Podcast appearances and mentions of sam joseph

The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat and run out of the service. Traded back in a spy swap, Sam appears at Procter's central Florida doorstep months later with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole hidden deep within the upper reaches of CIA. As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter's closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt soon requires Procter to dredge up her own checkered past in service of CIA, placing her and Sam into the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow's mole in Langley at all costs, even if it means wreaking bloody havoc across the United States. More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova Maddy Banks is just like any other stressed-out student at NYU. Between exams, navigating life in the city, and a recent breakup, it's normal to feel overwhelmed. It doesn't help that she's always been the odd one out in her picture-perfect Connecticut family. But Maddy's latest low is devastatingly low, and she goes on antidepressants. She begins to feel good, dazzling in fact, and she soon spirals into a wild and terrifying mania that culminates in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. As she struggles to find her way in this new reality, navigating the complex effects bipolar has on her identity, her relationships, and her life dreams, Maddy will have to figure out how to manage being both too much and not enough. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AL QAEDA HAS NOW CAPTURED DAMASCUS:  1/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1860 DAMASCUS

AL QAEDA HAS NOW CAPTURED DAMASCUS:  2/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1870 DAMASCUS

AL QAEDA HAS NOW CAPTURED DAMASCUS:  3/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1900 DAMASCUS

AL QAEDA HAS NOW CAPTURED DAMASCUS:  4/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1870 DAMASCUS

DANASCUS BACK IN THE GREAT GAME:  2/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. .1914 Syria

DANASCUS BACK IN THE GREAT GAME:  4/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1870 .

DANASCUS BACK IN THE GREAT GAME:  3/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1898 .

DANASCUS BACK IN THE GREAT GAME:  1/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1880 .

This episode is a relaxing journey to discover your inner self, with backing music composed and played by Sam Joseph. This track originally accompanied Ursula's book 'The Source - A Manual of Everyday Magic'. Please do not listen to this when doing anything else – especially driving. This is very important.   For more information about hypnotherapy, Ursula's hypnosis mp3s and books go to: www.ursulajames.co.uk   You can find all the details of the online Clinical Hypnosis training and how to sign up here. For a special pre-launch 50% discount use the coupon HYPNOSOS50 at checkout.   For an introduction to hypnosis the FREE 'Learn Self-Hypnosis' audio course will teach you some basic skills and how to use hypnosis to improve your life.   If you want to learn about Clinical Hypnosis, the Clinical Hypnosis Textbook by Ursula provides a comprehensive guide for studying the subject.   #hypnosis #hypnotherapy #anxiety #stress #mentalhealth #calm #relaxation #selfhelp #anxietyrelief #stressrelief #meditation #selfcare #relax #positivity #wellbeing #clearmind #deeprelaxation #healthymind #hypnotherapytraining #clinicalhypnosis

Six CIA officers. Dear friends and cherished enemies. For a quarter century they have stolen other people's secrets. Now they must steal each other's.A Russian arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, operational chief Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat for the disaster and run out of the service. Months later, Sam appears at Procter's doorstep with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole burrowed deep within the highest ranks of the CIA.As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter's closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt requires Procter to dredge up her checkered past in the service of the CIA, placing the pair in the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow's mole in Langley at all costs. What happens when friendships forged by sweat and blood—from the Farm to Afghanistan and the executive “Seventh Floor” of CIA's Langley headquarters—are put to the ultimate test? What can we truly know about the people we love the most?Taking readers from Langley to Moscow to Paris and beyond, The Seventh Floor explores the nature of friendship in a faithless business, and what it means to love a place that does not love you back.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/houseofmysteryradio. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/houseofmysteryradio. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

by Sam Joseph

Chapter 1 – Companionship for Life on the Streets   (02:58) John asks Jade to introduce herself and her background as a vet and how she came to setup Streetvet. Jade shares her story of experiencing homelessness in London with a man called Dave and his dog brick, and using her past research on homelessness and dog owners coupled with her own experience in mental health challenges and how having a dog helped her, to drive her to want to help these dogs and their owners. She shares how she started going round with someone who who cut hair for homeless people, and used this as a launching pad for doing the same as a vet seeing the dogs of homeless people.   (10:05) Sue talks about the data showing the importance of companionship for homeless people with their pets, and Jade shares how there are papers and research showing that lots of factors from loyalty through to body heat show that they are vital, and her own experience maps onto that.   Chapter 2 – Building StreetVet: A Backpack and a Big Heart   (13:37) John asks Jade about how Streetvet started and what id does, and jade share how she and co-founder Sam Joseph set it up going out just the two of them, and calling themselves Streetvet – but they realised the size of the task and in 2019 set it up as a registered charity ad looked to grow it. She talks about how it picked up traction in the media through both the need for it – but also how the professional of vets needed it – with Vets and Nurses remaining in the profession providing this service reconnected them with their work. This was a completely unexpected thing for Jade.   (17:30) John asks how the service works and Jade shares that they go out with a backpack and do all the things they would in a consultation – so taking blood samples and urine samples etc. They look to empower the owner on feeling involved by doing this on the street – before then if they need to go into a practice and Streetvet have a network of practices that help provide inpatient services. Streetvet also started an accredited hostel scheme as less than 10% of hostels in the UK accept pets, to prevent owners from having to hose to remain on the street if they have one. She also mentions they offer boarding for times where the owner need to go into hospital for healthcare themselves and can't take their pet with them.   (21:10) Sue asks about the management of chronic, long term illnesses in the Streetvet work, Jade shares that they have set times and set locations rather than approaching the owners on the street – so the owners come to them in those times. But this allows them to come back again, and jade has been surprised that they have been able to treat long term diseases like cushings and diabetes, in cases where the client is committed to the process – as they do keep coming back.   Chapter 5 – Tackling Skin Woes: Managing Dermatology in the StreetVet World   (27:00) John asks about specifically the management of skin disease in the Streetvet environment and Jade shares that they do treat these, but the challenges are very real. They have even had cases of clients performing a diet trial and long term management of skin disease. The challenges in the life of these people can make it very difficult for the owners to have consistency, but the clients are very good at coming for regular flea treatment and prophylactic skin care, in some way because of the social benefits to coming and sharing in the the streetvet community and this makes managing these cases easier than one may think.  Jade discussed the types of medications they have food they can help with, topical treatment and some antibiotics to help with these cases as well as steroids if needed. Then they do have access to other medications if needed which they wont carry in the backpack.   (32:35) Sue asks how this is funded and Jade again emphasises how great and supportive the veterinary profession has been – with companies supporting with pro bono products and vets and nurses fundraising.   (34:19) Sue asks about the size of Streetvet and Jade says they are on 24 locations in total, and over 400 volunteer vets and nurses. And Sue asks how people can be involved – Jade mentions the website where you can get involved in volunteering, whether a vet, vet nurse or someone wanting to help in some other way – or fundraising as well. Or follow on Facebook and Instagram. www.streetvet.org.uk https://www.facebook.com/streetvet https://www.instagram.com/streetvetuk_/   (37:02) – John, Sue and Paul wrap up the podcast.

by Sam Joseph

In this week's episode we are talking to the incredible Jade Statt. Many of you will know Jade through her connection with StreetVet, an award-winning national charity offering free accessible vet care and services to pets belonging to those experiencing homelessness. A chance meeting with a homeless gentleman and his dog inspired co-founder Jade to take vet care out onto the streets to the people and pets that need it most. What started in 2016 as 2 vets, Jade Statt and co-founder Sam Joseph and a backpack full of veterinary supplies, is now a charity fuelled by over 500 vet and vet nurse volunteers who swap the practice for the pavement in 23 locations across the UK from Glasgow to Cornwall and growing. StreetVet recognises and champions the importance of the human-animal bond and since inception has treated over 2,500 pets. In this very special conversation, we chat to Jade about many of the amazing people she has met along the way. It all started with a dog called Brick and I am confident Okley will be looking down with pride.   For more information, please visit streetvet.org.uk   StreetVet is on Instagram (@streetvetuk_), Twitter (@streetvetuk), Facebook (@streetvet) and LinkedIn (@streetvet)   In our clinical segment, Scott starts a series of conversations about the management of acute diarrhoea in dogs and cats. Are you confident stepping away from the antibiotics?   www.vtx-cpd.com

by Sam Joseph

by Sam Joseph

TERRORISM GOES TO WAR WITH ISRAEL: #Syria: 1/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1910 DAMASCUS

TERRORISM GOES TO WAR WITH ISRAEL: #Syria: 2/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. 1910 DAMASCUS

TERRORISM GOES TO WAR WITH ISRAEL: #Syria: 3/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the plane 1910 DAMASCUS

TERRORISM GOES TO WAR WITH ISRAEL: #Syria: 4/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the plane 1910 DAMASCUS

COLD WAR PREVIEW: 1/4: Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet 1867 LEBANON

COLD WAR PREVIEW: 4/4: Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet 1920 AFGHANISTAN

COLD WAR PREVIEW: 2/4: Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet 1900 JERUSALEM

COLD WAR PREVIEW: 3/4: Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet 1931 SOMALIA

Photo: Ciro 1892. No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow THE FORGOTTEN 20-YEAR WAR: #Syria: 4/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: BAGHDAD 1961. No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow THE FORGOTTEN 20-YEAR WAR: #Syria: 3/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: BAGHDAD 1919. No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow THE FORGOTTEN 20-YEAR WAR: #Syria: 1/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: BAGHDAD 1950. No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow THE FORGOTTEN 20-YEAR WAR: #Syria: 2/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

25 Jun 2023 Message | YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE FAITH by Sam Joseph

In this episode of the ASIAL Security Insider Podcast, we are talking about How Artificial Intelligence Can Generate Actionable Insights from Access Control Data.As most listeners will be aware, access control systems generate and store an overwhelming amount of data. Most of this data is never accessed or used by security teams for any particular purpose or benefit. However, opportunities abound for making sense of the data. With artificial intelligence (AI), security teams can uncover potential insider threats, change employee behaviour, identify faulty hardware and more. Our guests today are a mix of physical security end-users who leverage AI insights and emerging technologies to enhance security. We have with us Sam Joseph co-founder and CEO of Hakimo, a venture-backed Silicon Valley company that builds a force multiplier AI solution for physical security teams. James Kendall, Director of Enterprise Engineering at SwiftConnect Samer Elayyan, the Manager of Global Security Applications at Netflix. Dustin Rabbach - Senior Manager, Security Operations, at Ricoh USA, an information management and digital services company.

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow Damascus  1898 #Syria: #Assad: 2/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow Damascus 1898 #Syria: #Assad: 4/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow Damascus  1898 #Syria: #Assad: 1/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow  Damascus 1898 #Syria: #Assad: 3/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey. . CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

05 March 2023 Message | SIGNS OF GOD by Sam Joseph

Former CIA analyst, David McCloskey, joins Simon and Matt to talk about his stunning spy novel, Damascus Station. It's already one of Matt's books of the year - and has received great praise from across the spectrum. David talks about his time in the CIA, tells us how much he had to take out of the first draft and why authenticity is so important. Here comes the science bit...A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in Damascus to hunt for a killer.CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy.But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard.Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. Damascus 1885 @Batchelorshow 3/4: Top Secrets again in the wind. 3/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. Damascus 1912 @Batchelorshow 4/4: Top Secrets again in the wind. 4/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. Damascus 1880 @Batchelorshow 2/4: Top Secrets again in the wind. 2/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. Damascus 1870 @Batchelorshow 1/4: Top Secrets again in the wind. 1/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

HMS Code/Clash 2022: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScBYjNj9rYQzt-K7NQTHXSwR0BaIhxdZ5rh5Ko65VRtzJOHLA/alreadyresponded?hr_submission=ChgI4L_Vyy4SEAjU5ImqwhASBwignMu07Q8QAQ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tsarp/message

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Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow: 4/4: Spy vs Spy: 4/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow: 3/4: Spy vs Spy: 3/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow: 2/4: Spy vs Spy: 2/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

Photo: No known restrictions on publication. @Batchelorshow:  1/4: Spy vs Spy: 1/4:  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet

Hello friends!Hey sport science geeks, Ever considered a career in Health Tech? VALD Performance are the leading provider of human measurement technology and work with clubs in the EPL, NBA, and NHL just to name a few.Sam Joseph is one of their Sport Scientists who consults the High Performance staff of these elite teams on how to use VALD's tech with their athletes. You could say, Sam's job is to help athletes in the EPL, NBA, and NHL all be better!! Pretty cool.If you want to learn exactly what Sam does in his job and the pathway he took to get there, tune in.We cover:How Sam landed his first internship at the Queensland Reds as an S&C coachThe steps Sam took from his under-grad, post-grad, to full-time job at VALDWhat a typical day in the life of a Sport Scientist looks like at VALD PerformanceThe essential skills and experiences Sam needs to do his jobAdvice from mentors along the journeyHow to ask your manager for more opportunities to gain broader experienceWhy the sports industry is the logical choice for Sam and how he found career directionAdvice for those who have repeatedly been rejected in the interview process*If you want to learn more about us, feel free to connect with us on LinkedIn: Reuben, RyanOr if you'd like to ask us any questions, join the SportsGrad Community! It's THE place to be if you want to get your foot in the door, hire people quickly & easily, or learn from the best in the world.You can also find us on insta @sportsgradAnd if you're interested in more podcasts related to a certain topic (e.g. Events, High Performance etc.) check out our best picks here: www.sportsgrad.com.au/podcast*This episode is brought to you by Deakin University, the Official Education Partner of The SportsGrad Podcast.Find out why their Master of Business in Sport Management is not one of, but the best one in Australia, ranked at #1 at www.deakin.edu.au*If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes here? It takes less than 60 seconds, and really makes a difference in helping to land guests.Thanks for listening! You're all legends. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

24 July 2022 Message | TREASURE IN FRAGILE JARS OF CLAY by Sam Joseph

We chat with Sam about the Gables Family Literacy Festival. Join us in celebrating literacy on Saturday, May 28 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center 405 University Drive Featuring: Outdoor Scholastic Book Fair for ages K-8 Author book signing Rides and activities Crafts and storytime Literacy vendors Food vendors Photobooth Petting zoo Live music Embark on a literacy journey and join us under the Youth Center tree canopy for a daylong celebration and book fair. In an effort to promote summer reading and the literary arts the festival will provide a unique experience for all ages and abilities and include a street fair with literacy exhibitors and vendors, a Scholastic book fair for ages K-8, children's activities, book donation, and exchange areas, author readings and book signings, food vendors, live music and much more. ♥️ Jenny Link to our socials: https://linktr.ee/miamilit #miamilitpodcast #literacyfestival Gables family festival. Miami lifestyle. Miami culture. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/miami-lit-podcast/support

Photo:   Plaque on the western wall of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. The text is from the 36th and 37th verses of the surah of the Light (النور):"36. (It is) in houses which Allah has permitted to be exalted and His name to be remembered therein. Therein do glorify Him, in the mornings and the evenings, 37. Men whom neither merchandise nor selling diverts — from the remembrance of Allah and the keeping up — of prayer and the paying of the poor-rate. [...]" 1/4   Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  Hardcover – October 5, 2021 #UNBOUND. The complete, forty-minute interview. December 2021. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." —The Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr. The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo:   At the presidential inauguration of Hashim al-Atassi in Parliament on December 31, 1936. 2/4  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  Hardcover – October 5, 2021  #UNBOUND. The complete, forty-minute interview. December 2021. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." —The Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr. The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. .

Photo:  Post card of a group of Alawite musicians from North-Western Syria, (1920's) 3/4  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  Hardcover – October 5, 2021  #UNBOUND. The complete, forty-minute interview. December 2021. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." —The Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr. The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: Greater Syria. Baalbec 4/4  Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  Hardcover – October 5, 2021  #UNBOUND. The complete, forty-minute interview. December 2021. https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." —The Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr. The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

The Crew welcomes the author of one of the buzziest debuts of the year as David McCloskey join us to talk about his scintillating novel DAMASCUS STATION. A finalist for the 2022 ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel, DAMASCUS STATION drips with authenticity thanks to the authors rich experience in the shadowy world of intelligence.   "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." —General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy.  But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Stationis a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet. A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print."  (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr).  David McCloskey is a former CIA analyst and former consultant at McKinsey & Company. While at the CIA, he worked in field stations across the Middle East and briefed senior White House officials and Arab royalty. He lives in Texas.     Don't forget to subscribe to The Crew Reviews, hit the "LIKE" button, and leave a comment. And if you want to learn more about the guys from The Crew or see additional author interviews, visit us at http://www.thecrewreviews.com Follow us on social media Twitter | https://twitter.com/CREWbookreviews   Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/thecrewreviews Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/thecrewreviews/

6 March 2022 Message | WHO IS JESUS? by Sam Joseph

Photo:  Interior of an ancient harem. CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor CBS Audio Network @Batchelorshow David McCloskey. #UNBOUND. The complete, forty-minute interview. December 2021. Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey.  Hardcover – October 5, 2021 https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2T10VHP3CVOPA&keywords=Damascus+Station&qid=1642295489&s=books&sprefix=damascus+station%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.   ..

Photo:  Homs, 1940. Torchlight procession at night by the Foreign Legion (negative by D. Parer) 3/4  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey.  – Hardcover October 5, 2021  "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo:    The Ahiram sarcophagus (also spelled Ahirom,

Photo:   Pauline Cushman was an American actress and a spy for the Union Army during the American Civil War. She is considered one of the most successful Civil War spies. 1/4  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey.  – Hardcover October 5, 2021 "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo:  Hulu Pasha al-Abed (1824-1895), a statesman from Damascus, held several high positions during the Ottoman era, including the presidency of the Syrian province and the presidency of the Damascus Chamber of Agriculture in 1890.  Hulu Al-Abed was born in the Al-Midan neighborhood outside the walls of the old city of Damascus. His father, Omar Agha Al-Abed, was one of the notables. He reached a great position in Istanbul for his contribution to the protection of thousands of Christian Damascene families during the strife of 1860.  Before those events, the Al-Abed family was working in the livestock trade, but it turned from then on to one of the most famous and oldest political families in the city. Hulu Al-Abed participated in protecting Christians with his father and with Prince Abdul Qadir Al-Jazaery. In appreciation of his humanitarian role, the Russian Consul in Damascus awarded him the Order of St. Stanislas. 2/4  Damascus Station: A Novel, by  David McCloskey.  – Hardcover October 5, 2021  "Damascus Station is the best spy novel I have ever read." ―General David Petraeus, former director of the CIA A CIA officer and his recruit arrive in war-ravaged Damascus to hunt for a killer in this page-turner that offers the "most authentic depiction of modern-day tradecraft in print." (Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr). CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit Syrian Palace official Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat and mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

On today's show, I'm joined by Dr. Jade Statt, cofounder of Street Vet a charity caring for the pets of homeless people. Jade graduated from Glasgow University Vet School with honors in 2002 and initially worked as an assistant in a small animal practice where her innate desire to help others spurred her on to compile and write The Pocket Book of Small Animal Tips For Vets. A book she donated to raise funds for vet mental health and wellbeing charity, Vetlife. Her own struggles with depression led to her serving on the board of VetLife for three years, before finding her true calling one evening on the way back from a night out in London in 2016. Stopping to speak with a homeless man, Jade came to realize the importance of pets to homeless people. But it was also apparent that the vet care and support we might take for granted was non-existent for those living on the street with pets. An idea was born and soon after she took to the streets of London with a backpack stuffed with medicines, food, toys, collars, and leads, and the desire to help. Not long after she met her co-founder Sam Joseph who by happy coincidence was doing something similar and Street Vet was born. Since then, Street Vet has grown rapidly with teams active in 17 locations and a volunteer army of more than 700 dedicated vets, nurses, and support roles nationally in the UK. Jade, in her role as founder and ambassador for the charity, is a tireless advocate taking on many of the other issues that result in increased homelessness such as the lack of available pet-friendly temporary accommodation and has successfully launched a service of accreditation and training for hostels who wish to change. In 2019, her incredible work was duly recognized as she was announced as the Animal Star Awards Vet of The Year. Now, oftentimes we'll have an advert here…. But today our only ask is that you take a second to visit www.streetvet.org.uk and see what you can do to help. If you are a vet or nurse in the UK then you can volunteer your time. If you are a practice owner you might like to work as a partner practice for operations. And wherever you are, if you can find your way to donate ten bucks to support Street Vet then you'd be putting some spare cash to good use. For all opportunities head to www.streetvet.org.uk and get involved. You won't just be helping others though, because the act of support is great for your own mental wellbeing too. Now back to the show... Jade is incredibly passionate about veterinary mental health and the benefits of volunteering. And her work is a testament to the power of purpose and collaboration. The tireless dedication that both she and her army of volunteers put into protecting the bond between humans and animals in the most vulnerable of people is incredibly inspiring. A timely reminder when many things seem hopeless that the power of caring for others really is a gift that gives in both directions. So now, without further ado, I present this, my conversation with the pretty darn awesome, Dr. Jade Statt.

Photo:  Syrian ten-pound note, 1947 4/4   Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. Hardcover – October 5, 2021.   https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo:  Syrian Demonstration against French Mandate 2/4 Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. Hardcover – October 5, 2021.  https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo: 1/4 Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. Hardcover – October 5, 2021.  https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Photo:   Constitution of the Syrian Republic, 14 May 1930 3/4 Damascus Station: A Novel, by David McCloskey. Hardcover – October 5, 2021.   https://www.amazon.com/Damascus-Station-Novel-David-McCloskey/dp/0393881040 The CIA case officer Sam Joseph is dispatched to Paris to recruit a Syrian Palace official, Mariam Haddad. The two fall into a forbidden relationship, which supercharges Haddad's recruitment and creates unspeakable danger when they enter Damascus to find the man responsible for the disappearance of an American spy. But the cat-and-mouse chase for the killer soon leads to a trail of high-profile assassinations and the discovery of a dark secret at the heart of the Syrian regime, bringing the pair under the all-seeing eyes of Assad's spy catcher, Ali Hassan, and his brother Rustum, the head of the feared Republican Guard. Set against the backdrop of a Syria pulsing with fear and rebellion, Damascus Station is a gripping thriller that offers a textured portrayal of espionage, love, loyalty, and betrayal in one of the most difficult CIA assignments on the planet.

Syria isn’t the only thing aflame in Damascus Station, David McCloskey’s debut thriller set against the ongoing conflict: McCloskey’s protagonist, CIA officer Sam Joseph, has fallen for a source, strictly forbidden, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Only, when it comes to the CIA “F-ups happen to good officers. Deception does not. You... Read more »

This episode is a relaxing journey to discover your inner self, with backing music composed and played by Sam Joseph. This track originally accompanied Ursula's book 'The Source - A Manual of Everyday Magic'. Please do not listen to this when doing anything else – especially driving. This is very important.   If you find these sessions beneficial please leave a rating and review! And please share them with anyone you feel may find them useful.   If you are interested in training as a hypnotherapist you can find details at www.ursulajames.co.uk/training   For more information about hypnotherapy, hypnosis mp3s or to book a hypnotherapy session go to: www.ursulajames.co.uk   Ursula's book 'The Source - A Manual of Everyday Magic' is available from her website.   Facebook: @professorursulajames Instagram: @professorursulajames Twitter: @ursulajames YouTube channel: Professor Ursula James Hypnotherapy   #hypnosis #hypnotherapy #anxiety #stress #mentalhealth #calm #relaxation #selfhelp #anxietyrelief #stressrelief #meditation

This episode focuses on strength & conditioning at the high school level. (high schools in Australia are often called "colleges"). Some topics covered were... Misconceptions high schoolers have with strength and conditioning such as not having a plan when going into workout, focusing only on gaining muscle, not knowing what each exercise does. Talking about the actual goals of S&C. Sam goes over a general week of what S&C looks like at his high school. Training around injury. And more! Recommend this to all high school level and younger athletes or coaches working with this age group! Where to contact Sam: Twitter: @SamJosephSC Instagram: @SamJoseph94 Email: samjoseph@live.com.au LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samjoseph2/

At the age of 14 and the oldest of five brothers, Sam Alley moved from the small town of Ramallah, near Jerusalem to another small town of Rose City, Arkansas with his family. Inspired by mentors, he found a passion for engineering and directed his schooling towards a degree in civil engineering when he was in high school. While still in college at the University of Arkansas, Sam began working in the construction industry. After graduation, he was hired as a project manager in 1979 at Pickens Bond Construction Company. Over the next few years, Sam gained experience in the field and it became his passion. He married his wife, Janet, who was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. Inspired by his father, who was an entrepreneur, Sam co-founded VCC in 1987, on his 31st birthday. Sam is now recognized as one of the top engineering and construction professionals in the United States. Under his guidance, VCC is consistently listed in the top 100 contractors by the Engineering News Record, largest contractor in Arkansas, and recognized as the largest retail contractor in the Country. Sam has been a pillar in his community for over 30 years. He serves on the steering committee for Campaign Arkansas, and is a member of the Arkansas Academy of Civil Engineering. His service to numerous civic groups has earned recognition, including being named a lifetime Board member and Youth Home’s Board Member of the Year in 1994, Junior Achievement Board Member from 2007 to 2010 and Arkansas Business Executive of the Year for 2013. Most recently Sam was honored with the Legacy Award for Junior Achievement, the Patriot Award in recognition of his support of our service men and women, and the Distinguished Alumni award for the University of Arkansas. He will be recognized as the Honoree at the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation Legends Dinner in 2020. Sam has been married to his loving wife Janet for 38 years, and has three kids Jessica, Derek, and Adrianna. He has three grandchildren Vivienne Rose, Sam Joseph and Wellington (Wells) Louis.

Thom chats with other progressives while visiting New York, John Fugelsang, Michelangelo Signorile, Philip Proctor, Sam Joseph and Jonathan Alter.Michelangelo Signorile, Editor-at-large of Huffington Post Gay Voices, joins Thom to analyze the recent debates and the threat of Trump. Authors Samuel Joseph, and Firesign Theater's Phil Proctor, join Thom to chat about their new book "What to Say to Your Crazy Right-Wing Uncle: Talking Points for Liberals" and how to handle holiday family gatherings. Book Club reading from "United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (And What We Can Do About It)" by Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon.Thom is joined by journalist Jonathan Alter speaking about his new show Alter Family Politics, and a serious warning for Progressives to band together behind the Democratic nominee for the 2020 election.Book Club reading from "State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind" by Bryant Welch.Comedian John Fugelsang shares the insights of political humor and lessons we can learn from religiously motivated shame.

The 2019 Roundtable focuses on strength & conditioning in semi-professional, high school and university settings. The roundtable features three emerging leaders in Australasian strength & conditioning: Nicolai Morris, Kurt Vogel & Sam Joseph. In the last part of the roundtable, we examine monitoring for the semi-professional and amateur athlete, the best technology on a budget and the best books/courses the roundtable members recommend. ABOUT THE ROUNDTABLE NICOLAI MORRIS | Nicolai is an Australian Strength and Conditioning Coach who works at Sydney University as the senior strength and conditioning coach working with multiple sports including swimming, athletics, rugby, rugby 7’s, water polo and soccer. She also works as the Head S&C for the NSW Women’s State of Origin team. Nicolai has been coaching as an S&C for 12 years working across private, schools, professional sport and university environments. SAM JOSEPH | Sam is the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator at St Edmund's College, Ipswich and the Physical Performance Coach for QUT Wildcats in the Hart Sapphire Series Netball Competition. He holds a Masters in Sport Science, is a Level 2 ASCA Coach & an Level 1 Sport Scientist. He has previously worked at the UQ Sport Academy and at Wynnum-Manly Seagulls RLFC and has a large interest in developmental/adolescent Strength & Conditioning. KURT VOGEL | Kurt is currently a private consultant for athletes and teams across a variety of sports, in addition to working at USQ in the Sport Exercise Science department. He has worked for over a decade in over 20 different sports from amateur to elite and professional for athletes in more than six different nations. He has a strong interest in developing systems for those without resources. Kurt is an ASCA Level 2 PCAS: Elite Coach.

The 2019 Roundtable focuses on strength & conditioning in semi-professional, high school and university settings. The roundtable features three emerging leaders in Australasian strength & conditioning: Nicolai Morris, Kurt Vogel & Sam Joseph. In the third part of the roundtable, we examine prehabilitation and rehabilitation for the semi-professional and amateur athlete. ABOUT THE ROUNDTABLE NICOLAI MORRIS | Nicolai is an Australian Strength and Conditioning Coach who works at Sydney University as the senior strength and conditioning coach working with multiple sports including swimming, athletics, rugby, rugby 7’s, water polo and soccer. She also works as the Head S&C for the NSW Women’s State of Origin team. Nicolai has been coaching as an S&C for 12 years working across private, schools, professional sport and university environments. SAM JOSEPH | Sam is the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator at St Edmund's College, Ipswich and the Physical Performance Coach for QUT Wildcats in the Hart Sapphire Series Netball Competition. He holds a Masters in Sport Science, is a Level 2 ASCA Coach & an Level 1 Sport Scientist. He has previously worked at the UQ Sport Academy and at Wynnum-Manly Seagulls RLFC and has a large interest in developmental/adolescent Strength & Conditioning. KURT VOGEL | Kurt is currently a private consultant for athletes and teams across a variety of sports, in addition to working at USQ in the Sport Exercise Science department. He has worked for over a decade in over 20 different sports from amateur to elite and professional for athletes in more than six different nations. He has a strong interest in developing systems for those without resources. Kurt is an ASCA Level 2 PCAS: Elite Coach.

The 2019 Roundtable focuses on strength & conditioning in semi-professional, high school and university settings. The roundtable features three emerging leaders in Australasian strength & conditioning: Nicolai Morris, Kurt Vogel & Sam Joseph. In the second part of the roundtable, we examine energy system training, assessment and development for the semi-professional and amateur athlete. ABOUT THE ROUNDTABLE NICOLAI MORRIS | Nicolai is an Australian Strength and Conditioning Coach who works at Sydney University as the senior strength and conditioning coach working with multiple sports including swimming, athletics, rugby, rugby 7’s, water polo and soccer. She also works as the Head S&C for the NSW Women’s State of Origin team. Nicolai has been coaching as an S&C for 12 years working across private, schools, professional sport and university environments. SAM JOSEPH | Sam is the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator at St Edmund's College, Ipswich and the Physical Performance Coach for QUT Wildcats in the Hart Sapphire Series Netball Competition. He holds a Masters in Sport Science, is a Level 2 ASCA Coach & an Level 1 Sport Scientist. He has previously worked at the UQ Sport Academy and at Wynnum-Manly Seagulls RLFC and has a large interest in developmental/adolescent Strength & Conditioning. KURT VOGEL | Kurt is currently a private consultant for athletes and teams across a variety of sports, in addition to working at USQ in the Sport Exercise Science department. He has worked for over a decade in over 20 different sports from amateur to elite and professional for athletes in more than six different nations. He has a strong interest in developing systems for those without resources. Kurt is an ASCA Level 2 PCAS: Elite Coach.

The 2019 Roundtable focuses on strength & conditioning in semi-professional, high school and university settings. The roundtable features three emerging leaders in Australasian strength & conditioning: Nicolai Morris, Kurt Vogel & Sam Joseph. In the first part of the roundtable, we examine strength & power development for the semi-professional and amateur athlete. ABOUT THE ROUNDTABLE NICOLAI MORRIS | Nicolai is an Australian Strength and Conditioning Coach who works at Sydney University as the senior strength and conditioning coach working with multiple sports including swimming, athletics, rugby, rugby 7’s, water polo and soccer. She also works as the Head S&C for the NSW Women’s State of Origin team. Nicolai has been coaching as an S&C for 12 years working across private, schools, professional sport and university environments. SAM JOSEPH | Sam is the Strength & Conditioning Coordinator at St Edmund's College, Ipswich and the Physical Performance Coach for QUT Wildcats in the Hart Sapphire Series Netball Competition. He holds a Masters in Sport Science, is a Level 2 ASCA Coach & an Level 1 Sport Scientist. He has previously worked at the UQ Sport Academy and at Wynnum-Manly Seagulls RLFC and has a large interest in developmental/adolescent Strength & Conditioning. KURT VOGEL | Kurt is currently a private consultant for athletes and teams across a variety of sports, in addition to working at USQ in the Sport Exercise Science department. He has worked for over a decade in over 20 different sports from amateur to elite and professional for athletes in more than six different nations. He has a strong interest in developing systems for those without resources. Kurt is an ASCA Level 2 PCAS: Elite Coach.

On this week's show, we are live from Jack Brown Stadium in Jamestown for the Phil Brown Legion Baseball Classic. We talk with Jamestown Legion coach Sam Joseph and Carrington Legion coach Tim Ranum. We talk with Kari Bodine who was named Interim Head Golf Coach at Valley City State University. And our weekly visit…

On this week's show. We talk legion baseball with Sam Joseph, the new Legion Baseball coach for Jamestown Post 14. Greg Grenz talks with Tim Raanum, Carrington Post 25 head coach. We share the story about Sam's Field in Valley City with Jerry Noeske and Chad Lueck. Doug Leier, Biologist with The North Dakota Fish…

Sam joins the panelists to talk about frontend and backend team collaboration. Resources: Worse is better The Tao of Microservices by Richard Rodger Sam Joseph is a CoFounder of AgileVentures, a charity that helps groups of volunteers gather online to develop open source solutions for other charities all around the world. Sam's been mucking about with computers since the early 80s and followed the traditional education system through to a PhD in Neural Nets. Next he went all industry, researching mobile agents at Toshiba in Japan, going freelance and then swung back to academia to research peer to peer system and collaborative systems. He now spends the majority of his time trying to make AgileVentures a sustainable charity enterprise, with occasional moonlighting as a contract programmer. Check out his blog at nonprofits.agileventures.org. Please join us in these conversations! If you or someone you know would be a perfect guest, please get in touch with us at contact@frontside.io. Our goal is to get people thinking on the platform level which includes tooling, internalization, state management, routing, upgrade, and the data layer. This show was produced by Mandy Moore, aka @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. TRANSCRIPT: CHARLES: Welcome to The Frontside Podcast, the place where we talk about user interfaces and everything that you need to know to build it right. My name is Charles Lowell, a developer here at the Frontside. With today also is TARAS: Mankovski. TARAS:: Hello, hello. CHARLES: Hey, TARAS:. Today we're going to be continuing our theme when we think about UI platforms and web platforms, continuing the theme of collaboration and with us to talk about this is Sam Joseph. Welcome, Sam. SAM: Hi, thanks for having me. CHARLES: We've already talked a great deal about how the way in which your team collaborates and the communication that happens between your team and between the different pieces of software, your system, form one of the pillars of the platform that you can't just take lightly. You need to actually be intentful about that. I was thinking we could kind of start today's discussion, kind of talking about some of those collaborations. One that we've probably all encountered, which is usually teams will be split into people who are focused on frontend, people who are focused on backend systems, kind of the services that make sure that all of the nodes that are running on our laptops and our desktops and stuff are running smoothly and error-free and obviously, those two groups of people can sometimes arrive with different sets of priorities and how do we resolve those priorities to make sure that that communication flows freely. TARAS:: What's interesting about these frontend and the backend teams is that our users are not seeing that separation. They only see one thing. They only touch one thing. They actually see as one group but there's tends of be this kind of split between the frontend and the backend. It's kind of interesting that how the user get into this. SAM: Yeah. Obviously in some teams, there's a very clear cut distinction between people at the backend and working with the components that are serving JSON over the API and there are some people who are very, very focused on the frontend and drilling CSS and a number of bits and pieces or even just staying explicitly on the design or UX design and there's a mythical full stack developer who is up and down the platform. It doesn't run exactly in parallel but there is this key thing which is almost how much sympathy or empathy can you have for another person who is not you, trying to use something that you set up. If there was a direct parallel, you'd say, "Obviously, all people who will be working on the frontend are more of that sort of person and perhaps, the people on the backend are not so much that sort of person," but actually, I think you can have people who are doing backend stuff and they're designing API is very, very thoughtfully or the kind of people that consumes those APIs and sometimes, you can have people who are very, very focused on the design and the aesthetics when not necessarily so plugged into how will someone else use this, how will it fits into their lifestyle, which might be very different from my own, so that's maybe another axis, if you know what I mean apart from this sort of pure technical [inaudible]. Does that makes any sense? TARAS:: Yeah. What's interesting is that everyone is trying to do a great job. Everyone is setting out to do something really good. What people's way of expressing good might be different, so if someone could be really focused on the quality of their code like they want to do their version of doing a really, really good job is doing the best code they could write. Sometimes that doesn't necessarily equate to the best user experience. I think everyone that I've met -- engineers who are writing code, almost everyone that I know is trying to do a really good job. If everyone is doing a good job, it doesn't necessarily always equate to the best user experience. CHARLES: I think we had a reference that everyone wants to make sure that their system is of the highest quality possible but quality in of itself is not an absolute value. It's relative. In other words, a good definition of quality is how well a system is fit to a purpose. If it fits very well to that purpose, then we say it's of high quality but if it fits very poorly to a particular purpose, then we say, "This is a system of low quality," but what constitutes something of high quality is relative to the purpose. The question is, what is the purpose of writing the frontend system? What is the purpose of writing the backend system? So it seems to me you're going to have a lot of dissonance if the purpose is divergent but if they both share the same purpose, then that is kind of standard quality on both sides. Does that make sense? SAM: That makes sense and what even more makes it tricky is that actually, purposes can evolve over time and so the thing with the frontend that needed to do with the business today is different tomorrow and the day after. The trick then is sort of the frontend and the backend, as people try to do a great their job, there's this question of how far ahead are we looking so you can talk about important things like sort of asking close modification about [inaudible] extension and there's a [inaudible] of different coding heuristics as best practice that say, you should kind of go in this direction. Sometimes, that will be the hill they want to die on. It's like, "This code needs to be this way because of this thing," and the idea is that it's sort of future-proofing them but I think the messy reality is that sometimes, the thing that you put in place to future-proof, the whole system gets canned. In two weeks, the business changes and what have you, so the extra effort that you are pushing in on one day to protect yourself against changes in the future actually gets lost and perhaps, if only you'd be able to deliver a shortcut pack, this one feature that that will got the next line of funding in, either one advocates cutting corners but... you know what I mean? Like --? CHARLES: Yeah, absolutely. I just wanted to chime in and vehemently agree with you that the purpose can change radically, especially if you're in an evolved environment. What constitutes the good code or the good quality solution can vary just as radically because it needs to fit that purpose. TARAS:: When we talk about frontend and the backend, it seems there's this relationship, which is kind of positional like there's the frontend and then there's the backend. One is in sequence from front to back. It's the direction with the frontend. It's closer maybe to the user where the backend is not. But I think in practice, it's probably more like the left and the right hand where when you have to do two things together, you actually need to do two things to coordinate together. What you describe about and this is I think where taking shortcuts sometimes can actually be a good thing is that if you say, "I'm going to spend the next few weeks on a backend and doing this specific thing," and then you find out that 10 days into the iteration that it doesn't fit, the better approach to synchronize would be to stop the action and realign. But if you persevere, then you might overstep and you actually be out of sync. It makes me think that the art of creating cohesive organizations from development perspective is to create context where the two kind of work in synergy together. I think that's where a good tooling that allows its synergy to exist. I think that's a lot of the work of actually creating systems where the user experience is kind of cohesive and integrated. CHARLES: Actually, there was something that you just mentioned in there but it's actually a little nugget that I'm curious to explore and that is if you're 10 days in to like a 14-day piece of work and you realize that it isn't right and it doesn't fit with the whole, right action is to throw it away. I feel like software organizations and this might be a little bit off topic but it's something that really is interesting to me, so please indulge me. I feel like we see the product being the kind of the code output, even in Agile environments and there is an aversion to throwing away code that has been written. There's the, I would say, incentive is to go ahead and persevere because developer time is so expensive. These are days out of people lives, so they've already invested 10 days. Why not just have four more days just so you have it. When in fact, you actually have more if you just throw that work in the trash because it's an obstruction that's not needed. It's a piece of weight. It's actually something that you now are going to own and it's actually going to be cheaper in the long run and it can be more beneficial to your organization to not own it. Do you all see that happen kind of play out where people become attached to software that they've invested and will make the decision to hold on to it? Say, we'll spend two more days to complete it, even though it's the wrong thing, like identifying which things need to be thrown away? I feel like we don't actually do that very aggressively -- to say, "You know what? We need to not complete this work." SAM: I think that is a really tricky one because I think whatever people might say, when you spend time working on something, you become emotionally attached to it. I would say strongly that how logical or rational or whatever sort of a person you are, my experience is being that people working on things want to see them used. I think in a situation with version control where you can keep things on a branch, they can be useful explorations, things don't have to be thrown away in their entirety. Our charity is doing work for the National Health Service in the UK where there's a lot of employees in Europe and I've noticed the user interface that we're supplying them and I was suggesting some sort of minor tweaks and one of the developers has sort of run with the entire, big, advanced search feature that partially solves the problem but brings in a lot of other bits and pieces. He does some good work there. It's a great work but I think he kind of ran further than I was expecting down that line and I think we have now found a much simpler solution that rather than bringing an entire cabinet, it's a little shading off the side of the existing one. But I think that doesn't have to be a loss and I was reassuring him that the work was valuable and that there is interesting learnings there and potentially, we might use it in the future version of the project and now of course, the way that stuff is moving on, just how it's going to branch, it doesn't mean you can then sort of magically lose some of the work. In that case of doing this 10 days out of 14 and so on, the real question is can you get any value from switching somebody that fast? If they spent 10 days in and they realized they don't need that thing, it's like can you switch them quickly onto something else where they'll do four days or might they as well, just finish up there and leave that on a branch. That's a pull request that gets closed and it's there to go back to. That's kind of depends team by team about how quickly you can repurpose people missed rigs, if you know what I mean. CHARLES: I absolutely agree but the key thing is leaving it on a branch and not integrating it into production, like not actually deploying it because I feel like when we see a feature, it's like we've got to get this thing done and it's done and we're just going to get it in versus now that we've learned how to do this, let's put that on a branch and let's rewrite it and let's take a different approach, rather than just being married to the idea that we're going to get it right the first time or that now is the time for this feature because we understand the complexity of what it actually takes. It is a tricky question. I'm wondering if our processes don't include enough implicit experimentation. We talked a little bit about this on a prior podcast that if they don't include some incentive to not deploy features just because you have them. TARAS:: I think from a business perspective, there's not a lot of model to evaluate a certain thing. We don't have really any effective way of evaluating learning. You can measure code by the numbers of lines of code that somebody wrote and how much of code was shipped but you can't really evaluate how much was learned and how much was persisted. I think a lot of this work around supporting effective collaboration is in building a cumulative systems of knowledge like why is a good Git history useful is because it has a built in mechanism for understanding history. It gives you a way to return back to time in your project and understand the context of that specific change and I think this is something that really good teams do this really well. They will respect this because when it's necessary, it is valuable to have this. When you don't have it and you are a year into the project and something happened and then, you are using the only thing you have, which is your troubleshooting skills or you are trying to figure something, as supposed to going back and relying on that history, on that knowledge that's built into the system, what I'm trying to get to is there is an element that is inherent to our development process, which is we don't have a way to quantify it. We have no way to really evaluate it. I think this is the problem that makes it difficult to throw away work because you can measure the amount of time they'll spend but you can't measure the amount of learning that was acquired. CHARLES: Right. Thatís true. SAM: I think if you have a positive team environment, if you have your team that is stable in there -- your contacts are coming in, the money is there, everybody is there and you've got the team, you don't necessarily be able to measure the learning because the output of the team will be good. They're kind of doing that in the background but I think individual comments are not going to want to pay for learning experience. It's certainly not at the rate of software developer's cost. Although, the throwing-aways, if you're familiar with the [inaudible] book, which I think is a [inaudible] is the author, you know, build one, to throw away, you will anyway. We have a frontend mob that we run weekly doing frontend stuff and CSS and so on and we've done like it's a mockup for the client and there's this question about in my [inaudible] and so Iím saying to other developers there, "Let's not get too attached to this. We may need to throw it away and it will be a great learning to sort of restart on that." The [inaudible] to look quite nicely and the client might get attached to it. They want to ship it and I'm like, "Well, actually there's a lot of other stuff that needs to happen," and so, it's a minefield. It really, really is. TARAS:: I think some of the business relationships that we have to this kind of client consulting company relationship, that relationship might not always create the fit to purpose team for specific challenge. You can have a company that has a lot of employees but their team and their team dynamics might not be fit to purpose to the problem they're trying to solve. If you're building a platform over a long time, you want to be creating that space where that learning gets accumulated over time. It doesn't matter what necessarily the relationship is between the companies that are participating in this process. I think what matter is what are you producing as a result. If you're working together with people from different companies and they're working together and they're building this kind of an environment where you can collaboratively build things together and then people learning from the output and that knowledge is being carried over and people are being able to stack their knowledge continuously over time, if you're creating that environment and you're building a large platform for example, then you are creating a build to purpose kind of technology team to fit what you're looking to accomplish and that'll include consulting companies. I think those team, they're kind of secondary but I think it's just [inaudible] to that. It's like building a quality development organization to fit the purpose of building whatever it is that you're trying to build. If you're building something small, you might have a small team that'll able to build that effectively. If you have something big, you could have a big team that is building that effectively but building that team in a way that is appropriate to what you're trying to accomplish, I think that's the real challenge that company struggles to do. CHARLES: Yeah. In the context of these real teams, I guess what can you put in place given that you have backend teams, frontend teams and each one of these needs to be specialized. This is kind of the power of the way that people work is that we're allowed to specialize and there's power in specialization. You can have someone who can be super focused on making sure that you have these high throughput backend systems that are resilient and fault tolerant and all these wonderful things, so that they don't necessarily have to have the entire context of the system that they're working on inside their head at a given time and the same thing someone working on CSS or working on a frontend system architecture, which has grown to be a very complex problem domain in its own right. But these teams can be working in a context with a purpose is whip-lashing around and changing quite drastically and so, how do you then keep that in sync? Because we've identified purpose as being actually something that's quite a dynamic value. How do you keep these teams keyed in and focused and so, that they're kind of locked in on that similar purpose of they're going to be adapting the systems for work that they're responsible for and specialties that they're responsible for to match that? SAM: It's a good question and I have my own bias view there -- CHARLES: I would love to hear it. SAM: I can't bear working on things where I don't understand in great detail how that end user has experienced or what is the effect overall that it's trying to be achieved. You know, I've been working in boards between the industry and the charity for like 30 years and I know people are commenting like, "You were the person who wants to understand everything." I think there were some people who are maybe quite satisfied who get ticket off the general board or what have you and work on that thing and if the API specs have filled in, so that's it. Go home and they weren't losing a sleep over it. But I think if youíre going to be dealing with these changes and sympathetic that the changes is coming down the path, I think you need to have some degree of empathy with the people who are driving the changes. Do you know what I mean? CHARLES: Oh, absolutely yeah. SAM: You know, as we've mentioned already, I think people get attached to what they build and I don't think you can do anything about that. They will get attached to what they build. CHARLES: Yeah, we've all experienced it. It's so true. It's impossible to [inaudible]. SAM: Yeah. We can try and target it but it's sort of part of our nature. I think there are sort of the tools of the design sprint, of the design jam, of these sorts of things where if you can build to some level is obviously that it can't be shipped but can actually tease out the needs of the user, the designs sprint, the Google team, they have an example with kind of like this robot for hotels where it's like the whole thing is they can have robots that can deliver toothpaste to your door if you run out of toothpaste. In this design, obviously, that would be a huge undertaking to make that as a sort of our production system but they used like a remote control of a robot to simulate all of the key touch points when the client of that hotel, will actually interacts with that robot. I think the same is true when you're building these systems if you can, again going to touch back on we don't fit a code in that way that I think an ever better thing is not be building the code in the first place and to build an almost a non-code system and then, maybe some of the backend are not going to be interested in the results of what people have learned through this kind of user experience trial before they [inaudible] forever but I think it's seeing other people try to use the end system that puts you in place where you can be empathetic. I argue for the bias point of view that I think people on the backend of Netflix, trying to optimizing the streams in that or the other, they need to spend some time watching Netflix or at least watching the comedy of Netflix in order to empathize of how their work relates to the end experience and then, when those end experience needs changed, it's important for them to make change on the backend. Do you know what I mean? CHARLES: Right, exactly. They have to watch through that kind of glass window where they can actually help the person. They can't give them any information. The only levers of control they have is through their own work, making the thing changes that they need to make on the backend, so that one of those users is going to have a good user experience. This idea reminds me of something which I believe is the case at Heroku where they rotate everybody in the company through pager duty, which I think is kind of a brilliant idea where the entire team is responsible for providing technical support to the end users. When a problem arises, you get to understand what it's like to be someone who's trying to use the system. You get to exposed to the satisfaction, whether an issue was resolved or when it's working correctly or your pager is quiet for your entire shift but you can also get exposed to the frustration that you're engendering in the users if something doesn't go quite according to plan. SAM: Yeah. I'm not [inaudible]. TARAS:: There is movement in this direction because there is actually a term that has been floating around. It's like a product engineer. It's someone who thinks about the product. These kind of people tend to have the highest value in Silicon Valley as someone who thinks about the product as the outcomes supposed to their code as the outcome. Even in the Agile space, there seems to be movement in that direction because I think one of the challenges, like to do that, you have to understand how you fit into the bigger picture. I could see it being really difficult. Imagine if you're working at a bank or something and being pager duty at a bank would be impossible, simply because their organization is either too big or too sensitive. The way that their company is dealing with that is they have these group of people where you have a product manager working closely with the frontend engineer and the backend engineer so there's this exchange that is happening where people get to understand the consequences of their actions a little bit more. They understand how things fit together. There is definitely a movement happening in that direction that I think just the more, the better because one of the big differences now is the things that we make are very palatable to the users and the quality of the user experience that users are now expecting is much higher than they were in the past. I think the world is changing. CHARLES: Yeah. We mentioned this when we were talking before the show but going to the University of Michigan as I did, I was in school with a bunch of mechanical engineers. Their goal was to go work for auto companies: Chevrolet and Ford and everything like that but their mindset was very much, I think the product engineering mindset. All of them loved cars and wanted to be part of building the coolest, most comfortable, most responsive cars. For whatever definition of a good car -- there are a lot of them -- they wanted to design good cars but they were into cars and they were into the experience of driving a car, so what's the equivalent then of that product engineer in software? I think that every conversation that I had with any of the mechanical engineers who were going into the auto industry, I'm sure there are some of them that were out there but it wasn't about carburetors or whatever. They really wanted to just get into the building of cars. In some aspects, I'm sure they all integrated in some way or another but it was a group that was very focused on that outcome. SAM: In the UK, I'm hearing this term, 'service designer' a lot that's coming up. Are saying that, Charles, you get the feeling that even getting into software, I'm not so excited about using their own? Like the car, I want this amazing car and then I can drive the car and I'll experience the car --? CHARLES: Right and other people will experience the car that I've helped design. SAM: Right and in some way, in software, it's almost like the software itself there's this kind of mathematical beauty of its own and it's like always been more important than the other software heads around me like the software that I wrote. I mean, the user? At the conference and all the software guys love it, that's the key objective, isn't it? Yeah. I work with a lot of learning developers who are rightly focused on wanting to improve their skills and wanting to level up in particular tech stacks that are the ones that will lead to jobs and the future and financial stability and so on but I kind of wish I could inculcate in them this desire that the user experience was the higher goal than which bit of code does this or the other. Maybe, I'm being unfair to them when I say that. Coding is hard. There's a lot strange concepts to grasp than sort of grappling with those concepts -- how does this work or why does this work or should I use this function or should I use this method or what have you. I don't know. I think [inaudible] bit a wall when I'm sort of saying like, "Let's think about it through the user perspective, what does the user needs here." It feels like they want the safer answer of what's the correct solution here, how should this be refactored because you need a skinny controller or a fat model or whatever happens to be. I don't know if that's -- CHARLES: Right, like what's going to make my life easier, in a sense of if I'm going to be maintaining this code and it's important. It's very important. You want to be happy in your job, you want to be happy in your work and so, you want to have the skinny control or the fat model because it's going to lower the risk of pain in your future, supposedly. I definitely understand but that can't be the only incentive. I think it's what I'm hearing. The thought just occurred to me, I actually don't know that much about game development. I know the game industry is certainly has got its problems and I don't know much about the development culture inside the game industry. I do wonder what it's like because it does seem to be somewhat analogous to something like the car industry, where if you're a developer in the game industry, you're probably extremely focused on the user experience. You just have to be. It's so incredibly saturated and competitive for just eyeballs and thumb on controllers. Like I said, I don't really know anything about the game industry when it comes to development but I'm wondering if there's an analogy there. SAM: Yeah. It sounds strong to me and as much of my cousin who works in the game industry and I sort of taught game programming and work through a lot of it. The game industry has got these sort of user testing experience baked in and it kind of like repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. There's this sort of constant cycle of doing that and in the somewhat wider software industry, in a certain extent, pay lip service to that. CHARLES: The game industry, they live and die by that. The code lives and dies by how it actually plays with real users. SAM: Yes and it feels like in the general world, there's a lot more user interfaces that they just sort of struggle on whatever market dynamics people need to use, these existing vested interest, these banks, these supermarkets and what have you. I guess the market is too big, almost. It's not covered enough but do we really want our industry to be so cutthroat? I don't know. CHARLES: Yeah. We've kind of seen an example of a couple of industries: the car industry, the game industry which is kind of adjacent to where most software development happens but they have this concept of exhaustive user testing, kind of the pager duty if you will, where you get to experience that. So how do we, on our team and when I say our team, I mean anyone who happens to be listening, what's the equivalent of pager duty for the applications that we write? How can we plug ourselves into that cycle of user-ship so we can actually experience it in a real and repeatable way. SAM: In the work that we're doing with the NHS, they have a similar program. There's a lot of people who are working purely death by desk jobs but they do have a framework for us to go and observe in the hospitals and emergency rooms and so on. I guess the 'how can we achieve that outside of those clients who have those framework in place,' it seems like maybe we need a version of the cycle where a different person gets to be the product owner and tries to represent what the users are experience each week. I think almost though, it seems like we need more of that thing you mentioned, Charles which is like kind of being behind the one-way silvered mirror as some sort of framework that connects the loop between some of the individual developers are doing and their experience of how the users are seeing things. I think that's going to be difficult to introduce. Just to sort of back up a little bit with them, I see this kind of idea of Agile, which says, "Let's be using the software which is the thing that's kind of changing and evolving unless you already deployed and you are in the maintenance mode from the beginning and you're getting that thing out there so you have your one-week or two-week or three-week cycles where you keep on having touch points," and I think that's better than touching once every two years. As malleable as modern software potentially is, it's too sticky. It's like you were saying Charles before with that deploying or whatever, these are all gyros and so, you kind of need a really good mechanism for mocking out interfaces and having users experience and there's a couple of [inaudible], vision and there's something else that's sophisticated systems on the UX space where you can put together sort of a simulation of your interface relatively cheaply and you can run these things and then have sort of video capture of the users interacting with the system. I think the difficult part that we have in the software industry is we are in this thing, where there's not enough people wanting to be software developers, partly with I guess the cars and the games, is there's so many people want to be game designers that the industry can kind of set the terms but we're in this inverse situation here with software developers where software developers are so much in demand, they can kind of say, "Don't put too much pressure on me. I'll kind of like, I'll go off to different company." You know, we kind of have to like herd the cats, as they say into allowing these high powered software developers to go in the direction as they want to go in and so, it may be difficult to impose something like that, where you're getting software developers to really experience the end user's pain. I guess what one has to do is somehow, create a narrative to sell the excitement of the end user experience and the beautiful end user experience to software developers such that they're fully out of themselves and say, "Yes, I want to see how the users are using my software." Do you know what I mean? CHARLES: Yeah. TARAS:: Yeah. Because a lot of company had this process where there'll be a product manager, there'll be a designer, they'll design through mock ups and they'll just hand it over to developers to build. There could be some backend, some frontend. I think if you're doing that, there is no emotional engagement between the creators of the actual implementation and the people who are going to be using that. One way to do that is to try to add more of this actual 'however you do it.' You know, introduce more of the personal experience of the users to go along with the actual mock ups so that people understand like, there's actually be a person on the other end that are going to experience this and create some kind of emotional engagement between these two end. How you do that, I think that's a big question but I think if the organization is simply just throwing designs over to development, that's where the part of the problem is and trying to -- CHARLES: Well, actually, that's a fantastic point because ultimately, we've talked about emotional engagement and attachment to the software being a liability but the reason it exists and the reason it's intrinsic to the way we do things is that's how things get built. We get emotional attachment to it. It's the impetus. It's the driving force. It's literally the emotive force causes us to go forth and do a thing. It's why we're going to do it as a good job. Like you said TARAS:, if you just kind of throwing your tickets over the wall, there is no emotional engagement and so people will look for it wherever they can find it. In the absence of an emotional engagement, they will create their own which is good quality software that's 'clean' code because people need to find that meaning and purpose in their work. Maybe the answer is trying to really help them connect that emotional experience back to that purpose of the user experience, so that there is no vacuum to fill with kind of synthetic purpose, if you will. SAM: That's a great point. The charity in AgileVentures that I run, when we get things right, that's the thing that happens in that. We go for transparency at open source. We have these regular cycles where the charity client is using the software in a Hangout with us, with the developers who work on these things and the developers whether they're in a Hangout Live, whether they're watching the video a week later, they see the charity end user struggle with the feature that volunteer developers have been working on and they make that attachments. It's more than just 'I want to learn and level up in this thing.' It's like 'I want to make this feature work for this end user' and we're very lucky to have these charities who allow us to do that level of transparency. The difficulty often comes that I would see in our paid projects where I would love to be recording the key stakeholders using the system but for whatever political reason, you can't always get that. I think that process of actually connecting the developer with the person who using it and doing that reliably, so that they can have that empathy and then get that emotional connection. It's just tricky in the real world. CHARLES: It's very hard. One thing that we've deployed on past projects, which I think has worked fairly well is kind of putting a moratorium on product owners writing stories or writing tickets and actually having the developers collaborate with the product owners to write the tickets. In other words, instead of kind of catching a ticket that's thrown over the wall, really making sure that they understand what is the context under which this thing is being developed and then almost as in a code review sense, having the product owner saying, "Actually, the reason we're doing it is this," and having a review process where the developer is actually creating the story in support from the product owner. Because ultimately if they have that context, then coming up with the implementation is going to be much easier. It's really is about facilitating that upfront learning than being able to do the actual work. That's something but a lot of organizations are resistant to that because the product owners really want to say like, "No, I want it to go this way and I want to just hand this to a developer and I want them to do it." It's kind of wrestling in control and saying, "You've got veto power over this. You're the editor but we really want to make sure that you're on same page with the developer." In cases where we have been able to kind of have product owners make that shift where the developers are owning the story, oh sorry, or the primary authors of the story and more of the code reviewers of the story, if you will, implementation just seems to go so much more smoothly. The questions, the key points kind of come out of the front of the process and by the time you start actually working on the thing, the manager or the product owners has the confidence that the developer understands what is involved in making it work. SAM: Getting that done, what one will say something as tricky to do, I think in the ideal world, you have more of the developers involved in the design sprints or the design jams. The logistics of it are you can't really afford to have all those developers in all of those soft meetings where they are coding away. That sounds a great medium there. I think there's various organizations that do sort of their kick offs where their stories are kind of if not code designed, then there's cooperative voting on the complexities of the stories and making sure that they have folks understand the stories that they're working on and there might have some very different organization that are going to have different constraints on how much time that the organization feels, the different people can be allowed to spent on different sorts of activities. It's sort of tricky, isn't it? CHARLES: It is definitely tricky because any time that you allocate for people, that's the most expensive resource that you have, so you want to be smart about it. SAM: Which comes back to that issue then again of repurposing people. If you've got that feature that you go over 10 days, can you say to that person, "Can I switch you over onto this other thing for four days?" Maybe logically, that would be a better outcome for the sprint but maybe emotionally, that person is so attached to that. They are not fighting that front. The biggest trouble for me, I think over the last 30 years is I assumed that the logical stuff was tantamount. These things like the skinny controller and the fat model, we'd agreed on that that was correct and so, that's why I should pushed for, that's why I should fight for because it's the truth or whatever and actually, maybe I'll sling back around in another 30 years, you can choose your battles because the level of emotional pressure on people, then the whole thing just explodes and nothing gets done. You know what I mean? TARAS:: Sam, I have experienced something very similar and I think about this all the time. It's just how many perfect things are perfectly acceptable to people in using a different lens when I think about technology because the more skilled you are, I think quite often, people become more pedantic about how they approach things but in practice, the more things that you see that are not written but you realize how really imperfect they are and how in many ways, they fit the world very well, people use it. It's being used by many people in its imperfect state, so there is something like this hole between perfect implementation and the role of this perfect implementation in the world that I think that duality is really interesting. CHARLES: Yeah. There's a fantastic paper written by, I think it was Richard Garfield back in the late-90s or early 2000s called 'Less is More,' where he kind of talks about this exact tension and he calls it the MIT school of software and the Berkeley school of software and I think Garfield came from the MIT school but basically, the whole thing was saying the Berkeley School is actually right and the name of the paper is 'Worst is Better.' It's a really interesting essay but just talking about working things that are in people's hands will beat the best design every single time because those are the systems that get used and improved. There's a lot more to it than that. He talks about this exact fundamental tension and obviously, no system exists on either one of those perfect poles -- the MIT school or the Berkeley school. I think what he was trying to point out is that exact fundamental tension that we're talking about, the quest for the 'correct solution' and the quest for a solution. I'm actually have to go and re-read it. I remember it being an intriguing paper. SAM: I guess the thing that makes me think of is sort of related to philosophy value. I read recently about this, attachment to outcomes. I'm going to segue back but we've got this discussion in one of our teams about, this is sort of microservices versus monoliths and in reading this, I doubt microservices, which is actually pretty radical in some of its suggestions that they're talking about it in Greater Than Code Slack where it's sort of saying that actually, if you keep your microservices small enough, then a lot of the things like code quality become actually kind of irrelevant it sort of almost argues that a lot of the things that we like about the Agile and these things are our ceremonies that are only necessary because we trying to feed these monoliths. I'm not saying it is true. Iím just saying it's a pretty radical position that itís taking and it certainly, captures the minds of some people in our organization. Some things that I've been trying to make some simple changes just to smooth off some of the edges of the platform that we're working with and I had this respect of like, "No, we can't just make those simultaneous. We need to move to microservices." They're great and it will be perfect and they will allow expansion and so on and my immediate reaction is sort of, "I'm glad we don't have to build microservices because [inaudible]. It's all about attachment to outcomes, so am I attached trying to automate part of my week that I think will have some positive goals in the future? No one's got a crystal ball. That's only a guess on my part. If I've got some folks who are excited about doing this thing with microservices, maybe I should empower them in that and I should started a mobile microservices and we kind of playing with these set of framework and so on. It's interesting stuff as I'm working my way through the book. At the same time, while we've been doing that, I've actually delegated it to someone else to sort out this sort of thing and I've actually kind of addressed the problem what we would need the microservices for through a different mechanism but still, the microservices thing rolls on and I kind of think, "Well, is that all a complete waste?" But then actually maybe, in two years down the line, it will turn out and that will be a beautiful thing that will enable things. The further that I go on, the more I say, "I just don't know," and actually, if I can detach myself from caring too much about the outcomes one way or the other, I think it's both long and enjoy myself but it's a tricky thing when you got to pay the rent and pay the bills and so on. I don't see any resolutions to that. I love people being able to use things and get stuff done. I'm so excited about that and I guess, I will keep pushing all of the developers that I'm with towards trying to have a better empathy or understanding of their end users because I think software is more fun when you're connected to the end people who are using that. CHARLES: Absolutely. Microservices reminds me kind of the experience that we've had with the microstates library. Because we've kind of identified this one very small slice of a problem, a 'refactor,' it's basically a ground up rewrite. If you've got a library that is a couple of hundred lines of code but it presents a uniform API, then you can rewrite it internally. You can refactor it by doing a ground up rewrite and the cardinal rule or the cardinal sin is you're never supposed to do a rewrite. SAM: Yes and that's the microservices that they're saying. It's like you should rewrite everything all the time, basically. CHARLES: Exactly. You should always be rewriting it. SAM: Yeah. Should be able to throw it away because it's a microservice and it can be rewritten in a week and if you're throwing one away, it's only a week worth of work and you can keep on moving away. It is an amazing idea. CHARLES: I have to read that book. Anyhow, we're going to have you on again to explore -- SAM: Well, let's do another one on microservices. It was a great fun. Definitely, it's time to wrap up but I really appreciate you having me on the show and being able to discuss all these topics. CHARLES: Fantastic and I can't wait to talk about microservices. This might be the impetus that I need to finally actually go learn about microservices in depth. SAM: I'll recommend Richard Rodger's book, 'The Tao of Microservices.' CHARLES: All right. Fantastic. Anything we should mention, any upcoming engagements or podcast that you're going to be on? SAM: Iím always on the lookout for charities, developers, people who want to help, you can find us at AgileVentures.org. We're busy trying to help great causes. We're trying to help people learn about software development and getting involved in Agile and kind of like experience the real software in action, software development where you ideally interact with the end charity users and see how they're benefitting from the product. We love any support and help. You can get involved in that, if you want to give a little bit to open source and open development. We go for transparency. We have more mob programming sessions and scrum and meetings online/in-house every day, so just come and check out AgileVentures.org and maybe, see you [inaudible]. CHARLES: Yeah and if they wanted to say, reach out to you over email or Twitter, how would they get in touch? SAM: It's Sam@AgileVentures.org and I am at @tansakuu on Twitter. Hit me on Twitter or just at Sam@AgileVentures.org. CHARLES: All right. Well, fantastic. Thank you, Sam. Also, if you need any help with your frontend platform, you know where to get in touch with us. We're at @TheFrontside on Twitter or Info@Frontside.io. Thank you, TARAS:. Thank you, Sam and we will see everybody next time. Thank you for listening. If you or someone you know has something to say about building user interfaces that simply must be heard, please get in touch with us. We can be found on Twitter at @TheFrontside or over just plain old email at Contact@Frontside.io. Thanks and see you next time.

01:30 – Sam’s Superpower: Persistence AgileVentures Blog (https://nonprofits.agileventures.org/blog/) 08:07 – Mindfulness and Relaxation; Nonviolent Communication Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication by Shambhala (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161180583X/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=therubyrep-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=161180583X&linkId=e07f8a3564afa6fa389e061585e6fdda) 17:23 – Collaborative Communication and Learning 26:17 – The Tension Between Code/Architectural Beauty and Delivering Working Solutions That Meet End-Users Needs The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465050654/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=therubyrep-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0465050654&linkId=dc5c167dfb19d97b69d75273e29d9b75) 38:49 – Being “Used to Things” and Getting Things Done via Incremental Changes Technology Strategy: Leaky Boats and Rocket Ships (https://podtail.com/podcast/cancer-research-uk-tech-team-podcast/technology-strategy-leaky-boats-and-rocket-ships/) Reflections: John: 1) Thinking about relaxation as something you do as opposed to things you don’t do. 2) Learning how communication works and communicate better with other people more authentically. Jamey: Reading people cues is hard and beating yourself up over missed communication is not productive. Sam: Sometimes it’s okay to not have emotional energy to make changes. This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep (https://twitter.com/therubyrep) of DevReps, LLC (http://www.devreps.com/). To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode). To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps (https://www.paypal.me/devreps). You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well. Amazon links may be affiliate links, which means you’re supporting the show when you purchase our recommendations. Thanks! Special Guest: Sam Joseph.

In this episode we talk to Jade Statt, co-founder of Street Vet and one of the winners of this year's RCVS Impact Award. Since starting StreetVet in October 2016 with fellow vet Sam Joseph, Jade has had an immeasurable impact on the homeless communities in some of the largest cities in England, as well as providing over 220 volunteer vet and vet nurses a chance to expand their skillset.  You can read more about Jade and the other RCVS Award winners on our website: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/news/college-announces-recipients-of-2018-rcvs-honours/. 

Professor Sam returns to talk about building a successful academy, why you don't need to be a world champion to be a great teacher, teaching your students the way they learn and the prank war between himself and Ryan's instructor Professor Paul Creighton

Professor Sam returns to talk about building a successful academy, why you don’t need to be a world champion to be a great teacher, teaching your students the way they learn and the prank war between himself and Ryan’s instructor Professor Paul Creighton. Click “read more” for show notes!  SHOW NOTES: Catching up / His […]

Today's Ruby Rogues podcast features MOOCs with Sam Joseph. Sam is the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the CoFounder of AgileVentures. They gather people from around the world to form small agile development teams for nonprofits and charities. He has been programming for a couple of years already. Tune in and learn about the massive open online course they're having!

Today's Ruby Rogues podcast features MOOCs with Sam Joseph. Sam is the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the CoFounder of AgileVentures. They gather people from around the world to form small agile development teams for nonprofits and charities. He has been programming for a couple of years already. Tune in and learn about the massive open online course they're having!

Today's Ruby Rogues podcast features MOOCs with Sam Joseph. Sam is the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the CoFounder of AgileVentures. They gather people from around the world to form small agile development teams for nonprofits and charities. He has been programming for a couple of years already. Tune in and learn about the massive open online course they're having!

  On this edition of the Jewish Sacred Aging Podcast, Rabbi Address chats with Rabbi Sam Joseph, the Eleanor Sinsheimer Distinguished Service Professor of Jewish Education and Leadership Development at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. The conversation was recorded March 25, 2017 when Rabbi Joseph was appearing as the Scholar-in-Residence at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, NJ. About the Guest Rabbi Samuel K. Joseph, Ph.D. is Eleanor Sinsheimer Distinguished Service Professor of Jewish Education and Leadership Development at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati, where he teaches in the rabbinical school. His special interest is how Jewish institutions and organizations, from schools to synagogues to national groups, can be most excellent as they seek to fulfill their mission and vision. Toward this end, Rabbi Joseph works with such groups throughout the world. Most recently he taught at the first rabbinical seminary in Germany since the Holocaust, the Abraham Geiger College in Berlin as the Jacobs Fellow. In past years he worked with the Jewish community in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Argentina. He is the founding rabbi of the liberal congregation in Hong Kong. Rabbi Joseph consults with rabbis, educators, administrators, communal leaders and lay leaders, supporting them as they lead their institutions and organizations. He is the author of four books and more than fifty articles in the area of education and leadership.

00:35 - Introducing Sam Joseph Agile Ventures Github Twitter 2:15 - All about Agile Ventures 6:25 - Social innovations 9:30 - Common needs of charity organizations 15:15 - Origins and growth of Agile Ventures 19:19 - Website One 22:00 - Goals for the future of Agile Ventures 24:40 - Getting involved sam@agileventures.org AG sign up 29:00 - Finding motivated team members and using MOOC 32:40 - Connecting with your team and building up confidence 37:40 - Direct Messaging 42:10 - Fear of asking questions on Stack Overflow 52:17 - Scaling Agile Ventures 56:15 - Predictions for the future Picks: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Jason) jason@benfranklinlabs.com for working with Jason as a consultant (Jason) Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity--What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves by Christian Rudder (Jerome) Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Jerome) MindMup2 (Charles) Born to Win seminar by Zig Ziglar on Audible (Charles) Rail Roady (Sam) The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft (Sam) Genestealer Cults by Peter Fehervari (Sam) Tyranids (Sam)

00:35 - Introducing Sam Joseph Agile Ventures Github Twitter 2:15 - All about Agile Ventures 6:25 - Social innovations 9:30 - Common needs of charity organizations 15:15 - Origins and growth of Agile Ventures 19:19 - Website One 22:00 - Goals for the future of Agile Ventures 24:40 - Getting involved sam@agileventures.org AG sign up 29:00 - Finding motivated team members and using MOOC 32:40 - Connecting with your team and building up confidence 37:40 - Direct Messaging 42:10 - Fear of asking questions on Stack Overflow 52:17 - Scaling Agile Ventures 56:15 - Predictions for the future Picks: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Jason) jason@benfranklinlabs.com for working with Jason as a consultant (Jason) Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity--What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves by Christian Rudder (Jerome) Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Jerome) MindMup2 (Charles) Born to Win seminar by Zig Ziglar on Audible (Charles) Rail Roady (Sam) The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft (Sam) Genestealer Cults by Peter Fehervari (Sam) Tyranids (Sam)

00:35 - Introducing Sam Joseph Agile Ventures Github Twitter 2:15 - All about Agile Ventures 6:25 - Social innovations 9:30 - Common needs of charity organizations 15:15 - Origins and growth of Agile Ventures 19:19 - Website One 22:00 - Goals for the future of Agile Ventures 24:40 - Getting involved sam@agileventures.org AG sign up 29:00 - Finding motivated team members and using MOOC 32:40 - Connecting with your team and building up confidence 37:40 - Direct Messaging 42:10 - Fear of asking questions on Stack Overflow 52:17 - Scaling Agile Ventures 56:15 - Predictions for the future Picks: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Jason) jason@benfranklinlabs.com for working with Jason as a consultant (Jason) Dataclysm: Love, Sex, Race, and Identity--What Our Online Lives Tell Us about Our Offline Selves by Christian Rudder (Jerome) Remote: Office Not Required by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (Jerome) MindMup2 (Charles) Born to Win seminar by Zig Ziglar on Audible (Charles) Rail Roady (Sam) The Shadow Out of Time by H.P. Lovecraft (Sam) Genestealer Cults by Peter Fehervari (Sam) Tyranids (Sam)

Author of the Emaneska series, Ben Galley chats about how to write and promote your book in the 21st century. Find out what a graphic novel is and how authors can use crowdfunding to help them produce their books. Next I am in conversation with James Sinclair, author of Over our Heads, on why it’s never too late to write and publish your book – and how keeping the grey matter ticking helps promote longevity. Podcaster and author, Iain Broome, shares his tips for getting in staying in the zone when writing a book spread over a number of years. Iain also explains how he approaches live performance and how it is a useful skill for all authors to develop. My fourth guest is Brian Cormack Carr, author of Finding Your Vital Vocation. Brian shares his wisdom on how we can find and stay in our niche. When you love the work you do, you will never work again … As an added bonus, meditative music is provided by inspirational and sublime composer, Sam Joseph who is on the show in a few weeks time.