Podcasts about sorrento valley

Millions of dollars for homeless programs and shelters have been approved in Mayor Todd Gloria's budget. Train service resumes this morning, after a teen was killed in Sorrento Valley. Crews will be in a trio of San Diego neighborhoods to complete a number of road repairs this weekend. Here's NBC 7's Nicole Gomez with the top stories of the day.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thousands of UC academic workers are back in class and research labs this week after a judge ordered a halt on their strike. Then, we look at the long history of extreme political rhetoric around immigration in California. Plus, a new service will make it easier for people to commute to work in Sorrento Valley by train.

GUEST 1 OVERVIEW: Joe is the founder and managing partner of Ironhawk Financial, specializing in insurance and wealth preservation. GUEST 2 OVERVIEW: Dr. Ron Martinelli is a nationally renowned forensic criminologist, law enforcement expert and a Certified Medical Investigator. He is qualified as a subject matter expert on law enforcement, corrections and public safety practices in Federal and States' Courts. His practice is well-rounded to include federal/state law enforcement/corrections criminal and civil cases, premises liability and security practices cases, prosecution and criminal defense cases, and death investigations cases. GUEST 3 OVERVIEW: Senator Brian W. Jones represents the 40th Senate District which includes the Cities of Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, San Diego City communities of Carmel Mountain Ranch, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, and University City, along with the San Diego County unincorporated communities of 4S Ranch, Alpine, Bonsall, Fallbrook, Lakeside, Pine Valley, Rainbow, Ramona, and Valley Center.

GUEST 1 OVERVIEW: Gerard Filitti is Senior Counsel at The Lawfare Project. He joined The Lawfare Project after working as a litigator in private practice for over 15 years, including at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and Osen LLC. He has broad experience in commercial and complex litigation across a wide variety of practice areas, in both state and federal courts. GUEST 2 OVERVIEW: Senator Brian W. Jones represents the 40th Senate District which includes the Cities of Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, San Diego City communities of Carmel Mountain Ranch, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, and University City, along with the San Diego County unincorporated communities of 4S Ranch, Alpine, Bonsall, Fallbrook, Lakeside, Pine Valley, Rainbow, Ramona, and Valley Center.

GUEST 1 OVERVIEW: Cheryl Chumley is the Online Opinion Editor at The Washington Times. For more information, visit: https://www.cherylchumley.com. GUEST 2 OVERVIEW: Senator Brian W. Jones represents the 40th Senate District which includes the Cities of Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, San Diego City communities of Carmel Mountain Ranch, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, and University City, along with the San Diego County unincorporated communities of 4S Ranch, Alpine, Bonsall, Fallbrook, Lakeside, Pine Valley, Rainbow, Ramona, and Valley Center. GUEST 3 OVERVIEW: Drew Thomas Allen, author of America's Last Stand: Will You Vote to Save or Destroy America in 2024, is the VP of client development at Publius PR, a premiere communications firm, where Allen has worked as a publicist for many of the biggest names in politics: Peter Navarro, Dr. Naomi Wolf, Dr. Ben Carson, Alan Dershowitz, and Kari Lake, to name a few. In addition to running PR Campaigns for some of the most recognizable names in politics, Allen is a widely published columnist and host of the popular Drew Allen Show podcast. Allen is an in-demand political analyst, who has appeared on Newsmax, GB News, and on radio stations across the country.

I think it's fair to claim that this week's Happy Half Hour guest is the most special visitor we've ever had on the podcast (which is saying something): Jason Mraz, the two-time Grammy Award–winning singer and songwriter who has gone platinum and multi-platinum in more than 20 countries. His tune “I'm Yours” also surpassed one billion streams on Spotify and was the most-streamed song by a solo artist in the naughts. His eighth album, Mystical Magical Rhythmical Radical Ride, dropped last June. In other words, he's kind of a big deal. Mraz lives in North County's greater Fallbrook area, where he runs Mraz Family Farms, providing companies like Chipotle with a steady stream of San Diego County–grown avocados (and providing this podcast with great talking points). In addition to chatting about his coffee farm and avocado-growing prowess, Mraz shines a light on his upcoming Kaleidoscope community concert, which will take place at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, on Saturday, February 17 at 7 p.m and on Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets will be available via JasonMraz.com this Friday, December 15th at 10 a.m. PT. Mraz will hit the stage alongside performers from eight local arts organizations: A Step Beyond Dancers, Banding Together, Diversionary Theatre, Monarch School Project, San Diego Young Artist Music Academy, Tap Fever Studios, Tierra Caliente Academy of Arts, and Wheelchair Dancers. They're all beneficiaries of grants from The Jason Mraz Foundation, which is dedicated to improving access to the arts for kids. It's a cause close to Mraz's heart for obvious reasons, considering his long, successful career in the arts. We recap it all—the open mic performance that launched his career (which Troy almost missed in favor of a punk show), the Dave Matthews endorsement that helped catapult him to fame, and, of course, his fan-favorite turn on Dancing with the Stars. “Over the past few months, I pushed myself creatively, and physically more than I have in decades,” Mraz says of his time on the show. “I revisited what it was like to be a beginner in the performing arts, to immerse myself in something completely new, finding strength, joy, self-acceptance, and pride as I learned and grew every week.” And Mraz isn't the only one experiencing growth. We offer reports from the front of San Diego's ever-expanding restaurant scene: First of all, a hell of a lot of fried chicken is coming to town. South Korean Fried Fave BHC Chicken will open in Sorrento Valley and Dave's Hot Chicken will open its sixth location in Mission Valley. Plus, tapas and small grower wine spot Finca launched in North Park with a crew formerly from Juniper & Ivy, and Priscilla Curiel will open Mujer Divina on Chula Vista's Third Avenue. See you next week! More information on the Jason Mraz Foundation: https://jasonmraz.com/foundation/ https://www.instagram.com/jasonmrazfoundation/ https://www.facebook.com/JasonMrazFoundation/

On today's show, Cheryl Chumley discusses a recent opinion piece on Anthony Fauci. GUEST 1 OVERVIEW: Cheryl Chumley is the host of the Bold&Blunt Podcast at the Washington Times. GUEST 2 OVERVIEW: Troy Miller is the President and CEO of NRB (National Religious Broadcasters). GUEST 3 OVERVIEW: Senator Brian W. Jones represents the 40th Senate District, which includes the cities of Escondido, Poway, San Marcos, Santee, San Diego City communities of Carmel Mountain Ranch, Mira Mesa, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Peñasquitos, Scripps Ranch, Sorrento Valley, and University City, along with the San Diego County unincorporated communities of 4S Ranch, Alpine, Bonsall, Fallbrook, Lakeside, Pine Valley, Rainbow, Ramona, and Valley Center.

Is a dude who licks his knife at the table worth breaking up with? Heather from Sorrento Valley wonders this, cuz her new man does just that. KyXy listeners offer their "judgements" in this episode of "You be the Judge!" Do you have a moral or ethical dilemma that you want Rob, Joss and KyXy listeners to help you out with? Email joss@kyxy.com! 

The 100,000 High Five Tour continues as we deliver Jersey Mike's to listeners all over San Diego in exchange for high fives! Yesterday, we hit up ACCO Engineered Systems in Sorrento Valley all thanks to KSON Loyal Listener Shania. 

Dan Berger, the Balletto Vineyard Portrait There is no new CWC show this week, so here is the second part of our interview from last February where co-host Dan Berger talks about Riesling, his international competition and more.  Dan is back with Steve Jaxon and Harry Duke in part 2 of the story of Dan's career as a journalist that ends up with him making Riesling. Part 1 is here. The episode begins with the story of Dan's book about basketball. He also wrote for the NFL for one year, for their magazine called “Pro!” which was the outer portion of the stadium programs for the whole league. The local team provided the inside portion. He had an office at the corner of Wilshire and Westwood in Los Angeles, near UCLA. The Story of the Corked Riesling He was bored with the restaurants while covering sports on the road so one night he ordered seafood and noticed that the wine tasted bad. The waiter agreed that it was corked and told Dan that with good taste perception like that, he could have a career in wine. While he was the San Diego sports columnist he also wrote three articles a week about wine. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. The Dan Berger International Wine Competition In 1982 Dan Berger founded the Riverside International Wine Competition. He was tired of the numerical scores on wines and felt that gold medals meant more when they were the product of the judgement of a panel of qualified judges. By the late ‘80s the idea took hold and he still runs The Dan Berger International Wine Competition, an annual competition under his own name. When an editor asked him to cover “high tech” in 1983. Sorrento Valley in San Diego was where several new technology companies were started, including chips and cell phones. The community was connected to UC San Diego which was an important center for new technology. about the brand. “Journalism calls for analysis. You can't write a story based on just one single source. You have to ask all the questions that nobody wants to ask… A good journalist is going to look at every single angle before putting a single work on paper.” Dan has been to Australia 23 times, 15 for judging and the other 8 times for interviews. He has been to New Zealand 9 times. “I think New Zealand is one of the greatest countries in the world.” He wrote a book about San Diego, called “San Diego, where Tomorrow Begins” although the publisher didn't like his title, “San Diego, City with a Mission” for some reason. After making an offhand comment about being able to write such a book, his friend called him later to say he had a publisher for him. Dan Berger, Winemaker The reason that Dan's competition exists is that he believes winemakers are the best judges and so many of the top winemakers in wine country are his judges. Dan has just started producing a Riesling, too. He is also involved in a project based on “changing how wine is being produced.” Stay tuned.

Cal Fire San Diego crews resume snow rescues in San Bernardino Mountains, including 1 local family this weekend. Viral video reminds San Diegans why you must give sea lions their space. Police search for a bike store burglar in Sorrento Valley and San Diego State claims the Mountain West regular season title. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dan Berger, the Balletto Vineyard Portrait Dan Berger, winemaker? Of course! Dan is back with Steve Jaxon and Harry Duke in part 2 of the story of Dan's career as a journalist that ends up with him making Riesling. Part 1 is here. The episode begins with the story of Dan's book about basketball. He also wrote for the NFL for one year, for their magazine called “Pro!” which was the outer portion of the stadium programs for the whole league. The local team provided the inside portion. He had an office at the corner of Wilshire and Westwood in Los Angeles, near UCLA. The Story of the Corked Riesling He was bored with the restaurants while covering sports on the road so one night he ordered seafood and noticed that the wine tasted bad. The waiter agreed that it was corked and told Dan that with good taste perception like that, he could have a career in wine. While he was the San Diego sports columnist he also wrote three articles a week about wine. Click the logo to visit our sponsor Bottle Barn online for the coolest bargains on wine, beer and spirits. The Dan Berger International Wine Competition In 1982 Dan Berger founded the Riverside International Wine Competition. He was tired of the numerical scores on wines and felt that gold medals meant more when they were the product of the judgement of a panel of qualified judges. By the late ‘80s the idea took hold and he still runs The Dan Berger International Wine Competition, an annual competition under his own name. When an editor asked him to cover “high tech” in 1983. Sorrento Valley in San Diego was where several new technology companies were started, including chips and cell phones. The community was connected to UC San Diego which was an important center for new technology. about the brand. “Journalism calls for analysis. You can't write a story based on just one single source. You have to ask all the questions that nobody wants to ask… A good journalist is going to look at every single angle before putting a single work on paper.” Dan has been to Australia 23 times, 15 for judging and the other 8 times for interviews. He has been to New Zealand 9 times. “I think New Zealand is one of the greatest countries in the world.” He wrote a book about San Diego, called “San Diego, where Tomorrow Begins” although the publisher didn't like his title, “San Diego, City with a Mission” for some reason. After making an offhand comment about being able to write such a book, his friend called him later to say he had a publisher for him. Dan Berger, Winemaker The reason that Dan's competition exists is that he believes winemakers are the best judges and so many of the top winemakers in wine country are his judges. Dan has just started producing a Riesling, too. He is also involved in a project based on “changing how wine is being produced.” Stay tuned.

Dr. Aadeel Akhtar is the Founder and CEO of PSYONIC, a company whose mission is to develop advanced prostheses that are affordable for everyone. Victoria talks to Dr. Akhtar about the gaps in the market he you saw in current prosthetic ability, advancements PSYONIC has been able to make since commercializing, and essential principles and values when you were building out the team. PSYONIC (https://www.psyonic.io/) Follow PSYONIC on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/psyonicinc/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/PSYONICinc). Follow Dr. Aadeel Akhtar on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/aadeelakhtar/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: VICTORIA: This is The Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host Victoria Guido. And with me today is Dr. Aadeel Akhtar, Founder and CEO of PSYONIC, a company whose mission is to develop advanced prostheses that are affordable for everyone. Aadeel, thank you for joining me. DR. AADEEL: Thank you for having me, Victoria. This is fun. VICTORIA: Yes, I'm excited to meet you. So I actually ran into you earlier this week at a San Diego tech meetup. And I'm curious just to hear more about your company PSYONIC. DR. AADEEL: So, as you mentioned, we develop advanced bionic limbs that are affordable and accessible. And this is actually something I've wanted to do my whole life ever since I was seven years old. My parents are from Pakistan. I was born in the Chicago suburbs. But I was visiting, and that was the first time I met someone missing a limb; and she was my age missing her right leg, using a tree branch as a crutch, living in poverty. And that's kind of what inspired me to go into this field. VICTORIA: Wonderful. And maybe you can start with what gaps in the market did you see in current prosthetic ability? DR. AADEEL: When we first started making these prosthetic devices, we were 3D printing them. And we thought that the biggest issue with prosthetic devices was that they were way too expensive and saw that with 3D printing, we'd be able to reduce the prices on them. And that's true; it was actually one of the biggest issues, but it wasn't the biggest issue. After talking with hundreds of patients and clinicians, the number one thing that we found that patients and clinicians would raise issue with was that their super expensive bionic hands were breaking all the time. And these were made with injection molded plastics and custom-machined steel. And they weren't doing anything crazy with it. They would accidentally hit the hand against the side of a table, but because they were made out of rigid components, they would end up snapping up those joints. And a natural hand, for example, if you bang a natural hand against a table or a rigid object, then it flexes out of the way. It has compliance in it, and that's why it's able to survive those types of hits and impacts a little bit more. It forced us to think outside the box of how can we still leverage the low-cost manufacturing of 3D printing but make this hand more robust than anything out there? And that's when I started looking into soft robotics. And with soft robotics, instead of making rigid links in your robot, so instead of having rigid joints and components, you'd use soft materials like silicone that are more akin to your skin and your own biological tissues that are more flexible and compliant. So we started making the fingers out of rubber and silicone. And now we've been able to do things like punch through flaming boards, and I dropped it from the roof of my house 30 feet up in the air, and it survived. We put it in a dryer for 10 minutes, and it survived tumbling around in a dryer. I've arm wrestled against the para-triathlete national champion and lost. So this thing was built to survive a lot more than just hitting your hand against the side of a table. VICTORIA: Wow, that sounds incredible. And I love that you started with a premise, and then you got feedback from your users and found a completely different problem, even though that same problem still existed [laughs] about the low cost. DR. AADEEL: Absolutely. VICTORIA: Wow. So taking it back a little bit more to the beginning, so you knew you always wanted to do prosthetics since you grew up in Pakistan and saw people without their limbs. Take me a little bit more from the beginning of the journey. When did you decide to start the company officially? DR. AADEEL: And just to clarify, I was just visiting Pakistan for the summer, but I grew up and was raised here in the U.S. So I went to Loyola University Chicago for undergrad, and I got a bachelor's degree in biology there, followed by a master's in computer science. And the original plan was to actually become an MD working with patients with amputations and developing prosthetics for them. But while I was an undergraduate student at Loyola, I took my first computer science class, and I absolutely loved it. I loved everything about coding, and programming, and engineering. And I realized that if I became a straight-up MD, I wouldn't get to do any of the cool things that I was learning in my computer science classes. And I wanted to figure out a way to combine my passions in engineering and computer science with clinical medicine and prosthetics. And right down the street at a hospital formerly known as The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago...it's now the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. It's the number-one rehabilitation hospital in the U.S. for the last 31 years. They made these huge breakthroughs in mind control bionic limbs where they were doing a surgery where they would reroute your nerves to other muscles that you already have on your body. And then, when you try to imagine bending your phantom elbow or making a phantom fist, your chest muscles would contract. And then you could use those signals to then control this robotic limb that was designed by Dean Kamen that was sponsored by DARPA and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. That was just absolutely incredible. And it was this perfect mixture of engineering and clinical medicine, and it was exactly what I wanted to get into. But, as you'd mentioned, we're all about accessibility, and a $100,000 cost hand would not cut it. And so I ended up finishing a master's in computer science. I taught at Loyola for a couple of years and then went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I got another master's in electrical and computer engineering, a Ph.D. in neuroscience. And then I finished the first year of medical school before I left to run PSYONIC because it is a lot more fun building bionic limbs [laughs] than finishing medical school. And while I was a graduate student, we started 3D printing our own prosthetic hands, and we got the chance in 2014 to go down to Quito, Ecuador, where we were working with a nonprofit organization called The Range of Motion Project. And their whole mission is to provide prosthetics to those who can't afford them in the U.S., Guatemala, and Ecuador. And we went down there, and we were working with a patient who had lost his left hand 35 years prior due to machine gunfire from a helicopter; he was in the Ecuadorian Army. And there was a border war between Ecuador and Peru. And Juan, our patient, in front of international news stations, said that he felt as though a part of him had come back. And that was because he actually made a pinch with his left hand for the first time in 35 years. And you have to imagine the hand at that time was three times the size of an average natural hand, adult human hand. Had wires going everywhere, breadboards, power supplies, the walls, you name it. And despite that, he said that a part of him had come back. And he actually forgot how to make a pinch with his left hand, and we had to retrain his brain by placing a mirror in front of his left side reflecting his right hand, tricking his brain into thinking that his left hand was actually there. And he would make a pinch with both sides, and it would reactivate the muscles in his forearm on his left side. And when he said that, that's when I realized that if I stay in academia, then this just ends up as a journal paper. And if we want everyone to feel the same way that Juan did, we had to commercialize the technology. And so that's when PSYONIC was born. VICTORIA: I love that you're working on that as someone who's from Washington, D.C., and has done a lot of work in veterans and homeless organizations and seen how life-changing getting access to limbs and regaining capability can be for people. DR. AADEEL: Absolutely. In fact, our first user in the U.S. is a U.S. Army sergeant who lost his hand in Iraq in 2005 due to roadside bombs, Sergeant Garrett Anderson. He used a hook on a daily basis, and with our hand, he's actually able to feel his daughter's hand, which is something that he wasn't able to do with any other prosthesis. And for him to tell us that that is why we do what we do. VICTORIA: Right. And I saw on your website that you have several patents and have talked about the advances you've been able to make in what I'm going to call the sensorimotor bionic limbs. Can you tell me a little bit more about some of the advancements you've been able to make since you decided to commercialize this? DR. AADEEL: The first thing that usually users notice is that, and clinicians notice as well, is that the hand is the fastest bionic hand in the world. So the fingers close in about 200 milliseconds. And to put that into context, we can wink our eyes in about 300 milliseconds. So it's technically faster than the blink of an eye, which is kind of a cool statistic there. So it's super fast. And the fingers are super resistant to impact, so they're very durable. And so we've got a couple of patents on both of those items in particular. And then there's the touch feedback aspect. So this is the only hand on the market that gives users touch feedback. And so the methods that we have to mold the fingers to enable that sensory feedback that is what our third patent is on for the hand, and it just looks really cool. It's got like this black carbon fiber on it that just looks really futuristic and bionic. And it just gives users the confidence that this isn't something to be pitied; this is something that's really cool. And especially for our war heroes, that's something to be celebrated that I lost my hand for our country, and now I've got this really cool one that can do all of the things that my hand used to do. VICTORIA: And I also saw that it's reimbursable by Medicare in the U.S. And I was curious if you had any lessons learned from that process for getting eligible for that. DR. AADEEL: Yeah. And that was part of the goal from the very beginning. After we did our customer discovery process, where we figured out what the pain points are and found out that durability was one of the biggest issues, obviously, one of the other issues was the really expensive price of the other hands, and typically what we call a multi-articulated hand, so that's one where each one of the fingers move individually. Those are only covered by the VA, so if you're in the military or workman's comp so if you had a workplace accident. And that only accounted for about 10% of the U.S. market. And what the clinicians kept telling us over and over again was that if you can get the hand covered by Medicare, then usually all the other insurance companies will follow suit, like your Blue Cross Blue Shield, your Aetna, your Kaiser, et cetera. So that was our design goal from the beginning. So how can we hit a price point that Medicare would cover but also make this fully featured that no other hand can do any of these other things? What it primarily came down to was hitting that price point. And as long as we hit that price point, then Medicare was going to be fine with it. So we invented a lot of the manufacturing methods that we use in-house to make the hand in particular. So we do all the silicone molding. We do all the carbon fiber work. We do all the fabric work. We do all the assembly of it in-house in our warehouse here in San Diego. And by being so vertically integrated, we're able to then iterate very quickly and make these innovations happen at a much more rapid scale so that we can get them out there faster and then help more people who need it. VICTORIA: So you've really grown tremendously from when you first had the project, and now you have a team here in San Diego. Do you have any lessons learned for enabling your team to drive faster in that innovation? DR. AADEEL: Yeah, the biggest thing that I feel like a lot of things come down to is just having grit. So especially with a startup, it's always going to be a roller coaster ride. And for us, I think one of the big motivating factors for us is the patients themselves when they get to do these things that they weren't able to do before. So another one of our first patients, Tina, had just become a grandmother, and she was able to feed her granddaughter for the first time because she was able to hold the bottle with her bionic hand, The Ability Hand, and then hold her granddaughter with her natural hand and then feed her using The Ability Hand. It's, like I said, moments like that is why we do what we're doing. It gives us that motivation to work those long hours, make those deadlines so that we can help as many people as possible. VICTORIA: Right. So you have that motivating power behind your idea, which makes a lot of sense. What else in your customer discovery sprint was surprising to you as you moved through that process? DR. AADEEL: So there was definitely the robustness that was surprising. There was the cost that wasn't necessarily the highest priority thing, which we thought would be the highest priority. And the speed and just having to rely on visual feedback, you have to kind of look at the hand as you're doing the task that you're doing, but you have to look at it very intently. So that takes a lot of cognitive load. You have to pay attention very specifically to am I doing the right movement with my hand? In ways that you wouldn't necessarily have to do with a natural hand. And by making the hand move so responsive as it is and move so quickly, in addition to having that touch feedback, that reduces, or at least we believe it'll reduce a lot of that cognitive load for our patients so that they don't have to be constantly monitoring exactly what the hand is doing in order to do a lot of the tasks or the activities of daily living that they're doing on a day to day basis. The whole customer discovery process drove what features we were going to focus on in actually making this hand a reality. VICTORIA: Yeah, that makes sense. And I love hearing about what came up that surprised people. And I appreciate your commitment to that process to really drive your business idea and to solve this problem that happens to so many people in the United States. Well, how widespread is this issue? And, of course, I'm sure you're targeting more than just the United States with rollout, but... DR. AADEEL: So, globally, there are over 10 million people with hand amputations, and 80% of them actually live in developing nations, and less than 3% have access to affordable rehabilitative care. So it's a huge need worldwide, and we want to make sure that everyone has access to the best available prosthetic devices. VICTORIA: That makes sense. So I guess commercializing this product leads to more room, more availability across for everyone. DR. AADEEL: Absolutely. And interesting thing about that, too, is that as we were developing these, the hand in particular, we've optimized it for humans to do human tasks. And we have a programming interface that we put on it that allows researchers to control each one of the fingers like you control the speed, the position, and the force from each one of those fingers as well as you can stream all of the touch sensors like over Bluetooth or over a USB connection, and then also the location of each one of those fingers as well. A lot of robotics researchers who are building humanoid robots and robot arms to do other tasks like manufacturing and robotic surgery and things like that have been purchasing our hand too. So notably, for example, NASA and Meta, so Facebook Meta, have purchased our hands, and NASA is putting it on a humanoid astronaut robot, which hopefully will eventually go into space. And then, on Earth, they'd be able to control it and then manipulate objects in space. And it's opened up an entirely new market, but the critical thing here is that it's the exact same hand that the humans are getting that the robots are getting. And what this allows us to do is just expand our volume of production and our sales so that we can actually further drive down the costs and the pricing for the human side of things as well. So if we're talking about places like India, or Pakistan, or Guatemala, or Ecuador where there are no government incentives in place to reimburse at a rate that they might in the U.S., then we can actually get the price point to one that's actually affordable in those areas as well. And I'm really excited about those prospects. VICTORIA: That's so cool that future robot astronauts will be financing people who have no ability [laughs] to go into space or anything like that. That's a cool business idea. I wonder, when did that happen for you, or what was that like when you realized that there was this other potential untapped market for robotic limbs? DR. AADEEL: It's interesting. It was always in the back of our minds because, as I was a Ph.D. student, I was in the Ph.D. group that focused on robotics, in particular more so than prosthetics. And I was the first one in the group to actually kind of have the prosthetic spin on things. And so I had an idea of where the market was for the robotic side of things. And I had some connections as well. And so I was actually giving a talk at Georgia Tech early last year. The Director of the Georgia Tech Robotics Institute, Dr. Seth Hutchinson, he was telling me that...he was like, "You should go to the big robotics conference, ICRA, because people are going to be like...absolutely love this product for their robots." And we were just like, huh, we never considered that. And so we decided to go, and it was just absolutely nuts. We've had researchers from all over the world being like, "How can I get this hand?" And compared to a lot of the robotic hands that are out there, even on the robotic side, this is a much lower price point than what they've been dealing with. And by solving a lot of the problems on the human side, like durability, and sensory feedback, and dexterity, and the pricing, it actually solved a lot of the problems on the robotic side as well. So I was just like...after we had gone to that conference, we realized that, yeah, we can actually make this work as well. VICTORIA: That's really cool. And it sounds like tapping into this robotics market and networking really worked for you. What else about your market research or strategy seem to be effective in your business growth? DR. AADEEL: This is interesting as well. So half of our sales actually come from social media, which for a medical device company is usually unheard of. [laughs] Because usually the model is, for medical devices, where you have a group of sales reps located across the regions that you're selling and so across the U.S. And they would visit each one of the clinics, and then they would work with the clinicians directly in getting these on the patients. That usually accounts for like 99% of sales. And so for us, for half of them to come from social media, it was a goal that we had set out to, but it was also surprising that that accounted for so much of our volumes and our revenue. The way we set it up was that we wanted to make videos of our hand that highlighted things that our hand could do that were novel and unique. And so, for example, we wanted to highlight the durability of the hand as well as the dexterity and the touch feedback. And so some of the first videos that we made were like arm wrestling against a bionic hand. And what's cool about that is that the general public just found that very interesting in general. But also, when a clinician and a patient sees that, wow, this hand can actually withstand the forces of an actual arm wrestling match, then they're also just as impressed. And the same thing with punching through three wooden boards that we set on fire; if it can handle that, then it can handle activities of daily living. General public seizes, and they're just like, "Whoa, that's so cool." But then clinicians and the patients they see that, and they were like, "My prosthetic hand couldn't do this before." And so then they contact us, and we're like, "How can we get your hand?" And then we'll either put them in contact with a clinician, or we'll work with one of the clinicians that they are already working with then go through their insurance that way. And so it's just been a really exciting and fun way to generate, like, expand our market and generate sales that we didn't necessarily think was going to be a viable way from the start. VICTORIA: Right. I totally get it. I mean, I want one, and both my hands still work. MID-ROLL AD: thoughtbot is thrilled to announce our own incubator launching this year. If you are a non-technical founding team with a business idea that involves a web or mobile app, we encourage you to apply for our eight-week program. We'll help you move forward with confidence in your team, your product vision, and a roadmap for getting you there. Learn more and apply at tbot.io/incubator, that's tbot.io/incubator. VICTORIA: Have you ever seen someone rock climb with the prosthetic hand? DR. AADEEL: Not yet, but that is something that is definitely on our docket. VICTORIA: Okay, well, we need to do it. Since we're both in San Diego, I can help you. [laughs] DR. AADEEL: Sweet. I love it. [laughs] VICTORIA: Yeah, we can figure that out because there are, especially in the climbing gyms, there are usually groups that come in and climb with prosthetic limbs on a regular basis since it's a kind of a surprisingly accessible sport. [laughs] DR. AADEEL: So one of the great things about being here in San Diego is that there's like a ton of incredible resources for building prosthetics and then for users of them as well. So the Challenged Athletes Foundation is located 10 minutes from us. So we're located in Scripps Ranch. And the Challenged Athletes Foundation they're like over in the Sorrento Valley area. They hold the para-triathlon every year. And so we just went to their event a couple of months ago, and it was absolutely incredible. And so we've got like a five-year goal of making an ability leg. So we have The Ability Hand right now. So the ability leg, we want to actually be able to perform a triathlon, so run, bike, and swim with the leg. And I think that would be a phenomenal goal. And all the pieces are here in San Diego. We got the military hospital, and so we've got the veteran population. We've got the Challenged Athletes Foundation. We've got UCSD, and they're incredible at engineering. We've got two prosthetic schools right around LA, so Loma Linda University in California State University, Dominguez Hills. And there are only 11 in the entire nation, and two of them just happen to be right around here. It's a med tech hub. There's like a bunch of med tech companies and both startups and huge ones like NuVasive that are in the area. And it's a huge engineering place, too, with Qualcomm. And so we want to bring all of those resources together. And it's my goal to turn San Diego into the bionics capital of the world, where people from all over the world are coming here to have the most advanced devices ever created. VICTORIA: Oh, I love that idea. And you just moved to San Diego a few years ago. Is that right? DR. AADEEL: Actually, six months ago, so it's very new for us. VICTORIA: Six months? [laughter] Well, you sound like me when I moved to San Diego. I was like; it's great here. [laughter] DR. AADEEL: Well, I hope you still find it to be great. [laughs] VICTORIA: Yeah, I love it. I've been here for two years now. And, yes, there's more to it than just the weather being good all the time. [laughter] There's a lot here. DR. AADEEL: [laughs] It doesn't hurt, though, right? VICTORIA: Yeah. And, I mean, I love that I can still do my networking events outdoors all year long, so going on hikes and stuff versus being indoors in the winter. But I find it fascinating that San Diego has just so much biotech all around, and I will happily support how I can [laughs] turning it into a bionic limb capital. I think that's a great idea. Well, so I wanted to get back...we're talking about the future right now. I wanted to ask about building your team. So you started the company almost seven years ago, and you've grown the team a lot since then. Did you have any essential principles or values that you started with when you were building out your team? DR. AADEEL: Yeah. So when we were first hiring, I was still a Ph.D. student when I started the company. Our first employee was actually my undergraduate student. He's currently our Director of Engineering, Jesse Cornman. And we specifically were recruiting people that did stuff outside of the lab, so the electrical engineers and the mechanical engineers that we initially hired. We wanted to make sure that it wasn't just like the university projects that they were working on. And we would find a lot of our early people from like car team so like this was like building like a solar car, so Illini Solar Car was one of our places where we'd get a lot of our early employees as well as the electrical vehicle concept team and design, build, fly, and these student organizations where they had like competitions, and they had to build real, tangible things to compete in with. And the thing is that those are the people who do this stuff for fun, and you learn the most when you're having fun doing this stuff. And so we would always look for that stuff in particular. And there were some litmus tests that we'd have to be able to weed out very quickly what people know what. And so for electrical engineers, we would always ask if they know surface mount soldering because it's not like your typical soldering on a perf board or even like using a breadboard. It's like you have a circuit board, and you have to solder these very small components on there. And if you know how to solder those small components, you typically know how to code them as well. So they have some embedded systems background as well and some PCB design experience as well. And so that was like a quick litmus test that we use for the electrical engineers. For the mechanical engineers, it was typically if they knew how to do surface modeling. And so we would ask them, "How would you make the palm of a hand where you got these complex structures and these complex surfaces that have different geometries and different curvature?" And if they were able to do a surface modeling, then we knew that they'd be able to CAD that up pretty quickly. They probably have some sort of 3D printing experience from that as well, and that they can just rapidly iterate and prototype on the devices. And so that worked really, really well. And so we were able to get a lot of bright engineers who early on in the company...and many who were student interns at the time that eventually even went on to Microsoft and Google or some of the students went to MIT and places like that. And we were very fortunate to be in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's ecosystem, where it was just one of the best engineering schools in the world to develop this kind of stuff. VICTORIA: That's great. So you had really specific skills that you needed. [laughs] And you kind of knew the type of work or an experience that led to that. As you've expanded your team and you're building a culture of collaboration, how do you set expectations with how you all work together? DR. AADEEL: As a startup, we all wear many, many hats. So my job, I feel like, is to fill in all the gaps. And so some days, I might be doing marketing; some days, I might be visiting a clinic and doing sales. Other times I'm working with the engineering team to make sure that we're on track over there. And it's like all this stuff in between. And so being able to work cohesively like that and put on those many hats so that you know every part of the process from the marketing and sales sides but also the engineering and operations side, I think that's really allowed us to get to the point where we have by doing all these different functions together. VICTORIA: That makes sense. So you are all located in San Diego now, so you have to be in person to work on robot hands? DR. AADEEL: Yeah, we found that it was much easier to build a physical object in person than it was to do things remotely. At the beginning of COVID, we actually did try to, like, you know, we moved 3D printers out into people's houses and the manufacturing equipment. And then I remember just to put together a power switch that usually took like one hour to do in the lab. It took us a day and a half because one person had the circuit board, the other person had the enclosure, the other person had the thing to program it. And then each thing depended on each other. So you had to keep carting that small piece back and forth between houses, and it was just a nightmare to do that. And so after a couple of months, we ended up moving back into the offices and manufacturing there with staggered work hours or whatever. And at that point, we were just like, okay, this is much more efficient when we're all in person. And honestly, a lot of our best ideas have come from just me sitting here and then just walking over to one of the engineers and being like, "Hey, what do you think of this idea?" And it's a lot harder to do when you're all remote, right? VICTORIA: That makes sense. Yeah, just the need to physically put pieces together [laughs] as a group makes it hard to be fully remote. And you get a lot of those ideas flowing when you're in person. What is on the horizon for you? What are you most excited about in your upcoming feature set? DR. AADEEL: Like I said, one of the reasons why we moved here was to work with the military hospital, and so some of the work that we're doing with them is particularly exciting. The way you typically wear these prosthetic devices...so you'll have muscle sensors that are embedded in a...it's like a shell that goes around your residual limb. We call it the socket. Think about it as like a shoe for your residual limb. And the thing is, as you're wearing this throughout the day, it starts to get sweaty. It starts to get uncomfortable. Things shift around. Your signals don't control the hand as well because of all these changes and everything. And with the military hospital, we're working on something called osseointegration. So instead of having this socket that's molded to your residual limb that you shove your arm into, you have a titanium implant that goes inside your bones and then comes out of your body, and then you directly attach the hand to your bones like a limb naturally should be. And then, on top of that, instead of using these muscles sensors on the outside of your body, we're actually working on implanted electrodes with some of our collaborators. For example, at University of Chicago, they're doing brain implants to control prosthetic limbs. And a company in Dallas called Nerves Incorporated that's working with the University of Minnesota and UT Southwestern; they're doing nerve implants in your forearm and in your upper arm to control prosthetic limbs. And with those, you get much more fine control, so it's not like you're just controlling different grips, like preset grips in the hand, but you're actually doing individual finger control. And then, when you touch the finger, it's actually stimulating your nerves to make it feel like it's coming from your hand that you no longer have anymore. And this is where we're heading with all of this stuff in the future. And so we built The Ability Hand to work with clinically available systems now, like sockets, and muscle sensors, and vibration motors that are all outside of the body. But then also, when these future technologies come up that are more invasive that are directly implanted on your nerves as well as into your bones as well, we're really excited about those prospects coming out in the horizon. VICTORIA: That's really cool. [laughs] I mean, that would be really life-changing for a lot of people, I'm sure, to have that ability to really control your fingers and get that extra comfort as well. How do you manage quality into your process, especially when you're getting invasive and putting in nerve implants? What kind of testing and other types of things do you all do? DR. AADEEL: With The Ability Hand itself, there was actually an FDA Class I exempt device, meaning that we didn't have to go through the formal approval process that you typically do. And that was primarily because it's attached to your residual limb as opposed to going invasive. But with going invasive, with our clinical partners they're actually doing FDA clinical trials right now. And so they've gone through a lot of those processes. We're starting to enroll some of our patients who are using The Ability Hand to get these implanted electrodes. We're kind of navigating that whole process ourselves right now too. So I think that was one of the reasons why we moved to San Diego, to work with and leverage a lot of the expertise from people who've done it already, from the med tech device companies that are big that have gone through those processes and can guide us through that process as well. So we're excited to be able to leverage those resources in order to streamline these clinical trial processes so that we can get these devices out there more quickly. VICTORIA: That's very cool. I'm super excited to hear about that and to learn more about PSYONIC. Is there anything else you want to share with our audience today as a final takeaway? DR. AADEEL: Absolutely. So in order to make all this stuff happen, we're actually in the middle of raising a round right now. Our biggest issue right now is actually that we've got more demand than we can produce, so we're working on scaling our manufacturing here in San Diego. So we're in the middle of an equity crowdfunding round. And we're all about accessibility, so about making our hand accessible to as many people as possible. So we were like, why don't we make the company accessible as well? And one of the most beautiful things about doing this as an equity crowdfunding round is our patients actually have invested in the company as well. And so it's like, we're making these devices for them, and then they get to be a part of it as well. And it's just this beautiful synergy that I couldn't have asked for anything more out of a crowdfunding campaign. And so we've raised over 750k already on StartEngine. And you can find out more and invest for as little as $250 at psyonic.io, so that's psyonic.io/invest. And the other thing I was going to mention, especially Victoria since you're in San Diego as well, is that I happily give tours to anyone who is in the area. So if anyone wants to see how we build all these bionic hands and just a cool robotics startup in general, we'd be happy to have you come visit us. VICTORIA: That's very cool. I'll have to connect with you later and schedule a tour myself. [laughs] That's wonderful. I'm excited to hear all the things you're working on and hope to see you more in the San Diego community coming up. And we'll share links to the funding page and other information about PSYONIC in our show notes. You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Mastodon at Victoria Guido. And this podcast is brought to by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thank you for listening. See you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot, your expert strategy, design, development, and product management partner. We bring digital products from idea to success and teach you how because we care. Learn more at thoughtbot.com. Special Guest: Aadeel Akhtar.

The future of seafood might be in San Diego. Not in Point Loma or Oceanside, but in a bioengineering facility in Sorrento Valley. From a single cell, BlueNalu is growing toro—bluefin tuna belly, the prize delicacy of most high-end sushi—in a perfectly hygienic bioreactor that looks like the giant stainless steel structures in the city's top breweries. Their goal is creating world-class seafood without the need for fish. In turn, transforming a limited and unpredictable resource (seafood) into an unlimited and predictable one. Today on HHH, we talk to CEO Lou Cooperhouse. It's part of our month-long focus on people in San Diego doing inspiring work in the green space (our “Environment Issue” of San Diego Mag is out now). “The issue today is that wild-capture fisheries in general have been flat for decades, but bluefin tuna is such a loved, prized product that we all really enjoy,” says Cooperhouse. “It's the wagyu of the sea. That's what BlueNalu is all about—high-sensory, culinary quality seafood. But really making this delicious and accessible to all. Because right now it's loved, but it's not available to all.” It's not a fly by night thing. BlueNalu has been funded to the tune of $84 million so far—most of that raised by Bloom8, an investment group focused on raising money for businesses that, if we're wide brushing, are focused on saving the planet. The long list of BlueNalu investors includes chefs and celebrities (Roy Yamaguchi, DJ Axwell of Swedish House Mafia) and some of the biggest names in the global business (Sumitomo from Japan, Griffith Foods). Entire countries and governments across the world have their eye on BlueNalu's toro. What BlueNalu does is called cell-cultured seafood. Biologists and bioengineers have learned how to grow the meat—real meat, grown from a real, non-GMO cell from a real fish, using only natural ingredients—without the fish itself. What years ago seemed like a dystopian future joke—”lab grown meat”—is looking more and more like a very real and good option. It's the fascinating story of modern technology and science trying to solve a major global dilemma (feeding a planet while not depleting the oceans of seafood). This science has been around since 2103 (hamburger, grown in a Dutch lab by Mark Post). But until now no one's been able to scale it—make it fast enough and affordable enough to be a viable option. BlueNalu and their investors think they've done it. There is plenty of work ahead of them, including approval from the FDA (cell-cultured proteins are currently not approved in the US—Singapore is the only country in the world to approve them so far). It's a massive, growing industry, with major players backed by the biggest pockets in the world, and various celebrities (Leonardo DiCaprio is behind Mosa Meat). BlueNalu thinks they're a couple years away from being on menu at restaurants across the world. Of course there are questions. Will it taste the same? Can they make it affordable enough to help people of all socioeconomic strata (a pound of cell-cultured seafood costs significantly more than wild-caught seafood)? What is their own environmental footprint? And how will it impact the fishing families and industry? For Two People Fifty Bucks, David takes back his “no good lasagna in San Diego” remarks after trying Alexander's on 30th; sticking with the theme Troy says you should sit on the patio and order the baked rigatoni and baked brie with garlic at their parent restaurant, Old Venice; and Lou raves about the A5 Wagyu at Animae—unsurprising for a man whose future lies in the wagyu of the sea. See you all next week.

We speak to Councilmember Kent Lee, who was sworn in Monday to represent the city of San Diego's District 6. This includes Mira Mesa, Kearny Mesa, most of University City, Sorrento Valley and portions of Scripps Ranch. Plus, the uncertainty clouding California's solar marketplace could be settled this week as regulators consider a proposal that changes the rules for electricity generated by rooftop solar. And, to fight climate change and meet renewable energy goals, the Biden Administration has championed the opening up of federally-owned desert lands in California to develop massive renewable energy projects, like industrial-scale solar. Also, Imperial County often sits in the shadow of San Diego County, at the southern border with Mexico. That leaves room for mystery and misconceptions for a county whose population is 85% Latino, and lately leaning right to the Republican party. Later, a new program enacted by Governor Gavin Newsom was intended to transform early childhood education, but as KPBS reports, schools aren't prepared. Finally, the latest immersive art exhibit to come to San Diego features the work of elusive British street artist, Banksy. But the artist has nothing to do with the show.

The Philips Group Property Management is out to make things easier for landlords and property owners in San Diego. This veteran owned and operated company provides a wide range of management services.For more information you can visit http://realestatepropertymanagementsandiego.com

Are you planning a corporate event in Mission Valley, San Diego, La Jolla, Sorrento Valley, or a surrounding part of Southern California? Leave a lasting impression, with high-quality menus from California's Best Catering & Events (858-352-0222). Go to https://www.californiasbestcatering.com (https://www.californiasbestcatering.com) for more information.

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In this episode, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of where Miramar, Mira Mesa and Sorrento Valley meet, at one of the newer, more innovative breweries on the block, established in 2020, Embolden Beer Company.

Can Yolanda from Sorrento Valley correctly answer 5 Showbiz Questions in 30 Seconds to make it into the "Showbiz Pop Quiz Hall of Fame?" Can you? Listen and play along! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on the Southern California Real Estate Report we talk about the new trolley line that will connect Mission Valley to the UTC and Sorrento Valley.The new line is said to be more integrated into the surrounding development and because of that and because of transit oriented development, the hope is the community access and usability will help San Diego's car reliant population feel more open to using public transportation.Garrick, D. (2021, November 16). New trolley line set up for success. Union Tribune . 

1. Bird bringing Ebikes back to SD! With e-bikes and San Diego is the first test market   One of the first cities to receive the bikes   Great test market Solid weather Tourism Very little rain Transportation is not great Spread out into pockets like a quilt More than 1k scooters (feels low) To provide a green transportation option Specifically, they are partnershing with SDSU   Obviously wear a helmet when riding in SD    https://www.sandiego.gov/bicycling Along the bottom a link for shared scooter companies   2. SUPER Biotech Update!!    iBio to Grow Talent in S.D.   Welcome to SD iBio (NYSEA: IBIO) operating out of BioLabs now plans on moving to 12,000 square foot lab facility in Sorrento Valley HQ in Bryan Texas   plant-based antibodies   Therapeutics vaccines  An antibody that is produced by plants that have been genetically engineered with animal DNA encoding They can be purified cheaply and in large numbers I couldn't use Plantibody (its trademarked by Biolex)   Some cool stats   130,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in TX ½ million hydroponic plants   Fully automated vertical farming    The new San Diego site will be focused on oncology   Why San Diego?    A place where their employees can enjoy a work-life balance and even raise their family   Though only planning to add 20 people this year   They want to be close to entrepreneurial spirit Access to talent proximity to top research institutions    New Biotech Campus - Harrison Street and Sterling Bay buying 1.4million sq ft in Sorrento Valley   A chicago firm Plan to build massive life science campus Price tag $576M 4 of 5 are leased Qualcomm Tanvex Wacker five existing buildings another 13 acres to build 1.1 million sq ft of new office and lab space   2nd massive life science deal    IQHQ, 1.3 million sq ft downtown UC San Diego,  Scripps Research,  Salk Institute and  Sanford Burnham Prebys  Why here? The location is minutes from:   Torrey Pines is too HOT and biotech is moving down the 56   Developers are betting that biotech is ready to head east (a little) Sea Breeze Properties is building mixed use space in torrey highlands Reworking the office portion of campus into life sciences Development applied to amend permit to allow for lab Room for 2500 people 525k commercial space   3. *IPO Alert* - Cue files to go public   4. Aptera Motors pushes ahead to manufacture its 3-wheel solar powered, electric vehicle     Sorrento Valley company   Super futuristic looking   Or aerodynamic 1 wheel in the back solar on the front and back 2 on the front   This is a very challenging problem   Challenge balance between weight,  sq ft coverage for panels, etc Large incumbent vehicles But range anxiety is an issue    11k pre orders   Looking for 80k-120k sq ft for manufacturing (if only they were biotech) They are trying to manufacture in a unique way   The majority of parts are lightweight   Parts can be built in house Much easier and lighter to ship   Powered just by the sun:   Can get 40 mi from a day in the some With charge Envisioning a vehicle with 250 mi range 5. The future of cloud - is local cloud again? Come learn about edge computing at Cloud Night, October 4 6. Green Summit - 23 & 24th 7. SDSM Oct 1-29   Fundings - Tiled, Giga.io, GoFormz, Measurabl ($50M) Sign off and good bye everyone!

Every company contains a mixture of generations. Leaders often feel frustrated in finding alignment with different thinking from generation Z, Y, X, and to the Baby Boomers in today's workforce. Great leaders know the power of inspiring generational leadership that creates unity. Today's guest is DeLinda Forsythe, CEO and founder at Innovative Commercial Environments (ICE). Inc Magazine has ranked her company seven times on the Inc 5000 list since 2013. ICE is San Diego's most creative office and hospitality furniture dealership headquartered in Sorrento Valley. DeLinda shares her expertise on inspiring generational leadership. We look at the common and uncommon approaches you have to understand in today's world of many generations. The art of inspiring generational leadership will help you be a better leader.   Get the show notes for Inspiring generational leadership with DeLinda Forsythe at Innovative Commercial Environments Click to Tweet: Listening to a fantastic episode on Growth Think Tank featuring #DeLindaForsythe with your host @GeneHammett https://bit.ly/gttDeLindaForsythe   #inspiringgenerationalleadership #generationZYX #GHepisode781 #GTTepisodes #Podcasts #IncList2020   Give Growth Think Tank a review on iTunes!

Wanna split £100? You get £50 free AND save money on 100% green electricity by moving to Octopus Energy. Plus I get £50 to support this podcast but ONLY if you do it by using my unique referral code. I moved to Octopus recently and had been putting it off for ages,  but I kicked myself for not doing it sooner, as it’s literally a 5 minute job to give them your details.   Click here: https://share.octopus.energy/free-puma-452   On today’s podcast: Aptera Closes $4M Series A Round and Takes a Quarter-Billion in Orders Ultium Cells Celebrates Completion of Steel Building Structure Peugeot Beats Renault In France Virginia to become the next zero-emission vehicle state VW ID.4 At US Dealers In March   Show #999   Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Saturday 20th February. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.   Thank you to MYEV.com for helping make this show, they’ve built the first marketplace specifically for Electric Vehicles. It’s a totally free marketplace that simplifies the buying and selling process, and help you learn about EVs along the way too.   APTERA CLOSES $4M SERIES A ROUND AND TAKES A QUARTER-BILLION IN ORDERS Aptera Motors announces it has closed its round of Series A funding, accepting a total of over $4 million. Aptera’s continued momentum has now garnered it over 7,000 vehicle reservations in just over two months totaling a quarter-billion in orders. The Solar Electric Vehicle (SEV) company is backed by crowdfunders, private investors and automotive leaders such as Sandy Munro of Munro & Associates, Inc. Earlier this month, Aptera moved into a new production design facility in the Sorrento Valley area of San Diego. Part of a 60,500 square foot campus, the facility will be home to Aptera’s three completed vehicles and a team of development engineers. Areas of focus will be advanced 3D printing, composites, UI/UX development, and battery technologies development. As the company expands, Aptera will be evaluating additional locations for production facilities in San Diego and around the world.   https://www.aptera.us/post/aptera-closes-4m-series-a-round-and-takes-a-quarter-billion-in-orders   ULTIUM CELLS CELEBRATES COMPLETION OF STEEL BUILDING STRUCTURE "Ultium Cells, the battery joint venture between General Motors and LG Chem's LG Energy Solution in Lordstown, Ohio, celebrates the completion of the steel building structure after 10-months and 500,000 construction build hours. About 85 members of Ironworkers gathered to sign the final beam of the structure, which in the near future will turn into a 2.8-million-square-foot plant." according to InsideEVs: "The site will be completed by mid-2022 and be able to produce 30 GWh of lithium-ion battery cells annually (with an option to expand), employing more than 1,100 people. GM and LG Chem agreed to jointly invest $2.3 billion in the venture to secure lithium-ion cell supply for the entire range of new electric vehicles."   https://insideevs.com/news/489446/ultium-cells-celebrates-construction-milestone/   https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2021/feb/0219-ultium.html   PEUGEOT BEATS RENAULT IN FRANCE "Looking at January best sellers, the Peugeot e-208 has beaten the Renault Zoe for the first time since last April, and adding insult to injury, it wasn’t the only Peugeot model to beat the Renault model!" says Clean TEchnica: "The crossover Peugeot 3008 PHEV became the first plugin hybrid to win the monthly best seller trophy in France, by beating both the Zoe and its e-208 sibling. That was thanks to a record 1,410 registrations. The result also meant a historic one-two win for Peugeot at home, relegating the Renault EV to the 3rd spot for the first time in 8 years! But one shouldn’t read too much into these numbers, as they had more to do with allocation issues than actual demand. After all, in January, the Renault Zoe’s deliveries were exhausted by the “all hands on deck” effort of December, as Renault did everything to keep the Zoe on the top of last year’s European leadership scoreboard. "   https://cleantechnica.com/2021/02/19/peugeot-beats-renault-in-france-ev-sales-report/   http://ev-sales.blogspot.com/   VIRGINIA TO BECOME THE NEXT ZERO-EMISSION VEHICLE STATE "The Virginia Senate has passed a bill that would establish California-style clean car standards in the state. The bill, HB 1965, creates low-emission vehicle (LEV) and zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) programs. It will strengthen regulations on tailpipe emissions, and require automakers to sell a certain number of ZEVs in Virginia." according to Charged EVs Magazine: "Governor Ralph Northam is expected to sign the bill into law. Once he does, Virginia will join 12 other states and Washington DC in adopting LEV and ZEV rules. Minnesota, New Mexico and Nevada are in the process of implementing clean car programs."   https://chargedevs.com/newswire/virginia-to-become-the-next-zero-emission-vehicle-state/   https://environmentamerica.org/news/ame/statement-virginia-state-senate-passes-vital-clean-cars-rule   VW ID.4 AT US DEALERS IN MARCH "Just got a call from my dealership’s EV specialist. He said my 1st Edition ID.4 would be at the dealer by the end of March and the display models would be there a few days before. I’m still 90% sure the ID.4 is what I want. Drove the Model Y and loved the speed and handling but the frameless glass (breaks easily) and no CarPlay or other streaming services or XM, PLUS the notorious build quality and much higher price unless they get the tax credit back put me off. Also got an insurance quote on the ID and it’s lower than my Mazda3 by a bit. Tesla’s are very expensive"   https://www.vwidtalk.com/threads/just-got-a-call-from-my-dealership%E2%80%99s-ev-specialist.989/   NEW QUESTION OF THE WEEK With my 1000th podcast around the corner, what kind of media coverage do you want in 2021?   Send me your answer: hello@evnewsdaily.com     You can listen to all 998 previous episodes of this this for free, where you get your podcasts from, plus the blog https://www.evnewsdaily.com/ – remember to subscribe, which means you don’t have to think about downloading the show each day, plus you get it first and free and automatically.   It would mean a lot if you could take 2mins to leave a quick review on whichever platform you download the podcast.   And  if you have an Amazon Echo, download our Alexa Skill, search for EV News Daily and add it as a flash briefing.   Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, I’ll catch you tomorrow and remember…there’s no such thing as a self-charging hybrid.     PHIL ROBERTS / ELECTRIC FUTURE (PREMIUM PARTNER) BRAD CROSBY (PREMIUM PARTNER) PORSCHE OF THE VILLAGE CINCINNATI (PREMIUM PARTNER) AUDI CINCINNATI EAST (PREMIUM PARTNER) VOLVO CARS CINCINNATI EAST (PREMIUM PARTNER) NATIONALCARCHARGING.COM and ALOHACHARGE.COM  (PREMIUM PARTNER) DEREK REILLY FROM THE EV REVIEW IRELAND YOUTUBE CHANNEL (PREMIUM PARTNER) RICHARD AT RSEV.CO.UK – FOR BUYING AND SELLING EVS IN THE UK (PREMIUM PARTNER)   DAVID AND LISA ALLEN (PARTNER) GARETH HAMER (PARTNER) eMOBILITY NORWAY HTTPS://WWW.EMOBILITYNORWAY.COM/  (PARTNER) BOB BOOTHBY – MILLBROOK COTTAGES AND ELOPEMENT WEDDING VENUE (PARTNER) DARIN MCLESKEY FROM DENOVO REAL ESTATE (PARTNER) JUKKA KUKONEN FROM WWW.SHIFT2ELECTRIC.COM RAJEEV NARAYAN (PARTNER) IAIN SEAR (PARTNER)   ADRIAN BOND (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ALAN SHEDD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ALEX BANAHENE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ALEXANDER FRANK @ https://www.youtube.com/c/alexsuniverse42 ANDERS HOVE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ANDREA JEFFERSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ANDREW GREEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ANDY NANCARROW AND LILIAN KASS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ASEER KHALID (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) BÅRD FJUKSTAD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) BLUNDERBUSS JONES (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER BRIAN THOMPSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) BRUCE BOHANNAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) CHARLES HALL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) CHRIS HOPKINS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) CHRISTOPHER BARTH (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) COLIN HENNESSY AND CAMBSEV (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) CRAIG ROGERS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) DAMIEN DAVIS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) DAVID FINCH (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) DAVID MOORE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) DAVID PARTINGTON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) DAVID PRESCOTT (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) DON MCALLISTER / SCREENCASTSONLINE.COM (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ED CORTREEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ERIC HANSEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ERU KYEYUNE-NYOMBI (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) FREDRIK ROVIK (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) GENE RUBIN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) HEDLEY WRIGHT (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) HEINRICH LIESNER (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) IAN GRIFFITHS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) IAN (WATTIE) WATKINS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JACK OAKLEY (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JAMES STORR (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JAVIER CARMELO DÍAZ PÉREZ (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JIM MORRIS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JOHN SCHROEDER (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JON AKA BEARDY MCBEARDFACE FROM KENT EVS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JON MANCHAK (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) JUAN GONZALEZ (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) KEVIN MEYERSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) LAURENCE D ALLEN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) LEE BROWN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) LUKE CULLEY (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) MARCEL WARD (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) MARTY YOUNG  (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) MIA OPPELSTRUP (PARTNER) MIKE WINTER (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) NATHAN GORE-BROWN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) NATHANIEL FREEDMAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) NEIL E ROBERTS FROM SUSSEX EVS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) OHAD ASTON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) PAUL STEPHENSON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) PETE GLASS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) PETE GORTON (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) PETER & DEE ROBERTS FROM OXON EVS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) PHIL MOUCHET (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) PHILIP TRAUTMAN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) RAYMOND ROWLEDGE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) RENE KEEMIK (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) RENÉ SCHNEIDER (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ROB HERMANS (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ROB FROM THE RSTHINKS EV CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) ROBERT GRACE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) RUPERT MITCHELL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) SEIKI PAYNE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) STEPHEN PENN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) STEVE JOHN (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) THOMAS J. THIAS  (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) TODD OAKES (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER) THE PLUGSEEKER – EV YOUTUBE CHANNEL (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)     CONNECT WITH ME! EVne.ws/itu nes EVne.ws/tunein EVne.ws/googleplay EVne.ws/stitcher EVne.ws/youtube EVne.ws/iheart EVne.ws/blog EVne.ws/patreon   Check out MYEV.com for more details: https://www.myev.com

Our special guest this week is Arturo Kassel, CEO of Whisknladle Hospitality, which brought us restaurants like Prep Kitchen, Catania, and Whisknladle in La Jolla. He also owns Gravity Heights Brewery, which opened last summer in Sorrento Valley, and the Park Commons food hall. Arturo and his business partner, chef Ryan Johnston, opened Whisknladle in La Jolla in 2008. After 12 years in the neighborhood, they had to close the restaurant this spring because of the pandemic. We featured Whisknladle’s closure in the October/November issue of San Diego Magazine, where we also ran the restaurant’s recipe for their mussels appetizer, provided by Ryan. Arturo has been on the show before, and we invited him back to talk about the latest Stay Home Order. This time around, restaurants can only serve takeout or delivery, and breweries and wineries were ordered to close their tasting rooms. Currently, Catania is open for takeout daily, but Gravity Heights and Park Commons has been temporarily closed. Arturo shares that he fully supports the shutdown of indoor dining, and he understands the need to move to outdoor dining only, but has several frustrations about the current closures. He says that the hospitality industry represents around 9 percent of the outbreaks that have occurred in San Diego County, which would mean that 91 percent are attributable to other sectors. He feels that the restaurant industry is being scapegoated. The PPP loans that came during the first shutdown are what kept their restaurants alive—but another shutdown without PPP funds, or any kind of aid, makes the future very uncertain. Arturo says he’s not as panicked this time around. At the first shutdown, he thought he was seeing 14 years of his life’s work come to a crashing halt, and he was devastated. This time around, they were better prepared, compared to March when they had to throw away thousands of dollars worth of food. He remains cautiously optimistic that there will be some form of relief eventually, but admits that hope is not a great strategy. Despite everything, he remains incredibly proud of and grateful for his team, who managed a seemingly impossible situation. Arturo sees a silver lining in the way the pandemic has forced everyone to take stock of what’s really important in our lives, and believes that on the other side of this, we’re really going to appreciate those simple things—the places we go, the things we do, and the people we see. In Two People for Takeout, Troy recommends supporting any local caterer, like his favorite, Miho Catering Company. Marie got caldo de pollo at Lourdes to satisfy her chicken soup craving. David recommends checking out Sushi Uno, one of many food trucks that, without local breweries, have lost their biggest avenue of distribution. Arturo didn’t pick one specific place—instead, he encourages people to order takeout from the experiential, full-service dining restaurants in their neighborhood. Thank you for listening! As always, we want to hear from our listeners. Do you have a question for Troy? Need a recommendation for takeout? Is there a guest you want us to book on the show? Let us know! You can call us at 619-744-0535 and leave a voicemail, or if you’re too shy, you can email us at happyhalfhour@sdmag.com. Be sure to tune in next week for our final episode of 2020.

In the first ever episode of ROAST! West Coast I interview Steve Rayle, Founder & Header Roaster of acclaimed coffee roastery Zumbar Coffee & Tea. Zumbar is one of the original San Diego area craft coffee roasters having opened in 2003, and full disclosure they are one of the sponsors of this show! They have two locations, a roastery and shop in Sorrento Valley and a cafe in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Roast listeners can order bulk beans online at zumbarcoffee.com. Use the Promo Code: ROAST15 until December 9th, 2020 to get 15% off your online order. ROAST! West Coast is a new podcast the community of coffee roasters and coffee innovators on the West Coast of the United States. Host Ryan Woldt interviews local roastery founders and roasters about their coffee origin stories, how they've dealt with the impacts of Covid-19, why they love coffee and much more. If you love coffee, entrepreneurship, shopping local and learn how things get made and why things are done a certain way you will love ROAST! West Coast presented by One Wild Life Co. In season one we dive deep into the hyper-local coffee community of North County San Diego to introduce you to the coffee roasters and innovators on the West Coast. Featuring OG roasters like Zumbar Coffee & Tea, established local hotspots like Ironsmith Coffee Roasters and some upstarts who’ve just recently jumped in the game like ‘Stache Coffee. Coffee Sensei Chris O’Brien of Coffee Cycle will serve as our weekly teacher so we can all learn a little more about coffee together. This show was recorded virtually, and published on November 10th, 2020 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/owl-podcasts/support

Tiffany Haug, MS, RDN, EDOC, provides nutritional care to individuals with eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, otherwise specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED) and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) at EveryBODY Behavioral Health located in Sorrento Valley in San Diego, CA. Her expertise includes providing nutrition counseling to clients with eating disorders and supporting them in their journey towards a practical, sustainable and trusting relationship with food and their bodies. Tiffany is passionate about supporting the family members and loved ones of clients, given that eating disorders affect the whole social circle of the sufferer.  Tiffany is a Master's level Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) and holds a Certificate of Graduate Study in Eating Disorders and Obesity (EDOC) Today on the show, Kiki chats with Tiffany about the importance of body diversity, including what can we as health practitioners DO to support a more body-inclusive business.

This week’s special guest is Rick Chapman, the co-founder of Coronado Brewing Company, which has been open for over 23 years. Rick and his brother, Ron, opened the brewpub in the heart of their hometown of Coronado in 1996. Since then, their beers have won some major awards, including the 2014 World Beer Cup Champion for Best Mid-Sized Brewery, and they won four medals at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival competition. They expanded in 2012 with a state-of-the-art production facility and tasting room in Bay Park, and in 2014, they opened up the Imperial Beach Restaurant. They have also expanded their brewhouse to meet the distribution demands of 16 states and 15 countries. For Two People, $50, Rick gave us a few choices: Kaiserhof Restaurant and Biergarten in OB, and his Coronado favorites, Village Pizza, Lil’ Piggy’s Bar-B-Q, and the Brigantine. Lauren chose George’s Level 2 because of their creative custom cocktails, like the pumpkin spice margarita. Erin chose Waypoint Public because of its family-friendly atmosphere and its beer cheese dipping sauce. Troy chose a favorite of many local chefs, The Joint in OB, but you will likely spend over $50 for this delicious, fresh food. In Hot Plates, we talked about how Accursio Lota, formerly of Solare, announced a while back he was going solo and took over the Cardamom Café and Bakery space in North Park to open a new Sicialian restaurant named Cori Pastifico. Park Commons, the new food hall in Sorrento Valley from Whisknladle, will be opening on November 11, and it will have five fast-casual restaurants and a full bar. This week’s Hot Topic is about labels on beer bottles going paperless! A recent article in Food & Wine talks about how Anheuser-Busch is experimenting with something called “direct object printing,” where they will apply the ink and varnish “label” directly on the glass, instead of using paper and an adhesive. Beck's Brewery is currently using this technology in the U.K. Thanks for listening, and we’d love to hear from you! Call us at 619-744-0535 and leave a message. Or if you’re too shy to call, you can email HappyHalfHour@sdmag.com. You can give us your recommendations for Two People, $50, tell us about any news happening in San Diego’s culinary world, or let us know who you’d like to hear featured as a guest on the podcast.

These three gentlemen all work for the acclaimed Zumbar Coffee & Tea. Garret Bishop & Matt Pederson are Baristas at the Cardiff location, and Zach Semonian works in Production at the Sorrento Valley location. I loved catching up with some great friends and geeking about coffee. Enjoy! Instagram:  @heathenstevens @zach_semonian       How to Reach Caffeine & Green  Instagram: @caffeine_and_green Email: caffeinengreen@gmail.com   Coffee!!!! Get 3 bags of Coffee for $30  USE CODE: "CANDG" Charity coffee's excluded from offer sevenseasroasting.com/pages/coffee 

Hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend! We have another great episode of the Happy Half Hour for you. This week, we’re recording from our sponsor, Sycuan Casino, which recently underwent a huge renovation, and are taping at their new restaurant, Bull & Bourbon Steakhouse. We talked with Marcel, Bull & Bourbon’s sous chef, about the restaurant’s in-house dry-aging program and a special tomahawk steak that is aged for 120 days. Our special guest this week is Arturo Kassel. He's the CEO of Whisknladle Hospitality, which brought us restaurants like PrepKitchen, Catania and of course, Whisknladle in La Jolla. In 2017, Arturo sold the company's Prepkitchen locations so he could focus on his next big project, Gravity Heights, a brewery in Sorrento Valley that just opened in January of this year. Gravity Heights was just named the all-around winner of Best New Brewery in our annual Best Restaurants list—this means that both Troy and our readers agreed that Gravity Heights deserved the title. Arturo is also working on another project in Sorrento Valley, a 10,000-square-foot food hall called Park Commons. His pick for Two People, $50, was The Fishery. Troy liked Cross Street Chicken and Beer, and Lauren’s pick was Morning Glory (which Troy reviews in our upcoming August issue!) In Hot Plates, we talked about Troy getting the First Look at Ciccia Osteria, Mario Cassineri’s new Italian restaurant in Barrio Logan, Puesto taking over Gordon Biersch’s location in Mission Valley and starting their own brewery, and Home & Away, a two-story cocktail and beer bar, opening in Encinitas. This week’s Hot Topic: soon, you’ll be able to order food from McDonald’s, and even a burger from Juniper & Ivy, and have it delivered by drone. San Diego is one of ten cities in the country where the tech giant partnered with McDonald’s to test out drone delivery. We got an email from a listener who needed a recommendation for good Mexican pastries and desserts—listen to find out what Troy and Arturo had to say.

In a small laboratory in Sorrento Valley, scientists at BlueNalu are growing fish parts — just the muscle and fat — from cells. The tissue will one day be stacked into familiar shapes like freshly caught Mahi-mahi fillets, red snapper or flaked tuna using something akin to a 3D printer. Instead of printing plastic, the scientists are using ink made of cells. The startup's experimental food is a far cry from the plant-based meat products that keep popping up in headlines and are designed to look like something they're not. BlueNalu's “alternative seafood” will be made of real fish cells — they're just grown outside the fish's body. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/technology/story/2019-05-18/would-you-eat-lab-created-fish-this-san-diego-startup-is-carving-new-path-in-alt-meat-industry

Hi, I'm your host, Shannon Cunningham, and welcome to the sixth episode of the LJPC Conversations Podcast. Today we're joined by two wonderful friends, Rev Daryl and Mindy Bryant. Daryl is the Pastor of administration here at La Jolla Pres, and Mindy is a successful project manager in Sorrento Valley. They both love the Lord, … Continue reading "Episode #6 Rev. Daryl and Mindy Bryant"

Hi, I’m your host, Shannon Cunningham, and welcome to the sixth episode of the LJPC Conversations Podcast. Today we’re joined by two wonderful friends, Rev Daryl and Mindy Bryant. Daryl is the Pastor of administration here at La Jolla Pres, and Mindy is a successful project manager in Sorrento Valley. They both love the Lord, … Continue reading "Episode #6 Rev. Daryl and Mindy Bryant"

In today’s episode, hosts Erin Chambers Smith and Troy Johnson, along with producer Archana Ram are talking about restaurant news, including a new Taco Stand, a new brewpub, and a big barbecue spot headed to San Diego. Today’s sponsor is Torrey Holistics, a city-approved medical marijuana facility in Sorrento Valley. Ruthie Edelson, the company’s marketing director and graphic designer, joins us to talk about changing the stigma of marijuana, why it shouldn’t be called a “drug,” and more. (You can also read all about San Diego’s huge leap into the cannabis industry in our February issue.) Joining us in the guest seat is Gary John Collins, founder of Air Conditioned Lounge and its new adjacent event space, The Glampisphere. He explains why business was easier in the past and shares his secrets to longevity in San Diego’s restaurant-bar scene. In Hot Topics, we discuss the new AmazonGo store in Seattle. We end with Two People/$50, including Café Chloe, The Coffee Cup, Salt & Straw, and Cantina Mayahuel.

In today’s episode hosts Erin Chambers Smith and Troy Johnson, along with producer Archana Ram are talking about restaurant news, like two Hillcrest openings—Better Buzz Coffee and Copper Top Coffee & Donuts (Did you know donuts are the Instagram subject?). Plus Troy has the First Look on Bivouc Ciderworks in North Park and Little Italy’s Cloak & Petal. Today’s sponsor is Torrey Holistics, a city-approved medical marijuana facility in Sorrento Valley. Christine Bordenave, the company’s director of purchasing and compliance, joins us to explain the different between THC and CBD, how they’re capping dosage in edibles, and the launch of childproof packsaging. (You can also read all about San Diego’s huge leap into the cannabis industry in our February issue.) Joining us in the guest seat is Richard Blais, Top Chef All-Star, chef-partner of Juniper & Ivy and The Crack Shack, podcaster at Starving for Attention, cookbook author of So Good—the list goes on. He tells us why he moved to San Diego, how he got to star in a cat food commercial, and what it’s like to work with Troy on Guy’s Grocery Games. In Hot Topics, we discuss dining trends for 2018. Less dinner Instagramming, more chilled red wine. We end with Two People/$50, including Village North, and Richard’s two picks, the Sea Señorita at Crack Shack and­—wait for it—the shredded beef from Trader Joe’s. Subscribe to the Happy Half Hour on iTunes or Google Play, or listen below.

A California native, Ben Ramos grew up surfing, skateboarding, breakdancing, and playing whatever sport was in season. He’s a military veteran who served in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Pacific Fleet Operations. He has extensive experience working in athletic training rooms with high school, collegiate, amateur and professional athletes. He’s also a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fanatic with international competition experience. It was Dr. Ramos’ personal experience in surgery and rehab with his own hip injury that lead him to pursue chiropractic care. The cookie-cutter approach, didn’t cut it. “I was extremely displeased and knew there was a better way to do it that catered to the individual and not some one-size-fits-all protocol,” says Dr. Ramos, “I wanted to make sure that others didn’t have to experience what I went through.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eco Chateau Wellness Spa http://www.SpaEcoChateau Instagram: http://instagram.com/EcoChateau Join Eco Chateau's FB fans: https://www.facebook.com/EcoChateau/ and Sorrento Valley: https://www.facebook.com/ecochateausv/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sschristine Our GIVING BACK Foundation: TLC for the Big C" http://www.spaecochateau.com/tlc-big-c/

Dr. Joseph Scarpuzzi practices naturopathic medicine which concentrates on whole-patient wellness; the medicine is tailored to each individual and emphasizes prevention. Naturopathic medicine aims to find the underlying cause of the patient’s condition rather than focusing solely on symptomatic treatment. It is ‘functional medicine’ a type of medical practice or treatments that focuses on optimal functioning of the body and it’s organs. DR. SCARPUZZI’S FOCUS Dr. Scarpuzzi focuses on anti-aging medicine along with a comprehensive scope of therapies. These include natural aesthetics procedures for skin rejuvenation: (Platelet Rich Plasma Facial – aka PRP), vitamin nutrient shots for nourishment of body tissues, balancing of hormones naturally or through bioidenticals for men & women, optimization of gut health, as well as, general nutrition and fitness health. Helping patients to achieve optimal health is a fundamental component of his practice. MEET THE DOC Dr. Scarpuzzi is a California State Licensed Naturopathic Doctor; with a degree from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine. As an integrative primary care provider he is skilled in treating acute and chronic diseases. He frequently manages supplements/nutraceuticals, orders labs and imaging studies, performs therapies, refers to specialists if needed, and performs annual and preventative exams. His goal ideally is to optimize the patients health through prevention and education. However when chronic illness occurs he treats each patient as an individual using the wisdom of nature and modern science as a detective would to get to the root cause. His first choice is always to use the most safe and effective approach first while still achieving results. QUESTIONS? Dr. Scarpuzzi is interested in helping you achieve optimal health! If you have any questions or would like to discuss your individual needs we offer a complimentary 10-minute consult. Please call the office today for appointments (858) 304-0567 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eco Chateau Wellness Spa http://www.SpaEcoChateau Instagram: http://instagram.com/EcoChateau Join Eco Chateau's FB fans: https://www.facebook.com/EcoChateau/ and Sorrento Valley: https://www.facebook.com/ecochateausv/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sschristine Our GIVING BACK Foundation: TLC for the Big C" http://www.spaecochateau.com/tlc-big-c/

Robert MacPhee is a speaker, author, coach and consultant who specializes in helping people make EXCELLENT DECISIONS. His leadership coaching and fun and highly interactive workshops engage people in new and different conversations, increasing their awareness and opening them up to entirely new possibilities. Robert MacPhee "Helping Leaders Make EXCELLENT DECISIONS" P.O. Box 232155 Leucadia, CA 92023 (760) 632-4909 robert@heartset.com www.heartset.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eco Chateau Wellness Spa http://www.SpaEcoChateau Instagram: http://instagram.com/EcoChateau Join Eco Chateau's FB fans: https://www.facebook.com/EcoChateau/ and Sorrento Valley: https://www.facebook.com/ecochateausv/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sschristine Our GIVING BACK Foundation: TLC for the Big C" http://www.spaecochateau.com/tlc-big-c/

Today’s guest is an excellent marketer who has established her seventh company in the last 13 years. Christine McDannell runs a brick-and-mortar eco spa called Eco Chateau, which she started 4 ½ years ago. At present, this wellness spa is in two San Diego locations – Mission Valley and Sorrento Valley. Their services include organic facial, massage, infrared saunas, and juice cleanses. It is the one-stop shop for people wanting to pursue health and wellness.    On today’s episode, Christine talks about how she established the system she uses to be efficient in her work, as inspired and encouraged by Henry Evans. She shares some great online tools that help her and her team keep things organized, updated, and automated, the reason why she put up a spa business, and how being a marketer played a big part in the success of her business ventures.  If you’re a good marketer, you can own any kind of business you want.