagus, although in general, people don't grow out of EoE, like they might grow out of eczema or asthma. When people have it, it really is a long-term condition." — Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH "There are two general approaches to treating the underlying condition, … using medicines and/or eliminating foods from the diet that we think may trigger EoE. I should say, for a lot of people, EoE is a food-triggered allergic condition." — Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH "I didn't find it that surprising [that there are patients who had no treatment]. Some patients are relatively asymptomatic, and others are not interested in pursuing medications initially or are … still exploring dietary treatment options." — Elizabeth T. Jensen, MPH, PhD "We have a bunch of studies now that look at how long people have symptoms before they're diagnosed. There's a wide range. Some people get symptoms and are diagnosed right away. Other people might have symptoms for 20 or 30 years." — Evan S. Dellon, MD, MPH "EGID Partners is an online registry where individuals, caregivers, and parents of children affected with EGIDs can join. EGID Partners also needs people who don't live with an EGID to join, as controls." — Elizabeth T. Jensen, MPH, PhD
Performance used by permission of the artist. Thriving jazz communities offer performers at all skill levels not only stages to play on but places to compose and perform original works. Northeast Ohio is no different, and the Third Law Collective is the Music Settlement's initiative with this goal in mind. Periodically musicians from throughout the area meet up and share original works with each other and audiences. This week, we feature one of those performances. Led by Bop Stop Director Bryan Kinnard on flute and from a September 26th, 2024 performance – it's the Third Law Collective – Live at the Bop Stop.
Periodically, Dave checks in with leadership trend researcher and advisor Tom Casey to learn what practicing business leaders have on their minds. He and his Discussion Partners Collaborative colleagues ask the question, "What if all you believe to be accurate and possible is incorrect?" In these turbulent times, Tom discusses how leaders are holding their beliefs in suspension. They are advised to 'snap out of it'.
Welcome to season 17! In this episode, we continue our tradition of reflecting on the mysteries of our lives based on the mysteries of the Rosary. In every season of our lives, we're given opportunities to grow in charity and to receive God's grace. Periodically, it is important to pause and reflect on how God has been working in and through our lives. In our conversation, we model what this looks like and discuss how the virtues of each mystery of the Rosary align with the mysteries of our lives and the fruits God is cultivating. Join us today as we share the Joyful and Luminous mysteries of our lives. Heather's One Thing - The beauty of being an empty nester! Sister Miriam's One Thing - Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses by Bishop Erik Varden Michelle's One Thing - Summer camps Michelle's Other One Thing - College football is back!
A young woman gives her virginity to her next door neighbor. by SkyBubble. Listen to the ► podcast at Steamy Stories. I had always thought my neighbor Belinda was attractive, even after she got glasses. She was well proportioned, with long black hair, ample tits, a round ass, and nice legs. She looked good in a swimsuit. But even as a kid, she had been the prettiest girl in first grade. Belinda had been my neighbor since elementary school. Everyone called her Binny. We had played together and grown up together. As we both grew up, I had watched her mature into a beautiful adult woman. We had both been away at school, so we hadn't seen as much of each other as before, but we stayed in touch.We were both home on break and Belinda was hanging out at my house every so often. One day I was home alone and listening to an old rock album in my bedroom. I looked up to see Binny cheerfully waving her greeting to me as she came in the room and sat down to enjoy the sentimental tune which had just started. Periodically, I would glance at her. When she caught me, she would smile, blush, and look away. When the song ended I said; “Belinda, why do you look away from me?” I asked, pretending I didn't know that this is often a signal. Belinda blushed. “Well, I..” “Am I making you uncomfortable?” “Maybe a bit.” “I'm sorry,” I said. “I just keep noticing how beautiful you are.” Belinda turned red. “Thank you,” she muttered softly. She seemed nonplussed by the compliment. She had always seemed a bit uncomfortable with compliments. “I mean it. You're a very attractive woman.” Belinda smiled. “Thank you,” she said again. I sat next to her. Belinda shifted slightly. She looked down and twirled her hair. I looked Belinda directly in the eye. She smiled again and licked her lips. I moved closer to her. “Look at me, Belinda,” I said. She picked up her pretty head and stared at my lips. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” “Maybe a little bit,” she said. “I'm sorry. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. It's me, your old friend. We've been friends for around fifteen years. Since first grade. We grew up together. You can trust me.” Belinda slid a little closer to me, on the side of the bed. I put my arm behind her. She put her head on my arm. “I know,” Belinda said softly. “It's just” “Just what?” “Most guys…want something.” “What?” “They want…” Her voice trailed off. She barely got the next words out. “…to sleep with me.” “I can understand that,” I said. She gave me a puzzled, slightly irritated look. “You're a beautiful woman. Inside and out.” “You said that. Thank you.” Belinda smiled again. She was almost in tears. Her head was on my shoulder. “You're my best friend,” Belinda said. “I know you won't take advantage of me.” “Right,” I said. Belinda licked her lips. She twirled her hair. I reached around and gave her a hug. Suddenly, Belinda took her glasses off. “Would you mind if I kissed you?” said Belinda. “Why would I mind?” I asked. I had wanted to kiss her for a long time. I leaned over, took her face in my hands, and gave my old friend a good, strong kiss. She responded by sitting up and returning the kiss, Her eyes twinkled. “I like that,” Belinda said. “I like that a lot.” She moved closer until our bodies touched each other, and she gave me a long kiss. “Nice,” she said. I put my arm around her. Belinda snuggled up next to me, her hand on my leg. I kissed the back of her neck. It seems that startled her. She jumped and moaned. “What are you doing?” Belinda said in a surprised tone. “Belinda, look at me.” She looked me in the eye. “Do you trust me?” “Well…yeah…I think so. You're my best friend.” “Yes,” I said. “We've been friends for a long time.” “I think since we were six,” Belinda said. “I admit I had kind of a crush on you even then,” I said. Belinda smiled. I gently moved my hand to Belinda's boob. She shifted in toward me. “What are you doing?” she said, not in a stern or angry way. “You seem uncomfortable, Binny,” I said. “May I ask you a personal question?” “Uh, sure.” “Have you ever had sex?” “No,” Belinda said softly, with a touch of sadness in her voice. “Would you like to?” “Uh, I…I don't know,” Belinda replied. “Maybe.” “I love that answer,” I said. “It's beautifully honest. One of the many beautiful things about you.” Belinda smiled. She put her head down. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I'll tell you what. Why don't we go with it, and when you want to stop, we'll stop. If you don't want to do something, just say no. I won't push it. OK?” “OK,” she said tentatively. “Come kiss me again,” I said. Belinda hit me with a fervent kiss. Her mouth was wide open. I kissed her open mouth and slipped my tongue into her mouth. She giggled. I put my arms around her. I undid her bra. Belinda reached inside her top and took her bra off. I kissed her tits over her shirt. She took it off. I blew in her ear. “Oh,” Belinda sighed. “Ah.” I ran my hands up and down her sides while I kissed her round, firm breasts. My tongue licked her nipples. I gently bit them and I sucked on them. “That's nice,” said Belinda. “I like that.” Her hand was back on my leg. She gently touched my crotch, then quickly withdrew. My cock was bulging. I stood up. “Where are you going?” said Belinda. She grabbed me and kissed me again. She unzipped my pants and blew in my ear. My hand was on her round ass. I took off my shirt. “Oh,” Belinda said with a smile. I pulled her close to me, our bodies grinding against each other. i put my hand back on Belinda's shapely butt; and pulled her pants off. With a kiss, Belinda unbuckled my belt. Belinda stretched out on my bed, displaying her womanly charms. “I want it!” she almost yelled. “I want it now.” “Belinda,” I said, “do you want to do it?” “Yes!” “You want to have sex?” “Yes!” “Do you want me to be your first?” “Yes! I want you to be my first!” “Tell me you want me.” “I want it! I want you!” “What do you want?” I said. “I want your cock! I want you to stick it deep inside me.” “Are you sure?” I said. “I'm sure,” she said. “I want you to do me, ravish me. I need you to take me.” “You want me to take your virginity?” “Yes! Right now! Please! I'm horny as hell! I don't know how much longer I can take it.” “OK, then,” I said. I lay next to Belinda. I slipped her soaking panties off. She was dripping. “You're wet.” She nodded. I took off my underpants and I kissed Belinda again. She moaned. She wrapped herself around me. “This might hurt a little,” I said as I placed my finger on the lips of Belinda's cunt. “That's OK,” she said, smiling. “I'm a big girl.” I slipped my finger inside her vagina. I rotated it, moving a little further into her until I found her clitoris. Belinda gasped as I fingered her clit. I rotated it around while Belinda began idly playing with my penis. I stuck another finger in Belinda. She began stroking my dick more seriously. She was sweating. “This is great,” Belinda said. “You ain't seen nothing yet,” I said. Belinda laughed. As if on an impulse, Belinda raised herself up and kissed my stiff cock. She began to lick it. “Careful,” I said. “You don't want me to pop before I'm in you.” “OK,” Belinda said, and she opened her mouth and put her pretty lips around my hard organ. Her ample tits bounced up and down with the motion of her head. “I'm about to pop,” I said. “Are you sure you can take it in?” Belinda laughed. “Ah,” she said. “OK,” I said, a little skeptically. Then what I had warned her about happened. I popped. My cock jerked around, hitting the roof of Belinda's mouth and releasing my sperm into her mouth. At first, Belinda seemed to be taking it in. Suddenly, she coughed and spat jism all over. She smiled and licked her lips, then kissed me. “Damn,” Belinda said, my juice dripping from her pretty face. I got up. “I'll get a towel,” I said. I tossed the towel to Belinda and she wiped her face. I got back on the bed. I said. I kissed her slowly but firmly on the lips, moving down to her tits, down her torso to her pussy. I kissed her pussy. “Having a good time?” I said. “Boy, am I!” “Well, it's about to get better.” Having already invaded her with my finger, it was easier to get my face in. I opened the walls of her female area and my tongue slowly caressed her cunt, getting a little further inside Belinda. She was breathing heavily. “Oh, Christ,” said Belinda. “That's so nice.” She continued to work my penis in her hand. It was growing harder. I continued to work her pussy. Belinda was breathing hard. Her body was shaking. “Oh, God!” she exclaimed. She could barely contain herself. My cock stood erect. Belinda stopped stroking it. I finished eating her. “Give me that!” Belinda said. “I need it! Put it inside me Now!” I pushed and got a bit inside the lip of Belinda's cunt. I pulled back and pushed again. “Ow!” I gently kissed her and thrust again. Belinda bit her lip and grabbed the sheets. With a couple more pushes, I got fully into her wet pussy. I moved slowly in and out, a little deeper with each thrust, until my hard, stiff dick was as deep as it could get. Belinda was bug eyed. She was sweating and moaning loudly. I kept pushing in and out, in and out. “Oh!” I kept thrusting. “Oh, oh my God!” Belinda had never felt anything like that before. “You OK?” I said. “OK? I'm fantastic! Jesus Christ, this is good!” I sped up the pace just a little. My balls slapped Belinda's no longer innocent pussy over and over. “Oh, my God!” Belinda's eyes got wide, her breath got short, her legs bent, and she was sweating. I couldn't tell if she was ecstatic or scared to death, or both. “OH, MY, GOD!” Belinda cried. “So good!” I popped. Belinda recognized it from when I popped in her mouth. Her body continued to spasm and tremble with ecstatic pleasure as my cock spat a large stream of juice into her cunt. She could hardly breathe. The stream exhausted, my cock went flaccid. “Wow, so that's what it feels like,” Belinda said once she caught her breath. “Wow, cool.” “You OK? How are you feeling?” I said. “Great,” Belinda said. “That was really good!” She looked at me and smile. “Thank you. I'm glad you were my first. I hope we can do it again really soon.” I kissed her. “Any time, Belinda. Any time.” by SkyBubble for Literotica
A young woman gives her virginity to her next door neighbor. by SkyBubble. Listen to the ► podcast at Steamy Stories. I had always thought my neighbor Belinda was attractive, even after she got glasses. She was well proportioned, with long black hair, ample tits, a round ass, and nice legs. She looked good in a swimsuit. But even as a kid, she had been the prettiest girl in first grade. Belinda had been my neighbor since elementary school. Everyone called her Binny. We had played together and grown up together. As we both grew up, I had watched her mature into a beautiful adult woman. We had both been away at school, so we hadn't seen as much of each other as before, but we stayed in touch.We were both home on break and Belinda was hanging out at my house every so often. One day I was home alone and listening to an old rock album in my bedroom. I looked up to see Binny cheerfully waving her greeting to me as she came in the room and sat down to enjoy the sentimental tune which had just started. Periodically, I would glance at her. When she caught me, she would smile, blush, and look away. When the song ended I said; “Belinda, why do you look away from me?” I asked, pretending I didn't know that this is often a signal. Belinda blushed. “Well, I..” “Am I making you uncomfortable?” “Maybe a bit.” “I'm sorry,” I said. “I just keep noticing how beautiful you are.” Belinda turned red. “Thank you,” she muttered softly. She seemed nonplussed by the compliment. She had always seemed a bit uncomfortable with compliments. “I mean it. You're a very attractive woman.” Belinda smiled. “Thank you,” she said again. I sat next to her. Belinda shifted slightly. She looked down and twirled her hair. I looked Belinda directly in the eye. She smiled again and licked her lips. I moved closer to her. “Look at me, Belinda,” I said. She picked up her pretty head and stared at my lips. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” “Maybe a little bit,” she said. “I'm sorry. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. It's me, your old friend. We've been friends for around fifteen years. Since first grade. We grew up together. You can trust me.” Belinda slid a little closer to me, on the side of the bed. I put my arm behind her. She put her head on my arm. “I know,” Belinda said softly. “It's just” “Just what?” “Most guys…want something.” “What?” “They want…” Her voice trailed off. She barely got the next words out. “…to sleep with me.” “I can understand that,” I said. She gave me a puzzled, slightly irritated look. “You're a beautiful woman. Inside and out.” “You said that. Thank you.” Belinda smiled again. She was almost in tears. Her head was on my shoulder. “You're my best friend,” Belinda said. “I know you won't take advantage of me.” “Right,” I said. Belinda licked her lips. She twirled her hair. I reached around and gave her a hug. Suddenly, Belinda took her glasses off. “Would you mind if I kissed you?” said Belinda. “Why would I mind?” I asked. I had wanted to kiss her for a long time. I leaned over, took her face in my hands, and gave my old friend a good, strong kiss. She responded by sitting up and returning the kiss, Her eyes twinkled. “I like that,” Belinda said. “I like that a lot.” She moved closer until our bodies touched each other, and she gave me a long kiss. “Nice,” she said. I put my arm around her. Belinda snuggled up next to me, her hand on my leg. I kissed the back of her neck. It seems that startled her. She jumped and moaned. “What are you doing?” Belinda said in a surprised tone. “Belinda, look at me.” She looked me in the eye. “Do you trust me?” “Well…yeah…I think so. You're my best friend.” “Yes,” I said. “We've been friends for a long time.” “I think since we were six,” Belinda said. “I admit I had kind of a crush on you even then,” I said. Belinda smiled. I gently moved my hand to Belinda's boob. She shifted in toward me. “What are you doing?” she said, not in a stern or angry way. “You seem uncomfortable, Binny,” I said. “May I ask you a personal question?” “Uh, sure.” “Have you ever had sex?” “No,” Belinda said softly, with a touch of sadness in her voice. “Would you like to?” “Uh, I…I don't know,” Belinda replied. “Maybe.” “I love that answer,” I said. “It's beautifully honest. One of the many beautiful things about you.” Belinda smiled. She put her head down. “Thank you,” she said softly. “I'll tell you what. Why don't we go with it, and when you want to stop, we'll stop. If you don't want to do something, just say no. I won't push it. OK?” “OK,” she said tentatively. “Come kiss me again,” I said. Belinda hit me with a fervent kiss. Her mouth was wide open. I kissed her open mouth and slipped my tongue into her mouth. She giggled. I put my arms around her. I undid her bra. Belinda reached inside her top and took her bra off. I kissed her tits over her shirt. She took it off. I blew in her ear. “Oh,” Belinda sighed. “Ah.” I ran my hands up and down her sides while I kissed her round, firm breasts. My tongue licked her nipples. I gently bit them and I sucked on them. “That's nice,” said Belinda. “I like that.” Her hand was back on my leg. She gently touched my crotch, then quickly withdrew. My cock was bulging. I stood up. “Where are you going?” said Belinda. She grabbed me and kissed me again. She unzipped my pants and blew in my ear. My hand was on her round ass. I took off my shirt. “Oh,” Belinda said with a smile. I pulled her close to me, our bodies grinding against each other. i put my hand back on Belinda's shapely butt; and pulled her pants off. With a kiss, Belinda unbuckled my belt. Belinda stretched out on my bed, displaying her womanly charms. “I want it!” she almost yelled. “I want it now.” “Belinda,” I said, “do you want to do it?” “Yes!” “You want to have sex?” “Yes!” “Do you want me to be your first?” “Yes! I want you to be my first!” “Tell me you want me.” “I want it! I want you!” “What do you want?” I said. “I want your cock! I want you to stick it deep inside me.” “Are you sure?” I said. “I'm sure,” she said. “I want you to do me, ravish me. I need you to take me.” “You want me to take your virginity?” “Yes! Right now! Please! I'm horny as hell! I don't know how much longer I can take it.” “OK, then,” I said. I lay next to Belinda. I slipped her soaking panties off. She was dripping. “You're wet.” She nodded. I took off my underpants and I kissed Belinda again. She moaned. She wrapped herself around me. “This might hurt a little,” I said as I placed my finger on the lips of Belinda's cunt. “That's OK,” she said, smiling. “I'm a big girl.” I slipped my finger inside her vagina. I rotated it, moving a little further into her until I found her clitoris. Belinda gasped as I fingered her clit. I rotated it around while Belinda began idly playing with my penis. I stuck another finger in Belinda. She began stroking my dick more seriously. She was sweating. “This is great,” Belinda said. “You ain't seen nothing yet,” I said. Belinda laughed. As if on an impulse, Belinda raised herself up and kissed my stiff cock. She began to lick it. “Careful,” I said. “You don't want me to pop before I'm in you.” “OK,” Belinda said, and she opened her mouth and put her pretty lips around my hard organ. Her ample tits bounced up and down with the motion of her head. “I'm about to pop,” I said. “Are you sure you can take it in?” Belinda laughed. “Ah,” she said. “OK,” I said, a little skeptically. Then what I had warned her about happened. I popped. My cock jerked around, hitting the roof of Belinda's mouth and releasing my sperm into her mouth. At first, Belinda seemed to be taking it in. Suddenly, she coughed and spat jism all over. She smiled and licked her lips, then kissed me. “Damn,” Belinda said, my juice dripping from her pretty face. I got up. “I'll get a towel,” I said. I tossed the towel to Belinda and she wiped her face. I got back on the bed. I said. I kissed her slowly but firmly on the lips, moving down to her tits, down her torso to her pussy. I kissed her pussy. “Having a good time?” I said. “Boy, am I!” “Well, it's about to get better.” Having already invaded her with my finger, it was easier to get my face in. I opened the walls of her female area and my tongue slowly caressed her cunt, getting a little further inside Belinda. She was breathing heavily. “Oh, Christ,” said Belinda. “That's so nice.” She continued to work my penis in her hand. It was growing harder. I continued to work her pussy. Belinda was breathing hard. Her body was shaking. “Oh, God!” she exclaimed. She could barely contain herself. My cock stood erect. Belinda stopped stroking it. I finished eating her. “Give me that!” Belinda said. “I need it! Put it inside me Now!” I pushed and got a bit inside the lip of Belinda's cunt. I pulled back and pushed again. “Ow!” I gently kissed her and thrust again. Belinda bit her lip and grabbed the sheets. With a couple more pushes, I got fully into her wet pussy. I moved slowly in and out, a little deeper with each thrust, until my hard, stiff dick was as deep as it could get. Belinda was bug eyed. She was sweating and moaning loudly. I kept pushing in and out, in and out. “Oh!” I kept thrusting. “Oh, oh my God!” Belinda had never felt anything like that before. “You OK?” I said. “OK? I'm fantastic! Jesus Christ, this is good!” I sped up the pace just a little. My balls slapped Belinda's no longer innocent pussy over and over. “Oh, my God!” Belinda's eyes got wide, her breath got short, her legs bent, and she was sweating. I couldn't tell if she was ecstatic or scared to death, or both. “OH, MY, GOD!” Belinda cried. “So good!” I popped. Belinda recognized it from when I popped in her mouth. Her body continued to spasm and tremble with ecstatic pleasure as my cock spat a large stream of juice into her cunt. She could hardly breathe. The stream exhausted, my cock went flaccid. “Wow, so that's what it feels like,” Belinda said once she caught her breath. “Wow, cool.” “You OK? How are you feeling?” I said. “Great,” Belinda said. “That was really good!” She looked at me and smile. “Thank you. I'm glad you were my first. I hope we can do it again really soon.” I kissed her. “Any time, Belinda. Any time.” by SkyBubble for Literotica
We never outgrow the need to review the basics of our faith. Periodically, we'll pause between message series to remind ourselves about certain aspects of our theology here at Christ Church. Today we're reviewing what we believe about Sacraments.Thanks for listening to the Christ Church Mequon Podcast. Find your next step and let us know how we can be praying for you at ChristChurchMequon.LIFE/Podcast. Hit that subscribe button and, until next week, God bless.
This is a Tribute episode to Tom Lehrer, who passed away last week at age 97. For anyone unfamiliar with him and his music, he was a brilliant musical satirist who wrote incredibly clever, interesting and topical songs in the 1950s and 1960s. He was not a full-time musician. His true love was mathematics and he was employed for years as a professor at Harvard and MIT. Periodically, however, he emerged to perform and record several albums of his songs.He was trained as a classical pianist. All of his songs were performed just with him playing the piano and singing. His lyrics were sharp, intelligent, incisive and always on point. Here are some of his “Greatest Hits”.“Poisoning Pigeons In The Park” is about one of the pleasures of springtime.“Be Prepared” is his Boy Scout “marching song”.“I Hold Your Hand In Mine” is his necrophiliac ballad.“The Vatican Rag” is his response to the Vatican's attempt to “make the Church more commercial”, as he liked to say.And perhaps his most famous song is “The Elements”, where he names all of the elements to a Gilbert & Sullivan melody.Tom Lehrer will be missed.------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!Click here for All Episodes Click here for Guest List Click here for Guest Groupings Click here for Guest TestimonialsClick here to Subscribe Click here to receive our Email UpdatesClick here to Rate and Review the podcast—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S NEWEST ALBUM:“WHAT'S UP!” is Robert's new compilation album. Featuring 10 of his recent singles including all the ones listed below. Instrumentals and vocals. Jazz, Rock, Pop and Fusion. “My best work so far. (Robert)”CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
Periodically on TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING , we share a SPOTLIGHT conversation and feature brief chats with an individual or a group from the community about a special topic or a unique endeavor. I grew up in a Marathi American household and even as a born and raised Californian, there was a lot of attention at my house to Marathi film and cinema. So much that the idea of watching Tukaram, Ram Shastri, Simhasan, or Umbartha were not foreign to me as a 12 year old. Marathi cinema is the oldest film industry in India and from Dadasaheb Phalke making the first full feature length movie more than 100 years ago to Prabhat films all the way to 2016's Sairat,, you can directly connect the dots from this rich legacy to every corner of India's film industry today.So on this SPOTLIGHT episode of Trust Me, I Know What I'm Doing, and yes, I'm aware of the mild irony of this, नमस्कार आणि आपल्य सर्वांचा स्वागत करतो. आणि नेहमीप्रमाणे, आज आपण या मुलाखतीत अंग्रेजित बोलणार आहोत! So, let's focus on how this Marathi film legacy is undergoing a contemporary revival at the intersection of art, business, and community, through the North American Film Association (NAFA) and its founder, Abhi Gholap. As a serial entrepreneur, investor, and passionate Marathi film enthusiast, Abhi has personified that bridging of tradition and today's film landscape, and is the convener of the upcoming 2025 North American Film Festival in San Jose. Notably, he is the producer of the acclaimed award-winning 2011 film Deool, a movie that not only achieved commercial and critical success but also underscored the social impact and artistic power of Marathi storytelling. His experience with Deool shaped his unique approach to filmmaking, blending an entrepreneurial drive with a keen sensitivity to meaningful, community-centered stories. And now with the non-profit NAFA, and the focused lens of the upcoming 2025 North American Film Festival, it was great to explore how Abhi and NAFA are creating new opportunities—connecting local voices with international platforms and using film as a common language of inclusion and growth. The mission of NAFA is pretty simple - to advance the Marathi film ecosystem through collaborative efforts in production, distribution, and film festivals, and I've personally found that for any group, a spirit of inclusion and priority to strong storytelling is one that builds sustainable connection and emotional endurance.So, as we sat for a conversation, and after a brief Marathi introduction that you can see on the Youtube version of the podcast, I was actually thinking of how people get introduced to movies when they're young and so I asked Abhi if he could reflect on some of his own first Marathi movie experiences and memories… Please learn more about the 2025 NAFA Film Festival (July 25-27, 2025 in San Jose).
On the 257th episode of the GreatBase Tennis podcast, Steve Smith and Constantinos Alevizopoulos are once again at the table, and Dave Anderson is on the phone. There will be a quiz on how to spell the full name of our friend from Greece. Just printing out "Good Guy" will be accepted and understood.Now that everybody and their brother has a podcast, we appreciate you taking the time to listen to ours. Based on the core information provided by the primary pillars of our curriculum, we are confident that our listeners will find a different perspective by listening. As we approach the five-year mark of our weekly podcasts, listeners should consider revisiting many of our first episodes. Periodically going back to basics is always a smart move in any endeavor.
Periodically on TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING , we share a SPOTLIGHT conversation and feature brief chats with an individual from the community about a special topic or a unique endeavor. Now while we truly should strive for mental wellness all the time, May is mental health awareness month, and there's no more obvious place to focus our energy than on something we too often take for granted… our breathing. So I'm going to take a yogic approach, drawing from the teachings of both my parents who are yoga instructors and remembering some of the daily habits of my grandparents. Breathing is essentially the most outward demonstration of our “prana”, the Sanskrit word that refers to our innate universal life force, and through “ayama” the Sanskrit word which means to regulate or control or lengthen, we can therefore use the practice of "pranayama" to not just consciously understand our breathing, but also optimize and even increase that life force and harmonize our mind, body, and spirit. Now whether it's deeply practicing this living science of pranayama or simply pausing briefly to become more conscious of our breathing, the benefits can be quite extensive for so many physical and mental concerns. So it was especially terrific to have a conversation about…well… breathing with Dr. Amit Anand, who is a pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine specialist AND a master yoga teacher - truly a breathing superhero. With an academic medicine background, training in both Mumbai at KEM and in Boston at Harvard, Amit has been a rigorous practitioner, clinical teacher, and researcher. Fortunately for many patients and students alike, he has taken his experience and integrated this evidence based medical approach with an expertise in yoga training, meditation, breathwork, and pranayama. Amit is the founder of Pranayamarx, leading live and online yoga workshops and pranayama courses. He is also the co-founder of Breathonance, a science-based breathwork experience that integrates the yogic teachings of Pranayama with resonant musical rhythms. I actually caught a live demo this year and I was struck by a few things: the importance of creating space for this, how little time was actually required vs the perception of what was required, and the beautiful convergence of music, meditation, and breathing. Now, I know that all of you know this, but the content and conversation here should not be taken as medical advice, and is for informational purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your own healthcare professional team for any medical questions. And so as Amit and I caught up to chat, we started with the very basic question that was in front of both of us particularly as doctors, in why we all tend to be so painfully unaware of our own breathing?And you can visit breathonance.com to learn more about Amit's vision and the musical expertise of co-founder Clint Valladares
We never outgrow the need to review the basics of our faith. Periodically, we'll pause between message series to remind ourselves about certain aspects of our theology here at Christ Church. Today we're reviewing what we believe about the World.Thanks for listening to the Christ Church Mequon Podcast. Find your next step and let us know how we can be praying for you at ChristChurchMequon.LIFE/Podcast. Hit that subscribe button and, until next week, God bless.
Periodically it's important to revisit the topic of testosterone replacement for women, and to understand all the nuances regarding the options in delivery methods and dosing. Today I'll discuss options for testosterone replacement, including using 1/10 of an FDA approved male product, compounded creams and gels, as well as appropriately dosed hormone pellets. I'll particularly focus on how to safely dose hormone pellets, and will share the method which my office has used in many thousands of patients, and has been proven to reach safe levels. Appropriately dosed pellets should be thought of as a viable option for those who don't prefer to use a topical cream or gel. LINKS: The Truth About Testosterone For Women Over 50 https://youtu.be/LpG25EUvg-U Peter Attia - Episode 348 ‒ Women's sexual health, menopause, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0XW6av2wLQ
Periodically on the podcast we'll consider picture books that could be called "cult classics" in some manner. You know the type. Who Needs Donuts? The Lonely Doll. That sort of thing. They're books that may not be a part of the cultural zeitgeist but for a significant contingent of readers, they mean the world. Bill Canterbury was recently interviewed on Betsy's site in conjunction with the release of his new picture books, and he later sent me some suggestions for the podcast. As such, we thought we might try my hand with this one. We've never done a Seibold before, and we were curious to see how this 1993 publication held up. Turns out... it sure as heck couldn't have come out any year BUT 1993, that's for sure. We discuss the muted palette, busy pages, outsider art, and how this is only one of three books in the same series. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/05/19/fuse-8-n-kate-mr-lunch-takes-a-plane-ride-by-j-otto-seibold-and-vivian-walsh/
With this episode, we kick off our new ongoing blind tasting series with a focus on the IPAs that made craft beer what it is today. Periodically over the next few months, we'll be gathering up five IPAs that represent well-known, influential, or otherwise significant IPAs from all over, looking to find our pick for the overall best using a much more professional and organized scoring system than usual. This first one has a bit of an, uh, “unintentional reboot” feel to it - but the results truly rock us to our cores. But also, we have a surprising number of sandwich topics, Craig seeks the throne of the Grandmaster Cicerone, and we're both completely shocked by the absence of Citra. Beers Reviewed Blindly (in order of appearance) Cigar City Brewing - Jai Alai Maine Beer Co. - Lunch Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - 60 Minute IPA Bell's Brewing - Two Hearted IPA Surly Brewing - Furious IPA
Mastering Life's Adventures: Being Your Best Self Through Soul Evolution!
We're excited to introduce a new series called The Deep Dive Series into Mastering Life's Adventures with Dr. Judith! In this series, we'll be exploring the many layers of life's adventures through thought-provoking questions, with Dr. Judith inviting guests to share their wisdom on topics that resonate with you, our listeners. Periodically throughout this year, we'll have special guests join us to dive into meaningful conversations and provide unique insights on various aspects of mastering life's adventures. Today's episode is a deep dive into the complexities of relationships, specifically focusing on the challenges of forgiveness. What happens in relationships that make it so difficult to forgive? We'll be exploring this with Dr. Mark Hicks, who'll shed light on the powerful role forgiveness plays in our soul's progress, communication, and healing.As we navigate this conversation, we'll touch on the importance of letting go, the impact of toxic relationships, and why forgiveness doesn't mean forgetting. We'll also discuss false beliefs and the crucial role boundaries play in our spiritual journey. It's a warm, enlightening episode packed with insights on how forgiveness and healing can set us free, both spiritually and emotionally.So, join us for this engaging discussion in our Deep Dive Series, as we explore how to master life's adventures with wisdom, love, and understanding.About Our GuestDr. Mark A. Hicks is an author, speaker, ghostwriter, and relationships coach with expertise in mental health and family dynamics. Holding a Doctor of Ministry Degree, a Masters in Mental Health Counseling, a Masters of Divinity, and a Bachelors in Psychology, his educational background reflects his unwavering commitment to understanding the human psyche and guiding individuals toward healthy relationships and meaningful lives.Mark's goal is to spread a message of love that is practical, tangible, and a realistic life for everyone regardless of your relationship experience so far. In his book, Learning Love, he teaches the five components of love anyone can learn and practice to build healthy, happy, thriving relationships.
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week. TranscriptGood morning. Happy Easter! My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will, grab a Bible and go to Romans chapter 4. We're going to consider just a few verses in the book of Romans this morning. We're going to pick up and look at the text that we looked at on Good Friday if you were with us then. We will be in Romans chapter 4, verses 24 and 25, and then we'll look a little bit at chapter 5.I want to read this: "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord." We gather on Easter and we're celebrating that Jesus was raised from the dead, that he was dead and then came alive again, that He was crucified, buried, and then resurrected. His disciples, His mother, those who followed Him, the centurion, the religious leaders—they all saw Him die, saw Him buried, and then came back to life.There's a story recounted in Luke chapter 24 where Jesus's disciples are together and Jesus shows up after He had been crucified and buried. When He appears, His disciples are frightened and think He's a ghost. I've always thought that was funny that it's included in the Bible, but it makes a lot of sense. If you watch someone be brutally murdered and then be buried, and then you're gathered with people to be sad about it, and then they show up, your response isn't "oh!" Your response is "ah!" You immediately think something's wrong with you, your mind is broken, or ghosts are real. You don't jump to maybe there's a resurrection, maybe you've conquered death.Jesus shows them His hands and feet and says, "I have hands and feet; spirits don't." He's like, "Ghosts don't have feet, but I do because I'm real." And then He eats food. He verifies that He's been resurrected; He was literally dead and then literally rose back to life. We're going to study a text that helps us understand why that's wonderful because if you don't know much about Christianity, you may know that Jesus died and rose, but we want to know why that's wonderful.There are people in this room who have things they've done or that have happened, and you're like, "It's happened, it's done, it's sealed, it's final, it's official, it's locked in." But if we follow a God who can rise from the grave, then He can undo things that are sealed and locked in. The most final thing we have is death. You don't go see a judge and they're like, "All right, you're going to be executed today and then you better be at work tomorrow." That's not how it works. The most final thing we have is death. If He can undo that, then He can undo the things that we carry with us.We will see why it's wonderful. It says, "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses." That's what we looked at on Friday—that He was delivered up for our trespasses, meaning that we have actual debt, actual sin. One pastor says that sin does something; it literally does something in the world, in spiritual reality. He said it's similar to if I came to your house and broke something.Let's say you invited me over to watch something on your television. During our enjoyment, I got very frustrated and threw something at it, breaking it. The party is over; your TV is broken, and I have a debt. I have a guess that you like your TV, since you invited me over specifically to watch it. We have a problem: something is broken, and there are only a few options. I can pay the debt, or you can. Those are our options. I can fix what's broken; the cost can come from me, or the cost can come from you. Even if you said, "Don't worry about it," that doesn't fix your TV. You're just saying you'll pay the debt or incur the cost by never watching TV again or getting a new one.Do you know who can't say "Don't worry about it"? Me. I can't ruin the party and then go, "Wait, don't worry about it, it's not a big deal, let's pretend it never happened." The one person who can't do that is me. I can't bump into you, spill something on your shirt, and go, "Let's just forget this ever happened. Let's move on. It's not a big deal. It's your shirt, it's not mine. Let's just go about our day." I can't do that.Y'all realize we do that sometimes with people. We'll say, "Well, I don't know why it's such a big deal. God just needs to, like, why does He care?" That's us breaking the TV and then saying, "Don't worry about it." We can't do that. There's real debt, real trespass, a real cost.What we're celebrating is that Jesus paid it—that He was delivered up for our trespasses. That's what we talked about on Good Friday, that He paid the debt. Then it says this: that He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Not only did He take our debt, but when He rose, He was raised for our justification.Justification is an intentional legal word. It's very specific, precise, legally precise language. Now if you don't work in law or contracts, you might not see a lot of legally precise language. I think the place we most run into it is on food labels. For example, if you buy Cheese Whiz or something you spray on stuff, it says "processed cheese food" because it can't just say "cheese" since it's not just cheese. It can't say "processed cheese" because then cheese would be a noun. It says "processed cheese food," where "cheese" is an adjective describing the type of food it is. You're like, "What am I eating?" Scientists say, "Food." You're like, "Yeah, but what do you mean?" They're like, "Well, it's a cheese food." So legally precise language.If you buy Pringles, it doesn't say chips, it says crisps. What is a crisp? Legally, it's not a chip. That's about all I know—it's legally precise language.One of the places I appreciated this most was on the show The Biggest Loser. On that show, people try to lose weight. It sounds like they just got them together to make fun of them, but actually they lose weight, and the biggest loser is the winner—it's clever and confusing. My wife and I used to watch it, popcorn and Mountain Dew, and they would do challenges.In these challenges, to win immunity for the week, they'd have to eat a lot of sweets like Pop-Tarts or cupcakes. The trainers would be mad because they were breaking the spirit of the game. But the funny part was: they weren't allowed to say "Pop-Tarts" because they didn't have the rights, so they had to say "sugar-frosted breakfast pastries." It was like a game of Taboo.The reason I mention this is that the word "justified" in this text is intentionally precise, legal language. It's wonderful because "justified" means legally not guilty in court, but actually it means better than not guilty. It means declared righteous, ruled in your favor—that you are made righteous, declared righteous, legally not guilty, and you get to walk out free. It's officially accomplished by God in the highest court.This is beautiful, legally precise language. When He was raised, it was for our justification, meaning that you have been declared righteous, that He took your sin to the cross, and that when He rose, you have been made righteous. The debt has been paid.It's not just that Jesus says, "Hey, if you come to me I'll forgive your sins, and you need to go live a good life." He doesn't just wipe the slate clean; He signs your name at the top and turns it in. That has been applied to your account.Periodically, I'll hear Christians say things like, and they're right in one aspect, "I'm a sinner; I have debt." If you come in and say, "I'm a pretty good person," we want to tell you, "No, you're not." If nobody's been kind enough yet to point out how not wonderful you are, welcome to Mil City Church. No, you're not. We are so thoroughly unimpressed with you. You're a sinner. You have real debt. You have real trespasses. We want you to be aware that you innately sin—that you sin on your own and then, when you know it's sin, you still do it. Once you learn it was wrong, you still do it. You can't just say, "It's okay because you're offended; you caused the offense; you can't declare it's okay."So, you're a sinner, but if you belong to Jesus, you are not. You are justified and made righteous. I hear Christians sometimes say, "I'm the worst, I'm just so terrible, I'm always waiting." And I say, "And then Jesus made you righteous?" If you belong to Christ, no, you're not. You're not guilty—you're made righteous. Paul calls himself the chief of sinners in the context of declaring he's received mercy. He says that so everyone else can know if Paul can be forgiven, so can you.The hope that we have is that He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification—that we've been made righteous. But there's a way this happens; it applies this way.Go back to the beginning of the sentence: It says, "It will be counted to us." What is "it"? It is what Jesus has done, what Jesus has done will be counted to us, accredited to us, put on our account, granted to us, applied to us. It is what Jesus has done.How will it be counted to us? By belief. That you believe in Christ, believe that God raised Him from the dead, that you believe He paid your debt, that you want it applied to your account. Then it will be applied.There's a movie called My Cousin Vinny. My wife was out of town, and I was bored, so I watched it again. It's about two young guys from New York going to school in Alabama. They're in the wrong place at the wrong time, driving the wrong car, and get accused of murder. Because they're from New York, it's not going well. Then one says, "I'm going to call my cousin Vinny," a lawyer from New York.Vinny shows up. It's not going well. There's tension over whether he'll represent them. The local guy is worse than Vinny. There's a big moment in court where Vinny says to the local guy, "You're fired. I want to represent my cousin."It's a moment where you can look cosmically at God and say, "I want Jesus to represent me. I want Him to go before me. I want Him to take my debt. I want Him to grant His righteousness to me." And it will be counted if you believe. It will be applied to your account by belief. It will be accomplished not by you but by Him. You trust that His death paid your trespasses and His resurrection justified you before the Lord, declared innocent, righteous, holy, and blameless if you'll just believe. If you'll just look and say, "I want Jesus to pay my debt. I want Jesus to cover me. I trust Him. I believe He's good. I do not want to represent myself."That's what it's saying. It will be counted to us who believe.So again: "It will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification."Therefore, since we have been justified by faith—we're justified by faith.That's the legal word again: not by works, not by morality, not by intelligence, not by effort—you're justified by faith, by trusting Him, not yourself.And that makes so much sense. What doesn't work before God is for you to sin, fail, then go to Him and say, "Don't worry. I got this. I'm going to be good enough, pay it off, do so well that you can't help but respond singing my praises." That doesn't work.Instead, we come and say, "I trust Jesus. I believe He's good. I believe He's righteous. I believe He paid my debt. I want Him to represent me. I want Him to cover me." And we say, "I trust that He's good."The Bible says there will be nobody who entrusts themselves to Him who is put to shame. Nobody that calls on Him will be put to shame. Nobody who says, "If He doesn't cover it, I'm in trouble," will be put to shame. Everyone who comes to Him for mercy will receive mercy.We are to be justified by faith, so you just believe. You just trust in the finished work of Jesus.Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.You ever been at odds with someone? You can feel it. You've done something, said something, and you're around them and can feel the tension.It says there is no tension between those who belong to Jesus and the God of the universe.Every once in a while, I'll bust into one of my children's rooms. They're little—wouldn't do this when they're older, but I do it sometimes just to mess with them. I say, "Aha!" Just to mess with them. It's fun because often they just look at you like, "What? I was perfectly innocent. I wasn't doing anything." Other times, the guilt gets to them. They feel like they've been caught.I had a son hide something one time—a toy. He just needed to hide it; it was nothing serious.The idea is God can look at you and you can just be free. Nothing to worry about, no hint of fear. No "Oh wait." If people announced, "I'm going to come tour your house today," you'd be like, "Hold on. Is it clean? How do I…?" But with God, there's peace.We have peace with God through the work of Jesus. We're free.Some people think Christians are always looking over their shoulders like God's ready to get them. No. Jesus paid the debt. God's not mad at you if you belong to Christ, if you've trusted Him. He's not disappointed, upset, or frustrated because the debt has been paid.Jesus was delivered up for your trespasses. He was raised for your justification.You've been declared innocent, free.When I was growing up, my dad was self-employed, and sometimes things went well—but other times, it was tight.My parents would sit my brothers and me down and say, "Money's really tight. If any of you want something, you're going to be in big trouble." They would say, "You're going to eat what we give you and be happy about it."Sometimes, we got to go eat at places with cafeterias. Back then, there was Piccadilly. Let me explain how this works: When you get there, you can see the food, but you can't access it. The food is in what I call "food prison." There are food wardens who put the food on your plate, and every item you get means debt you'll pay later.There were times when we got to go, but beforehand, my dad would say, "Look…" When we got there, he'd tell us what we were allowed. One piece of chicken, two vegetables, some Jell-O. He'd be looking at the cake like, "You know you can't have that."We knew the terms in advance, which was good parenting—pre-threaten your children in the truck, then when they try something, just give them the look. Pre-threatening inflates the meaning.We were supposed to get what we got and be thankful.Then there were buffets, which were very different. There used to be more buffets—Ryan's, Quincy's, Western Sizzler. We had a place called Fire Mountain. Ryan's had a roll as big as your head.At a buffet, you pay first and then you're free. There's no food warden; you hold the scoop. Nobody protects the food from you. At SNS, you were supposed to get a little and be happy. At a buffet, you're free.When my dad took us to buffets, it was so we could hurt ourselves. We were supposed to pile things up, show him, and eat it all—not waste it—try different foods: soft serve, cookies, that weird pink stuff no one liked.Jesus has been raised for our justification.Christianity is not the SNS cafeteria; it's a buffet. I don't mean license to sin but freedom and joy—a feast.The debt has been paid. As Christians, we need to repent of sin, mourn the brokenness in the world. But the default mode of the Christian life is joy because Christ is resurrected.There is no debt; it's all been paid.We walk with our heads held up, hearts full, rejoicing in the freedom and hope Christ has given, to His glory.When I piled food on my plate at a buffet, it brought joy to my dad's heart that I appreciated what he had bought.When we walk as Christians with hope, fellowship, life, joy, and eternity in focus, acknowledging that when we sin, we have propitiation—that Someone stands between us and God—we are not guilty.We go to Him in grace and forgiveness and say, "It's never been about me; it's about You. My trust is in You, the glorious King who saves sinners."That brings joy and delight to His heart because He already paid the cost.We walk in freedom.Galatians says, "It is for freedom that He set us free." I used to read that and wonder, "What does that mean?" It means freedom.I'm not supposed to think, "I can't pile two things on my plate at the buffet." I'm supposed to enjoy it, delight, and walk in joy.That's what we celebrate at Easter.If you've trusted in Him, you are not dirty, broken, covered in sin.He was delivered up for your trespasses and raised for your justification.If He is risen and you've trusted Him, you are free, covered, blameless, and it's already happened.We aren't waiting for the sentence to be dropped. We're not in court waiting to hear our fate. If you've trusted Jesus, the sentence has been passed. He was declared guilty. We have been made righteous.The band's coming back up. We're going to sing.If you're a Christian, I remind you Jesus is risen and you are free and made righteous.If you have not placed your faith in Jesus and plan to represent yourself in court—plan with your own wisdom, morality, goodness, or just declaring, "It's not that big a deal"—I say: Trust Jesus.Place your faith in Him. Go to the Lord and say, "I want Jesus to cover me. I want Jesus to stand in for me. I want Jesus to pay my debt. When He died, pay my sin. When He rose, give me life."And it will be counted for those who believe.Let's pray.Jesus, we are thankful for the hope of the resurrection that holds secure through the finished work of Jesus—that all who call on Your name will be saved.You were delivered up for our sin, raised for our justification, and in You and You alone we have hope.May Your name be glorified. Amen.
Periodically on TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING , we share a SPOTLIGHT conversation and feature brief chats with an individual from the community about a special topic or a unique endeavor. So it's springtime in a lot of our global areas, where traditionally, things everywhere are starting to bloom. And with melting snow and healthy rains it also means that water is flowing freely to activate dormant soil and nurture the land so that communities and villages can thrive. Or at least that's the idea, but in today's reality, more and more rural land is suffering at the hands of a climate in crisis. This is especially true in rural India, where the cyclic pressures of growth, urbanization, social exodus to the cities, and drained resources, have made yesterday's once fertile land turn into today's eroded dry deserts. So I was intrigued to learn more about one group's mission to try and bend the narrative away from that erosion to one of holistic abundance and empowerment, and it was absolutely wonderful to share some time catching up with Sagar Dharia, one of the trustees of Vanarai, an organization deeply committed to rural grass roots conservation and sustainable land restoration. Vanarai was started nearly 40 years ago by Sagar's grandfather, the late Padma Vibhushan Dr. Mohan Dharia, whose vision was to bring together stakeholders and make villages more self-reliant through education, watershed management, health, sanitation, and farming. Working with over 250 villages across Maharashtra and other states, Vanarai has succeeded in integrating a strong rural development strategy by rejuvenating water and soil, reviving farming practices and economies, and stimulating social change through education and community building. I have to tell you that it is an inspiring design of community activism and energy that's based on climate science, thoughtful planning, social science, and a modern strategy that doesn't ignore the challenges of rural development in a rapidly evolving India. Ultimately, cultivating relationships and trust are at the core of this very eco- conscious people movement, and so I asked Sagar why he believes that rural villages are so relevant to India's successful future?You can learn more about Vanarai's ongoing work at VANARAI.ORG or get in touch with them at contact@vanarai.org
Periodically we pause our usual rhythm of preaching through whole books of the Bible for standalone sermons. This weekend, Nathan Murray, teaches on Ephesians 4:1-6.Life Church exists to glorify God by making disciples who treasure Christ, grow together, and live on mission. Salisbury, NCFollow us online:lifechurchnc.comFacebookInstagramYouTubeTwitter
We never outgrow the need to review the basics of our faith. Periodically, we'll pause between message series to remind ourselves about certain aspects of our theology here at Christ Church. Today we're reviewing what we believe about The Bible.Thanks for listening to the Christ Church Mequon Podcast. Find your next step and let us know how we can be praying for you at ChristChurchMequon.LIFE/Podcast. Hit that subscribe button and, until next week, God bless.
Periodically on TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING , we share a SPOTLIGHT conversation and feature brief chats with an individual from the community about a special topic or a unique endeavor. So ok, a while back , I had to think about making a will and living trust, and not to be morose or sad, but it was a good exercise that forced me to think about things that are family heirlooms, or even the more basic question of what we find precious or beautiful and even enduring? For a lot of people, tangible things like jewelry come to mind, and it's likely no newsflash that India has a fairly strong heritage and history with jewels and diamonds. Now, in the 2025 that we live in, technology is bending the curve and offering alternatives for everyone to be conscious of sustainable affordability, ethical choices, time, and rapidly evolving definitions of elegance and fashionable beauty in almost every corner of every consumer market. So, I was actually really curious to learn more about lab grown jewelry, and it was really great to share a Spotlight conversation with Ricky Vasandani. Ricky grew up all over the world in a family that successfully scaled a legacy diamond jewellery business over decades. With a background in marketing and entrepreneurship, and success in both the sports and Food and Beverage domains, he turned his attention to co-found Solitario as an emerging Indian lab grown diamond producer with an expanding domestic and international retail footprint. In fact, just recently, Solitario finished a round of pre-ipo funding - a solid positioning in a market that's expected to skyrocket in the next few years. We caught up to talk about his global journey and experiences, about lab-grown jewelry and the storytelling that it deserves when making choices, but I first asked him to share the obvious, which was to tell me more about the jewelry he was currently wearing…
#538 In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Mandy Wright, Esteban Gil, Nicole Begley, Rhea Whitney, and Michelle Harris down at Imaging USA about the art of marketing your photography business. You'll gain insights into building client relationships, valuing your work, and maintaining passion in your art.THE BIG IDEAS Create Lasting Client Relationships: Investing in genuine connections with clients can drive word-of-mouth referrals, expanding your network organically.Self-Awareness Enhances Success: Understanding what truly aligns with your values and interests can prevent burnout and guide your career path effectively.Business Adaptability: Adapting your strategy to leverage free resources and tools like social media and online communities can accelerate your growth.Finding Joy Amid Chaos: Enjoyment and playfulness in your work ensure sustained passion, even amidst the pressures of turning your hobby into a business.PHOTOGRAPHY ACTION PLANBuild Client Relationships: Attend events or dinners if invited to show your investment in clients' special occasions. Ensure clear, timely communication, keeping your interactions positive and professional.Develop Self-Awareness: Journal your thoughts about what feels right in your business to better align with your goals. Periodically reassess your service offerings to ensure satisfaction and fulfillment.Leverage Free Resources: Utilize social media platforms to showcase your work and engage with potential clients. Join online photography communities for knowledge sharing and mentorship opportunities.Embrace Creativity: Plan personal photography projects that excite and challenge your artistic boundaries. Explore new techniques or gear periodically to keep your skills dynamic and evolving.Focus on Genuine Networking: Connect with fellow photographers for support, inspiration, and potential collaborations. Attend workshops and conferences to learn from seasoned professionals and grow your circle.RESOURCES:Video: 12 Professional Photographers Share Best Marketing Advice for New Shooters - https://youtu.be/ySbMqA0k29wVisit Mandy Wright's Website - https://www.mandywrightphotography.com/Visit Esteban Gil's Website - https://www.egilphoto.com/Visit Nicole Begley's Website - https://hairofthedogacademy.com/Visit Rhea Whitney's Website - https://rheawhitney.com/Visit Michelle Harris' Website - https://mharrisstudios.com/Learn What Camera Settings to Use in our free guide!https://perfectcamerasettings.com/ Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.comConnect with Raymond! Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group Get your Photo Questions Answered on the show - https://beginnerphotopod.com/qa Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/ Thanks for listening & keep shooting!
(How to Become the Person Who Never Gives Up) In this ep, we explore the parallels between fitness and personal growth, the power of consistency, and how to embrace plateaus as part of the process. Andrew shares insights into overcoming self-sabotage, the compound effect of small habits, and shifting from aesthetics-focused goals to performance-driven empowerment. This conversation delves into mindset shifts, identity evolution, and the importance of aligning actions with long-term values. Tune in for a no-nonsense, relatable discussion packed with actionable advice to help you find joy in the journey and redefine what progress means for you. 1/ Plateaus Growth isn't linear; plateaus are inevitable and require mental resilience to push through. When progress slows, revisit your goals and adjust expectations. Are you letting plateaus demotivate you, or are you seeing them as a chance to refine your methods? 2/unrealistic expectations of rapid progress often lead to self-sabotage. Accepting slower progress reduces frustration. Reframe your mindset by focusing on long-term consistency rather than short-term perfection. What would you achieve if you embraced the process instead of fixating on speed? 3/Small, consistent actions lead to significant changes over time as described in The Compound Effect and The Slight Edge. Reflect on daily habits. Are they aligned with your long-term goals, or are they compounding toward stagnation? Coaching Helps Break Cycles. Coaches provide guidance to disrupt negative feedback loops, like self-sabotage or over-restriction, leading to sustainable habits. : If you're stuck, consider whether external guidance could help shift your perspective and actions. /Goals and values evolve with life stages. Holding onto outdated goals can create unnecessary frustration. Periodically reassess your goals. Are they still relevant, or are they rooted in past desires that no longer serve you? Progress Requires Patience and Consistency Success in fitness and social media often mirrors each other: it starts slow, feels repetitive, and seems stagnant, but consistency leads to exponential growth. Many people give up too soon because they don't see immediate results. Reflect on what small actions you can take today that could snowball into bigger achievements later. Learning Skills Leads to Faster Progress Just like mastering the basics of lifting (e.g., squats and deadlifts), mastering foundational skills in any endeavor allows for accelerated growth later. Are you building a strong foundation in your efforts? /By focusing on strength & health rather than just fat loss, people often achieve their goals as a byproduct. Are you prioritizing the wrong goal? What would happen if you shifted your focus to performance or well-being? /Social media highlights extremes, making people compare themselves to the "best of the best" rather than the average journey. Diversify your social media feed to include relatable journeys and focus on your progress. Are your comparisons inspiring or discouraging? /Identity is fluid and shaped by beliefs, language, actions. Fixed mindsets limit potential, while open ones allow growth. What language are you using about yourself? Are your beliefs helping or hindering your progress? /Emotional eating often stems from deeper issues like body image, which need addressing for long-term success. How do your habits reflect your emotions? What could you take to address the root? Saying “I'm not the type of person who…” creates mental barriers to growth. What might you achieve if you embraced flexibility in your identity? Obsessing over specific outcomes can lead to burnout. Enjoying the process creates sustainable progress. Strength training empowers people by shifting the focus from aesthetics to performance and capability. Keeping an open mind and flexible approach prepares you for changes in priorities or circumstances. @Andrewcoatesfitness @transformxruby
Periodically it's great to talk about one of my favorite topics- sex! After many years of focusing on midlife sexual wellness, I can say with confidence that intimacy CAN improve with age if we approach it with an attitude of curiosity, self awareness and intention. Today I'm sharing REAL ACTIONABLE STEPS that have worked for me and my patients to revive our sex lives after 50, or at any age. Get my best-selling book, Sexually Woke: Awaken the Secrets to Your Best Sex Life in Midlife & Beyond: https://amzn.to/3rm47IU Join my Well Past Midlife Masterclass to gain a deeper understanding of how to optimize every aspect of your midlife wellness: https://www.wellpastmidlife.com/
Periodically on TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING , we share a SPOTLIGHT conversation and feature brief chats with an individual from the community about a special topic or a unique endeavor. In this spotlight episode, Aki Kumar shares his journey as a blues musician, discussing the universality of blues themes, the importance of being a lifelong student of the genre, and how his Desi identity influences his music. He reflects on the emotional outlet that blues provides and the lessons learned from performing. Aki also explores the relationship between art and identity, expressing optimism for the future of music and his upcoming album. Check out his website (akikumar.com) for news and details about upcoming shows!Now there are lots of people who love Bollywood music, and there are certainly a lot of people who love American blues music. But what happens when those two worlds meet? And that's what set the stage for a conversation I shared with Aki Kumar, a musician and singer who for over the past decade has been trying to ensure that the intersection of these two musical genres is a space that you need to pay attention to. Aki was born and raised in Mumbai and came to the US to study computer science - ok that part isn't without a playbook or blueprint. But with a passion for Indian music and a deep new embrace for American blues history and local blues performances, Aki set about to express himself by blending melodies from Hindi films with blues music, garnering a buzz for his performances everywhere, many local awards along the way, and the title of “San Jose's king of Bollywood Blues”. Now I have to tell you, that I caught one of his shows here in the Bay Area, and from experiencing Aki on stage, his singing, his killer harmonica style, and his superb band, I could not have asked for a more entertaining way to enjoy both true Americana mixed with some soulful imaginations of Indian music. Now for me this was all a pleasant surprise because I had made some natural assumptions about what Bollywood Blues might be, so as we began chatting, I asked him if he also made assumptions about persona or expectations when it came to his unique brand of making music?Like many, my heart and soul go out to those who are struggling as a result of the Los Angeles wildfires.Please help contribute to the American Red Cross, Mutual Aid LA Network, various Go FundMe efforts, Save the Children, and Baby2Baby. Hoping for a safe, peaceful, and supportive recovery for everyone.
Look back to step forward. Periodically schedule time to review the journey of your brand to access and ensure you are properly aligned with your goals, and hitting targets. - Bernard Kelvin Clive
Humerus Hacks presents: The Mysterious Tale of the Missing Periods. Waiting for Aunt Flo for simply too long? Crimson wave never waved hello? Bloody Mary simply never appeared? It's the time of the month to tune into our very special ep with very special guest star Lauren! Part 1 digs into an overview of primary amenorrhoea and keep your eyes peeled for part 2! Key reference with thanks: https://www.ogmagazine.org.au/19/3-19/primary-amenorrhoea/
Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) is not only tricky to spell, it's also more common than you think! MRKH syndrome affects around 1 in 4,500 female/AFAB folk. We are incredibly lucky to have guest host Lauren on the pod sharing expertise, hot tips, advocacy, and insider knowledge. Tune in! Key resources: https://www.ogmagazine.org.au/19/3-19/primary-amenorrhoea/ https://www.rch.org.au/rch_gynaecology/young-women-and-parents-and-carers/RCH_MRKH_information/
We never outgrow the need to review the basics of our faith. Periodically, we'll pause between message series to remind ourselves about certain aspects of our theology here at Christ Church. Today we're reviewing what we believe about The Church.Thanks for listening to the Christ Church Mequon Podcast. Find your next step and let us know how we can be praying for you at ChristChurchMequon.LIFE/Podcast. Hit that subscribe button and, until next week, God bless.
FEATURING: (00:04:03) New Business - Demon's Tilt.(00:12:02) Legend of Mana.(00:27:24) Death Wish 2.(00:54:39) Indiana Jones.(01:17:27) The Game Awards.(01:39:10) Listener Mail - When the news gets interesting.
Today for Think Thursday we're talking about mindset. We're focusing specifically on reframing our past with a gain mindset. Molly Watts discusses the importance of mindset in driving behavior and outcomes, emphasizing the shift from a "gap" to a "gain" perspective. She references Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book "Personality Isn't Permanent" and Dr. Dan Sullivan's concept of "The Gap and The Gain." The gap focuses on what's missing, leading to dissatisfaction, while the gain celebrates progress, fostering momentum and resilience. Watts also introduces Dr. Dan McAdams' narrative identity, which suggests our past, present, and future are interconnected and evolving. She shares her personal story of reframing her mother's alcohol dependence to empower her own journey, encouraging listeners to reframe their past experiences to foster growth and positive change.Action Items[ ] Choose one story or experience from your past that you would like to view differently.[ ] Ask yourself what you gained from that experience and how your future self would view it.[ ] Start a "gain journal" to track your progress and small wins.[ ] Periodically revisit and rewrite the story you've reframed to reinforce your growth.Mindset and Its Impact on LifeMolly Watts introduces the concept of Think Thursday, focusing on neuroscience, brain health, and mindset.She emphasizes the importance of mindset in determining how we feel, act, and the results we achieve in life.Molly mentions the positive feedback she has received from listeners and expresses her excitement about the topic.The episode will cover powerful mindset shifts, primarily from the book "Personality Isn't Permanent" by Dr. Benjamin Hardy.Introduction to "The Gap and The Gain"Molly introduces Dr. Dan Sullivan's concept of "The Gap and The Gain" to describe different ways of measuring progress.The "Gap" focuses on what is missing and how far one is from an ideal, leading to dissatisfaction.The "Gain" perspective involves measuring progress from where one started, appreciating the journey and recognizing growth.Molly explains how shifting from the "Gap" to the "Gain" can lead to a sense of accomplishment and momentum.The Importance of Acknowledging Small WinsMolly discusses the significance of acknowledging small wins and how they contribute to big changes.She explains that focusing on progress, even incremental, can empower and motivate one to take the next step.Molly emphasizes that the sense of happiness comes from how we view our progress and experiences, not from achieving perfection.Living in the "Gain" helps build psychological momentum and motivation to keep moving forward.Narrative Identity and Reframing Past ExperiencesMolly introduces Dr. Dan McAdams' concept of narrative identity, which involves the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our lives.She explains that our narrative identity integrates our past, present, and future into a coherent story that shapes our sense of self.Molly highlights that our narrative identity is not fixed and can be reinterpreted to empower ourselves.Reframing past experiences in a positive light can help us grow and empower ourselves.Personal Story of Reframing Past ExperiencesMolly shares her personal story of reframing her relationship with alcohol, particularly her mother's alcohol dependence.She initially felt jealous and envious of other women with close relationships with their mothers.By understanding her mother's struggles and reinterpreting her past, Molly gained resilience and determination.This mindset shift allowed her to take control of her life and help others change their relationships with alcohol.Practical Steps to Apply the Gain MindsetMolly provides practical steps to apply the gain mindset in everyday life.Step 1: Choose one story and identify a specific past experience viewed as a setback or limitation.Step 2: Ask what was gained from this experience, focusing on any positives or lessons learned.Step 3: Imagine future self and how they would view past experiences as steps to growth.Step 4: Keep a gain journal to track daily moments of growth, positive choices, or small wins.Step 5: Revisit and rewrite the narrative periodically to reinforce growth and empowerment.Conclusion and ChallengeMolly concludes by emphasizing that the gain mindset is about creating a sustainable shift in how we view our lives.She encourages listeners to take one story and apply the gain mindset, asking themselves what they learned and how it shaped them.Molly invites listeners to email her with ideas for future Think Thursday episodes.She reminds listeners that they are the ones writing their story and encourages them to focus on the gain, celebrate progress, and embrace the person they are becoming. ★ Support this podcast ★
Periodically on TRUST ME I KNOW WHAT I'm DOING , we share a SPOTLIGHT conversation and feature brief chats with an individual from the community about a special topic or a unique endeavor. And I guess there is no more celebrated or more special a topic than Diwali. It's a centering feeling of home for so many, and as a growing global spotlight shines brightly on this lit up tradition, there remain great opportunities to help support more excitement and meet an eager curiosity. In a way, as equally fulfilling and festive as it is to recognize and celebrate Diwali just because you and your family and your neighbors and your community have always done so, there also needs to be great simplicity and understanding for those who are just getting to know Diwali and its significance or those who are refreshing or reaquainting themselves or even those who are hoping to to help create new Diwali traditions. Thankfully, entrepre neur and author Chhavi Bhargava has written a new book called “A Kids Book About Diwali” to help start and continue these conversations. Chhavi is an Indian American, and was an elementary school teacher in Canada for over a decade. Her deep experiences in building curriculum, especially organizing learners around diversity and inclusion, informed her to write a book about Diwali, to showcase the timeless Hindu festival as an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming experience for everyone. As more and more school districts in the United States are observing Diwali, A Kids Book About Diwali may serve as an entry point for more open discussions among neighbors, teachers, and administrators to not just learn more about Diwali, but about respectful curiosity and empathy for our differences. Chhavi and I caught up recently to chat about the book and I started by asking her particularly about that centering feeling of “home”The book is available everywhere and please visit bookaboutdiwali.com for more. Shubha Dipaavali and a peaceful, healthy, and Happy Diwali to everyone. Till next time, I'm Abhay Dandekar
For this episode, David is joined by Ashley Stanford, who is a digital marketing, freelancing, and event expert. She is the co-founder and vice president of Ice Cream Social. They discuss how to move with the times in a digital and social media environment that is in a constant state of flux. How to use some basic principles to ensure that no matter what changes you keep up and continue to run effective digital marketing campaigns. The advice and tips that Ashley shares work for every type of business regardless of size or the market they are targeting. To explore how to get unstuck on your mission, put your purpose into practice, and convert your ideas into impact book a discovery call with David here https://calendly.com/david-peoplewithpurpose/30min KEY TAKEAWAYS Whilst the channels and tactics that work are constantly changing the principles remain the same. You can use AI to generate content faster and make it more polished. Ashley explains how. But the human touch is still essential. Most small businesses operate in survival mode. Pause to work out who your customers are. Doing that produces amazing growth. Always analyse the results of your campaigns, so the next one is more effective. Every customer you have has the potential to be an influencer. They will all share their experience, at some point. Using rewards and gamifying, incentive-based social sharing, massively boosts the effectiveness of campaigns. Centre marketing around the benefits of your product or service, not the features. You need full control of your brand, money and customer data to be able to successfully pivot. Something all businesses have to do regularly. Periodically review your personal goals. Your life changes and you evolve, and so does what you want. Event marketing that is immersive and engages all of the senses is powerful. People feel compelled to use their phones to share it. If you host an event, make it worth people´s while to attend. Time is precious to them. BEST MOMENTS “Things are changing pretty quickly with social media continuously advancing quicker than ever, with AI and influencers.” “Who is your target audience, and how do they spend their time online? That will help you decide where to hang out.” “Turn every single customer that you have into an influencer for your brand.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://icecreamsocial.io https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashstanford https://www.amazon.co.uk/Desire-Map-Experience-Guide-Creating/dp/B00H9I1ORY ABOUT THE HOST David Roberts is a highly regarded CEO, mentor, and investor with 30 years of experience across multiple sectors. As an intrapreneur and entrepreneur, David has bought, grown, started and sold several businesses, working with values-driven start-ups, award-winning SMEs, and multinational corporations on strategies for service excellence, leadership, and profitable growth. David's passion is for purpose and creating an environment where everyone can succeed, through building teams that get things done, execute on their mission with passion, deliver exceptional service and really make a difference. ARTWORK CREDIT Penny Roberts - https://www.instagram.com/penpennypencils CONTACT METHODS LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-roberts-nu-heat Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DavidRobertsPeopleWithPurpose David's Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/dave.roberts.5076798 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/davidcroberts_ Email - david@peoplewithpurpose.live
“Citizens to Aid Police in New Program,” reported the Los Angeles Times in 1975. “Community Policing: Law Enforcement Returns to Its Roots,” declared the Chicago Tribune in 1994. “Obama Calls for Changes in Policing After Task Force Report,” announced The New York Times in 2015. Periodically, US officials propose some type of police “reform,” usually after a period of widespread protest against ongoing racist police violence. Police, we're told, will improve their own performance and relationships with the public with a few tweaks: better training on use-of-force and equipment, upgraded technology like body cameras and shooting simulators, and deeper integration into the “community.” But, every time a new “reform” is introduced, it almost always serves as justification for bigger police-department budgets and fawning media coverage over police, painting the image of a scrappy force for public safety that just doesn't have the right training and resources. Meanwhile, levels of police harassment and police violence remain the same, and, in many cases, even increase. Indeed, 2023 was the worst year for fatal police shootings in decades despite – or perhaps because of – all the post-Ferguson “reforms." On this episode, the Season 8 Premiere of Citations Needed, we'll discuss the media-enabled phenomenon of how pro-police narratives, programs and budget bloating busy work are spun as “reform,” how they are used to stem public anger and placate squishy politicians and nonprofits, and look at the decades-old practice of turning public opposition to, and victimization from, US policing into an opportunity to expand and enrich the security state. Our guest is civil rights attorney Alec Karakatsanis. ** Alec Karakatsanis (@equalityAlec) is a civil rights attorney and the founder of Civil Rights Corps. He is the author of Alec's Copaganda Newsletter, the book Usual Cruelty: The Complicity of Lawyers in the Criminal Injustice System (The New Press, 2019), the Yale Journal of Law & Liberation study “The Body Camera: The Language of our Dreams,” and the forthcoming book, Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our News, which will be published early next year by The New Press.
This episode explores the trade-offs between privacy and convenience, the promise of AI in enhancing work-life balance, and the ethical challenges of automation! During today's conversation, Scott and Nathan discuss various AI topics, starting with LinkedIn's new feature that allows training AI on user data, sparking a discussion on privacy versus convenience. They then explore Salesforce's Agent Force and the balance between automation and human interaction, particularly in fundraising. Nathan raises concerns about acceleration burnout due to AI, while Scott reflects on using AI to save time. However, they question whether AI enhances human interactions or increases efficiency. Moreover, Scott shares insights from Jensen Huang on tech growth beyond Moore's Law, and they discuss AI's future, including the potential of GPT-401 and tools for decision-making. The conversation also touches on massive AI investments like Microsoft's Stargate project and Oprah Winfrey's AI special, stressing the need for empathy and strategic adoption of AI in society. [00:41] Introduction and Personal Updates [02:51] Fundraising AI Summit is 12 Days Away! [06:10] LinkedIn's AI Data Collection, Salesforce's Agent Force, and More [11:35] Acceleration Burnout and AI's Role in Work-Life Balance [16:34] Moore's Law and the Future of AI [23:27] GPT-401 and Its Implications [27:10] AI Tools and Predictive Models [32:10] Scale and Investment in AI [34:28] Oprah Winfrey's AI Special and Its Implications [35:52] Conclusion and Upcoming Podcast TIPS AND TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT TODAY Use AI-powered Agent Force to automate tasks and save time for more meaningful work. Use AI in fundraising, but maintain a personal touch to avoid over-automation. Set clear boundaries and avoid overloading yourself with tasks when AI saves time. Ensure AI enhances human interactions, not replaces them, to keep a human-centric approach. Follow exponential tech growth and new AI models like GPT-401 to stay ahead. Explore tools like Forecast.safe.ai to predict outcomes and improve decision-making. Align AI adoption with specific goals to boost productivity and avoid wasting resources. Track large-scale AI projects like Microsoft's Stargate to understand future AI potential. Focus on the human side of AI, ensuring it addresses job loss concerns and societal impacts. Periodically check and update your privacy settings on AI-driven platforms to ensure they align with your preferences. RESOURCES Connect with Nathan and Scott: LinkedIn (Nathan): linkedin.com/in/nathanchappell/ LinkedIn (Scott): linkedin.com/in/scott-rosenkrans Website: fundraising.ai/ Mentioned in the episode: OpenAI unveils o1 models Upgraded Alexa to be powered by Claude Prediction AI: https://forecast.safe.ai Prediction AI Example: https://forecast.safe.ai/?id=66ec2aa41bcc67996eee8240 Perplexity coming under fire Environmental Impact of AI Bill Gates's big bet on Nuclear power
Philip Shadle, CEO, Aimee Copeland Foundation opens outdoor accessibility for disabled individuals with all-terrain wheelchairs. My endorphins flow. Yeehaw! Summary This podcast episode features an interview with Philip Shadle, CEO of the Aimee Copeland Foundation, discussing the transformative impact of all-terrain wheelchairs on accessibility and outdoor experiences for individuals with disabilities. The podcast underscores the importance of accessibility and inclusion in outdoor activities, celebrating the collaborative efforts of organizations, individuals, and communities to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. Click here to view the printable newsletter with images. More readable than a transcript, which can also be found below. Contents Table of Contents Toggle EpisodeProemPodcast introOff-road wheelchair travelIntroducing Philip ShadleTravel in Costa RicaFoundation Business ModelAll-Terrain Wheelchair Models Call to actionTraining for Off-Road TravelBirthing the FoundationExpanding the Foundation OfferingsGratefulContestReflectionPodcast Outro Please comment and ask questions: at the comment section at the bottom of the show notes on LinkedIn via email YouTube channel DM on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok to @healthhats Production Team Kayla Nelson: Web and Social Media Coach, Dissemination, Help Desk Leon van Leeuwen: article-grade transcript editing Oscar van Leeuwen: video editing Julia Higgins: Digital marketing therapy Steve Heatherington: Help Desk and podcast production counseling Joey van Leeuwen, Drummer, Composer, and Arranger, provided the music for the intro, outro, proem, and reflection, including Moe's Blues for Proem and Reflection and Bill Evan's Time Remembered for on-mic clips. Podcast episodes on YouTube from Podcast. Inspired by and Grateful to Ann Boland, Bruce Kimmel, Olivia Zivney, Linda DeRosa, and all my many helpers Links and references Camino de Santiago pilgrimages, Costa Rica Aimee Copeland Foundation Action Track Chair in different sizes. Episode Proem According to the CDC A disability is any condition of the body or mind (impairment) that makes it more difficult for the person with the condition to do certain activities (activity limitation) and interact with the world around them (participation restrictions). Clearly, it's not a legal definition. I would add self-image, societal perceptions, and environment as components of that definition. Some days, I feel more disabled than other days, and some situations enhance or reduce my abilities. Ability/Disability is a continuum that changes over time and situation. Travel accentuates my abilities - puts them in high relief - for me. Travel requires close examination of my abilities so I can figure out how to manage minute-to-minute - constant decision-making. Travel allows me to stretch my capabilities. It's exhilarating and eventually exhausting. Periodically, I share my travel experiences. Remember the two Camino de Santiago pilgrimages, one in 2019 and the other 2022? In 2023 we explored Costa Rica. We're planning a music trip to Cuba in four months. Today, I describe our trip to Cloudland Canyon State Park in northwest Georgia. After a zip-lining accident in 2012, when she was 24, Aimee Copeland was hospitalized and diagnosed with a flesh-eating, bacterial infection. They had to amputate both of her hands, right foot, and entire left leg. Before the infection, she was extremely active, rock climbing, backpacking, and trail running. In response to her frustration with wheelchair life, she created the Aimee Copeland Foundation, which raises funds to create opportunities for connecting with the self, the community, and the earth through the provision of a fleet of all-terrain wheelchairs for free use by people with disabilities within select Georgia state parks. In this podcast episode,
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Periodically, rather than recording a podcast from my studio, I like to get out into my garden and record an audio journal on-site, so I can talk in real time about what I'm seeing, the wins and challenges of the season, what's worked, what hasn't and what I plan to change. In this edition, I touch on many things you may have noticed in your own garden this year, and I share how I make the transition from the summer growing season to fall. Podcast Links for Show notes Download my free eBook 5 Steps to Your Best Garden Ever - the 5 most important steps anyone can do to have a thriving garden or landscape. It's what I still do today, without exception to get incredible results, even in the most challenging conditions. Subscribe to the joegardener® email list to receive weekly updates about new podcast episodes, seasonal gardening tips, and online gardening course announcements. Check out The joegardener® Online Gardening Academy for our growing library of organic gardening courses. Follow joegardener® on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter, and subscribe to The joegardenerTV YouTube channel.
Many thanks to SRAA contributor, Bob Purse, curator of the website Inches Per Second, who shares the following recording and notes:Periodically, I have shared parts of the large collection of shortwave recordings, most of them of Australian programming, which I picked up... somewhere, at some point. I've shared most of it, at this point, but have a few tapes left. I held off on this because the quality is fairly poor, then near the end becomes abysmal, but I thought I should share it, since there is an audience for these recordings. The newscast heard here makes it clear (specifically, the golf results, among other stories) that at least part of this tape is from the second week of March, 1968.
We are doing something a bit different in this episode! Periodically, we will bring guests onto the show. Today we have our first guest, who has graciously hosted us on her podcast before. Elisabeth Scott of Running Explained joins us for a discussion on running goals. Discussion points include: Process goals vs outcome goals How much can you improve in a training cycle? How to set realistic running goals How to use race equivalency calculators Mental vs physical limitations How to reset after missing your goals How social media impacts goal setting Further Resources: Elisabeth's Goal Setting Masterclass: https://www.runningexplained.co/challenge-page/masterclass-goalsetting Slate marathon calculator: https://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/10/running_calculator_introducing_slate_s_marathon_time_predictor_a_better.html Follow Elisabeth @runningexplained on Instagram Lever Movement is the sponsor of this episode! Lever is an affordable home treadmill-compatible tool that offloads your running - similar to an anti-gravity treadmill, but in the comfort of your home. Code: AMANDA for 20% off and https://www.levermovement.com
1.Diversification - We all know that it is important to spread our risk among many holdings, asset classes, income sources, etc.2.Use a disciplined process to “buy low/sell high”.3.Understand that not all of your holdings will be winners.4.Take distributions from a “BUFFER ASSET” when markets are down. This will give time for your account to fully or partially recover losses.5.Hedging Strategies - (DIY for these is not recommended). Options, futures, etc.6.Avoid Panic Selling - there are times when panic selling can “lock” in a loss.7.Avoid “performance chasing” - a stock that has been increasing might not continue to increase.8.Dollar Cost Averaging can help to reduce average share price over the long term. This is applicable during the growth phase of an account.9.Private market investments often do not have returns that are correlated to the general stock markets. There are net worth/income requirements.10.Periodically rebalance your portfolio(s) to ensure that your allocation percentages are still appropriate.11. Dividend paying stocks - if a company pays a dividend, potential portfolio losses can be offset by the dividends.12.Use a “rules based” philosophy - know what you own and why you own it.13. Electing for guaranteed streams of income (with regards to pensions and annuities) can allow you to take more risk with other investments.14.Some Annuities are designed to have a floor of ZERO, even when the markets are negative. These get complicated but COULD be a fit for part of your portfolio.15.In many cases, we hire experts in our lives. Consider working with a financial professional, especially when you get into the distribution phase of your financial life.Email david@parallelfinancial.com Get your copy of the book ENDGAME www.weeklywealthpodcast.com/endgameSchedule your time to speak with david www.weeklywealthpodcast.com/davidpf
In this episode, Dr. Katie Fell (General Cardiology Fellow at University of Michigan and CardioNerds Academy Fellow) and Dr. Gurleen Kaur (incoming General Cardiology fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Director of CardioNerds Internship) discuss with Dr. James Arrighi (General Cardiologist and CEO of ACGME-International) about developing as a clinician educator and the concept of competency-based education. The PA-ACC & CardioNerds Narratives in Cardiology is a multimedia educational series jointly developed by the Pennsylvania Chapter ACC, the ACC Fellows in Training Section, and the CardioNerds Platform with the goal to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in cardiology. In this series, we host inspiring faculty and fellows from various ACC chapters to discuss their areas of expertise and their individual narratives. Join us for these captivating conversations as we celebrate our differences and share our joy for practicing cardiovascular medicine. We thank our project mentors Dr. Katie Berlacher and Dr. Nosheen Reza. The PA-ACC & CardioNerds Narratives in Cardiology PageCardioNerds Episode PageCardioNerds AcademyCardionerds Healy Honor Roll CardioNerds Journal ClubSubscribe to The Heartbeat Newsletter!Check out CardioNerds SWAG!Become a CardioNerds Patron! Video version - Becoming a “Big E” Medical Educator as a Cardiologist with Dr. James Arrighi https://youtu.be/xcrwnz6_9Qg Quoatables - Becoming a “Big E” Medical Educator as a Cardiologist with Dr. James Arrighi “You really have to have a passion or a love for what you do...that's probably responsible for most of the success one has in life” (time 4:43) “Sub-subspecialty societies in Cardiology represent [a] great opportunity for junior faculty or even trainees to get involved, even before getting involved in ACC.” (time 5:30) “Competency-based medical education and time variable training are not synonymous.” (time 16:43) “As Cardiology evolves into more and more subspecialties...it begs the question... ‘Is Cardiology a primary specialty?'” (time 27:30) “We need to think about [a] more efficient ways for training.” (time 31:55) “As a clinician educator, there's variety, there's innovation!” (time 41:22) Notes - Becoming a “Big E” Medical Educator as a Cardiologist with Dr. James Arrighi How might one develop as a clinician educator on a national level? Junior faculty and trainees should consider taking advantage of education opportunities in various Cardiology sub-specialty societies (ex: American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, ASNC). This may include involvement in different committees. These opportunities are great ways to build connections and establish a reputation on a national level. This can help lead to other opportunities with larger national organizations (ex: ACC, AHA). Cardiology Training Oversight The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) both have regulatory power over Cardiology training, providing the minimum clinical experience standards for Cardiology fellowship training programs.The ACGME oversees accreditation for Cardiology fellowships.The ABIM defines the requirements for eligibility for certification of individuals. Over time, the ACGME has transitioned to placing an emphasis on quality improvement, with a particular focus on continuous programmatic improvement. The American College of Cardiology (ACC) helps define more granular recommendations for Cardiology training programs and their curriculum.Periodically the ACC releases training guidelines for Cardiology fellowship programs, called Core Cardiovascular Training Statements, or COCATS. This document provides more contemporary, detailed, and specialty-specific recommendations for Cardiology training as compared to ACGME.While ACC has no regulatory authority over Cardiology training programs, COCATS documents provide a roadmap for program...
HAPPY HOLIDAYS, REFINERS!! WELCOME BACK TO 'SEVERED'!! Ever wonder what it would be like to spend Christmas in a tiny cabin in a blizzard with John Hamm? Find out in this latest episode of "Severed: Origins." We're breaking down the incredible 'Christmas' Episode of the Black Mirror Anthology Series called "White Christmas." It's freaky all the way around. It's easy to see why it was an inspiration for Dan Erickson during his creation of 'Severance.'This time out in Part One, we get some background on Charlie Brooker and the amazing British/Netflix series "Black Mirror." We also get into the cabin with Matt and Joe. That Matt's a talkative one! We'll find out his story this week. He's got a harrowing tale to tell about young Harry and a date gone wrong. BECOME A PATRON-REFINER!! Make the most of your time on the Severed Floor. Visit Patreon.com/SeveredPod to become a Refiner!! Just $5/mo. for inside info, games, trivia and early access to future "Severed" podcast episodes. Join the fun and help support the Podcast!!APPLE PODCAST LISTENERS: If you are enjoying "Severed: The Ultimate 'Severance' Podcast" please make sure to leave a 5-star rating (and, if you want, a review telling others to give it a try). Higher rated podcasts get better placement in suggestion lists. It helps more "Severance" fans find the show. Thanks!!! Make sure to subscribe, Refiners!! "Severed" is on hiatus until the end of Season Two. Periodically, during the down time, we will be taking a look at those things that Dan Erickson has listed as inspiration. Be watching for those episodes under the title "Severed: Origins." Please continue to listen and re-listen to the still available Season One episodes. Once Season Two has concluded, be watching for "Severed: Season Two"...the Ultimateness will continue! In the meantime, make sure to join the fun on our Facebook page @SeveredPod. While we're all waiting around on news of Season Two, I'll try to keep you updated on news about the show. Also, let's talk!! Comments? Theories? Corrections? I LOVE 'EM!! Send to: SeveredPod@gmail.comThanks for listening to "Severed: The Ultimate 'Severance' Podcast." PLEASE MAKE SURE TO SHARE THE PODCAST WITH YOUR FRIENDS WHO ARE 'SEVERANCE' FANS. THE SHOW GROWS THROUGH WORD OF MOUTH!!If you like what you're hearing, please give "Severed" a 5-star rating on Apple Podcasts. Needing your own copies o...
Mark Rosen shares his thoughts on the latest Kirk Cousins news with Atlanta seemingly on the horizon
This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE! Sometimes, you just know that something is off. Sometimes, you know when you're not alone, even when you can't see or hear anything around you. Periodically, those feelings are verified in a way that can only be described as traumatic. This is how life started for Rylie Cousins. A life of moving from house to house and ghost to ghost at every turn. Were spirits attracted to Rylie and her family, or does she have a unique ability to see and hear spirits on the other side? Become a Premium Supporter of The Grave Talks Through Apple Podcasts or Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/thegravetalks) There, you will get: Access to every episode of our show, AD-FREE! Access to every episode of our show before everyone else! Other EXCLUSIVE supporter perks and more!