Podcasts about repairs

🧭 REBEL Rundown 🔑Key Points Try the coffee nap! Where you combine caffeine and a 30-minute nap to then have that boost energy and alertness by the time it kicks in.💤 Sleep isn’t optional—it’s crucial for memory, mood regulation, and physical recovery. It is fundamentally different from rest❌ Replacing sleep with caffeine isn’t effective and can have negative health impacts. Make getting enough sleep a priority🌞 Sunlight exposure is important for maintaining circadian rhythms and sleep quality. This applies even if you work as a nocturnist💡 Creating a personalized sleep system enhances quality and consistency. It gives you back control of a schedule that you may feel like is out of your hands.🧩 If you’ve tried these strategies and you’re still struggling, consider true sleep pathology (insomnia, shift work disorder, sleep apnea) and get help—this is not a “be tougher” problem.🩺 Better sleep isn’t just about feeling good; it’s directly tied to error reduction, patient safety, and longevity in EM/ICU careers. Click here for Direct Download of the Podcast. 👀Previously Covered and Related Content: REBEL Core Cast: Sleep HygieneREBEL MIND: Rest Is Not Sleep: The Seven Dimensions of True RecoveryRebellion in EM: Care For Yourself – Sleep HygieneFirst10EM: Some Evidence For Working Night ShiftsREBEL MIND: Dunning Kruger Effect 📝 Introduction Welcome to this episode of REBEL MIND, where MIND stands for Mastering Internal Negativity during Difficulty. Here we sharpen the person behind the practitioner by focusing on things that improve our performance, optimizing team dynamics and the human behavior that embodies the hidden curriculum of medicine. Today we are exploring the imperative topic of rest and why it’s not just about sleeping. The second of a two part series, hosted by Dr. Mark Ramzy with guests Dr. Maureen Aiad and Dr. Amil Badoolah, continue our discussion but this time on the multifaceted nature of sleep, how it serves as medicine and how we can use our tools deliberately to get more of it! Cognitive Question How would your clinical performance, patience with families, and long-term career sustainability change if you treated sleep as a non-negotiable clinical intervention rather than a flexible “nice-to-have”? 💤How is Sleep Different From Rest? 1. Rest reduces load; sleep repairs systemsWe previously talked about the 7 types of rest and you can check that out hereExamples of physical rest include: pausing tasks, stepping away from the monitor, taking a walk, stretching, breathing, journaling, connecting with a colleague. This lightens your cognitive/emotional burden.Sleep is fundamentally different in that it’s an active biologic process that helps:Consolidates memory and learning (yes, including the tough cases from last night).Regulates mood, impulse control, and emotional reactivity.Supports immunity, metabolic health, and cardiovascular function.Repairs tissue, replenishes neurotransmitters, and fine-tunes neural networks.You can have “rested but underslept” days (you took breaks but got 4 hours in bed), and “slept but unrested” days (you got hours, but all junk sleep). Both matter, but they are not interchangeable.2. Sleep architecture vs. “knocking out”True restorative sleep cycles through NREM and REM in predictable patterns.Alcohol, late caffeine, and fragmented nights may help you fall asleep faster but:Suppress REM.Shorten deep sleep.Increase awakenings and light sleep.The result: you technically slept, but your brain didn’t get the “software updates” it needed.Biology isn’t built for your scheduleCircadian rhythms were designed for light-day / dark-night cycles, not:10 pm–7 am ED shifts.24-hour calls.6 nights in a row followed by days.Your body can adapt partially, but not instantly and not perfectly. That’s why:You can feel “jet-lagged” even when you haven’t traveled.Sleep before and after nights feels odd and fragile.Recognizing that “this is biologically unnatural” is key: you’re not weak; you’re fighting physiology. 🏥How This Applies to the Emergency Department or ICU? Performance & safetySleep deprivation:Slows reaction time and increases error rate.Impairs risk assessment and complex decision-making.Drops your frustration tolerance with consultants, families, and staff.In both emergency medicine and critical care, that translates into:Anchoring on the wrong diagnosis.Missing subtle clinical changes.Snapping at a tech, nurse or resident and damaging team culture. Chronic health for chronic shift workLong-term sleep disruption is associated with:Hypertension, diabetes, obesity.Depression, anxiety, burnout.Arrhythmias (e.g., AFib) and increased stroke risk.Possibly increased all-cause mortality.You’re already in a high-stress, high-exposure specialty. Chronically poor sleep amplifies that risk profile and can end a career early—or make you miserable while you’re still in it.Culture of “heroics” vs. healthSkipping sleep to pick up extra shifts, late meetings, or “just one more note” is often praised.We rarely celebrate:The attending who says “no” to a 2 pm meeting post-nights.The resident who defends their blackout-curtains-and-earplugs routine. 🛏️Different Ways to Improve Your Sleep Clarify your “sleep non-negotiables”Decide how many hours you realistically need to function (e.g., 7–9 on off days, realistic blocks on nights).Treat those hours as you would a procedure time—blocked, protected, and respected.Use caffeine like a drug, not a reflexAim for ≤ 2 cups equivalent on most days.Avoid caffeine within 4–6 hours of your planned sleep time (remember: it can hang around up to 12 hours).Consider scheduling caffeine for:Early in the shift for alertness.Strategic “coffee naps” (see below), not late-night chugging.Respect alcohol’s impact on sleepRecognize that even small to moderate doses degrade sleep architecture.Avoid using alcohol as a “sleep aid”—you’ll fall asleep faster but sleep worse.If you do drink, separate it from bedtime and keep it modest.Optimize food and fluid timingHydrate consistently on shift, but taper fluids ~4 hours before bed to reduce nocturnal bathroom trips.Avoid heavy, spicy, or large meals within 2–3 hours of sleep to decrease reflux and discomfort.Plan a light, balanced “pre-sleep” snack if going to bed hungry keeps you awake.Move your body (but not right before bed)Regular exercise improves sleep depth and latency.Try to avoid intense workouts within 2 hours of bedtime.On shift: micro-movement (stairs, brisk walks between pods, quick stretch sessions) can help alertness without wrecking sleep later.Control light exposureMaximize sunlight or bright light after waking (even if that’s 3–4 pm after a night).Minimize bright light and screens before sleep:Dim lights.Use night mode/blue-light filters if you must scroll.For daytime sleep:Use blackout curtains, tinfoil, cardboard, or sleep masks.Yes seriously use tinfoil if you have to, we talk about it on the podcast episode!Aim for “I might be blind” darkness—so dark you can’t see your hand in front of your face.Dial in your sleep environmentCool room temperature (fan or AC if possible).White noise or sound machine to mask household/traffic noise.Earplugs and eye masks as needed.Bed used primarily for sleep (and sex)—not for charting, doom scrolling, or email.Strategic power napsKeep naps ≤ 20–30 minutes to avoid sleep inertia.Prefer early-afternoon or pre-night-shift naps.Coffee nap strategy:Drink a small coffee.Immediately lie down for a 20–30 min nap.Wake up as the caffeine kicks in, combining nap benefit + stimulant.Thoughtful melatonin useRemember melatonin is a hormone, not a vitamin gummy.Lower doses often work as well as (or better than) large OTC doses.Use it intentionally and intermittently, not as a crutch every night.Over-reliance may reduce your own natural production and its effectiveness over time.Build pre-sleep ritualsRepeated, calming habits signal your body it’s time to downshift:Warm shower, gentle stretching, or yoga.Guided breathing or body scan.Brief journaling or “brain dump” of tasks to get them out of your head and onto paper.Protect from pathologic patternsIf despite consistent effort you:Snore heavily, stop breathing, or gasp in sleep.Feel excessively sleepy driving home or at work.Cannot fall asleep or stay asleep for weeks to months.Consider evaluation for sleep apnea, insomnia, or shift-work sleep disorder with your physician or sleep specialist. ⏩Immediate Action Steps for Before/During/After Your Next Shift 1. **Before the Shift**: Plan a 20–90 minute nap before your first night shift (many clinicians find 3–5 hours earlier in the day is ideal).I treat ED and ICU shifts very differently. I always sleep 3-5 hours before my night shifts aiming for the full 5 (sometimes 6 or more) hours for my ED shifts because you always have to be “on”. Depending on the ICU I’m working in, I may have a bit more downtime so 3 to 5 hours is plenty.Set a caffeine plan: decide in advance when your last dose will be (e.g., none after 2–3 am if sleeping at 8–9 am).Tell your household, “This is my sleep block” and agree on a plan for kids, pets, deliveries, etc.On my calendar, I completely block off time called “Pre-call sleep” so no meetings can be scheduled and then put my phone in airplane mode2. **During the Shift** Hydrate early; taper fluids in the last 3–4 hours of your shift Eat something light but adequate; avoid “last-minute” heavy meals right before sign-out.Build in micro-breaks and movement: one or two short walks, a few stretches, even a quick stair run if safe.Get outside or near a window for a few minutes of light exposure if possible.3. **After the Shift**On the way home:Use sunglasses to reduce bright morning light if you’re aiming for sleep soon.Avoid “just checking” email or messages; shift into wind-down mode.At home:Do a brief, calming decompression (shower, light snack, 10–15 minutes of low-stimulation TV or reading).Make your room cold, quiet, and dark (blackout curtains, tinfoil/cardboard, white noise, fan).Put your phone on Do Not Disturb and physically place it away from the bed.On my calendar, I completely block off time called “Post-call sleep” so again no meetings can be scheduled and then I personally don’t just put my phone on Do Not Disturb but rather in airplane mode and WIFI OFF If you can’t sleep after ~20–30 minutes:Get out of bed, do something calming in dim light (breathing, gentle stretching, journaling).Return to bed when sleepy—this trains your brain to associate bed with sleep, not frustration. Conclusion Rest and sleep are both critical—but they’re not interchangeable. Rest helps you step out of the constant “on” of our jobs, while sleep is the biological intervention that restores your ability to show up safely and sustainably. Rest ≠ sleep. Rest reduces load; sleep repairs your brain and body. You need both, on purpose.As EM and ICU clinicians, we’re trying to perform formula-one-level medicine with engines that often only see half their maintenance. You won’t fix shift work. You can build a sleep system that respects your biology, your schedule, and your life at home.That system starts with valuing sleep, then prioritizing it, personalizing it, trusting the process when it’s imperfect, and actively protecting both your routine and your mindset. 🚨 Clinical Bottom Line Sleep is medicine. Shift work is biologically unnatural. Struggling does not mean you’re weak; it means you’re human fighting physiology. Use your tools deliberately. Caffeine, naps, light, food, movement, melatonin, and environment can be leveraged—or can quietly sabotage you. Build and defend a personalized sleep routine. Communicate it, normalize it, and protect it from casual encroachment. You can’t control every trauma, code, or admission—but you can control how seriously you take your own recovery. Your patients, your team, and your future self all benefit when you do. Further Reading Espie CA. The ‘5 principles’ of good sleep health. J Sleep Res. 2022 Jun; PMID: 34676592Solodar, J“Sleep hygiene: Simple practices for better rest.” Harvard Health, 31 January 2025 Link is HereSuni, E.“Mastering Sleep Hygiene: Your Path to Quality Sleep.” Sleep Foundation, 7 July 2025, Link is Here Meet the Authors Mark Ramzy, DO Co-Editor-in-Chief Cardiothoracic Intensivist and EM Attending RWJBH / Rutgers Health, Newark, NJ Maureen Aiad, DO Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, New York Amil Badoolah, DO Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine, New York REBEL Core Cast 119.0 – Sleep Hygiene REBEL Core Cast 119.0 – Sleep Hygiene Click here for Direct Download of ... Read More The post REBEL MIND – How to Sleep When the World Says You Can't appeared first on REBEL EM - Emergency Medicine Blog.

An estimated €15.6 million will be needed to repair damaged roads after Storm Chandra.Elected members of Wicklow County Council, one of the worst affected areas, have called on the Department of Transport, Taoiseach and Tanaiste to provide extra emergency funding to aid this.The “extraordinary scale of destruction” caused far exceeds the road maintenance budget for the council.Joining guest host Anna Daly to discuss this is Tom Fortune, Wicklow County Councillor representing Greystones electoral district, Ciaran Feghan, Managing director of PMS Pavement Management Services engineering consultancy, Louis O'Hara, Sinn Fein TD for Galway East and listeners.

Nicole Melillo Shaw, Managing Director of Volvo UK, joins Big Boss Interview at a pivotal moment for the electric vehicle market, as the company recalls 10,500 EX30 electric cars following four battery fires globally.“It's against everything we stand for,” she says, reflecting on a situation that challenges a brand built on nearly a century of safety leadership. Despite a global failure rate of just 0.02% and no fatalities, Volvo identified the root cause in late December and immediately instructed owners not to charge beyond 70% while a fix is implemented. Repairs are scheduled to begin in late March. For Volvo, the response reflects what she describes as a precautionary, safety-first culture, even when the commercial implications are uncomfortable.Melillo Shaw examines what the recall means for consumer confidence in electric vehicles — a technology already under heightened scrutiny — even though petrol vehicles statistically present a greater inherent fire risk due to flammable fuel systems.The recall comes as electric vehicle adoption remains slower than manufacturers once anticipated, despite annual growth exceeding 20%. Volvo's UK electric sales peaked at 28% following the EX30 launch but have since stabilised at just over 22 per cent as more than 160 additional models enter the market and buyers opt for “one more petrol” or hybrid before fully switching.Range anxiety, she argues, is no longer the central issue, but infrastructure concerns persist. Confusing government messaging — pairing incentives with discussions of pay-per-mile charges and benefit-in-kind changes — continues to add to consumer hesitation.Global instability adds further complexity. Volvo has been regionalising production, partly in response to tariff pressures, building vehicles closer to the markets in which they are sold. That turbulence elevates the UK's importance as Volvo's third-largest market, where a direct-to-consumer model has delivered 40% growth and lifted market share from 2.5% to 3.5%.Government Zero Emission Vehicle mandates now require manufacturers to meet steep electrification quotas or face fines of £12,000 per non-compliant vehicle from November. Volvo discontinued diesel models in the UK in 2023 and says it could sell 100% electric vehicles tomorrow if demand existed. However, meeting regulatory targets while absorbing development costs and discounting pressures presents a commercial balancing act.Finally, Melillo Shaw reflects on her own trajectory — from Scunthorpe through healthcare brands to automotive leadership. Volvo deliberately recruited her because she had never bought a car, valuing the perspective of someone who understood the anxiety of a major purchase. She argues the industry must broaden access and challenge assumptions about who belongs in automotive careers, creating clearer pathways for talent from working-class communities.

Everyone hears the State of the Union as politics.I hear it as a preview of what homeowners are going to deal with over the next decade.Because every time energy, inflation, housing, or manufacturing comes up — it affects what it costs to live comfortably in your home.Let's connect the dots.When energy policy shifts, your power bill shifts.When manufacturing costs rise, HVAC equipment prices rise.When interest rates change, homeowners either replace systems… or patch them together longer.When efficiency regulations change, what gets installed in homes changes.And when incentives show up, people rush to upgrade.This isn't theory.This is how the home comfort industry has always moved.What homeowners need to understand is simple:Comfort is becoming more expensive to ignore.Old systems cost more to run.Repairs stack up faster.Emergency replacements hit harder.And the families who plan ahead are the ones who stay comfortable without financial surprises.The State of the Union is basically a long-range forecast.Not for weather.For your home.

It's claimed Clare is stuck playing catch-up on road repairs. The local authority has been allocated just over €940,000 under the latest round of the Local Improvement Scheme, which covers non-public roads and laneways. According to the Department of Transport, 25 roads were fixed in Clare under the scheme in the last two years. Lisdoonvarna Fine Gael Councillor Joe Garrihy says they need to see much more progress.

Allen, Rosemary, and Yolanda, joined by Morten Handberg from Wind Power LAB, recap WOMA 2026 live from Melbourne. The crew discusses leading edge erosion challenges unique to Australia, the frustration operators face getting data from full service agreements, and the push for better documentation during project handovers. Plus the birds and bats management debate, why several operators said they’d choose smaller glass fiber blades over bigger carbon fiber ones, and what topics WOMA 2027 should tackle next year. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly newsletter on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on YouTube, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary’s “Engineering with Rosie” YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! [00:00:00] The Uptime Wind Energy Podcast brought to you by Strike Tape protecting thousands of wind turbines from lightning damage worldwide. Visit strike tape.com and now your hosts. Welcome to the Uptime Winner Energy podcast. I’m your host, Alan Hall. I’m here with Yolanda Pone, Rosemary Barnes, and the Blade Whisperer, Morton Hamburg. And we’re all in Melbourne at the Pullman on the park. We just finished up Woma 2026. Massive event. Over 200 people, two days, and a ton of knowledge. Rosemary, what did you think? Yeah, I mean it was a, a really good event. It was really nice ’cause we had event organization, um, taken care of by an external company this time. So that saved us some headaches, I think. Um. But yeah, it was, it was really good. It was different than last year, and I think next year will be different again because yeah, we don’t need to talk about the same topics every single year. But, um, yeah, I got really great [00:01:00] feedback. So that’s shows we’re doing something right? Yeah, a lot of the, the sessions were based upon feedback from Australian industry and, uh, so we did AI rotating bits, the, the drive train blades. Uh, we had a. Master class on lightning to start off. Uh, a number of discussions about BOP and electrical, BOP. All those were really good. Mm-hmm. Uh, the, the content was there, the expertise was there. We had worldwide representation. Morton, you, you talked about blades a good bit and what the Danish and Worldwide experience was. You know, talked about the American experience on Blades. That opened up a lot of discussions because I’m never really sure where Australia is in the, uh, operations side, because a lot of it is full service agreements still. But it does seem like from last year to this year. There’s more onboarding of the technical expertise internally at the operators. Martin, [00:02:00] you saw, uh, a good bit of it. This is your first time mm-hmm. At this conference. What were your impressions of the, the content and the approach, which is a little bit different than any other conference? I see an industry that really wants to learn, uh, Australia, they really want to learn how to do this. Uh, and they’re willing to listen to us, uh, whether you live in Australia, in the US or in Europe. You know, they want to lean on our experiences, but they wanna, you know, they want to take it out to their wind farms and they ga then gain their own knowledge with it, which I think is really amicable. You know, something that, you know, we should actually try and think about how we can copy that in Europe and the US. Because they, they are, they’re listening to us and they’re taking in our input, and then they try and go out. They go out and then they, they try and implement it. Um, so I think really that is something, uh, I’ve learned, you know, and, and really, um, yeah, really impressed by, from this conference. Yeah. Yolanda, you were on several panels over the, the two days. What were your impressions of the conference and what were your thoughts [00:03:00] on the Australia marketplace? I think the conference itself is very refreshing or I think we all feel that way being on the, on the circuit sometimes going on a lot of different conferences. It was really sweet to see everybody be very collaborative, as Morton was saying. Um, and it was, it was just really great about everybody. Yes, they were really willing to listen to us, but they were also really willing to share with each other, which is nice. Uh, I did hear about a few trials that we’re doing in other places. From other people, just kind of, everybody wants to learn from each other and everybody wants to, to make sure they’re in as best a spot as they can. Yeah, and the, the, probably the noisiest part of the conferences were at the coffees and the lunch. Uh, the, the collaboration was really good. A lot of noise in the hallways. Uh, just people getting together and then talking about problems, talking about solutions, trying to connect up with someone they may have seen [00:04:00]somewhere else in the part of the world that they were here. It’s a different kind of conference. And Rosemary, I know when, uh, you came up to with a suggestion like, Hey. If there’s not gonna be any sales talks, we’re not gonna sit and watch a 30 minute presentation about what you do. We’re gonna talk about solutions. That did play a a different dynamic because. It allowed people to ingest at their own rate and, and not just sit through another presentation. Yeah. It was made it more engaging, I think. Yeah, and I mean, anyway, the approach that I take for sales for my company that I think works best is not to do the hard sell. It’s to talk about smart things. Um, and if you are talking about describing a problem or a solution that somebody in the audience has that problem or solution, then they’re gonna seek you out afterwards. And so. There’s plenty of sales happening in an event like this, but you’re just not like, you know, subjecting people to sales. It’s more presenting them with the information that they need. And then I, I think also the size of the conference really [00:05:00] helps ’cause yeah, about 200 people. Any, everybody is here for the same technical kind. Content. So it’s like if you just randomly start talking to somebody while you’re waiting for a coffee or whatever, you have gonna have heaps to talk about with them, with ev every single other person there. And so I think that that’s why, yeah, there was so much talking happening and you know, we had social events, um, the first two evenings and so. Mo like I was surprised actually. So many people stayed. Most people, maybe everybody stayed for those events and so just so much talking and yeah, we did try to have quite long breaks, um, and quite a lot of them and, you know, good enough food and coffee to keep people here. And I think that that’s as important as, you know, just sitting and listening. Well, that was part of the trouble, some of the conference that you and I have been at, it’s just like six hours of sitting down listening to sort of a droning mm-hmm. Presenter trying to sell you something. Here we were. It was back and forth. A lot more panel talk with experts from around the world and then.[00:06:00] Break because you just can’t absorb all that without having a little bit of a brain rest, some coffee and just trying to get to the next session. I, I think that made it, uh, a, a, a more of a takeaway than I would say a lot of other conferences are, where there’s spender booze, and. Brochures and samples being handed out and all that. We didn’t have any of that. No vendor booze, no, uh, upfront sales going on and even into the workshop. So there was specific, uh, topics provided by people that. Provide services mostly, uh, speaking about what they do, but more on a case study, uh, side. And Rosie, you and I sat in on one that was about, uh, birds and bats, birds and bats in Australia. That one was really good. Yeah, that was great. I learned, I learned a lot. Your mind was blown, but Totally. Yeah. It is crazy how much, how much you have to manage, um, bird and wildlife deaths related to wind farms in Australia. Like compared to, I mean, ’cause you see. Dead birds all the time, right? Cars hit [00:07:00] birds, birds hit buildings, power lines kill birds, and no one cares about those birds. But if a bird is injured near a wind farm, then you know, everybody has to stop. We have to make sure that you can do a positive id. If you’re not sure, send it away for a DNA analysis. Keep the bird in a freezer for a year and make sure that it’s logged by the, you know, appropriate people. It’s, it’s really a lot. And I mean, on the one hand, like I’m a real bird lover, so I am, I’m glad that birds are being taken seriously, but on the other hand, I. I think that it is maybe a little bit over the top, like I don’t see extra birds being saved because of that level of, of watching throughout the entire life of the wind farm. It feels more like something for the pre-study and the first couple of years of operation, and then you can chill after that if everything’s under control. But I, I guess it’s quite a political issue because people do. Do worry about, about beds and bats? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I thought the output of that was more technology, a little or a little more technology. Not a lot of technology in today’s world [00:08:00] because we could definitely monitor for where birds are and where bats are and, uh, you know. Slow down the turbines or whatever we’re gonna do. Yeah. And they are doing that in, in sites where there is a problem. But, um, yeah, the sites we’re talking about with that monitoring, that’s not sites that have a big, big problem at sites that are just Yeah, a few, a few birds dying every year. Um, yeah. So it’s interesting. And some of the blade issues in Australia, or a little unique, I thought, uh, the leading edge erosion. Being a big one. Uh, I’ve seen a lot of leading edge erosion over the last couple of weeks from Australia. It is Texas Times two in some cases. And, uh, the discussion that was had about leading edge erosion, we had ETT junker from Stack Raft and, and video form all the way from Sweden, uh, talking to us live, which was really nice actually. Uh, the, the amount of knowledge that the Global Blade group. Brought to the discussion and just [00:09:00] opening up some eyes about what matters in leading edge erosion. It’s not so much the leading edge erosion in terms of a EP, although there is some a EP loss. It’s more about structural damage and if you let the structure go too far. And Martin, you’ve seen a lot of this, and I think we had a discussion about this on the podcast of, Hey, pay attention to the structural damage. Yeah, that’s where, that’s where your money is. I mean, if you go, if you get into structural damage, then your repair costs and your downtime will multiply. That is just a known fact. So it’s really about keeping it, uh, coding related because then you can, you can, you can move really fast. You can get it the blade up to speed and you won’t have the same problems. You won’t have to spend so much time rebuilding the blade. So that’s really what you need to get to. I do think that one of the things that might stand out in Australia that we’re going to learn about. Is the effect of hail, because we talked a lot about it in Europe, that, you know, what is the effect of, of hail on leading edge erosion? We’ve never really been able to nail it down, but down here I heard from an, [00:10:00] from an operator that they, they, uh, referenced mangoes this year in terms of hail size. It was, it was, it was incredible. So if you think about that hitting a leading edge, then, uh, well maybe we don’t really need to, we don’t really get to the point where, so coding related, maybe we will be structural from the beginning, but. Then at least it can be less a structural. Um, but that also means that we need to think differently in terms of leading edge, uh, protection and what kinds of solutions that are there. Maybe some of the traditional ones we have in Europe, maybe they just don’t work, want, they, they won’t work in some part of Australia. Australia is so big, so we can’t just say. Northern Territory is the same as as, uh, uh, um, yeah. Victoria or uh, or Queensland. Or Queensland or West Australia. I think that what we’re probably going to learn is that there will be different solutions fitting different parts of Australia, and that will be one of the key challenges. Um, yeah. And Blades in Australia sometimes do. Arrive without leading edge protection from the OEMs. [00:11:00] Yeah, I’m sure some of the sites that I’ve been reviewing recently that the, the asset manager swears it’s got leading edge protection and even I saw some blades on the ground and. I don’t, I don’t see any leading edge protection. I can’t feel any leading edge protection. Like maybe it’s a magical one that’s, you know, invisible and, um, yeah, it doesn’t even feel different, but I suspect that some people are getting blades that should have been protected that aren’t. Um, so why? Yeah, it’s interesting. I think before we, we rule it out. Then there are some coatings that really look like the original coating. Mm. So we, we, I know that for some of the European base that what they come out of a factory, you can’t really see the difference, but they’re multilayer coating, uh, on the blades. What you can do is that you can check your, uh, your rotor certificate sometimes will be there. You can check your, uh, your blade sheet, uh, that you get from manufacturer. If you get it. Um, if you get it, then it will, it will be there. But, um, yeah, I, I mean, it can be difficult to say, to see from the outset and there’s no [00:12:00]documentation then. Yeah, I mean. If I can’t see any leading edge erosion protection, and I don’t know if it’s there or not, I don’t think I will go so far and then start installing something on something that is essentially a new blade. I would probably still put it into operation because most LEP products that can be installed up tower. So I don’t think that that necessarily is, is something we should, shouldn’t still start doing just because we suspect there isn’t the LEP. But one thing that I think is gonna be really good is, um, you know, after the sessions and you know, I’ve been talking a lot. With my clients about, um, leading edge erosion. People are now aware that it’s coming. I think the most important thing is to plan for it. It’s not right to get to the point where you’ve got half a dozen blades with, you know, just the full leading edge, just fully missing holes through your laminate, and then your rest of your blades have all got laminate damage. That’s not the time to start thinking about it because one, it’s a lot more expensive for each repair than it would’ve been, but also. No one’s got the budget to, to get through all of that in one season. So I do really [00:13:00] like that, you know, some of the sites that have been operating for five years or so are starting to see pitting. They can start to plan that into their budget now and have a strategy for how they’re going to approach it. Um, yeah. And hopefully avoid getting over to the point where they’ve missing just the full leading edge of some of their blades. Yeah. But to Morton’s earlier point, I think it’s also important for people to stop the damage once it happens too. If, if it’s something that. You get a site or for what, whatever reason, half of your site does look like terrible and there’s holes in the blade and stuff. You need to, you need to patch it up in some sort of way and not just wait for the perfect product to come along to, to help you with that. Some of the hot topics this week were the handover. From, uh, development into production and the lack of documentation during the transfer. Uh, the discussion from Tilt was that you need to make sure it is all there, uh, because once you sign off. You probably can’t go back and get it. And [00:14:00] some of the frustration around that and the, the amount of data flow from the full service provider to the operator seemed to be a, a really hot topic. And, and, uh, we did a little, uh, surveyed a about that. Just the amount of, um, I don’t know how to describe it. I mean, it was bordering on anger maybe is a way. Describe it. Uh, that they feel that operators feel like they don’t have enough insight to run the turbines and the operations as well as they can, and that they should have more insight into what they have operating and why it is not operat. A certain way or where did the blades come from? Are there issues with those blades? Just the transparency WA was lacking. And we had Dan Meyer, who is from the States, he’s from Colorado, he was an xge person talking about contracts, uh, the turbine supply agreement and what should be in there, the full service [00:15:00] agreement, what should be in there. Those are very interesting. I thought a lot of, uh, operators are very attentive to that, just to give themselves an advantage of what you can. Put on paper to help yourself out and what you should think about. And if you have a existing wind farm from a certain OEM and you’re gonna buy another wind farm from ’em, you ought to be taking the lessons learned. And I, I thought that was a, a very important discussion. The second one was on repairs. And what you see from the field, and I know Yolanda’s been looking at a lot of repairs. Well, all of you have been looking at repairs in Australia. What’s your feeling on sort of the repairs and the quality of repairs and the amount of data that comes along with it? Are we at a place that we should be, or do we need a little more detail as to what’s happening out there? It’s one of the big challenges with the full service agreements is that, you know, if everything’s running smoothly, then repairs are getting done, but the information isn’t. Usually getting passed on. And so it’s seems fine and it seems like really good actually. Probably if you’re an [00:16:00] asset manager and everything’s just being repaired without you ever knowing about it, perfect. But then at some point when something does happen, you’ve got no history and especially like even before handover. You need to know all of the repairs that have happened for, you know, for or exchanges for any components because you know, you’re worried about, um, serial defects, for example. You need every single one. ’cause the threshold is quite high to, you know, ever reach a serial defect. So you wanna know if there were five before there was a handover. Include that in your population. Um, yeah, so that’s probably the biggest problem with repairs is that they’re just not being. Um, the reports aren’t being handed over. You know, one of the things that Jeremy Hanks from C-I-C-N-D-T, and he’s an NDT expert and has, has seen about everything was saying, is that you really need to understand what’s happening deep inside the blade, particularly for inserts or, uh, at the root, uh, even up in, with some, some Cory interactions happening or splicing that It’s hard to [00:17:00] see that hard to just take a drone inspection and go, okay, I know what’s happening. You need a little more technology in there at times, especially if you have a serial defect. Why do you have a serial defect? Do you need to be, uh, uh, scanning the, the blade a little more deeply, which hasn’t really happened too much in Australia, and I think there’s some issues I’ve seen where it may come into use. Yeah, I think it, it, it’ll be coming soon. I know some people are bringing stuff in. I’ve got emails sitting in my inbox I need to chase up, but I’m, I’m really going to, to get more into that. Yeah. And John Zalar brought up a very similar, uh, note during his presentation. Go visit your turbines. Yeah, several people said that. Um, actually Liz said that too. Love it. And, um, let’s this, yeah, you just gotta go have a look. Oh, Barend, I think said bar said it too. Go on site. Have a look at the lunchroom. If the lunch room’s tidy, then you know, win turbine’s gonna be tidy too. And I don’t know about that ’cause I’ve seen some tidy lunchroom that were associated with some, you know, uh, less well performing assets, but it’s, you know, it’s [00:18:00] a good start. What are we gonna hope for in 2027? What should we. Be talking about it. What do you think we’ll be talking about a year from now? Well, a few people, quite a few people mentioned to me that they were here, they’re new in the industry, and they heard this was the event to go to. Um, and so I, I was always asking them was it okay? ’cause we pitch it quite technical and I definitely don’t wanna reduce. How technical it is. One thing I thought of was maybe we start with a two to five minute introduction, maybe prerecorded about the, the topic, just to know, like for example, um, we had some sessions on rotating equipment. Um, I’m a Blades person. I don’t know that much about rotating equipment, so maybe, you know, we just explain this is where the pitch bearings are. They do this and you know, there’s the main bearing and it, you know, it does this and just a few minutes like that to orient people. Think that could be good. Last, uh, this year we did a, a masterclass on lightning, a half day masterclass. Maybe we change that topic every year. Maybe next year it’s blade design, [00:19:00] certification, manufacturing. Um, and then, you know, the next year, whatever, open to suggestions. I mean, in general, we’re open to suggestions, right? Like people write in and, and tell us what you’d wanna see. Um, absolutely. I think we could focus more on technologies might be an, an area like. It’s a bit, it’s a bit hard ’cause it gets salesy, but Yeah. I think one thing that could actually be interesting and that, uh, there was one guy came up with an older turbine on the LPS system. Mm. Where he wanted to look for a solution and some of the wind farms are getting older and it’s older technology. So maybe having some, uh, uh, some sessions on that. Because the older turbines, they are vastly different from what we, what we see in the majority with wind farms today. But the maintenance of those are just as important. And if you do that correctly, they’re much easier to lifetime extent than it will likely be for some of the nuance. But, you know, let. Knock on wood. Um, but, but I think that’s something that could be really interesting and really relevant for the industry and something [00:20:00] that we don’t talk enough about. Yeah. Yeah, that’s true because I, I’m working on a lot of old wind turbines now, and that has been, um, quite a challenge for me because they’re design and built in a way that’s quite different to when, you know, I was poking, designing and building, uh, wind turbine components. So that’s a good one. Other people mentioned end of life. Mm-hmm. Not just like end of life, like the life is over, but how do you decide when the life end of life is going to be? ’cause you know, like you have a planned life and then you might like to extend, but then you discover you’ve got a serial issue. Are you gonna fix it? Or you know, how are you gonna fix it? Those are all very interesting questions that, um, can occur. And then also, yeah, what to do with the. The stuff at the end of the Wind Farm lifetime, we could make a half day around those kinds of sessions. I think recycling could actually be good to, to also touch upon and, and I think, yeah, Australia is more on the front of that because of, of your high focus on, on nature and sustainability. So looking at, well, what do we do with these blades? Or what do we do with the towers of foundation once, uh, [00:21:00] once we do need to decommission them, you know, what is, what are we going to do in Australia about that? Or what is Australia going to do about that? But, you know, what can we bring to the, to the table that that can help drive that discussion? I think maybe too, helping people sort of templates for their formats on, on how to successfully shadow, monitor, maybe showing them a bit mute, more of, uh. Like cases and stuff, so to get them going a bit more. ’cause we heard a lot of people too say, oh, we’re, we’re teetering on whether we should self operate or whether we continue our FSA, but we, we we’re kind of, we don’t know what we’re doing. Yeah. In, in not those words. Right. But just providing a bit more of a guidance too. On that side, we say shadow monitoring and I think we all know what it means. If you’ve seen it done, if you haven’t seen it done before. It seems daunting. Mm-hmm. What do you mean shadow monitoring? You mean you got a crack into the SCADA system? Does that mean I’ve gotta, uh, put CMS out there? Do I do, do I have to be out [00:22:00] on site all the time? The answer that is no to all of those. But there are some fundamental things you do need to do to get to the shadow monitoring that feels good. And the easy one is if there’s drone inspections happening because your FSA, you find out who’s doing the drone inspections and you pay ’em for a second set of drone inspections, just so you have a validation of it, you can see it. Those are really inexpensive ways to shadow monitor. Uh, but I, I do think we say a lot of terms like that in Australia because we’ve seen it done elsewhere that. Doesn’t really translate. And I, if I, I’m always kind of looking at Rosemary, like, does it, this make sense? What I’m saying makes sense, Rosemary, because it’s hard to tell because so many operators are in sort of a building mode. I, I see it as. When I talked to them a few years ago, they’re completely FSA, they had really small staffs. Now the staffs are growing much larger, which makes me feel like they’re gonna transition out an FSA. Do we need to provide a little more, uh, insight into how that is done deeper. [00:23:00] Like, these are the tools you, you will need. This is the kind of people you need to have on staff. This is how you’re gonna organize it, and this is the re these are the resources that you should go after. Mm. Does that make a little si more sense? Yeah. That might be a good. Uh, idea for getting somebody who’s, you know, working for a company that is shadow monitoring overseas and bring them in and they can talk through what that, what that means exactly. And that goes back to the discussion we were having earlier today by having operators talk about how they’re running their operations. Mm. And I know the last year we tried to have everybody do that and, and they were standoffish. I get it. Because you don’t want to disclose things that your company doesn’t want out in public. And year two, it felt like there’s a little more. Openness about that. Yeah, there was a few people were quite open about, um, yeah, talking about challenges and some successes as well. I think we’ll have more successes next year ’cause we’ve got more, more things going on. But yeah, definitely would encourage any operators to think about what’s a you A case study that you could give about? Yeah, it could just be a problem that’s unsolved and I bet you’ll find people that wanna help you [00:24:00] solve that problem. Or it could be something that you struggled with and then you’re doing a better job and Yeah, I mean the. Some operators think that they’re in competition with each other and some think that they’re not really, and the answer is somewhere, somewhere in the middle. There are, you know, some at least small amounts of competition. But, you know, I just, I just really think that. We’re fighting against each other, trying to win within the wind industry. Then, you know, in 10, 20 years time, especially in Australia, there won’t be any new wind. It’ll just be wind and solar everywhere and, and the energy transition stalled because everyone knows that’s not gonna get us all the way to, you know, a hundred percent renewables. So, um, I do think that we need to, first of all, fight for wind energy to improve. The status quo is not good enough to take us through the next 20 years. So we do need to collaborate to get better. And then, yeah, I don’t know, once we’re, once we’re one, wind has won, then we can go back to fighting amongst ourselves, I guess. Is Australia that [00:25:00] laboratory? Yeah, I think I, I say it all the time. I think Australia is the perfect place because I, I do think we’re a little bit more naturally collaborative. For some reason, I don’t know why, it’s not really like a, a cultural thing, but seems to be the case in Australian wind. Um, and also our, our problems are harder than, uh, than what’s being faced elsewhere. I mean, America has some specific problems right now that are, you know, worse, but in general, operating environment is very harsh Here. We’re so spread out. Everything is so expensive. Cranes are so expensive. Repairs are so expensive. Spares spare. Yeah, spares are crazy expensive. You know, I look every now and then and do reports for people about, you know, what, what’s the average cost for and times for repairs and you know, you get an American values and it’s like, okay, well at a minimum times by five Australia and you know, so. It, there’s a lot more bang for buck. And the other thing is we just do not have enough, um, enough people, enough. Uh, we’ve got some really smart people. We need a lot more [00:26:00] people that are as smart as that. And you can’t just get that immediately. Like there has been a lot of good transfer over from related industries. A lot of people that spoke so that, you know, they used to work for thermal power plants and, um, railway, a guy that spoke to a guy had come in from railway. Um. That’s, that’s really good. But it will take some years to get them up to speed. And so in the meantime, we just need to use technology as much as we can to be able to, you know, make the people that good people that we do have, you know, make them go a lot further, um, increase what they can do. ’cause yeah, I don’t think there’s a single, um, asset owner where they couldn’t, you know, double the number of asset managers they had and, you know, ev everyone could use twice as many I think. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. I think something that we really focused on this year is kind of removing the stones that are in people’s path or like helping at least like to, to say like, don’t trip over there. Don’t trip over here. And I think part of that, like, like you mentioned, is that. [00:27:00] The, the collaborative manner that everyone seemed to have and just, I think 50% of our time that we were in those rooms was just people asking questions to experts, to anybody they really wanted to. Um, and it, it just, everybody getting the same answers, which is really just a really different way to, to do things, I think. But more than, I mean, we, we we’re still. We’re still struggling with quality in Australia. That’s still a major issue on, on a lot of the components. So until we have that solved, we don’t really know how much of an influence the other factors they really have because it just overshadows everything. And yes, it will be accelerated by extreme weather conditions, but. What will, how will it work if, if the components are actually fit, uh, fit for purpose in the sense that we don’t have wrinkles in the laminates, that we don’t have, uh, bond lines that are detaching. Mm-hmm. Maybe some of it is because of, uh, mango size hails hitting the blades. Maybe it’s because of extreme temperatures. Maybe it’s [00:28:00] because of, uh, uh, yeah. At extreme topography, you know, creating, uh, wind conditions that the blades are not designed for. We don’t really know that. We don’t really know for sure. Uh, we just assume, um, Australia has some problems with, not problems, but some challenges with remoteness. We don’t, with, uh, with getting new, new spares that much is absolutely true. We can’t do anything about that. We just have to, uh, find a way to, to mitigate that. Mm-hmm. But I think we should really be focused on getting quality, uh, getting the quality in, in order. You know, one thing that’s interesting about that, um, so yeah, Australia should be focused more on quality than anybody else, but in, in, in the industry, yeah. Uh, entire world should be more focused on quality, but also Australia. Yeah. But Australia, probably more than anyone considering how hard it is to, you know, make up for poor quality here. Um. At the same time, Australia for some reason, loves to be the first one with a new technology, loves to have the biggest [00:29:00] turbine. Um, and the, the latest thing and the newest thing, and I thought it was interesting. I mean, this was operations and maintenance, um, conference, so not really talking about new designs and manufacturing too much, but at least three or four people said, uh. Uh, I would be using less carbon fiber in blades. I would not be, not be going bigger and bigger and bigger. If I was buying turbines for a new wind farm, I would have, you know, small glass blades and just more of them. So I think that that was really interesting to hear. So many people say it, and I wasn’t even one of them, even though, you know, I would definitely. Say that. I mean, you know, in terms of business, I guess it’s really good to get a lot of, a lot of big blades, but, um, because they just, people, I don’t think people understand that, that bigger blades just have dramatically more quality problems than the smaller ones. Um, were really kind of exceeded the sweet spot for the current manufacturing methods and materials. I don’t know if you would agree, but it’s, it’s. Possible, but [00:30:00] it’s, it, you know, it’s not like a blade that’s twice as long, doesn’t have twice as many defects. It probably has a hundred times as many defects. It’s just, uh, it’s really, really challenging to make those big blades, high quality, and no one is doing it all that well right now. I would, however, I got an interesting hypothetical and they’re. Congrats to her for, for putting out that out. But there was an operator that said to me at the conference, so what would you choose hypothetically? A 70 meter glass fiber blade or a 50 meter carbon fiber blade, so a blade with carbon fiber reinforcement. And I did have to think quite a while about it because there was, it was she say, longer blades, more problems, but carbon blade. Also a lot of new problems. So, so what is it? So I, I ended up saying, well, glass fiber, I would probably go for a longer glass fiber blade, even though it will have some, some different challenges. It’s easier to repair. Yeah, that’s true. So we can overcome some of the challenges that are, we can also repair carbon. We have done it in air, air, uh, aeronautics for many, many years. But wind is a different beast because we don’t have, uh, [00:31:00] perfect laboratory conditions to repair in. So that would just be a, a really extreme challenge. So that’s, that’s why I, I would have gone for carbon if, for glass fiber, if, if I, if I could in that hypothe hypothetical. Also makes more energy, the 70 meter compared to it’s a win-win situation. Well, it’s great to see all of you. Australia. I thought it was a really good conference. And thanks to all our sponsors, uh, til being the primary sponsor for this conference. Uh, we are starting to ramp up for 2027. Hopefully all of you can attend next year. And, uh, Rosie, it’s good to see you in person. Oh, it’s, uh, it’s, it’s exciting when we are actually on the same continent. Uh, it doesn’t happen very often. And Morton, it’s great to see you too, Yolanda. I see you every day pretty much. So she’s part of our team, so I, it’s great to see you out. This is actually the first time, me and Rosie, we have seen each other. We’ve, we’ve known each other for years. Yeah. Yeah. The first time we actually, uh, been, been, yeah. Within, uh, yeah. [00:32:00] Same room. Yep. And same continent. Yeah. Yeah. So that’s been awesome. And also it’s my first time meeting Yolanda in person too. So yeah, that’s our first time. And same. So thanks so much for everybody that attended, uh, woma 2026. We’ll see you at Woma 2027 and uh, check us out next week for the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast.

More than 20 people are set to appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court today, facing charges of fraud, theft and money‑laundering linked to a R113 million "emergency school repairs" scheme in Mpumalanga. The Hawks, with support from Gauteng, Limpopo and the Western Cape, arrested the suspects in a coordinated operation targeting 40 individuals and companies accused of siphoning funds meant for 21 rural schools. Elvis Presslin spoke to Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Magonseni Nkosi

Today we peel back the polished surface of cruising to examine the massive industrial machine underneath. We explore three stories spanning the lifecycle of cruise ships: Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas facing emergency azipod repairs in Australia that forced a cancelled sailing and stranded thousands of passengers; Fred Olsen's Bolette completing a meticulous 16-day refit at Falmouth shipyard involving 350 workers and 40 apprentices; and China's Adora Magic City reaching the stunning milestone of one million passengers in just two years of service, backed by government policy driving a domestic cruise boom.

If you own a home in North Carolina, your heating and cooling system isn't built to last forever — and around here, the clock usually runs faster than people expect. In this episode, Derek breaks down the real lifespan of HVAC systems across the Sandhills and I-95 corridor, why humidity and installation quality matter so much, and how to know when you're fixing a problem versus pouring money into borrowed time.

One of the biggest questions surrounding Venezuela centers on its now-moribund oil sector, which has suffered from decades of neglect. It's widely understood that a recovery will take time, but there are some concrete steps that could boost production in the short, medium and long term. 

From Route 66 Plans To Leak Dealbreakers: Big-Event Travel Strategy, RV Buying Red Flags, Holding Tank Truths, and A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Manufacturing.Planning a trip around America's 250th anniversary, the Route 66 centennial, or major World Cup events? John DiPietro talks with Woodall's Campground Magazine editor Ben Quiggle about what's coming up, why pricing and availability may get wild, and how to plan smarter by booking early, and looking beyond the most obvious campgrounds.Then, Jim and Rene sit down with master certified mobile RV technician Zeb Hahn, for a clear-eyed breakdown of what goes wrong most often in both new and used rigs. They cover repeat problem areas, what to look – and listen – for during a walk-through, the maintenance that prevents expensive damage, and the dealbreakers that should make any buyer walk away.For The RV Entrepreneur segment, Rose and Glynn welcome Ricky Stewart from Unique Camping + Marine for a surprisingly fun and very useful conversation about holding tanks, and the business behind this leading additive manufacturer. Ricky explains why some popular “old school” advice can backfire, what actually causes smells and sensor issues, and why their number one recommendation is simpler than people think: use more water.Bob Zagami wraps the episode with Willie Miller, General Manager at Forest River Plant 410, sharing what it looks like to expand product lines while protecting quality, how manufacturers think about the customer journey, and why follow-through after the sale matters more than the branding on the front cap.Get Complete Show Notes & Full Transcripthttps://podcast.rvlife.com/rvlife153/Connect & Learn Morehttps://facebook.com/rvlifepodcast/https://instagram.com/rvlifepodcast/https://www.facebook.com/groups/rvlifemovementBe A Guest or  Share Your Story!https://podcast.rvlife.com/contactSpecial Discount Codes: Click Link & Use Code* RV LIFE Pro 25% off at check out

The Transport Agency says work is being done to clear slips which have closed most of State Highway 75 between Christchurch and Akaroa, following flooding in Little River. NZTA'S Regional Manager for Maintenance and Operations for the Central and Lower South island, Peter Brown spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

7.  Guest: Hampton Sides. Cook maps the North American coast, stopping at Nootka Sound for repairs before charting Alaska. Searching for the Northwest Passage, they enter the Bering Sea. There, they encounter the "Ice Blink" and an impenetrable ice wall, disproving theories of an open polar sea and forcing a dangerous retreat.

Texas Street is back open today after city crews made repairs to a stormwater channel and stabilized a nearby embankment. A murder suspect is behind bars after police say he stabbed a man over the weekend, then went home to his apartment and tried to set it on fire. San Diego's City Attorney is warning residents to be on the lookout for fraudsters taking advantage of confusion and fear over immigration law changes.   What You Need To Know To Start Your Monday. 

//The Wire//2300Z February 12, 2026////ROUTINE////BLUF: LARGE-SCALE WASTEWATER DISASTER CONTINUES IN MARYLAND. NETANYAHU ARRIVES IN D.C. FOR TALKS. HIGH-PROFILE STABBING REPORTED AT HIGH SCHOOL IN LONDON.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE----- -International Events-United Kingdom: Social tensions remain high after another high-profile stabbing was reported at a school in London. One assailant (who has not been named due to his age), conducted a stabbing attack at Kingsbury High School in London on Tuesday. Two students were wounded during the attack, and the assailant was detained at the scene.Analyst Comment: Continuing standard practice regarding incidents like this, very few details have been published; it's surprising that the incident has been acknowledged by authorities at all, so we have to take what we can get. Witnesses to the crime state that the attacker was a former student who entered the school to conduct an attack due to a personal grievance with another student.-HomeFront-Maryland/NOVA: Fallout continues from a local sewage spill that took place in Montgomery County last month, which started as a minor infrastructure problem, but has rapidly become a major environmental disaster as the true scale has become known. On January 19th, one of the pipes that comprise the Potomac Interceptor wastewater system ruptured, causing a major leak. As of this morning, this spill officially became the largest wastewater spill in American history, with an estimated 250 million-1 billion gallons of raw sewage flowing directly into the Potomac River.Analyst Comment: Almost three weeks after the leak began, it is still flowing due to the large-scale nature of how to handle wastewater when a 72 inch pipe is taken offline. Emergency pumps have been functioning since January 24th, and additional pumping stations are being set up to re-reroute waste. However, overflows still occur due to weather events and other factors which mean that the leak is only mostly-contained, and not fully contained. Monitoring for E. Coli continues around the clock, and the levels of bacteria throughout the entire river are a few thousand times the standard levels. Repairs to completely stop the leak are expected to be in place within six weeks.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: Also in Washington, yesterday Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived for his seventh State visit of President Trump's term. So far the only thing of note to come from the talks is the potential deployment of a second Carrier Strike Group (CSG) to the Middle East, to support strikes in Iran. The decision on this has not been released to the public yet, but timeline-wise if a second aircraft carrier is assessed to be needed for this campaign, it would take at least a couple of weeks to arrive in theater. Concerning airstrikes, any bombing campaign is unlikely to take place until Netanyahu returns home to coordinate the strikes from their home turf. This evening, the talks with President Trump concluded, and Netanyahu is currently flying back to Israel.Analyst: S2A1Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2undergroundDisclaimer: No LLMs were used in the writing of this report.//END REPORT//

NJ Transit riders being encouraged to work from home starting Sunday - when repairs that will last months begin... Brooklyn Diocese trying to settle 1,100 sex abuse cases... Forget flowers - try singing to your love this Valentine's Day full 429 Fri, 13 Feb 2026 10:46:31 +0000 yAYe79fmbm1fUdvHOmCVILTZiIv7TbBD news 1010 WINS ALL LOCAL news NJ Transit riders being encouraged to work from home starting Sunday - when repairs that will last months begin... Brooklyn Diocese trying to settle 1,100 sex abuse cases... Forget flowers - try singing to your love this Valentine's Day The podcast is hyper-focused on local news, issues and events in the New York City area. This podcast's purpose is to give New Yorkers New York news about their neighborhoods and shine a light on the issues happening in their backyard. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

WBZ NewsRadio’s Chaiel Schaffel reports.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scripture reminds us that wisdom often begins with counting the cost. As the average age of a first-time homebuyer approaches 40, many people are asking an important and sincere question: Is now the right time to buy a home—or should we continue renting?That question usually reflects a desire to make a wise, lasting decision—one that supports long-term stability rather than undermining it. Before comparing monthly payments or imagining life in a new space, it's worth taking a clear-eyed look at what it truly costs to move from renting into homeownership.The Upfront Costs Many First-Time Buyers MissOne of the biggest surprises for first-time buyers is the sheer cost of getting into a home. The pre-approval and closing process involves numerous expenses, including appraisals, inspections, credit reports, earnest money, title searches, loan origination fees, and closing costs. Taken together, these can add up to thousands of dollars before move-in day ever arrives.For renters transitioning to homeownership, these costs are typically paid out of pocket. That's one reason many advisors encourage having close to 20% of the purchase price available—not only for a down payment, but to create margin for the entire process. This isn't about delaying dreams unnecessarily; it's about ensuring homeownership doesn't begin with financial strain.Many renters feel a growing weariness with paying rent month after month, especially compared with building equity. That desire for something tangible and lasting is understandable—but it's important to remember that rent is not wasted money.Rent pays for shelter, safety, maintenance, and predictability. It meets a real and ongoing need and, in that sense, pays for a valuable service. During certain seasons of life, that flexibility and stability can be a wise and intentional choice.Understanding What a Mortgage Really IncludesIt's also helpful to understand how a mortgage payment actually works. A typical payment includes principal, interest, property taxes, homeowner's insurance, and often private mortgage insurance if you own less than 20% of the home's value. In some cases, HOA fees are also added.In the early years of a traditional 30-year mortgage, a significant portion of each payment goes toward interest rather than reducing the loan balance. Thirty-year mortgages can still be wise—they keep payments manageable and allow flexibility if you want to make extra principal payments—but they are designed to be long-term loans. Early equity growth often comes more from market appreciation than from paying down the balance.Rising home prices can create fear about waiting too long, pushing buyers to act before they're ready. While market trends are worth paying attention to, they shouldn't be the deciding factor. A home should fit your current season of life and support your responsibilities and priorities—not stretch your finances or limit your ability to live and give faithfully.It also helps to release the pressure of finding a “forever home.” On average, first-time buyers stay in their homes seven to ten years. Career changes, growing families, and life transitions often make moving a natural part of the journey. The first home simply needs to perform well in the current season.Rising Costs Don't Disappear with OwnershipRising rents are another common frustration, especially when lease renewals result in higher monthly costs. But owning a home doesn't eliminate rising expenses. While a fixed-rate mortgage keeps principal and interest steady, property taxes and homeowner's insurance typically increase over time. Even after a mortgage is paid off, those costs remain.Maintenance is another reality worth considering. Once you own a home, repairs are your responsibility—roofs, plumbing, electrical systems, and heating or cooling issues can bring unexpected expenses. While insurance offers protection, deductibles and coverage limits often mean high out-of-pocket costs, and filing claims may lead to higher premiums later.Renting, by contrast, offers predictability. Repairs are the landlord's responsibility, which can provide stability during periods of debt reduction or saving. The phrase house poor exists for a reason. Buying before you're ready can strain budgets, limit generosity, and leave you feeling trapped rather than thankful.While homeownership can be a blessing, it's not a measure of faithfulness—and it isn't right for every situation. Sometimes, the wisest choice is to continue renting, patiently preparing for what comes next, and trusting that God's timing is often kinder than our urgency.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I'd like to understand what an irrevocable trust is and how it works.I have $30,000 I'd like to invest outside of real estate. I won't need the money for about 10 years. Where would you recommend investing it?I took out high-interest loans to pay for my wife's dental work, but my hours have since been cut, and I've drained my savings. Is there a way to consolidate this into one lower-interest loan so my payments actually reduce the balance?About 25 years ago, I filed for bankruptcy for around $3,500 when I was struggling financially. I'm in a better place now and receive my ex-husband's Social Security. Is there any way—or reason—to repay that old debt?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's Quarterly Magazine (Become a FaithFi Partner)List of Faith-Based Investment FundsChristian Community Credit Union (CCCU) | AdelFiSoFi | Marcus | LightStream | Bankrate | NerdWalletCharles Schwab Intelligent Portfolios | FidelityOur Ultimate Treasure: A 21-Day Journey to Faithful StewardshipWisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on MoneyLook At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions every workday at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. You can also visit FaithFi.com to connect with our online community and partner with us as we help more people live as faithful stewards of God's resources. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Joburg water crisis: Committee urges national disaster declaration and urgent leak repairs by Radio Islam

Three weeks after severe weather caused slips on State Highway 2 through Waioweka Gorge, residents finally have a way out. Transport Minister Chris Bishop spoke to Corin Dann.

Repairs, Runways, and Real Life:  Adam shares the aftermath of a major ice storm that damaged his farm and forced a creative plumbing winterization solution, while Peter recounts his trip to Berlin for Fashion Week and the realities behind the modeling industry. The hosts also discuss vintage truck restoration decisions, water system maintenance, travel packing habits, battery longevity strategies, and emerging wellness trends. Adam Bell and Peter Nikolaidis The Blurring The Lines Podcast Links: Culligan WH-HD200-C Whole House Water Filter System 1” Inlet/Outlet – Improve Tap Water Taste, Remove Sediment, Protect Appliances : https://amzn.to/4koSWuK Youtube:  https://youtu.be/Wl14KpwL9r0   Learn More About the Hosts: PeterNikolaidis.com https://YogaWithPeter.com  https://friendswithbrews.com  Adam Bell Roaming Roan Lavender Farm https://rrlavenderfarm.com     

Three(!) back to back conversations with first time buyers, looking to purchase and remotely manage their holiday homes in Japan - what would the numbers look like, and what are the risks?

Repairs at Wellington's Moa Point treatment plant could take months, as raw sewage flows into the region's southern coastline. An equipment failure caused the outfall pipe to become backed up with water - with last night's heavy rain flooding the building's lower floors. Wellington Water says electrical equipment's submerged and some areas are inaccessible. Chief executive Pat Dougherty says it's likely something bigger is wrong with the outflow pipe, but investigations are still ongoing. "The real problem is the damage the water has done, it's huge amounts of wastewater poured through the plant. We've got control panels underwater, we've got electrical equipment underwater...and we've got no power." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Browse our curated weekly deals: https://rh-go.link/DILLS

We speak with two first time buyers, in the market for cheap, vacant homes in Japan - what are the most important things they should be aware and cautious of during the purchase process?

Woodland School District has been awarded a $600,000 Urgent Repair Grant to fund critical infrastructure projects, including fire alarm system upgrades at Woodland Middle School and roof replacement work at Columbia Elementary, following a previously unsuccessful application and renewed efforts by district leadership. https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/news/woodland-school-district-secures-600000-grant-for-essential-repairs/ #Woodland #Education #SchoolSafety #PublicSchools #Washington

Mortgage rates have dropped recently, which is great news for rookies looking to buy a rental property. But is NOW the right time for a cash-out refinance?   On one hand, tapping into the equity you've built up in your property could help you take down bigger and better investing opportunities, but on the other hand, a completely paid-off property might help you sleep better at night. We're weighing all of your options in today's episode!   Welcome to another Rookie Reply! Ashley and Tony are diving back into the BiggerPockets Forums, and today's first question comes from an investor who's working through a significant rental property repair. The tenant is making special requests, but should the landlord accommodate them? Next, we hear from someone who's considering a cash-out refinance for one of their properties. Is it worth deploying their money elsewhere, or is paid-off real estate the faster path to financial freedom? Finally, does commercial real estate offer better cash flow than single-family homes? The answer is a little more nuanced than you might think!   Looking to invest? Need answers? Ask your question here! In This Episode We Cover When to do a cash-out refinance with your investment property Paying off properties versus “recycling” home equity to scale faster How to accommodate tenants while making rental property repairs The pros and cons of commercial and residential real estate investing The best ways to find cash-flowing commercial real estate deals And So Much More! Check out more resources from this show on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BiggerPockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.biggerpockets.com/blog/rookie-673 Interested in learning more about today's sponsors or becoming a BiggerPockets partner yourself? Email ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠advertise@biggerpockets.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A class of high-schoolers in Virginia fix up old cars and give them to single moms in need. They've done it for eight years and donate around five cars per year. STORY: https://www.wdjx.com/high-school-students-fix-up-cars-for-single-moms-in-need/

Today, because of the recent ice and snowstorm, Bob needs to make repairs to his church building and studio. Ice damage has affected one of the primary internet connections, and the heating system is not working. Bob asked Jim Calhoun to fill in for today's broadcast so they could get that work done.Now, do you believe in this ministry? If you do, you can keep us on the air as a radio program and podcast by visiting our website. It is vastly more urgent than ever that you do. ⁠https://truth2ponder.com/support-us⁠. You can also mail a check payable to Ancient Word Radio, P.O. Box 510, Chilhowie, VA 24319. Thank you in advance for your faithfulness to this ministry.

More than 40 slips in the Waioeka Gorge have seen some residents still isolated after the recent heavy flooding. Transport Minister Chris Bishop spoke to Corin Dann.

On today's Flyover Conservatives Show, we sat down to examine a newly published study exploring how near-infrared light therapy may support brain resilience during repeated head impacts. Researchers followed athletes across a full season and found that those using transcranial photobiomodulation showed more stable brain imaging markers tied to inflammation and structural stress compared to the control group. This conversation explores what the findings could mean not only for brain health, but also for recovery, aging, and how light-based therapies may support the body's natural repair systems.TO WATCH ALL FLYOVER CONTENT: www.theflyoverapp.com Follow and Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheFlyoverConservativesShow To Schedule A Time To Talk To Dr. Dr. Kirk Elliott Go To ▶ https://flyovergold.comOr Call 720-605-3900 ► Receive your FREE 52 Date Night Ideas Playbook to make date night more exciting, go to www.prosperousmarriage.comJonathan OttoWEBSITE: www.myredlight.comUse Promo Code: FLYOVERFor 30% off the 30% coupons: promo code Flyover30Jonathan Otto is a filmmaker, journalist, and health advocate dedicated to exploring natural health solutions and challenging mainstream narratives. Co-founding My Red Light, he aims to empower people by revealing lesser-known truths about wellness and alternative medicine. His work brings together insights from doctors and wellness experts worldwide, equipping audiences with knowledge for informed health choices. Through documentaries and series, Jonathan combines storytelling with a mission to inspire faith, integrity, and proactive health practices. His commitment to holistic wellness continues to impact lives and foster a community centered on empowerment and self-care.-------------------------------------------

BIG SUR REOPENS AND COPPER THEFT PLAGUES CALIFORNIA Colleague Jeff Bliss. Highway 1 in Big Sur has reopened after landslide repairs featuring new concrete canopies to protect the road. Bliss also details how copper thieves have crippled infrastructure in Sacramento and Los Angeles, contributing to broader political dissatisfaction with Governor Gavin Newsom regarding crime and the state's management. NUMBER 21900 CALIFORNIA ALLIGATOR TERM, LA

Al & Jerry: Al did manly repairs around the house because he's very manly To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Al & Jerry: Al did manly repairs around the house because he's very manly--plus warm up To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices