Podcasts about simplistically

Asset protection strategies continue to be a key issue for advisers and their customers. Simplistically, asset protection can be as basic as moving assets out of the personal name of at risk individuals – an approach that can always deliver results; as long as tax and duty consequences are ignored. Traditionally gift and loan back arrangements have been the go-to strategy in all asset protection situations where transaction costs are prohibitive. Particularly in the estate planning arena however gift and loan back arrangements have been the subject of ongoing controversy. In this webinar, get the inside story in this space, on topics such as: What are the key issues with gift and loan back arrangements How have gift and loan back arrangements evolved over time What are the key implementation and drafting issues Do the leading cases remain relevant What other planning opportunities should be considered For access to more webinars and resources join one (or all) of the View Communities. Reminder to View Community members – join us in the FaceBook group for a deeper conversation about this topic and how you can leverage your learnings for your customers. Not a member? Learn about View's online mastermind communities below to see which one (or three) suits the needs of you and your business. Techniview: For advisers working in holistic estate planning (including trusts, asset protection, superannuation, tax and business succession)  Adviewser: For advisers wanting to facilitate legal solutions for their customers in holistic Estate Planning  Viewruption: For professional service providers wanting to iterate their business model (including abandoning timesheets) Related articles and resources: ·      PODCAST: #72 – Post Death Trusts = Asset Protection + Tax Planning  ·      PODCAST: #33 – An Asset Protection Master Class  Listen to View's previous episodes here 

In this episode of Tax Tuesday with Anderson Advisors attorneys Toby Mathis, Esq., and Eliot Thomas, Esq., the pressing tax questions from listeners have a special focus on real estate issues. They dive into the complexities of tax benefits for short-term and long-term rental properties, addressing specific monetary scenarios. Toby and Eliot also explore the nuances of passive losses and real estate professional status, evaluating how a limited partnership investment and syndications impact tax strategies. Additionally, they clarify the effects of installment sales on capital gains tax, the tax implications of long-term capital gains for incomes below $93,000, and strategies for reducing tax liability as a real estate flipper. You'll hear about the mechanics of 1031 exchanges, the use of solar credits against passive income, and the treatment of repairs versus improvements on rental properties. Tune in for expert advice on optimizing your tax situation in the real estate world. Submit your tax question to taxtuesday@andersonadvisors.com Highlights/Topics: "Professor One has three short-term rentals, seven days or less." "He generates $20,000 of profit from each one, but each generates $60,000 of losses, cost seg plus bonus depreciation." "Can he use 20% QBI?" that's 199A. "Can you use it on the $20,000 profits, or will those be offset by the $60,000 losses, and the net will be $40,000 each?" –We can't. We have to take in the $60,000 loss that's associated with each of those buildings. We don't take QBI against the loss. No, QBI would not be available here. "Professor Two has four long term rentals, and he used line depreciation for all of them." "His wife is a real estate professional, but there's not enough losses to offset his $300,000 grand in income. The CPA suggests putting $200,000 in a syndication as an LP. K1 will generate $150,000 of losses. As long as his wife is REP, he can use those passive losses to offset his W-2. Is that true?" – Because we're introducing a syndication, and this is a limited partner, that's the LP here at K-1, we're going to have to meet that test, the 500-hour test. In other words, to get our REP status, if we didn't use the 500-hour test, we may not be able to do that. That's why I say it depends. "Professor Three has one passive long-term rental and just bought two short-term rentals with seven days or less with cost seg plus bonus depreciation. Next year, 2025, his wife plans to retire and claim real estate professional status. The plan is to keep those short-term rentals as Airbnb with eight days or more, a.k.a passive, and keep the long-term rental as is. The first question is, can the wife manage, clean those Airbnbs and claim the 750 hours without touching the third long-term rental that is far away and group them all together?" – I'm going to say no, because remember, a short-term rental isn't rental activity. It's the pizza shop, okay, that Toby keeps talking about. But we have other ideas. “The second question is whether we can still use the losses from the cost seg we conducted on those two short-term rentals this year." – Losses will stay passive into the future, so no. "I have a question about capital gains tax. I'm selling a property with an installment payment plan. Only two installments to be received. The first will be received December of 2024, the second and last payment will be January 2025. How will this affect my capital gains tax?" – Simplistically, it's just going to split them. "Paying tax on real estate long-term gain. If my net income is under $93,000 in 2024, will I owe taxes on long-term capital gains from the sale of real estate, a vacation rental? The gain itself is over $93,000." – if you are below approximately $94,000 in 2024, it's going to be taxed at zero. "How do I reduce my tax liability as a flipper?" – Do it in a C-Corp or S-Corp, besides just immediate tax deductions, we want to avoid dealer status. Reverse exchange 1031. "Please help us understand it. How do I choose a QI, which stands for qualified intermediary? Any recommendations for first-time 1031 exchangers?" – you're first buying the replacement property and then you're deciding within 45 days which you're going to give up. And so it's just the opposite direction. You have 108 days total from close to close. "Is it possible to use solar credits against passive income from real estate rent income?” – Yes. You can have a solar credit. You could do it on your personal home, which would create an ordinary loss. The nature of the activity that the solar is attached to might have something to do with its tax treatment. "How do you determine if a repair and a rental property can be treated as an expense in the current year or must be depreciated?" – If you're making the property more valuable by doing it, that's not a repair. You're making it more valuable. "Hi, my husband and I want to sell a new construction home business to become full-time investors and manage our five large commercial properties. In the past, we've had real estate professional status because we self-managed our commercial properties. If we sell our construction business, do we still qualify for rep status if we start a management company to manage our commercial properties and earn W-2 income from this new company? What type of entity would be best to set up a management company, LLC, S-corp, or C-corp? – using that management company that you own yourself, certainly you can use that towards your time. Resources: Schedule Your FREE Consultation https://andersonadvisors.com/strategy-session/?utm_source=strategies-to-reduce-your-tax-liability-as-a-real-estate-flipper&utm_medium=podcast Tax and Asset Protection Events https://andersonadvisors.com/real-estate-asset-protection-workshop-training/?utm_source=strategies-to-reduce-your-tax-liability-as-a-real-estate-flipper&utm_medium=podcast Anderson Advisors https://andersonadvisors.com/ Toby Mathis YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@TobyMathis Toby Mathis TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@tobymathisesq    

Dr Mike Jones, the Managing Director of Impact Minerals Limited (ASX: IPT), is talking about a Western Australian High Purity Alumina project in a Coffee with Samso 175.   The HPA (High Purity Alumina) story has so far eluded the Samso journey. but now Impact Minerals Limited (ASX: IPT) is sharing. The HPA story require an understanding of a whole different pool of facts.   Although the HPA story is not something new, it does bring a whole different complexion to Impact Minerals. If you hear Dr Mike Jones describing the story, you may feel that this is a simple project.   You are not wrong, but to me, it is far from simple but this is one of those projects that is niche enough to make it work.   Impact Minerals to acquire advanced HPS project in Western Australia.     Impact Minerals is now embarking on a different journey. This new project is almost ready for the production story. They are finalising the drilling to produce the all important JORC Mineral Resource which will be the first step in cultivating a production story.     Get to know Impact Minerals Limited (ASX: IPT)   Impact Minerals have been around for a long time. Impact is a company that has projects that would a major project in any other ASX companies. The Broken Hill and the Arkun project especially.   The Broken Hill project is a Ni-Cu-PGE project (Figure 1 and Figure 2) is located with 20km from the world class Broken Hill silver-lead-zinc mine in New South Wales.   The geology at the Broken Hill project is one that has a lot of possibilities which is what you want from a project. I have looked at their projects from afar for a while.       Figure 1. Location of the Broken Hill Ni-Cu-PGE Project. (Source: Impact Minerals Limited)   Impact has shown that the very high grade palladium and platinum mineralisation at the Red Hill, Platinum Springs and Moorkaie Prospects and the Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) mineralisation at the Copper Blow Prospect (ASX:SCI) are hosted by and related to alkaline magmatic rocks (Figure 2), (ASX Announcement 13th December 2018).       Figure 2: Location of alkaline magma trends in the Broken Hill area. The Little Broken Hill to Moorkaie Trend contains rocks of potassic ultramafic to alkaline gabbro composition. The Copper Flat to Staurolite Ridge Trend contains rocks of alkaline gabbro to carbonatite composition. An offset of the Copper Blow Trend is interpreted to the south of the Thackeringa Fault Zone. (Source: Impact Minerals Limited)   The Arkun project (Figure 3) which covers about 850 square kilometres is between York and Corrigin, which is approximately 100 km east of Perth. The project was first identified as an area of anomalous nickel-copper-gold anomalies in publicly available regional geochemistry data sets.   What I like about this project is that it is now considered to be in a mobile belt that is prospective for "Julimar" type mineralisation. The discovery of Julimar has now opened up this whole region.       Figure 3: Location and Regional Geology of the Arkun Project and showing key nickel-copper-PGE deposits and recent discoveries. (Source: Impact Minerals Limited).   A subsequent interpretation of regional magnetic data by Impact has identified the area as lying within a major deformation zone or mobile belt that trends NW-SE from the Moora-Julimar-Yarawindah area through Arkun and which may contain deformed and metamorphosed equivalents of those rocks . This belt is generally not recognised in many regional geology maps and yet is self-evident in the magnetic data. This is a significant breakthrough in understanding for Impact.     The BHP Xplore Program   Impact Minerals was recently chosen to participate in the BHP Xplore program with their Broken Hill project. The participation is a recognition of the quality of the project and the amount of good work completed by the company.   Think about the amount of projects that would have been submitted and to be selected is a testament of something positive.   Impact Selected to Participate in BHP Xplor Program       The Lake Hope HPA Project will change the future of Impact Minerals Limited.   The Lake Hope Project covers numerous prospective salt lakes between Hyden and Norseman in southern Western Australia ,a Tier One jurisdiction (Figure 4). The project covers about 238 sqkm and are all owned by the vendor, Playa One.       Figure 4: Location of the lake Hope project.   The Lake Hope area has unique climatic and geological characteristics that have resulted in the formation of what is probably a globally unique deposit of aluminium-rich material within the surficial clay layers of two small salt lakes, or “pans”, in the Lake Hope playa system.   The lake clays, which are only up to a few metres thick, have unique chemical and physical properties and consist almost entirely of aluminium-bearing minerals that are plasticine-like in consistency and can be easily sampled with hand-held augers and push tubes (Figure 5).       Figure 5: Lake Hope showing the push tube sampling method (!) and an example of the lake clay from the push tube. (Source: Impact Minerals Limited)   In addition, particle size distribution analysis demonstrates that virtually all the minerals are less than 16 microns and 60% to 80% occur at grain sizes of less than 5 microns (Figure 6).         Figure 6: Particle size distribution analysis for four samples. Sample LP0040 contains sandy particles at the base of the deposit. (Source: Impact Minerals Limited)   These unique characteristics have produced a near-perfect mineral deposit: a very high-value end product whose parent ore is:   Very soft and shallow, allowing for extremely cheap free-digging with limited infrastructure requirements, no pre-stripping, no selective mining, a tiny environmental footprint, and limited rehabilitation requirements. Naturally fine-grained with no need for crushing and grinding, allowing for transport to an offsite processing facility that can be built on existing industrial sites (Figure 4). In essence, this is Direct Shipping Ore (DSO). Comprised of a few minerals that require only simple washing before acid leaching, thus allowing for low-cost straightforward metallurgical processing.   Samso's Conclusion   The change in business for Impact makes a lot of sense. The introduction of the Lake Hope project will move Impact Minerals into the production part of the industry very quickly. As we all know, in the exploration game, discovery of an economical resource is very difficult. The path to production is another hurdle many small juniors will never cross.   What I like with Impact are their "Other" projects. There is a lot I like about the new HPA label. However, one cannot discard the potential of the Broken Hill and also the Arkun project. There is hard to measure value in the potential of these projects.   I have always considered the HPA as too hard. However, now listening to Mike sharing his thought and strategy with the Lake Hope project, I am changing my narrative. To be honest, I have not really looked into the details but I have got some idea now.   Simplistically, the HPA story appear to be about processing. The mining part seem to be easy. This is what I take away from listening to Mike and his confidence, I feel, comes from the fact that Lake Hope is a unique deposit. It is one of those projects that tick the boxes that we all dream about.   When you look at this project, Lake Hope, what I see is that, at this stage of the game, Impact has been lucky. They got this project which appears to have all the hallmarks of a "Perfect Project". Yes, we all know about the things that can and will go wrong with the path to production, but I think when you listen to Mike speak about the ups and downs, you will come to the same thought Could this be true?   When the time comes where we get the answer to that question, I would rather be the group that have the position to lose than the group that is fighting for a position. My philosophy has always been that I rather lose something than regret not being able to win. Welcome to the Mineral exploration game..... DYOR.       Tune in to Mike's thoughts here.   Chapters:   00:00 Start 00:20 Introduction 01:37 The Impact Minerals Limited story 06:28 HPA - Potential big player in the industrial minerals market 09:19 The deposit and metallurgical process of extracting HPA 12:13 What is special about the Lake Hope Project? 18:49 The assay results in Lake Hope 21:15 What is 4N high purity alumina? 23:50 Advantages and challenges of the alumina deposit 28:07 The chemistry consistency of alumina grades 31:27 The competitive advantage of Lake Hope area 32:45 The challenges of being in the HPA space 35:06 A low cost producer of HPA 37:29 News flow 40:29 The advantage of leapfrogging the discovery phase 44:32 Why Impact Minerals Limited? 47:26 Conclusion

With Fed messaging making it clear they're not yet done fighting inflation, the market is left to contend with the recent rally and prepare to adjust growth expectations.-----Transcript-----Welcome to Thoughts on the Market. I'm Mike Wilson, Chief Investment Officer and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist for Morgan Stanley. Along with my colleagues, bringing you a variety of perspectives, I'll be talking about the latest trends in the financial marketplace. It's Monday, August 29th, at 11 a.m. in New York. So let's get after it. After the Fed's highly anticipated annual meeting in Jackson Hole has come and gone with a very clear message - the fight against inflation is far from over, and the equity markets did not take it very well. As we discussed in this podcast two weeks ago, the equity markets may have gotten too excited and even pre traded a Fed pivot that isn't coming. For stocks, that means the bear market rally is likely over. Technically speaking, the rally looks rather textbook. In June, we reached oversold conditions with breadth falling to some of the lowest readings on record. However, the rally stalled out exactly at the 200-day moving average for the S&P 500 and many key stocks. On that basis alone, the sharp reversal looks quite ominous to even the most basic tactical analysts. From a fundamental standpoint, having a bullish view on U.S. stocks today is also challenging. First, there is valuation. As we have discussed many times in our research, the Price/Earnings ratio is a function of two inputs; 10 year U.S. Treasury yields and the Equity Risk Premium. Simplistically, the U.S. Treasury yield is a cost of capital component, while the Equity Risk Premium is primarily a function of growth expectations. Typically, the Equity Risk Premium is negatively correlated to growth. In other words, when growth is accelerating, or expected to accelerate, the Equity Risk Premium tends to be lower than normal and vice versa. Our problem with the view that June was the low for the index in this bear market is that the Equity Risk Premium never went above average. Instead, the fall in the Price/Earnings ratio from December to June was entirely a function of the Fed's tightening of financial conditions, and the higher cost of capital. Compounding this challenge, the Equity Risk Premium fell sharply over the past few months and reached near record lows in the post financial crisis period. In fact, the only time the Equity Risk Premium has been lower in the past 14 years was at the end of the bear market rally in March earlier this year, and we know how that ended. Even after Friday's sharp decline in stocks, the S&P 500 Equity Risk Premium remains more than 100 basis points lower than what our model suggests. In short, the S&P 500 price earnings ratio is 17.1x, it's 15% too high in our view. Second, while most investors remain preoccupied with the Fed, we have been more focused on earnings and the risk to forward estimates. In June, many investors began to share our concern, which is why stocks sold off so sharply in our view. Companies began managing the quarter lower, and by the time second quarter earnings season rolled around positioning was quite bearish and valuations were more reasonable at 15.4x. This led to the "bad news is good news" rally or, as many people claim, "better than feared" results. Call us old school, but better than feared is not a good reason to invest in something if the price is high and the earnings are weak. In other words, it's a fine reason for stocks to see some relief from an oversold condition, but we wouldn't commit any real capital to such a strategy. Our analysis of second quarter earnings showed clear deterioration in profitability, a trend we believe is just starting. In short, we believe earnings forecast for next year remains significantly too high. Finally, last week's highly anticipated Fed meeting turned out to be a nonevent for bonds, while it appeared to be a shock for stock investors. Ironically, given the lack of any material move in yields, all of the decline in the Price/Earnings ratio was due to a rising Equity Risk Premium that still remains well below fair market levels. The bottom line, we do think Friday's action could be the beginning of an adjustment period to growth expectations. That's good. In our experience, such adjustments to earnings always take longer than they should. Throw on top of that, the fact that operating leverage is now more extreme than it was prior to COVID, and the negative revision cycle could turn out to be worse than usual. Next week, we will attempt to quantify more specifically how challenging the earnings outcome might be based on an already reported macro data. Thanks for listening. If you enjoy Thoughts on the Market, please take a moment to rate and review us on the Apple Podcast app. It helps more people to find the show.

When most people think about a sales person, they cringe. Kevin Hayler is trying to change all that from the ground up. He wants to make being a salesperson a respected and sought after career that moms everywhere can say with pride when they brag about their children. In this episode titled after Kevin's company, “Sales Made Easy” we talk about what a quality sales professional brings to the table and the foundations of becoming a quality sales professional. “Simplistically, build relationships with people. Build trust with people.” Kevin teaches that only by focusing on the prospects needs, building trust, and solving their problems can we be truly effective at sales. He graciously shares his “Seven foundations on which to build your success in sales.” ONE: Activity TWO: Engage THREE: Question FOUR: Listen FIVE: Know SIX: Solve SEVEN: Do It You can download a copy of this list along with the details of each foundation on Kevin's website www.salesmadeeasy.sale. While you're there you can check out his memberships. The free level gives you access to the forum, podcasts, webinars, tips, guides, and training courses! Kevin Hayler the Founder and CEO of Sales Made Easy. To get in touch with Kevin you can email him at Kevin@salesmadeeasy.sale or find him on LinkedIn. More at moneyheartshow.com. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/moneyheart/support

Equities markets have painted red all around the world these last couple of days and again it was the tech ‘growth' shares that faired the worst. The NASDAQ is now down more than 10% putting it into a technical correction for the first time since the COVID plunge in March 2020. Growing fears around central banks removing support are spreading. So why have gold and in particular silver surged? Simplistically investors have been dismissing the seemingly nonsensical valuations of these hand full of tech growth shares (that also completely dominate indexes) on the basis that “fundamentals don't matter”. The story goes that fundamentals don't matter because all the new money being injected into the system had to be put somewhere right? So it makes sense then that when said free money is being withdrawn or more expensive to get, that people start to think about fundamentals again…

Permaculture is really cool! Earth friendly practices that make gardening easier while increasing yields. Julie spends some time breaking down permaculture ideas to incorporate with your gardening.

One of the biggest mistakes we see in accounting firms is the team members not working on the appropriate tasks. Most often it's the partners doing the technician's work such as data entry, but it's also the technician's (and the partners) doing the administrative work. This means your team members aren't working on those tasks where they bring the most value. Another challenge we have seen in the industry is the lack of a quality supervisory and managerial level in a lot of firms. That's not to say the managers aren't great accountants, it's that supervisor and manager skills are different to an accountant's typical skillset and few firms take the time to develop these skills in their team members.We chat about how Penny structures her team to deliver her back office support (BOS) services. Simplistically we break the work into 3 categories, the preparation, the supervision, and the client relationship - although you could (and should) add a fourth administrative category. Once you've done that ask the question in what category are you spending most of of your time - go on, have a look at the time sheets! And now work out how to fix it - with technology, with people, or with outsourcing.If you'd like help working through this or any other aspects of your business transformation, drop us a line via LinkedIn.Penny Breslin - LinkedIn | @PennyB57Damien Greathead - LinkedIn | @Damien_GH

Erica C. Barnett joins Crystal on the show this week to discuss developments in Seattle's response to the homelessness crisis, the ironic language of the Compassion Seattle Initiative, the cancellation of a needle exchange program in Federal Way, and calls for the King County sheriff to resign in light of a recently publicized email articulating her support for a cop who unjustly murdered a civilian. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher on Twitter at @finchfrii and find today's co-host, Erica C. Barnett, at @ericacbarnett, and read more of their work at Publicola.com. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com.   Resources Watch our guest today, Erica C. Barnett, talk with Omari Salisbury about the “Compassion Seattle” Charter Amendment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohb-H65i9AY  Learn more about the proposed charter amendment here: https://southseattleemerald.com/2021/04/02/group-seeks-amendment-to-charter-requiring-homeless-services-and-clearing-of-parks/  Find more information about the Federal Way decision to end needle exchanges here: https://publicola.com/2021/04/08/hostile-architecture-at-the-library-needle-exchange-ban-in-federal-way-and-a-roads-heavy-transpo-bil/  Read about calls for the King County Sheriff to resign here: https://publicola.com/2021/04/09/calls-for-king-county-sheriff-resignation-expand-beyond-county-council/   Transcript Crystal Fincher: [00:00:00] Welcome to Hacks and Wonks. I'm your host, Crystal Fincher. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy through the lens of those doing the work with behind the scenes perspectives on policies in our state. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes.  Today, we're continuing our Friday almost live shows where we review the news of the week. Welcome back to the program friend of the show and today's co-host, Seattle political reporter, editor of PubliCola, and author of Quitter: A memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery, Erica Barnett. Erica Barnett: [00:00:48] Great to be here, Crystal.  Crystal Fincher: [00:00:50] Great to have you here with us again. It's always an enlightening time when you're here. And as one Seattle City Councilmember noted, It seems like Erica's always on there.  Erica Barnett: [00:01:01] Ooh, which one? Crystal Fincher: [00:01:06] So you're - people are hearing you.  Erica Barnett: [00:01:08] Awesome.  Crystal Fincher: [00:01:08] And I wanted to start off talking - with an issue that is really relevant in the City of Seattle right now. A proposed charter amendment - an initiative that's being brought up that they'll be gathering signatures for, from a group called Compassion Seattle. We talked about this a little bit last week, but do you want to go over what it is and who is putting that forward? Erica Barnett: [00:01:33] Sure. Compassion Seattle is a group of organizations and individuals. So the original proposal was made by former City Councilmember, Tim Burgess. But it's being funded primarily at this point by the Downtown Seattle Association. There's also some organizational support from the Public Defender Association and the Chief Seattle Club and the Downtown Emergency Service Center, so some homeless service providers.  And what the initiative would do is it would set a mandate in the City charter. So it would amend the city's constitution to mandate that the City spend 12% of its budget every year on a special human services fund that would pay for homeless services, behavioral health, and things like that. And it would also mandate 2,000 new units, beds of shelter. It says shelter or housing, but I, think that realistically, what we're talking about is shelter, within the first year after the charter amendment passes. So it constrains future mayors and City Council members in that way. And then in addition, it says that as this housing/shelter becomes available, the City shall endeavor to keep, or it shall keep, parks and public spaces open and clear of encampments, which I would say opponents and just people kind of reading between the lines would say is a return to sweeps. So that's the broad strokes of what it does. Still a lot of unanswered questions about some of those mandates in particular.  Crystal Fincher: [00:03:20] Well and still a lot of questions, certainly. One of the first ones that I have just currently is - What exactly is different in this proposed charter amendment than the current state now? Are we currently funding anywhere close to 12%? Is that - that's being certainly billed as a big amount and, Hey, we're really investing. Is that a big investment?  Erica Barnett: [00:03:44] Well, I mean, it will be a big investment, if it ends up being additive to what the City is already providing to the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. And I know that's a bit of a wonky answer, but we are supposedly going to a regional approach to homelessness. And so the question - I mean, a huge unanswered question with that 12% of the budget, which is about, I think, $185 million a year at the current budget size, is that - is this going to be the City remaining in the business of providing homeless services, or is this going to the King County Authority? So that's a whole other giant policy question of - are we moving toward regionalism or is this a step in the other direction? The 12% number was apparently based on it being 1% higher than what we spent in the 2021 budget, but that is sort of a very, very - not misleading, but not representative amount. We usually - the City usually spends considerably less than that. So more like 9%. So this would be a pretty big hike and it would commit the City in perpetuity. So, no matter what happens, if there's a giant earthquake or other disaster, if we have another economic depression - no matter what, this money would have to be spent in this way. And so it really is - sorry that this is a legalistic term and I'm sure they've vetted this legally, but it is a prior restraint on future city councils and on mayors, to spend this money in this way. And to use the City's constitution to do that, as I've reported on PubliCola, is unprecedented. It's just, it's not usually what we amend the City charter for. So there's a lot of things about this proposal that are highly unusual and unprecedented.  Crystal Fincher: [00:05:46] Definitely. And this initiative was announced just over a week ago, but you have been reporting at PubliCola on this for months and saw this coming. So I guess, as you're looking at what the actual impact of this is going to be in terms of housing units and in terms of sweeps, what does it look like?  Erica Barnett: [00:06:11] Well, I think that the - if you look back at the early drafts of the amendment, and I'll have a story coming up on Monday about this as well with more details. But if you look back at the early drafts, it was all about sweeps. And I think that one sort of reason some of these groups that are not business groups bought into it is that some of that language was eliminated.  But where this came from was polling that found a tremendous amount of support for encampment sweeps. And so, the early language was all about removing encampments, keeping parks and public spaces clear of encampments, and it was much more punitive. So I think that, you know, that language isn't quite in there as much anymore, but the fact that that's how it originated says to me that this is fundamentally about removing encampments from parks and public spaces where they are visible. And whatever the actual language - it's important to know that context of that's where it comes from.  I think that because there's so many unanswered questions at this point, it's a little hard to say what the long-term impact is going to be. But I think that there - when you have a very vague language, like emergency housing including everything from enhanced shelter to permanent supportive housing, that tends to default to the cheapest, lowest, common denominator of those things. So if you're saying you have to build a thousand units of something, it's much, much easier to put in a thousand shelter beds in a congregate, enhanced shelter than it is to build a thousand units of permanent supportive housing. And of course that's impossible in one year. It's just not going to happen that quickly. So what I perceive this as is - a mandate for shelter that probably won't happen because there is no historical precedent for the City building shelter that fast. I mean, look at the pandemic. We stood up 95 new shelter beds in the first six months, not a thousand, not 500. 95. So the City is very slow about this stuff, and there's a little bit of, I think, magical thinking going on that if we just tell the City they have to do something, they're going to do it. We tried that with the emergency declaration on homelessness and that's been five and a half years now. And the emergency is still here and if anything, worse than ever. So, I don't think the immediate impact that you're going to see, in terms of actual housing, is going to be very great.  I mean, I could be proved wrong. That's certainly why some of the supporters from the kind of more left-leaning, homeless service provider community are - say they are supporting it. Because it actually does set sort of priorities and principles out, but let's also look at practice and look at what the City has done historically. And there's just not - there's not a whole lot of promising precedent there.  Crystal Fincher: [00:09:16] Yeah. And you actually raised a really interesting point that caught a lot of people's attention when they announced. This isn't - certainly with the original language and as many people see the intent, it is being supported by a lot of people who have been very in favor of sweeps without any services and seem to be primarily concerned with doing away with visible homelessness and not actually providing shelter for people. With the language around, one, just the name of the organization now - Compassion Seattle. It just sounds, I mean, how can anything bad happen from a group named Compassion Seattle? I mean, come on. How could you not trust that? But at the same time, there is a coalition of organizations and people like Lisa Daugaard from the Public Defenders Association, who people associate with the LEAD program, other programs that have been lauded as beneficial from social justice advocates and others. And so they're looking at this going, Well, why is she on board? Are they on board? Why does this - has this attracted someone who seems to be pushing in the other direction, I guess, what have you seen from that? And what have you heard from them as to why they're supporting.  Erica Barnett: [00:10:46] Well, I mean, what I've heard from Lisa and from other groups in their statements - Chief Seattle Club put out a statement and other groups have as well - is that, as I said, this sort of sets out principles and it doesn't contain language that mandates sweeps without any kind of services. So it ties those two together, in principle. I think, and I've written a little bit about this too - the Downtown Seattle Associa-, uh, the Downtown Emergency Service Center, and the PDA, and Chief Seattle Club, and Plymouth Housing as well - I mean, these are not as unlikely of allies as you might think.  Simplistically, it's easy to just think that, Oh, these are homeless advocates and these are bad business guys. Right? But the Downtown Seattle Association and DESC and all these groups have been working together on various things for many, many years. I mean, LEAD is Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion. They started out as an organization in Belltown that came out of complaints about encampments and about drugs and - actually primarily drug users and crime in the Belltown area. And it's - it was done in collaboration with police. So, you know, the directors of Plymouth Housing and the Chief Seattle Club sit on the board of the Downtown Seattle Association. The CEO of DSA is on the board of the Downtown Emergency Service Center. So these organizations are all connected, and I don't mean that in a conspiratorial way, just that they've worked together for a really long time and it's not really that surprising.  I mean, I think that advocates, the fact that advocates have not signed on - advocates like Real Change, like the Lived Experience Coalition, which is made up of individuals who actually have lived experience of homelessness. They told me yesterday that they have not even been consulted on this initiative and they have asked to be - they've asked to be included in conversations and they say that they have been refused or just didn't get any response. So, look at who's not there, I think, and that is more telling than the fact that these downtown groups are there and are at the table. Crystal Fincher: [00:13:06] Yeah, certainly. And again, as we've talked about in candidate races with endorsements and figuring out where people stand and where their interests seem to align, follow the money. Who is funding this and who is likely to benefit from it? And that's pretty illuminating, but in this entire conversation, we will certainly continue to keep paying attention. They will be collecting signatures - will probably be able to get enough signatures to put it on the ballot. So we will see, as this unfolds, but certainly a lot of people are asking questions. A lot of people are skeptical, and there's a lot of people who have not been heard from, as you said. So I guess looking - in a related issue - currently what we're dealing with, there are more sweeps planned right now. Do you want to talk about those?  Erica Barnett: [00:14:09] Sure. So the City is, well, this week actually, this morning, as we're talking on Friday - the City's parks department removed an encampment at the Rainier Playfield. And it was a small encampment that was inside the dugout. It was a number of men who all are Spanish speakers who were removed from that place. And the City has told me that four of them were moved to the Executive Pacific Hotel, or at least offered spaces there. I'm not sure if they are actually there right now. And then the rest of them are being offered some kind of shelter.  So that's kind of the first in a wave that's going to be happening over the next few weeks, I'm told. Miller Park, on Capitol Hill, is next. They've got a playfield there that kids, I guess, play Little League there and there's a school a few hundred feet away. So that's happening. There's one up in Ballard at Gilman Playfield. And then - or Gilman Playground rather. And another happening at the University Playground after that. So, this is just kind of the beginning of a ramp up, I think, of returning to encampment removals, which have been mostly suspended during the pandemic because it's the danger of moving people around. I would argue that moving people around is dangerous to those people no matter what. So yeah, so we're back at this again. And the reasoning given is that it interferes with playfield use, it interferes with children being able to get to school safely, and all the same kind of reasons you always hear for these encampment removals. Crystal Fincher: [00:15:54] Well, you know - speaking of a reason that we always hear. In two separate instances, we have heard people say, Well, you know, if there is trafficking going on within encampments, and there may be sex trafficking or trafficking of minors - have you ever heard of that happening, or are aware of any instance of that happening ever in Seattle? Erica Barnett: [00:16:19] I'll be honest with you, Crystal. I mean, yes, that does happen at encampments. I mean, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. That certainly does happen. Not on the level that it would be proportional to the response. Because I think instead of using a scalpel like we do with housed people, where we target the individual who is engaging in the activity, as opposed to saying, you know, we're going to sweep everybody who lives in the house. We should be doing that in encampments. There's certainly, I mean, there's bad stuff happening in encampments just like there's bad stuff happening in people's houses and people's apartments across the City.  So I would say that that has happened, and sex trafficking has happened in encampments from what I understand. And I don't want to whitewash that or sugarcoat it, but that's not - but to me, that is still not a justification for saying we're going to remove every encampment, or we're going to remove every single person at this 60-tent encampment where something bad or illegal was happening in one tent. I mean, we don't do that with any other kind of crime. It's only with homeless and vulnerable people that we use that kind of broad brush and just say, We're going to get rid of all of them.  Crystal Fincher: [00:17:40] Yeah, absolutely, and appreciate the perspective. It is important to address the problem and not just do that broad brush. It doesn't matter how many people we negatively impact if we are trying to address a problem. And also this week, in Federal Way. Federal Way decided to ban needle exchanges. Do you want to talk about what happened there?  Erica Barnett: [00:18:17] Yeah. There was a City Council vote this week, I think on, Oh boy, Wednesday? I don't know - time is meaningless. But essentially, the precipitating factor - so what happened before, leading up to this meeting, was that there's this needle exchange that is run by King County. It's called SCORE. And it's a van that goes out upon request when people call and say, I would like to exchange needles. So you're talking about - generally, drug users. And they go out there and a lot of times, they will go to a Park and Ride in that area and do the needle exchange. So it's on request.  So a woman, you know, neighborhood activist woman, called and said, I don't have any needles to exchange, but can I get some needles? She claims that she was given a hundred needles and this kind of turned into a giant social media nightmare like a lot of things like this do. And it just kept getting blown up and blown up more and more. And so this ended up leading to King County, actually, agreeing to suspend this program down there. And then last, or earlier this week, the City Council voted to affirm that, and to extend it, so that they can convene a working group to talk about what to do about this, I would say, non-existent problem.  Crystal Fincher: [00:19:46] Yeah, definitely a non-existent problem. And making sure this does not get mixed in with the conversation about safe consumption sites, which, you know, that has been a conversation, definitely in South King County, that has been used to scare people and as a wedge issue.  With needle exchanges, these have been around for decades and are very uncontroversial from a public health perspective. They've been around, they've been established. It is a benefit to all of our health. We have a very recent example of how our health depends on the health of our neighbors. And if there is a vector of risk that we can address, we should do that. And that's really what needle exchanges do. We are all healthier when we make sure that everyone in our community is healthier. And if we can reduce the risk from activity that is going to happen - people are currently using, and even if we're unhappy about it in our own minds, it doesn't solve or address substance use disorder. So people are going to be using. If they're going to be doing that, we want to make sure that they are not inflicting more harm than they would be otherwise. And actually make sure that they're alive and healthy so that if they can get back on a healthier path then excellent. But there's no reason to just let our neighbors die if there's a better option. Really. Frankly.  Erica Barnett: [00:21:22] Yeah. What was so - what was so shocking to me - I mean, because I've been a reporter for a long time and these debates about drug use have really evolved over the years. And there's much more of an acceptance of the idea of harm reduction. And what was shocking to me at this meeting, or maybe not shocking, but surprising, was that people in Washington state were saying things like, I don't, you know, if they get AIDS, I don't care. And, well the drugs are going to get them anyway, so who cares if they get hepatitis. And, if you give them needles, it will make them do drugs.  And I mean, which is truly like the kind of stuff I heard as a kid, growing up in the eighties, about condoms. I mean, it just - it doesn't make sense that condoms cause sex and it doesn't make sense that clean needles cause drug use. The reason for needle exchanges, just to be clear is - if you're reusing needles over and over again, first of all, as you said, there, it becomes a vector. I mean, you can get hepatitis, you can get HIV. All kinds of diseases are communicable that way. But also if you have old needles that aren't sharp, it leads to abscesses. It leads to horrible infections. It leads to, frankly, hospital stays, which costs all of us as a society, money to put people in the hospital for weeks for abscesses that - for people who are uninsured. So even if you're just looking at it from a selfish perspective, it's not a good policy to let people get infected and sick and need long hospital stays, which is truly what happens and where the needle exchange movement emerged out of - was that people were getting very, very sick and being sick didn't deter them from using drugs either. So, there's just absolutely no evidence that denying people access to clean needles and clean drug paraphernalia causes them to stop using drugs because that's just not how addiction works.  Crystal Fincher: [00:23:35] Yeah. It's not a choice at that point. If someone is experiencing addiction, then choice has been removed from the equation and they are experiencing a health issue. And so to simply act like they could choose to stop, or to not care that they can't, and to even get them to a place where that's an option, we need to keep them healthy. It's just, it's just sad.  And to me, I see the connection between this conversation about "Seattle is Dying" and that whole thing, which a lot of people in Seattle can very easily dismiss because the portrait that they're painting of Seattle does not ring true from anyone who lives in the City and is moving about. I mean, it's very disingenuous. They're telling a - it's propaganda. It is not reality. But for people in the suburbs, I don't think people really understand that Seattle is not actually the audience for that. It's the suburbs. And it's people who do not have an immediate experience in Seattle and who they're trying to inoculate against public health guidance. The data that is becoming increasingly clear and conclusive, in a variety of different areas saying, Yes, we have many shared concerns with public health. The health of our neighbor directly impacts us - our immediate health financially. It does. And that helping people instead of criminalizing them is generally the most effective method to deal with most problems that have a health or substance use component. So, there are people who are very, very interested from the religious right, from the alt-right, and who just see this as a front on their culture war. And that is how they're battling against it. And so this propaganda and scaring people that, Hey, Seattle treated people like humans and look what they got - it's dying. And that is being heard and reacted to in suburbs, and rural areas, and areas outside of Seattle. And it's not a coincidence that we're seeing this kind of backlash. And that we're not just having a conversation about the policies in Seattle today. This is leading to the repeal of long-term, decades-long accepted, uncontroversial issues and practices that now they're using to advance their agenda on the other side, really. So it's just really troubling.  Erica Barnett: [00:26:23] Yeah, it'd be nice if people listened to public health experts instead of the testimony of somebody who says they knew one person who used drugs and they responded well to a tough love approach, which is secondhand, anecdotal, and not based in any actual public health data or expertise.  Crystal Fincher: [00:26:44] Not based in any public health data at all. I mean, everything flies in the face of it. This is uncontroversial from a public health perspective. It just was used by people who wanted to advance a social agenda. And who felt that humanizing people was not compatible with that agenda. And treating people like people - like people we care for, and not just not caring if people die. So I hope that we see a change of that. And certainly there are a lot of local elections this year that are going to dramatically influence that conversation. And I hope you all get involved in that wherever you're listening to this from.  There's another issue this week. Looking at the King County Sheriff, the current King County Sheriff, who was elected, but actually will be - the Sheriff is going to transition to an appointed position after a vote last year by voters in King County. But the Sheriff is not having a good time right now. And lots of people from lots of different corners are asking for her resignation. You want to explain why? Erica Barnett: [00:27:57] Sure. So, and this is based on reporting by my reporter Paul Kiefer, as well as some great reporting in the South Seattle Emerald by Carolyn Bick. Great reporting by both of these reporters about a department-wide email that the Sheriff, Mitzi Johanknecht, I believe is how you say it, sent after the killing, or about the killing of Tommy Le in Burien in 2017. And in this email, she basically said that the settlement with King County for Tommy Le's death was not uncalled for, but that she understood why the deputy shot Le. A couple of the shots landed in his back. It was clear that he was not in fact, as the deputy argued, running at him or a threat in any way. But what she said in the email was that, It was an understandable decision and that she did not entirely agree with the decision to settle. So this is causing a lot of consternation on the city- on the County Council. And this week, State Senator Joe Nguyen joined the chorus and said that she should resign. Now, I don't know that that is going to have any impact on her directly. There's going to be an appointment process that comes up. It will probably not include her among the candidates, but I have not heard that she has any plans to resign so far. So it looks like, at this point, we're going to have to wait to see that appointment process play out.  Crystal Fincher: [00:29:46] Yeah, certainly it looks like that. She just did a King 5 interview. I feel like it was three days ago, but this week - days run into each other for me. So in the past she did that and certainly said that she did not plan on resigning, that she has no plans to resign, and really defended her actions. And is going on a tour to try and cover things up, and I guess get beyond this crisis for her, but, it certainly is troubling. She certainly is not reading the room. Just, you know, this is a conclusive finding. This is not - this seems like it should have been out of the realm of opinion by this time with the data and evidence that came out. There doesn't seem to be room for question about what happened and that it wasn't correct. There were King County Councilmembers who, right after the decision said, Hey, we legally could not comment while this was going on, but now that it has settled, this is the bare minimum that the family should have received. And they also should have received an apology that this was wrong. And for her not to be able to engage with that just further underscores why a lot of people say, Hey, this conversation about reform - it's not actually working for a lot of people, because if that is the attitude that we're dealing with in that extreme circumstance where it looks pretty conclusive that the version of events given by the deputy did not match the version of events that actually happened. And that that was an outcome that was not necessary. And that if it's not necessary to kill someone, then someone shouldn't wind up dead.  Erica Barnett: [00:31:42] Yeah. It's interesting to sort of contrast the way - you know, looking at the Sheriff's response to this and sort of saying, She understands why this deputy did what he did and he made a tough decision. And it - that feels like the kind of statement that you would hear from police chiefs and sheriffs maybe a decade ago. And now it seems as though there's, in most cases, at least some lip service to the idea of reform from chiefs and from people who are high up in law enforcement. So what struck me about it is, Wow, this is just such a throwback attitude. And not to say that the Seattle Police Department has made meaningful strides toward reform and certainly not defending them in any way, but just to go out of your way and cross 12 lanes of traffic that you don't need to cross to say, to defend the actions of somebody who has pretty unequivocally acted badly. Just, I think, speaks to how behind the times and how the Sheriff is and how inappropriate that kind of leadership is for 2021.  So in some ways I think it really validates the decision - I mean, we'll see who the County Council ultimately appoints, or the commission that's going to be discussing the appointments. But it does speak to the reasons that the voters passed this initiative to have an appointed sheriff rather than an elected one.  Crystal Fincher: [00:33:22] Absolutely. And that is our time, actually, for today.  Thank you for listening to Hacks and Wonks on this Friday, April 9th, 2021. The producer of Hacks and Wonks is Lisl Stadler and our wonderful co-host today was Seattle political reporter and founder of PubliCola, Erica Barnett. You can find Erica on Twitter @ericacbarnett. That's Erica with a "C" and on PubliCola.com. You can buy her book, Quitter: A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery anywhere right now. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F I N C H F R I I. And now you can follow Hacks and Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live show and our mid-week show delivered to your podcast feed.  Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk to you next time.

The R Factor is the cornerstone system, you've heard it as E + R = O. Simplistically it means Event + Response = Outcome and by managing your Response you can influence the outcome of the event. Trust, Behaviors, character, excellence, repeating what we do - daily produces results.

Simplistically, what he did is wrong. Simplistically. Let me share my take on this. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ian-along/message

The power of focus is the one thing above all else that will help you achieve your goals. That and perseverance. Simplistically, the focused light of a laser is created when light waves are in sync with each other. The parallel waves are coherent and in phase. The light waves from a laser are the result of synchronicity and coherence resulting in focus. https://www.icreatedaily.com/the-power-of-focus/ (Read the full article here!)Multitasking minimizes mental clarity and amplifies mind noise.Meditation maximizes mental clarity and minimizes mind noise.~LeAura Alderson, iCreateDaily.comhttps://icreatedailypodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Focus-Quotes-multitasking.jpg ()

Today’s question: Today’s question comes from Victor. I’m wondering if you have a formula or calculation to figure out the valuation of a company. I’m looking to bring in new investors but need to know how I can determine the value of my company. Jake’s answer: We’ve talked about this topic before, so we are going to take a bit of a different direction today and talk about how businesses value themselves in general. There are two calculations that I’ve seen work well. Pre-Revenue When you are pre-revenue it’s almost impossible to value your company. If you are trying to raise money early on you basically just want to avoid giving up equity and value. Anything over 25-30% of equity is too much to give up in your first round of fundraising. Most companies we work with raise about $250k to start with and give up about 10-15% of equity to get it. Post-Revenue Post-revenue companies are much easier to determine the valuation of. The simplest way to do the calculation is to look at your annual run rate (monthly income x 12) and then multiply that by 3 or 5 (this is for SaaS products). This is a safe rate to sell your business for as long as you are running in the black. If you are making $100k a year then you could likely sell for $300-$500k. If someone is buying you at that rate they just want passive revenue. Another way to do the calculation EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). You can generally sell your business for 3-5 times more than your EBITDA. Simplistically, let’s say you are making $100M a year and you are spending $50M on product. 20% of that is on operating expenses so then you have about $30M as operating profit. Without doing all of the calculations, you could probably sell for about $60-$120M. As your business grows the expenses will go up so when you are trying to value your company you have to account for the growing expenses along with the growing revenue. Ask for Help and Do your Research When you go into a sale, make sure you have someone around you who knows about all of this. The last thing you want to do is sell your company for less or more than what it is worth. If you are thinking about selling your business or valuing your business then go find another similar business who has already gone through that phase and see what they’ve done. A lot of that data is public (places such as AngelList) and gives you a great place to start for your own valuation. Ask Your Own Question Got questions about startups and/or startup culture? We’ve got answers. Head over to LaunchChat.io and record your own question to have it featured on the show. Stay in Touch Ask your own question Follow Jake Twitter Check out Jake’s articles Medium Jake’s personal site Check out Launchpeer Follow Launchpeer on Twitter

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. Mike Tyson's excellent response to a reporters question before his fight with Evander Holyfield. And isn't that just true about all of the best laid plans we make? No plan survives contact with the enemy Attributed to Helmuth von Moltke in the 19th century. All such quotes ring true because you know that it concurs with your own experience. On June 6th 1944 the long planned sea and airborne invasion of France began and the months of practice and detailed planning unravelled as parachute forces dropped into unmarked landing spots, gliders landed in wrong areas and thousands of soldiers from many different units found themselves mixed together during the night. A military disaster appeared to be in the making yet just hours later, the original objectives were being accomplished by ad-hoc units who faced much fiercer than expected German resistance. Leaders and soldiers at all levels understood that no matter where they found themselves on landing and no matter who with, they had to form into units, seize bridges and key terrain. The plan had vanished, but good Commander's Intent and superior training allowed leaders and soldiers to improvise and take the initiative to save the mission. What happens in your team at work when a plan changes? Does everyone know what to do next or is there confusion, prevarication and people standing around waiting for direction? Planning is time-consuming and difficult, whether you're planning a military operation, a product launch or planning your career. The military most often uses a concept known as "Commander's Intent" as a key concept to help a plan remain relevant and applicable during chaos in a dynamic ever-changing and resource-constrained environment. That is, they use it for real-life application. In the military, Commander's Intent is the definition and description of what a successful mission will look like to the commander (or CEO). Again, in the military, a Mission Statement describes Who, What, Where, When and Why (the 5W's) of How a mission will be executed. Thus, Commander's Intent describes the vision of the battlefield (or market, for example) at the accomplishment of the mission. Commander's Intent is what success looks like whilst fully recognising that the situation will be chaotic, that there is a lack of complete information, that the enemy changes the situation and anything else that may impact the situation to make the plan completely or partially obsolete when executed. Commander's Intent empowers subordinates to guide their improvisation and to take the initiative to adapt the plan to the changing battlefield environment. It enables the whole team to keep the clear vision of a successful conclusion whilst being agile and taking initiative to change when necessary. Why not just use SMART goals. SMART goals are what we are supposed to be setting, right? The downside of SMART goals is their lack of purpose Goal setting is essential, but even SMART goals are not enough in a rapidly changing, dynamic and shifting environment. SMART goals are terrific, but they don't tell me why, nor what to do should the specific result become impossible given the change in the environment... and there will be a change in the environment. When you take a SMART goal and turn it into an intention reduces the risk of the plan to achieve the goal being rendered useless in the event of unforeseen circumstances. To reduce the risk of becoming unusable, the Commander’s Intent is purposely ambiguous. Regardless of your seniority, any team member can improvise and align their behaviour without jeopardising the mission; and if need be, specify for clarification and without the need for instruction from their leaders. Simplistically, an intent takes a great SMART goal and adds a "so that" to it. For example, Score twice tonight so that we win the match. If the other team score three times, your goal remains achieved yet your mission is stuffed. Increase your market share by 30% could easily be a SMART goal... and there are myriad ways to do so. An MNC I worked with had that exact goal - and they achieved it! Whoopido! Sadly it was at the expense of making a profit. Fortunately we could turn it around the following year by finding the real answer to why they wanted a 30% increase. James Carville and Paul Begal recall Herb Kelleher’s description of Southwest’s Commander’s Intent in their book Buck Up, Suck Up, and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room: "We are THE low-cost airline". When you understand the you are working for THE low-cost airline, it's easy to measure any action you take against that intention. Does giving passengers free water during their flight align with that intent? Commander's Intent allows trained, confident and engaged employees to understand the plan and when they have to deviate to ensure that Commander's Intent is accomplished. They employ a "Spectrum of Improvisation" as they adapt the plan without changing proven processes nor common work techniques that are part of the plan and strengthen operational outcomes. Most often a good plan is a source of strength and you only need to adapt portions of the plan that require adjustment. The Spectrum of Improvisation retains the processes and systems that support business and mission excellence while adapting necessary elements to ensure mission success. Clear Commander's Intent gives yourself and your team members direction and confidence. If you lead your team, then you are responsible for identifying a worthy and compelling vision and articulating it to the team. People continually need to be shown the team's compass clearly and creatively so that their actions align, and they stay motivated by a captivating picture of the future. In their book, "Made to Stick", Chip and Dan Heath share help from the unit in charge of military simulations for NATO, the Combat Maneuver Training Center, who recommend that officers arrive at the Commander’s Intent by asking themselves two questions. And to be completely certain that you include a clear communication of purpose, I suggest that you add "so that" “If we do nothing else during tomorrow’s mission, we must . . . , so that . . .” “The single, most important thing that we must do tomorrow is . . . , so that . . . ” Using a Commander’s Intent can help you get more done and strip your to do list down to its most important task. Leaders who are unable to articulate clarity of command intent often find that the team fails to commit and: This creates ambiguity among the team about direction and priorities Team member's watch windows of opportunity close due to excessive analysis and unnecessary delay It also breeds lack of confidence and fear of failure Team's revisit discussions and decisions again and again And also encourages second-guessing among team members Of course, if you want your team to lack confidence, fear failure, have endless meetings revisiting the same old things again and again and encourage second guessing then don't do this. “If I do nothing else tomorrow, I must . . . " call a prospect write to my mother prepare for that presentation Establish a clear command intent for myself and my team so that...

Dr. Michael Ash goes into detail explaining the correlation between gut health and chronic illnesses. He provides some very good tips to prevent and reverse illnesses and talks about one very specific fruit we should all be consuming (and is probably sitting on every countertop in America right now). He's scientifically explains everything, but in a way we can all understand.   What should we know about the mucosal immune system? The vast majority of people in the world will die of inflammatory chronic illnesses. The primary mechanism for making those conditions develop is an up-regulation of the immune system. And the largest part of our immune system is the referred to mucosal immune system. In simple terms, it's all the tissues in our body that are wet: eyes, mouth, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys. All these have fluids over the surface performing roles. We share all the cells in them with creatures like bacteria, viruses, worms and sometimes parasites. Some are helpful and some are problematic.   The outside world reaches in to us primarily through the mucosal immune system. The better that system is to interpret the outside world, the more reliable we can be in terms of our health. The mucosal system is our body's diplomat, taking charge and care of our body.   What can we do to prepare our mucosal immune system to be the best? Look at our digestive tract first. What we are putting in our body is very important in terms of how our body is going to act. First what we eat is important. Consume foods that have messages that our body recognizes. And then, what we drink. If our system does not receive foods that our body recognizes (plant based foods grown in good soil), our body's response is to produce inflammation, acting as a defense mechanism. Simply getting older we produce more inflammation. So we should consume counter regulatory defenses as we age.   So what foods should we consume? Plant based foods carry messages that animal based foods do not. So the more plant based foods we consume, the better prepared our bodies will be.   Vegetables that are slightly bitter in their content are more densely packed with those keys that our immune system is looking for than those that are sweeter. Crunchy veggies like brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, parsnips, etc. which are stiff. Can be cooked or steamed, 3 to 4 times a week. These are remarkable! They are miraculous to our body to protect us against risk. If we don't consume these foods, we can survive but we cannot survive effectively. Therefore, other risks and challenges to our immune system are much more difficult to turn off and take under control. This then manifests into chronic ill health like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, Alzheimer's, eye dysfunction, problems of reproduction and lots of gastrointestinal issues (IBS, bloating, diarrhea, cancer).   Fruits that contain those good messages for our bodies, like the veggies mentioned above are apples. Eating apples can be medicinal. Cook them by cleaning them, peel, cut into cubes, drop in a pan and cook with cinnamon and raisins and water, simmer (about 6 apples), soften and loose shape but not completely disappear. Referred to as stewed apples or applesauce. You'll see a gelatinous fluid called pectin. Pectin is a raw material for bacteria inside the gastrointestinal tract. When fed with pectin they manufacture fatty acids. The organisms look for the pectin and produce a substrate, the most powerful anti-inflammatory chemical a human can produce. A study done showed that consuming 3 apples a day was the same as taking 10 mg of prednisone in the treatment of inflammatory gut problems, preventing illnesses that can ultimately create cancer. Recommend 2 to 3 apples a day cooked, if you're ill. For prevention, 1 a day. Raw is not the same as if it's cooked. Make it for dessert and feed everyone!!     Get your FREE download here, Review Article: Is This a Perfect Functional Meal for Mucosal Tolerance, provided by Dr. Michael Ash to learn more about apples, the scientific rationale behind it, allergy protection, antibiotic impact, phenolic compounds, apple skins, inflammation control, the brain benefits, his applesauce recipe and more.   What other things can we do to prevent inflammation in our body? Avoid additional sugars. Anything that has been refined, for example sugar, corn and other sources, the less you consume of them the lower your risk of developing long term chronic illness.   Vegetables and fruits can convey benefits. So can meat, it does have a role in humans, but make it grass fed proteins. The Mediterranean style diet receives high votes because statistically it proves to be successful.   Fats comes in many forms. Simplistically, fat has been vilified and is wrong. There are fats that will never find success in human health. But high quality fats will benefit the health of our brain. Our diet should contain a reasonable quantity, which is a conversation for another day altogether.   PROBIOTICS   Two ways to identify the consumption of probiotics. Ecological consumption is when you just pick up something at the store with a mix of strains. When a type of organism, species and strain are identified to treat a certain type of illness.   Many studies have clearly shown that even if you just use a healthy strain of probiotic, you generally enjoy some improvement in overall health, by reducing inflammation. If we're over the age of 40, it is most advantageous to consume probiotics.   What are the benefits or probiotics? There are 7 things that probiotics do for our health. Dr. Ash spends some time explaining what these all are, as well as the dosage recommended based on body size and age.   [et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_4] About Dr. Michael Ash: Michael Ash DO, ND, BSc, DipION was in full time clinical practice for 25 years during which time he founded and developed the largest Integrative Medicine practice in the south west of England, incorporating the philosophy of functional medicine from 1991 onward. He is no longer in full time practice having sold his practice in 1997, but devotes time to research, writing and the management of complex immune mediated illnesses through the application of natural and pharmaceutical interventions. He has specialised in the role of the wet tissues (such as the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts) in human health for over 20 years, through the application of food and lifestyle based interventions aimed at the remediation of dysfunctional bacterial communities and associated tissues essential to a healthy mucosal immune system. The manipulation and alteration of these commensal bacteria and tissues through changes in medicine and lifestyles over the last 100 years has seen a profound move away from acute infectious diseases to more chronic complex illnesses. The changing microbial landscape including decreased diversity and loss of key stone species and their associated impact on the creation of non-resolving inflammation are increasingly causally linked to many of our burgeoning health problems.  An author, researcher and presenter with skills in business development as well as clinical care, he has also been an adjunct member of the Institute for Functional Medicine’s faculty for many years, and provides a unique set of insights into the application of often complex and intersecting immune patterns for the resolution and restoration of loss of homeostasis within the framework of analytical and clinical application. Links and Resources Visit www.clinicaleducation.org to find more information about Dr. Ash's studies, and search "apples" to learn more about the benefits of apples. Dr. Ash's recommended books: Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Dr. Ash's Favorite Music: To push through: Wake Me Up by Avicci To pump her up when feeling down: Two Sides of Lonely by The Lone Bellow To soothe when feeling tense: it changes over time but right now it's Lord Huron

Diabetes is a disease that affects increasing numbers of people in developed countries where obesity, lack of exercise and genetics are causing epidemic levels of the condition. Simplistically, the pancreas becomes unable to manage blood sugar levels as it (usually) can’t to produce the right amount of insulin. Don and Nicholas discuss the problems facing … Continue reading Manage Diabetes with DiabiLive App at CES 2018 → The post Manage Diabetes with DiabiLive App at CES 2018 appeared first on Geek News Central.

In this special episode, NBT client Ryan Baxter takes over the mic to ask Dr Tommy Wood, MD, PhD, some excellent questions around fuelling for Obstacle Course Racing (OCR). Whilst Tommy’s answers are somewhat specific to OCR, all athlete may find some helpful tips here. Below are the questions that Ryan asked, and a summary of Tommy’s response. Q: Diet can be like politics or religion, how do you effectively communicate your ideas about how athletes should fuel? Be honest about the fact that there is more than one way to skin the cat Start with real food - eliminations and diet subtypes are secondary It’s OK to supplement if needed Q: What is the most common problem you see when it comes to nutrition and athletes? Undereating and underfuelling Worrying too much about the minutiae Thinking they can eat whatever they like because they exercise Focusing too much on supplements without wanting to get the basics right You need to figure out if you’re somebody that should worry *more* or less about their nutrition Most of the people I work with often need to worry less Over-restriction Most “average” people need to worry more Q: As far as day to day nutrition what do you think that should look like? Any specific macro recommendations? This assumes no goal for changes in body composition Eat 120-160g of protein per day, in 3-4 meals For OCR athletes, I’d eat at least 1g/lb carbohydrate per day Depends on intensity and can be cycled by day The rest should come from fat, from whole food sources Q: Chris Masterjohn just posted two videos [1, 2] on fueling athletic performance with carbs vs fats.  My overall interpretation of his analysis was that he feels that if you are doing intense exercise you need to be fueling with carbs.  What are your thoughts on the carbs vs fats debate. Masterjohn has nicely presented the evidence to answer a question that should be obvious but sadly has generated a lot of debate. Simplistically, you need to right fuel for the given exercise or intensity, and if you want to be regularly performing at glycolytic activities, you should be eating carbohydrates. You can still do glycolytic work when restricting carbohydrates, and it may help to mitigate the downregulation of glycolytic pathways, but your absolute performance will probably drop. If you’re restricting carbohydrates, *why* are you doing it? Metabolic health? If so, focus on that rather than performance. “Fat adaptation”? Can be achieved whilst also eating carbohydrates! Fat oxidation rates increase with VO2Max. Q: Our team is very diverse both in age range and fitness.  We have people who are in their teens and up and we have people who are beginners to those who race in the elite class.  Do you have recommendations about how to someone might go about finding the right nutrition for themselves? An appropriate (and good) multivitamin is usually a good idea Start with the rough recommendations above Older people (40-50+) may need more protein If still hungry, eat more! If poor recovery, or weight loss despite not feeling hungry Eat more carbohydrates Increase calorie density of foods If regular GI symptoms (diarrhoea, bloating etc), consider a period of elimination of the main potential culprits: Grains, dairy, soy, eggs FODMAPs If this is beneficial for you - do more digging! Q: We have some vegetarians on the team, would you suggest anything specific for them? Don’t fall into the typical vegetarian traps Not eating vegetables Not eating fish (if not vegan) Eating “faux” meat Making bread and cheese dietary staples Don’t usually have as much of a problem eating enough carbohydrate Make sure you get enough protein (may need to increase intake to compensate for lower essential amino acid intake) Controversial May only be necessary if trying to maximise muscle mass Q: Do you have any supplements that you would recommend every athlete take or is supplementation an individual recommendation? Creatine Vitamin D (if levels are low) Citrulline and beta-alanine for repeated HIIT/Sprint/higher-rep weight training performance Caffeine and nitrates (beetroot shots?) restricted the rest of the time and then used as an ergogenic aid Q: Everyone always focuses on macronutrients when it comes it nutrition, but what about micronutrients?  Should we focus on them as well?  Can you talk about how they might affect your athletic performance? Micronutrients are essential for all the basic synthetic and enzymatic functions in the body. B6 for red blood cell production Multiple B vitamins for various parts of energy production Copper for proteins involved in iron absorption Copper, zinc, and selenium for enzymes involved in handling oxidative stress Zinc inhibits copper uptake Many athletes both zinc *and* copper deficient Selenium and iodine for thyroid function Chris Masterjohn series Q: I think every athlete knows about the importance of staying hydrated, but do you have any recommendations when it comes to hydrating during training or racing?  Should we be drinking a specific amount on a set schedule or should we just be mindful of how thirsty we are? All the best evidence says you should just drink to thirst. Tim Noakes “waterlogged” - documents the adverse effects of hyponatraemia in marathon runners and US Army when trying to stay “hyper hydrated”. Where it has been studied, the people that perform the fastest at longer distances (IRONMAN triathlon or ultramarathons) tend to lose the most amount of bodyweight (i.e. are the most dehydrated). Maybe genetic or involve other factors, but suggests dehydration is not the limiting component. Q: OCR is a unique sport that combines lots of different aspects of physical fitness, so you think there are special fueling requirements for OCR athletes? OCR typifies the need for metabolic flexibility - the ability to utilise all substrates at the right time, and switch between them. Overtly restricting one macronutrient is unlikely to be beneficial Cycle training intensities/modalities and fuel appropriately to get the best of all pathways. Q: We have a coach who likes to push us pretty hard over the course of a 2hr class.  As an example, his warmup was a burpee ladder which essentially amounted us doing 15 minutes of burpees. And that is the warmup, how should we fuel for training sessions like this like this? Should we fuel beforehand/after/both? I don’t think most people need intra-workout nutrition for this kind of session. Unless struggling to maintain weight or want to gain muscle mass Consider small amount of carbs and amino acids (as during a race) Get a real food meal in as soon as feasible and comfortable Can use a shake if you need more calories or protein or will be a long time before you can eat. Not essential Liquid calories not recommended unless failing to get enough from food. Q: OCR races can vary greatly in distance, there are some that are 5k in distance all the way up to ultra-endurance races that last 24 hours. Of course, we are doing a lot more than just run during these races. When should we start concerning ourselves with intra-race nutrition? What would you suggest? Probably don’t need intra-race nutrition unless going over 2-3 hours Greater dependence on fat-burning/aerobic pathways at that distance Combination of slow-digesting carbohydrate and some amino acids UCAN, PHAT FIBRE, oats, sweet potato powder MAP, BCAAs, protein powders Fats for longer efforts if tolerated Can be real-food based Nuts (macadamias are popular) and seeds (i.e. chia) Pemmican NAC or glutathione for much longer efforts (i.e. 24h races) Q: After a tough training session or race, we all want to recover as fast as possible to get back to training or racing.  Rest is important as is mobility etc, but is there anything from a nutrition perspective we can do to recover faster? Depends on how soon you want to/need to recover Antioxidants Cold baths Don’t eat crap food and minimise the post-race beers Eat enough protein If you tend to be nauseated or get GI symptoms after races, consider not eating for 2-4 hours afterwards to give the gut a break.     If “fat adapted”, your body should be better able to handle this Q Are there signs or symptoms that we might not be fueling properly? What do you see in practice when athletes are not fueling correctly? Poor sleep Fatigue Slow recovery and soreness Low libido Here’s the outline of this interview with Ryan Baxter: [00:01:51] Get this kid some carbs! [00:02:13] The Loft private Facebook group. [00:06:10] FDN: Functional Diagnostic Nutrition training. [00:07:49] Behaviour change. Podcast: How to Create Behaviour Change with Simon Marshall, PhD. [00:10:19] Testing currently utilized by Nourish Balance Thrive. [00:11:37] Insulin. Podcast: Poor Misunderstood Insulin with Dr. Tommy Wood. [00:13:03] Mindfullness. Podcast: How to Think Yourself Younger, Healthier, and Faster with Dr. Ellen Langer, PhD. [00:14:29] Nutrition recommendations for OCR. [00:15:58] 120 - 160 g PRO, 1g CHO per lb of bodyweight? FAT? [00:19:28] Net vs total CHO, fibre. [00:20:30] YouTube: Carbs and Sports Performance: The Principles and Carbs and Sports Performance: The Evidence with Chris Masterjohn, PhD. [00:25:31] Podcast: Metabolic Flexibility with Chris Kelly. [00:33:47] Pre/during/post training nutrition. [00:35:25] Dr Tommy Wood's Nutrient-Delivery Smoothie. [00:35:42] Wild Planet sardines. [00:37:56] Nutrition for Spartan Beast and Ultra Beast events (~6 hours). [00:39:47] UCAN and Phat Fibre. [00:39:57] Catabolic Blocker. [00:41:04] Pemmican. [00:41:18] 100-200 kCal per hour. [00:41:38] NAC. [00:42:49] Podcast: Professor Tim Noakes: True Hydration and the Power of Low-Carb, High-Fat Diets. [00:44:01] Justin's nut butters. [00:44:28] Pro Bar Mixed Berry. [00:45:00] Primal Kitchen’s bars and Ben Greenfield’s Nature Bite bars. [00:45:48] Supplements. [00:46:13] Creatine. [00:46:29] Vitamin D (test 25-OH-D). [00:46:59] Citrulline and Beta-Alanine: Why and How You Should Supplement with Creatine and Beta-Alanine. [00:47:12] Caffeine. [00:47:26] Nitrates, e.g. beet shots. [00:49:10] Nourish Balance Thrive Highlights email series.

Dr. Michael Ash goes into detail explaining the correlation between gut health and chronic illnesses. He provides some very good tips to prevent and reverse illnesses and talks about one very specific fruit we should all be consuming (and is probably sitting on every countertop in America right now). He’s scientifically explains everything, but in a way we can all understand.   What should we know about the mucosal immune system? The vast majority of people in the world will die of inflammatory chronic illnesses. The primary mechanism for making those conditions develop is an up-regulation of the immune system. And the largest part of our immune system is the referred to mucosal immune system. In simple terms, it’s all the tissues in our body that are wet: eyes, mouth, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, liver and kidneys. All these have fluids over the surface performing roles. We share all the cells in them with creatures like bacteria, viruses, worms and sometimes parasites. Some are helpful and some are problematic.   The outside world reaches in to us primarily through the mucosal immune system. The better that system is to interpret the outside world, the more reliable we can be in terms of our health. The mucosal system is our body’s diplomat, taking charge and care of our body.   What can we do to prepare our mucosal immune system to be the best? Look at our digestive tract first. What we are putting in our body is very important in terms of how our body is going to act. First what we eat is important. Consume foods that have messages that our body recognizes. And then, what we drink. If our system does not receive foods that our body recognizes (plant based foods grown in good soil), our body’s response is to produce inflammation, acting as a defense mechanism. Simply getting older we produce more inflammation. So we should consume counter regulatory defenses as we age.   So what foods should we consume? Plant based foods carry messages that animal based foods do not. So the more plant based foods we consume, the better prepared our bodies will be.   Vegetables that are slightly bitter in their content are more densely packed with those keys that our immune system is looking for than those that are sweeter. Crunchy veggies like brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, parsnips, etc. which are stiff. Can be cooked or steamed, 3 to 4 times a week. These are remarkable! They are miraculous to our body to protect us against risk. If we don’t consume these foods, we can survive but we cannot survive effectively. Therefore, other risks and challenges to our immune system are much more difficult to turn off and take under control. This then manifests into chronic ill health like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, dementia, Alzheimer’s, eye dysfunction, problems of reproduction and lots of gastrointestinal issues (IBS, bloating, diarrhea, cancer).   Fruits that contain those good messages for our bodies, like the veggies mentioned above are apples. Eating apples can be medicinal. Cook them by cleaning them, peel, cut into cubes, drop in a pan and cook with cinnamon and raisins and water, simmer (about 6 apples), soften and loose shape but not completely disappear. Referred to as stewed apples or applesauce. You’ll see a gelatinous fluid called pectin. Pectin is a raw material for bacteria inside the gastrointestinal tract. When fed with pectin they manufacture fatty acids. The organisms look for the pectin and produce a substrate, the most powerful anti-inflammatory chemical a human can produce. A study done showed that consuming 3 apples a day was the same as taking 10 mg of prednisone in the treatment of inflammatory gut problems, preventing illnesses that can ultimately create cancer. Recommend 2 to 3 apples a day cooked, if you’re ill. For prevention, 1 a day. Raw is not the same as if it’s cooked. Make it for dessert and feed everyone!!     Get your FREE download here, Review Article: Is This a Perfect Functional Meal for Mucosal Tolerance, provided by Dr. Michael Ash to learn more about apples, the scientific rationale behind it, allergy protection, antibiotic impact, phenolic compounds, apple skins, inflammation control, the brain benefits, his applesauce recipe and more.   What other things can we do to prevent inflammation in our body? Avoid additional sugars. Anything that has been refined, for example sugar, corn and other sources, the less you consume of them the lower your risk of developing long term chronic illness.   Vegetables and fruits can convey benefits. So can meat, it does have a role in humans, but make it grass fed proteins. The Mediterranean style diet receives high votes because statistically it proves to be successful.   Fats comes in many forms. Simplistically, fat has been vilified and is wrong. There are fats that will never find success in human health. But high quality fats will benefit the health of our brain. Our diet should contain a reasonable quantity, which is a conversation for another day altogether.   PROBIOTICS   Two ways to identify the consumption of probiotics. Ecological consumption is when you just pick up something at the store with a mix of strains. When a type of organism, species and strain are identified to treat a certain type of illness.   Many studies have clearly shown that even if you just use a healthy strain of probiotic, you generally enjoy some improvement in overall health, by reducing inflammation. If we’re over the age of 40, it is most advantageous to consume probiotics.   What are the benefits or probiotics? There are 7 things that probiotics do for our health. Dr. Ash spends some time explaining what these all are, as well as the dosage recommended based on body size and age.   15 Day Fat Loss Kick Start Ebook Download your FREE copy here!! DOWNLOAD!   Check your email. You will receive access for instant downloading. We respect your privacy- We will not rent, spam or sell your email. About Dr. Michael Ash: Michael Ash DO, ND, BSc, DipION was in full time clinical practice for 25 years during which time he founded and developed the largest Integrative Medicine practice in the south west of England, incorporating the philosophy of functional medicine from 1991 onward. He is no longer in full time practice having sold his practice in 1997, but devotes time to research, writing and the management of complex immune mediated illnesses through the application of natural and pharmaceutical interventions. He has specialised in the role of the wet tissues (such as the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts) in human health for over 20 years, through the application of food and lifestyle based interventions aimed at the remediation of dysfunctional bacterial communities and associated tissues essential to a healthy mucosal immune system. The manipulation and alteration of these commensal bacteria and tissues through changes in medicine and lifestyles over the last 100 years has seen a profound move away from acute infectious diseases to more chronic complex illnesses. The changing microbial landscape including decreased diversity and loss of key stone species and their associated impact on the creation of non-resolving inflammation are increasingly causally linked to many of our burgeoning health problems.  An author, researcher and presenter with skills in business development as well as clinical care, he has also been an adjunct member of the Institute for Functional Medicine’s faculty for many years, and provides a unique set of insights into the application of often complex and intersecting immune patterns for the resolution and restoration of loss of homeostasis within the framework of analytical and clinical application. Links and Resources Visit www.clinicaleducation.org to find more information about Dr. Ash’s studies, and search “apples” to learn more about the benefits of apples. Dr. Ash’s recommended books: Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics is Fueling Our Modern Plagues I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life Dr. Ash’s Favorite Music: To push through: Wake Me Up by Avicci To pump her up when feeling down: Two Sides of Lonely by The Lone Bellow To soothe when feeling tense: it changes over time but right now it’s Lord Huron If you missed it, listen in on our last podcast episode: Real Stuff: Nutrient Therapies Treating Chronic Disease, #48

The term ‘ethnomusicology’ was coined in 1959 by Dutch academic, Jaap Kunst.  Put simply, it is the social and cultural study of music – whether that is gamelan, hip hop, British folk or any other kind. A Spanish translation of this podcast is set out below the English transcript.  We are very grateful to Héctor Pittman Villarreal for producing it for us. Jo Barratt and Sarah Winkler Reid went to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford to interview Dr Noel Lobley, the museum’s ethnomusicologist to find out more about ethnomusicology and hear about his personal experiences working particularly in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Jo and Sarah have produced 2 other podcasts from the Pitt Rivers collection: Pitt Rivers Collection: Louis Sarno and the BayAka Pitt Rivers Collection: Reel to Real Noel Lobley:  What is ethnomusicology?  That’s a good question and it has been debated and argued about for at least the last 60 years. Ethnomusicology was coined as an academic term in 1959 by Jaap Kunst, a Dutch scholar working mainly in Indonesia.  Before that ethnomusicology was known as comparative musicology. Simplistically, it is the social and cultural study of music.  It’s very interdisciplinary, it was originally a divergence from more traditional musicology, which was very much about wertern art music, about the cannon, German composers,  this is the only music that matters. Ethnomusicologists were those who started to be interested in Indian music, folk music - just the variety of musics that are out there in the world- and realised that the musicological approach (transcription, score based analysis) doesn’t necessarily apply or doesn’t work anything like what we understand as harmony. Musicologists realised they needed different methods of dealing with different musics, so they started to say it is the study of music in culture, music as culture, the study of all the human processes that are important in the making of music eg psychology, biology, what happens in the cells.  But the most important threads are still the anthropological approaches to music.  This means participant observation, fieldwork, long term immersion with a culture.  Ethnomusicology used to be defined by what it studied, but it isn’t any more because Ethnomusicologists study techno, hip hop, noiseart.  I don’t think there is a genre of music or sound that Ethnomusicologists don't look at now.  It's not just traditional music from Africa or India.  It's the social and cultural study of music, trying to find interdisciplinary ways of understanding what enable us to make music. Sometimes that involves non-human processes.  There is research into the relationship between insect sounds, bird sounds and whale sounds, and our music. The natural environment and our music. So it is a very vibrant and exciting area of musical study. Jo Barratt: Does this mean recorded sound is your primary source? NL: In the development of ethnomusicology recording has been hugely influential. , - the making of ethnographic recordings, where scholars/researchers/travellers/ anthropologists went somewhere and made their recordings. As soon as the invention of the phonograph in 1877, it has probably been the central method, alongside participant observation. Ethnomusicologists used to do analysis just through recordings, which might not have bee made by them, so they could listen to the recorded objects and they might get it worng, through not understanding the context - not knowing what went into making the recording.  If the recording is too fast and there is no picture reference you can make mistakes. But the recorded object has been hugely influential. We've made millions of hours of these ethnomusicology recordings, piled them up in sound archives or private collections.  But the next stage, what to do with those documents is not always so obvious.  Traditionally once they'd been transcribed the recording would be discarded,

At the beginning of each school year Mabry welcomes parents to an Open House meeting. The meeting begins with a general session to introduce the PTSA and in which Dr. Tyson speaks about Mabry's direction and mission. Parents then start with their child's homeroom and actually attend each of their student's classes, meeting the teachers and getting a sense for what a day in the life of their child at Mabry is like. In this podcast you will see the results from the ACTIVote survey from the Open House general meeting conducted by Dr. Tyson. Not only can teachers gain this type of insight from using this technology with their students in class, but, unlike the anonymous surveying done in our meeting, they can also gain immediate assessment data from each individual student in their classes. After the meeting, a parent asked if Mabry accepted donations or corporate sponsorships to increase the availability of this technology for our students. Yes, absolutely. We want this type of technology to be used pervasively by students and teachers. Our long term goal, which regrettably is probably several years out, is to substantially reduce the amount of time teachers spend with clerical tasks (grading papers) and give them that time to do more data analysis (analyzing daily assessment data for students). Simplistically put, we want this technology to allow the student to take a classroom assessment and have that data appear in virtually real time on iParent.