Podcasts about RBO

Episode 274- State Police RPO Cover-Up  Also Available OnSearchable Podcast Transcript Gun Lawyer — Episode Transcript Gun Lawyer Transcript – Episode 274 SPEAKERS Teddy Nappen, Evan Nappen, Speaker 2 Evan Nappen 00:17 I’m Evan Nappen. Teddy Nappen 00:19 and I’m Teddy Nappen. Evan Nappen 00:21 And welcome to Gun Lawyer. So, our good friend, John Petrolino, who writes about many, many important topics, particularly as well concerning New Jersey, has an article that was in Bearing Arms. And I want to talk about what he’s raised here. The article’s title is “New Jersey State Police Tight Lipped Over Retired Police Permits”. (https://bearingarms.com/john-petrolino/2026/01/21/new-jersey-statepolice-tight-lipped-over-retired-police-permits-n1231288) So, what John has done is he’s used the New Jersey form of OPRA (Open Public Records Act), the Freedom of Information Act, asking the authorities in New Jersey for the number of permits issued to retired police officers. Evan Nappen 01:15 You may recall the then Attorney General Platkin did put up that dashboard and released the data of public statistics regarding carry permits, the number of permits issued. There’s been over 92,000 approved applications for carry permits in New Jersey, and of those approvals, 64,000 are non-expired permits. Now it’s interesting that the State puts out that data, but they don’t put out the data as to the RPO permits. The Retired Police Officer permits, and we want to find out how many folks carry that are not law enforcement, right? That are civilian. And let’s face it, Retired Police Officers are still civilians, even though they were formerly law enforcement. Originally carry was outside of being law enforcement and outside of New Jersey’s insane carry permit system back then, where you had to show “justifiable need”, which, as you may recall, meant showing of urgent necessity. This meant showing that a gun was necessary for you to defend yourself from death or serious bodily injury and that carrying a handgun was the only means that could do it. I mean, it was a standard that was so extreme that basically, if you’ve been shot and killed, you then qualified for a New Jersey carry permit. Evan Nappen 03:08 Now that went away thanks to the Bruen decision, and New Jersey jumped from less than 600 carry permits to now 64,000 valid permits and 92,000 valid, approved permits. But it does not include the RPOs. Now, RPOs had the ability to carry before Bruen, and during that time period when regular old civilians who weren’t retired law enforcement could not defend themselves with a firearm and carry in that manner, right? They were deemed to have to be victims instead of defenders. But now, for some reason, the State Police and such will not release the number of RPO permits. We’re not asking for names. John went forward here, and he didn’t ask for names. He didn’t ask for anything. He just wants to know how many? How many of the RPO permits are out there as well. This should be looked at in the aggregate with all the other carry permits that are out there, and yet that doesn’t happen. Page of 1 8 Evan Nappen 04:25 In December of 2025, John sent a request for the number of RPO permits, and it was denied. And the request was denied weirdly and strangely for reasons that just don’t make any sense. And I’m going to tell you. It makes you wonder, why is there a cover up? The reason they denied it, the reason the State Police have put in writing for the denial. Well, get a load of this. “Improper and Overbroad” was the main reason. Can you believe that the information is supposedly improper and overbroad? Why would wanting to know a statistical fact such as the number of RBO permits be considered overbroad? And why would it be considered in any way improper? It is strictly information. It is based on a record. It absolutely should be released. Evan Nappen 05:52 How come they are releasing the numbers for civilian carry permits, right? The 92,000. How come that’s not “improper and overbroad”? No, the Attorney General does it. Go ahead. Why? Tell me. Why do you think? Teddy Nappen 06:10 So, going back to because John also, if I recall, broke the story about denials where, what was it? Blacks were five times more likely to be denied to their carry. Evan Nappen 06:22 Yes, institutionalized racism. That exists in New Jersey. Teddy Nappen 06:31 So, add into the fact that you have the, well, here’s the trick. The Left have always been anti-police. That is a fact. They were the ones that wanted to defund the police. They were the ones for that. So, now we have the first factor of showing the absolute racism of the gun laws. But also the fact that they were supporting the only carry which, by the way, how much you want to bet they were all for the RPOs under all the Democrat Governors who allowed those carries to come into play. How much of that look, if it shows that there’s this massive amount of RPOs being issued. And because the Left are Marxists who absolutely hate police and hate law and order, this would make them look like absolute elitists and hypocrites. Evan Nappen 07:19 So, the fear is that, arguably, in the defund the police mentality, that if retired police are being armed, they don’t want any police armed, even if they’re retired, because of the perceived threat that they put out there that law enforcement creates toward minorities. In their view, not in my view. Not in my view. It’s the opposite. I mean, the fact is, they’re out there as protectors, defenders of the good people of our State. Every retired officer is somebody who’s not only armed, but also is experienced in armed defense, having served as a law enforcement officer. They’re a resource. They’re a positive benefit to our society. Yet, they’re probably scared of the politics. I mean, why else? What? There’s nothing about it that makes it “improper”. And it sure isn’t “overbroad”. It would be overbroad, maybe, if you want to know the name and address and Dox every carry RPO that’s out there. That’s not being requested. We just want the damn number. How many RPO carry permits? Teddy Nappen 08:41 Page of 2 8 It honestly reminds me, Dad, of that poster you had hung up. It was the joke where it shows if the Left could rewrite the Second Amendment. And I think, and I remember, you remember that. They crossed out, remember, they crossed out militia. And it says, like, military and police, employed police only. We’re kind of that logic where like, well, they’re not in the service, so why should they be armed? Not because there’s massive doxing websites, and that’s why ICE has to have their mask on for that exact reason. But. Evan Nappen 09:17 Exactly. Well, the fight is still ongoing and the question is raised. Why not just give us the number so we all know? And I would like to see a huge number of RPOs. I hope there’s lots of them out there. The more trained law-abiding folks that have firearms, the safer we are. And retired police are perfect in that regard. That’s exactly what we want to see. So, whatever their basis is, it just creates more of a conspiracy, and it just politicizes it so unnecessarily. It’s ridiculous. Release the number. Let us know. Let’s join in showing how many armed folks are out there. Maybe that’s another reason. They’re afraid that if that number, you know is even more, now, more and more people are carrying and suddenly the BITS argument they love to make right? Blood In The Streets. BITS. There’ll be blood in the streets with civilian carry, you know. No, it didn’t happen. And it’ll be the Wild West. It’s not the Wild West. And look at how many folks have carries when you combine the numbers. Maybe they’re afraid of that political aspect. But, you know, we have a right to know these numbers. It’s not a secret. It’s not improper. It’s not overbroad. Just let us know, and we deal with the facts. Evan Nappen 10:47 I also want to bring a couple very interesting things out that I’ve recently learned about. An important one here is the old “Bang or Bong – You can’t have both”. Well, shortly, at least a greater degree, you may be able to have both because President Trump, through his administration, folks, keep that in mind. Through the Trump administration, they have proposed, through ATF, revision of their regulation concerning the interpretation of what a “user of drugs” as a disqualifier, what it means. You know, for almost 30 years, ATF has said they treat even a single incident, a single past admission of marijuana use, or a failed drug test, or one misdemeanor marijuana conviction as evidence of a person being an unlawful user. They have now put forward an administrative reg that when it becomes finalized, which should be happening within the next few months, it will make it so that those things no longer will be deeming a person “an unlawful user”. And this should be of great help. Evan Nappen 12:25 From an article in AmmoLand, written by Dean Weingarten, which is entitled “ATF Finally Admits: One-time Drug Use Isn’t Grounds to Strip Gun Rights.” (https://www.ammoland.com/2026/01/atf-finally-admitsone-time-drug-use-isnt-grounds-to-strip-gun-rights/) It makes it really interesting here regarding that. In 2025, NICS denied 9,163 firearm transfers under the “unlawful user” category, okay? So, in other words, denials, denials of over 9,000 transfers, more than half of those denials, more than half, were single-incident drug inferences. Well, under this rule, those will no longer be denials. That’s over what? Four thousand people that will not be denied their gun rights, just in that one year, no less. Of people being denied over this nonsense. And furthermore, in this article, ATF admitted that 8,893 cases, it declined to investigate, prosecute, or retrieve firearms because of a single-drug incident. So, they’re denying individuals and not prosecuting. Yet, they’re using it as a base for denial. So, finally, we’re getting a reg of common sense that clears it up. Evan Nappen 14:05 Page of 3 8 And it even, to me, appears to go further. Now this may take a little bit more analysis, but in my reading of the reg, and I’m going to have to see how it pans out, it also talks about those that use drugs that are lawfully prescribed. That becomes an exemption. I’m going to be looking further into whether this reg also directly impacts individuals with a medical marijuana card. Because if it’s prescribed and it’s legal in the state and it’s by a lawful prescription, then maybe that, too, gets covered by this new regulation. It remains to be seen, but it sure seems like it. So, this is good. It progress in the right direction of helping protect our gun rights. And, of course, it’s happening under the Trump administration. It didn’t, this didn’t happen under, you know, the senile sock puppets for years. This is Trump, and yet it’s in the area of marijuana. I mean, oddly, it’s going to essentially remove what got Hunter Biden in trouble, you know. Now, of course, I don’t think he had a single individual use, but still. It’s that disqualifier that’s being addressed by the Trump administration. Evan Nappen 15:40 I also want to point out something that caught my attention, and I think it is just great when something illustrates the absurdity of the gun laws. As you know, we’re fighting over with the big, beautiful lawsuit with NFA over suppressors. Of course, there’s no more $200 tax, which is nice, and they have made it much more efficient online to be able to get federally registered through the National Firearm Act, when acquiring suppressors. And I appreciate the progress, but we all know that there shouldn’t be any NFA at all. It shouldn’t exist. There should be no registration of suppressors or silencers. And it’s so stupid the way silencers are regulated. And I just love this. Apparently, this fellow here, regarding the National Association for Gun Rights, registered a potato as a suppressor. That’s right, a potato. (https:// www.facebook.com/share/v/1Aadb9chUS/) It’s the classic potato silencer that they used to be, mythologically, I guess, accredited to the IRA even. A potato on the end of a gun will act as a suppressor, and to a certain degree, it does. So, he registered a potato, an actual potato, as a suppressor, and then proceeded to utilize it. The only problem with the potato silencer is it’s good for about one shot, and then you end up with a lot of mashed potatoes after you use it. But there you go. They did, in fact, register the potato as a silencer. Teddy Nappen 17:31 There’s a slang term for it, too it’s called a Paddy can. Evan Nappen 17:35 There you go. A Paddy can. Well, he registered a Paddy can. And you know, ATF, also, in the past, registered a shoelace as a machine gun, because you could wrap it around the trigger and the bolt. Then you could do a quasi bump fire deal with it. So, there is a bona fide, if you go on the internet, see a bona fide ATF registered shoelace as a machine gun. We have potatoes as silencers, and I think it illustrates just how stupid the NFA is. Evan Nappen 18:07 Hey, let me tell you about our friends at WeShoot. WeShoot, as you know, is a range where Teddy and I both shoot, and they have been lately featuring some biographies of their instructors. You see, WeShoot has fantastic instructors, and one of their instructors that they’ve taken a focus on is Todd Friedman. Now, their instructors are fantastic and Lieutenant Todd (Retired) is an elite tactical instructor at WeShoot. He has over 25 years experience with the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. And he didn’t just serve there. He commanded. He was Special Operations Group, Range Master, PTC Certified Range Instructor. His training and background is really something. He’s completed all the advanced coursework and tactical shot sub gun, tactical rifle, tactical narcotics operations. He is an amazing guy, Page of 4 8 and this is just one of the many fantastic instructors at WeShoot. WeShoot is the place to go. Todd, by the way, also served as a Sergeant First Class in the New Jersey National Guard and supporting the prestigious 82nd Airborne Division. So, this is the kind of guy you want training you, you know, and we shoot has these fantastic trainers. You can take advantage of this by belonging to WeShoot. You can take these courses and really, really learn and hone your skills. You need to check out WeShoot at weshootusa.com, weshootusa.com. It’s a beautiful range right there in Lakewood, conveniently located easy to get to, right off the Parkway, right there in Central Jersey. You have this fantastic resource of a range. So, make sure you check out WeShoot. Evan Nappen 20:24 And of course, our friends at the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs have been very busy. They’ve been battling in the courts. We should see some more progress there, and I’ll be reporting on that. They’ve been keeping an eye on what’s going on in Trenton and letting us know about these fights we’re fighting. We’ve made an impact. We’ve made an impact. But man, it is a tough slog. And without the Association, we would be even worse. So, make sure that you join the ANJRPC.org, the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol clubs. anjrpc.org. They are the premier gun rights group in New Jersey. You need to be a member. You’ll get the email alerts, and you’ll stay on top of what is going on in the crazy state of New Jersey, where the fun just never ends when it comes to oppression of our rights and the fight for our liberties. Evan Nappen 21:22 And by the way, this is where I shamelessly promote my book New Jersey Gun Law, which is the Bible of New Jersey gun law. You’ve got to get a copy. Go to EvanNappen.com. It’s over 500 pages, 120 topics, all question and answer. It is the book used by everybody, and the only book that describes and explains the complex matrix of insanity called New Jersey gun law. Get your copy today. Go to EvanNappen.com. When you get it, scan the front cover. Make sure you get on my private subscriber base, where you can immediately access the archives for any updates. A new update will be coming out very shortly, the 2026 Comprehensive Update of these new laws that Murphy gave us as his farewell present. I’ll be talking about those and explaining those soon. Get your copy today and join in with the subscriber base, which is free, which is free, by the way. So, that your book stays current, and you’ll know what’s going on and be able to keep yourself from becoming a GOFU. Evan Nappen 22:35 Teddy, what do you have for us today? Teddy Nappen 22:38 Well, as you know, Press Checks are always free. And I want to remind everyone that the Democrats and the Left are, in fact, the real racists. No matter. They do not care what bounds they have to do. They don’t care about what lines they have to cross. They hate you, and they want to take away your rights. You know. Evan Nappen 23:06 Well, Teddy, historically, historically the KKK were Southern Democrats. That was a KKK. The Democrats. Teddy Nappen 23:15 Yep, and apparently. Page of 5 8 Evan Nappen 23:16 Well, it hasn’t changed, apparently. Go ahead. Teddy Nappen 23:19 Well, even better, they’re getting back to their roots. We had previously discussed how the they tried to do that whole argument against Bruen and even citing to like, you know, all the racist laws that would deny blacks their rights to carry and ability to possess firearms. Well, sure enough, from The Daily Caller by Harold Hutchinson. Justice Jackson defends Jim Crow laws during Second Amendment case hearing. (https://dailycaller.com/2026/01/20/ketanji-brown-jackson-jim-crow-law-during-2a-case-argument/) If you have that on your bingo card today, you win. So. Evan Nappen 23:59 Your bingo card is Judge Jackson defends Jim Crow racist Black Codes. Teddy Nappen 24:05 Black Code. Specifically Black Codes. Yes, yes. So, this is about the Hawaii challenge. Remember, they’re trying to attack Bruen. And this is our opportunity to really strengthen and end that insanity. Evan Nappen 24:20 Your talking about the Wolford case. Teddy Nappen 24:20 Correct. Evan Nappen 24:22 About sensitive places. Which is very important. That can have great impact on New Jersey, too. Teddy Nappen 24:28 Oh, we’re all very too familiar about the various sensitive places in New Jersey. But this was the part that caught me. During the forum, where the justices are allowed to ask questions and probe the issues of the facts of the case of the law. So, Justice Jackson then turned and decided to go on and say. I just laugh every time I read it. So, I guess I really don’t understand your response to Justice Gorsuch on the Black Codes. I mean, I thought the Black Code, this is Jackson, were being offered under the Bruen test to determine the Constitutionality of this regulation, and that, because we have a test, and that asks us to look at the history and tradition, the fact that the Black Codes were at some point determined themselves unconstitutional, it doesn’t seem to me to be relevant to the assessment that Bruen is asking us for anyway. So, can you say more about that? So to. Evan Nappen 25:35 Do you believe this person is a justice? Teddy Nappen 25:40 Well, I can, I can believe it, because Biden said it himself. He was going to appoint a black woman and regardless of that. So, just take a step back though. Let’s unpack that line right there. It’s not relevant to the fact the laws were found unconstitutional, not relevant to the fact of the constitutionality of the Second Amendment and the and the fact that you are citing, and this is the war on Bruen they are Page of 6 8 making, where they try to say history, text and tradition. Where does history begin? Well, to the Left, apparently, the history begins in the 1860s where you have the various Black Codes and racist gun laws, but you know, to us with the, you know, traditionalists and go and have a little bit further knowledge of history, go back to the very foundation of our country and when the Second Amendment was born. And not only that, this shows you the degree that they hate us and hate guns and are willing to pursue a second amendment oppression agenda, even to the degree that they will utilize unconstitutional purely racist laws of the past to justify prohibitions now that are themselves we can show utilizing institutionalized racism in their enforcement, no less. I mean, they don’t care, as long as they can get the guns and take away the rights. So what if they have to be on the side of racism? That’s fine with them there. Teddy Nappen 27:28 Well, and here’s the reason why I pulled from The Trace where, you know, they absolutely loathe Bruen. This is why they hate it, and this is why they don’t care where length they have to go they cite in. This is from The Trace. (https://www.thetrace.org/projects/bruen-tracker-supreme-court-gun-laws/) 1100 plus. The number of people with felony convictions have used Bruen to challenge the ban on the possession of guns. So, in other words, people that were lawful possession and have unconstitutional laws currently putting them in jail? Oh, now there’s a hammer that is Bruen that can actually help them defend themselves and not be prosecuted. Amazing. Well. And it goes back to race, because blacks are six to one felons to whites, and what is the left pushing? Oh, the disqualifier of a felon, you are sure, because it gets a racial discrimination. It’s six to one again, always pushing the one side of their mouth, claiming to fight for civil rights. Teddy Nappen 28:37 And yet, when it really comes down to the truest of civil rights, they immediately sell it out to pursue a second amendment oppression agenda, yeah, and also the fact they highlight, they highlight this rate of 48% of Republican appointed judges have struck down various gun laws under Bruen, as opposed to the 13 Democrat appointees. So there is political bias for that, you where they’re actually applying the law versus them ignoring the Constitution. But you know, that’s a separate but this is something I want to highlight to everyone. The fact is, if the Left ever take power back, and James Carville has said this, they will pack the court. He said, we’re going to pack the court. We’re going to make a gonna make Puerto Rico a state like everything they can to maintain power. Teddy Nappen 29:30 What are they going to do when they pack the court? Go ahead and read the dissenting of Bruen. I pulled the line right here from buyers, which all of them agree with buyers on this. They refuse, when considering the SEC refuse to consider government interests and just and the challenge to gun regulations regarding the compelling interest to be, in our view, when the court interprets the Second Amendment, it is constitutionally proper and in often necessary. Necessary to consider the serious danger and consequences of gun violence that lead states to regulate when you when they consider gun laws, they have to factor in the gun violence. You know, the propaganda they promote, race manufacturers on a daily basis, by the way, right? That’s what they have to consider when exercising. So whenever you want to exercise the First Amendment, always consider the hate speech. This is why Reagan said, you know, freedom is only what one generation away from being lost. You know, paraphrasing, but that’s what it means. If they get power, they get total power. We’re in for it, so be vigilant, folks. Make sure you vote. Make sure you do your part in our republic, in defending our rights. Page of 7 8 Evan Nappen 30:55 Hey, let me tell you about this week’s GOFU, which is the Gun Owner Fuck Up. We always like to talk about GOFUs, because these are expensive lessons, real cases, real individuals have learned. And I don’t want you, my listeners, to have to repeat these mistakes. And this one is, this comes up at any number of cases, even just this week. And here’s the bottom line on this GOFU, folks. Know what you have. Let me tell you what I mean by that. I get cases all the time where people end up with their property seized and their house gets searched. Now you may say, well, no one has searched my house. Yeah, except it’s so easy in New Jersey to have that happen. All it takes is just some allegation by any party. You don’t even get a chance to say anything till afterwards. After they do the search that red flags you, or puts an unjustified restraining order on you, or just your house has a fire, and the firemen come in there. We’ve seen this happen so many times, so many ways, and something gets discovered that you didn’t even remember that you had. Evan Nappen 32:17 Because remember, New Jersey has turned things into crimes where there was no grandfathering. If you had old magazines that held over 10 rounds, in other words, you could even if you complied with Florio way back in the day and made sure your mags only held 15. Well, if you’ve got 15 round Florio mags, you’ve got felony charges on your hands. Even though they were made compliant way back. Because now it’s 10. That’s just one example. If you have firearm that became non-compliant under New Jersey law and didn’t realize it, there’s just a multitude of things that New Jersey can screw you over with. Please make sure you know what you have and not have anything that you shouldn’t. Because it’s so easy to have boxes of accessories, boxes and you know, lo and behold, what’s in it? An old bump stock or an old large capacity magazine or a trigger crank, or any of the things that were legal, but then New Jersey unilaterally decided it is intrinsically evil and must be turned into felonies for possession. So, folks, know what you have. Evan Nappen 33:37 This is Evan Nappen and Teddy Nappen reminding you that gun laws don’t protect honest citizens from criminals. They protect criminals from honest citizens. Speaker 2 33:48 Gun Lawyer is a CounterThink Media production. The music used in this broadcast was managed by Cosmo Music, New York, New York. Reach us by emailing Evan@gun.lawyer. The information and opinions in this broadcast do not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed attorney in your state. Page of 8 8 Downloadable PDF TranscriptGun Lawyer S5 E274_Transcript About The HostEvan Nappen, Esq.Known as “America's Gun Lawyer,” Evan Nappen is above all a tireless defender of justice. Author of eight bestselling books and countless articles on firearms, knives, and weapons history and the law, a certified Firearms Instructor, and avid weapons collector and historian with a vast collection that spans almost five decades — it's no wonder he's become the trusted, go-to expert for local, industry and national media outlets. Regularly called on by radio, television and online news media for his commentary and expertise on breaking news Evan has appeared countless shows including Fox News – Judge Jeanine, CNN – Lou Dobbs, Court TV, Real Talk on WOR, It's Your Call with Lyn Doyle, Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, and Cam & Company/NRA News. As a creative arts consultant, he also lends his weapons law and historical expertise to an elite, discerning cadre of movie and television producers and directors, and novelists. He also provides expert testimony and consultations for defense attorneys across America. Email Evan Your Comments and Questions  talkback@gun.lawyer Join Evan's InnerCircleHere's your chance to join an elite group of the Savviest gun and knife owners in America.  Membership is totally FREE and Strictly CONFIDENTIAL.  Just enter your email to start receiving insider news, tips, and other valuable membership benefits.   Email (required) *First Name *Select list(s) to subscribe toInnerCircle Membership Yes, I would like to receive emails from Gun Lawyer Podcast. (You can unsubscribe anytime)Constant Contact Use. Please leave this field blank.var ajaxurl = "https://gun.lawyer/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php";

World Ballet Day on Wednesday 12 November 2025 is the global celebration of dance where artists and audiences are invited to experience ballet in new transformative ways as access becomes art. The Royal Ballet in London will be streaming a programme of dance which will have at its heart a brand-new six minute work curated and conceived by choreographer and Artistic Director of Fall for Dance North Festival Robert Binet, in collaboration with blind artist and assistant professor of Disability Studies Devon Healey, who's Immersive Descriptive Audio will take people into the inner world of dance through sensation, sound and storytelling. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey caught up with Devon and Rob to find out more about World Ballet Day 2025 and their collaborative work for the Royal Ballet which will be streamed as part of the celebrations on the day. To find out more and watch Devon and Rob's brand-new six-minute work do visit the following pages of the RBO website - https://www.rbo.org.uk/world-ballet-day-2025 Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB' written in bold black capital letters and underlined with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio' is written in black in a smaller font.

We have the man of many hats Scott Parrott. Owner of RBO, National ASA Federation Director, ASA National Tournament Director, & Much more...  We talk about everything archery, Pigs Feet and more!!! We played 5 questions, His answers are great!!!   

The Royal Ballet and Opera House in London continue their access programme with three up-coming opera productions this spring and summer with audio described performances, touch tours and introductory notes for blind and partially sighted people. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey was joined from the Royal Opera House by Jack Blue, Executive Assistant to the Directors of Opera and Senior Project Co-Ordinator Elliott Henry to find out more about three great audio described opera productions. Highlighted opera productions included: Bizet's ever-popular opera Carman will be audio described on Monday 21 April at 2pm with a touch tour at 1pm on the main stage of the Royal Opera House. Telemann's rarely performed comic opera Pimpinone will be audio described on Sunday 11 May at 2pm with a touch tour at 12.45pm and on Thursday 15 May at 7.15pm with a touch tour at 6pm at the Royal Opera House's Linbury Theatre. And returning to the Royal Opera House's main stage Verdi's Il Trovatore will be audio described on Thursday 17 July at 7.30pm with a touch tor at 6.30pm on the main stage of the Royal Opera House. For more details about these and other audio described performances at The Royal Ballet and Opera House do contact the RBO Box Office on 020 7304 4000, email boxoffice@roh.org.uk or for general access information do visit the access pages of the RBO website - https://www.rbo.org.uk/visit/access-at-rbo (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)

The Royal Ballet and Opera House in London continue their programme of access to their productions for blind and partially sighted people with both live and recorded audio described performances, along with accompanying introductory notes and touch tours. If you have ever wondered what goes in to audio describing ballet and dance then do join RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey for an insight into how the Royal Ballet's current production of Cinderella is brought to life for blind and partially sighted people through pre show introductory notes, touch tours and audio described performances. Prior to the general rehearsal of Cinderella On Monday 2 December 2024 Toby caught up with Professional Audio Describers Julia Grundy and Jane Brambley to find out what goes in to the process of describing a ballet production like Cinderella, how they both work on their description scripts, thinking about what props and costumes to include on a touch tour and whether they adapt their live description script at all for the recorded description which is now available at every performance of Cinderella.  After chatting with Julia and Jane Toby also caught up with Ania Kapazat, one of the Administrative Producers at the Royal Ballet, to find out more about how she has helped Julia and Jane with their description as well as listening in to the dry run of their audio description at the general rehearsal of Cinderella. During the first interval of the general rehearsal of Cinderella Toby managed to catch up with Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, to firstly chat about how things have gone in getting this production of Cinderella to the general rehearsal, how embedded access and audio description is within the company and a snap shot stand out moment from Cinderella that really shows how everything comes together to bring the story of Cinderella to life on stage with audio description too. About Cinderella The Royal Ballet's current production of Cinderella continues on the main stage of the Royal Opera House until 16 January 2025 with recorded audio description now available at every performance.  This enchanting ballet by The Royal Ballet's Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton is a theatrical experience for all the family over the festive holiday. A co-production between the Royal Ballet and the national Ballet of Canada. In 1939, Frederick Ashton first began to consider creating a full-length work, the Company's first three-act ballet. At the time it seemed like the obvious next step for British ballet. The idea was shelved during the war but in 1946 Ashton returned urgently to it. Inspired by other balletic adaptations of Cinderella coming out of Russia, Ashton chose to create his own version of Charles Perrault's famous rags-to-riches story. Set to Prokofiev's exquisite score the ballet received its premiere in 1948 featuring Moira Shearer and Michael Some's in the lead roles.  A World Where Dreams Blossom  The designs of this production of Cinderella are heavily influenced by nature and flowers. As the Fairy Godmother and the Seasons' fairies come into Cinderella's world, the muted tones of the family living room are taken over by a burst of colour. The creative team behind the exquisite world of Cinderella includes set designer Tom Pye (My Neighbour Totoro, Olivier award for Best Set Design), costume designer Alexandra Byrne (Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Academy Award for Best Costume Design), lighting designer David Finn (Brokeback Mountain), video designer Finn Ross (Les Miserables, Frozen) and illusions by Chris Fisher (Harry Potter and The Cursed Child).   To find out more about The Royal Ballet's current production of Cinderella do visit the following pages of the RBO website - https://www.rbo.org.uk/tickets-and-events/cinderella-details You will also find more information about access at the royal Ballet and Opera House on the following access pages of their website - https://www.rbo.org.uk/visit/access-at-rbo Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB' written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio' is written in black in a smaller font.

In this sequel to last weeks episode, Brian, Brad , and RBO member Craig Stevens rehash their Kyrgyzstan Ibex hunt, where craig earned his nickname "Extra". The guys tell stories from all three of their ibex hunts and compare some of the differences in their experiences.

The North American Super Slam consists of 29 species spread across the continent. And if an adventure hunter harvests all 29 it puts that hunter is very elite company. On today's Hunt the World podcast Brian and Brad welcome in veteran hunter and explorer Shay McGowan, one of our Rolling Bones members, who is getting very close to achieving this lofty goal. Shay shares the stories of how he got started in the quest, how RBO advisors have helped with strategy and tactics and how soon he thinks he'll get all 29. The list of species is challenging and often the list itself is a "moving target" that can add months or even a year to the planning. Join us for Shay's incredible story.

On this week's Hunt the World podcast Brian and Brad recount the story of their most dangerous hunt yet. Professional Hunter Russ Fields, a veteran of 30+ years in South Africa, joins the podcast once again to tell the story of how they brought down a 3,000 pound charging beast that landed 6 feet in front of them. Once you listen to the podcast you can watch the actual incident on RBO's YouTube page HERE or go to youtube.com/c/rollingbonesoutfitters. Thank you for watching and we invite you to share the podcast to help our audience grow.

On this week's Hunt the World podcast from Rolling Bones Outdoors, Brian and Brad recount their adventure hunt in New Zealand - which RBO offers in its hunt catalog. The quarry was the "royal beast" - a red stag. But it was clear upon arrival that New Zealand offered more than what was expected. Come along on the journey which would offer a perfect his and hers adventure opportunity. As always we thank you sincerely for listening and ask you to help us grow our audience by sharing the podcast with friends and family. Thank you!

Often overlooked when considering adventure hunting is black bear. On this Hunt the World podcast from Rolling Bones Outdoors, RBO advisor Dr. Blake Kramer, takes us along on a black bear hunt in Idaho. It's one of several bear hunts that Blake has been on over the years and he talks about why you should not overlook this species - especially in the lower 48 states. Learn the what and where on bear tags and hunting locations. If you have any questions Blake would be happy to answer them at bkramer.rbo@gmail.com. As always, thank you for listening and please share the podcast with friends and family.

This Episode We talk with Scott Parrott the owner of RBO, National ASA Federation Director, & ASA Pro/Am Tournament Director. We also talk about who shot where and when in the state!!! Our Mission We want to promote archery in Georgia. We also promote Georgia archers wherever they shoot. Be it local shoots, State events, National events, International, or backyard fun. We review and talk about all types of archery related things. We also Interview archers that are from Georgia and others like Pros and top shooters from everywhere. We get some great tips from some archers to share with everyone. We talk about anything and everything archery from hunting, tournament shooting, and equipment used to help you become better at what you are doing. Where to find us Website - http://www.georgiaarchery.com FaceBook - http://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaArchery Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/georgiaarchery/ X- http://www.twitter.com/GeorgiaArchery Snap Chat- https://www.snapchat.com/add/georgiaarchery?share_id=OnY1Av7Dhtk&locale=en-US TicTok- https://www.tiktok.com/@georgiaarchery?_t=8jiLk7VsHZC&_r=1 Email - georgiaarchery@gmail.com   Music    Intro: Groovy Rock Evgeni Razmanov Other Music: YouTube Audio Library  Other Music: courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (www.smartsound.com/royalty-free-music/incompetech). Other Music created by Jason Shaw. Released under Creative Commons License 3.0 On the web: http://audionautix.com/ Other Music: found at http://ccmixter.org/ Released under Creative Commons License 3.0 Other Music: provided by Vlog No Copyright Music. Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported   Images All video & pictures are recorded or taken by myself or someone for me to use for Georgia Archery. Any other Logos/Images not owned are used with permission of their rightful owners so not to infringe on the copyrights.

Happy Independence Day! On this week's edition of Hunt the World we welcome in Nick Kolterman, one of RBO's Signature Outfitter partners from South Dakota. The coyote state is known for more than just Mt Rushmore - it also happens to be one of the world's foremost locations for hunting pheasants. Nick has one of the top operations for world-class pheasant hunters in east central South Dakota and he joins Brian and Brad to describe what a pheasant hunter can expect. RBO is also offering a hosted hunt with our staff this fall and six spots are available. And Nick also talks about the unique "trifecta" hunt which involves duck/goose, pheasant, and night thermal hunting on the same adventure. Thank you as always for listening!

Rainbow Chicken Limited has fulfilled all JSE standards. Its shares will be listed on the JSE's Main Board starting June 26, 2024. The shares will trade under the code "RBO" and ISIN ZAE000334850 in the "Food Products" sub-sector.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Hunt the World Brian and Brad welcome in long-time RBO member Tim Neugebauer. Tim farms and raises hogs in eastern South Dakota but recently returned from his first international expedition in British Columbia. He followed that up with a trip to Alaska hunting for Dall Sheep, bear and caribou. Thank you for as always for listening! Share the podcast with your friends and family.

Get to the bottom of how policy is ushering along the energy transition. In part two of the series, Associate Professor Nicholas Rivers shares how energy policies are helping shape the actions taken to address climate change. From decarbonizing buildings and transportation to the hard-to-tackle parts of Canada's economy and its major industries. Plus policy's role in supporting distributed energy and resources. Dive back into the conversation in episode 139 of thinkenergy. Related links   ●       Listen to part one: https://thinkenergypodcast.com/episodes/energy-policy-deep-dive-with-nicholas-rivers-part-1/ ●       More about Nicholas Rivers: https://uniweb.uottawa.ca/members/969 ●       uOttawa Institute of the Environment: https://www.uottawa.ca/research-innovation/environment ●       The Canadian Climate Institute: https://climateinstitute.ca/ ●       Trevor Freeman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevor-freeman-p-eng-cem-leed-ap-8b612114/ ●       Hydro Ottawa: https://hydroottawa.com/en    To subscribe using Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinkenergy/id1465129405   To subscribe using Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7wFz7rdR8Gq3f2WOafjxpl   To subscribe on Libsyn: http://thinkenergy.libsyn.com/ --- Subscribe so you don't miss a video: https://www.youtube.com/user/hydroottawalimited   Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hydroottawa   Stay in the know on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HydroOttawa   Keep up with the posts on X: https://twitter.com/thinkenergypod   Transcrpit: Trevor Freeman  00:07 Welcome to think energy, a podcast that dives into the fast changing world of energy through conversations with industry leaders, innovators and people on the frontlines of the energy transition. Join me Trevor Freeman, as I explore the traditional, unconventional and up and coming facets of the energy industry. If you have any thoughts, feedback or ideas for topics we should cover, please reach out to us at think energy at hydro ottawa.com. Hi, everyone, welcome back. Okay, so this is part two of my conversation with Nicholas rivers about policy, and specifically how policy is and will in the future, shaping the different solutions and different actions that we can take to address climate change and to usher along the energy transition that has already started. As a refresher, Nicholas rivers is a Professor of Public Policy and International Affairs from the University of Ottawa. And his area of focus is really the sort of research into an evaluation of environmental policies. So this is a great conversation. And if you haven't listened to the previous episode with Nicolas, I really encourage you to do that it kind of lays the groundwork and really helps feed into this part of the conversation. On today's episode, we're going to talk about decarbonizing buildings, decarbonizing transportation, about some of those hard to tackle parts of our economy, kind of those major industries, as well as the role of policy and supporting distributed energy resources. So solar panels and batteries and things like that. So it's really a great conversation, start with the previous episode, if you haven't already. And then thanks for joining us here for this one. And happy listening. Okay, so we've talked about generation at the grid level, but let's talk about what we call distributed energy resources. And for our listeners, just a reminder, this is things like rooftop solar behind the meter storage, so having batteries at homes or businesses, which we are going to need a lot more of in the future. And we're going to see a lot more of on our grid in the future. What policy tools are out there that could help ramp up the implementation of these resources? Is it as simple as you know, incentives to lower the upfront cost?   Nicholas Rivers  02:21 Okay, good question. Maybe I'll just start out by giving some broader perspective about why we why we might want to go down the distributed energy route. So as you mentioned, a distributed energy resources are things like rooftop solar, right on the kind of residential building or a battery pack in the garage of your residential building. And this is a different approach than the way we normally approach the electricity sector, where our generation and storage infrastructure to the extent we have any is centralized, right. So in a centralized system, if it's solar, it would be a big utility scale solar project in a field somewhere, or now we're starting to see the ISO just approved a bunch of battery storage projects that are going to be you know, big centralized resources, really big batteries, or it could be pumped hydro, or you know, compressed air storage that that are not in someone's garage, they're, you know, these big sites that are that are well away from people's homes typically. So why would we want to change the paradigm and, and go towards this kind of decentralized type of approach where the where the resources are in people's homes or on people's homes? I'd say there was a couple of reasons we might want to go that route. One is that the distributed resources if they're in people's homes, well, they're close to the demand. Right? So if people you know, ultimately, the reason we have electricity generation is to meet people's and industries demands for electricity. And putting those resources right at the source of demand means that we don't need so many wires to connect the resources to the to the demand centers, and potentially that there's less congestion on the wires and, and less losses getting from the source of supply to the source of demand. So that's one reason. Another big reason I think, that will become more important in some areas of the world and more important as we scale up decarbonisation is land use, and then, you know, we got all these rooftops that are just sitting there. And putting solar panels on those, basically wasted surfaces is a way of conserving land as opposed to to putting new solar panels in a field that has other uses. So I see that as being a potentially really important reason why we might go down that decentralized route. It's important to say that land use constraints are not binding in Ontario today for for, especially for zero carbon resources, right? There's we're lucky in Ontario that we've got a fair amount of land per person. And we've also not got that many solar or wind or battery resources currently. And so the pressure that we're putting on our land from those types of centralized resources are pretty small. But certainly as we try to go further on that decarbonisation route, thinking about land constraints is going to be important. I would say that there is a downside to going the decentralized route. And that's that it's more costly. So generating electricity at a home, is storage of storing electricity at home is typically quite a bit more expensive than doing it at a utility scale, in a in a kind of centralized manner. And that's just because, you know, a solar panel cost what a solar panel costs. So you're getting, I think, the same basic solar panel, solar module, and a centralized system, compared to a decentralized system. But all the side costs, the cost of planning and installing, and all the racking that has to go for solar panels, same with batteries, is a lot more expensive, when it's done kind of on these boutique, individual roof projects, compared to what it's done in a centralized approach. And so what we're gonna do as we think about, you know, do we go down this more decentralized route or more centralized route? So we've got to think, are these land benefits and the benefits we get from having the resources close to the demand? Are they outweighing the extra cost that we're paying from, from going this more decentralized route?   Trevor Freeman  02:25 Yeah, so it's kind of an economies of scale question of obviously, investing in the infrastructure for a large scale solar installation gives you that, you know, more bang for your buck on a kilowatt hour basis, then each individual rooftop project, but I guess there's that aspect of, you know, customer control and customer preference of, you know, I like the idea of having my own power generated on my roof, it gives me some control, it gives me some redundancy. It also kind of protects and let me know what your thoughts on this it. It locks me into cost for energy, at least for a portion of my energy for the life of that equipment, rather than sort of being at the whim of rising utility costs over time. Is that a fair assessment?   Nicholas Rivers  07:15 Yeah, I think that's right. Solar panels and batteries, both have a free long lifetime. So once you've paid for them, you know, what you paid, and you're going to be able to amortize them over the length of the investment. Of course, that assumes that you're going to be living in the same house for the 20 or 30 years of the investment.   Trevor Freeman  07:31 Exactly. Yeah.   Nicholas Rivers  07:32 So I think there is still a risk there. But I do agree with you that it does put more control in individuals hands more, it gives people an ability to kind of choose their own destiny with respect to energy, it allows them to make a zero carbon investment that, you know, they maybe feel really strongly about, and that isn't being made on their behalf at the central level. So I think you're right that it does give more autonomy to households.   Trevor Freeman  07:58 Yeah. And the current way that we I guess, sort of funder incentivize, if you will, on rooftop solar, for example, is just through the rates, so you're offsetting your rates. And that is how you get your payback on your panels. I know you and I have chatted previously about the model in Australia. Can you tell us a little bit about how they've approached this?   Nicholas Rivers  08:20 Yeah. So, South Australia also uses this net metering approach. So basically, net metering means when you're consuming electricity, you can think of like an old analog meter, the meters running one direction. And then when you generate electricity, and return it to the grid, when you're not using as much as you're generating, the analog meter runs the opposite direction. Of course, these meters aren't analog anymore. They're digital, but they're allowing you to kind of reverse the meter at times when you're generating.   Trevor Freeman  08:50 Yep.   Nicholas Rivers  08:51 South Australia has been a real leader in getting solar on people's rooftops. Now, you might think, oh, it's super sunny in South Australia, and it is super sunny in South Australia. So it makes sense to have solar in people's rooftops. But there are lots of areas in the world that are super sunny, that have had not nearly the success that South Australia has had in putting solar on rooftops. And I would think one of the big reasons is, is program design. So they have designed a program that makes it really easy to access the program and access the incentives that are part of the program, and that lets household navigate it pretty seamlessly. So my understanding of the program is it's an incentive, which is the typical way we we kind of provide incentives for people to to undertake these novel technologies. It provides households with a you know, an upfront payment for for putting solar on the roofs. But I think that the real trick is that it's not provided to the household. And there's not an onerous application process that happens. It's provided to the to the companies that install solar panels on people's roofs and they pass through the incentive. Have to the household. So all of the paperwork and the planning is undertaken by the company. And the household, basically, just, as my understanding just says, Yeah, I want some solar panels on my roof. And, you know, tomorrow the solar panels are on the roof. And they don't have to go through the kind of extensive paperwork and the qualifying and the waiting for the, the incentive to be paid. It's all done upfront. And it's all done with a minimum of paperwork.   Trevor Freeman  10:23 Yeah, so from a homeowner perspective, in Canada versus in South Australia, South Australia is just seeking a much cheaper cost for solar, they don't have to jump through the hoops. That's all kind of done taken on by the government and by the the industry.   Nicholas Rivers  10:39 Yeah, and we do have incentives for solar here. In some provinces anyway, and there have been incentives federally, but they're there, they're more onerous to apply for. And they put the homeowner in the position of having to pay for the system upfront, and then waiting for the rebate. And it's a big outlay for homeowners and the rebate is uncertain, right? You can put the paperwork in. And of course, you think you're gonna get it back. But there's always that chance that something went wrong, and you didn't do it quite right. You don't get the rebate. Yeah, there's a risk there. So I think this this kind of upfront payments program that's processed by the company is as a real, you know, something we could learn from in Canada.   Trevor Freeman  11:16 Right. So that's potentially a key role. And this may be applies to other programs, as well of, of government have policies to take on that administrative burden take on that risk, if you will, away from the end user to make it seamless and streamlined for the end user and easier to do   Nicholas Rivers  11:33 People have better things to do than think about energy. And so I think that   Trevor Freeman  11:38 Or fill out paperwork,   Nicholas Rivers  11:39 yeah, fill out paperwork, and just, you know, they don't want to spend their time, you know, trying to figure out if the incentive is going to cover their net metering benefits they wants to be they want to be added be as easy as possible.   Trevor Freeman  11:52 Okay. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Okay, moving along, then to transportation. This is something of course, that Canadians will be pretty familiar with. We've seen a big move toward electrifying personal vehicles, there are more EVs out there today than ever before, you know, going back into even recent memory, it seemed like a rare thing to see an EV on the road. And now it's not at all, but there's still a long way to go. As much as we've got a lot more, we still are overwhelmingly using fossil fuels for our personal transportation. What kinds of approaches will help speed that transition up? We have a federal rebate when it comes to buying electric vehicle. Is that enough? Or are there other tools that we can use to speed up that transition?   Nicholas Rivers  12:36 Yeah, we're at about 11% of new cars that are sold are electric these days, and about one and a half percent of our fleet, because it takes our fleet a long time to turnover, right. So even if we get to 100% sales, we could still be waiting another 20 years before we get to 100% of our fleet be electric. So this is not going to be something that resolves itself really quickly. Because it does take a long time to turnover and longtime for car manufacturers to change the kind of vehicles they're making. I'm convinced we're on the transition, and that it is underway no matter what we do in this sector, that that these cars will be eventually be as cheap or cheaper than internal combustion engine cars, and will deliver the range that we want and the performance that we want. We're not there yet. So So what do we do in the meantime, I would say one of the things we should be doing as governments is fixing kind of the chicken and the egg problem of electric vehicles and governments are very active in this area. But the chicken and egg problem is who wants to build a charging station if there's no electric vehicles, and who wants to buy an electric vehicle if there's no charging stations. And so I think government has been playing an active role there, although arguably, it's still behind where we want it to be. People still experienced troubles with charging electric vehicles. And reliability of chargers is an issue. It turns out that the economics of operating a charging station don't look very good. And so perhaps there needs to be more of a public role in figuring out how to get these systems up and running more of the time. I'm not exactly sure what that would look like. But, but I do think the problem isn't going to solve itself entirely on its own, especially in more remote or Northern or rural areas. This probably along a lot of role for government support for charging. In terms of a policy approach. I really like the zero emission vehicle standard. This is just a standard that says okay, manufacturers, it's targeted. The manufacturer is not a retailer or not customers. And it says manufacturers you have to sell a certain proportion of the fleet you sell is zero by zero emission by this year and a bigger percentage by this year. And that's something that Quebec and BC and California and a number of other places have implemented zero emission vehicle standard, and the Canadian federal government has announced that it's going to go the same route.   Trevor Freeman  15:05 Gotcha.   Nicholas Rivers  15:06 And so what that says is, in 2026, in Canada, major vehicle manufacturers will have to sell 20% of their fleets as electric vehicles. Were at about 11% today. And that number will ramp up every year until it hits 100% by 2035. Now, again, I think this transition is happening anyway. So I think that that will help speed up the transition. But at it, it's not dramatically different from kind of what we expect, even without that kind of policy. And so I do think that's a that's a really nice policy, because it gives automakers a target, it gives them some certainty. And it helps to ensure that they make vehicles available to Canadians where they want them.   Trevor Freeman  15:48 Yeah, I think, I mean, we've all heard those stories of people that wanted to buy an electric vehicle on it wasn't ready, or the price point wasn't there. And I think by requiring more stock, requiring those targets to be hit, it's going to help move people along in the direction that a lot of people already want to go. And we're seeing that as those numbers tick up.   Nicholas Rivers  16:08 Yeah. Let me say a little bit more about this policy, because I think it's cool. It's one of those examples, which is a regulatory policy, which has a market based or carbon pricing kind of component to it. So it's regulatory, right? I just described that manufacturers have to hit, let's say, a 20% target in the year 2026. So the rule is, if you sell a lot of vehicles in Canada, 20% of them have to be electric by 2026. But then it's got this kind of hybrid component, not a hybrid car hybrid policy. So the it's kind of, it's got a carbon price kind of built in, which says, Hey, if you can't do it, well, you can trade with some other company that can. So maybe it's going to be gonna make up some names here, maybe it's going to be that company X says, oh, you know, we're really, you know, we really don't want to make the transition quite so quickly, we're going to sell internal combustion engine cars for a few more years. And Company Y says, Well, we're actually way ahead of that curve, it's going to be able to sell some of its credits, Company Y is going to sell some credits to Company X. And so Company X could keep doing what it's doing. But pay a penalty, that company y can get a benefit from being ahead of the curve.   Trevor Freeman  17:17 Gotcha. And to the consumer, the overall stock of options is still where the government wants it to be. There's still enough electric vehicles out there that we can purchase.   Nicholas Rivers  17:27 That's right. I think I mean, the the availability is less of a concern now than it was when supply chains were all snared up during the pandemic. I think if you went out and you had the money, and you were willing to, you wanted to go buy an electric car, you would get one relatively quickly today.   Trevor Freeman  17:42 Yeah   Nicholas Rivers  17:43 That's, that's I think that was that's a legacy problem that fortunately, we don't have so much anymore.   Trevor Freeman  17:47 So I mean, that's personal transportation, we're also seeing a move to make public transportation more carbon free and more electric here in Ottawa, where I'm based where we're both based. We've seen our city make that transition to electric buses, we're bringing on you know, a portion of the fleet in the next couple of years is going to be electric buses, we've seen our new LRT system is at least partially electrified, what are some of the policies out there that are helping municipalities or operators and public transit systems make this shift from traditional fossil fuel systems?   Nicholas Rivers  18:27 Yeah, so this is a procurement policy. So it's government saying, we're going to create a new market for this technology that doesn't really exist yet. And help to drive drive technology along right. So this is something we talked about a little while ago. And I think that this will help, you know, these these vehicles, big vehicles with heavy duty cycles. There's certainly parallels in kind of goods transport. So having some of that kind of exposure to new deployment in the public sector, I think will help with decarbonizing goods transport later on. So this is one of the cases where governments kind of creating this niche role for each policy or niche, I guess, nice role for this technology to be deployed first. And it's accepting the higher cost of these policies of these technologies initially, and will help drive down the costs as they get some experience with these technologies. Okay, so what's it what's it doing in Ottawa? Ottawa has promised to not buy any more fossil fuel buses, it's gonna slowly transition its bus fleet to electric. And I guess that's a procurement policy. It's supported by funds from the federal government. So the Canadian infrastructure bank supports this policy. And so the way that it works is the federal government's pay the additional cost that the electric bus costs relative to a normal diesel bus, and the city just pays the same as it would for the normal diesel boss with the feds picking up the rest of the tab.   Trevor Freeman  19:58 Right   Nicholas Rivers  19:58 The city's original expense. response has been really positive, it's found that maintenance costs are lower that fuel costs are lower, and the performance is at least as good in the electric buses compared to the, to the diesel buses. So it's experiencing a cost savings. And at least in the initial reporting, this seems like a really positive experience.   Trevor Freeman  20:17 So it's essentially the policy there is helping buy down that initial upfront jumping costs. So that, you know, yeah, municipal budgets can remain the same.   Nicholas Rivers  20:26 Exactly.   Trevor Freeman  20:26 But we get that better technology, and we're moving forward on our emissions reduction.   Nicholas Rivers  20:30 Yeah. So this is really a federal and and city policy.   Trevor Freeman  20:33 Gotcha. Okay, so let's talk about buildings, which are a major source of emissions, especially here in Canada, primarily because we are a cold climate, and we have to heat those buildings, or else they wouldn't be comfortable. And traditionally, this has been done with fossil fuels, you know, we burn natural gas, to heat our buildings is a large majority of Canadians. That's how they heat their space. In Canada buildings account for over 100 million tons of GHG emissions a year. So this is definitely a sector that we need to see some transition in how we approach them. What is the role of policymakers to help us decarbonize our buildings? And I want to split this question into two pieces, the first being residential buildings. And then we'll talk about commercial and institutional after because I think they're they're kind of different cases here. So let's talk about residential first.   Nicholas Rivers  21:25 Okay, residential buildings, I think heard at some of this is going to apply to both residential and commercial but of residential buildings, you're totally right to say that the big source of emissions is natural gas. And we do have other fuel uses as well like oil and propane, but the the big one is gas. And I think a special challenge for residential buildings. And it applies to commercial buildings as well, but especially residential is that they last a really long time. And then, so it's not like cars where you know, after we have got all the new cars to be zero emission, you got to wait maybe 10 or 15, or maximum 20 years, and the entire fleet is zero emission. Because cars only last 15 or 20 years buildings last, we don't even know how long they last hundreds of years. 100 years.   Trevor Freeman  22:14 Yeah, exactly.   Nicholas Rivers  22:15 And so we don't just have to tackle new buildings and then wait for them to kind of percolate through in the same way as we do for light bulbs or cars or something, we have to figure out a way to decarbonize existing buildings. And this turns out to be difficult. But let me start by saying the first thing we should do is make sure that the new buildings that we're building are not producing carbon emissions, that's the easiest thing to do. Getting a tackling a building or decarbonizing building, once it's already built, and part of the building stock is relatively difficult compared to taking a new building and designing to be zero carbon from the outset. And my view is that the best thing we can do there is to not connect new homes to the natural gas network, or at least pass the full costs of the natural gas network onto these new homes as they're built so that homeowners can make and developers can make an informed decision about the most effective way to produce those new homes.   Trevor Freeman  23:13 Yeah, I think like even that concept is something we talk about, you know, when we're working with our customers on equipment choices, as well, as you know, the decision you're making today on, you know, let's say your boiler will last with you for the life and that equipment. And in the case of a boiler, let's say that's 25 years, but to your point, in the case of a home, deciding to start down that path of fossil fuels, that building is going to live with us for you know, who knows how long and we will then have to get off those fossil fuels later. So I think for that new construction piece, yeah, that makes a lot of sense of making sure we're making the right decisions today, because we know we have to electrify   Nicholas Rivers  23:50 Right. Yeah, we do not what we don't want to do is build a gas home. And then 10 years later say, oh, let's actually make this home an electric home.   Trevor Freeman  23:58 Yeah, totally.   Nicholas Rivers  23:59 Because now we've spent twice on on one thing. So if we know we're gonna go zero emission, then we should be building new homes as zero emission homes. And we'll save money doing it.   Trevor Freeman  24:08 Yeah, and we know how to do that today.   Nicholas Rivers  24:10 We know how to do it. The harder problem is existing homes. And that's, you know, most of the homes that are around today that are part of our housing stock today will still be part of our housing stock in 2050. So we don't get to do over. We've got to tackle these existing homes. And it's relatively difficult compared to other sectors. Because if you want to take an existing home and decarbonize it, you really have to do it on a home by home basis. You have to invite you know, an auditor in and figure out what's wrong with it, or the cheapest way to decarbonize that home is most effective way to decarbonize at home, maybe get some engineers to help figure out what the interventions look like maybe gotta consultant in to put some new windows or doors or insulation or air sealing into the home and so but I adds up to a lot, a lot of people being touching the home, it's not something where we can go to a factory typically and pull out an identical component that, you know, might get cheaper over time, and strap it to the home. So I think that's part of what makes this challenge difficult. Luckily, we do have some kind of economies of scale in homes when it comes to heating systems. And this is heat pumps that can be adapted to most homes as a replacement for a furnace, or even a boiler. And Heat pumps are a technology that I think people have heard a lot more about over the last couple of years, they're basically an air conditioner that can run in reverse. So we can move heat out of a house and also move heat into a house. And these are getting more common for a cold climate, like we're in. And getting cheaper and contractors are getting more experienced with them. And so I think that we will start seeing more penetration of heat pumps in residential sector. Having said that, it's not a it's not a slam dunk. Right now, heat pumps, in some cases are cost effective compared to gas. But they're right at the margin, right? So you don't save a whole bunch of money by switching a gas furnace to heat pump. In, for example, in Ontario. Now that'll change. If our carbon price keeps going up every year, eventually, it'll it'll become something where the carbon price makes heat pumps make easy financial sense that it becomes a more straightforward decision. But right now, they're kind of similar cost to operate compared to a natural gas furnace. And so we're not seeing a whole bunch of penetration of them in Ontario.   Trevor Freeman  26:50 Yeah, I mean, I think that even even just that fact that actually, coincidentally, the previous episode on this, we actually talked about heat pumps and went through a bit of a case study with with someone that installed one, but you're right, like right now, you're kind of comparable, and your energy costs, maybe you save a little bit of kind of depends on on the rest of your context as well. But that highlights the value of the role in policy of helping to drive down that upfront cost. And by helping get more of them out there. And letting as we've talked about already, in this conversation, letting the market forces drive down the cost of heat pumps, because we're going to be putting more of them out there in the manual manufacturing process, the supply chain process, that's all going to find those efficiencies so that putting that heat pump in becomes comparable on an upfront cost basis to a furnace, for example, which today it's not.   Nicholas Rivers  27:44 Yeah, I would say the other challenge is that the whole HVAC or heating ventilation air conditioning ecosystem is set up around natural gas furnaces and natural gas water heaters in Ontario. And so the contractors are used to it, people are used to it. And it's it makes it kind of when your furnace or your hot water heater fails, and you panic a little bit because it's the winter and you don't want to get cold the next day, the easiest thing to do is to call your company and get them to put in the same thing as you've already had it's safe, you know it works. And by doing that, you've locked yourself into another 20 or 25 years of heating with natural gas. And so I think one of the things is just kind of the human dimension of this problem that heat pumps remain kind of is unconventional technology. They work really well they've been demonstrated to work really well in Ontario, but it's not widely known. And certainly the supply chain isn't there in the same way as it is for furnaces, and the contractors are, I think less comfortable with installing them as they are for furnaces. And so people get guided towards furnaces at the time of furnace failure or water heater failure. And it's only like this kind of, I think if the people that really want heat pumps that end up going towards that route right now. Because you really have to you have to want them for that to be the outcome. It's not something that's going to happen on its own. And unfortunately, in this moment of panic, you don't get the time to kind of reflect on on what you might want over the next couple of decades.   Trevor Freeman  29:25 Yeah, totally. And I've I've thought about this a little anecdote on this show before my own experience with having a furnace die in January as I was starting my research into heat pumps and ended up being able to get a heat pump but not in the manner that I wanted, not the system that I really wanted. And, and yeah, I ended up because of that, having to do all the research myself and being someone that works in the energy space. That's, you know, that's what the reality was.   Nicholas Rivers  29:50 I would say the other thing is I heat pump provides both air conditioning and heating. And it turns out that heat pump is basically cost competitive with a new furnace, and a new air conditioner. So if you if you, if you take a new house, and you either decide to put in a furnace and an air conditioner or heat pump, it's a wash, you'll pay the same for both. But very rarely does a house have a furnace and an air conditioner fail at exactly the same moment. So that they're making this kind of apples to apples comparison of a system that can provide both heating and cooling with another system that could provide both heating and cooling. And so this is like this coordination problem that heat pumps provide. And so I think when we're thinking about public policy, we should be thinking about not this kind of rational decision maker that's weighing the pros and cons of these two systems. But really, the person who's in a panic because their furnace failed in the middle of the night. And we got to think about how to make the Low Carbon solution, the easy solution for that person.   Trevor Freeman  30:50 Yeah, 100%. I mean, this goes back to the, I guess, the intro of what will be part one of this conversation that I gave and talking about, you know, the policy piece is kind of that foundation, that bedrock upon which the technological solutions the societal solutions are built, and exactly what we talked about with solar. How can we use policy to make this an easy path, make it the easiest path so that when someone doesn't want to think about it, when their furnace dies in the middle of the winter. This is the logical and easy and the path that they're going to choose.   Nicholas Rivers  31:23 Yeah, I think in many cases, choices are problematic, right? I'm a believer that that's not that's not universally true that more choices are often better. But also that we can get paralyzed by choices. So having to choose between a heat pump and a furnace is difficult for most people. Most people don't want to spend your time thinking about that. And I think, eventually, I'm of the view that we want to take a regulatory approach that we don't want to just allow everyone to be kind of deliberating especially at a panic about this choice themselves. Probably eventually, when heat pumps become good enough universally, that we want to have that be the regulated solution.   Trevor Freeman  32:02 Yeah, gotcha. Especially when to your point. It is the it becomes that clear, best choice. It's the most efficient.   Nicholas Rivers  32:09 Exactly, yeah.   Trevor Freeman  32:10 And we're working towards that we're getting   Nicholas Rivers  32:12 we're not quite there yet. There are places where heat pumps are not as effective as furnaces. And so I think that's why we haven't seen regulation in this space yet. But I think that should be an end goal.   Trevor Freeman  32:23 Gotcha. Okay, so that was residential buildings. As I said, commercial and institutional are kind of a different beast altogether. These are bigger buildings systems are bigger and obviously, more expensive ownership structure can be complicated. You have owners of buildings and tenants, you have investment companies that are sort of investing in the building as an asset as a way to make money. Help us tackle this beast, what is the role of policy and helping commercial buildings decarbonize here in Canada?   Nicholas Rivers  32:56 Yeah, good question. Again, I wouldn't say this kind of tenant and owner issue also applies if the residential sector, right, so there are renters that want to have a more efficient building, and that don't have any power to make investments in their building. So similar dynamic there, I think. I won't talk about specific technologies in the commercial sector, although there are lots of places that are experimenting with innovative new heating and cooling technologies, again, heating and cooling as the big greenhouse gas source in the commercial building sector, like it isn't residential. But I will just say that, I think the the types of decisions that are made and the way that they're made, it is quite different in the commercial sector to the residential sector. In a bigger commercial building, there'll be a building manager that's responsible for making decisions about, about heating and cooling investments in that. In that building, there'll be lots of tools that they have access to building management software, that that kind of optimizes building energy use, and costs, and helps them to make these kinds of decisions. So whereas the residential consumer doesn't necessarily want to think about what their what types of investments they should make to maximize their comfort and minimize their energy costs. That's what this building manager in a building is paid to do. And so they are going to be really thinking about this, these decisions carefully, and they're not going to be you know, they are going to be highly engaged in these decisions about what what types of energy to be using in the building. And as a result, I would say that carbon pricing can be quite effective in this sector, that policies that shift the relative costs of heating with gas compared to heating with electricity. They're going to hit the bottom line in that building manager for that building manager really quickly and allow them to kind of pivot if there are technologies available that can help them reoptimize in response to these changing prices, I will say that it's important to think about designing rebates for that carbon price. So we don't end up digging, our commercial buildings say we've we've designed rebates for, for residential households and for big industry. But I do think that this kind of pricing tool can be effective, probably more effective in the commercial sector than it can be in the residential sector. Because because there are people whose job it is to pay attention to building energy costs.   Trevor Freeman  35:31 Yeah, and I mean, you talk about rebates, I think, if there's a way to direct those rebates or direct that reinvestment into the types of solutions that are going to help people double down on the savings, and reduce their carbon consumption, and you know, then the next time around, it's even better and even better, I think that's definitely impactful.   Nicholas Rivers  35:51 Right? Yeah. So combinations of incentives and a kind of carrots and sticks approach. I agree.   Trevor Freeman  35:57 I do want to mention, and partly this is a bit of a plug here on the hydro Ottawa side of, you know, one of the initiatives that the federal government's taken on in terms of deep retrofits for commercial buildings is something they call their deep retrofit accelerator initiative. It's a program that hydro Ottawa is a part of two builds, build support services for commercial customers to identify pathways to decarbonize. So this isn't, you know, going out and paying for boilers or electric boilers or things like that, but it's helping building owners create a plan to tackle these complex, these complex retrofits. And that's something that the federal government is investing in. So I mean, for our listeners in our area, definitely keep your eyes and ears open for more information coming on that because it's early days yet. Okay, so my last question for you, Nick. And just looking at the time, I know we've we've taken a lot of time here chatting, it's been great. But I do want to touch on quickly before we wrap up, kind of what might be one of the trickiest areas, which is this idea of kind of heavy industry resource heavy industry, things like you know, the manufacturing of steel and chemicals and cement. There's a lot of emissions associated with this. They have kind of pretty unique demands in terms of high heat, high temperatures, things that are easily achieved with burning fossil fuels, maybe not so easily achieved with an electric option. What are we doing in that sense? What is the government doing to try and help those industries pursue decarbonisation?   Nicholas Rivers  37:28 Yeah, so we've kind of I'm in the the climate world climate policy world. And we have called these sectors for a long time, in quotes, the hard to decarbonize sectors, so, so it's been something where it's the kind of prevailing idea has been, let's all work on the stuff that's relatively easy today, like buildings and electricity, and vehicles. And eventually we'll find solutions for these hard to decarbonize sectors. And these are decarbonize sectors are things like cement, and steel, like you pointed out are chemicals, for example of pulp and paper, these big industrial sources, and it's not just that they require a lot of heat, or a lot of energy. In many cases, it's that carbon is released as part of the process for producing these materials. So for example, when you produce cement, I'm not a chemist here, but my understanding is you take limestone and turn it into lime as part of the cement making process. And the chemical reaction releases co2. Same thing with the typical way for making steel. You're reducing iron ore, and the reduction process that takes place in a blast furnace takes the poles the I'm gonna get in trouble here. I don't quite know what the reaction is. It releases co2 from the iron ore reduction process, in concert with coal. So they do require a lot of heat, but they're also releasing co2, just as part of the kind of process of producing these materials. So no matter how efficient they get that co2 is still coming out. And so that's part of the reason they're referred to as these hard to decarbonize sectors, I would say, Well, let me say that the thought that we've had as a community thinking about how to transition the economy is that it should be possible to do a lot of this easy stuff, almost 100% Man company easy, almost in quotes, here. decarbonizing buildings will be talked about is not actually easy. It's hard. It's easy relative to these hard to decarbonize sectors. So if we can get the easy sectors more or less decarbonized. One approach to dealing with these hard to decarbonize sectors would be to use, carbon capture and storage. So it would be to take the co2 that's coming out of these fixed processes, and capture it before it goes into the atmosphere and try The sequester it permanently, let's say in a depleted oil and gas reservoir. So that's one approach, we're also seeing a lot of a lot of innovation in this sector, away from some of these fixed process emissions. And so I'll give you an example. In Ontario, the federal and provincial governments recently put big investments into some of the steel facilities in Ontario. And these are our biggest point sources of co2 emissions in the province. These steel facilities, they're especially scattered around Southern Ontario around Hamilton. And, and they use this reduction process to to turn iron ore into steel. And then the big investments the province and federal government have put in how they are transitioning some of these steel producing facilities from from electric RBO blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces. So it will take the coal out of the process basically. And the these, these facilities when they're up and running, will produce big savings and greenhouse gas emissions. By eliminating this kind of important source of co2. We're seeing lots of innovation in the cement sector as well. So using different materials, in as part of this, the cement production. We're seeing a big project, for example, underway in Edmonton, it's a big cement facility that will have a lot of efficiencies built into it. But we'll also have CCS carbon capture and storage, it will be adapted for carbon capture and storage so that the co2 that's produced from this facility won't be released from to the atmosphere, it will be it will be sequestered underground. So I would say the role for government and these nascent, I would say projects is a direct support role to help these industries demonstrate the viability of some of these alternate pathways for producing basic materials with less carbon. And what we're seeing is government supporting these through either direct subsidies, or tax credits. And in some cases, we're seeing when these projects are starting to be produced materials, we're seeing government potentially have a role in procurement saying we're gonna buy lower carbon cement for this new set of government buildings, we're not going to source it from usual suppliers, we're going to reach out and try to create a niche market for this new cement or this new steel. So I think that's the right role. We're not at the stage yet where we can mandate these kinds of innovative technologies, because we're really just at the demonstration phase. But I would say that over the last decade, we're moving from thinking of these sectors as hard to decarbonize, to thinking maybe, to, you know, possible to decarbonize, so it initially seemed like there wasn't really a pathway and we're starting to see some light in the tunnel. Now some potential pathway for decarbonizing these sectors.   Trevor Freeman  42:58 Gotcha. Yeah, I mean, similar to how we have most, if not all the answers we need. Now, for some of those other industries, we talked about personal transportation, buildings, etc. There may come a day when we look back and say, yeah, now we've got all the answers we need for the heavy industry. It's just a matter of deploying them. But we're not there yet.   Nicholas Rivers  43:18 Exactly. We're not there yet. You know, it may turn out that these are not the hard sectors. Right, that if these technologies come along, there's only I don't know exactly the number. But let's say on the order of a dozen cement factories in Canada. So if we can figure out the technology, rolling it out to a dozen factories, institutionally is maybe not as hard a problem as rolling out building retrofits to 15 million buildings. So So right now, this seems like the hard to decarbonize sector, but maybe we'll be surprised.   Trevor Freeman  43:47 And to your point, I mean, pretty good bang for buck, maybe when we talk about just the amount of emissions from single points from these from these industries.   Nicholas Rivers  43:56 Yeah, I think the steel sector numbers in Ontario, these two facilities are we're gonna see a 3 million tonne per year greenhouse gas reduction, well, from the investments that Ontario and the feds have made in and converting them to electric arc furnace.   Trevor Freeman  44:11 Great. Well, Nick, I think that's the list of questions I had for you. So thanks very much. I really appreciate the time and your thoughts on these matters. It was great to having this conversation with you. We do always end our conversations with a series of questions that I asked all of our guests. So as long as you're ready to go, I'll jump into those.   Nicholas Rivers  44:30 Let's do it.   Trevor Freeman  44:31 What is a book that you've read that you think everyone should read?   Nicholas Rivers  44:34 This year, I read fire weather by John Vaillant. I've read a number of his books in the past. I love the way he writes. He's a Canadian author. He writes both nonfiction and fiction. This is about the big fire that took place in Fort McMurray in 2016. And it's a nonfiction book, but it's gripping. He's such a good writer. And it's such an important thing for us to understand exactly what's happening again, this year we've seen Fort McMurray threatened just last week by wildfires. So I really recommend this book. It sounds dry. It's about forest fires, but it's not at all. It's really good.   Trevor Freeman  45:09 Yeah. Okay, great. That's a good one. Same question, but for a movie or for a show.   Nicholas Rivers  45:14 I am. I'm a pretty slow TV watcher. I don't get a ton of time. But I am watching Showgun right now and loving it. Don't tell me the end, because I'm not through. But it's excellent show.   Trevor Freeman  45:26 Yeah, so I haven't started it yet, because I read that book as a teenager and haven't read it since. So I'm rereading it right now. And then I'm gonna watch the show after   Nicholas Rivers  45:35 I didn't read it. So I'm my wish with fresh eyes.   Trevor Freeman  45:39 I remember liking it, but I can't remember kind of how it ends. So I'm as excited as you are to see the end of that. If someone was to offer you a free round trip flight anywhere in the world, where would you go?   Nicholas Rivers  45:52 Well, I am a little sensitive about flying long ways, just because of the nature of this conversation but my kids, I have a 13 year old and a 10 year old. And they're super into comics and Nintendo and really want to go to Japan. So I would go to Japan for for a few weeks with them.   Trevor Freeman  46:13 Who is someone that you admire?   Nicholas Rivers  46:15 This was hard. I set out you gave me these questions a couple of days ago. And I sat out on the front porch and the first nice day we had in a while with my wife and my kids. And I was telling them about this. And I said I was stuck on the Who do I admire? And they said, You should admire us. So I admire my kids. They're really optimistic. They're super fun. They're loving life. And I think it's a great set of characteristics.   Trevor Freeman  46:41 Yeah, that mean, that is never a bad answer. That's a great answer, and good for them for self awareness to call you out. Finally, what is something that you are excited about when it comes to the energy sector or this transition that we're in what excites you about the future where we're going?   Nicholas Rivers  47:00 Well, let me give a two pronged answer here. I'll start by saying that I'm nervous.   Trevor Freeman  47:04 Yeah   Nicholas Rivers  47:04 I think the stakes are high. We're learning more and more as a society about, you know, what climate change looks like. And it's not pretty. And the I think the big thing that we have to keep in mind, and the thing that keeps me optimistic is that we still have a lot of role to play in determining where we ended up here. And, and we're seeing really dramatic changes in Technologies, and in people's engagement and policymakers engagement on on this file. So we've talked about how fast some of the technologies have moved over the last couple of decades or decade in particular, solar and vehicles and batteries and all these things. We're also seeing policy change really dramatically, right? It would have been inconceivable to say that we would have a high carbon price and a mandate for zero emission vehicles and phase out of coal fired power and potential clean electricity regulation and an oil gas cap, and all this stuff on the books 10 years ago, and and now we're there. So I feel like not only is technology changing quickly, but the policies are also changing quite quickly. And and it looks like they're all changing in the right direction.   Trevor Freeman  48:19 Yeah, I definitely can relate to that. As someone who's been in this industry, this sector for a little while, at least, it feels like there's momentum now it feels like the pace of change is finally starting to really pick up and not where we need it to be. There's lots of work to do, as you say, but yeah, maybe we're starting to see things move a little faster   Nicholas Rivers  48:42 Yeah, exactly. So there's certainly reason for optimism. That's that's kind of guarded optimism.   Trevor Freeman  48:47 Yeah, that's a that's a fair point to end on. I think that's a good space then. Nick rivers. Thanks very much. I really appreciate you coming on the show and chatting with us today. And I've really enjoyed our conversation.   Nicholas Rivers  48:59 Thank you so much for having me. I enjoyed it, too.   Trevor Freeman  49:00 All right. Take care. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of The think energy podcast. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and it would be great if you could leave us a review. It really helps us spread the word. As always, we would love to hear from you. Whether it's feedback, comments or an idea for a show or guests. You can always reach us at think energy at hydro ottawa.com  

We are pleased to announce that RBO member Chris Thomas of Oklahoma is the winner of a free hunt through our annual membership draw. Chris will be headed to New Zealand for a little red stag action and a chance for a few additional species in this package hunt. All hunting expenses paid! Not bad for someone who's never even won so much as a can cozi before (according to Chris)! What we didn't know is that it has always been Chris' dream hunt to head to New Zealand to hunt red stag! Chris joins Brian and Brad today to talk about the upcoming experience.

Many of us have an international hunting adventure on our bucket list. RBO member David McBride did. In fact not only was he planning on going overseas, he decided to take the family with him. So David and his two sons, Lincoln and Calvin, made the trip of lifetime as they went in search of Ibex and Marco Polo sheep in Asia. Find out how they were able to plan the trip and learn what the outcome was on this week's podcast with Brian Mehmen and Brad Dana. There's only one thing better than going on an international hunt and that's sharing the experience with your family. The McBride's did it - and you can too! As always thank you for listening and please spread the word about our podcast to family and friends.

On this week's Hunt the World episode Dan Adler joins Brian and Brad to introduce the brand new RBO Diamond Membership. With your Diamond Membership you have the possibility of drawing a guided hunt - for free - in our newly minted RBO Diamond Unit. It contains five western states and offers 14 different species, 37 big-game outfitted hunts from which to choose. Sound too good to be true? Listen to this podcast and find out exactly how Dan's Zero Outfitter Fees (ZOF) and RBO have combined to create this new unit that will revolutionize the world of guided hunts. Now you can hunt more and spend less. As always thank you for listening and please share the podcast with friends and family.

Nearly every hunter has been there. You apply and apply and apply... and you still didn't draw. It can be very frustrating and you may feel like throwing in the towel. But before you do, this episode of Hunt the World is for you. With their decades of experience Brian and Brad outline proven and useful strategies that can get you hunting this year - even if you didn't draw. They outline a valuable five-year strategy that you can follow that will keep you in the field, on budget, and help you approach your application process with purpose not hope.As always thank you for listening! If you have a podcast idea send it to Bleep at hello@rbohome.com - if we use your podcast topic idea, we will send you some RBO swag to express our thanks! So be sure to include your name and mailing address.

On this week's Hunt the World we go big cat hunting with RBO member Craig Reiman. Craig's adventure in Colorado yielded a Boone & Crockett giant mountain lion and he talks about the hunt and cat hunting in general with Brian and Brad this week. If you've ever thought about it, we've got some options for you to consider in this episode. Thank you as always for listening!

In this episode of Hunt the World, RBO member Shay McGowen is our guest as he talks with Brian and Brad about what it's like to go for the North American Super Slam. That list includes 29 big game species found in North America. We'll learn how far along Shay is on the list and the strategies it takes to achieve this rare hunting achievement, which only 220 hunters have ever accomplished.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our Rolling Bones members, family and listeners! As we record this we're less than a week from Christmas and we wanted to save this very special episode for just this week. Brian and Brad's guest is RBO member Jason Hansen who has had an incredible hunting season. From trophy elk, to a special bear hunt with his son to a hunting trip to Ireland it has been a year to remember. But the final hunt of the year 'took the cake' as Jason was able to go on a special hunt through the foundation that he and his wife set up 10 years ago after the passing of their daughter at age 15. This is truly the season of good news and inspirational stories. From all of us at Rolling Bones, thank you for a great year and here's to another one in 2024!

Buzz Lechowski, episode 94, began his fire service journey near his childhood home in Chicago and the northwest suburbs in 1994, becoming an EMT and starting on his fire science degree. Having split time in Arizona during his teens, it didn't take long for him to gravitate back west to Sedona. Attending Yavapai College, he started volunteering with the Sedona Fire District and became a career Firefighter/EMT in 1999. Continuing his education, he became a Paramedic in 2000, completed his bachelor's degree in organizational leadership, and a Master's degree in Communication from Arizona State University. While with Sedona Fire, Buzz has progressed through each rank from Firefighter, to Engineer, Captain, Battalion Chief, and for nearly four years was the Division Chief of Operations. He is currently the Division Chief of EMS. He has served on the Honor Guard, pipe band, peer-support team, charity board, L3690 E-Board, and dozens of RBO committees while with SFD. He has a love for education and teaching, devotes time to several non-profit organizations including the Arizona Burn Foundation, and is passionate about mental health and wellness for himself, his fellow fire service members, and community. Married for 28 years with five children and now one beautiful granddaughter, he has kept busy away from work growing, chasing, and driving his family for 25 years.  Buzz has a desire to learn, love, and lead others, helping those he encounters thrive in whatever they endeavor. __________________________ You can find the Fireground Fitness podcast wherever great podcasts are located. So, search it out and subscribe. Your feedback is powerful, and greatly appreciated. Go to apple podcasts, subscribe, rate and review the podcast or shoot me an email!   Our guest can be reached at IG: buzzsawfive11 FB: Buzz Lechowski in:  Buzz (Eric) Lechowski   Your host can be reached at: IG: @firegroundfitness FB: @fireground fitness Twitter: @firegroundfit Email: raynegray@firegroundfitness.com  

Happy Thanksgiving! As this podcast is released it is Thanksgiving Day and the entire Rolling Bones family wants to wish you the best this holiday. In this episode, Brian Mehmen and Brad Dana welcome into the Bone Cave RBO member Craig Stevens who has recently returned from his first Alaska moose hunt - and it was a giant success. Also in this episode Brian goes over what a 5-year hunt plan for Craigh might look like - good insight into how RBO can help you plan your future hunting adventures. Thank you for listening!

This week on RBO, join hosts Trevor Kelley and Kale Goodman as they welcome back Jefferson Rogers. In this special Halloween episode, Jefferson shares his incredible story of starting his business in 2018 and growing it to an impressive $27 million in revenue. Despite facing numerous challenges, including betrayal and setbacks, he's here to emphasize the importance of surrounding oneself with ambitious, like-minded individuals who offer unwavering support. The episode delves into Jefferson's newly released book, "All In," and how he's embraced resilience and unwavering commitment on his path to success. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation filled with valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs and those seeking to elevate their lives.  Want to get in contact with Jefferson? Follow him on Instagram @jeffersonkrogers Want to read his new book 'All In'? You can purchase it here: https://www.amazon.com/All-Unstuck-Accelerate-Further-Faster/dp/1544541937 Video of this podcast is available at ⁠⁠YouTube.com/RealBusinessOwners⁠⁠. Connect with us on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ @RealBusinessOwners. Need bookkeeping or accounting services for your business?Reach out to Easier Accounting at 888-620-0770 or by visiting ⁠⁠EasierAccounting.com⁠⁠. Interested in fixing your credit? Visit ⁠⁠SixtyDayCreditRepair.com⁠⁠.

Brian and Brad are on their way back from a huge adventure hunt in Tajikistan so Bleep fills In and we welcomes to this Hunt the World episode, Braydin Eastman, from the RBO membership services department, takes us through his first bow hunt for elk in New Mexico. Also on the podcast is RBO's Noel Erickson and Eric Skavang from RBO's Adventure Booking Department. They provide a behind-the-scenes look at how ROlling Bones works to make your adventure the best it can be. Congratulations Braydin - and thank you for listening!

Mark Relei's remarkable journey is one of unwavering resilience and an indomitable spirit. In July 2013, a traumatic accident resulted in the breaking of his tibial and fibular bones, leading to compartment syndrome and the threat of amputation. Mark underwent nine surgeries to save his leg and toes. His story takes a remarkable turn as he defied the odds, refusing to be defined by limitations. Prescribed pain medications following his injury, Mark faced a struggle with addiction, enduring a spiral that eventually led to his voluntary admission to a psychiatric hospital. It was here that he witnessed the devastating impact of addiction and resolved to overcome his own challenges. Despite the daunting obstacles he faced, Mark's determination remained unshaken. He completed college and managed to stay off heavy pain medication for years. In an extraordinary show of strength, he trained for a marathon and an Ironman race, proving that with unwavering belief and faith, almost anything is possible. His remarkable journey and refusal to quit have inspired Mark to establish "No Quit 24/7," a brand dedicated to promoting resilience and motivation. Mark's story serves as a testament to the power of determination, and he invites others to adopt the same "no quit" attitude in the face of adversity. Join us for this week on RBO for an inspiring conversation as Mark shares his extraordinary journey and his mission to inspire and motivate others. Want to learn more from Mark? Follow him on: Instagramnoquit24_7 or... oneawayrelei_nq24_7 Video of this podcast is available at ⁠⁠YouTube.com/RealBusinessOwners⁠⁠. Connect with us on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ @RealBusinessOwners. Need bookkeeping or accounting services for your business?Reach out to Easier Accounting at 888-620-0770 or by visiting ⁠⁠EasierAccounting.com⁠⁠. Interested in fixing your credit? Visit ⁠⁠SixtyDayCreditRepair.com⁠⁠.

This week on Rolling Bones' Hunt the World podcast we have some options for you. Let's say you didn't draw this year but you'd still like to harvest this fall. This episode will be for you. Brian and Brad are in Tajikistan this week but Bleep takes the helm with guests Eric Skavang, RBO Adventures and Booking, Noel Erickson, RBO Senior Advisor, and Braydin Eastman, RBO Membership services. They have some excellent hunt opportunities for you to look at yet this year and some off season hunting opportunities coming up in early 2025. Plus they give us some strategy advice on how to get the most out of your points and tags. We'll also hear what hunts are hot right now and what the RBO membership, in general, is looking at. Thank you for listening and as always, send us your feedback at hello@rbohome.com

On this week's Hunt the World with Brian Mehmen and Brad Dana, we get to know Jeff Sipe, the CEO of Badlands Rifle Company. With more than three decades experience designing rifles and multiple national awards, including NRA Gun of the Year, Jeff Sipe has answered RBO's challenge to start from scratch and build the industry's premier extended-range shooting platform. Hear his story in this episode - including one of the most bizzare Montana elk hunt stories you'll head in a long time. Thank you for listening and if you feel we're up to the task, leave us a good review so others can find the podcast also. If you have feedback, Bleep is ready to hear it - tap here.

In this week's Hunt the World we talk about a lifetime achievement for many hunters - getting your slam. Recently Brian and Brad have been working with an RBO client trying to book a specific hunt that will complete a sheep grand slam for the client. That lead to a discussion today on what a slam is, how many there are, and some advice on how you might achieve one if that is your goal. As always, thank you for subscribing and listening and helping our podcast listenership grow! If you have podcast feedback, thoughts or suggestions, drop us a line right HERE.

Cet épisode est une présentation de Manscaped - https://www.manscaped.com/WARD20Pour vous procurer des billets de la tournée Sous Écoute - https://mikeward.ca/frDans cet épisode de Sous Écoute, Mike reçoit Richard Z. Sirois et Yves P. Pelletier pour parler des années RBO et de collection de musique!!   -------Patreon - http://Patreon.com/sousecouteTwitter - http://twitter.com/sousecouteFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/sousecoute/instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sousecouteTwitch - https://www.twitch.tv/sousecouteDiscord - https://discord.gg/6yE63Uk ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Everyone knows that after you've harvested your prey the job is not done. Now it's time to gut and clean. And there's a process to that which Rolling Bones is hoping to teach hunters. RBO is in development of a new program called "Field to Table." On today's episode Brian and Brad are joined by Noah Mehmen, the general manager of the Black Hills Butcher Block to talk about wild game care, a few do's and don'ts and a little about the first test session of the new program held recently. You'll pick up a few good tips with a good dose of humor and a few stories sprinkled in. Thanks for listening and follow us if you haven't already wherever you find you podcasts. Send us you ideas and feedback at hello@rbohome.com

One lucky RBO member is going to win a whitetail adventure of a lifetime and it could be you! The hunt will take place this fall on Greg Glesinger's premier 2-thousand acre whitetail mecca in the Midwest. It's a meticulously managed farm tailored to whitetail that's been known to produce 200"+ deer. You can enter simply by becoming a gold level RBO member!Greg also chats with Brian and Brad about his new show coming up this summer on The Sportsman Channel called HuntWorx. Rolling Bones is proud to be a sponsor of the show. Thank you for listening to Hunt the World! Please follow us if you haven't already and share the podcast on your social channels and with friends.

On today's episode, two of our RBO adventure hunters, Jim Bonanno and Scott Palmer join Brian and Brad to swap sheep stories and talk about their plans to complete their sheep grand slam. The pair of worldwide hunters are in town for the Argali Club weekend and stopped by the Bone Cave for a little fun and storytelling. Thank you for listening! If you have thought or comments drop us a line at hello@rbohome.com

The guys are getting ready for one of Rolling Bones' premiere events - it's Argali Club weekend. And Jeff Sipe of Badlands Rifle has dropped by as they plan to take this brand new precision shooting platform to the range. In this episode you'll get a tour of RBO's unique shooting golf course - "Argali International." Brian and Brad describe how the golf course works and Jeff joins in with more on the design of Badland's first rifle, the new "Langt Svero" (LSR) 6.5 Creedmore.

Joining the crew for the first time on the podcast is RBO's new Director of Adventures Eric Skavang. Eric, Brian, and Brad tell stories about booking hunting adventures and the fulfillment that it brings the crew. We also get into RBO's top-level membership - the Platinum Membership - and talk about a brand new benefit for our Platinum adventurers (a "Vade Mecum" as Brad likes to say... IDK, have to look it up). Thank you for listening and please share the podcast with your friends. If you have questions for us, or would like to have us cover a specific topic, let us know by dropping us an email HERE.

In this episode of Hunt the World Brad and Brian welcome RBO Applications Director Sophie Peterson. The topic this week is - overlooked states when it comes to unique opportunities. After helping RBO members with thousands of hunting applications Sophie brings an extensive database of knowledge to the microphone when it comes to knowing states that are often overlooked and some unique hunting opportunities you may not have thought of. Thank you for listening and if you haven't already- please subscribe.

Cet épisode est une présentation de Manscaped - https://www.manscaped.com/WARD20Pour vous procurer des billets de la tournée Sous Écoute - https://mikeward.ca/frDans cet épisode de Sous Écoute, Mike reçoit Richard Z. Sirois et Yves P. Pelletier pour parler des années RBO et de collection de musique!! -------Patreon - http://Patreon.com/sousecouteTwitter - http://twitter.com/sousecouteFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/sousecoute/instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sousecouteTwitch - https://www.twitch.tv/sousecouteDiscord - https://discord.gg/6yE63Uk

There are times in your life when you reach an obstacle on your path to success. Sometimes it is financial hardship, other times it is mental or personal. A lot of those times overcoming the adversity seems next-to impossible. Sometimes the road you are one is nothing but hardship. How can you overcome this? How can you go on when everything inside you is telling you to quit?
 On this episode of RBO, Trevor and Kale have a talk with Cohen DeYoung, a man who is intimately familiar with such a situation. From moving out of California for his daughter's safety, to making a successful screen printing business in a town with less than 800 people. In this podcast episode, Cohen will share his insight on dealing with struggle and his internal battle to not give up, despite the odds. With the advice given by Trevor, Kale, and Cohen, our hope is that everyone will find this episode useful and that it will help them carry on, even in the darkest hours. Video of this podcast is available at YouTube.com/RealBusinessOwners. Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @RealBusinessOwners. Need bookkeeping or accounting services for your business?Reach out to Easier Accounting at 888-620-0770 or by visiting EasierAccounting.com. Interested in fixing your credit? Visit SixtyDayCreditRepair.com. Want to see more of Cohen? Follow him on Instagram @pulsemerch contact@pulsemerch.com

This week Brian is preparing for an upcoming Muskox near the Arctic Circle later in April. He talks with Brad and Bleep about how he came to book this particular RBO catalog adventure and what gear he's planning to take. Since this is a newer outfitter the crew also talks about the process Rolling Bones uses to vet outfitters in an effort to make sure we have the highest quality selection of adventures. There's lots to evaluate and Brian talks about the important things he's looking at: logistics, accomodations, and overall knowledge, experience and temperament of the guides. If you're interested in checking out this adventure just tap HERE. Thank you for listening and please leave us an honest review as we hope to build our audience.

For any hunting or fishing adventure to take place you will need three things. Doesn't matter if it's guided or not. In this episode of Hunt the World Brian Mehmen and Brad Dana of ROlling Bones Outdoors will explain what these three things are and what you need to do to allow them to make your adventure a reality. Thank you for listening and thank you for your response to our t-shirt giveaway from last week! The giveaway is now closed. We really feel the RBO listening audience is the best in the outdoor industry and we thank you!

Your children are the center of your world and they hold immense potential for shaping the future. However, modern society and the social media landscape can be overwhelming and negative and it can distract the young from what is important. How do you ensure that they are on the right path? How do you drown out the noise and reach out to them? In this episode of RBO, join Matt Blanchard, Kale, and Trevor as they delve into the challenges of parenting in a world saturated with social media and negative influences. Learn how to create a positive environment, drown out the noise, and equip children with the tools they need to succeed. Discover practical and effective strategies to help guide your children to a positive future, and learn how to implement them into your own life. Video of this podcast is available at YouTube.com/RealBusinessOwners. Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @RealBusinessOwners. Need bookkeeping or accounting services for your business? Reach out to Easier Accounting at 888-620-0770 or by visiting EasierAccounting.com. Interested in fixing your credit? Visit SixtyDayCreditRepair.com.

This is a question we get A LOT. So we thought we'd address it today. What magnification power should I look for when considering a new scope for my rifle? What is the best magnification? Now… there is a simple answer to that question but before we get to that today we have a few questions that you need to ask. And both Brad and Brian give you their top three most important things they consider when buying a new scope. And here's a podcast special for you this weekend: The RBO teams are in Harrisburg, PA and at the Western Expo in Salt Lake City and if you come to our booth and say “Mark 5 3.6 to 18” you'll get a free Rolling Bones cap. Thank you for listening and you can always send in your podcast questions and feedback to hello@rbohome.com

In this episode Trevor and Kale speak with Corey McNeil. Corey has been active in the internet marketing world since 2004 and has been working with Trevor and Kale for the past 5 and half years. He is one of the unseen members of the marketing and media team that work behind the scenes (until now). Corey provides his unique perspective of being a part of building the RBO brand from day 1. He shares the lessons he has learned traveling tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of miles with Trevor and Kale and being in proximity to countless entrepreneurs and success stories through his journey. Video of this podcast is available at YouTube.com/RealBusinessOwners. Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @RealBusinessOwners. Need bookkeeping or accounting services for your business? Reach out to Easier Accounting at 888-620-0770 or by visiting EasierAccounting.com. Interested in fixing your credit? Visit SixtyDayCreditRepair.com.

Doug takes us through his introduction to the world of "masterminds". He started from not really liking the idea to now preaching the good news that is RBO and APEX!So, the question is, "What is a mastermind and should I join one?"To start, a mastermind is a group of individuals who come together to grow themselves and grow their businesses. Next should you join? Absolutely, unless you're okay with being where you're at. Doug breaks it all down in a candid episode you don't want to miss. A mastermind is a group of individuals who come together to share ideas, offer support, and hold each other accountable in order to achieve common goals. The concept was popularized by Napoleon Hill in his book "Think and Grow Rich."Masterminds typically consist of a small, diverse group of like-minded individuals who meet regularly to discuss their businesses, personal development, and other relevant topics. The group members are expected to be active participants, offering insights and feedback to others, as well as taking constructive criticism and advice.Joining a mastermind can be a great way to gain new perspectives, learn from others, and hold yourself accountable to achieving your goals. However, it's important to find a group that aligns with your values and interests, and that you feel comfortable sharing personal and professional information with.In conclusion, if you are looking to grow yourself or your business and are open to receiving feedback and advice from others, joining a mastermind group can be a great idea. It's important to find the right group that aligns with your values and interests.

There are some people in life who lack direction and purpose. They are easily swayed by their emotions and the opinions of others and they lack the determination and focus needed to achieve success. They have the gifts and the skills, but they are unable/unwilling to use them to be successful. In this episode of RBO, Trevor will take a deep dive into the difference between the aforementioned "drifters" and the successful "non-drifters". Trevor explores the strategies and mindset of the "non-drifters" and how they were able to overcome the obstacles that held the "drifters" back. Tune in to discover how to take control of your life, achieve success on your own terms, and outwit the devil at his own game! Video of this podcast is available at YouTube.com/RealBusinessOwners. Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @RealBusinessOwners. Need bookkeeping or accounting services for your business? Reach out to Easier Accounting at 888-620-0770 or by visiting EasierAccounting.com. Interested in fixing your credit? Visit SixtyDayCreditRepair.com.

What are the three things every outfitter wished that each hunter knew about shooting before they came to camp? In this Hunt the World podcast, hosts Brian Mehmen and Brad Dana will tell you what they are and why RBO specifically designed their Shooting Academies around these three principles. Not only are they good for guided hunts but also for all of you DIY hunters. They also give you an insight into why RBO decided to heavily invest in creating a series of shooting schools to go along with the application and booking services which we provide.

In today's episode of Hunt the World we welcome in RBO member Brad Stokke of Wisconsin. Not long ago Brad decided to head out west and DIY hunt elk in Colorado. Was it a mistake to take this approach? Join Brian, Brad and Brandon Neil as they weigh the pros and cons of hunting the western US with a guide and without.

For Andy Miller it was a complete surprise. A surprise that he was able to draw a prime Wyoming sheep hunt with just 18 points. And then an even bigger surprise when he got on the mountain. In today's episode we hear the story of Andy's RBO adventure that even involved his wife and two young daughters in the pursuit of a trophy-class Rocky Mountain Bighorn. Our featured hunt today is a unique one: British Columbia Winter Wolf Trap Line Trip. This trip will be exciting from start to finish as you run traplines on snowmobiles. Check it out https://rads.rollingbonesoutfitters.com/hunts/397 (HERE).

"The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse." -Edmund Burke In this week's episode of RBO, Kale and Trevor bring on Jeremiah "The Bull" Evans. They discuss power and the innate influence that comes with it. Jeremiah delves deep into his own history, drawing examples from both his past and from the world today of the innate responsibility of power and how it can be used for good and bad influence. Video of this podcast is available at YouTube.com/RealBusinessOwners. Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook @RealBusinessOwners. Need bookkeeping or accounting services for your business? Reach out to Easier Accounting at 888-620-0770 or by visiting EasierAccounting.com. Interested in fixing your credit? Visit SixtyDayCreditRepair.com.