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To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/172/29 When Paul wrote to the people of Rome, he gave conclusive evidence that no ritual can bring salvation. He let his Jewish readers know that their father Abraham was not justified through circumcision or law-keeping but rather through faith. Similarly, we might be tempted to believe that religiosity can save us, but these rituals are empty if they aren’t grounded in the promises of God in Christ.

When Paul wrote to the people of Rome, he gave conclusive evidence that no ritual can bring salvation. He let his Jewish readers know that their father Abraham was not justified through circumcision or law-keeping but rather through faith. Similarly, we might be tempted to believe that religiosity can save us, but these rituals are empty if they aren’t grounded in the promises of God in Christ.  Click here to listen (Duration 25:02)

U.S. active-duty military personnel and reservists have participated in a growing number of domestic terrorist plots and attacks, according to new data from CSIS. The percentage of all domestic terrorist incidents linked to active-duty and reserve personnel rose in 2020 to 6.4 percent, up from 1.5 percent in 2019 and none in 2018. Similarly, a growing number of current and former law enforcement officers have been involved in domestic terrorism in recent years. But domestic terrorism is a double-edged sword. In 2020, extremists from all sides of the ideological spectrum increasingly targeted the military, law enforcement, and other government actors—putting U.S. security agencies in the crosshairs of domestic terrorists. In this episode, CSIS’s Dr. Seth Jones, Senior Vice President and Director, International Security Program, joins the podcast to discuss the findings of his new report, “The Military, Police, and the Rise of Terrorism in the United States.”

Life Is Work - Ep 59 - Voting & WorkplacesCo-hosts, Producers:Danielle Stenger Cameron Navarro, LMSW  Mel’s Mindful Minute: 29:00Melanie Wilmoth Navarro, LMSW, RYT, TSTSY-FOwner, Lead Facilitator - Whole Moon Wellnesswholemoonwellness@gmail.com Contact Info:WebsiteEmailTwitter Instagram Music:Intro - King Must Die, by Picnic LightningMMM Transitions - Sur, by Picnic LightningOutro - Pa’lante, by Hurray for the Riff Raff Nonprofit & For Profit CultureRESULT: To provide a light overview of voting laws in the workplace, how it currently works in our society, and some suggestions for how to do better to encourage teammates and employees to get out and vote!CamnecdoteEarly voting on campus when worked thereProtein - Main Event - Topic d’jourLil Overview of Workplace Voting Laws/AKA, Know Your Rights! (cr: https://www.workplacefairness.org/voting-rights-time-off-work) Time Off to VoteVaries by stateIn some states, the law designates a specific amount of time that workers must be allowed off to voteTime off can be paid or unpaidSome states require your employer to give you time off only if you will not have enough time to vote before or after work, while the polls are openMost but not all states prevent your employer from firing or disciplining you because you take time off to voteIn some states, if you do not actually vote even though you took time off for that purpose, your employer can dock your pay for the hours off, so save your receipt or other proof of voting in case you're later questioned.A note on political speech at workThere is no U.S. federal law that protects private-sector (nongovernmental) employees from political affiliation discrimination, and only a few states prohibit such discrimination. Similarly, in the U.K., only Northern Ireland requires that political affiliation be considered a protected class.(cr: Ford Harrison Law Firm) TLDR; The First Amendment does not protect against action taken by private employers. It varies a little by state (see this link to check your state), but on the whole, private employers can dismiss you for engaging in political advocacy in the workplace/during workplace hoursHow It Currently WorksSalaried jobs have more flexibilityIn theory can go during the day, but not always possible for scheduling reasonsAlso not typically ‘advertised’ at work - no announcements on when and where to go, if and when early voting is available, etc.Also, culture and power dynamics are at playUnprofessional/taboo/unsafe to discuss politics at workSometimes, politics are discussed but it is under the assumption that everyone holds the same view, no space given for conversation or cultivating an understanding of each otherHow to Do Better S/o to Stacey Abrams, these are from “Our Time is Now”, Steps every business can take to increase access to voting and democracy:1) provide voter registration info to employees and remind them to verify their current registrationThis is so simple and has nothing to do with any particular political persuasions, it’s just ensuring everyone has the information they need to be registered to vote2) Ensure employees know when elections are occurringSame thing - nothing to do with political ideas, it’s only providing the ppl with information on where to go to participate in our democracy3) Make Election Day a holiday with paid leaveWe get all kinds of other national holidays off, set an example for your organization and honor our democratic republic by making voting day a holiday!4) Encourage employees to be poll workers on Election Day If employees have the day off from their dayjobs, encourage them to work as poll workers!It’s a paid gigCan only imagine it’s a super interesting experienceAnother way to encourage participation in democracy Mel’s Mindful Minute: 29:00Daily IntentionWe Are Always StudentsOur Time Is Now by Stacey Abramshttps://www.vote411.org/https://www.workplacefairness.org/voting-rights-time-off-workState laws for voting in the workplaceSharing is Self-CaringSelf-careIn what ways do you prioritize casting your vote in your community?Community-careWhat steps can you take to ensure that your family, friends, and co-workers are encouraged and have the ability to cast their vote?Systems-careWhich of the structural suggestions for encouraging voting in the workplace are in place at your organization? How can you advocate to include one or more of the suggestions?Reach Out!lifeisworkpod.comFind questions submission linkInstagram @ lifeisworkpodKo-Fi Coffee info@palanteconsulting.com

The way you operate is like a phone. There are an endless number of things a phone can do, but most of these things require you to download a program or app. Similarly, your own abilities are limited by the “programs”, or beliefs, in your brain. You may talk about the things that you want to achieve, but if you don’t have the right beliefs there’s no way to make it happen.  In this episode, Dr. Jaffe introduces a simple exercise that you can use to start rewriting these programs and put yourself on the path to achieving your goals. 

No doubt, you’ve heard someone say that babies lose weight after birth but need to surpass their birth weight by 7 days, or 2 weeks, or 3 weeks. Similarly, you’ve probably heard that babies who have a 10% weight loss in the first few days require formula supplementation. But is this “decaphobia” justified? Join Marie and her guest, clinical pediatrician and expert researcher Dr. Ian Paul, who says that these numbers and assumptions have been based on anecdote, not evidence. Dr. Paul has given us the NEWT, i.e., the nomogram which represents the new and evidence-based standard to understand newborn weight loss. Whether you are a parent or a provider, you’ll learn the who-what-where-when-why of the NEWT, the research from 160,000 babies that propelled its inception, how it compares with expert recommendations, how weight loss in babies born by vaginal compares to cesarean birth, and how 36-weekers compare to 37-weekers. Don’t miss this exciting episode!

On today's episode of the show, I get into how you have to be your biggest cheerleader in life, because in the moments when shit gets tough, it's gonna be YOU and YOU.Also, I started these shorter "Motivation Monday" episodes a few weeks ago and got great feedback on them,  so from now on the majority of the episodes I do will be short, to the point, and designed to light a fire under your ass and in your Soul.Like I mention in this, you can also watch the video recordings of these from now on at my Instagram below:https://www.instagram.com/casey_edward/Similarly, you can follow along with the show to stay up to date on episodes and all that good stuff:https://www.instagram.com/icantwaittotellyou.podcast/Enjoy!

Co-hosts Dr. William Smith & Kenya M. Johnson discuss the topic "How Will NFT's Impact the Music Industry" in episode #168. They discuss the newest crypto currency, "non-fungible token" including: What are NFT's? What are the pro's and cons? When should artists consider using NFT's and when not? Similarly, co-hosts explore and provide advice to listeners about how to determine whether or not NFT's may be an additional stream of income to consider integrating in their music business. http://makingmoneyinthemusicbiz.com/

This episode of Living Myth focuses upon the idea of destiny as an essential part of humanity through which each soul is called to follow its own star and true aim in life. However, the consideration of the word destiny also leads to some confusion about its historical associations and its original meaning. One thing leads to another as concepts about etymology or the study of words become entwined with ideas of mythology and the study of stories.   Michael Meade suggests that language has its own genius and that each word can also be a story that branches out from root meanings to many associations with other words and other concepts. Similarly, each person has their own genius, the inner spark and speck of star that forms the original constellation of their soul. This inner spark connects us to our natural way of being, but also to our North Star that secretly tries to guide us further on the path of our own destiny, as we all participate in the spinning of the world, the turning of the spheres and the song of the stars of creation. Thank you for listening to and supporting this podcast.  You can hear Michael Meade live by joining his new online series and companion workshop “Personal Myth, Cultural Change” that continue this Friday, April 9. Register and learn more at mosaicvoices.org/events.   You can save 30% on these online events, receive additional podcast episodes and further support this podcast by becoming a member of Living Myth Premium.  Learn more and become a member at patreon.com/livingmyth.   As always, you can also support this podcast by leaving a review on iTunes and sharing it with your friends. On behalf of Michael Meade and the whole Mosaic staff, we wish you continued well-being and deep community connection during this period of great uncertainty and transformation.

If somebody forgot to count one night of the Omer, and did not count the entire next day, then henceforth he counts each night without reciting Beracha. Since some Rishonim (Medieval Halachic authorities) maintained that all the days of Sefirat Ha’omer comprise a single Misva, such that one who misses even a single day can no longer fulfill the Misva, the Beracha is not recited on the subsequent nights once a day has been missed.The question arises as to whether a person in this position may recite the Beracha if he is counting on behalf of others. Even though he normally does not recite a Beracha over his own counting, perhaps he may recite the Beracha if others will be listening to his Beracha and his Omer counting for the purpose of fulfilling their obligation.The Peri Hadash (Rav Hizkiya Da Silva, 1659-1698) ruled that since the person in this situation is not obligated to recite the Beracha over Sefirat Ha’omer, he is not eligible to recite this Beracjha on behalf of others. The Talmud Yerushalmi, as the Peri Hadash cites, states that a "Ben Ir" – resident of an unwalled city, who is obligated to read the Megilla on the 14th of Adar – is ineligible to read the Megilla on behalf of a "Ben Kerach" – resident of a walled city, who is obligated to read the Megilla on the 15th of Adar. Since the "Ben Ir" is not obligated to read the Megilla that day, he is unable to fulfill the obligation of a "Ben Kerach" by reading for him (and vice versa). Similarly, the Peri Hadash writes, a person who is not obligated to count the Omer with a Beracha, because he had missed a day of counting, is not eligible to recite the Beracha and count on behalf of those who are obligated.Maharam Ibn Habib (Jerusalem, 1654-1696) disagrees, asserting that Halacha does not follow this ruling of the Yerushalmi. The principle of "Kol Yisrael Arebim Zeh La’zeh" ("all Israel are responsible for one another"), Maharam Ibn Habib writes, establishes that even one who has already fulfilled his obligation can fulfill the obligation on a fellow Jew’s behalf, because we are all responsible for each other’s Misva observance. In fact, Rashi, in the beginning of Masechet Megilla, writes that villagers, who are occasionally allowed to read the Megilla before Purim (sometimes as early as the 11th of Adar), can fulfill their obligation by hearing the reading by a "Ben Ir," who is not obligated until the 14th. By the same token, Maharam Ibn Habib rules, one who had missed a day of counting the Omer may nevertheless recite the Beracha and count on behalf of somebody else.Hacham Ovadia Yosef brings those who refute this argument, distinguishing between a person who was obligated but discharged his obligation, and one who is altogether excluded from an obligation. While it is true that one who has already fulfilled a Misva can still fulfill the obligation for another, in the case of one who had missed a day of counting, he is no longer included in the obligation, and so he cannot recite the Beracha and count for somebody else.Hacham Ovadia writes that although the Rabbis of Salonica allowed one who had missed a day of counting to serve as the Hazzan and count on behalf of the congregation, many other Poskim, including the Kenesset Ha’gedola (Rav Haim Banbenishti, Turkey, 1603-1673), and Rav Haim Palachi (Turkey, 1788-1868), followed the Peri Hadash’s stringent ruling. Therefore, we apply the rule of "Safek Berachot Le’hakel" – that one does not recite a Beracha when it is questionable whether it is warranted – and thus one who had missed a day of counting may not count on behalf of others.Hacham Ovadia (Yabia Omer, vol. 8, O.C. 46:2) notes the ruling of the Shebet Ha’levi (Rav Shemuel Wosner, 1913-2015) that if the Rabbi is the one who normally recites the Beracha and counts the Omer for the congregation, he may be allowed to do so even if he had missed a day. Having somebody recite and count for the congregation in the Rabbi’s place would cause the Rabbi great embarrassment, and, in Rav Wosner’s view, the concern for "Kebod Ha’beriyot" – the Rabbi’s dignity – allows for the Rabbi to recite the Beracha in this case. Since in any event the Beracha is omitted only out of doubt – because according to one view, a person who missed a day of counting cannot fulfill the Misva of Sefirat Ha’omer on subsequent nights – the Rabbi may be allowed to recite the Beracha to avoid humiliation. Hacham Ovadia, however, does not accept this ruling, and maintains that even in the case of a Rabbi, or a regular Hazzan, who would suffer embarrassment, if he had missed a day of counting, he may not recite the Beracha and count on behalf of others.Interestingly, Hacham Ovadia in a different context does allow the consideration of "Kebod Ha’beriyot" to override the prohibition of reciting a Beracha Le’batala (Beracha recited in vain). Elsewhere in the eighth of volume of Yabia Omer, Hacham Ovadia discusses the case of a woman who, long before meeting her husband, had an illicit relationship which resulted in a pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. She never disclosed this information to her husband, and so after she gave birth to a firstborn son, preparations were made for a Pidyon Ha’ben ("redemption" of the firstborn). Hacham Ovadia ruled that due to the concern for "Kebod Ha’beriyot," the wife did not need to reveal this to her husband, even though he would be unnecessarily performing a Pidyon Ha’ben and thus reciting a Beracha Le’batala. The likely distinction between the two cases is that in the situation of the Pidyon Ha’ben, the woman was allowed to keep the information to herself, and not required to embarrass herself in order to prevent her husband from reciting a Beracha Le’batala. In the case of Sefirat Ha’omer, by contrast, Hacham Ovadia was not prepared to allow the Rabbi himself to knowingly recite a Beracha Le’batala in order to avoid embarrassment.Therefore, one who had missed a day of counting may not recite the Beracha and count for others, even if he is a Rabbi or regular Hazzan who would suffer embarrassment by having somebody else count for the congregation.Summary: One who missed an entire day of counting the Omer continues counting henceforth, but without reciting the Beracha. The person in this case may not recite the Beracha and count for others, even if he is a Rabbi or regular Hazzan who would suffer embarrassment by having somebody else count for the congregation.

In this episode we look at the Yom Ha-Shoah and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Why did the Knesset establish Yom Ha-Shoah on the 27th of Nisan? Is this the best time to remember the Holocaust? Was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising historically justified? What was the Historical footprint of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising? Did the Germans react to it? Did it make any change in how the Poles interacted with the Jews?   Research notes:   The best one volume book on the Holocaust is Martin Gilbert’s famed volume, The Holocaust https://www.amazon.com/dp/0006371949/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_XGSZNQTJE7NN9HAFHKF3, weaves narrative and has an incredible amount of very important information.  His narrative on The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is only based on Zuckerman’s narrative and makes no mention of ZZW.    Saul Freidlander’s The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000UZQH8E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_7VZ62R64562HH89CPRGM is another very important one volume work on the Holocaust that was consulted.    In terms of understanding the general attitude in Germany at the time Goldhagen’s somewhat controversial book, Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust https://www.amazon.com/dp/0679772685/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_SG1BJQR7SS2JW8EH98SS, is very key. Similarly, Lawrence Rees, Auschwitz: A New History https://www.amazon.com/dp/1586483579/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_98YXQ14TSASRW4VDB01S, is outstanding and has many unique interviews that a Jewish Historian would never get.      One of the most important digests of general information that I use on the Warsaw Ghetto pre uprising is, Kiddush Hashem: Jewish Religious and Cultural Life in Poland During the Holocaust (English and Yiddish Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0881251186/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_MR266PFSBV6RZMCYHN5W.       In terms of the basic story of the Great Deportation of summer 42, The Warsaw Ghetto Diaries by Hillel Seidman (1997-12-04) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FIZQO9M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_MH06VM2CX040AG2P2T2Q     Moshe Arens carefully and relatively objectively examines the ZOB vs ZZW issues and also most of the basic story from before the Great Deportation through the Revolt in his monumental Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto https://www.amazon.com/dp/1094763284/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_SNN0RM9WXAJWBBV0EQ9E     The information about the Sobibor revolt and about Toibi Thomas Blatt’s experiences is from the standard work on Sobibor, Escape from Sobibor: Revised and Updated Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1480458511/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_1X0J722H02NFM19J0BQ4, which also is full of very important interviews of most of the Sobibor survivors.  ______________________________________ Rabbi Arnie Wittenstein is a well known Torah scholar, Tanach expert, and Historian. He has lectured in the Mir Yeshiva, Torat Shraga, and and many Shuls internationally. These podcasts integrate his broad knowledge of many different facets of Torah and History. Join in weekly to gain accurate & in depth knowledge of some of the most important and controversial topics in Jewish History. Nach Yomi: Join R Wittenstein’s Nach Yomi on WhatsApp. We learn a perek a day five days a week, with a nine minute shiur covering the key issues. We are currently learning Shir HaShirim. Click here to join!  For tours, speaking engagements, or sponsorships contact us at jewishhistoryuncensored@gmail.com (CedarMediaStudios Podcasting 2021)

On his IG page (@zentensivist) Dr. Siuba asked the question, "are we intubating COVID patients too late?" As another wave of COVID lingers over our head, this question is an important one. One year ago, we watched as COVID patients were intubated early only to face the cascade of complications to follow. Similarly, now we watch some COVID patients struggle on noninvasive ventilation only to inevitably need emergent intubation. Is there a right time to intubate these patients? Will we ever find the sweet spot? Dr. Matt Siuba is a medical intensivist at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, OH. He focuses on circulatory shock as well as severe forms of respiratory failure, especially Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Additionally, he's interested in ICU procedures, particularly point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) and difficult vascular access. He's a passionate medical educator and serves as the associate program director for the Critical Care Medicine fellowship. He's also a senior editor and regular content contributor at CriticalCareNow.com, focused on mechanical ventilation, respiratory care, and airway management. References for the episode: 2020 Lippincott Advisor - Nursing Care Plans for Medical Diagnoses: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) https://www.nursingcenter.com/nursingcenter_redesign/media/nursingcenter/coronavirus%20files%20from%20Lippincott%20Solutions/©-2020-Lippincott-Advisor-Nursing-Care-Plans-for-Medical-Diagnoses_-Coronavirus-disease-2019-(COVID-19).pdf Ricard, JD., Roca, O., Lemiale, V. et al. Use of nasal high flow oxygen during acute respiratory failure. Intensive Care Med 46, 2238–2247 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00134-020-06228-7 Topics: When should we intubate a COVID patient? COVID invasive vs noninvasive ventilation Would you agree to be intubated as a COVID patient? Work of breathing vs respiratory rate What happened with the different COVID phenotypes theory? RNMD interventions for COVID Focusing on the process of care vs outcomes Instagram: @Zentensivist @RNMDPodcast⁣ @TheNocturnalNurse Please subscribe and rate the podcast, that’s a free way you can really help us out!⁣⁣ Email us your topics or if you’d like to be a guest: RNMDPodcast@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rnmd/support

Ryan Borton is the CEO of Funovation, best known for its custom laser mazes and other small footprint attractions for family entertainment centers (FECs).  Since its founding in 2007, Funovation has installed over 400 attractions in 33 countries, and each installation is unique.  In this interview, Ryan talks about innovating fun, “beamers,” and the importance of booster attractions. Ryan had a unique route into the attractions industry.  He started in the subprime mortgage space.  From there, he transitioned into various roles focusing on sales and opportunity identification.  All of these roles helped Ryan be a successful business leader when he joined Funovation and soon became its CEO.  When asked what lessons from the subprime mortgage industry he’s continued to utilize throughout his career, Ryan discussed the importance of integrity.  In the mortgage industry, he would sometimes see clients approved for home loans that they potentially shouldn’t be approved for and made the personal commitment to instead choose to do what he thought was morally correct.  This same philosophy is integral to his role as the CEO. When asked about the difference between sales leadership and other types of leadership, Ryan shared that, to him, they have many similarities.  One of the key aspects of his leadership style was learned from being a fan of UCLA Basketball and their coach, John Wooden.  Coach Wooden understood that each member of the team was unique and thus needed to be utilized in an appropriate way.  Similarly, Ryan takes the time to learn about his employees, their motivations, and their individual skill sets in order to know how to uniquely manage each of them.  He also stressed the importance of empowering employees and giving them a certain level of autonomy.  He does this by asking all of his employees to make decisions with the mindset that Funovation is their own business.  Ryan also mentioned that this autonomy allowed employees to learn from mistakes but also have an opportunity to try new things and discover better ways of doing things than what had been done in the past. Funovation’s guiding mission is to “remind the world to play.”  They’ve been accomplishing this amazing objective by creating unique attractions that utilize both brain and brawn to encourage problem-solving and play.  Funovation creates booster attractions for FECs, which are high-value, small footprint experiences that offer an alternative opportunity for play outside of a complex’s core offering.  When “innovating fun” and coming up with new, exciting product offerings, Funovation is careful to make sure that the new ideas are consistent with its corporate values and goals.  Another exciting aspect of these offerings is that no two of these attractions are the same.  When a client asks Funovation for assistance designing a new attraction, such as one of their signature laser mazes, they provide the available footprint of the space.  Then Funovation uses faux walls to recreate the space in their facility.  Then, a “beamer” comes into this space and uses string to mock-up where all of the lasers will go.  These unique footprints and custom laser layouts are what make each Funovation laser maze unique.  Another aspect that makes each attraction different is the unique relationship between Funovation and the attraction’s client.  Understanding each FECs’ individual needs and goals helps Funovation tailor their attractions to best suit their needs. Ryan discussed the power of getting to experience an attraction when making a sale.  Josh fondly remembers enjoying his yearly visit to the Funovation booth at the IAAPA Expo.  He even has score stickers from the attractions on each of his old International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) badges.  Being able to see and experience something personally is an excellent way to help people understand how an attraction could best work for them in their facility.  Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented all of us AttractionPros from gathering in Orlando for the 2020 IAAPA Expo, but hopefully the opportunity to try out Funovation’s experiences can happen safely later this year. Though the pandemic forced Funovation, like many other themed entertainment companies, to make very hard decisions, the focus on customer service and taking care of the attraction operators was not lost.  By continuing to provide guidance to their clients and taking measures such as suspending warranty payments, Funovation demonstrated their commitment to helping FECs and the attractions industry bounce back as quickly as possible.  Ryan highlighted the value of FECs as an escape from the challenges of this pandemic and knows that these facilities have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces, under their masks, of course.   Ryan is incredibly proud of how his team has rallied throughout this challenging time to do what is best for the business. One silver lining that came out of the pandemic is that Funovation had time to collaborate and develop their technologies for uses in other industries.  Additionally, a greater emphasis on the team taking care of each other and helping each other out evolved out of necessity due to the furloughs driven by the pandemic.  As the team grows back to its former size and the industry continues to rebound, this greater sense of comradery is something Ryan knows will stay.   If you’d like to learn more about Funovation and its attraction offerings, please visit funovation.com.  Additionally, you can contact Ryan directly at ryan.borton@funovation.com. To connect with AttractionPros: attractionpros@gmail.com #weareallattractionpros

We dive into the fast-changing world of direct-to-consumer digital health, with perhaps the best person in the world: Levels founder Josh Clemente. (Shoutout to Ben Grynol and Michael Mizrahi from our LP community for introducing us!) Levels is on a mission to make consumers everywhere aware of their metabolic health by enabling anyone to track blood glucose levels with a continuous glucose monitor. Josh has had an incredible career, working as an early engineer at SpaceX and later at Hyperloop One before founding Levels out of a very real personal need. Join our conversation as we cover everything from Josh's time at SpaceX to why the market has changed for consumer digital health, and what the future holds for Levels. If you love Acquired and want more, join our LP Community for access to over 50 LP-only episodes, monthly Zoom calls, and live access for big events like emergency pods and book club discussions with authors. We can't wait to see you there. Join here at: https://acquired.fm/lp/ Sponsors: Thanks to Kevel for being our presenting sponsor for this special episode. Kevel provides API infrastructure to quickly build custom ad platforms for sponsored listings, internal promotions, native ads, and more — customers include Yelp, Rappi, OfferUp, Mozilla, Strava, and many other large apps and platforms. In true Acquired fashion, Kevel and CEO James Avery have put together a fun page showcasing the company's "history & facts", which you can find here: http://bit.ly/acquiredkevel ! Thank you as well to Masterworks and to Perkins Coie. You can learn more about them at: http://bit.ly/acquiredmasterworks (use code “Acquired” to skip the waitlist) http://bit.ly/acquiredperkins The Levels / Digital Health Playbook: (also available on our website at https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-why-now-for-digital-health-with-levels-founder-josh-clemente ) High risk, high return - having a mentality of "we have nothing to lose" can create the high risk tolerance necessary to achieving high returns. SpaceX had a "we have nothing to lose" mentality for all of its early days. Elon always reminded SpaceX employees that everyone had to personally have to succeed, or "2,000 people including you will lose their jobs." Internet-based prescription workflows have unlocked a key business model innovation for direct-to-consumer digital health. The unlocking of therapeutic devices and drugs for direct to consumer cases, as pioneered by Hims/Hers, Roman, etc, has created a new age for digital health. This paradigm has shift has allowed businesses to reach patients directly without spending years (and millions of dollars) negotiating agreements with payers to get a coveted "billing code" from insurance. Often the best startup opportunities come from personal experience. The story of how Josh came to found Levels illustrates the power of being patient zero of the problem you want to solve. Josh didn't start out looking for a company to start, but by self-experiments simply because he had a problem and was curious. In new categories, starting as a premium product and moving down market as costs come down is often the best strategy. Tesla's "master plan" illustrates this perfectly: start absurdly expensive & impractical (Roadster), then still expensive but more practical (Model S/X), then mass-market viability (Model 3/Y). Data, data, data. If you listened to our Meituan episode, you'll remember us discussing the power of Meituan's review data. Similarly, Levels moat lies in its data. Amazingly Levels already owns the world's largest collective dataset of non-diabetic glucose monitoring data, and the company is still in beta! As they amass more and more data, they'll be able to generate more personalized insights and health/lifestyle recommendations for customers. Links: Levels: https://www.levelshealth.com

Hegel's unique and non-traditional understanding of the resurrection of Jesus echoes his overall system of Logic, Nature, and Spirit.   According to Hegel, God others himself in Jesus; and in Jesus' death, Spirit becomes fully finite.  As a result of this, Spirit is then reborn in the community. Similarly, in Hegel's overall approach, Logic others itself in Nature; and Spirit is then reborn in Nature through a historical process of individuals in society coming to recognize Spirit through art, religion, and philosophy. Hegel did not consider the historical accuracy of the resurrection to be important to the Christian religion. And yet he acknowledged the need of the intellect to construct meaning in this event as well.   This episode will explore the resurrection in detail, and include discussion of Jung's "Answer to Job," and Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga's notion of "dwindling possibilities."

This matchday recap episode actually starts off by focusing on the Copa del Rey action, as Matt Clark (@MattClark_08) rounds up the commentary clips and sounds from Real Sociedad’s victory in the final, before host Euan McTear (@emctear) speaks to long-time La Real fan Phil Ball (@PhilBallTweets) about what this triumph means.The troubling Mouctar Diakhaby incident is also discussed, with Paco Polit (@pacopolitENG) outlining what is known so far about the allegations of a racist insult taking place during Cádiz vs Valencia.We also turn to the LaLiga title race and Emily Wilson (@wilson_emt) looks back on Real Madrid’s latest win over Eibar, as well as previewing their upcoming Liverpool Champions League tie. Similarly, Allen Dodson (@groguet01) discusses Villarreal’s big win over Granada and also looks ahead to the next leg of their Europa League adventure. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today on Encounters USA Metaline Bigfoot Festival, Bigfoot Hunter Stephen Major’s movie debut Sullivan Creek Sasquatch as well as the new Bigfoot documentary from Animal Photographer Jason Humber. In addition, we’ll have updates on Speakers at the Metaline Bigfoot Festival, a short announcement concerning Encounters USA and Stephen Major’s Extreme Expeditions Northwest. So, it’s gonna be a great show. Please stay tuned. Technical Problems The show you are about watch or listen to on podcast has one major flaw. It’s missing the second half of the Encounters USA interview with Amy Bue and Bill Bisson, the organizer of the event. Due to the fact that Amy wasn’t available for the second one, and even though I never told him what happened, I have not been able to nail down Bill for the second interview. Metaline Falls Updates Thanks to the information passed along by organizer Bill Bisson in the first interview, I can give a fairly updated speaker list to get everyone excited about the Festival. Of course, I don’t have the entire list, but I do know that Dr. Robert Alley is going to be there to talk about his research on Alaska Sasquatch. Similarly, Larry “Beans” Baxter is going to be talking about his book Abandoned. Of course, if you’ve seen the interview or listened to the podcast with Beans, you’re gonna know about the mystery of Port Chatham and the mysterious Hairy Man. My old friend Thom Cantrall will be speaking at the festival about his latest book Sasquatch Face to Face. Amy Bue is also going to be discussing her research at the festival with a presentation on her latest activities. Of course, we’re all expecting to hear about Amy’s experiences in the latest Stephen Major motion picture, Bigfoot Encounters in the Pacific Northwest. There will be a total of twelve speakers in all and two movie debuts in the historic Metaline Falls Theater. I think the biggest thrill for everyone is going to be seeing Bob Gimlin at the festival. Bob is scheduled to speak so we are all looking forward to hearing what words of encouragement he’s going to have for those who are continuing the search. If you had seen the last half of the podcast, the one that wasn’t recorded, that is what you would have seen. Of course there were the usual funny exchanges about the speakers at the festival, who killed JFK and the answer to the meaning of life, but as I said I forgot to press record. Now that we have all of the big news about the festival, here is some insider news you won’t know unless you are an Encounters USA fan. Most people know about my interviews with former law enforcement official Rich Germeau. One of those interviews was done at Lake Cushman, on the Hood Canal. Where Rish showed me a site of Bigfoot activity.   Some months ago, the gentleman who owned that property contacted me. What he had to say was even more interesting than Rich’s interactions. A number of Sasquatch interacted with the owners of the property and their guests at a fire pit I was not allowed to film. This interaction happened on a number of occasions. In addition, during the interactions with the Sasquatch clan, there was a flurry of UFO activity above the property and above the property. I cannot wait for the Metaline Falls Bigfoot Festival!

Counselors, social workers, psychiatrists and other providers frequently have the opportunity(and dare we say, obligation) to collaborate with other individuals and systems that are important to our clients. One of the most notable for many, is their faith community. How should a counselor go about coordinating care with a person’s spiritual director? Similarly, pastors, priests, and other spiritual directors frequently encounter mental health and behavioral challenges that seem to exceed their specific focus of soul care. How should a spiritual care provider go about coordinating care with a person’s mental health, behavioral, or psychiatric provider? And just to complicate things even more, how does all this change when the client in question is a child or teenager? Jared Bennett is a Protestant Youth Pastor. Rhys Pasimio is a clinical counselor. Together they explore some of the variables and considerations at play in attempting to work together to care for the whole person and the systems that surround them. They discuss their respective communities and why each should talk advantage of the resources offered by the other. This episode of SMART Counsel features the following professionals: Rhys Pasimio – rhys@newpatterncounseling.com Jared Bennett - youthpastor87 on Instagram and Facebook Please visit www.patreon.com/smartcounsel to learn how you can support the podcast. Thanks! The Master’s in Counseling program at Multnomah University and New Pattern Counseling present this podcast as a resource for aspiring and current professionals, as well as members of the greater community. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of Multnomah University or its faculty or New Pattern Counseling.

Jolie is joined by Dr. Lucy Long, director of the independent Center for Food and Culture and an instructor of American studies, ethnic studies, folklore, and nutrition at BGSU, and Jerry Reed, a recent graduate from the MA program in popular cultures studies at BGSU. They discuss their “Finding Comfort/Discomfort Through Foodways” project that examines how comfort food can be meaningful and create meaningfulness in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Announcer: From Bowling Green State University and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas. Musical Intro: I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment. Jolie: Welcome back to the BiG Ideas podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Jolie Sheffer, Associate Professor of English and American Culture Studies, and the Director of ICS. Due to the ongoing pandemic, we are not recording in the studio, but remotely via phone and computer. As always, the opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of BGSU or its employees. Jolie: Bowling Green State University is located in the Great Black Swamp, long a meeting place of the Wyandot, Shawnee, Lenape, Ottawa, Kickapoo, Fox, Pottawatomie, Erie, Miami, Peoria, Chippewa, and Seneca Indian tribes. We honor the rich history of this land and its indigenous inhabitants, past and present. Today we're joined by two guests, Dr. Lucy Long and Jerry Reed. Lucy directs the Independent Center for Food and Culture and teaches in American studies, ethnic studies, folklore and nutrition at BGSU. Her research focuses on food, music, and dance as mediums for meaning and community. Jolie: Lucy served as the Director of "Finding Comfort/Discomfort Through Food Ways," a project that examines how people are living and eating in these difficult pandemic times. Jerry Reed earned a BS in Education and an MA in Popular Culture Studies from BGSU. He completed an internship with the Center for Food and Culture, working to develop a curriculum that uses food to help children understand cultural conflict. Jerry worked as the Assistant Director of the Food Ways Project. Thanks both for being with me today, I'm really excited to talk about this with you. To get us started, could you tell us a little bit about the Food Ways Project and how it came about? Will you start us off, Lucy? Lucy : Okay. When the pandemic first hit, I started noticing that food media was publishing recipes for comfort food. And this is a stressful time for comfort food. So I actually edited a volume and published some articles in 2017 on comfort food, so that automatically grabbed me. And my initial response to some of these publications, particularly-there was one for the New York Times, and it was comfort foods of famous chefs. And it was all these specialty ingredients and things that, probably, the average American would not have in their pantry. And I realized, first of all, these foods are not things that I relate to, personally, as a comfort food. And they probably are not relevant to many people who are reading this. But also, the idea of having to go out and find these ingredients, some of which are very expensive, but many of which, you would have to go to different grocery stores or try to find them. Lucy : And I realized, that's going to cause a lot of discomfort. So that got me thinking a little bit more about at how, during this time, it's not a simple thing to say, "Here, eat some comfort food and calm down." And then also, comfort food itself as a very American concept. Every culture has food that is comforting, that reminds people of their childhood, and things like that. But it's uniquely American in that there is a particular sort of morality attached to food in America. That different foods are good and bad, depending on what they do to your body, physically. And we're not even talking about health, we're talking about whether or not those foods make you fat or whether they make you kind of sluggish or whatever. Lucy : So, so much of our morality around food is tied to how that food impacts your body, your body image, and whether or not you have the proper type of body. So therefore, Americans talk about good foods and bad foods in terms of, good foods are ones that are healthy for us, will keep us nice, fit and slim. Bad foods are the ones that really tastes good, lots of fat, lots of sugar, salt, but we all know that they're bad for us. That they have negative impacts on our weight, on our body shape, and on our energy levels. Lucy : So that grows out of a very distinctive, American attitude towards food. And the phrase, "comfort food," was invented in the US. Dr. Joyce Brothers used it in the 1960s as an explanation for why so many Americans were starting to be obese, said that people are turning to comfort foods. They have stress in their lives or they need comfort for some reason, so they're using that as an excuse to eat these fattening foods. And then the food industry picked up on that and said, "Oh, okay, here are some comfort food dishes," and they started using that concept to market these dishes. Saying that, "Oh, everybody needs comfort, so here, eat some macaroni and cheese." So it turned into a marketing category. Jolie: Yeah, it's so interesting because, two thoughts. One is that, the opposite of comfort food is discomfort food. The things we're supposed to like are the things we're not supposed to enjoy. That there really is this idea of, maybe that is also a very American thing, that Protestant work ethic, that we're suspicious of pleasure, in some ways. Jerry, what was your particular interest in some of these issues in this Food Ways Project? Jerry: Especially as we dug deeper into the interviews that were conducted, I think one of the most surprising and interesting aspects for me was this idea of food of discomfort. Because we focus so much on this idea of comfort food as this a very individual experience to help one self feel better. Which is incredibly relevant during the time of pandemic or even during a time of stressful elections. So when people start talking about foods of discomfort, there's two major things that I've noticed. One is there are foods of actual physical discomfort, foods that you just can't eat for dietary reasons. Whether you're lactose intolerant, PKU, et cetera, that your diet is limited. Jerry: And then there's also foods that, it's not so much that the food itself causes discomfort in some way, it's the concept of food as a whole. Some people have turned their minds now to that ... Let me redo that. A number of people have realized that, "Oh, now I happen to work at home or not work for a while. I'm living well within my needs." And they can see that, now that they've stepped a little bit outside of that daily work that they do from 8:00 to 5:00. So to be able to realize that, oh, there's got to be a number of people who are not able to live within their means. Especially during a time like this, where even as I'm struggling, I'm surviving. And so that's brought a number of weird pieces of discomfort, just conceptual discomfort, to people. And that has caused some to act, some to not act, at different levels. Jolie: I'm curious, in terms of this project, because of the pandemic you had to really work remotely. Entirely, I imagine, including with the number of international collaborators. So how did that affect the way you collaborate and conduct research? Lucy : We were able to actually extend this project much further than most oral history projects. We frequently did not even know where people were when they were responding, initially. And then it does kind of happen, I also was using social media, LinkedIn and the Center for Food and Culture has a website. And that goes out to anyone who's interested, anywhere in the world. And then I was also using Facebook. And so when I was sending out information about this, and people were responding, and then they would tell their friends about it. So I also do a lot of work internationally, especially on culinary tourism, so a lot of my international connections were seeing this, "Oh yeah, this is really interesting." And so they were sending me things. Lucy : Some of those people would just send me a little paragraph, this is what's happening here. Other times, there are people who are using this ... I developed it first as an assignment for an undergraduate class, and then realized, oh, this would actually be very useful to do on a larger scale. I should mention here, too, I did get a little bit of funding that helped to cover honoraria for the researchers. Minimal honoraria, I should say, from the Association for the Study of Food and Society. And then also humanities, the Ohio Humanities. Formally the Ohio Humanities Council, now it's just called the Ohio Humanities, and then also from the Elliot Torium Foundation, a private foundation. Lucy : So when this started, it was just like, oh, this is interesting. Let's see where we can go with it. And then, because of my international work, various colleagues in different places were picking up on it and extending it. And then the researchers themselves, one of them, who also happens to be my daughter, she teaches in Ireland at a university. So she's having some of her students do the project. And she was interviewing some of her colleagues and friends, who tended to be very international. So we're hearing from people who lived in Israel or who had parents in Israel, Norway. And then another one of the researchers is Chinese studying in the US. So he has access to a different group of people. Lucy : So, it's not a model for a social science ethnography. A lot of it was serendipity, but everything was so sudden and unexpected, we just took whatever opportunities there were. I had worked previously with Jerry and so when I started getting this idea, I approached him. I said, "I don't know if there's going to be any funding, would you like to sign on to be the assistant director of this? There's a lot of administrative stuff that I'm going to need." And he said, "Sure." I said, "Now, I don't know about funding, but ..." So I know that Jerry was committed regardless of funding. So he's been a tremendous help through this. Jolie: And Jerry, could you talk a little bit about some of the tasks that you were working on and how the pandemic may have changed the way you had previously worked on projects or worked specifically with Lucy and your relationship prior. Jerry: I guess, for my tasks, there's two halves of it. There's the largely administrative half that, it was at home or not at home. It didn't really make too much of a difference, really, just depended on which wall I was staring at. But then came the other half of it, which was doing interviews and conducting these interviews with all of these participants. Which was a very different way than I'm used to doing field work. My field work that I did for my thesis, I did at a middle school in the area. And I was there with the students for a large portion of the day, and that's what I was used to, is just being around the people. So now all of a sudden, doing these cold calls to people I don't know to say, "Hey, I want to talk about food for awhile," was a very different setting. Jerry: But because people were already isolated and wanted that contact, they were happy to talk with any stranger about anything. Just that piece of human contact was so valuable to everybody that we talked to, and it made some of the conversations we've had absolutely fantastic. And yet my work with Lucy prior, because of the nature of building curriculum, the only real thing that changed was that we couldn't really meet face to face. Which can be, I guess, somewhat solved via Zoom, WebEx, whatever your medium is. Jolie: I think it's interesting that you're talking about, in addition to comfort food, the comfort of community. And even having the occasion to talk about these things is also a real balm in these challenging times. Can you talk a little bit, each of you, about how this project created or changed your sense of community? Lucy : I think for me, I really enjoyed getting to know the different people who were working with me. They're all either master's students, PhD students, or they had recently completed masters. I was able to learn things from them, and that was really nice. I was given a whole different perspective on things from them. And then a lot of people were sending me emails with just brief snippets of their thoughts about comfort food. And some of those really challenged the assumptions that we all have. One of them that I always point out, a woman contacted me and said, "I just wanted you to let you know that my husband and I are both disabled. We've had to live off of food stamps for the last 20 years. We are eating better now than we ever have because the food stamps were expanded," and they were able to go to the farmer's market. Lucy : They were able to use them for fresh produce. And she said, "This is wonderful. I'm healthier now than I ever have been." And that was completely the opposite of what we expected. That's not to paint a rosy picture of this all either, but it automatically challenged some of my assumptions about class in America, and how class is then tied to community. Similarly, someone else, they actually came from an upper middle class background and they lived out in the suburbs. And they said that in order to go shopping, they had to drive to a supermarket. People didn't usually go out walking in their neighborhoods. They had all this money, but they didn't have that kind of casual contact that you could get in a city or in a very small town. Lucy : And they said getting food meant they either had to drive somewhere or have it delivered, and they could afford to do that, and they recognized they had a lot of privilege in being able to do that. But she said, "It's very, very lonely. We don't have the usual kinds of contacts." She didn't realize that going to the grocery store had been a way for her to connect with people. Before, it was just a chore and now suddenly, she recognized that it had been a routine that had provided connection for her. That she didn't recognize that. So two things there, having money definitely made things a lot easier for people, but it didn't automatically give them a sense of community. Lucy : And it did not give them people that they felt that they had a sense of belonging with. And then also, being partly because of the pandemic, people were starting to recognize that these activities around food that we think of as just chores, that they were actually opportunities for very meaningful connections with other people. And suddenly we were missing those. Jolie: What about you, Jerry? Any observations either through the research or your own experience, in these last seven, eight months around community that have caused you to think a little differently? Jerry: Especially in thinking about the interviews, it's surprising how much, when you would start to ask somebody what their comfort food is, how little they would talk about the food. And what the conversation would turn to is about the meals that they would share with people, or the origin of the recipe that they got the recipe for their comfort food from. And then they would bring off into a different story about that, about their grandmother, so on, so forth. And so, I think it goes to show so much of comfort food is tied up in identity and community. Who we decide our tribe is. And so it's really fascinating to hear somebody start to talk about how much they really, really have been going to carbs during this time, and then all of a sudden they're talking about how much they miss their grandchildren or friends, so it really is a lot of focus on the comfort that we get from community. Rather than the comfort that we get from food. Jolie: We're going to take a quick break. Thanks for listening to the Big Ideas podcast. Musical Interlude: Question. Answer. Discussion. Announcer: If you are passionate about Big Ideas, consider sponsoring this program. To have your name or organization mentioned here, please contact us at ics@bgsu.edu. Jolie: Hello and welcome to the Big Ideas podcast. Today I'm talking to Dr. Lucy Long and Jerry Reed, about their research on comfort food ways and how the network and practices around food provide opportunities for connection. One of the things that also strikes me in the discussion about comfort foods and how they come from traditions, from rituals, whether those are religious or cultural, familial, regional, things like that. I'm wondering, are you seeing in your research, new traditions being formed out of these pandemic times? Or revisions of traditions due to these particular circumstances? And if so, can you give us some of those stories? Lucy : I think new traditions are definitely being created, being rediscovered. One of the definitions of comfort food, Julie Loker was a medical sociologist who first started studying comfort food, and she published an article in 2002 and then in 2004 that established comfort food as a scholarly topic. And she identified four different needs that were being fulfilled through comfort food, that then helped people relieve their stress. And one of those was nostalgia, one of them was convenience, and we don't always think of convenience and fast food can be comfort food, because it's very convenient. Foods that offer physical comfort, the hot chocolate on a cold day, and then indulgence, which is what we usually think of. And then about 10 years later, another researcher identified belonging as a need that was being fulfilled. Lucy : So people wanted to eat the foods that other people were eating, because it gave them a sense of belonging to that community. So that gave us a baseline for studying comfort food. And part of what we started finding, the definition of comfort food is foods that help relieve stress. That's the accepted, American definition. What we started finding is that the kinds of stresses that people were dealing with during the pandemic, I think are more of an existential nature. We don't have control over our lives anymore. All of a sudden you have to recognize that nature really is more powerful than humans. So all these myths that, Americans in particular have grown up with, were suddenly being challenged. Lucy : And so, what I started noticing was that comfort food was fulfilling some of these more excess existential needs. Baking bread, I find it amazing that that so many Americans had gluten sensitivities, that bread purchasing was what was dropping. And then all of a sudden, they're all trying to make bread during the pandemic. And I felt like a lot of what that was showing was, people had a sense of control by cooking in general. And they could control the whole process and they could control the outcome. And having that sense of control is very important during the pandemic, when we can't control anything else. Lucy : It also gives people a sense of agency or efficacy. We can actually do something, it's not just control, but we can actually do something to change the outcome of things later. So we can organize our freezer so that we know that we can now make dinners for at least another 30 days. And that makes the individual feel like, oh, okay, I can do something to change the outcome of my future. And then also, one of the things that was fascinating, that the researchers who are doing most of the interviews pointed out to me, a lot of people were finding comfort by giving comfort to other people. Working with food banks, making food for their neighbors, doing things like ... something as simple as going shopping and checking with all their elderly neighbors and friends to see if anyone needed things picked up. Lucy : And that was being nice, but it also fulfilled this existential need to feel like, as an individual, we have significance in life. We can matter. And we can matter to these other people. So we started seeing these other needs, rather than belonging, I like to think about connectedness. Because part of what we were seeing with food was people were connecting, not just to a community. They were connecting to nature, to the seasons. So many people started gardening. I know for the first time I was able to do a CSA because usually I'm not in Bowling Green during the summer. Lucy : So suddenly I was, and I discovered that, oh, okay, now I'm eating zucchini and tomatoes and nothing else for the next three weeks. So now I'm eating butternut squash and potatoes and that connects me to the seasons. It connects me to nature. It connects me to these larger things that help to give a sense of continuity of life. So that kind of connectedness is on an existential level. And it's a much deeper kind of stress than simply, I had a bad day. So some of that was very exciting to me, the idea that people were finding comfort by giving comfort. I find that very optimistic and it gives me a lot of hope. Jolie: Yeah, and I think that's one of the ongoing questions, of what of these changes will stick around after there is a vaccine, after the immediate pandemic crisis has passed. Jerry, are there any other new traditions or observations that you were struck by in some of the interviews you've done that you want to share? Jerry: I guess I can categorize them in three different ways. There's the new traditions, one of the examples I can think of is somebody who has specifically taken time out of their day to have their tea time, specific time, and they specifically have their tea with condensed milk. Which is very popular in Newfoundland. Then there's also traditions that have changed. So one interview we talked about how do you have a Seder dinner online and the guides that have been sent out by the community and recipes that have been sent out. Sadly, people can only have a Seder dinner, but have a Seder dinner for a smaller group, rather than the large portions that are usually served because you have so many people. Jerry: And then there's also this, it's a slight abandonment of tradition, and one of the best examples that I have for this from an interview, would be a couple that ... Their new date night routine was to go to this very fancy Italian restaurant. Well, you can't eat in, so they would get the takeout and eat this very nice, expensive Italian food, in their car out of styrofoam boxes. So it's this, going away from being around all these people ,and it speaks the same idea of it, but it's not really the same thing anymore. And it's also an excuse to get out of the house. It has a new meaning just beyond that. And so that's three different ways that I think about it. Jolie: What possibilities do you see in bringing food into classrooms more often and more directly, whether at the K-12 level or in college. Could you talk a little bit about that? The role of education around food? Jerry: Well, I steal this concept from a botanist I met in Costa Rica. He became a botanist, and then later a tour guide, and said that he studied botany because there's plants everywhere, so you always have something to talk about. And the same is true with food as a human need, you just need food, so there's always something there to talk about. And food is so intrinsically tied into identity, and often in ways that we don't realize, which circles through back to the appropriation piece. When we talk about Southern food, for instance, and even Appalachian food, these two very different categories that both get a lot of their food histories from historically Black cooking and slave cooking. Jerry: And so when we talk about food, at any level within education, all of a sudden we're able to talk about individual identities without even having to bring up ethnicity, race, gender. One of the easiest questions to ask, to start talking about what your identity is without really even talking about identity, but talking about food, is to ask how your family prepares rice. Because most families eat rice, and if you don't eat rice, that says something when it comes to identity. And rice is this really recognizable and very versatile food. And so what you do with it says a lot. And then you can start talking about, when it comes to cultural differences, this aesthetic piece, that your enjoyment of this specific rice dish comes from your history and your family and how grandma makes it. Cultural history. Jerry: So food is this vital piece of connection. And my previous research for my thesis focused on how children use food as a means of creating connection and community amongst themselves. And they're very active in doing this, and examining food, and trading food, and trying to engage each other with food. It's a human need. And so to be able to bring this human need to the forefront of education, to use it as a background for conversations in the humanities, conversations in the sciences, is easy and beneficial because it's very easy to understand. Jolie: I'd like us to conclude by asking you each to reflect on our current moment and what you think might be the broader implications on how we regard food ways. And in particular, what lessons do you hope we learn from this moment about food and connection that we can take forward with us in the after times, whenever they do eventually arrive. Jerry, would you go first? Jerry: So much of how we decide who we are as individuals comes back to food. Not necessarily the individual dishes, but the people we eat with, the people we choose not to eat with, and how we share those meals. And what this time has done has changed that in very significant ways. But I think people are also finding ways to overcome that and rebuild their community, and rebuild the communication that they once had through food, through a variety of other means. And so I think one of these overarching pieces that you should begin to look at next is, we compare the inequalities between these two new systems, because it's easy to see one problem in just one system. But once that changes, it reveals new problems that may even say, the problem that we thought we had? It doesn't exist. That's not even the thing because it's actually this thing. So now is the time to really solidify all of these major problems that then can be focused on. Jolie: What about for you, Lucy? What would you hope we take away from this period in history in thinking differently about food and culture? Lucy : First, I should mention, that listeners can go to the website and actually see ... We have an online exhibit from text and photographs from the interviews. So people can go to www.foodandculture.org, and that website takes them to the exhibit and to the whole project. And they can read the questionnaire and actually respond. And they can also see on that website, the curriculum project, doing it. But I think the thing that I take away from this is the significance of food. That we tend to overlook the power that it has to create connections for us. And those connections both take us inwards and outwards, so that we can connect with our own histories, our own past. It can be something that's very personal, but it also connects us outwardly with larger society, with our larger culture, and internationally. So I think what the pandemic is doing is making us recognize the significance of small things, of everyday things that we normally take for granted. Jolie: Thank you both so much for joining me. I really loved this conversation. Listeners can keep up with ICS by following us on social media at @icsbgsu. You can listen to BiG Ideas wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Please subscribe and rate us on your preferred platform. Our producers are Chris Cavera and Marco Mendoza, with sound editing by Marco Mendoza. Research assistance was provided by Kari Hanlin. Musical Outro: Discussion.

Similarly to last episode, Sam and Katt discuss a piece of writing that I (Katt) wrote 3 years ago before I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis... We discuss and breakdown all of the points in the post, which are still very relevant today. In fact, I feel like I could have written this yesterday with a few word substitutions here and there... Thank you again to anyone listening, and for all the feedback we've recieved so far :) ------------ Find us on social media - @deadliftsarebae @_chronically_sam_ @WhatMS_

COVID-19 has accelerated digital information by multiple years in many industries and especially in education and health. UC Irvine Vice-Chancellor Tom Andriola was in the middle of it all. Within 6 months of accepting and defining the first ever Vice Chancellor & Chief Digital Officer of UC Irvine, Tom was thrust into shaping predictive analytics for identifying most likely patients for intensive care based on multiple sets of data and identifying patients who can be treated from home. Similarly, Tom’s team had to help educators who haven’t advanced much on remote learning to ensure that all the students are on par. Going forward, Tom is focusing on ensuring hybrid instruction is part of UCI’s DNA going forward. The episode discussed innovation and the strategic and tactical nature of innovation in great detail. Based on Phillips Health experience, Tom came to a conclusion that Data is a strategy and not just an asset and not just a facilitator and started using his experience at UCI. Given that data is interdisciplinary by nature, UCI team has started investing in Collaboratories where teams from multiple disciplines from UCI and the industry have come together to solve bigger problems.

Fundraising has been especially hard for many hospices and small charities this year because community and events fundraising has been so disrupted during the pandemic. Similarly, as so many companies have had their own problems to deal with, generating corporate partnerships income has also been a massive struggle. So I was intrigued to hear about the remarkable results that have been achieved by Children’s Hospice South West this year. Not only have the overall results achieved by the fundraising team been impressive, but they’ve even done well in events and corporate partnerships income. In fact, the flagship sponsored events, Santas On the Run and Rainbow Run generated more in 2020 than they did in the previous year. In this interview Paul Courtney, who is Director of Fundraising at the hospice explains some of the tactics his team have used. If you find this interview helpful, regardless of what kind of charity you work for, we recommend you also check out our new free set of training films Hospice Fundraising Success Strategies – Now and After the Pandemic which you can get hold of from Episode Notes 59 on the Podcast page of my website which is www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk/podcasts/. This set of five short films is designed to give you a more in depth recipe for how to increase income in a range of areas, including individual giving and fundraising culture as well as the two topics touched on here. If you want to share this episode because you think it will help other charities – THANK YOU! - we are both on Linked In and on twitter, where Paul is @paulkairos and I am @woods_rob.

We have Tahnee and Mason jumping on the podcast today, delving into the season of Autumn - Lung Metal time with all the essentials on the best practices and herbs to support our Lungs, digestion, Qi, and protective Wei Qi as we descend into these cosier months. In the tradition of Chinese medicine the Lung is paired with the Large Intestine, so not only is this a season to focus on breath, letting go, and cutting away what is no longer needed, it's also a time to direct energy towards digestion. Tahnee and Mason dive into the foods for this season to best nourish digestion and the cathartic process of digesting, assimilating and, releasing experiences in this last cycle of seasons.    As the air cools down and we observe Mother Nature contracting into her next rhythm, we find ourselves in a macro/micro reflection, naturally being pulled to go within. With wisdom and nurturing truth, Tahnee and Mason encourage us to fall into this space of transformation, exhale the high energy of warmer months, condense our Yin energy and support ourselves through daily practices that allow what is no longer needed to fall away. Tune in for soul nourishing knowledge.    Tahnee and Mason discuss: Specific protective herbs to cultivate and maintain Qi & Wei Qi. Supporting and regulating Qi in the body. Supporting Yin energy. The qualities of Metal energy. The importance of seasonal living. Herbs to support the Lungs and Kidneys. Herbs and practices to prepare the body for Winter. The 'medicine' that comes through evolving with the seasons. Physical exercises to support Lung Metal energy. Breathwork, meditation, and practices for introspection. Foods, herbs, and tips for hydration and fluid regulation in this Yin cultivating season.   Tahnee and Mason Taylor Tahnee and Mason Taylor are the CEO and founder of SuperFeast (respectively). Their mission with SuperFeast is to improve the health, healing, and happiness of people and the planet, through sharing carefully curated offerings and practices that honour ancient wisdom and elevate the human spirit. Together Tahnee and Mason run their company and host the SuperFeast podcast, weaving their combined experience in herbs, yoga, wellness, Taoist healing arts, and personal development with lucid and compelling interviews from all around the world. They are the proud parents of Aiya and Goji, the dog, and are grateful to call the Byron Shire home.   Tahnee Taylor Tahnee Taylor is the CEO of SuperFeast and has been exploring health and human consciousness since her late teens. From Yoga, which she first practiced at school in 2000, to reiki, herbs, meditation, Taoist and Tantric practices, and human physiology, her journey has taken her all over. This journey continues to expand her understanding and insight into the majesty (that is) the human body and the human experience. Tahnee graduated with a Journalism major and did a stint in non-fiction publishing (working with health and wellness authors and other inspiring creatives), advertising, many jobs in cafes, and eventually found herself as a Yoga teacher. Her first studio, Yoga for All, opened in 2013, and Tahnee continues to study Yoga with her teachers Paul + Suzee Grilley and Rod Stryker. She learned Chi Nei Tsang and Taoist healing practices from Master Mantak Chia. Tahnee continues to study herbalism and Taoist practices, the human body, women's wisdom, ancient healing systems, and is currently enrolled in an acupuncture degree and year-long program with The Shamanic School of Womancraft. Tahnee is the mother of one, a 4-year old named Aiya.   Mason Taylor Mason Taylor is the founder of SuperFeast. Mason was first exposed to the ideas of potentiating the human experience through his mum Janesse (who was a big inspiration for founding SuperFeast and is still an inspiration to Mason and his team due to her ongoing resilience in the face of disability). After traveling South America for a year, Mason found himself struggling with his health - he was worn out, carried fungal infections, and was only 22. He realised that he had the power to take control of his health. Mason redirected his attention from his business degree and night work in a bar to begin what was to become more than a decade of health research, courses, education, and mentorship from some of the leaders in personal development, wellness, and tonic herbalism. Inspired by the own changes to his health and wellbeing through his journey (which also included Yoga teacher training and raw foodism!), he started SuperFeast in 2010. Initially offering a selection of superfoods, herbs, and supplements to support detox, immune function, and general wellbeing. Mason offered education programs around Australia, and it was on one of these trips that he met Tahnee, who is now his wife and CEO of SuperFeast. Mason also offered detox and health transformation retreats in the Byron hinterland (some of which Tahnee also worked on, teaching Yoga and workshops on Taoist healing practices, as well as offering Chi Nei Tsang treatments to participants). After falling in love with the Byron Shire, Mason moved SuperFeast from Sydney's Northern Beaches to Byron Bay in 2015. He lived on a majestic permaculture farm in the Byron hinterland, and after not too long, Tahnee joined him (and their daughter, Aiya was conceived). The rest is history - from a friend's rented garage to a warehouse in the Byron Industrial Estate to SuperFeast's current home in Mullumbimby's beautiful Food Hub, SuperFeast (and Mason) has thrived in the conscious community of the Northern Rivers. Mason continues to evolve his role at SuperFeast, in education, sourcing, training, and creating the formulas based on Taoist principles of tonic herbalism.   Resources: TremellaAstragalus Qi Blend Reishi Cordyceps Mason's Mushrooms    Q: How Can I Support The SuperFeast Podcast? A: Tell all your friends and family and share online! We’d also love it if you could subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes. Or  check us out on Stitcher, CastBox, iHeart RADIO:)! Plus  we're on Spotify!   Check Out The Transcript Here:   Tahnee: (00:00) Hi, everybody, Mason and Tahnee here, we're here to talk with you about the autumn herbs that we love. We wanted to share with you some of the tonics that we would use in this season, helping to sort of regulate the qi of the season, which relates to the lung organ in the body, which is also paired with the large intestine in Chinese medicine. And this is the metal element. So it's really a lot to do with letting go. It's a lot to do with our breath and our digestion. It's a lot to do with being able to assimilate all of the beauty and the gifts and the accomplishments that we've made over the last cycle of life. And then to sort of let go of anything we don't need as we move into the winter months. Tahnee: (00:44) So it's a time unlike summer were we're all out there and excited and active. It's a time more of coming in, the cooling and condensing yin energy. So we really want to support that, we want to support our yin as best we can at this time. And so a lot of the herbs that we'll work with in this season will kind of support not just the lung, but also the kidney energy as well, as we transition toward the winter months. Do you want to chat a little bit about what we have here? Mason: (01:12) Yeah, it's just such a, bringing up, moving into winter, I just think it's always, for me, the value of autumn when I put it in context of the entire year, but especially the fact that we're going into winter and preparing for that time. Always being aware of the season that you're in is going to end and lead into another period and they all weave in and work in together. And if the lungs can be nice and vibrant and healthy, metal attracts water, that's going to descend down, become the yin of the body. I mean, if you're tired and exhausted and need more foundational essence, it's a really good thing to just tune into what Tans were saying then about letting go and supporting that lung tube. But yeah, what are you diving in to? I know you can't see them, but I think we brought astragalus, chi, reishi, cordyceps, Mason's mushrooms. Tahnee: (02:02) Yeah. Well, I mean, qi was the one that you put together, but we sort of chatted about the intention behind that. And when we look at what we are working on, when we're talking about chi, the lungs are really this capacity of the body to bring in qi from the air. Yes, there's also oxygen and CO2 and nitrogen, all these things coming in, but really when we look at the ancient traditions, breath is all about chill or prana. So we're trying to capacitate the body to store and condense as much energy into the body as possible. So yeah, like Mason was saying, when it's this time of year, you want to be resting more and you really probably want to amp up those self-care practises. There's a saying, and I think it's in the Suwen where it's like, "In summer you can get away with a lot more than you can in autumn and winter." Tahnee: (02:47) You just have to be a bit more careful and a bit more mindful. So that's why we would start to use those more protective herbs at this time. So chi, if you think about what qi is, qi is that life force that moves through the body, but it's also exists in different forms within the body. And we don't want to get too technical here, but there's a type of qi called wei chi, which is your surface immunity. Or I think of it more as your defence field. If you can imagine that you have a protective shell of energy around you and we've all felt what it feels like when that gets infiltrated, usually by things that travel, or lots of people, those kinds of things. Or when we just burn ourselves out. qi is sort of when we work on the wei chi, we're aiming to expand that barrier, I guess. An energetic barrier that we have, which protects us against energetic invasion and also physical, which can also correlate that to energetic viruses, bacteria, these kinds of things that try and get into the body. Tahnee: (03:45) And they're only getting if there's a pathway in. So one of the things that we do with preventative medicine is try to prevent that pathway from existing. And so most people do find that if they aren't taking care of themselves, they will get sick when the seasons change. And that's because the qi becomes really unsteady and our bodies are unable to handle that, and so we get unwell. Similarly through autumn and into winter, if we aren't maintaining that self-care practise and that ability to sort of maintain our healthy chi, then we are going to get weaker and more prone to infections and those kinds of things. So you don't have to get sick in winter. In fact in an ideal world, you wouldn't, so that's what these things are fun. So I love qi at this time of year, it has astragalus in it. It has a bunch of other herbs that support the spleen as well. Maybe you want to talk a little bit about your intention with putting together chi? Mason: (04:38) It's been a really appropriate blend for the previous season, being that of the earth, but even more so now in autumn. Even though these herbs are supporting that transformation of qi through to explain and what you eat, and then through what you breathe to become your nutritive qi that gets into your organs. But as Tanie is saying, if you can think lungs being the metal, I kind of also... It's energetic. Sometimes I feel like when my qi is getting strong, that regulatory qi that runs just underneath the surface of the skin and then can energetically push out. It creates this big metal shield. And that is what comes about through having strong lung qi and a capacity to transform the wei qi through what you breathe in. So through having astragalus as the one of the top herbs in there with the other beautiful lung herbs, white atractylodes, codonopsis, bringing in the Turkey Tail as well. Mason: (05:34) The intention was to support through fluid regulation, as well as a number of other functions, is to just simply cultivate qi within the lung through supporting that lung system in transforming between the yin and yang energy. And that is all you need to be doing is capacitating the lung organ through herbs, through living appropriately with the seasons, so everything's, as Tans was saying, it's starting to descend now a little bit. So you start getting a little less intense with the way that you're living. It's not so much fiery summer vibes. And if you do that, you cultivate that qi in through the lung, you create that shield, life feels all a little bit better. And so the qi herbs are funnily the ones that the Taoists will take constantly. They'll never stop them. And so you can see a reishi's in there as well. But astragalus' one of those top ones that they will say, "I just never stop." Because you never stopped wanting that strong, qi cultivation in through your organs and that shield, but this is the season. Mason: (06:42) And it's amazing how everyone, when the amount of hundreds, it must be thousands at this point, people who kind of clock on to taking qi herbs now. It's probably the one that's the easiest one for people to relate to because people really want to prepare for winter and fortify themselves. And so the biggest transformation of realising, "Ah, sometimes if I take herbs appropriately for the season, I see this huge change months down." That's probably, taking qi herbs in autumn is probably the one that will create the biggest perception, and people will see how you can transform your life if you get onto the herbs at the right time. Tahnee: (07:23) Yeah. And I mean, that's similar to why the mushrooms work so well as well though. A lot of them have, we were talking about the treasures in Taoism, so you're looking at Jin, Qi & Shen, and a lot of the mushrooms are triple treasure herbs. So they work on all three at the same time, or they will have sort of one or two really strong correlations or functions. So something like Mason's mushrooms is going to have things like reishi and cordyceps in there, which support lung function. And when we're supporting also the flow of the qi in the body, so Mason was talking about the spleen before, the lung and the spleen work really closely together. Tahnee: (07:59) So they're basically producing the qi that powers our body, and that's called true human qi in Daoism, in the translation obviously, and that relationship between healthy digestion and healthy assimilation and then healthy breathing. And then the ability for our bodies to be powered by that, that stops us from drawing from our reserves, stops us draining our Jing. So you'll see a lot of the time in the West, people breathe very shallow, there's not a diaphragmatic breath. You can hear Aria in the background. And so what we're aiming for in this season is to really prioritise a nice deep, expensive breath and supporting the body with this lung herbs. So Mason's is another one that we would recommend all the time, but we would also really specially look at it in these kinds of seasons where we want to build immunity and we want to start thinking about storing chi. So just like a squirrel is going to bury his acorns in autumn so he has something old for winter time. We're kind of looking to do the same thing in ourselves. Tahnee: (09:03) So it's something that I think is a really important thing to consider when we're thinking about seasonal living is, "All right, yes. So maybe you have been able to express and dream and vision in spring time, I've done that sort of party expression, joy thing in summer, and spent my late summer harvesting and assimilating and digesting everything. And now we're coming down into autumn." It's like, "Let go of what we don't need, focus on rest and prioritising our self-care and turning into these techniques and traditions that have this support for us." So this is where our herbal practise, for me, would really ramp up. In somewhere, I might be a bit loose with my herbs every day, in autumn, no looseness. Like, I'm on. And we'll be doing breathing practises, and you are supposed to sleep more so you maybe won't be waking up as early, but you'll maybe try and use those early morning hours to do breathing practises. And so Mason's got some other videos that we can share them, we can share some Pranayama and things like that, but that's something you want to bring in. And you'll notice it, if you're taking qi herbs, doing the breathing practises, working the upper body, you'll really noticed a shift shifted this time of year. We've also got cordyceps there, I think? Mason: (10:26) Yeah, it's just here. Tahnee: (10:26) So, do you want to talk about cordy? Mason: (10:26) Yeah, I was just, everything you said then has given me a bunch of insights. The preparation time you put in now, like the squirrel getting the acorns, means that if you let go of the summer energy, because there's also mourning going on within the grief within the lungs, and if you can successfully let go of the summer, you don't waste your grieving energy on grieving for summer. You can actually go and grieve the things that you're appropriately ready to let go off and have that beautiful experience of letting go and then the potential for new life to come through. The herbs support us with doing that. But with cordyceps, I was just thinking, what a lot of people do is hold onto that summer. And so you might feel the association that you have to cordyceps still being one of fire and wanting to feel your endurance and the capacity and the yang elements of your workout being potentiated. Mason: (11:18) Now we still work out in autumn, but you'll find that what will come forth as a quality is one that's less of complete activation. We're starting to actually just to descend, and so we're going for quality, not quantity. And so with the cordyceps, you will see the taking of cordyceps maybe the focus won't therefore be on you getting maximum output, but you'll take cordyceps and and have like a deepening of the quality of your breath practise. You might want to go a little bit more inside rather than looking at what you're outputting externally. You want to see what you can perceive and what capacity you're increasing internally through taking cordyceps during this time. And that could be really transformational. Doesn't mean that it doesn't actually help with endurance and your power and all those kinds of things. Mason: (12:09) It still absolutely does. And I've got a couple of friends actually, who are working on going for the CrossFit Games right now. And for them, it can still bring forward the qualities, but they're definitely focused on output. So it's make your own adventure, but just dip into that methodical metal energy that's there right now. That's just a bit more like I just said, standing solid and going a little bit more inside. And so if you can apply that intention to when you're taking your cordyceps, I think you might find you get even more output when you get around to those points like spring and summer next year, you'll find you've actually gone next level. Tahnee: (12:54) I think that's interesting. Because I often used to talk to shift workers when I taught yoga and they'd be like, "Oh, I can't live with the circadian rhythm because I work at night." And it's like, "Okay, but that's fine, you still need to have rhythm." So what humans thrive on, we're really animals at the end of the day, we are attached to this cyclical nature of the earth and how we're rotating around the sun and you know, this galaxy and the universe and all of these things. There's this kind of cycle that exists within everything on this planet, from the cells and the atoms in the body all the way up to the macrocosm. So if you're training for CrossFit games right now, and it's not a time for you to rest, you're still going to emphasise your kidney energy because that's sort of the foundation and the place where the metal is going to pour itself into. Tahnee: (13:47) And you're also going to at some point have time where you slow down and accumulate qi and allow everything to gather back in and the way in which the sort of concept of metal is expressed in the Daoist tradition is this sort of bowl that they used to have on the top of the mountains that all the dew would condense onto and they would capture the precious water from that. And this idea that the lungs being the sort of roof of the organs in the body, right up high, let's forget about the brain for a second, and they allow the qi to condense down into the kidneys and we can store that for our sort of next phase of development and growth and evolution. Tahnee: (14:25) This idea that we're kind of constantly on a spiral of evolution. This is really what we need to remember to have in our lives. So if you're someone who travels a lot, air hostesses that would always be in different time zones and it's like, "Fine, but you still need to have these phases of life where you slow down, condense, assimilate, use a kind of discernment." Like when Mason's saying that methodical nature of metal, metal is like the sword, right? It can cut and it can be incredibly discerning, and it can say, "No, enough's enough. That's too much, whatever, grief." Again, what Mason's talking about, you might start working with qi and kind of long herbs and suddenly have repressed memories come up. And that's not a bad thing, that's stored in your body as an energetic imprint and if it's moving, well that's something that we would typically say is good, right? Tahnee: (15:18) As long as you have the space in the container to feel that, and that's why there's this invitation to slow down and start turning within, which is what yin is all about. It's about the slow kind of feminine dark aspect, the inner aspect, that interiority. As opposed to yang being all of the expression and the outward, and it's about everybody else, it's not about me. So that's the invitation of this energy. So you might be watching this in springtime and feel a calling to that, and that's fine. You're leaning into an intuitive sort of sense of needing to be held in that way. And one thing our acupuncturist used to always say is, if you haven't been living with the seasons, and let's face it, even those of us that are aware of this, aren't perfect, it takes a while. Tahnee: (16:03) It takes a while for your system and your lifestyle to adapt to these ideas. It's not something that happens overnight. And he used to always say, "To even say that you're living with the seasons you have to live perfectly through at least one cycle. At least one year of full living to really even understand what you're starting to talk about." So I think it's a really interesting thing to start to feel into and explore. And as you start to learn about the stuff, you work with the herbs, they sort of bring out these experiences in here. And it's for me, such a powerful medicine, and I think like Mason's saying in another video, I think we were talking about our culture's just disassociated from nature, we've lost that. And this is a way to sort of regain some sovereignty and some deep connection to the source of life, which is the sun, the earth, the stars, the [inaudible 00:17:00], and all the other plants and animals around us. Mason: (17:02) Hmm, beautiful. Tahnee: (17:04) Anything else you want to say? Mason: (17:07) I might just finish off. I didn't bring any tremella, but tremella mushroom is just the final very- Tahnee: (17:13) Ah, it's tremella. Mason: (17:13) I mean, yeah, tremella just sits on a mantle in our kitchen. Tahnee: (17:21) We just have like a kilo of it, so it's not very attractive. Mason: (17:21) At all times. Just a beautiful nutritive, these are all food grade herbs, but tremella's like very much a food. So you can have more of it than most herbs. Very lubricating for the stomach, but very lubricating for the lungs, so if you do find yourself, it's a very dry season. And so this is why a lot of, there's Poria and white atractylodes helping to regulate fluids in the body through this spleen, and the lung does a lot of regulation of the fluid. And so ideally if you're healthy and not being an air hostess, that's different. If you're up in a dry environment like that all the time, ideally you can get through without getting any dryness coming up in your skin, which isn't bad if it does come up. If so, just focus on your hydration, but then that's where those qi herbs and then tremella can come in at another layer to bring some really beautiful hydration to your lungs and therefore your skin. Tahnee: (18:20) Yeah. Normally the lung correlates to the skin, to the sort of nose region as well. So we're kind of going to be seeing things expressing through there if there's imbalances, so like Mason's saying, if you're starting to notice that skin's drying out it is a good chance to look at how much you're burning through your energy and your chi. Could be that you need to rest more, hydrate more, take herbs like tremella. Be a good chance to see a practitioner and have a chat about what's going on for you. So yeah, if you're interested in more of this stuff, we're going to have more content coming. Mason: (18:54) Yeah, just subscribe, like, share, do all the things. The more you guys do that and the more you guys comment and let us know how you're finding this information, the deeper we will go, and I think everyone will benefit from that. But you know, if you want us to just shut up and say, "Take adaptogens!" You can let us know that as well, but we'll probably delete it. Joking! We're all laughing. Mason: (19:23) Hi everybody, let's go through some basic tips and ways to get in the flow with this season, with the autumn energy. The reason we are doing this is because when we are being exactly considerate, this is what the Daoist said, you got to be considerate of where the earth is in relation to the sun and the moon. And the way that we can get direct perception of such a macro concept is what's going on in the seasons. And we can emulate, and it's not even emulating, it's just going to where our body wants to go. And so by doing these little simple things, there's definitely ways that we can unpack each of these and go deep and personalise them as well, they're quite general. But by doing this, we are ensuring we're supporting the lung metal qi to cultivate and transform through that entire lung organ system. Mason: (20:14) When that happens, life gets a lot easier. Now, yes, but stop thinking about your 80, 90 year old self. The seasons allow us to go and enjoy the seasonality of ourselves, so there might be qualities here of this lung season, where you might just be a lung person. You might be methodical and tend towards being melancholy and all these kinds of things. You're rigid, it's hard for you to change, you're a perfectionist. We've all got an element of that there within ourselves, it might not be what's dominant for me, it's not completely dominant, but I really relate to this season. It's like absolute medicine for me as I'm such a creative open person. And sometimes it's hard for me to come back down to earth. For me it's definite medicine, but for everyone, we get to enjoy the seasonality of our emotions and ourselves and the process that it takes to evolve ourselves, so that when we get to 80, 90 years old, hopefully we've become elders who have earned the right to pass on our wisdom to those who are younger. Mason: (21:16) But it starts here and now, so the first one is really just getting into the general energy, you want to make sure that you're not really attached and holding onto that summer energy. And that's quite often, I know here in Australia, everyone's just, we think we've got a two second little winter and it's just like, "All right, this is just a space holder until we get back to the warmer months." But you know, really stepping into it and embracing of the fact that things are starting to cool down, days are a little bit shorter and just letting go. Summer is done. It's gone, let's accept that. And that's what this season is all about. We start very quickly there, then we can get actually into the reality that we are in autumn and we're in a yin descending energy. Mason: (22:04) Accepting that, embracing that. Then you're going to be able to get into the beautiful cleaning and dirty work that... I say dirty work because we are letting go here in this season. And it's not just a letting go. This is our first tip, getting into this energy, allowing this to come into presence in the way that you're designing your lifestyle, the way your practise looks, is getting into this letting go energy. But it's not always just an ambiguous, "Oh, I'm just going to let go of whatever there is that I don't need." That's an element, and we're constantly doing that with the breath, and as we do that, we're kind of chopping away some and taking on a big rug of perfectionism or unrealistic expectation or excessive judgement of ourselves that isn't really being useful for our capacity to perceive our own intrinsic value, and that's what we're looking for here. Mason: (22:59) But remember this metal, it's precise and it's not ambiguous. And so you'll consciously take that chef's knife or that samurai sword and contemplate and consider what you want to carve away and drop and let fall to the earth. So that in that trust of this process of letting go of that which you feel like, "I might practise not having that with me, I'll keep on cutting away that way of judging or that style of perfectionism or whatever it is, cut it away. Cut it away and drop it." It's in permaculture, that's chop and drop. That is what then goes in and puts nitrogen into the soil. That's what goes in and nourishes the soil so that it can become mineralized and lush and rich. And you can get that beautiful decomposing and decaying going on. Mason: (23:50) And then when you get around, you've had an appropriate winter. You get around to spring time, you're going to start getting a real reaping of new beautiful energy being breathed into your life. And that's the opportunity here, so if you can get in a presence that that is, you don't have to think about this all the time, but there's a particular energy of you drop in and feel that metal energy. You feel the qualities that we're talking about in how it personally feels to you and allow that to come to the surface during this season, then you're going to have a much smoother ride letting go. Mason: (24:24) Now, number two, very simple one. I know a lot of people, this is something I never thought I'd say when I was in my twenties, I was like... All those basic grandma little tips that come from Chinese medicine or even from my grandparents, it's like, "Cover up when you go out and it's cold. If it's windy, put a scarf on." That in autumn, and winter, but especially in autumn, when it kicks up and gets a little bit windy, putting that scarf on and protecting your neck from the cold and the wind, such a top tip. Mason: (24:56) And it's really relevant for me, when I was like I was saying in my twenties, because in my twenties, I just had so much time to do my personal practise and cultivate my energy and spend so much time in the sun. I was just able to do whatever I wanted to stay vibrantly healthy and I had a nice strong metabolism. And so I didn't feel the relevance of doing those extra little things like putting a scuff on making sure I've got socks on and shoes on, covering up when it's getting a little bit cold. And so I'm not letting that cold energy into my body. It's not a smart thing to be doing when you're yin. But as I've, I'm working a little bit more and I've got a child and I don't have all that crazy time to stay cultivated, these little tips, like putting a scaffold and stopping that wind from penetrating your body. Mason: (25:43) And what it does that wind is especially cutting in through the neck and it beats down at that surface protective wei chi, that protective energy that's like a shield. Can beat away at it, beat away, beat away, and that it penetrates. And then it's allowing a doorway for all those other pathogens, viruses and things to be able to get in during that season. So you might as well just cover up your neck. The benefits of staying exposed to the elements are in short little snippets, like that cold exposure. Go and do your cold exposure, but do it in short snippets, don't always be exposed to the cold. And if you're doing extremes, make sure your body's got the juice, the Jing, and the hates to be able to bring itself back to centre without too much fuss. Shoes and socks on, scarf on. Very important. Mason: (26:31) It's a dry season. Hydration is super important and it's a really wonderful time for you to be really focused on you're cultivating waters. Now, if you get into of the energy of the season, the metal will accumulate and attract water. And then that allows distil that down and send that down to the kidney. So you will have a very successful winter. You won't be spending winter healing from all the burnout from the yang months. If you can transition now into a yin time energy, you will start accumulating all this beautiful, these waters and this yin, this descending energy, this quietening down energy, and then you'll get to winter and you'll actually be cultivating, not healing. And if you want to be a really vibrant, healthy 80, 90 year, old, hundred year old and beyond, where you're not relying on drugs and surgery. I'm not saying that's bad or a failure if that's what happens, but if you want to have that intention, this is a really important season. Really, really important season. Mason: (27:29) And bringing up failure, this is a methodical time in terms of bringing the energy of the lung season. It's very objective, just very matter of fact, this metal energy. And so you can look at objectively there's things that you might've failed in doing. And don't avoid feeling that failure and mourning, say the loss of something, there are a lot of people in this season will go like, "Oh, if only I'd made this choice of doing this degree, or if I hadn't burned the bridge with that person." A lot of melancholy a lot of really consistently mourning or going over your failures because it's a perfectionist season. But if we can presence all those failures and accept what we've done, and then ease into them, we can start to see the value that was there in that failure and then integrate the lessons and move on very objectively. Mason: (28:22) This isn't a la-di-da like, "Oh, just slap some positivity pie on it." Put flowers on a piece of poo, the poo's still there. No, we want to look at the poo and see, and feel the intrinsic value of that experience. And you can bring that into your meditative practise and into your cognitive practise. That would be very useful. But back on hydration, lots of water. Water first thing in the morning. Start making maybe a little bit of warm water if your body has a hard time getting warm. Little pinch of sea salt can be a beautiful way to charge your water and then spinning your water and vortexing it. Get that electrical charge going. We love water with electrical charge. Shake it up. Don't just drink stagnant still water. Where do you see stagnant, still water in nature that's acceptable for drinking? You don't. Mason: (29:09) Animals and humans, we always go for the moving water because it's alive and it's vibrant. And that's the same I want you to be doing with the water that you drink and get the quality of water up. I'm just going to continue to be drinking wild spring water. It's the only way to go for me, but if I am drinking something that's not wild spring water, I'll be putting molecular hydrogen in it. And that's a tip and something that I think is really important for this day and age to make your water better. And it's just a little, little thing that you can add in. I get mine from supercells. Mason: (29:37) Next, we're going onto the food. Eating appropriately. We can go so deep on this, but the colour of the autumn is white and so you start moving into some like white foods, congee is just like the absolute, should be on the flag of autumn. We've got a beautiful congee recipe over at SuperFeast. You can go type congee into SuperFeast, and you'll be able to find that. But then obviously it's going to be seasonality, it's going to be know pumpkins and squash and pears and apples are going to start to come in. And the beautiful thing is you cook and poach those kinds of foods, they are really fluid forming. They deliver a lot of fluids to the body. And so you're going to find that with like persimmons and all these beautiful autumn foods, that they help to cultivate water within the body. Mason: (30:23) It's great to add tremella if you are particularly dry as well to your recipes as well, sweet and savoury, it's a really beautiful food. And then just little additional like hemp seeds, walnuts also deliver a lot of, particularly to the lungs and the large intestine, deliver and help cultivate some fluids. So it might be nice to start sprinkling them on some on top of some of your soups, crushing them up on some of your soups, a really great way to go about it. Exercise, exercise is going to start, the priority and the focus of your exercise and practise is no longer going to be, say the fiery gains of summer, but the energy of which we've talked about today. It's going to start to going a little bit less on the prioritisation of flogging yourself, getting gains, mass sweating sessions, and you want to stop bringing that methodical energy, that almost an analytical kind of energy to getting the value. You want to first of all, start with finding intrinsic value in yourself rather than flying out into ambiguity of getting gains in your body. Mason: (31:28) You also want to start looking at, when you're practising , you want to start watching for where you're judging yourself heavily, you've failed, you haven't hit this, at this age I thought you'd be here. So on and so forth, and then really get the value of your experience and then go forth with, and it's a really good season to have solid plans. Start tracking your physical practise, tracking for the year ahead where you'd realistically, because it's very grounded, realistic season, what you would like to achieve in your body. What's actually valuable to you and what's not valuable to you and has been projected onto you based on a past ideology you were or marketing messages, whatever it is, you can start really feeling what's valuable to you for your physical and energetic output through your meditation and your practise and these kinds of things. Mason: (32:19) But mainly to start relaxing, don't go too hard. If you're doing saunas, same thing. You don't want to be releasing heaps of fluid right now. So if you're having a sauna, or your infrared sauna, just open the door maybe a little bit, you're still getting blasted with those infrared, far, near, mid infrared rays, and they're still doing beautiful stuff at mobilising your body, maybe just don't sweat so much. And if you are, have a mineral complex or sea salt that you having and really focus on that rehydrating. What else have we got to talk about? Smell, right? So we want lots of time as we start descending, it's a lot of yin. Hopefully in a family flow, you can start doing a little bit of less, we're in a family flow, right now you can hear Aria in the background, not wanting to go to daycare today. But what you're going to see is like, hopefully you can start having less of the crazy obligations and social interactions that come with the summer months. Mason: (33:16) It's so beautiful when they're there, but you really need a reprieve and so hopefully you can start dedicating more time say with your family or with yourself just being in nature, at the beach, going for walks and particularly just spending time and then a little bit of contemplation, right? And then focus on the smell, engage the lungs through the sense. And so really focused this season on the smells that are in the forest or at the beach or wherever you are, even if it is in the beautiful suburb that you're able to go to nearby and walk through. That's what you want to be really focusing on. Same in your cooking. You're using more spices and engaging your senses and that'll get your lungs really salivating, and what happens when you salivate? You start secreting fluids, and that's what we want. We want lots of fluids coming out through getting engaged through our sense of smell. Mason: (34:10) Finally, we, no, no 'finally', that's it. Guys, just remember it's a very practical, it's a beautifully practical season and it's one that is absolute medicine for us in our Western worlds. And you don't have to do it all right now, you're going to have lots of these, hopefully. Lots of these autumns to do this. So start slow, be really intentional. Let go. Really start letting go, and then allowing yourself to perceive your own uniqueness, the uniqueness around you, the value you have intrinsically, the value around you. That happens when you can start letting go.

-7th chapter: verses 25, 26, 27, 28-The lecture was given by Swami Tattwamayananda on March 26, 2021.-25th verse: “The Absolute Reality is unmanifest, eternal, changeless, birthless, deathless and non-dual. For people who have not reached the highest state of spiritual evolution, the true nature of this Absolute Reality remains concealed due to the Avarana and Vikshepa shakti of Yogamaya.”-Maya is non-awareness of the fact that everything in this world is subject to change. This maya veils the light of truth (Prakasha) and projects something false. What we may know intellectually, maya makes us forget at the emotional level.-We experience Maya in our daily life, when we excessively worry, delude ourselves into thinking about the permanence of situations that are inherently impermanent. For example, a person who has lost his job may worry that he will be permanently jobless.-If we are aware of a traffic jam ahead, then the traffic jam doesn’t bother us as much. Similarly, once we become aware of maya, we develop spiritual common sense, and are not bothered by it.-26th verse: “Arjuna – I know the past, present and future of everyone, everything. But no one knows Me.”-We see only one dimension of time. We worry about the past and future. We forget that in the past things were different, and they will be different in the future. Those stuck in time do not know the Lord, as he is beyond time.-In the Bhagavata Purana, Lord Krishna is depicted as always smiling. This is because He could see the triple dimensions of time. He knew that situations would change. The ability to see triple dimensions of time gives one the ability to think, talk and act with wisdom.-Ayurveda defines perfect health as: “sama dosha sama agnischa sama dhatu mala kriyaaha| Prasanna atma indriya manaha swastha iti abhidheeyate”. It means that we are in perfect health when we are physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally healthy. And we are mentally healthy when we accept the changeable nature of all empirical phenomena.-Per Shankaracharya, when we take to spiritual practices and completely surrender to the transcendental, divine reality, we become instruments in the hands of a higher power that is beyond time. The dividing line between past, present and future is only imaginary. We can transcend the time trap by looking upon the past, present and future with detachment.-Vibhuti pada in Patanjali Yoga Sutra mentions that when one practices meditations, prayers, yamas and niyamas – one can develop the ability to see far into the future.-27th verse: “This mental trap of polar opposites – such as raga and dvesha, pain and pleasure, profit and loss – they create maya. They express themselves in the form of desire. Because of this, people fall into delusion.”-28th verse: “Those who have done virtuous deeds, who undertake spiritual practices such as karma yoga, prayers, meditation – for them this mental trap of pairs of opposites, will end. They will be free from raga and dvesha. They attain chitta shuddhi and they worship Me.”-We are not able to do what we want to do because of a mental trap. This mental trap is created by our samskaras, which are the result of our past actions. They propel us to act in a certain way, and we feel imprisoned.-These samskaras can be neutralized by developing a storehouse of positive samskaras, with spiritual practices. As the past samskaras weaken, we feel less conflict in what we want to do.-Total surrender to God is one way to weaken past samskaras. When we open our heart and place everything at the feet of God, we become spiritually refined and feel a weight lifted from our shoulders. The intensity of surrender determines how fast we progress.-If a glass is half full of water and we pour milk in it, it will only have 50% milk. However, if we empty the glass and then pour milk, it will have 100% milk. Similarly, when we empty our mind, all negative samskaras are emptied. The mind can then be filled with the pure milk of God’s grace.

Do you celebrate Holy Week with your children?  This week leading up to Easter is referred to as Holy Week and with it comes many opportunities to draw close to the Lord with our family as we look forward to Easter Sunday.  Similarly to the ways we celebrate advent as a season, looking forward to Christmas, this week has it’s own unique blessings.  I’ve invited my friends Michelle and Becky back with me today as they both celebrate life so beautifully and this Holy Week is no exception.  Michelle has 5 children, between the ages of 4 and 11, and Becky has 2 teenage children.  The three of us will share how our families celebrate this week and pray that it will encourage you to try something new with your family this week and make this Easter week a time that draws everyone in your home closer to the Lord.  Visit the SEEK WHOLLY LIVING website (for Encouragement, Information, and Fun for all things Mom!)https://seekwhollyliving.comSIGN UP to receive updates & my free special printable:***THE 3 MOST IMPORTANT CHANGES YOU CAN MAKE TODAY TO BE A BETTER MOM***   ☕ CONNECT with US:INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/seekwhollylivingFACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/seekwhollylivingseek wholly living,christa svoboda,christian mom,christian mom vlog,mom,christian mom,christian moms,stay at home mom,christian wife,homeschool,homeschool mom,homeschool family,preparing our hearts for easter,holy week,passion week,easter,easter eggs,resurection eggs,passion of the christ,jesus christ,resurection rolls,communion,last supper,easter activities,easter bunny,

Producer/mixing engineer Spencer Short a.k.a. "Issa Goldyyy" is our next featured "Artist on the Rise" in this week's podcast episode #167.  Goldyyy is a current student at Bowie State University studying music production and technology.  Similarly, he is an emerging young producer and mixing engineer.  During our discussion, Goldyyy shares that he is a musician whose primary instrument is trombone and while school is a main focus, he is also extremely dedicated to developing his artistry as a new producer and mixing engineer. He shares why he believes going to school is personally important and provides compelling thoughts regarding today's music industry.  Listeners, especially those who are developing artists, will be inspired by Goldyyy's commitment to building his music career as well as his commitment to learning more about his craft while in college.  IG: @issa.goldyyy Music Tip: Notetracks music collaboration tool https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/music-collaboration-tools/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=en&utm_content=link&utm_campaign=notetracks032321

Many beings that we share this world with have a mouth but they do not have a voice. They are subjected to torture and murder for the sake of human progress and taste. Similarly, many acts take place where people are silenced. We can have a more human world where all beings are treated with respect. For this, we must speak for those who cannot. We must speak the truth, in the right places and in the right manner respectfully.

Gary Storr, General Manager of Trust Your Supplier by ChainYard, explained to us some of the challenges that the supplier information management industry is facing with disparate sources of information and the role blockchain can help to mitigate them. In this podcast you will hear how Trust Your Supplier creates a trusted source of supplier information and digital identity that simplifies and accelerates supplier onboarding, lifecycle management and the seamless exchange of information.   What is blockchain? For Gary the best way to explain what is blockchain is what it isn’t. Blockchain is not a cryptocurrency, it’s a technology. It isn’t a programming language. Blockchain is a ledger that is organised in a sequence of blocks that are chained together. It is  distributed and it’s immutable. Blockchain is highly secure and decentralised, thus allowing for a multitude of participants to store information on the blockchain within the ledger. Security is assured by encryption and hashing technology making it impenetrable from current day hacking.   What is ChainYard? ChainYard is a subsidiary of IT People Company, founded by Sai Nidamarty, its CEO. IT People Company is essentially an IT staffing business that was started in 1999. IBM is a close partner to IT People Company, so when Sai noticed that blockchain was taking off he decided to spun off a new organisation called ChainYard with the intent for it to be a service organisation providing IT consulting services in and around blockchain. Within a few years of launching ChainYard, Sai recognised there was an opportunity to create commercial applications on blockchain to address serious needs within the enterprise, such as Trust Your Supplier. ChainYard is now a 5 years old organisation with 80 staff providing blockchain services and products.   Challenges of the supplier information management industry Supplier information management is about getting information on a supplier. It is essentially an identity question which blockchain is particularly good at with regards to establishing an identity and to protecting it. Traditional enterprises have traditional systems where identities are very segmented. It isn’t unusual for large supplier to have hundreds of identities within the system architecture. This is highly unmanageable. Systems could be storing, for a single identity, multiple versions of the truth for a contact with varying degrees of accuracy. Questions regarding data privacy are another issue. Coming out of an enterprise and looking at the market a supplier would want to have a single identity as it deals with a number of customers. Similarly to a driver’s license or to a passport you want a single identity to be used across the value chain. Consequently, there is an opportunity for efficiency, for speed, for reduction of cost, for reduction of risk and for compliance.   Trust Your Supplier (TYP) IBM, a partner of ChainYard, recognised that there were some pain points within its supplier information. Both IBM and ChainYard expressed the desire to leverage their respective blockchain expertise to tackle those challenges. Trust Your Supplier was thus born to tackle not just IBM’s supplier identity issues, its supplier qualification and lifecycle management issues but also those of enterprises across industries in a decentralised manner. Within its capacity as a partner IBM teams from TradeLens and Food Trust have contributed to the expertise and development of Trust Your Supplier. With Trust Your Supplier, every supplier is provided with an identity on a blockchain platform. Provide them with easy tools and applications for them to access and process that identity in a meaningful way. It allows organisation to discover, identify, qualify, on board and manage relationships with suppliers in a decentralised manner with a single version of the truth. Trust Your Supplier application is in production for the last 18 mon...

NOTE: Original Video recording of this conversation lives on YouTube at the Baked and Awake Channel. Aired on 24 March 2021.    Welcome. Listeners of the podcast who have been with me any length of time will be to some degree aware of my reasons behind doing this podcast and some of the different sources of inspiration that I drew upon when coming up with the concept of Baked and Awake.  However, at a moment like this I find myself reflecting upon such matters, especially as I prepare to bring you today’s episode.  I’m streaming live on youtube today, and bringing you all a very special guest, a bona fide celebrity, and in my opinion a man whose contributions to society will continue to be viewed as only growing in stature the longer he lives and continues to bring his unique comedy and social commentary to the world.  Indeed, I’m just as confident that in the years and decades to come in the future, by his work and people’s memories- that the legacy of Tommy Chong and his life long artistic expression as one half of the legendary comedy duo Cheech and Chong- will be one that will stand tall and proud for devotees of the plant everywhere.   I say without hyperbole that Cheech and Chong’s “Loveable Stoner” characters were and remain crucially important Archetypes in breaking down and putting to rest the antiquated notions of Cannabis Users being dangerous, unhinged psychopaths in the making. During the early 1970’s as Cheech and Chong released their first comedy albums to a public who probably didn’t suspect what they were about to hear- America and The World largely still regarded Pot Smokers in such dangerous terms as I have described.  The manic characterization put forth in 1936’s Reefer Madness had taken a firm hold in the imaginations of members of Straight Laced Society, and had by then been relentlessly drilled into the psyche’s of every young person growing up during the Post War baby boom era.  By lampooning themselves more honestly and rigorously than even their most ardent detractors, the Duo of Cheech and Chong in some ways snuck up on the world and made people love them despite their obvious passion for what many of them still thought of as “the Devil’s Lettuce”.   As Cheech and Chong slowly became first household names, later verbs (“Let’s go Cheech and Chong out back, man”), and finally- adjectives (“Are you Cheeched, or what?”), everyone who had ever been exposed to their comedy had been infected, in a way like a virus- but perhaps more accurately like a meme.  They did this in what, looking back at it now, it still looks like it was a vacuum. Name a more iconic weed culture duo from the 70’s, 80’s, or 90’s- I’ll wait.  Cheech and Chong released their first album in 1971.  I wasn’t born until 1974, so by the time I was old enough to understand WHO Cheech and Chong were, they were already so far past their initial rise in popularity that even as small kids who certainly had never even seen someone smoke anything other than a White Owl cigar- we nevertheless DID who Cheech and Chong were. As my generation grew up and eventually started to experiment with social drinking and finally smoking- we would, as if of one mind- perform credible sounding impressions of Chong’s Shaggy esque drawl, as well as Cheech marin’s Chicano bravado, quoting but much more often misquoting bits from their iconic movies as we would engage in the rituals of preparing to smoke, the act itself, and during the enjoyment of its effects.  At after work gatherings someone loudly calls through a closed apartment door the stoner mating call of “Dave’s not here,man!”, to any knocks, or jumping in the car after a session, and before taking off out of the spot turning to their driving partner and giving them the old “Hey man, am I driving okay?  To which a loyal friend could be relied upon to quickly rejoin “I think we’re parked, man”.  Some members of the audience can be forgiven for thinking that line came from the latter day cult classic, Super Troopers- but I think it’s fair to say we know where the hilarious and creative people at Broken Lizard drew that little moment of inspiration from.  Similarly, I will say that every comedian, musician, youtuber, or podcaster who has walked in Cheech and Chong’s footsteps over the past forty some years owes them a deep and direct debt of gratitude for forging a path that others have been making their careers on ever since.  Tommy Chong has seen a lot in his time on earth and in the public eye, including the inside of a federal prison, where he spent 9 months serving a sentence for supposedly illegally shipping poisonous, spike covered, weapons grade bongs. This is something that I kid about, but only because we must laugh at some things, because not to laugh is to perhaps cry at the absurdity of a so called Justice System that makes such a thing even possible.  Tommy himself will tell you not to pity him, that his time under incarceration was one of reflection and personal growth.  He might also tell you that he met a few people inside that were serving much longer sentences than himself, and for far less damnable offenses.   You’ve been subjected to this long introduction today because as i prepared for this show over the past couple of weeks, I realized that in a very real way, I owed a lot of my personal sense of pride at being a cannabis user and indeed my inspiration to stake my claim in the podcasting space as a cannabis associated personality and brand- that this came from Cheech and Chong teaching the whole damned closed minded world- that stoners are people, too.  Personally, I can’t wait any longer to meet this man, and to hear more from him about the adventure that surely must be, being Tommy Chong. 

We never expected that Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church would not be able to gather in person for over a year. Yet here we are—385 days since we last met in person. To be clear, worship has not stopped. In fact, it has continued to grow in exciting, new, and different ways. But the building has remained closed. We've been unable to gather corporately. In some ways, there is a similarity between our year-long exile and what we read about the Jewish experience scripture. No, ours wasn't as long, nor likely as troubled, but it still feels a bit like a return from exile nonetheless. In scripture, God used exile to remind His people of their need for reform—of their need to turn back to Him. Similarly, we've had time over the past year to reflect on this same need. We are in the early phases of regathering after an exile of sorts. Even though we rejoice as we return to the sanctuary, we recognize that our community is different from a year ago. There will be some who do not return by choice. Some cannot return because they’ve passed to their rest. There are aspects of our gathering that will be quite different when we return. This week, Pastor Chad Stuart shares a stand-alone message titled "Hope for Exiles." We're glad that you're here to listen and worship with us.

When was the last time you said “yes” to God? In improv, there’s a practice where participants are encouraged to never respond with “no, but” and to instead offer a “yes, and...” This allows for not only growth in the scene but in the actors as well. Similarly, God is always offering us different “scenes” to get us to sainthood. How are we responding? Turning our “no, but” into a “yes, and” opens our life to Christ’s will, and is the quickest path to sanctification. Today, Fr. Mike explains how we can practice a better relationship with God by just saying “yes, and...” Ascension is proud to partner with authentically Catholic institutions and organizations committed to spreading the Gospel. Learn more about the sponsor of this episode, Ave Maria University. (https://tinyurl.com/yc67p3cj)

On today's episode of the show, I had the pleasure of interviewing Breath + Human Connection specialist Carmen Ganne. Learning about the spirit and mechanism that keeps us living every second of every day was enlightening and extremely helpful.Similarly, I did Carmen's 30-minute free offering of a Breath Translation, and I cannot recommend it enough! Link for that below, as well to Carmen's Instagram where you can find all the other ways to work with her. Thank you, Carmen!30 Minute Breath Translation:https://coachingcompany2785.hbportal.co/schedule/5f8e230c2ae63042e049716fCarmen's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carmenganne/Keith's Cacao:https://www.keithscacao.com/?ref=261USE CODE "CASEY20US20"Casey on Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/casey_edward/I Can't Wait To Tell You Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/icantwaittotellyou.podcast/

Series: Revelation Class (Worship, Witness, Follow)Service: Wed Bible StudyType: SermonSpeaker: Scott Kercheville(citations and footnotes are in the pdf)SEEING THE BIG PICTURERevelation helps readers see and experience what John saw and experienced. In any sort of visual experience, it is vital to see what one is intended to see. If one were to return from observing a Chinese parade excitedly talking about the number of buttons on the coats of those in the parade, we would say they missed the parade. If someone returned from visiting Yellowstone talking with amazement about the beetles on the trees, they missed Yellowstone. Similarly, when reading Revelation, we must see the big picture, otherwise we may…

We can learn much about today’s challenges by studying history. In this sermon, Pastor Allen Jackson discusses Peter and other early Christians, who endured significant spiritual battles as they suffered, were persecuted, and even died for their beliefs, which were considered to be radical at the time. If early believers had yielded to the religious pressures of their era, it would have been fatal to our faith. Similarly, we must stand firm in our faith, without compromise, so future generations will know the truth about Jesus of Nazareth, the Savior of the world.   To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world, click here: allenjackson.com/podcastdonate

Our finale finds us wrapping up our Climate change series with technologies that shall define the next two decades of our fight against climate change. The sun’s relentless heat is a scary reality, but the ability to harness the same via solar panels can solve some of our energy issues (06:27). Similarly, electric and hybrid vehicles are the sole hope we have to reduce the fatal damage caused by vehicular emissions (42:35). This episode also includes our final thoughts on the matter and a solemn promise to choose more light-hearted content along these lines in the foreseeable future.

Shanna, Ro, and Hiroja are back to talk about the latest episodes of Batwoman, which tie-up the threads surrounding Safiyah, Coryana, and the mystery of Kate Kane ... or do they? While Batwoman managed to give us many moments of levity and even some of the plot points we predicted (hello, Tatiana calling Sophie an oppressor), the show doesn't seem quite ready to commit to Ryan as our new Batwoman and everything they've built suffers for it.  In "It's Best You Stop Digging", Ryan runs around Gotham with Kryptonite poisoning instead of letting Mary and Luke take the stage and work to save her life; something that would have solidified her as their new Batwoman. Similarly, in "I've Survived Much Worse" Ryan is inexplicably pushed to go to Coryana (still poisoned but now with an adrenaline shot) and she still can't manage to get the one thing that will save her life. Although the episode ends on a life-saving cliffhanger, most of the development the show has been building is undercut by the reveal that Kate Kane is still alive as well as and the subsequent news that the role was recast. These episodes were an opportunity for Batwoman to fully entrench Ryan (and Javicia Leslie) as our new Batwoman and lay Kate Kane to rest for a time, but now it feels like Kate Kane will continue to be a dangling thread that won't be tied off any time soon.    Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode!   Follow us on Twitter: @TheMTRNetwork @shittybonmots @bookblerd @HiroJaShibe   Our shirts are now on TeePublic:  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!

Indiana’s first Secretary of Education makes it immediately clear that she is passionate about her profession. “I go to bed thinking about it. I wake up thinking about it. And sometimes, in the middle of the night, I wake up thinking about it.” Jenner outlines her experiences – both in the classroom and with community partners in administrative roles – her relationship with Gov. Eric Holcomb (her current and former boss) and the priorities she is hearing about on a current listening tour. She says there is no room for the finger pointing between K-12 education and business that took place at one point in time. Similarly, the government silos must, once and for all, be broken down. Partnerships are one of the keys – as long as they ultimately benefit students.Indiana Department of Education (www.doe.in.gov)Katie Jenner (www.doe.in.gov/idoe/superintendent)

Marty Cagan has had a storied career working as a product executive. With a resume that includes Vice President of Product at Netscape and Ebay, Marty is an expert in product management and strategy.    This week, Marty joins me on Experiencing Data to talk more about what a successful data product team looks like, as well as the characteristics of an effective product manager. We also explored the idea of product management applied to internal data teams. Marty and I didn’t necessarily agree on everything in this conversation, but I loved his relentless focus on companies’ customers. Marty and I also talked a bit about his new book, Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Teams. I also spoke with Marty about:    The responsibilities of a data product team. (0:59) Whether an internally-facing software solution can be considered a 'product.' (5:02) Customer-facing vs. customer-enabling: Why Marty tries hard not to confuse the terminology of  internal employees as customers. (7:50) The common personality characteristics and skill sets of effective product managers. (12:53) The importance of 'customer exposure time.' (17:56) The role of product managers in upholding ethical standards. (24:57) The value of a good designer on a product team. (28:07) Why Marty decided to write his latest book, Empowered, about leadership. (30:52) Quotes from Today’s Episode   We try hard not to confuse customers with internal employees — for example, a sales organization, or customer service organization. They are important partners, but when a company starts to confuse these internal organizations with real customers, all kinds of bad things happen — especially to the real customer. [...] A lot of data reporting teams are, in most companies, being crushed with requests. So, how do you decide what to prioritize? Well, a product strategy should help with that and leadership should help with that. But, fundamentally, the actual true customers are going to drive a lot of what we need to do. It’s important that we keep that in mind. - Marty (9:13)   I come out of the technology space, and, for me, the worlds of product design and product management are two overlapping circles. Some people fall in the middle, some people are a little bit heavier to one side or the other. The focus there is there’s a lot of focus on empathy, and a focus on understanding how to frame the problem correctly — it’s about not jumping to a solution immediately without really understanding the customer pain point. - Brian (10:47)   One thing I’ve seen frequently throughout my career is that designers often have no idea how the business sustains itself. They don’t understand how it makes money, they don’t understand how it’s even sold or marketed. They are relentlessly focused on user experience, but the other half of it is making a business viable. - Brian (14:57)   Ethical issues really do, in almost all cases I see, originate with the leaders. However, it’s also true that they can first manifest themselves in the product teams. The product manager is often the first one to see that this could be a problem, even when it’s totally unintentional. - Marty (26:45)   My interest has always been product teams because every good product I know came from a product team. Literally — it is a combination of product design and engineering that generate great products. I’m interested in the nature of that collaboration and in nurturing the dynamics of a healthy team. To me, having strong engineering that’s all engaged with direct customer access is fundamental. Similarly, a professional designer is important — somebody that really understands service design, interaction design, visual design, and the user research behind it. The designer role is responsible for getting inside the heads of the users. This is hard. And it’s one of those things, when it’s done well, nobody even notices it. - Marty (28:54)   Links Referenced Silicon Valley Product Group: https://svpg.com/ Empowered: https://svpg.com/empowered-ordinary-people-extraordinary-products/ Inspired: https://svpg.com/inspired-how-to-create-products-customers-love/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/cagan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cagan/

Your birth chart is packed full of information and insight into what makes you your unique and individual self. Claudia Aurora provides such a wealth of information into how the stars can help us on our journey and fulfil our soul’s purpose. About Claudia Aurora Claudia Aurora is a professional astrologer, singer/songwriter and women's circle facilitator based in Barcelona. She officially started her astrology business in 2019. Claudia provides readings to both adults and children (parents). She studied at LSA (London School of Astrology) from 2012 - 2014 with renowned astrologers Frank Clifford, Faye Cossar and Sue Tompkins, but her involvement with astrology started in 2003, after receiving a reading. Claudia finds astrology to be a powerful tool for self-discovery and self-empowerment on many levels, both personal and spiritual. It is not divination about the future, but rather a road map showing you your best options, your unique gifts and talents. A natal chart is a map of choices, not destinations. The sessions consist of an analysis of the natal chart, discussing the strengths and abilities of the client, the potential vocation or aspirations, relationships, and intuitive coaching for their personal development. About Astrology & the Power of Your Unique Chart Aside from where your planets align, there are some major points in your life affected by the stars. Your Saturn Return happens around age 28 when you’ll experience your first identity crisis. Claudia describes this as the time you realise you have to grow up and start living on your own. Claudia explains what the other returns we should watch out for - particularly the one that comes around age 42. This is commonly known as a mid-life crisis and, if you have one, you should pay attention! These returns are asking you if you’re following your soul’s calling - are you? Astrology helps you figure out what’s truly important to you and your life. Similarly, it can also show you what no longer serves you and can encourage you to remove excess from your life. Claudia thinks of your birth chart as a backpack that carries everything that makes you unique and individual. There is so much power in your chart and when you start to understand and unlock its knowledge, you’ll have endless possibilities to achieve your true and full potential. But it’s not just your Sun sign you should familiarise yourself with. Claudia says that it’s equally important to know your Moon sign and what traits are associated with it. From here, you will very likely want to uncover the rest of your sign and learn everything about yourself! Do you know your birth chart? How did your Saturn Return impact your life (if you’ve experienced it yet)? Let me know in the comments, lovely! In This Episode What happens during your Saturn Return [9:00] What other returns we experience in our lifetimes [16:30] How the returns are asking you if you’re following your soul’s calling [17:15] How astrology can help you eliminate what no longer serves you [19:30] What power lies in your birth chart [23:00] Why it’s essential to understand the Moon sign [30:00] Quotes “There was a period of forgiveness because I was quite traumatised, and I had a lot of bitterness and anger inside of me, towards my dad in this case. And then, in that period, I forgave him. And then I found a release, a freedom. I was ready to move into the next stage of my life.” [14:44] “When I understood the power of astrology and the natal chart and how much insight it can give you. How powerful it can be for your development and for your spiritual self-development in many ways. It can really help to smooth the journey. It can encourage a child, to understand a child, to manifest in their gifts and talents, and also understand their challenges and difficulties.” [26:33] “We still have a bit of pain to go through because there is still work being done. In order for a new community, a new world, to emerge, the old needs to fall down.” [33:34] Resources Mentioned Find Claudia Aurora Online (https://auroraastrologia.com/) Follow Claudia Aurora on Instagram (https://instagram.com/auroraastrologia) | Facebook (https://facebook.com/auroraastrologa) Join The Soul Savvy Collective Facebook Group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/soulsavvytribe) Find Sarah Flynn Online (https://sarahjflynn.com/) Follow Sarah Flynn on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/sarahxflynn/) | Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/sarahflynncoaching) | YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1vmQ8rg-xfhHBLvqJ8qzcA) If you liked this episode, please check out some others: Episode 26: Accelerating your Soul Growth in 2021 (https://sarahjflynn.com/episode-26-accelerating-your-soul-growth-in-2021/) Episode 23: Preparing for the Shift to the 5th Dimension (https://sarahjflynn.com/episode-23-preparing-for-the-shift-to-the-5th-dimension/) Episode 20: 7 Signs You are Spiritually Awakening (https://sarahjflynn.com/episode-20-7-signs-you-are-spiritually-awakening/) Special Guest: Claudia Aurora.

This message is short and sweet. I teach often and have created my own solo cleaning business niche of presentation cleaning and first impressions. That's what I do. Yes, I clean. But what I do is create peace of mind through presentation cleaning. What does that mean and why is it worth so much? I'm glad you asked. We are all emotional creatures and make our decisions as such. I've shared on previous podcasts that the busy mom doesn't have time to clean, yet dirt and clutter cause her stress and anxiety. My cleaning niche goes beyond basic cleaning and science. Check out the podcast, "Art Trumps Science". I add the art of first impressions to remove the stress and anxiety. This provides my clients with peace of mind. Similarly, I clean the first impression areas in offices to impress their clients, prospects, and staff every time they come into the office. This also has a value. What if a financial company loses a several million dollar client because their office "image" didn't match the website? My presentation cleaning investment can earn that client and easily pay for cleaning for the entire year! That's the point.Now that you understand that your cleaning itself can go beyond science, I want you to see that you have a part to play before you ever clean at all. You need to be congruent and have integrity. If you're a presentation cleaner, everything about your cleaning business MUST be presentation level. Just about every Saturday morning, my kids and I are cleaning out our totes and I'm constantly cleaning and disinfecting my vacuum cleaning and gear. At this point, my kids could answer WHY in a second. "Dad, you've told us that presentation starts with you and all the stuff we bring in here." I couldn't have said it better. I went on to explain to them and now to you. When you enter a home of office, you have to leave your equipment somewhere. What happens when you're vacuuming and the client sees your cleaning tote? Or, what if you're cleaning a bathroom and they see your rags or vacuum equipment. Would they be grossed out and wonder how you can clean anything if you can't keep your own gear clean? This is a wake-up call for many of you!That goes beyond your gear. What about your personal appearance? Do you look professional? Do you smell or have bad breath? Is your hair neat and clean. What about your vehicle? Is it clean and presentable. Is trash falling out when you open it? Would you be embarrassed if your clients saw the inside of your car?  Do you arrive with glaring music and flicking cigarette butts out the window? Do you ask where the client would like you to park? Is your social media presentable? People DO look at everything these days and every detail builds trust. You can't just presentation clean. You must be a person of presentation as presentation starts with you. If you take this advice to heart, you too can earn $100 per hour cleaning like I have in presentation cleaning.Go to the Solo Cleaning School  tab of website, access the free resources such as the "Solo Cleaning Quickstart Guide" and "How to Earn $100 Per Hour Cleaning Houses" Masterclass, and sign up for a free coaching call with Ken to ask your questions. Plus, you can access the ISO Model Course and more for $50 per month in the Solo Cleaning School Elite Membership.

Quizmasters Lee and Marc are joined by Max and Dan from the Doubled Feature podcast to ask, suss and answer a general knowledge quiz with topics including 90’s Movies, Vocabulary, NBA, Car Laws, Volcanic Events, Authors, Award Winners, Children’s Game Shows and more! Round One EARLY 90’s ACTION MOVIES - John Lithgow plays thief Eric Qualen in which 1993 Sylvester Stallone film that also features Janine Turner and Michael Rooker? VOCABULARY - What profession would require you to wear a toque blanche? 90’s MOVIES - Which American director, whose brother has a cameo in the movie Hard Target, was brought in by Universal to oversee the shoot and possibly replace director John Woo due to his limited English? HOTTIE OF THE WEEK - Originally off of 1978's All Mixed Up, what song is playing when Phoebe Cates takes off her top while exiting the pool in Fast Times At Ridgemont High? NBA - How many NBA teams do not represent a city? VOLCANIC EVENTS - According to the Smithsonian Institute, where in the United States was the most recent volcanic eruption? Missed Corrections/KnowNotes When trying to suss the occult bird behavoir question from episode 141, Marc was actually close with his guess of Ornomancy, but Ornithomancy would have been better. Still, that would be the greek term (not Roman). Saroote writes in to tell us “There is a double birdie in golf but it is better known as an eagle. They are synonymous. Similarly for a double eagle and condor.” Round Two CAR LAWS - Twenty states including Florida, Kansas, South Carolina, New Mexico, and Ohio don't require cars to have what? SCIENCE DEMONSTRATIONS - What is the name of the elephant that Thomas Edison famously executed in a move to prove that alternating current was dangerous? 90’s MOVIES - In Last Action Hero, who previously owned the golden ticket Danny uses to see a preview of the new Jack Slater movie? AWARD WINNERS - The Pritzker Prize which has been awarded to the likes of Norman Foster, Fumihiko Maki, and Richard Rogers is given for what? AUTHORS - What author's famous poet husband claimed to have seen his own doppelganger a few weeks before his famous drowning? SONGS THAT ARE ALSO THE MOVIE TITLES - Which Phil Collins song, featured in the movie of the same name, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1985? Rate My Question CHILDREN’S GAME SHOWS - In the classic children's game show "Legends of the Hidden Temple", what two animals are associated with the colour "silver"? TECHNICAL TERMS - The first recorded use of the word 'bug' to describe an error or glitch in hardware was made by what Businessman and famous Florida resident? Final Questions CONSPIRACY THEORIES - Getting its name from a town in New York, what is the name for the conspiracy theory that the U.S. government is or has secretly tested time travel? BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO - What U.S. state is home to the last Blockbuster video rental store? JAMES BOND MOVIES - Yaphet Kotto played the main villain Mr. Big in which James Bond movie? Upcoming LIVE Know Nonsense Trivia Challenges March 22nd, 2021 - Know Nonsense Trivia on Twitch - 8 pm EST March 24th, 2021 - Know Nonsense Trivia Challenge - Point Ybel Brewing Co. - 7:30 pm EST You can find out more information about that and all of our live events online at KnowNonsenseTrivia.com All of the Know Nonsense events are free to play and you can win prizes after every round. Thank you Thanks to our supporters on Patreon. Thank you, Quizdaddies – Kyle, Tommy (The Electric Mud) and Tim (Pat's Garden Service) Thank you, Team Captains – Dylan, Shaun, Lydia, Gil, David, Aaron, Kristen & Fletcher Thank you, Proverbial Lightkeepers – Jon, Adam, Ryan, Mollie, Lisa, Alex, Spencer, Kaitlynn, Manu, Mo, Matthew, Luc, Hank, Justin, Cooper, Elyse, Sarah, Karly, Kristopher, Josh, Lucas Thank you, Rumplesnailtskins – Alex, Doug, Kevin and Sara, Tiffany, Allison, Paige, We Do Stuff, Mike S., Kenya, Jeff, Eric, Steven, Efren, Mike J., Mike C. If you'd like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content, please visit http://theknowno.com and click "Support." Special Guests: Dan and Max.

When we find ourselves in challenging times, we can let fear and uncertainty overpower our trust in God. We question his abilities and oftentimes, as a result, we let it get in the way of our obedience.  As we continue our collection of talks ‘Small Faith,” Pastor Tim Timberlake shares a pivotal message titled “What Can You Find?”  The disciples had witnessed Jesus perform countless miracles, yet when they found themselves at a key turning point they still wondered how he would feed five thousand. Similarly, we too can ask how God will work a miracle in our lives when faced with fear. Even though the disciples questioned and maybe even hesitated, they still followed his instructions. When we choose to obey God despite our doubt, we unlock his blessings. Acting out in faith, no matter how small, is more than enough for him to work wonders.

A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent Hebrews 9:11-15 & St. John 8:46-57 by William Klock Today, the Fifth Sunday in Lent we enter a sort of “sub-season” within the larger season of Lent.  Historically the Church called it “Passiontide”.  During Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday, we recount the passion of Jesus as we prepare for Easter and the celebration of his resurrection.  But today the lessons prepare us for.  Whenever the Church gives us a major feast day, it often gives us a Sunday that explains why the events that feast commemorates are important.  Usually it’s after the feast day, but for Palm Sunday and Holy Week the explanation comes first.  That’s what our lessons are about today—they tell us the theological and the narrative importance of Jesus’ suffering and death. Some of you know that this year I’ve been working on a project, writing some commentary on the Epistles and Gospels, to help fellow preachers to think through them from what’s called a narrative-historical perspective—basically to preach on the Scripture lessons as parts of the big story of God and his people.  As part of that project I’ve also been doing historical study on how the lessons each week were selected and why.  A lot of interesting and helpful stuff can come out of that.  This week the old Latin name for this Sunday struck me.  Before it was called Passion Sunday, it was known as Iudica.  I’d seen this in some older Lutheran commentaries—until the 70s they often used the old Latin names—but I’d never given it much thought.  I discovered this week that it comes from the old introit—Anglicans stopped using those in the 1550s—but the old introit was from Psalm 43: Give sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people:          O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man, for thou art the God of my strength.   The Psalmist pleads with God: Give sentence with me.  In Latin it’s Iudica me.  Judge me—or more appropriately, vindicate me.  It was once the prayer of the Psalmist against his enemies but it now becomes the prayer of Jesus as he faces the final rejection of his own people and goes to the cross.  So far in the Lenten Gospels we have walked with Jesus as he made his final trip to Jerusalem.  Now, in today’s Gospel, St. John recounts one of his final disputes with the Jews.  The lesson picks up the theme of last Sunday’s Epistle as Jesus makes clear what it means to be the children of Abraham and inheritors of the Lord’s promise to him.  The passage ends with an attempt by the Jews to stone him, foreshadowing the Palm Sunday Gospel and the events of Holy Week.  The Epistle prepares us theologically for Jesus’ Passion as it holds him up, our high priest, as the fulfilment of the old covenant and its promises.  And this cry that has become today’s theme, “Vindicate me, O God” runs all through the lessons. It's probably most obvious in the Gospel.  Look at John 8, beginning at verse 46:   Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”   The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”   Why would the people accuse Jesus of being a Samaritan and of having a demon?  It helps to backup a bit.  Our Gospel today is taken from the middle of a longer confrontation between Jesus and the Jews.  Some hear his words and believe, but others continue to oppose him and we can hear the voices getting louder and angrier as we make our way through the chapter.  The chapter ends with Jesus narrowly escaping an attempted stoning.  The conversation has involved talk of Abraham and of who his true descendants are—are they those carrying Abraham’s genes or are they those who have acknowledged that Jesus is the Messiah and are following him?  In verses 37 and 38 Jesus acknowledges that the Jews are Abraham’s children by birth, but hints that their true father might be someone else, seeing that in opposing Jesus, they’ve rejected the Father and the covenant he established with Abraham.  They protest, but Jesus continues, shifting from Abraham to God, ““If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God” (v. 42).  The devil is a murderer, Jesus says, and your murderous rage aimed at me shows who your real “father” is.  You’re children of the devil and this is why you refuse to listen to me. Now we see how these folks throw the accusation back at him.  They’ve already hinted at the issue of his parentage (which strongly suggests that the unique situation of Mary’s pregnancy was public knowledge) and now they accuse him of being a Samaritan (a cheap shot, accusing him of not being a real Jew), and of having a demon.  “No, I don’t have a demon,” Jesus responds, “but, at any rate, call me what you will.  I’m not out for my own glory.  I’m here to glorify the Father and he will be my judge, not you.”  And Jesus goes on pleading with them.  The message of the Father is one of deliverance: “If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” One might think that the Pharisees would have an “Ah-ha!” moment here, but just the opposite happens: The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. The irony is that the Pharisees were actually staunch believers that one day God would resurrect the dead to life, but they’re so furious with Jesus that they miss his point.  No, they see this as clinching proof that Jesus really is possessed by a demon.  It’s the only explanation for his crazy-talk.  Abraham died.  The Prophets died.  If they were the greatest in Israel and they died, who does Jesus think he is making such claims about never dying?  Yes, they believed that God would one day raise the faithful in Israel, but that vindication of the faithful hinged, they thought, on faithfulness to torah.  What’s got them so worked up is that Jesus is now saying that God’s future vindication of his people will hinge not on faithfulness to torah, but on faithfulness of Jesus.  That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with torah, but that it’s not the defining mark of the people of God that they think it is.  Jesus points back to Abraham to make his point.  Abraham’s hope wasn’t in torah.  It couldn’t have been.  He lived hundreds of years before it was ever given, but he hoped in the promises of God anyway.  Abraham looked forward in hope to the day when the Lord’s promises would be fulfilled and Jesus is saying: “That day has now come and it’s happening through me.”  This is the point of that line, cryptic to us, but that was ever so clear to those angry Pharisees: “Before Abraham was, I am.”  Jesus identifies himself with the promises of God—with God’s word.  “I am” is the meaning behind the divine name, Yahweh.  John must have had this in mind when he penned the words of his prologue, “The word become flesh”.  This is why Jesus can claim not only such a close association with the Father, but that to obey and follow him as Messiah is the criteria for inheriting the promises of God and, therefore, of being his true people, his true Israel. The iudica theme of the day, the call for God’s vindication, runs like a thread through the Gospel.  Already, the Jews are issuing a false judgement against Jesus, foreshadowing the events of Passiontide.  But Jesus points them to the Father.  He is the only judge who matters.  He will vindicate his son and overturn the false verdict of the Jews.  And this is how the Lord’s deliverance will come to Israel.  As the Father vindicates Jesus and raises him to life, so he will vindicate the people who keep Jesus’ word (to use the language of verse 52).  As death has no hold over him, neither will death have a hold over his people. Now today’s Epistle.  The book of Hebrews was written anonymously and debate over who its author may have been is not likely to be settled any time soon.  There are good reasons to believe it wasn’t St. Paul, but there are also reasons to think it could have been.  The book was written to Jewish believers and explains the good news about Jesus in light of the old covenant.  That old covenant was familiar territory and many of the first Jewish Christians struggled to understand it in light of Jesus.  After his conversion, Paul spent a good bit of time in solitude, working through these issues and came back having worked these matters out for himself and ready to help the rest of the Church to do the same.  In many ways, Hebrews seems to work through what must have been Paul’s thought process or something very much like it. In any case, the Church puts this selection from Hebrew before us this Sunday so that we will better understand the Passion of Jesus as it unfolds over the next two weeks.  Specifically, the writer of Hebrews explains what the death of Jesus has done for his people in light of the sacrifices of the old covenant.  Let’s read our text again, Hebrews 9:11-15.   But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.   Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. The sacrificial system was at the centre of Jewish life under the old covenant and, particularly, the idea of atonement for sins by blood.  Of course, the difficulty for many people was that the sacrificial system seemed to work just fine as it was.  Yes, you had to make sacrifices repeatedly because sin still happened, but they just accepted that this is how things were and how they always would be and the Lord be praised for providing a means of redemption.  Apart from that well-known passage, Isaiah 53:10, which speaks of the sacrificial death of God’s “suffering servant”, no one ever considered that this system might one day be superseded by something better, let alone that this might happen through the self-sacrificial offering of one of the priests, or even by God himself.  Jesus seems to be the first person to have come to this conclusion and even his own disciples struggled to grasp it conceptually.  And yet once it happened, there it was.  But people still struggled to understand it.  Jesus walked his friends through the Old Testament scriptures that first Easter as they travelled the Road to Emmaus and they understood.  Paul met the risen Jesus and understood as well, although it took working through the implications of accepting that Jesus really was the Messiah for it to become plain as day.  But this realisation that the old covenant sacrifices were preparing Israel for Jesus and for the cross is one of those things that once you see it, you just can’t unsee it.  Hebrews was written so that all God’s people would finally see it for good. Perhaps the difficulty began with the Jewish understanding of the tabernacle and later the temple.  The tabernacle was the greatest place on earth, because it was the one place on earth that wasn’t simply “earth”.  The tabernacle was the one place where earth and heaven intersected, where human beings could go to encounter the presence of God.  How could anything top that?  And yet the writer of Hebrews tells us, going back to Chapter 8, that the tabernacle was really only a temporary stand-in for the heavenly sanctuary, for the actual dwelling of God, so holy no human could ever approach.  But we can draw near, as the Israelites discovered, through the work of priestly mediators who entered first bearing the sacrifices of the people.  Similarly, it was difficult for Jewish people to comprehend a better sacrifice, but that’s just what Hebrews tells us Jesus is.  He entered, not into the earthly tabernacle, but into the heavenly—directly into the presence of God—and he went in on our behalf, not bearing the blood of bulls or goats, but bearing his own blood. Even if no one saw it coming, the old covenant was preparing God’s people for all of this.  We see this preparatory role in the old covenant sacrifices as well.  The sacrifices taught God’s people that sin and redemption from it are serious business.  It costs the sacrifice of something valuable.  The blood poured out from those animals reminded the people that the “wages of sin is death”, but that God mercifully accepts the death of another on our behalf.  That the Lord ordained the sacrificial system was also a powerful reminder that God desires his people to live in his presence and wants us to be forgiven, cleansed, and made holy.  Again, no one saw it coming, but once Jesus had died and been raised from death, it became impossible not to see that those sacrifices were preparing Gods’ people for Jesus.  He took up Israel’s role and identity himself and offered himself as a once-for-all and perfect sacrifice for their sins filling the role of both priest and victim. Finally, Jesus and the old covenant are contrasted in terms of the efficacy of the sacrifice.  The old covenant sacrifices purified the flesh, but the underlying problem of the sinful heart remained.  This simple predicament should have had Israel looking for a better sacrifice from the beginning, but again, it actually took that better sacrifice taking place before anyone understood.  Throughout her story, the faithful of Israel lamented the nation’s predicament.  No amount of sacrifices ever set Israel’s heart right.  The people longed for the day that the prophets foretold, a day when the Lord would pour out his Spirit to set the hearts of Israel right once and for all.  In Jesus it finally happened: a perfect sacrifice that purifies not only the flesh, but that also purifies the hearts of his people and makes them holy.  Our passage here speaks of Jesus offering himself a sacrifice “through the eternal Spirit”—likely a reference to Isaiah 42:1 and to the anointing of the Spirit that took place at Jesus’ baptism—but it is difficult to read of Jesus’ Spirit-empowered ministry and not see the way in which, through him, the same Spirit has been poured into the hearts of his people.  In this way, Jesus has purified our consciences—purified us where it really matters so as to transform our affections—that we might set aside “dead works” to serve the living God. “Dead works” likely refers to those old covenant sacrifices and purity codes that, while good and God-given, could never fully deal with the problem of sin and death.  The phrase may also include the old pagan practises of gentile converts, although the emphasis is clearly on the sacrificial system of the old covenant.  The point isn’t that the old covenant was bad.  It was astoundingly good.  Those “dead works” maintained Israel’s communion with the Lord.  The point here is to contrast the old and the new.  A few years ago when I preached on this passage, I had two of my lanterns with me: an old one my family used to use that I had always thought was plenty bright, and another more recent one that is retina-scorthingly bright.  The old was good, but it now seems so dim in light of the newer, brighter one.  So the writer here uses “dead works” to contrast with “living God”.  In Jesus, God’s people have finally been freed from the bondage of sin and death to live in the presence of God and as stewards of his life.  Our vocation is the vocation that God gave to Abraham and his descendants, but now made possible as never before as Jesus and the Spirit have purified us from the inside out. I want to bring this back to that old introit from Psalm 43.  The Psalmist prayed, “Give sentence with me, O God.”  Judge me.  That’s a dangerous thing for a human being to pray.  God judges sin and sinners and we’re sinners and our lives are full of sin.  We deserve death.  But thanks be to God that by our union with Jesus, we can cry out in faith with the Psalmist: “Judge me.” And we can be sure that through the merits of Jesus our Lord God’s judgement will be our vindication. Let’s pray: O Almighty God, Who hast sent Thy Son Jesus Christ to be an High Priest of good things to come, and by His own Blood to enter in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us; mercifully look upon Thy people, that by the same Blood of our Saviour, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot unto Thee, our consciences may be purged from dead works, to serve Thee, the living God, that we may receive the promise of eternal inheritance, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Foundations of Amateur Radio The landscape of remotely operated amateur radio is changing by the day. Once the territory of home brew DTMF decoders and remote controlled radio links, now more often than not it's a Raspberry Pi with an internet connection, or some variation on that. Before I continue, I must point out that amateur regulations vary widely around the globe, especially in this area. It appears mostly due to the rapidly changing nature of remotely operated radios. For example, most, if not all software defined radios are technically remotely operated. You run software on your computer, the radio is connected to a network, you twiddle a setting on your computer and the radio responds. The computer is not part of the radio, but without it there's not much radio to be had. There's no need for both to be in the same room, let alone the same building. Similarly, a Kenwood TS-480 and a Yaesu FT-857d are both radios that have a removable face with knobs and a display. The main body of the radio is a nondescript box with sockets for power and antenna, connected to the face essentially via a serial cable that can be a few centimetres long, or a few meters. There's solutions like RemoteRig that replace this serial cable with a virtual cable, allowing you to put the face in one location and the body in a different one, connected to each other across the internet. With the introduction of Starlink internet, a low earth orbit satellite based network, a connection to the internet can be made anywhere on earth, making it possible to have your station sitting somewhere far away from interference, powered by batteries and solar panels and connected to the internet. You might not even need to go to satellite based internet, the mobile phone network in many places is often more than sufficient for making such a station viable. If you're a member of a radio club, you might consider your club station. Often this station is the work of many volunteer years effort with multiple radios, antennas, filters and the like and often it sits idle most of the time, only getting fired up during club meetings or the weekend. What if you connected that station to the internet and offered it as a service to your members? Depending on license requirements, you might consider amateurs who have limited ability to build a shack but would love to be on air making noise. A remote club shack might be just the ticket for getting them on air. It could even become an income stream for your club. You might be able to offer access to trainees, or let them monitor the station without transmit ability whilst they're preparing for their license, or you might operate a 48 hour contest in shifts, all using the same transmitter, but from the comfort of your home. The landscape is full of different solutions, like RemoteRig, which I've already mentioned, RigPi Remote Station Server is a tiny computer that controls your radio and allows you access via a web browser or remote desktop connection. There's Remote Hams, a ready made solution for putting your shack on air with access control and remote management. You can connect specific radios, like the Elecraft K3 Remote System, or a Flex Radio Maestro, there's even web browser remote control projects like Universal Ham Radio Remote by Oliver F4HTB, each making it possible to get on air and make noise using a radio in a different location across the internet. All of the solutions I've named make it possible to fully use your radio, that means CW, SSB, FM, antenna control and the like. You can use it for FT8 or RTTY, the choice is yours. The interface might be the face of your radio, a special console, computer, phone or a tablet and you can operate it wherever and whenever the mood takes you. No longer do you need to have a shack in your home with coax snaking through the walls to an antenna whilst dodging the local authorities, or fighting the engine noise from your car. You can make the ultimate shack anywhere without taking up space in your home or car. One final comment. This is a moving feast. The level of functionality is increasing by the day. For me this journey started with a steel toolbox in my garage with a radio inside it and coax running from the box to my antenna. I have operated my radio and hosted my weekly net like this. The radio in the garage, me in my office connected via Wi-Fi over a virtual serial cable. You don't need to start this in the middle of nowhere, six hours drive over the back roads to fix a problem, you can start this project today at home. Where on this journey are you and what issues have you come up against? Let me know. My address as always is cq@vk6flab.com I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Have you ever made a cake from scratch? If you have, then you can agree that to make that rich and delicious goodness, a lot of things have to be considered. Just like our life! In today’s episode of Tactical Friday, I welcome back Angi San Souci to share with us her tactical steps into living rich. Aside from that, we will also talk about emotions and feelings, and how these things play together in achieving the richness that life has to offer. With that, let’s jump right in! [00:01 - 1:04] Opening Segment I welcome back Angi San Souci to the show Quick overview of last Monday’s episode [1:05 - 6:36] Steps to Living Rich  Realize your dream Should be based on what you want Make it real Things that you can do without a coach Knowing the feeling that we want to create Self-mastery [6:37 - 11:23] Dealing with Emotions Feelings vs. emotions Emotion being a reactionary  Emotions in realizing your dream How having a mentor and outside perspective helps manage emotions [11:24 - 12:46] Closing Segment Connect with Angi San Souci with the links below Tweetable Quotes:  “If you’re putting together a cake for a birthday or a wedding, you go through all the nitty-gritty details. Similarly, we’ve got to do that with our dreams and with our life.” - Angi San Souci “Emotion is energy in motion.” - Angi San Souci You can connect with Angi through https://www.facebook.com/DefendingYourDreams (Facebook), https://www.instagram.com/angi_sansouci/ (Instagram), or you can visit her website at http://www.johnmaxwellgroup.com/angisansouci (www.johnmaxwellgroup.com/angisansouci). Sign up for her monday morning motivation email at https://angisansouci.mailchimpsites.com (rebrand.lymondaymorningmotivation). Guest email: angisansouci@yahoo.com Did you love the value that we are putting out in the show? LEAVE A REVIEW and tell us what you think about the episode so we can continue on putting out great content just for you! Share this episode and help someone who wants to expand their leadership capacity or click https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-leadership/id1498567657 (here) to listen to our previous episodes. Tactical Leadership is brought to you by Knight Protection Services. A veteran-owned and operated company, with extensive experience in risk assessment and crime prevention. Find out more by visiting  https://knightprotectionllc.com/ (https://knightprotectionllc.com/) If you want to learn how to build a better business check out my website at https://beatacticalleader.com/ (Beatacticalleader.com). You can connect with us on https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaknight (LinkedIn), https://www.instagram.com/beatacticalleader/ (Instagram), or join https://www.facebook.com/groups/BATLgroup/ (Our BATL Space) and become part of the community.

A series of juxtaposed verses.... How difficult is it for people to acquire food?! "Etzev" and "itzavon" about Adam and Eve suggests the comparison. Similarly, a comparison to the protection by either God at one's job (of shepherding) or an angel, for getting food. Plus, other challenges, including going to the bathroom... as challenging as splitting the sea. So too, producing food. Is it hyperbole? Because that language for Adam and Eve is in the context of curses, no less. Also, disparaging the holidays is akin to idolatry. Also, indicting lashon hara, false testimony, etc. And back to Hallel... in the context of which, the Gemara discusses the story of Abraham and the fiery furnace. Plus, Egypt will have a gift for the messiah.

Today’s episode is a reflection on seasons and being in between seasons. In the month of March here in New Jersey, we have one foot in winter, one in spring. Similarly, I began this podcast out of a sense of feeling in between life seasons in the decade of my 20s--not quite an adolescent, not quite an adult. This episode is an exploration of how our physical environment and surroundings impact our sense of connectedness and presence. It's about finding a little more slowness and kindness, presence and rhythm, space and awareness, in order to dance with hope and openness, to name desire, plant roots, bend without breaking and look forward to rebirth amidst the constant cycle of endings and beginnings.

When Donald Miller’s book “Blue Like Jazz” was initially making its rounds through religious circles, one of the hot topics of conversation had to do with cultural taboos. Namely, that there was a pastor in the book who cussed and that drinking alcohol was somewhat normalized. As someone who grew up around people who both cussed and drank, I wasn’t scandalized at all. But a lot of folks seemed to be and a lot of that scandalization seemed a tad fearful.But not all of it. There was also a measure of care; a desire to protect people from things that might, for one reason or another, hurt them or cost them. There’s no question that, in the case of alcohol, there are reasons for caution. Communicating that caution without being condemning or overly-judgmental can be a bit tricky. Which is why I really prefer hearing care-takers approach issues like booze or cussing or tattoos or sex say something more like “I’m not comfortable with this and, having thought a lot about it, here are my reasons.” That rather than simply saying “it’s gross and wrong. period.”First, because there are some things that are, flat out, just plain wrong and the toxicity and seriousness of those things are lessened when treated with a similar weight as something like foul language or horror films. But also because it’s better leadership. Saying “This is the way I am going because, based on the information I have, it is a good way for me and I wonder if it might be better for you” is a thing I can respect and follow, particularly as it’s handed to me as a way to care; it’s also what is really meant oftentimes. But saying “I’ve discovered or seen a cosmic and unmovable truth that you don’t see about this very particular (and even small) thing. You should get on board.” is harder to swallow and is dripping with fear; fear of the thing itself and (worse), fear that I’ll choose poorly and unwisely given the chance. Fear makes bad religion and unhealthy relationshipFear also corrupts and undoes good religion and healthy relationship Fear is also what makes a thing “taboo” Fear isn’t a bad thing at all; it just shouldn’t lead. Similarly, in the theme of this podcast, fear can be helpful in navigating turbulent waters but it’s a mistake to allow fear to fundamentally define the waters as “dangerous.” Sometimes, there really are things in the waters that should be avoided, culturally and relationally. But sometimes (perhaps most often), it’s not that the waters are intrinsically problematic, it’s that I’m not a strong enough captain to do that navigation. That can be harder to say But it’s more humanly true And it’s more caring.  I would like fear to play its part in my life, keeping from things in the waters around me that can legitimately harm me. But only in the context of a more courageous and loving navigation of those waters.  If you’re a regular listener, I’m assuming you want that same thing.  Links for Justin :JustinMcRoberts.comSupport this podcastPre-Order the new book - It Is What You Make ItHearts and MindsAmazonBarnes and Noble

When you put all your focus and attention into the negative, your mind tends to take on that mindset. Similarly, if you feed your energy into stress, your whole body will follow suit! Stress has many direct and indirect effects on the body, and that includes your insulin. In this episode, Jen will tell you what insulin is, how it works in the body, and how to reverse insulin resistance through supplementing and lifestyle changes. Tune in now to learn what methods you can take on to prevent or reverse insulin resistance so that you can get on the right path to proper, healthy weight loss!    KEY POINTS / MAIN TAKEAWAYS: The direct and indirect effects of stress on the body.  Why it’s important to know what you’re channeling your energy into.  What is insulin and insulin resistance? Supplement recommendations for insulin resistance. How to check if you have insulin resistance. Ways to reverse insulin resistance.    QUOTABLES: “Stress affects your weight loss, both directly and indirectly. By sending our bodies into survival mode, it is preparing yourself for the trauma that is going to be causing in your life. You are creating this in your mind. It is your survival mode.”   PRODUCTS / RESOURCES: Follow Jenn on Instagram @jenncarrasco__ - https://www.instagram.com/jenncarrasco__/ Visit her other links here: https://contactjenn.phonesites.com/ WTF is Beauty Anyway is edited by Instapodcasts (visit at www.instapodcasts.com)   

  Blueberries protect against inflammation Texas Women's University, March 14, 2021   In a recent study, researchers at Texas Woman’s University investigated the usefulness of polyphenols present in blueberries in controlling or reducing inflammation. Induced by oxidative stress, inflammation — especially if it becomes persistent — is closely linked to the development of many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The researchers discussed the anti-inflammatory activities of BBPs in an article published in the Journal of Medicinal Food. Blueberry polyphenols can be used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis RA is an autoimmune and chronic inflammatory disease that destroys joints and causes disability in older adults. The etiology of RA is poorly understood and there is no mainstream cure for this disease. According to research, the accumulation and proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes — non-immune cells that make up the membranous tissue that lines joint cavities — may be involved in the destruction of cartilage commonly observed in RA. On the other hand, in vivo and in vitro studies suggest that the anti-inflammatory properties of dietary polyphenols derived from fruits and vegetables could help prevent this destruction. To examine the anti-inflammatory activities of blueberry polyphenols against RA, the researchers first stimulated rabbit synoviocytes with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a), a cell signaling protein (cytokine) released by immune cells that plays a huge role in systemic inflammation. They then treated the synoviocytes with different doses of blueberry polyphenols. The researchers found that the pro-inflammatory cytokine, TNF-a, increased synoviocyte proliferation by around 19 percent, but treatment with blueberry polyphenols significantly decreased proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. The polyphenol-treated synoviocytes also showed decreased levels of interleukin (IL)-1B and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB). IL-1B is a cytokine required for activating the innate immune response. Its role is to mediate the release of other pro-inflammatory cytokines, especially in the presence of an infection. NF-kB, on the other hand, is a transcription factor that regulates the expression of genes involved in inflammation.  The researchers also reported that that the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 3, a key enzyme involved in the pathogenesis of RA, increased fivefold in the control TNF-a-stimulated group but decreased by threefold in the blueberry polyphenol-treated group, clearly showing the anti-RA activities of blueberry’s active components. Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that blueberry polyphenols can reduce inflammation associated with RA by downregulating the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the transcription factor, NF-kB.     Relationship between vitamin D deficiency and gestational and postpartum depression Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), March 16, 2021 According to news originating from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, research stated, “Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) has been associated with depressive symptoms in pregnancy and postpartum, which can result in increased adverse outcomes in the maternal-infant segment. A possible explanation in the literature is VDD relationship with genetic and neurological mechanisms.” Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Federal University Rio de Janeiro, “to evaluate VDD relationship with gestational and postpartum depression. this review followed the recommendations proposed by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis. Research was conducted in electronic databases, PubMed and LILACS, including studies of the analytical type (cross-sectional and longitudinal), systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and controlled clinical trials carried out in humans; inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. in this systematic review, eight articles were analyzed comprising 8,583 women from seven different countries. Among the selected articles, six found an association between VDD and gestational and postpartum depression. Considering the data collection, it was possible to conclude that there is a probable relationship between VDD and a higher predisposition to gestational and postpartum depression.” According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Also, we concluded that vitamin D supplementation has proven to be a promising strategy for reducing the risk of depressive symptoms.”     Lifestyle intervention is beneficial for most people with type 2 diabetes, but not all Wake Forest Medical Center, March 11, 2021 For people who are overweight or obese and have type 2 diabetes, the first line of treatment is usually lifestyle intervention, including weight loss and increased physical activity. While this approach has cardiovascular benefit for many, it can be detrimental for people who have poor blood sugar control, according to a study conducted by researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine. In the study, published in the current issue of the journal Diabetes Care, the researchers re-evaluated the National Institutes of Health Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) study that found intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) neither helped nor hurt people with diabetes.  "Contrary to the initial findings of Look AHEAD, our work found that lifestyle interventions reduced potential cardiovascular harm and optimized benefits for 85% of those in the trial," said the study's lead investigator, Michael P. Bancks, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health. "However, for those who had poor blood sugar control, lifestyle intervention increased the risk of major cardiovascular events. Based on our findings, doctors may want to consider alternative options, such as glucose-lowering drugs, before trying lifestyle modification for those people."  Look AHEAD randomized 5145 participants with type 2 diabetes (T2D) who were overweight or obese to 10 years of ILI or a control group that received diabetes support and education. ILI focused on weight loss through decreased caloric intake and increased physical activity.  In the Wake Forest School of Medicine study, the researchers divided the study participants into four subgroups: diabetes onset at older age, poor glycemic control, severe obesity and younger age at onset. These subgroups were determined based on diabetes diagnosis, body mass index, waist circumference, measure of blood sugar value (glycemic control) and the age of diabetes onset.  Bancks and his team examined each group's response to the intensive lifestyle intervention and its association with major cardiovascular events. In the subgroup with poor glycemic control, the intervention was associated with 85% higher risk of having a cardiovascular event as compared to the control group. Among the three other diabetes subgroups analyzed, ILI was not associated with an increased risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events. "Although the interest in diabetes subgroups is growing, our study is one of the first to apply it to lifestyle intervention," Bancks said. "So for clinicians, determining which subgroup their patient most closely resembles should help them determine the best treatment option and reduce any potential harm for that individual."  These results provide support for further investigation into whether these findings apply to other diabetes complications, including cognitive issues, and to assess what interventions would be beneficial for those individuals, Bancks said.   Depression doubles risk of death after heart attack, angina Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, March 8, 2021    Depression is the strongest predictor of death in the first decade following a diagnosis of coronary heart disease, according to a study scheduled for presentation at the American College of Cardiology's 66th Annual Scientific Session. The study found people with coronary heart disease who are diagnosed with depression are about twice as likely to die compared with those who are not diagnosed with depression.   "This study shows that it doesn't matter if depression emerges in the short term or a few years down the road—it's a risk factor that continually needs to be assessed," said Heidi May, PhD, a cardiovascular epidemiologist at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City and the study's lead author. "I think the take-home message is that patients with coronary disease need to be continuously screened for depression, and if found to be depressed, they need to receive adequate treatment and continued follow-up."   The study focused on patients diagnosed with a heart attack, stable angina or unstable angina, all of which are caused by a reduced flow of oxygen-rich blood to the heart, typically as a result of plaque buildup in the heart's arteries. These conditions fall under the umbrella term coronary heart disease, which is the most common form of heart disease in the United States .   Researchers have long understood heart disease and depression to have a two-way relationship, with depression increasing the likelihood of heart disease and vice versa. Whereas previous studies have investigated depression occurring within a few months of a coronary heart disease diagnosis, the new study is the first to shed light on the effects of depression over the long term.   The researchers analyzed health records from almost 25,000 Intermountain Health System patients tracked for an average of nearly 10 years following a diagnosis of coronary heart disease. About 15 percent of patients received a follow-up diagnosis of depression, a substantially larger proportion than the estimated rate of 7.5 to 10 percent in the general population.   Out of 3,646 people with a follow-up diagnosis of depression, half died during the study period, compared to 38 percent of the 20,491 people who did not have a depression diagnosis. This means people with depression were twice as likely to die compared to those without depression.   After adjusting for age, gender, risk factors, other diseases, heart attack or chest pain, medications and follow-up complications, the results showed depression was the strongest predictor of death in this patient group. These results were consistent regardless of age, gender, the timing of depression onset, past history of depression or whether or not the patient had a heart attack.   Given the significant impact of depression on long-term survival, the researchers said clinicians should seek ways to better identify depression in patients with coronary heart disease, either by using patient questionnaires designed to screen for depression or by actively watching for signs of depression during follow-up examinations.   "It can be devastating to be diagnosed with coronary artery disease," May said. "Clinicians need to pay attention to the things their patients are expressing, in terms of both physical symptoms as well as emotional and nonverbal factors."   Signs of depression include persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness or worthlessness; anxiety, irritability or restlessness; losing interest in hobbies and activities; fatigue or moving slowly; difficulty sleeping or concentrating; aches or pains without a clear physical cause; changes in appetite or weight; and thoughts of death or suicide. Depression is linked with behaviors that can be detrimental to cardiovascular health, such as reduced physical activity, poor diet, increased smoking or alcohol use and reduced compliance with medical treatment.   The study did not evaluate the impact of depression treatment on the risk of death.     Wild mint can prevent blood sugar spikes after meals, reports study National Chemical Laboratory (India), March 12, 2021 Mentha arvensis, commonly known as wild mint, is a perennial flowering plant.  Wild mint leaves and essential oil are also traditionally used as natural medicines. The former is said to be a great remedy for liver inflammation, peptic ulcer, diarrhea, bronchitis, jaundice and skin diseases, while the latter is often used as an antiseptic. Because of the reported antioxidant activity of wild mint, Indian researchers decided to investigate if it also has antidiabetic properties. In a recent study, which appeared in the Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, the researchers looked at the potential of wild mint leaf extract to stop glycation. Glycation refers to the chemical reaction by which a sugar molecule attaches to a protein or lipid. This event is a consequence of hyperglycemia and is associated with the tissue damage often seen in diabetes. The researchers also explored the effect of wild mint extracts on the activity of two carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, as well as their influence on postprandial hyperglycemia. Wild mint extract can prevent blood sugar spikes after meals According to the researchers, interest in the use of alternative medicines to control diabetes, oxidative stress and related disorders has increased in recent years. This is due to the continuous rise in the number of people who develop diabetes around the world. In 2018, this number was estimated to be around 340 million, 70 million of which were from India. Postprandial hyperglycemia, or the increase in blood glucose after eating, is strongly implicated in the development of Type 2 diabetes and diabetic complications. Researchers believe that reducing the postprandial release of glucose in the blood is a promising therapeutic approach to treat or prevent diabetes. To achieve this, two enzymes involved in the breakdown of carbohydrates into sugar are considered as good antidiabetic targets. a-Amylase is a digestive enzyme that converts complex carbs like starch to simple sugars. Similarly, a-glucosidase hastens the digestion of oligosaccharides — three to 10 simple sugars linked together — and disaccharides (e.g., sucrose, maltose, lactose) into glucose molecules. Because of their functions, compounds that can inhibit a-amylase and a-glucosidase activity are used to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics.  Wild mint is a medicinal herb with a long history of use in traditional medicine. Ancient healers considered it a promising natural remedy for diabetes. To investigate its ability to inhibit postprandial hyperglycemia, the researchers first derived wild mint extract from its leaves using methanol as solvent. They then tested the extract on male rats and performed various in vitro experiments to evaluate the extract’s antidiabetic activity. The researchers reported that the wild mint extract showed a remarkable ability to scavenge free radicals, as well as great potential to inhibit glycation. They noted that it successfully inhibited more than 90 percent of advanced glycation end product (AGE) formation. The wild mint extract also showed high inhibitory activity against a-amylase and ?-glucosidase and significantly inhibited postprandial hyperglycemia in rats with starch-induced diabetes. Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that wild mint has noninsulin-dependent antidiabetic activity and can be used to treat or prevent postprandial hyperglycemia.   Exercise during pregnancy may save kids from health problems as adults University of Virginia, March 15, 2021 Exercise during pregnancy may let mothers significantly reduce their children's chances of developing diabetes and other metabolic diseases later in life, new research suggests. A study in lab mice has found that maternal exercise during pregnancy prevented the transmission of metabolic diseases from an obese parent - either mother or father - to child. If the finding holds true in humans, it will have "huge implications" for helping pregnant women ensure their children live the healthiest lives possible, the researchers report in a new scientific paper. This means that one day soon, a woman's first trip to the doctor after conceiving might include a prescription for an exercise program. "Most of the chronic diseases that we talk about today are known to have a fetal origin. This is to say that the parents' poor health conditions prior to and during pregnancy have negative consequences to the child, potentially through chemical modification of the genes," said researcher Zhen Yan, PhD, a top exercise expert at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. "We were inspired by our previous mouse research implicating that regular aerobic exercise for an obese mother before and during pregnancy can protect the child from early onset of diabetes. In this study, we asked the questions, what if an obese mother exercises only during pregnancy, and what if the father is obese?" Exercise and Pregnancy Scientists have known that exercise during pregnancy helps lead to healthy babies, reducing the risk of pregnancy complications and premature delivery. But Yan, the director of the Center for Skeletal Muscle Research at UVA's Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center, wanted to see if the benefits continued throughout the children's lives. And his work, both previous and new, suggests it does. To determine that, Yan and his collaborators studied lab mice and their offspring. Some of the adult mice were fed typical mouse chow before and during pregnancy, while other were fed a high-fat, high-calorie diet to simulate obesity. Some receiving the high-fat diet before mating had access to a voluntary running wheel only during pregnancy, where they could run all they liked, while others did not, meaning they remained sedentary.  The results were striking: Both mothers and fathers in the high-fat group could predispose their offspring to metabolic disorders. In particular, male offspring of the sedentary mothers on high-fat diets were much more likely to develop high blood sugar and other metabolic problems in adulthood. To better understand what was happening, the researchers looked at the adult offspring's metabolism and chemical (epigenetic) modification of DNA. They found there were significant differences in metabolic health and how active certain genes were among the different groups of offspring, suggesting that the negative effects of parental obesity, although different between the father and the mother, last throughout the life of the offspring. The good news is that maternal exercise only during pregnancy prevented a host of "epigenetic" changes that affect the workings of the offspring's genes, the researchers found. Maternal exercise, they determined, completely blocked the negative effects of either mother's or father's obesity on the offspring. The results, they say, provide the first evidence that maternal exercise only during pregnancy can prevent the transmission of metabolic diseases from parent to child. "The take-home message is that it is not too late to start to exercise if a mother finds herself pregnant. Regular exercise will not only benefit the pregnancy and labor but also the health of the baby for the long run," Yan said. "This is more exciting evidence that regular exercise is probably the most promising intervention that will help us deter the pandemic of chronic diseases in the aging world, as it can disrupt the vicious cycle of parents-to-child transmission of diseases."   Some veggies each day keeps the stress blues away University of Sydney, March 15, 2021   Published in the British Medical Journal Open, the longitudinal study of more than 60,000 Australians aged 45 years and above measured participants fruit and vegetable consumption, lifestyle factors and psychological distress at two time points . Psychological distress was measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, a 10-item questionnaire measuring general anxiety and depression. Usual fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed using short validated questions. Key findings   People who ate 3-4 daily serves of vegetables had a 12 per cent lower risk of stress than those who ate 0-1 serves daily. People who ate 5-7 daily serves of fruit and vegetables had a 14 per cent lower risk of stress than those who ate 0-4 serves daily. Women who ate 3-4 daily serves of vegetables had an 18 per cent lower risk of stress than women who ate 0-1 serves daily. Women who ate 2 daily serves of fruit had a 16 per cent lower risk of stress than women who ate 0-1 serves daily. Women who ate 5-7 daily serves of fruit and vegetables had a 23 per cent lower risk of stress than women who ate 0-1 serves daily.   At the start of the study, characteristics associated with higher stress included: being female, younger, having lower education and income, being overweight/obese, a current smoker and being physically inactive.   Fruit consumption alone had no significant association with a lower incidence of stress. There was no significant association between higher levels of fruit and vegetable intake (greater than 7 daily serves) and a lower incidence of stress.   "This study shows that moderate daily fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with lower rates of psychological stress," said Dr Melody Ding of the University of Sydney's School of Public Health. "It also reveals that moderate daily vegetable intake alone is linked to a lower incidence of psychological stress. Moderate fruit intake alone appears to confer no significant benefit on people's psychological stress."   These new findings are consistent with numerous cross sectional and longitudinal studies showing that fruit and vegetables, together and separately, are linked with a lower risk of depression and higher levels of well-being assessed by several measures of mental health.   "We found that fruit and vegetables were more protective for women than men, suggesting that women may benefit more from fruit and vegetables," said first author and University of Sydney PhD student, Binh Nguyen.   The investigators say further studies should investigate the possibility of a 'threshold' between medium and higher levels of fruit and vegetable intake and psychological stress.

Post exercise protein is a topic that I revisit regularly. It’s nutrition month as I release this episode, and we’re talking strength training a lot this month because STRONGER is open for enrollment. In this episode I’m talking all about the ways to optimize your pre-and post exercise protein meal. I’ll also reveal a few things that may be going wrong if you’re not seeing results. STRONGER: Tone & Define is waiting for you! To start or restart! Don’t miss it! In recent prior master classes and podcasts I’ve addressed these questions: How much does muscle protein synthesis decline with age? What is the rate of muscle loss during menopause? How disabling is muscle loss for women over 50? In this post I revisit this topic. I do so because of the conversations occurring in our community that indicate even trainers and coaches are not clear on the differences … for women, for women over 50, and that makes for an extremely confusing environment. Confused minds don’t do anything. How to optimize a post exercise increase in muscle protein synthesis to enhance muscle size and strength with resistance training. Muscle protein synthesis is the primary variable influencing muscle net balance with dietary amino acid ingestion representing the single most important nutritional variable enhancing post-exercise rates of muscle protein synthesis. Consideration must also be made for the age of resistance-trained individuals, as older adults require protein intake over and above that of their younger counterparts to receive the same benefits noted above. High quality – complete essential amino acid profile, high in especially leusine (It’s important to note that all “complete” proteins are not equal. Among the essential amino acids each source has more or less of any one of the amino acids.) Rapidly absorbed – liquid vs solid, some proteins like whey protein are easily digestible, however that particular dairy source has other complications for women in midlife (bloating, inflammation, blood sugar spikes) Aging – older adults do not have the same level of muscle protein synthesis that younger adults do. Therefore, they require a higher dose, that is more protein, per meal or post workout to have the same effect compared to younger adults. Midlife, specifically at menopause the accelerated rate of muscle loss makes it more important to increase protein. Females – with less muscle mass to begin with and with a decline in estrogen, increase in cortisol, and decrease in growth hormone and testosterone, you’ll also find it more paramount to watch your protein in take Endurance exercise – fewer studies on older adults and endurance exercise effects on protein needs, namely because it is not the primary recommendation for older adults. There is a greater oxidation and muscle wasting that occurs with endurance exercise in older adults, and in younger adults protein needs to rise with endurance activity. Chronic negative energy balance – if you’re dieting? Cutting calories on purpose or by accident (you’re fasting and have a window so short you’re unable to eat adequate protein) over time that will have a negative effect on muscle. There is a benefit to fasting, however during fasting muscle can’t be gained, it may be maintained, and the increased protein intake following the fast is what triggers muscle protein synthesis. Timing Post Exercise Protein (More on this at the end). At 1-2 hours following a challenging workout a high quality high protein (EAA rich) meal or smoothie is ideal. Considerations Suboptimal amino acid compositions (plant-based) Catabolism Anabolism Before we dive into this, you must know the quality of the resistance training you do matters. “The combination of peri-training protein consumption with inadequate or ineffective resistance training protocols will not maximize improvements in strength or hypertrophy.” Resistance exercise increases muscle protein synthesis for up to 48 hours.** (24) That is, the environment is ripe for supporting muscle protein synthesis, but it’s only optimized with the ingestion of amino acids. The synergistic effect of resistance training + amino acid ingestion provides the right opportunity to support muscle growth. Resistance Training Components That Matter Has to reach muscular fatigue Have adequate volume Provide adequate rest days for repair between workouts Related to lean muscle increases … it is more relative to local muscle fatigue than functional movement alone (justifying the need for both to optimize the human experience over 50) For women in menopause: Estrogen decline causes a decline in muscle Cortisol increase causes a breakdown of muscle Lifestyle habits that matter poor sleep quality, excess caffeine, negative energy balance Show Me the Fat In older adult women consuming a diet high in PUFA also supported reduced inflammatory response to exercise. The high fat, anti-inflammatory diet enhances growth response for favorable skeletal muscle growth. So, while the conversation is usually around protein, how much and when to consume it, whether it should be consumed with carbohydrates, you also want to consider if you’re eating and also potentially take anti-inflammatory fats. Omega 3 supplements may help the overall effect. Fasting: Resistance training fasted does show an increase potential for muscle protein synthesis (no studies on women in menopause currently) but it’s only when that is combined with amino acids that the muscle protein synthesis is actualized. Studies in young adult males show that 20 g of protein enhanced muscle protein synthesis But that 40 g had no better effect. A pre-exercise snack does not negate your need for a post-exercise protein requirement. It may however, improve your results. That is, you can’t add together some protein from a simple shake you had before and then have less in your post-workout meal or smoothie. You still need the same amount post exercise. Three potentially problematic protein foods often used in studies: Whey Egg Soy Each of these is on a short list of common food sensitivities that women in midlife often don’t tolerate either at all or on a daily basis. Whey (dairy) is a common inflammatory contributor, not just for those with an autoimmune disease but for older adults with inability to breakdown proteins ingested as well as they once did. The best way to know is test your body by eliminating for a period of time and reintroducing. Women seeking plant-based sources of protein will experience a “wall” of essential amino acids that is insufficient compared to animal protein. The addition of BCAA supplement (containing leucine, valine, and isoleucine) may support women who don’t eat enough protein or are primarily eating protein from plant-based sources.  Carbohydrate too after exercise? In any mixed meal (or a smoothie) you’re going to have some carbohydrates. You want some, but it doesn’t require a lot to boost the effect of the protein for muscle protein synthesis. In fact, in the majority of studies the additive effect of carbohydrate post-exercise is not proven. The carbohydrate seems to stop the muscle breakdown by replacing glycogen (energy store) in the muscle.  However, it has been observed that the combined effects of resistance exercise and amino acid ingestion on the enhancement of muscle protein synthesis may be delayed, and/or blunted in older adults, suggesting nutrient sensitivities may be compromised with advancing age.  **Whey protein is dairy, and an inflammatory (autoimmune disease trigger), and a food sensitivity for many women midlife and older. Older adults have a blunting effect to low doses of essential amino acid consumption compared to young adults. In general eating protein on a per meal basis, at least 30 g of high-quality protein, and following a post exercise increased EAA consumption of closer to 40 g improved older adult MPS comparable to young adults (20 g). The amino acid leucine is identified as an important “trigger” but other EAA are required to facilitate the synergistic response for muscle size and strength. Therefore, you can’t just take a pill. You’ve got to eat a variety of foods, and consume high quality proteins, though BCAA supplements in addition may be warranted for adults who can’t reach protein adequacy. Leucine-rich foods (seek 2.3-2.5 per meal) All animal-based proteins (hierarchy of quality: it runs, flys, or swims) Plant-based proteins (if careful “complete” have fewer overall EAA In older adults, consumption of 40 g of protein post resistance training rate of MPS was 91% higher compared to no post meal feeding. Skipping a meal after exercise? Eating a lettuce salad or having butternut squash soup? Not eating at all, not eating enough, or having the wrong thing (say, an all-fruit smoothie) are the three biggest mistakes you can make that sabotage that weight training you’re doing. Just Beginning Strength Training? Protein intake is more, not less important for you. Multiple studies show that active older adults have enhanced muscle protein synthesis, compared to inactive. Similarly, those starting a resistance training program are not yet fully benefitting from muscle protein synthesis. So, you require more when you’re just starting out to experience the bump in MPS. Before and or After Alone is Not Enough Total protein intake is positively related to muscle and strength gains. That is, an around the clock, per meal dose of high-quality protein (at least 30 g per meal and even closer to 30-40 at breakfast and dinner) is most beneficial. Pair that with meals or smoothies post exercise (if meal timing is not conducive to allowing the right timing, or if energy demands or need for more caloric surplus (required to gain muscle). If You Take One Thing from This Episode Many women wonder, what am I doing wrong? And they’re not eating breakfast, they’re having soup or salad for lunch without adequate protein, fat, or resistant starches. They’re not eating enough for dinner. You would not suspect that would work for your teen athlete son or daughter. As a midlife woman you are far more likely to be losing muscle tissue than gaining it, your cortisol levels are high. An energy deficit- though you’ve been told calories in/calories out is the way – will make your body burn fewer calories. Chances are you don’t have much energy. You want to nap. You reach for caffeine and then wine to wind down. You are more likely to be constipated. And you can’t lose weight even though you want to. Potentially, you’re not eating enough. An active body requires calories to thrive and create energy. You may choose to simply focus on “thin” – even not want to be active. But that too will backfire. As you lose significant enough muscle, you will either slow metabolism or become frail. There’s thin. There’s emaciated. At some point as you age, you will cross that threshold. If you are dieting, or otherwise restricting your calories (as a result of fasting), you likely need additional protein over and above the recommendations here. In Summary Post Exercise Protein: Consider the following to preserve lean muscle, strength, and optimize body composition: Adequate resistance training Adequate protein possibly pre- and also post (but not totaled) All-day protein intake dosed on a per meal basis (about 30 g at least) Fatty acids and omega 3 Recommendations for Post Exercise Protein If you have fasted overnight before your morning exercise, eating a high protein meal immediately after to stop further muscle breakdown from combined cortisol high early in day, reduced estrogen levels, and resistance training is best. Continue to follow a high protein meal schedule for 24 hours following the resistance training. If you are in a fed state, even having had a simple shake of protein and almond milk for instance, you still need the post workout full dose of protein, but timing it 1-2 hours post exercise enhances muscle protein synthesis. If you are less active and just beginning, your protein needs are greater, than a consistently active (resistance trained) older adult. The older you get, your protein needs do not decrease, in fact they increase. References: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnut.2019.00147/full https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18323467/ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-016-0504-2 https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-10-53 https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/70/1/57/2947642 https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/74/4/489/5056722 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8563679/