Podcasts about Southern Europe

 After a three-week summer break, Lesley Riddoch and Fraser Thompson return to dissect Scotland's political landscape. From Anas Sarwar's sudden elevation to the House of Lords to Nicola Sturgeon taking public lumps out of John Swinney in the paperback edition of her book and in interviews, the pair unpack the internal friction, leadership manoeuvring, and communication breakdowns across Scottish politics.Meanwhile, as Europe and the Cairngorms burn amidst record heat, the hosts examine the stark realities of climate change, food inflation, and the ongoing tug-of-war over North Sea oil licences. Add in lessons on local democracy from Sweden, Icelandic EU ambitions, and a trip to the Killin Highland Games, and this return episode covers the full political and cultural spectrum.In this episode, we discuss:Anas Sarwar's Peerage & The Scottish Labour Leadership: We unpack Anas Sarwar taking a seat in the House of Lords and stepping into a UK trade role, leaving Scottish Labour in a lurch. Lesley and Fraser critique the party's defensive media spin and analyse the upcoming leadership race—looking at why candidates like Monica Lennon and Michael Marra face structural hurdles while South Lanarkshire Council leader Joe Fagan emerges as the party machinery's favoured pick.Nicola Sturgeon vs. John Swinney: Former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon re-emerges at the Edinburgh Book Festival to criticise John Swinney's campaign and vision. Fraser compares her interventions to Margaret Thatcher's post-power backseat driving, while Lesley highlights insider reactions—including Liz Lloyd's sharp observation that while the party respected Nicola, members love John Swinney.Rosebank, European Wildfires & Climate Economics: With wildfires raging from Southern Europe to Nethy Bridge in the Cairngorms, we look at the climate crisis hitting home. We examine First Minister John Swinney's hesitation over North Sea licences like Rosebank and Jackdaw, BP's scale-back in the North Sea, and expert warnings that 40% of recent food inflation is directly linked to climate-driven agricultural disruption.Iceland's EU Referendum & International Borders: We look at Iceland's upcoming referendum on restarting EU accession negotiations, analysing how the bloc courts a nation of 355,000—and what potential fishing opt-outs mean for Scotland's constitutional future. Plus, we look at the pragmatic border deal reached in Gibraltar.Manchester Apathy vs. Swedish Democracy: Following the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election, we discuss winner Bev Craig and the dismal 25% voter turnout. Lesley contrasts Britain's top-down regional mayor model with Sweden's hyper-local democracy, where 290 municipal councils collect basic income tax and command 90% voter turnouts.Coigach Filming & Highland Games Catch-Up: Fraser recounts his time at the Commonwealth Games, while Lesley shares updates on her documentary filming in Coigach and Strathnaver, commemorating the 1852 clearance protests at the newly opened An Lòrg stone circle.Links & Mentioned Events:Bute Highland Games: Saturday, 22nd August in Rothesay. https://butehighlandgames.org/  ★ Support this podcast ★

Huge wildfires have been sweeping across Southern Europe and North America. Is climate change increasing the risk? And what can we do? Weather experts say the world is starting to see new types of wildfire – including enormous Pyrocumulonimbus fire clouds that spit lightning and black hail.These infernos can burn for more than a year. They can also spawn fire tornadoes, which move at more than 200 kilometres an hour, destroying everything in their path. The Climate Question hosts Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar talk to John Vaillant, the author of “Fire Weather”, about how wildfires are increasing in intensity and frequency, and how they are burning in places they have never burned before. Got a question for The Climate Question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.comProducers: Simon Watts, Diane Richardson and Melanie Stewart-Smith Sound Mix: Tom Brignell and Dafydd Evans Editor: Simon Watts

Today's episode covers three stories from across the cruise world. A negligence lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court for Brevard County, Florida accuses Disney Cruise Line of failing to guard against a fall from an upper bunk aboard Disney Wonder, in which a child fractured both wrists; the suit seeks more than $50,000 and centers on a guardrail that did not span the full length of the mattress. In Alaska, Juneau's cruise calls remain on schedule as water in Suicide Basin approaches capacity, with a glacial outburst flood possible in mid-August and shore excursions near Mendenhall Glacier the most likely to be affected. And Royal Caribbean has set 50 Southern Europe itineraries for summer 2027 across seven ships, spanning Spain, Italy, France, the Greek Islands, Egypt, Portugal and Morocco, including calls tied to the Royal Beach Club Santorini.

Two people have died after their helicopters collided in mid-air, while fighting wildfires west of Athens in Greece. A British pilot and Greek fire service liaison officer survived the crash and have been taken to hospital. Greece is among many parts of Europe suffering devastating wildfires after a summer of extreme heat. UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Ryan Bridge that so much of the continent is trying to help one another, with French and Romanian personnel also assisting their Greek counterparts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Palfinger AG Elevator Pitch: Key TakeawaysPALFINGER AG Elevator Pitch PresentationIn this Elevator Pitch on seat11a, Felix Strohbichler, CFO of PALFINGER AG, presents the company's business model, competitive strengths, strategic priorities, and long-term growth ambitions.Global Technology Leader in Crane and Lifting SolutionsPALFINGER is a global technology leader in crane and lifting solutions, serving customers across a wide range of industries through an extensive product portfolio, a global service network, and strong local market positions. The company's strategy is built around technology leadership, operational resilience, sustainable shareholder value creation, and long-term profitable growth.Four Pillars of the PALFINGER Equity StoryManagement highlights four key pillars of the equity story. These include PALFINGER's position as a technology and industry leader, the resilience created by its diversified products and global footprint, attractive growth opportunities across Europe, North America, APAC, Marine and services, and additional earnings potential through digitalization, standardization, and footprint optimization.Regional Growth Opportunities and Market DevelopmentsThe presentation also reviews current regional developments. Strong momentum in Southern Europe, improving markets in Northern Europe, continued growth in India, and solid demand in the Marine business are offset by weaker market conditions in North America and China. This diversified geographic exposure contributes to the company's resilience across different economic cycles.Efficiency Program and 2030 Financial TargetsTo further enhance profitability, PALFINGER has launched a comprehensive efficiency program expected to reduce structural costs by €25 million while keeping the cost base broadly stable despite inflation and continued growth. At the same time, management reaffirmed the company's long-term 2030 financial targets, including revenue of more than €3 billion, an EBIT margin of 12%, ROCE of 15%, and the ambition to become the global leader in crane and lifting solutions.Technology Leadership and Long-Term Value CreationOverall, the presentation demonstrates how PALFINGER combines technology leadership, operational excellence, global diversification, and disciplined execution to support sustainable long-term growth and value creation. ▶️ Other videos:Elevator Pitch: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-elevator-pitch/Company Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-company-presentation/Deep Dive Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-deep-dive/Financial Results Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-financial-results/ESG Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-esg/T&CThis publication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Using this website, you agree to our terms and conditions outlined on www.seat11a.com/legal and www.seat11a.com/imprint.

PALFINGER AG First Half 2026 Financial Results PresentationIn this financial results presentation on seat11a, Felix Strohbichler, CFO of PALFINGER AG, presents the company's First Half 2026 Financial Results and discusses financial performance, regional business developments, cash generation, balance sheet improvements, and the outlook for the remainder of the year.First Half 2026 Financial PerformancePALFINGER generated revenue of €1.17 billion during the first half of 2026, representing year-on-year growth despite a mixed market environment. EBITDA reached €133.3 million, while EBIT amounted to €84.1 million and net profit totaled €48.0 million. Management explained that earnings were affected by weaker demand in North America, the Middle East, and Asia, while several European markets continued to perform well.Regional Business DevelopmentsRegional developments remained mixed across the Group. Southern Europe continued to deliver strong momentum, Northern Europe improved, India remained an important growth driver within APAC, and the Marine segment benefited from offshore wind and cruise projects. In contrast, tariffs weighed on demand in North America, China remained weak, and Russia continued to decline.Operating Cash Flow and Balance Sheet StrengthA key highlight of the presentation is PALFINGER's stronger financial position. Operating cash flow increased to €68.8 million, while the company maintained its target of generating more than €100 million in free cash flow for the full year. Following the placement of treasury shares, the balance sheet improved significantly, with the equity ratio increasing to 43.6%, gearing falling to 55.7%, and net debt declining to €526.7 million.Efficiency Program and Long-Term StrategyManagement also introduced a comprehensive efficiency program expected to reduce structural costs by €25 million, supporting future profitability while preserving the company's long-term growth ambitions. Although the achievement of the 2027 financial targets has been delayed by slower economic recovery in major markets, PALFINGER reaffirmed its 2030 strategy, targeting revenue above €3 billion, an EBIT margin of 12%, ROCE of 15%, and continued leadership in crane and lifting solutions. ▶️ Other videos:Elevator Pitch: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-elevator-pitch/Company Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-company-presentation/Deep Dive Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-deep-dive/Financial Results Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-financial-results/ESG Presentation: https://seat11a.com/investor-relations-esg/T&CThis publication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Using this website, you agree to our terms and conditions outlined on www.seat11a.com/legal and www.seat11a.com/imprint.

Wildfires burning in France and Spain, heatwaves hitting the whole of Europe, and "coolcations" on the rise.For decades, Brits have travelled to Southern Europe to get away for the summer, but could climate change be about to change that forever?Is the traditional European summer holiday as we know it a thing of the past?In this explainer, we look at what is causing the wildfires this summer, the weather patterns causing record temperatures, and why some tourists are looking to the north in search of cooler climates.

In the latest episode of Energy Transition Today, we sit down with Ingmar Wilhelm, co-founder and CEO of renewables IPP Galileo, to discuss the challenges and opportunities for clean energy technologies in Southern Europe.Wilhelm breaks down the events leading up to the blackout in Spain last year [2025] and how the market has responded since. He emphasises the importance of aligning energy generation with consumption profiles and why going the “hard route” in the near term will make developers more resilient for the future.He also addresses the fallout from the first MACSE auction in Italy and outlines why the perception of market attractiveness shifting is misguided.Wilhelm makes a case for renewables investment in Southern Europe amidst the market hype shifting to other countries in the CEE.Reach out to us at: podcasts@inspiratia.comFind all of our latest news and analysis by subscribing to inspiratiaFor tickets to our events email conferences@inspiratia.com or buy them directly on our website. Listen to all our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other providers.  Music credit: NDA/Show You instrumental/Tribe of Noise©2025 inspiratia. All rights reserved.This content is protected by copyright. Please respect the author's rights and do not copy or reproduce it without permission.

Simon Calder, Travel Correspondent with the Telegraph, discusses the rights of those travelling to Spain and France amid widespread wildfires.

Your daily news in under three minutes.For more on these stories, please head to https://www.aljazeera.com And connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube

Could the European football union step up its game and show FIFA the red card? Then: Inside Europe's correspondents pick their player of the World Cup, France legalizes assisted dying, Albania's Gen Z keep protesting, wildfires rage in Southern Europe, and a hidden Prague collection records disability in Europe. ++ https://tinyurl.com/4za5z2tc and https://tinyurl.com/rphv2khn ++ &maca=en-podcast_inside-europe-949-xml-mrss

Traditionally, European power systems were engineered around a single imperative: survive the winter "Dunkelflaute," those prolonged cold, dark, windless stretches that push demand higher while renewable generation collapses. But rising summer temperatures are dismantling this assumption. Heat waves are forcing a fundamental recalibration of infrastructure investment, operational strategy and market design across the European power sector. In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte speaks with Parth Goel, power analyst at S&P Global Energy CERA, about how extreme heat is reshaping demand patterns, straining supply and exposing vulnerabilities in the continent's energy infrastructure. Goel explains why France, not Southern Europe, has emerged as the most price-sensitive region during heat waves, how solar generation creates dramatic price swings between midday troughs and evening peaks, and why Europe is shifting from a winter-peaking power system to a dual-peaking one. The conversation also examines the compounding effects of drought on Alpine hydro, the thermal stress on nuclear cooling systems, and why summer now demands the same infrastructure planning attention as winter.

Traditionally, European power systems were engineered around a single imperative: survive the winter "Dunkelflaute," those prolonged cold, dark, windless stretches that push demand higher while renewable generation collapses. But rising summer temperatures are dismantling this assumption. Heat waves are forcing a fundamental recalibration of infrastructure investment, operational strategy and market design across the European power sector. In this episode, host Eklavya Gupte speaks with Parth Goel, power analyst at S&P Global Energy CERA, about how extreme heat is reshaping demand patterns, straining supply and exposing vulnerabilities in the continent's energy infrastructure. Goel explains why France, not Southern Europe, has emerged as the most price-sensitive region during heat waves, how solar generation creates dramatic price swings between midday troughs and evening peaks, and why Europe is shifting from a winter-peaking power system to a dual-peaking one. The conversation also examines the compounding effects of drought on Alpine hydro, the thermal stress on nuclear cooling systems, and why summer now demands the same infrastructure planning attention as winter.

Fire crews in Almeria battle one of Spain's deadliest blazes where several tourists, unable to flee from the rapidly spreading fire, have been among the victims. Hot conditions in Southern Europe are making the situation worse. Also, Japan is running out of male heirs to the Imperial throne, a woman clings to her husband to stop him being sucked out of the window of a Ryanair plane, and the 900-year-old Bayeux Tapestry, depicting one of the most defining moments in English history, returns to the UK from France.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.ukPhoto: Wildfire near Los Gallardos, Almeria, Spain. Credit: Reuters

We may be witnessing one of the largest global capital spending cycles in decades, driven by AI, energy transition and defense modernization.Despite geopolitical tensions, energy price shocks and persistent inflation, Zurich's Investment Management team remain constructive on the global outlook for the second half of 2026.Key takeaways from our Mid-Year Outlook podcast:Global growth remains broadly trend-like and resilientThe AI investment boom continues to accelerate, supported by strong credit markets and unprecedented capital expenditureFiscal spending, defense investment and renewable energy projects are providing additional growth supportThe US economy continues to outperform expectations, backed by solid consumer spending and AI-driven investmentEurope faces headwinds, but Spain and Southern Europe are proving surprisingly resilientChina remains a global stabilizer, balancing export strength with longer-term investments in technology and innovationCentral banks may stay more hawkish than expected, but a prolonged tightening cycle remains unlikely

Raji Behal is the Head of Western and Southern Europe, UK and Ireland at Klarna, one of the world's leading fintech and payments companies. With nearly two decades of experience spanning retail buying, merchant success, and global commercial leadership, she has built a career at the intersection of payments, platforms, and retail innovation. Before joining Klarna, Raji spent 13 years at Macy's, rising to Vice President of Leased Businesses and developing a deep understanding of consumer behavior and retail operations.On The Menu:Building teams where AI handles tasks so humans can lead How Klarna evolved from a pay-later button to a banking network Klarna's Japan expansion: first foray into Asia and what's next From retail buyer to fintech leader: Raji's unplanned career pivotWhy innovation always moves faster than regulationManaging a million merchants and the weight of their cash flowHiring for grit and ambition over pedigree in today's job market

Kia ora. Welcome to Monday's Economy Watch where we follow the economic events and trends that affect Aotearoa/New Zealand. I'm David Chaston and this is the international edition from Interest.co.nz. Today we lead with news clashes in the Strait of Hormuz are unstitching the uneasy ceasefire and giving credence to sceptics who saw the 'truce deal' between the US and Iran as superficial and flawed. The US believes its own propaganda, thinking it is negotiating from strength, but no-one else does, least of all Iran. US allies in the region are starting to realise the US will throw them under the bus for its own ends. Tankers (6), bulk cargo vessels (6) and other ships (4) are exiting the region, but most tankers are are heading to China, or in the Russian shadow fleet. Those who need insurance are holding back. But first, this week will feature the usual monthly real estate update releases later in the week, including for building consents. Plus the big end-of-month data dump from the RBNZ. In Australia, the focus will be similar where we will be looking for early signs of housing market reactions from their new Budget settings. Elsewhere there will be important PMI updates from everywhere to give us indicators. In the US, their July 4 public holiday will happen on July 3 this year, so it will be a compressed week of labour market data there culminating in an early release of their June non-farm payrolls report when a +114,000 change is expected. In China, they say artificial intelligence is reshaping the global labour market not by triggering mass layoffs of existing workers but by causing employers to pull back on hirings for new, entry-level positions. China also reported industrial profits are recovering, up +21% in May from a year ago to ¥3.1 tln, and faster than the +18.8% rise for the first five months. The latest result reflects the ongoing AI investment boom and continued policy support for advanced industries despite lingering weakness in parts of the property-related sector. In the EU, an ECB survey revealed that median year-ahead inflation expectations eased to 3.5% in May, the lowest level in three months, down from 4.0% in each of the previous two months which were the highest readings since 2023. Longer-term inflation expectations were steady, at 2.9% for three years ahead. Consumers also expect house prices to rise by 3.6% over the next year, slightly below 3.7% in April. Expectations for mortgage interest rates were unchanged at 4.9%. According to the World Meteorological Organization they are saying the severe heat dome over Europe is expected to continue affecting much of Western, Central, and Southern Europe over the next two weeks. There are likely to be economic impacts soon, and as the summer progresses these impacts may well affect economic activity in a material way. And the Bank of International Settlements said over the weekend global pressures from rising public debt to financial fragilities, and questions about the sustainability of ​the AI boom, are increasing systemic financial risks which they suspect could end in a bust. They warned of a complex mix of vulnerabilities, including strained fiscal positions, lingering supply shocks and the risk of a renewed bout of high and sticky inflation. In the US their merchandise trade balance worsened in May. Imports rose +3.6% while exports fell -5.4%. These were much larger shifts than were anticipated. Clearly tariffs aren't working other than making imports more expensive and hurting exports. The net result was a -US$103.5 bln deficit for May, the largest in a year. And their largest May deficit ever. And we should also note that US inventories are rising and quite quickly. In May, wholesale inventories were up +4.4% from a year ago, retail inventories up +3.1%. The stockpiling we noted in their PMI activity is adding deadweight to their logistics systems The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment index was revised up to 49.5 in June, although that was less of a revision higher than expected. Still, sentiment improved from May which was the lowest level on record, supported in part by a moderation in petrol prices. And that is despite the fact they remain +31% higher than at the start of Trump's failed Iran adventure. But this didn't stop shoppers at Amazon's 'Prime Day' four-day shopping event. Prime Day 2026 was exclusively for Prime members and ran June 23-26. The wrap-up shows more than US$26 bln was spent in the period, up +9.3% from last year, and expected to be half related to inflation, half a volume gain. And in Australia, it seems that last week's auction results will show that they had their softest sales period in more than five years with many properties failing to sell. Also unfolding is the scale of mortgage fraud against banks by a surprisingly wide section of their mortgage broker community. To defend themselves, the banks are drawing up a black-list register so that brokers just don't go shopping around for vulnerabilities. The UST 10yr yield is now just on 4.37%, unchanged from this time Saturday, down -12 bps for the week.  The price of gold has risen to US$4089/oz, up a net +US$15/oz from Saturday. That is down -US$66/oz from a week ago. Silver is now under US$59/oz, down -US$5.50 for the week. Oil prices are little-changed from Saturday at just on US$69/bbl in the US, while the international Brent price is now just on US$72/bbl. A week ago these prices were US$77.50 and US$80.50 respectively. Hormuz transits have eased off noticeably after the recent flare up in fighting with just 16 crude or product tankers exiting over the past 24 hours (1 dark with transponders off) but 24 entering for new loads (3 dark). Over the past two days, more than two thirds of the exiting vessels were headed to China, 9% were Russian-linked, 5% headed for Singapore 4% to South Korea. There are still hundreds (459) yet to try their luck, no doubt inhibited by insurance issues. The Kiwi dollar is unchanged from this time Saturday at just on 56.4 USc, down -100 bps from a week ago. Against the Aussie we are holding at 81.8 AUc. Against the euro we are also unchanged at just on 49.5 euro cents. That all means our TWI-5 starts today at just on 60.3 which is down -110 bps for the week, and still its lowest since the GFC in 2009. The bitcoin price starts today at US$59,497 and down -0.5% from this time Saturday, and down -5.1% from this time last week Volatility over the past 24 hours has been low at just over +/- 0.9%. You can get more news affecting the economy in New Zealand from interest.co.nz. Kia ora. I'm David Chaston and we'll do this again tomorrow. Audio soundtrack opening is licensed from Shutterstock, Track 1219389 Monetization ID TFGEPGEI0LHEIJAI

Are you a senior tech leader, VP, or enterprise software director completely exhausted by the over-moderated, polished corporate environment that actively dilutes your authentic voice ?   In this transparent and highly provocative guest conversation, host Billy Keels sits down with Carsten Nitschke, a veteran general manager overseeing operations across Germany, Austria, and Southern Europe for a legacy three-letter enterprise software titan. Carsten shares the exact moment he realized his greatest career asset was refusing to brutally force himself to "fit in" to traditional mainstream expectations. Discover how to completely eliminate corporate text script dependencies, use unfiltered honesty to command voluntary influence instead of rigid organizational control, and build a elite, high-performing culture where you successfully shelter your frontline team while executing massive business outcomes.  

Episode 176 of the Award Travel 101 podcast kicked off with a fun discussion inspired by a member's post asking which region of Europe or Northern Africa listeners would choose for an all-expenses-paid two-week vacation. The conversation highlighted how differently travelers prioritize destinations, with Angie favoring the expensive countries of Scotland, Norway, Finland, and Estonia, while Cameron debated between the broader sightseeing opportunities in Southern Europe and the appeal of Switzerland. The hosts also covered several points-and-miles news items, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve 150,000-point offer nearing its end, elevated welcome bonuses on Delta Amex cards, Citi's closure of new applications for the Custom Cash card, and changes to Air Tahiti Nui award pricing that have made once-predictable redemptions far more expensive.The hosts shared their latest points-and-miles wins and travel updates as well. Angie celebrated completing a Wells Fargo business card bonus, but now faces the challenge of meeting the hefty spending requirements on two Amex Business Platinum cards before her pool project expenses are finished. Meanwhile, Cameron successfully secured a United Business card despite being over 5/24, booked a Wyndham stay for an Auburn football game by purchasing points at a steep discount, and used a Citi Strata Elite credit toward a Blacklane transfer in Athens. Upcoming trips to Morocco, Ireland, and Turkey were also discussed, along with the ongoing balancing act of maximizing points while minimizing cash expenses.The main topic challenged the hosts to answer a simple question: where would they go with 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for two people, assuming a minimum two-night trip and a $1,000 cash budget for taxes and extras. Their examples showcased a wide variety of possibilities, including four nights in London using Virgin Atlantic and Hyatt points, a luxury San Diego getaway combining United flights with The Edit hotel credits, a Miami beach vacation with JetBlue and IHG, a Puerto Rico escape using Southwest and Hyatt points, a Morocco adventure built around Iberia award flights, and even a budget-friendly Orlando trip. The episode demonstrated that 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points can still unlock meaningful travel experiences when paired strategically with transfer partners and card benefits. The tip of the week reminded travelers to update their digital wallets before departure and ensure lounge access cards, National Park passes, and other travel essentials are easily accessible when needed.Episode Links:Chase Sapphire Reserve bonus ending soonCiti Custom Cash closedDelta cards elevated offersAir Tahiti Nui- American now dynamicWhere to Find UsThe Award Travel 101 Facebook Community.To book time with our team, check out Award Travel 1-on-1.You can also email us at 101@award.travelBuy your Award Travel 101 Merch hereReserve tickets to our Late Summer 2026 Meetup in Milwaukee now. award.travel/mke2026Our partner CardPointers helps us get the most from our cards. Signup today at https://cardpointers.com/at101 for a 30% discount on annual and lifetime subscriptions! Lastly, we appreciate your support of the AT101 Podcast/Community when you signup for your next card!Technical note: Some user experience difficulty streaming the podcast while connected to a VPN. If you have difficulty, disconnect from your VPN.  

In this episode of Denatured, as part of our series on the European life sciences investment ecosystem, you'll hear from Hannah Franklin, associate at Biovance Capital and Pablo Gabriel Cironi Lopez, director of life science investment at Caixa Capital Risc. We examine the rise of Southern Europe's biotech ecosystem—from Portugal's efforts to turn strong science into startups to Spain's growing depth of capital and talent—and what it will take for the region to compete globally.Host⁠Jennifer C. Smith-Parker, Director of Insights, BioSpaceGuestsHannah Franklin, Associate, Biovance CapitalPablo Gabriel Cironi Lopez, Director, Life Science Investment, Caixa Capital RiscDisclaimer: The views expressed in this discussion by guests are their own and do not represent those of their organizations.

We're back after our Southern Europe adventures in Crete! We review our time there, take a deep dive in Ultimate Team Of The Season and inform you about our biggest set of podcast changes ever!Chapters00:00 Welcome Back from Crete02:51 Reflections on the Crete Event09:03 Ultimate Team of the Season Discussion11:52 The Impact of SBCs and Player Cards23:22 Legacy SBCs and Player Ratings32:22 Top Five Teams of the Season36:08 Passion for Football and Team Rivalries38:04 Podcast Production Changes and New Features46:15 World Cup Coverage PlansSupport us and get the show early and an extra bonus show!https://patreon.com/futinreview⁠Check out our socials:Instagram: https://instragram.com/futinreviewTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@futinreviewpodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.futinreview.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Three years ago, the best price for a ready-to-build solar project in Spain was €200,000 per megawatt — today it is €50,000. Batteries have moved the opposite way, with ready-to-build prices climbing to around €100,000 per megawatt and a 30GW pipeline now stacking up behind them.Ed Porter sits down with Carmen Izquierdo Serrano, founder of nTeaser, the renewable energy marketplace where many of Spain's BESS, solar, and co-located deals are transacting, to unpack what those numbers actually mean for investors entering the Spanish power market and how the post-blackout urgency, and bottlenecks in financing and labour will shape who wins the next phase of Spain's energy transitionThey cover:Why Spanish solar ready-to-build prices have collapsed from €200,000 to €50,000 per megawatt while battery prices have climbed to ~€100,000 per megawatt in the space of three yearsHow the 30GW Spain BESS pipeline stacks up against the ~3.5GW expected to be operating by 2030, and why Carmen thinks that operating-asset forecast is conservativeWhere the real bottleneck is for delivery - not developers or permits, but bank financing and the skilled labour needed to construct the projectsWhy Italy's BESS market has slowed after the first MACSE auction while Spain has accelerated, and what that means for capital allocation across Southern Europe.How buyer expectations on arbitrage revenues are likely to be cannibalised as more batteries enter the market, and which revenue streams banks will actually finance againstWant to go deeper on Spanish BESS revenues? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, can walk you through asset-specific forecasts: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=carmen_izquierdo&utm_content=ko_signupChapters:0:00 - Spain solar prices crashed from €200K to €50K per MW1:10 - Why the Spain BESS market is misunderstood2:35 - Spain's 30GW battery storage pipeline explained3:25 - Inside nTeaser: Spain's renewable energy M&A platform5:00 - Is the 3.5GW Spain battery forecast for 2030 too low?7:50 - Spain BESS bottlenecks: bank financing and labour10:00 - Who is buying Spanish battery projects in 202612:50 - Spain vs Italy BESS: the MACSE auction setback15:00 - Data centres and behind-the-meter co-location in Spain18:00 - When Spain battery projects become bankable19:30 - Spain capacity market timing and revenue impact20:30 - BESS arbitrage cannibalisation and revenue stacking21:45 - Poland, Romania, and BESS expansion across Europe23:30 - How nTeaser is changing European renewables M&ATransmission is a Modo Energy podcast hosted by Ed Porter, Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.

Three years ago, the best price for a ready-to-build solar project in Spain was €200,000 per megawatt — today it is €50,000. Batteries have moved the opposite way, with ready-to-build prices climbing to around €100,000 per megawatt and a 30GW pipeline now stacking up behind them.Ed Porter sits down with Carmen Izquierdo Serrano, founder of nTeaser, the renewable energy marketplace where many of Spain's BESS, solar, and co-located deals are transacting, to unpack what those numbers actually mean for investors entering the Spanish power market and how the post-blackout urgency, and bottlenecks in financing and labour will shape who wins the next phase of Spain's energy transitionThey cover:Why Spanish solar ready-to-build prices have collapsed from €200,000 to €50,000 per megawatt while battery prices have climbed to ~€100,000 per megawatt in the space of three yearsHow the 30GW Spain BESS pipeline stacks up against the ~3.5GW expected to be operating by 2030, and why Carmen thinks that operating-asset forecast is conservativeWhere the real bottleneck is for delivery - not developers or permits, but bank financing and the skilled labour needed to construct the projectsWhy Italy's BESS market has slowed after the first MACSE auction while Spain has accelerated, and what that means for capital allocation across Southern Europe.How buyer expectations on arbitrage revenues are likely to be cannibalised as more batteries enter the market, and which revenue streams banks will actually finance againstWant to go deeper on Spanish BESS revenues? Ko, Modo Energy's AI analyst, can walk you through asset-specific forecasts: https://modoenergy.com/sign-up?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=carmen_izquierdo&utm_content=ko_signupChapters:0:00 - Spain solar prices crashed from €200K to €50K per MW1:10 - Why the Spain BESS market is misunderstood2:35 - Spain's 30GW battery storage pipeline explained3:25 - Inside nTeaser: Spain's renewable energy M&A platform5:00 - Is the 3.5GW Spain battery forecast for 2030 too low?7:50 - Spain BESS bottlenecks: bank financing and labour10:00 - Who is buying Spanish battery projects in 202612:50 - Spain vs Italy BESS: the MACSE auction setback15:00 - Data centres and behind-the-meter co-location in Spain18:00 - When Spain battery projects become bankable19:30 - Spain capacity market timing and revenue impact20:30 - BESS arbitrage cannibalisation and revenue stacking21:45 - Poland, Romania, and BESS expansion across Europe23:30 - How nTeaser is changing European renewables M&ATransmission is a Modo Energy podcast hosted by Ed Porter, Director EMEA & APAC at Modo Energy.

In this episode, Arnold Amrhein, Vice President of Investments at CREO Capital, shares what his career — from guest relations at Rosewood London to institutional hotel investment across Southern Europe to private equity in Latin America — taught him about the gap between operators and owners, and why closing that gap matters for everyone in the business. If you work in hotel operations and want to understand how owners think, or if you're on the capital side and want a sharper sense of what operators are navigating, this short conversation will give you both perspectives.Read Arnold's article: "The Anticipation Layer" on LinkedIn A few more resources:If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestionsIf you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

CoStar News Hotel's Sean McCracken speaks with Trinity Investments' Ryan Donn at the 2026 IHIF EMEA conference in Berlin where Donn spoke about the company's newer approach to finding deals and his interest in the demand outlook in Southern Europe in particular. 

As the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran falters, bringing oil flows back under pressure, Andreas Steno Larsen and Mikkel Rosenvold break down the geopolitical fallout, from jet fuel shortages to shifting supply dynamics.

The Day Rhode Island GaspedColumbus Day 1910, the Fabre Line, and the Italian immigrants who transformed Natick and Pontiac.If you had stood along the main road through the villages of Natick and Pontiac in the early 1900s, you would have heard a medley of accents and languages. The British, the Irish, the Swedes, and the French-Canadians had all come before, each group finding its place in the textile mills that lined the Pawtuxet River. But by the dawn of the twentieth century, it was the Italians who were arriving in ever-growing numbers, and they were the latecomers. As many historians have pointed out, their experience followed a familiar pattern: they took the lowest-paying jobs, lived in the poorest housing, and clung fiercely to their ethnic identity. In the crowded mill villages of Rhode Island, this was simply what happened to each new wave of strangers. Of course, Italians were no strangers to the New World. Long before the mills of Natick ever hummed with machinery, Italian mariners had charted the very course to the Americas. Think of Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, John and Sebastian Cabot—whose family name was really Caboto—and Giovanni da Verrazzano. Their ships had opened the Atlantic like a book. Even in the earliest colonial days, Italian families had found their way to what would become the United States. The Tagliaferro family, for instance, settled in Jamestown, Virginia, within just a year of Roger Williams founding Rhode Island. And when the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, one of the men who put his name to it was William Paca, a Maryland delegate of Italian heritage. Later, during the Civil War, three Italian Americans rose to the rank of general on the Union side. So the Italian presence in America was nothing new. But the great tide of immigration that would reshape places like Natick and Pontiac was still to come. That tide began to swell in the 1860s, when the demand for labor to build the Transcontinental Railroad drew thousands of workers from southern Italy, Ireland, and China. One of those men was Carmine DiFranco. He came to help lay track, lived for a time in California, and eventually settled in Natick, where he opened a small grocery store that catered to Italian tastes and needs—a quiet sign that a community was taking root.Yet the major impact of Italian immigration in New England was not truly felt until the early twentieth century. Southern Europe's economy had soured, while Rhode Island's textile mills were desperate for cheap, willing hands. The pull was irresistible. Once the influx began, Italians arrived in numbers no one had quite anticipated. Charles Carroll, in his book Rhode Island: Three Centuries of Democracy, captures the moment of awakening perfectly. He writes that Rhode Island scarcely realized the volume of Italian immigration until the first observance of Columbus Day as a public holiday in 1910. What had been expected to be just another parade—in a city already known as "the paradingest city"—turned into something far larger. For hours, Carroll says, Italian divisions poured through the city streets in rapid succession. And then he delivers the unforgettable image: the whole state gasped at the discovery, rubbed its eyes to test the reality of what seemed plausible only as a dream. In a single day, Rhode Island became aware of its Italian population.But consciousness, unfortunately, soon curdled into fear. The migration continued at an unrelenting pace until 1921, when prejudice in Washington finally found its voice. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act in 1921, followed by the National Origins Quota Act in 1924. These laws were aimed squarely at Italians, Jews, and Slavs, and they succeeded in slowing the flow from southern Europe. Even so, between 1898 and 1932, nearly fifty-five thousand Italians arrived at the Port of Providence alone. Read the Full Content

What happens when theories of racial hierarchies interact with reality? How are they contested, refuted and changed in light of that encounter? What role do experts, most notably social scientists, play here? And, what can these historical encounters tell us about how we should think of race and migration today? These are the questions which animate Sunmin Kim's The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate (U Chicago Press, 2026). Taking as his focus the Dillingham Commission, a US government investigation into migrant groups established in 1907, Kim shows how theories of racial essentialism, which increasing were moving across the, at the time blurry, boundary between biology and society were used and contested in a moment when prominent political figures were eager to separate out the valued, long-established migrants from Western and Central Europe from those coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who all, on the face of it, were ‘white'. In doing so ideas such as ethnicity and the possibility of assimilation come to be mobilised. In turn Japanese migrants on the Pacific coast were placed beyond the pale of this possibility of assimilation and continued to be excluded. As Kim shows, not only did the commission report introduce some new vocabulary for thinking of race, but also played a key role in the development of US immigration quotas and a form of racial liberalism. This perspective, while accepting the possibility of a diverse body politic, rested on an assumption of a ‘native' and ‘non-native' element, including the possibility that some of the latter simply could never be ‘American'. In our discussion we discuss the formation and activity of the Dillingham Commission. This includes discussing a number of key figures, such as Franz Boas who measures skulls for the commission and in so doing uses the same tools of the eugenicists and positivists to undercut their racist claims and Yamato Ichihashi who, while vociferously making the case that Japanese migrants such as himself are the ideal ‘Americans' ends up being an example of the ‘insurmountable difference' placed in front of such groups. We end by discussing how Zora Neale Hurston, once Boas's student, provides a different way of conceiving of race and its place in immigration debates. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

What happens when theories of racial hierarchies interact with reality? How are they contested, refuted and changed in light of that encounter? What role do experts, most notably social scientists, play here? And, what can these historical encounters tell us about how we should think of race and migration today? These are the questions which animate Sunmin Kim's The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate (U Chicago Press, 2026). Taking as his focus the Dillingham Commission, a US government investigation into migrant groups established in 1907, Kim shows how theories of racial essentialism, which increasing were moving across the, at the time blurry, boundary between biology and society were used and contested in a moment when prominent political figures were eager to separate out the valued, long-established migrants from Western and Central Europe from those coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who all, on the face of it, were ‘white'. In doing so ideas such as ethnicity and the possibility of assimilation come to be mobilised. In turn Japanese migrants on the Pacific coast were placed beyond the pale of this possibility of assimilation and continued to be excluded. As Kim shows, not only did the commission report introduce some new vocabulary for thinking of race, but also played a key role in the development of US immigration quotas and a form of racial liberalism. This perspective, while accepting the possibility of a diverse body politic, rested on an assumption of a ‘native' and ‘non-native' element, including the possibility that some of the latter simply could never be ‘American'. In our discussion we discuss the formation and activity of the Dillingham Commission. This includes discussing a number of key figures, such as Franz Boas who measures skulls for the commission and in so doing uses the same tools of the eugenicists and positivists to undercut their racist claims and Yamato Ichihashi who, while vociferously making the case that Japanese migrants such as himself are the ideal ‘Americans' ends up being an example of the ‘insurmountable difference' placed in front of such groups. We end by discussing how Zora Neale Hurston, once Boas's student, provides a different way of conceiving of race and its place in immigration debates. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

What happens when theories of racial hierarchies interact with reality? How are they contested, refuted and changed in light of that encounter? What role do experts, most notably social scientists, play here? And, what can these historical encounters tell us about how we should think of race and migration today? These are the questions which animate Sunmin Kim's The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate (U Chicago Press, 2026). Taking as his focus the Dillingham Commission, a US government investigation into migrant groups established in 1907, Kim shows how theories of racial essentialism, which increasing were moving across the, at the time blurry, boundary between biology and society were used and contested in a moment when prominent political figures were eager to separate out the valued, long-established migrants from Western and Central Europe from those coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who all, on the face of it, were ‘white'. In doing so ideas such as ethnicity and the possibility of assimilation come to be mobilised. In turn Japanese migrants on the Pacific coast were placed beyond the pale of this possibility of assimilation and continued to be excluded. As Kim shows, not only did the commission report introduce some new vocabulary for thinking of race, but also played a key role in the development of US immigration quotas and a form of racial liberalism. This perspective, while accepting the possibility of a diverse body politic, rested on an assumption of a ‘native' and ‘non-native' element, including the possibility that some of the latter simply could never be ‘American'. In our discussion we discuss the formation and activity of the Dillingham Commission. This includes discussing a number of key figures, such as Franz Boas who measures skulls for the commission and in so doing uses the same tools of the eugenicists and positivists to undercut their racist claims and Yamato Ichihashi who, while vociferously making the case that Japanese migrants such as himself are the ideal ‘Americans' ends up being an example of the ‘insurmountable difference' placed in front of such groups. We end by discussing how Zora Neale Hurston, once Boas's student, provides a different way of conceiving of race and its place in immigration debates. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

What happens when theories of racial hierarchies interact with reality? How are they contested, refuted and changed in light of that encounter? What role do experts, most notably social scientists, play here? And, what can these historical encounters tell us about how we should think of race and migration today? These are the questions which animate Sunmin Kim's The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate (U Chicago Press, 2026). Taking as his focus the Dillingham Commission, a US government investigation into migrant groups established in 1907, Kim shows how theories of racial essentialism, which increasing were moving across the, at the time blurry, boundary between biology and society were used and contested in a moment when prominent political figures were eager to separate out the valued, long-established migrants from Western and Central Europe from those coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who all, on the face of it, were ‘white'. In doing so ideas such as ethnicity and the possibility of assimilation come to be mobilised. In turn Japanese migrants on the Pacific coast were placed beyond the pale of this possibility of assimilation and continued to be excluded. As Kim shows, not only did the commission report introduce some new vocabulary for thinking of race, but also played a key role in the development of US immigration quotas and a form of racial liberalism. This perspective, while accepting the possibility of a diverse body politic, rested on an assumption of a ‘native' and ‘non-native' element, including the possibility that some of the latter simply could never be ‘American'. In our discussion we discuss the formation and activity of the Dillingham Commission. This includes discussing a number of key figures, such as Franz Boas who measures skulls for the commission and in so doing uses the same tools of the eugenicists and positivists to undercut their racist claims and Yamato Ichihashi who, while vociferously making the case that Japanese migrants such as himself are the ideal ‘Americans' ends up being an example of the ‘insurmountable difference' placed in front of such groups. We end by discussing how Zora Neale Hurston, once Boas's student, provides a different way of conceiving of race and its place in immigration debates. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

What happens when theories of racial hierarchies interact with reality? How are they contested, refuted and changed in light of that encounter? What role do experts, most notably social scientists, play here? And, what can these historical encounters tell us about how we should think of race and migration today? These are the questions which animate Sunmin Kim's The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate (U Chicago Press, 2026). Taking as his focus the Dillingham Commission, a US government investigation into migrant groups established in 1907, Kim shows how theories of racial essentialism, which increasing were moving across the, at the time blurry, boundary between biology and society were used and contested in a moment when prominent political figures were eager to separate out the valued, long-established migrants from Western and Central Europe from those coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who all, on the face of it, were ‘white'. In doing so ideas such as ethnicity and the possibility of assimilation come to be mobilised. In turn Japanese migrants on the Pacific coast were placed beyond the pale of this possibility of assimilation and continued to be excluded. As Kim shows, not only did the commission report introduce some new vocabulary for thinking of race, but also played a key role in the development of US immigration quotas and a form of racial liberalism. This perspective, while accepting the possibility of a diverse body politic, rested on an assumption of a ‘native' and ‘non-native' element, including the possibility that some of the latter simply could never be ‘American'. In our discussion we discuss the formation and activity of the Dillingham Commission. This includes discussing a number of key figures, such as Franz Boas who measures skulls for the commission and in so doing uses the same tools of the eugenicists and positivists to undercut their racist claims and Yamato Ichihashi who, while vociferously making the case that Japanese migrants such as himself are the ideal ‘Americans' ends up being an example of the ‘insurmountable difference' placed in front of such groups. We end by discussing how Zora Neale Hurston, once Boas's student, provides a different way of conceiving of race and its place in immigration debates. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

What happens when theories of racial hierarchies interact with reality? How are they contested, refuted and changed in light of that encounter? What role do experts, most notably social scientists, play here? And, what can these historical encounters tell us about how we should think of race and migration today? These are the questions which animate Sunmin Kim's The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate (U Chicago Press, 2026). Taking as his focus the Dillingham Commission, a US government investigation into migrant groups established in 1907, Kim shows how theories of racial essentialism, which increasing were moving across the, at the time blurry, boundary between biology and society were used and contested in a moment when prominent political figures were eager to separate out the valued, long-established migrants from Western and Central Europe from those coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who all, on the face of it, were ‘white'. In doing so ideas such as ethnicity and the possibility of assimilation come to be mobilised. In turn Japanese migrants on the Pacific coast were placed beyond the pale of this possibility of assimilation and continued to be excluded. As Kim shows, not only did the commission report introduce some new vocabulary for thinking of race, but also played a key role in the development of US immigration quotas and a form of racial liberalism. This perspective, while accepting the possibility of a diverse body politic, rested on an assumption of a ‘native' and ‘non-native' element, including the possibility that some of the latter simply could never be ‘American'. In our discussion we discuss the formation and activity of the Dillingham Commission. This includes discussing a number of key figures, such as Franz Boas who measures skulls for the commission and in so doing uses the same tools of the eugenicists and positivists to undercut their racist claims and Yamato Ichihashi who, while vociferously making the case that Japanese migrants such as himself are the ideal ‘Americans' ends up being an example of the ‘insurmountable difference' placed in front of such groups. We end by discussing how Zora Neale Hurston, once Boas's student, provides a different way of conceiving of race and its place in immigration debates. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/public-policy

What happens when theories of racial hierarchies interact with reality? How are they contested, refuted and changed in light of that encounter? What role do experts, most notably social scientists, play here? And, what can these historical encounters tell us about how we should think of race and migration today? These are the questions which animate Sunmin Kim's The Unruly Facts of Race: The Politics of Knowledge Production in the Early Twentieth-Century Immigration Debate (U Chicago Press, 2026). Taking as his focus the Dillingham Commission, a US government investigation into migrant groups established in 1907, Kim shows how theories of racial essentialism, which increasing were moving across the, at the time blurry, boundary between biology and society were used and contested in a moment when prominent political figures were eager to separate out the valued, long-established migrants from Western and Central Europe from those coming from Eastern and Southern Europe who all, on the face of it, were ‘white'. In doing so ideas such as ethnicity and the possibility of assimilation come to be mobilised. In turn Japanese migrants on the Pacific coast were placed beyond the pale of this possibility of assimilation and continued to be excluded. As Kim shows, not only did the commission report introduce some new vocabulary for thinking of race, but also played a key role in the development of US immigration quotas and a form of racial liberalism. This perspective, while accepting the possibility of a diverse body politic, rested on an assumption of a ‘native' and ‘non-native' element, including the possibility that some of the latter simply could never be ‘American'. In our discussion we discuss the formation and activity of the Dillingham Commission. This includes discussing a number of key figures, such as Franz Boas who measures skulls for the commission and in so doing uses the same tools of the eugenicists and positivists to undercut their racist claims and Yamato Ichihashi who, while vociferously making the case that Japanese migrants such as himself are the ideal ‘Americans' ends up being an example of the ‘insurmountable difference' placed in front of such groups. We end by discussing how Zora Neale Hurston, once Boas's student, provides a different way of conceiving of race and its place in immigration debates. Your host, Matt Dawson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Glasgow and the author of G.D.H. Cole and British Sociology: A Study in Semi-Alienation (2024, Palgrave Macmillan) and co-editor of The Anthem Companion to Henri Lefebvre (2026, Anthem Press) along with other texts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Hoover Institution's Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region held a public session on Resilient Realists: How Taiwan Navigates Its Future in a Turbulent World on March 2, 2026 from 1:00-2:30 PM PT. Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical competition between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) has rapidly intensified, and the global order has faced growing strains. Through it all, Taiwan has remained remarkably resilient. In the face of relentless diplomatic, economic, and military pressure from Beijing, Taiwan's leaders have leveraged the island's critical role in global technology supply chains, its reputation as a robust liberal democracy, and its strategic position in the Indo-Pacific to deepen engagement with key world powers. As many Americans question core assumptions of the post-Cold War global order, the PRC's military power continues to grow, and the world stands on the cusp of a technological revolution in artificial intelligence, can Taiwan continue to navigate so deftly through turbulent geopolitical waters? To address these topics, the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region at the Hoover Institution held a fireside chat featuring Dr. Hung-mao Tien, President of the Institute for National Policy Research (INPR) in Taipei and a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Dr. Tien joined in conversation by Adm. (Ret.) James O. Ellis, the Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow, and Dr. Larry Diamond, the William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.   ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Dr. Hung-mao Tien is the President and Chairman of the Institute for National Policy Research in Taipei, and board member of several foundations and business corporations in Taiwan. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan). From 2000-2002, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He also served as the chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation, the semi-official body in Taiwan responsible for direct exchanges and dialogue with the People's Republic of China, Representative (ambassador) to the United Kingdom, and presidential advisor to former President Lee Teng-hui. He has also served in an advisory capacity to Harvard University's Asia Center, The Asia Society in New York, and the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Tien has taught in universities in both the US and Taiwan as professor of political science.  His numerous publications in English (author, editor and co-editor) include: Government and Politics in Kuomintang China 1927-37 (Stanford University Press); The Great Transition: Social and Political Change in the Republic of China (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press); and Democratization in Taiwan, Implications for China (St. Anthony's Series, Oxford University), Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies, Themes and Perspectives (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press), China Under Jiang Zemin (Rienner), and The Security Environment in the Asia-Pacific (M.E. Sharpe). He received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Larry Diamond is the William L. Clayton Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, the Mosbacher Senior Fellow in Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education at Stanford University. He is also professor by courtesy of political science and sociology at Stanford, where he lectures and teaches courses on democracy (including an online course on EdX). At Hoover, he co-leads the Project on Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific Region and participates in the Program on the US, China, and the World. At FSI, he is among the core faculty of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, which he directed for six and a half years. He leads FSI's Israel Studies Program and is a member of the Program on Arab Reform and Development. He also co-leads the Global Digital Policy Incubator, based at FSI's Cyber Policy Center. He served for thirty-two years as founding coeditor of the Journal of Democracy. Diamond's research focuses on global trends affecting freedom and democracy and on US and international policies to defend and advance democracy. His book Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency (2019; paperback ed. 2020) analyzes the challenges confronting liberal democracy in the United States and around the world and offers an agenda for strengthening and defending democracy at home and abroad. His other books include In Search of Democracy (2016), The Spirit of Democracy (2008), Developing Democracy: Toward Consolidation (1999), Promoting Democracy in the 1990s (1995), and Class, Ethnicity, and Democracy in Nigeria (1989). He has edited or coedited more than fifty books, including China's Influence and American Interests (2019, with Orville Schell), Silicon Triangle: The United States, Taiwan, China, and Global Semiconductor Security (2023, with James O. Ellis Jr. and Orville Schell), and The Troubling State of India's Democracy (2024, with Šumit Ganguly and Dinsha Mistree). Admiral James O. Ellis Jr. is Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he oversees both the Global Policy and Strategy Initiative and the George P. Shultz Energy Policy Working Group. He retired from a 39-year career with the US Navy in 2004. He has also served in the private and nonprofit sectors in areas of energy and nuclear security. A 1969 graduate of the US Naval Academy, Ellis was designated a naval aviator in 1971. His service as a navy fighter pilot included tours with two carrier-based fighter squadrons and assignment as commanding officer of an F/A-18 strike fighter squadron. In 1991, he assumed command of the USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. After selection to rear admiral, in 1996, he served as a carrier battle group commander, leading contingency response operations in the Taiwan Strait. His shore assignments included numerous senior military staff tours. Senior command positions included commander in chief, US Naval Forces, Europe, and commander in chief, Allied Forces, Southern Europe, during a time of historic NATO expansion. He led US and NATO forces in combat and humanitarian operations during the 1999 Kosovo crisis. Ellis's final assignment in the navy was as commander of the US Strategic Command during a time of challenge and change. In this role, he was responsible for the global command and control of US strategic and space forces, reporting directly to the secretary of defense.

What if cooling vests could help save lives during mass pilgrimages in extreme heat? Learn how these innovations are being adapted for religious and cultural use. "Lean more about Nahtlos Duratrode electrodes at https://www.nahtlos.com/"   In this episode, Dr. Olli Tikkanen and José Näf explore the life-saving potential of evaporative cooling vests in extreme environments, including the Hajj pilgrimage, where temperatures can exceed 50°C. José discusses the development of seam-free cooling garments that comply with religious dress codes, offering relief for thousands of elderly pilgrims walking long distances in dry, desert climates. The conversation also covers the role of cooling vests in protecting older adults in Southern Europe during heat waves and how humidity levels affect the performance of evaporation-based cooling. José outlines exciting product development on the horizon, including new designs for head and neck cooling and integrating airflow with evaporation for stronger effects—all without electronics. This episode highlights the future of wearable cooling technology and its role in protecting vulnerable populations under rising global temperatures. _______ This podcast episode is sponsored by Fibion Inc. | Better Sleep, Sedentary Behaviour and Physical Activity Research with Less Hassle --- Collect, store and manage SB and PA data easily and remotely - Discover ground-breaking Fibion SENS --- SB and PA measurements, analysis, and feedback made easy.  Learn more about Fibion Research --- Learn more about Fibion Sleep and Fibion Circadian Rhythm Solutions. --- Fibion Kids - Activity tracking designed for children. --- Collect self-report physical activity data easily and cost-effectively with Mimove. --- Explore our Wearables,  Experience sampling method (ESM), Sleep,  Heart rate variability (HRV), Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity article collections for insights on related articles. --- Refer to our article "Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Measurements" for an exploration of active and sedentary lifestyle assessment methods. --- Learn about actigraphy in our guide: Exploring Actigraphy in Scientific Research: A Comprehensive Guide. --- Gain foundational ESM insights with "Introduction to Experience Sampling Method (ESM)" for a comprehensive overview. --- Explore accelerometer use in health research with our article "Measuring Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior with Accelerometers ". --- For an introduction to the fundamental aspects of HRV, consider revisiting our Ultimate Guide to Heart Rate Variability. --- Follow the podcast on Twitter https://twitter.com/PA_Researcher Follow host Dr Olli Tikkanen on Twitter https://twitter.com/ollitikkanen Follow Fibion on Twitter https://twitter.com/fibion https://www.youtube.com/@PA_Researcher        

Stephanie Fortunato, speaks with Conrado Uribe about the power of networks to break cycles of isolation – and to make “collective imagination” a practical force in how cities evolve. Moving from Medellín to Barcelona to a Latin America-wide network of cultural districts, Conrado reflects on collaboration, governance, and why the real foundations of a district are its people, not its buildings.External references:Conexiones Creativas: Conrado's organisation, designing and delivering projects to strengthen cultural and creative ecosystems. Plataforma de Distritos Creativos y Culturales: The network platform Conrado describes, supporting exchanges across creative districts in the Americas and Europe. Campus Colombias: The convening format Conrado references as a catalyst moment in the organisation's early years. Museo de Antioquia: Museum at the centre of Conrado's Medellín experience and a key cultural anchor in the city. MDE – Encuentro Internacional de Arte de Medellín: The four-year international art encounter organised by Museo de Antioquia, referenced in the episode's Medellín context. LOOP Barcelona: The moving-image platform and festival Conrado mentions as a formative collaboration-led model. Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: The “humans succeed through collaboration” framing Conrado references via Harari's work. “Scenius, or Communal Genius” (Wired): A widely cited explainer of Brian Eno's idea of “scenius” that Conrado invokes (collective creativity over lone genius). About our guest:Conrado Uribe Pereira, is a curator and cultural strategist, and Content Director at Conexiones Creativas, the Colombia-founded platform behind a growing network of creative and cultural districts across Latin America and parts of Southern Europe. In the episode, he traces how his work in Medellín (including at the Museo de Antioquia) and later in Barcelona shaped his conviction that districts succeed when they invest first in talent (“software”), then governance (“artware”), and only then in infrastructure. + 

Comenzamos con los tres discos favoritos de Mundofonías de enero del 2026, que vienen firmados por los mexicanos Los Originarios del Plan, desde California, el flautista indio Ravi Kulur junto con el chelista norteamericano Barry Phillips y el grupo francés La Cuivraille. Continuamos con músicas que nos llegan desde Serbia, con sones valacos y gitanos, y del sur de Italia, para terminar en el África Occidental, con más novedades discográficas y sonidos llegados desde Malí, Senegal y Ghana, con conexiones alemanas y norteamericanas. We begin with the three favourite albums of Mundofonías for January 2026, signed by the Mexican group Los Originarios del Plan, from California, the Indian flautist Ravi Kulur together with the American cellist Barry Phillips, and the French group La Cuivraille. We continue with music arriving from Serbia, with Vlach and Gypsy sounds, and from the south of Italy, to finish in West Africa, with more new releases and sounds coming from Mali, Senegal and Ghana, with German and North American connections. - Los Originarios del Plan - Mi tierra linda - ¡Puritito Michoacán! - Ravi Kulur & Barry Phillips - Raghu - Breath & bow - La Cuivraille - Seanamhac tube station / Doedelyoudo - Tournivelle - Ljiljana Ðokic - M-a făkut mumă frumuasă - La început ši pjeuorma - Branko Jovanović Bako - Ciganska svadba - Neumorne žice - Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino - Dumenica matina - Il mito - Neba Solo & Benego Diakité - Djinê mogo tiki - A djinn and a hunter went walking - Mariama & Vieux - Djeuff - Ntèry - Mama Sissoko - Douga - Diamond fingers - New Global Ensemble - Friday afternoon in Accra - Dream walking

EUROPEAN FREEZE AND THE MYTH OF BOOTS ON THE GROUND Colleague Simon Constable, Journalist and Author. A deep freeze hits Southern Europe while commodity prices like copper rise. Simon Constable reports on the UK's bleak economic mood and dismisses the feasibility of British or French "boots on the ground" in Ukraine. He notes that depleted military manpower makes such guarantees declarative rather than substantial. NUMBER 151918 UKRAINE

SHOW1-8-2026THE SHOW BEGINS IN DOUBTS ABOUT THE SARCASTIC INVENTION, THE DON-ROE DICTRINE..SPHERES OF INFLUENCE AND THE RETURN OF THE MONROE DOCTRINE Colleague Anatol Lieven, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Anatol Lieven argues that "spheres of influence" have returned, with the US reasserting the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere and threatening to seize Greenland. Unlike traditional alliances, this approach risks alienating fellow democracies. Lieven contrasts this with Russia's territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union and China's historic regional goals. NUMBER 1COLD WAR TACTICS: THE SEIZURE OF A RUSSIAN TANKER Colleague Anatol Lieven, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Lieven discusses the US Navy's detention of a Russian-flagged ship in the North Atlantic, viewing it as a dangerous escalation akin to piracy. This move humiliates Moscow and aims to control oil supplies. Lieven warns that if European nations mimic these seizures, Russia may retaliate violently, risking a direct war. NUMBER 2THE SUPREME COURT AND THE MYTH OF THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE Colleague Richard Epstein, Civitas Institute. Richard Epstein challenges the view that the Roberts Court blindly supports a "unitary executive." He argues the Court is correctly questioning the constitutionality of independent administrative agencies, like the FTC, which insulate officials from presidential removal. Epstein contends that relying on case counts ignores the specific legal merits regarding separation of powers. NUMBER 3TRUMP V. ILLINOIS: LIMITING PRESIDENTIAL POWER OVER THE NATIONAL GUARD Colleague Richard Epstein, Civitas Institute. Discussing a recent unsigned Supreme Court order, Epstein notes the Court upheld a decision preventing the President from deploying the National Guard without a governor's consent. This ruling contradicts claims of judicial bias toward the executive, affirming that the President cannot simply declare an emergency to override state sovereignty. NUMBER 4ONE YEAR LATER: ANGER AND STAGNATION AFTER THE PALISADES FIRE Colleague Jeff Bliss, Pacific Watch. A year after the Palisades fires, Jeff Bliss reports that residents remain angry over government inaction. Rebuilding is stalled by the Coastal Commission's strict regulations, and fuel loads in canyons remain high due to environmental restrictions on brush clearing. The fires, driven by Santa Ana winds, highlight systemic bureaucratic failures in Los Angeles. NUMBER 5#SCALAREPORT: AI AND ROBOTICS DOMINATE CES Colleague Chris Riegel, CEO of Scala.com. Reporting from CES, Chris Riegel highlights the dominance of AI and robotics, from household droids to military applications. While the tech sector booms with massive infrastructure spending, Riegel warns of a "K-shaped" economy where Main Street struggles with softening demand, masking the wealth concentrated in artificial intelligence and data centers. NUMBER 6LANCASTER COUNTY: AMISH SPENDING AND DATA CENTER GROWTH Colleague Jim McTague, Author and Former Barron's Editor. Jim McTague reports that the Lancaster County economy remains robust, evidenced by heavy Amish spending at Costco and thriving local businesses like Kegel's Produce. Despite some local protests, data centers are being built on old industrial sites. McTague sees no need for Fed rate cuts given the stable local economy. NUMBER 7THE NUCLEAR ESCROW: MANAGING PROLIFERATION AMONG ALLIES Colleague Henry Sokolski, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. Henry Sokolski warns that allies like Poland, Turkey, and South Africaare considering nuclear weapons due to eroding trust in US guarantees. He proposes a "nuclear escrow" account: storing refurbished warheads in the US for allies to deploy only during crises, providing leverage without permanently stationing targets on foreign soil. NUMBER 8THE SIEGE OF 717 AND THE VOLCANO OF THERA Colleague Professor Ed Watts, Author of The Romans. In 717 AD, Arab forces besieged Constantinople but failed due to the city's massive walls and "Greek fire." Professor Watts explains that a subsequent volcanic eruption in Thera was interpreted as divine punishment for the empire's sins, leading to a spiritual crisis and the rise of iconoclasm to appease God. NUMBER 9THE STUPIDITY OF SUCCESSORS: MANUEL AND ANDRONICUS Colleague Professor Ed Watts, Author of The Romans. Manuel Komnenos favored grand gestures over systemic stability, weakening the Roman state. His successor, Andronicus, was a nihilistic sadist whose tyranny and family infighting destabilized the empire. Watts details how the refusal to punish rebellious family members created a culture of impunity that eventually led to a violent overthrow. NUMBER 10THE CRUSADES: FROM COOPERATION TO CONFLICT Colleague Professor Ed Watts, Author of The Romans. Relations between East and West collapsed during the Crusades. While the First Crusade cooperated with Rome, the Second and Third turned hostile, with Crusaders seizing territory rather than returning it. Watts notes that the theological schism of 1054 and cultural distrust entrenched this division, setting the stage for future betrayal. NUMBER 111204: THE SACK OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND THE END OF CONTINUITY Colleague Professor Ed Watts, Author of The Romans. The Fourth Crusade, diverted by Venetian debt, sacked Constantinople in 1204, burning the city to quell resistance. Watts argues this marked the true end of the ancient Roman state. The meritocratic system collapsed, and elites like Nicetas Choniates lost everything, severing the 2,000-year political continuity of the empire. NUMBER 12VENEZUELA: THE REGIME SURVIVES MADURO'S EXIT Colleague Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal. Despite Maduro's removal, the Venezuelan regime remains intact under hardliners Delcy Rodriguez and Diosdado Cabello. Mary Anastasia O'Grady notes that repression continues, and European oil companies are hesitant to invest. The regime feigns cooperation to avoid US intervention, but genuine recovery is impossible without restoring the rule of law. NUMBER 13RUSSIA'S OIL CRISIS AND REGIONAL DEFICITS Colleague Michael Bernstam, Hoover Institution. Russiafaces a financial crisis as oil prices drop below $60 per barrel. Michael Bernstam explains that increased global supply forces Russia to sell at deep discounts to China and India, often below cost. This revenue loss prevents the Kremlinfrom paying soldiers, sparking severe regional budget deficits. NUMBER 14EUROPEAN FREEZE AND THE MYTH OF BOOTS ON THE GROUND Colleague Simon Constable, Journalist and Author. A deep freeze hits Southern Europe while commodity prices like copper rise. Simon Constable reports on the UK's bleak economic mood and dismisses the feasibility of British or French "boots on the ground" in Ukraine. He notes that depleted military manpower makes such guarantees declarative rather than substantial. NUMBER 15ARTEMIS 2 RISKS AND THE SEARCH FOR LIFE IN SPACE Colleague Bob Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com. Bob Zimmerman urges NASA to fly Artemis 2 unmanned due to unresolved Orion heat shield damage, arguing safety should trump beating China. He also dismisses concerns about lunar methane contamination and highlights a new study suggesting ice caps could allow liquid water lakes to exist on Mars. NUMBER 16

Before the launch of the new season of our daily podcast, we invite you to listen again to the best content produced in 2025.Summer 2025 is setting new tourism records, but also new tensions. In the sunny south of Europe, local patience is wearing thin. As prices rise and crowds grow, the question is: can southern Europe remain a paradise for tourists without becoming unliveable for its own people?Join us on our journey through the events that shape the European continent and the European Union.Production: By Europod, in co production with Sphera Network.Follow us on:LinkedInInstagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A cyber-crime kingpin in a US prison speaks for the first time. How did he dodge the FBI when they came to his home? And how did he and his alleged crime gang steal millions of dollars from their victims? We learn that Jabber Zeus boss Tank had friends in high political places in Ukraine – and a budding young business associate in Russia.Hosted by Joe Tidy, the BBC's cyber correspondent – one of the few Western journalists to have met an alleged member of Evil Corp – and the BBC's Eastern and Southern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford, who spent more than two decades reporting from Moscow.

The net tightens on the Jabber Zeus crew. Police and intelligence services across borders are poised to synchronise raids, but cops in London are thrown a last-minute curveball that could see the whole operation implode. Meanwhile, tales of Tank's past emerge - and his former life as club DJ Slava Rich. But as FBI agents working in Ukraine brace to break down doors and make arrests, are the hackers already aware of what's coming?Hosted by Joe Tidy, the BBC's cyber correspondent – one of the few Western journalists to have met an alleged member of Evil Corp – and the BBC's Eastern and Southern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford, who spent more than two decades reporting from Moscow.

Our sister publication Reinsurance News spoke with Nikhil da Victoria Lobo, Head of P&C Reinsurance for Western & Southern Europe and Middle East & Africa at industry giant Swiss Re in the run up to the annual Baden-Baden reinsurance event about market dynamics across his regions. Swiss Re will have a key focus on stability and consistency during its negotiations with clients at the 2025 Baden-Baden Reinsurance Meeting, as the market navigates underlying strengths and challenges ahead of the key January 1st renewal season, da Victoria Lobo explained. The discussion covered supply demand dynamics, the outlook for the 1.1 renewals, rising secondary perils and frequency covers, emerging technologies such as AI, as well as the role of innovative structures like parametric risk transfer, and more. Listen to this podcast episode for a Reinsurance News conversation with da Victoria Lobo of Swiss Re  to hear more on the January reinsurance renewals, the impacts of secondary perils and whether this signals a return to frequency covers, what reinsurers need to do to ensure they keep meeting their cost of capital in the softening environment, and also the role of emerging technology and some of the biggest challenges and opportunities for P&C reinsurance heading into 2026.

What does it take to keep your voice—and your purpose—strong through every season of life? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with my friend Bill Ratner, one of Hollywood's most recognized voice actors, best known as Flint from GI Joe. Bill's voice has carried him through radio, animation, and narration, but what stands out most is how he's used that same voice to serve others through storytelling, teaching, and grief counseling. Together, we explore the heart behind his work—from bringing animated heroes to life to standing on The Moth stage and helping people find healing through poetry. Bill shares lessons from his own journey, including losing both parents early, finding family in unexpected places, and discovering how creative expression can rebuild what life breaks down. We also reflect on 9/11, preparedness, and the quiet confidence that comes from trusting your training—whether you're a first responder, a performer, or just navigating the unknown. This conversation isn't just about performance; it's about presence. It's about using your story, your craft, and your compassion to keep moving forward—unstoppable, one voice at a time. Highlights: 00:31 – Hear the Flint voice and what it takes to bring animated characters to life. 06:57 – Learn why an uneven college path still led to a lifelong acting career. 11:50 – Understand how GI Joe became a team and a toy phenomenon that shaped culture. 15:58 – See how comics and cartoons boosted classroom literacy when used well. 17:06 – Pick up simple ways parents can spark reading through shared stories. 19:29 – Discover how early, honest conversations about death can model resilience. 24:09 – Learn to critique ads and media like a pro to sharpen your own performance. 36:19 – Follow the pivot from radio to voiceover and why specialization pays. 47:48 – Hear practical editing approaches and accessible tools that keep shows tight. 49:38 – Learn how The Moth builds storytelling chops through timed, judged practice. 55:21 – See how poetry—and poetry therapy—support grief work with students. 59:39 – Take notes on memoir writing, emotional management, and one-person shows. About the Guest: Bill Ratner is one of America's best known voice actors and author of poetry collections Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake (Slow Lightning Lit 2024,) Fear of Fish (Alien Buddha Press 2021,) To Decorate a Casket (Finishing Line Press 2021,) and the non-fiction book Parenting For The Digital Age: The Truth Behind Media's Effect On Children and What To Do About It (Familius Books 2014.) He is a 9-time winner of the Moth StorySLAM, 2-time winner of Best of The Hollywood Fringe Extension Award for Solo Performance, Best of the Net Poetry Nominee 2023 (Lascaux Review,) and New Millennium "America One Year From Now" Writing Award Finalist. His writing appears in Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press,) Missouri Review (audio,) Baltimore Review, Chiron Review, Feminine Collective, and other journals. He is the voice of "Flint" in the TV cartoon G.I. Joe, "Donnell Udina" in the computer game Mass Effect, the voice of Air Disasters on Smithsonian Channel, NewsNation, and network TV affiliates across the country. He is a committee chair for his union, SAG-AFTRA, teaches Voiceovers for SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Media Awareness for Los Angeles Unified School District, and is a trained grief counsellor. Member: Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA, National Storytelling Network • https://billratner.com • @billratner Ways to connect with Bill: https://soundcloud.com/bill-ratner https://www.instagram.com/billratner/ https://twitter.com/billratner https://www.threads.net/@billratner https://billratner.tumblr.com https://www.youtube.com/@billratner/videos https://www.facebook.com/billratner.voiceover.author https://bsky.app/profile/bilorat.bsky.social About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well on a gracious hello to you, wherever you may be, I am your host. Mike hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to have a voice actor, person, Bill Ratner, who you want to know who Bill Radnor is, go back and watch the old GI Joe cartoons and listen to the voice of Flint.   Bill Ratner ** 01:42 All right. Lady Jay, you better get your battle gear on, because Cobra is on their way. And I can't bring up the Lacher threat weapon system. We got to get out of here. Yo, Joe,   Michael Hingson ** 01:52 there you go. I rest my case Well, Bill, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Bill Ratner ** 02:00 We can't rest now. Michael, we've just begun. No, we've just begun.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 We got to keep going here. Well, I'm really glad that you're here. Bill is another person who we inveigled to get on unstoppable mindset with the help of Walden Hughes. And so that means we can talk about Walden all we want today. Bill just saying, oh goodness. And I got a lot to say. Let me tell you perfect, perfect. Bring it on. So we are really grateful to Walden, although I hope he's not listening. We don't want to give him a big head. But no, seriously, we're really grateful. Ah, good point.   Bill Ratner ** 02:38 But his posture, oddly enough, is perfect.   Michael Hingson ** 02:40 Well, there you go. What do you do? He practiced. Well, anyway, we're glad you're here. Tell us about the early bill, growing up and all that stuff. It's always fun to start a good beginning.   Bill Ratner ** 02:54 Well, I was a very lucky little boy. I was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1947 to two lovely people, professionals, both with master's degree out at University of Chicago. My mother was a social worker. My father had an MBA in business. He was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. So I had the joy of living in a better home and living in a garden.   Michael Hingson ** 03:21 My mother. How long were you in Des Moines?   Bill Ratner ** 03:24 Five and a half years left before my sixth birthday. My dad got a fancy job at an ad agency in Minneapolis, and had a big brother named Pete and big handsome, curly haired boy with green eyes. And moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was was brought up there.   Michael Hingson ** 03:45 Wow. So you went to school there and and chased the girls and all that stuff.   Bill Ratner ** 03:54 I went to school there at Blake School for Boys in Hopkins, Minnesota. Couldn't chase the girls day school, but the girls we are allowed to dance with certainly not chase. Michael was at woodhue dancing school, the Northrop girls from Northrop girls school and the Blake boys were put together in eighth grade and taught the Cha Cha Cha, the waltz, the Charleston, and we danced together, and the girls wore white gloves, and we sniffed their perfume, and we all learned how to be lovers when we were 45   Michael Hingson ** 04:37 There you are. Well, as long as you learned at some point, that's a good start.   Bill Ratner ** 04:44 It's a weird generation. Michael,   Michael Hingson ** 04:46 I've been to Des Moines before. I was born in Chicago, but moved out to California when I was five, but I did some work with the National Federation of the Blind in the mid 19. 1970s 1976 into 1978 so spent time at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, which became a top agency for the Blind in well, the late 50s into the to the 60s and so on. So   Bill Ratner ** 05:15 both my parents are from Chicago. My father from the south side of Chicago, 44th and Kenzie, which was a Irish, Polish, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian neighborhood. And my mother from Glencoe, which was a middle class suburb above Northwestern University in Evanston.   Michael Hingson ** 05:34 I Where were you born? 57th and union, north, south side, no, South   Bill Ratner ** 05:42 57th union is that? Is that west of Kenzie?   Michael Hingson ** 05:46 You know, I don't remember the geography well enough to know, but I know that it was, I think, Mount Sinai Hospital where I was born. But it was, it's, it's, it's a pretty tough neighborhood today. So I understand,   Bill Ratner ** 06:00 yeah, yeah, my it was tough, then it's tough now,   Michael Hingson ** 06:03 yeah, I think it's tougher, supposedly, than it was. But we lived there for five years, and then we we moved to California, and I remember some things about Chicago. I remember walking down to the local candy store most days, and had no problem doing that. My parents were told they should shut me away at a home somewhere, because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything. And my parents said, You guys are you're totally wrong. And they brought me up with that attitude. So, you   Bill Ratner ** 06:32 know who said that the school says school so that   Michael Hingson ** 06:35 doctors doctors when they discovered I was blind with the   Bill Ratner ** 06:38 kid, goodness gracious, horrified.   Michael Hingson ** 06:44 Well, my parents said absolutely not, and they brought me up, and they actually worked with other parents of premature kids who became blind, and when kindergarten started in for us in in the age of four, they actually had a special kindergarten class for blind kids at the Perry School, which is where I went. And so I did that for a year, learn braille and some other things. Then we moved to California, but yeah, and I go back to Chicago every so often. And when I do nowadays, they I one of my favorite places to migrate in Chicago is Garrett Popcorn.   Bill Ratner ** 07:21 Ah, yes, with caramel corn, regular corn, the   Michael Hingson ** 07:25 Chicago blend, which is a mixture, yeah, the Chicago blend is cheese corn, well, as it is with caramel corn, and they put much other mozzarella on it as well. It's really good.   Bill Ratner ** 07:39 Yeah, so we're on the air. Michael, what do you call your what do you call your program? Here I am your new friend, and I can't even announce your program because I don't know   Michael Hingson ** 07:48 the name, unstoppable mindset. This   Bill Ratner ** 07:51 is unstoppable mindset.   Michael Hingson ** 07:56 We're back. Well, we're back already. We're fast. So you, you, you moved off elsewhere, out of Des Moines and all that. And where did you go to college?   Bill Ratner ** 08:09 Well, this is like, why did you this is, this is a bit like talking about the Vietnam War. Looking back on my college career is like looking back on the Vietnam War series, a series of delusions and defeats. By the time I the time i for college, by the time I was applying for college, I was an orphan, orphan, having been born to fabulous parents who died too young of natural causes. So my grades in high school were my mediocre. I couldn't get into the Ivy Leagues. I got into the big 10 schools. My stepmother said, you're going to Michigan State in East Lansing because your cousin Eddie became a successful realtor. And Michigan State was known as mu u it was the most successful, largest agriculture college and university in the country. Kids from South Asia, China, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, South America all over the world came to Michigan State to study agricultural sciences, children of rich farmers all over the world and middle class farmers all over the world, and a huge police science department. Part of the campus was fenced off, and the young cadets, 1819, 20 years old, would practice on the rest of the student body, uniformed with hats and all right, excuse me, young man, we're just going to get some pizza at eight o'clock on Friday night. Stand against your car. Hands in your car. I said, Are you guys practicing again? Shut up and spread your legs. So that was that was Michigan State, and even though both my parents had master's degrees, I just found all the diversions available in the 1960s to be too interesting, and was not invited. Return after my sophomore year, and in order to flunk out of a big 10 University, and they're fine universities, all of them, you have to be either really determined or not so smart, not really capable of doing that level of study in undergraduate school. And I'd like to think that I was determined. I used to show up for my exams with a little blue book, and the only thing I would write is due to lack of knowledge, I am unable to complete this exam, sign Bill ranter and get up early and hand it in and go off. And so what was, what was left for a young man like that was the theater I'd seen the great Zero Mostel when I was 14 years old and on stage live, he looked just like my father, and he was funny, and if I Were a rich man, and that's the grade zero must tell. Yeah, and it took about five, no, it took about six, seven years to percolate inside my bread and my brain. In high school, I didn't want to do theater. The cheerleaders and guys who I had didn't happen to be friends with or doing theater. I took my girlfriends to see plays, but when I was 21 I started acting, and I've been an actor ever since. I'm a committee chair on the screen actors guild in Hollywood and Screen Actors Guild AFTRA, and work as a voice actor and collect my pensions and God bless the union.   Michael Hingson ** 11:44 Well, hey, as long as it works and you're making progress, you know you're still with it, right?   Bill Ratner ** 11:53 That's the that's the point. There's no accounting for taste in my business. Michael, you work for a few different broadcast entities at my age. And it's, you know, it's younger people. It's 18 to 3418 years to 34 years old is the ideal demographic for advertisers, Ford, Motor Company, Dove soap, Betty, Crocker, cake mixes and cereals, every conceivable product that sold online or sold on television and radio. This is my this is my meat, and I don't work for religion. However, if a religious organization calls, I call and say, I I'm not, not qualified or not have my divinity degree in order to sell your church to the public?   Michael Hingson ** 12:46 Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I can understand that. But you, you obviously do a lot, and as we talked about, you were Flint and GI Joe, which is kind of cool.   Bill Ratner ** 13:01 Flynn GI Joe was very cool. Hasbro Corporation, which was based in Providence, Rhode Island, had a huge success with GI Joe, the figure. The figure was about 11 and a half inches tall, like a Barbie, and was at first, was introduced to the public after the Korean War. There is a comic book that was that was also published about GI Joe. He was an individual figure. He was a figure, a sort of mythic cartoon figure during World War Two, GI Joe, generic American soldier, fighting man and but the Vietnam war dragged on for a long time, and the American buying public or buying kids toys got tired of GI Joe, got tired of a military figure in their household and stopped buying. And when Nixon ended the Vietnam War, or allotted to finish in 1974 Hasbro was in the tank. It's got its stock was cheap, and executives are getting nervous. And then came the Great George Lucas in Star Wars, who shrank all these action figures down from 11 and a half inches to three and a half inches, and went to China and had Chinese game and toy makers make Star Wars toys, and began to earn billions and billions dollars. And so Hasbro said, let's turn GI Joe into into a team. And the team began with flint and Lady J and Scarlett and Duke and Destro and cover commander, and grew to 85 different characters, because Hasbro and the toy maker partners could create 85 different sets of toys and action figures. So I was actor in this show and had a good time, and also a purveyor of a billion dollar industry of American toys. And the good news about these toys is I was at a conference where we signed autographs the voice actors, and we have supper with fans and so on. And I was sitting next to a 30 year old kid and his parents. And this kid was so knowledgeable about pop culture and every conceivable children's show and animated show that had ever been on the screen or on television. I turned to his mother and sort of being a wise acre, said, So ma'am, how do you feel about your 30 year old still playing with GI Joe action figures? And she said, Well, he and I both teach English in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania school system, and last year, the literacy level of my ninth graders was 50% 50% of those kids could not read in ninth grade. So I asked the principal if I could borrow my son's GI Joe, action figures, comic books and VHS tapes, recordings of the shows from TV. And he said, Sure, whatever you want to try. And so she did, and she played the video tapes, and these kids were thrilled. They'd never seen a GI Joe cartoon in class before. Passed out the comic books, let him read comics. And then she said, Okay, you guys. And passed out notebooks and pens and pencils, and said, I want you guys to make up some some shows, some GI Joe shows. And so they said, Yeah, we're ready. All right, Cobra, you better get into the barber shop, because the barber bill is no longer there and the fire engines are in the way. And wait a minute, there's a dog in the street. And so they're making this up, using their imagination, doing their schoolwork, by coming up with scenarios, imaginary fam fan fiction for GI Joe and she raised the literacy level in her classroom by 50% that year, by the end of that year, so, so that was the only story that I've ever heard about the sort of the efficacy of GI Joe, other than, you know, kids play with them. Do they? Are they shooting each other all the time? I certainly hope not. I hope not. Are they using the action figures? Do they strip their guns off and put them in a little, you know, stub over by the side and and have them do physical battle with each other, or have them hump the woods, or have them climb the stairs, or have them search the trees. Who knows what kids do? Same with same with girls and and Barbies. Barbie has been a source of fun and creativity for lots of girls, and the source of of worry and bother to a lot of parents as   Michael Hingson ** 17:54 well. Well, at the same time, though, when kids start to react and relate to some of these things. It's, it's pretty cool. I mean, look what's happened with the whole Harry Potter movement and craze. Harry Potter has probably done more in the last 20 or 25 years to promote reading for kids than most anything else, and   Bill Ratner ** 18:17 that's because it's such a good series of books. I read them to my daughters, yeah. And the quality of writing. She was a brilliant writer, not only just the stories and the storytelling, which is fun to watch in the movies, and you know, it's great for a parent to read. If there are any parents listening, I don't care how old your kids are. I don't care if they're 15. Offer to read to them. The 15 year old might, of course, say mom, but anybody younger than that might say either, all right, fine, which is, which means you better do it or read, read a book. To me, sure, it's fun for the parent, fun for the kid, and it makes the child a completely different kind of thinker and worker and earner.   Michael Hingson ** 19:05 Well, also the people who they got to read the books for the recordings Stephen Fry and in the US here, Jim Dale did such an incredible job as well. I've, I've read the whole Harry Potter series more than once, because I just enjoy them, and I enjoy listening to the the voices. They do such a good job. Yeah. And of course, for me, one of the interesting stories that I know about Jim Dale reading Harry Potter was since it was published by Scholastic he was actually scheduled to do a reading from one of the Harry from the new Harry Potter book that was coming out in 2001 on September 11, he was going to be at Scholastic reading. And of course, that didn't happen because of of everything that did occur. So I don't know whether I'm. I'm assuming at some point a little bit later, he did, but still he was scheduled to be there and read. But it they are there. They've done so much to help promote reading, and a lot of those kinds of cartoons and so on. Have done some of that, which is, which is pretty good. So it's good to, you know, to see that continue to happen. Well, so you've written several books on poetry and so on, and I know that you you've mentioned more than once grief and loss. How come those words keep coming up?   Bill Ratner ** 20:40 Well, I had an unusual childhood. Again. I mentioned earlier how, what a lucky kid I was. My parents were happy, educated, good people, not abusers. You know, I don't have a I don't have horror stories to tell about my mother or my father, until my mother grew sick with breast cancer and and it took about a year and a half or two years to die when I was seven years old. The good news is, because she was a sensitive, educated social worker, as she was actually dying, she arranged a death counseling session with me and my older brother and the Unitarian minister who was also a death counselor, and whom she was seeing to talk about, you know, what it was like to be dying of breast cancer with two young kids. And at this session, which was sort of surprised me, I was second grade, came home from school. In the living room was my mother and my brother looking a little nervous, and Dr Carl storm from the Unitarian Church, and she said, you know, Dr storm from church, but he's also my therapist. And we talk about my illness and how I feel, and we talk about how much I love you boys, and talk about how I worry about Daddy. And this is what one does when one is in crisis. That was a moment that was not traumatic for me. It's a moment I recalled hundreds of times, and one that has been a guiding light through my life. My mother's death was very difficult for my older brother, who was 13 who grew up in World War Two without without my father, it was just him and my mother when he was off in the Pacific fighting in World War Two. And then I was born after the war. And the loss of a mother in a family is like the bottom dropping out of a family. But luckily, my dad met a woman he worked with a highly placed advertising executive, which was unusual for a female in the 1950s and she became our stepmother a year later, and we had some very lovely, warm family years with her extended family and our extended family and all of us together until my brother got sick, came down with kidney disease a couple of years before kidney dialysis was invented, and a couple of years before kidney transplants were done, died at 19. Had been the captain of the swimming team at our high school, but did a year in college out in California and died on Halloween of 1960 my father was 51 years old. His eldest son had died. He had lost his wife six years earlier. He was working too hard in the advertising industry, successful man and dropped out of a heart attack 14th birthday. Gosh, I found him unconscious on the floor of our master bathroom in our house. So my life changed. I My life has taught me many, many things. It's taught me how the defense system works in trauma. It's taught me the resilience of a child. It's taught me the kindness of strangers. It's taught me the sadness of loss.   Michael Hingson ** 24:09 Well, you, you seem to come through all of it pretty well. Well, thank you. A question behind that, just an observation, but, but you do seem to, you know, obviously, cope with all of it and do pretty well. So you, you've always liked to be involved in acting and so on. How did you actually end up deciding to be a voice actor?   Bill Ratner ** 24:39 Well, my dad, after he was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Des Moines for Meredith publishing, got offered a fancy job as executive vice president of the flower and mix division for Campbell within advertising and later at General Mills Corporation. From Betty Crocker brand, and would bring me to work all the time, and would sit with me, and we'd watch the wonderful old westerns that were on prime time television, rawhide and Gunsmoke and the Virginian and sure   Michael Hingson ** 25:15 and all those. Yeah, during   Bill Ratner ** 25:17 the commercials, my father would make fun of the commercials. Oh, look at that guy. And number one, son, that's lousy acting. Number two, listen to that copy. It's the dumbest ad copy I've ever seen. The jingles and and then he would say, No, that's a good commercial, right there. And he wasn't always negative. He would he was just a good critic of advertising. So at a very young age, starting, you know, when we watch television, I think the first television ever, he bought us when I was five years old, I was around one of the most educated, active, funny, animated television critics I could hope to have in my life as a 56789, 1011, 12 year old. And so when I was 12, I became one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of radio stations with my friends John Waterhouse and John Barstow and Steve gray and Bill Connors in South Minneapolis. I named my five watt night kit am transmitter after my sixth grade teacher, Bob close this is wclo stereo radio. And when I was in sixth grade, I built myself a switch box, and I had a turntable and I had an intercom, and I wired my house for sound, as did all the other boys in the in the B, O, R, S, and that's brotherhood of radio stations. And we were guests on each other's shows, and we were obsessed, and we would go to the shopping malls whenever a local DJ was making an appearance and torture him and ask him dumb questions and listen obsessively to American am radio. And at the time for am radio, not FM like today, or internet on your little radio tuner, all the big old grandma and grandpa radios, the wooden ones, were AM, for amplitude modulated. You could get stations at night, once the sun went down and the later it got, the ionosphere would lift and the am radio signals would bounce higher and farther. And in Minneapolis, at age six and seven, I was able to to listen to stations out of Mexico and Texas and Chicago, and was absolutely fascinated with with what was being put out. And I would, I would switch my brother when I was about eight years old, gave me a transistor radio, which I hid under my bed covers. And at night, would turn on and listen for, who knows, hours at a time, and just tuning the dial and tuning the dial from country to rock and roll to hit parade to news to commercials to to agric agriculture reports to cow crossings in Kansas and grain harvesting and cheese making in Wisconsin, and on and on and on that made up the great medium of radio that was handing its power and its business over to television, just as I was growing As a child. Fast, fascinating transition   Michael Hingson ** 28:18 and well, but as it was transitioning, how did that affect you?   Bill Ratner ** 28:26 It made television the romantic, exciting, dynamic medium. It made radio seem a little limited and antiquated, and although I listened for environment and wasn't able to drag a television set under my covers. Yeah, and television became memorable with with everything from actual world war two battle footage being shown because there wasn't enough programming to 1930s Warner Brothers gangster movies with James Cagney, Edward G   Michael Hingson ** 29:01 Robinson and yeah   Bill Ratner ** 29:02 to all the sitcoms, Leave It to Beaver and television cartoons and on and on and on. And the most memorable elements to me were the personalities, and some of whom were invisible. Five years old, I was watching a Kids program after school, after kindergarten. We'll be back with more funny puppets, marionettes after this message and the first words that came on from an invisible voice of this D baritone voice, this commercial message will be 60 seconds long, Chrysler Dodge for 1954 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I watched hypnotized, hypnotized as a 1953 dodge drove across the screen with a happy family of four waving out the window. And at the end of the commercial, I ran into the kitchen said, Mom, mom, I know what a minute. Is, and it was said, it had suddenly come into my brain in one of those very rare and memorable moments in a person's life where your brain actually speaks to you in its own private language and says, Here is something very new and very true, that 60 seconds is in fact a minute. When someone says, See you in five minutes, they mean five times that, five times as long as that. Chrysler commercial, five times 60. That's 300 seconds. And she said, Did you learn it that that on T in kindergarten? And I said, No, I learned it from kangaroo Bob on TV, his announcer, oh, kangaroo Bob, no, but this guy was invisible. And so at five years of age, I was aware of the existence of the practice of the sound, of the magic of the seemingly unlimited access to facts, figures, products, brand names that these voices had and would say on the air in This sort of majestic, patriarchal way,   Michael Hingson ** 31:21 and just think 20 years later, then you had James Earl Jones,   Bill Ratner ** 31:26 the great dame. James Earl Jones, father was a star on stage at that time the 1950s James Earl Jones came of age in the 60s and became Broadway and off Broadway star.   Michael Hingson ** 31:38 I got to see him in Othello. He was playing Othello. What a powerful performance. It was   Bill Ratner ** 31:43 wonderful performer. Yeah, yeah. I got to see him as Big Daddy in Canada, Hot Tin Roof, ah, live and in person, he got front row seats for me and my family.   Michael Hingson ** 31:53 Yeah, we weren't in the front row, but we saw it. We saw it on on Broadway,   Bill Ratner ** 31:58 the closest I ever got to James Earl Jones. He and I had the same voice over agent, woman named Rita vinari of southern Barth and benare company. And I came into the agency to audition for Doritos, and I hear this magnificent voice coming from behind a closed voiceover booth, saying, with a with a Spanish accent, Doritos. I thought that's James Earl Jones. Why is he saying burritos? And he came out, and he bowed to me, nodded and smiled, and I said, hello and and the agent probably in the booth and shut the door. And she said, I said, that was James Earl Jones. What a voice. What she said, Oh, he's such a nice man. And she said, but I couldn't. I was too embarrassed. I was too afraid to stop him from saying, Doritos. And it turns out he didn't get the gig. So it is some other voice actor got it because he didn't say, had he said Doritos with the agent froze it froze up. That was as close as I ever got to did you get the gig? Oh goodness no,   Michael Hingson ** 33:01 no, you didn't, huh? Oh, well, well, yeah. I mean, it was a very, it was, it was wonderful. It was James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer played Iago. Oh, goodness, oh, I know. What a what a combination. Well, so you, you did a lot of voiceover stuff. What did you do regarding radio moving forward? Or did you just go completely out of that and you were in TV? Or did you have any opportunity   Bill Ratner ** 33:33 for me to go back at age 15, my brother and father, who were big supporters of my radio. My dad would read my W, C, l, o, newsletter and need an initial, an excellent journalism son and my brother would bring his teenage friends up. He'd play the elderly brothers, man, you got an Elvis record, and I did. And you know, they were, they were big supporters for me as a 13 year old, but when I turned 14, and had lost my brother and my father, I lost my enthusiasm and put all of my radio equipment in a box intended to play with it later. Never, ever, ever did again. And when I was about 30 years old and I'd done years of acting in the theater, having a great time doing fun plays and small theaters in Minneapolis and South Dakota and and Oakland, California and San Francisco. I needed money, so I looked in the want ads and saw a job for telephone sales, and I thought, Well, I used to love the telephone. I used to make phony phone calls to people all the time. Used to call funeral homes. Hi Carson, funeral I help you. Yes, I'm calling to tell you that you have a you have a dark green slate tile. Roof, isn't that correct? Yes. Well, there's, there's a corpse on your roof. Lady for goodness sake, bring it down and we laugh and we record it and and so I thought, Well, gee, I used to have a lot of fun with the phone. And so I called the number of telephone sales and got hired to sell magazine subscriptions and dinner tickets to Union dinners and all kinds of things. And then I saw a new job at a radio station, suburban radio station out in Walnut Creek, California, a lovely Metro BART train ride. And so I got on the BART train, rode out there and walked in for the interview, and was told I was going to be selling small advertising packages on radio for the station on the phone. And so I called barber shops and beauty shops and gas stations in the area, and one guy picked up the phone and said, Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you on the radio right now? And I said, No, I'm just I'm in the sales room. Well, maybe you should be. And he slams the phone on me. He didn't want to talk to me anymore. It wasn't interested in buying advertising. I thought, gee. And I told somebody at the station, and they said, Well, you want to be in the radio? And he went, Yeah, I was on the radio when I was 13. And it just so happened that an older fellow was retiring from the 10am to 2pm slot. K I S King, kiss 99 and KD FM, Pittsburgh, California. And it was a beautiful music station. It was a music station. Remember, old enough will remember music that used to play in elevators that was like violin music, the Percy faith orchestra playing a Rolling Stone song here in the elevator. Yes, well, that's exactly what we played. And it would have been harder to get a job at the local rock stations because, you know, they were popular places. And so I applied for the job, and   Michael Hingson ** 37:06 could have lost your voice a lot sooner, and it would have been a lot harder if you had had to do Wolfman Jack. But that's another story.   Bill Ratner ** 37:13 Yeah, I used to listen to Wolf Man Jack. I worked in a studio in Hollywood. He became a studio. Yeah, big time.   Michael Hingson ** 37:22 Anyway, so you you got to work at the muzack station, got   Bill Ratner ** 37:27 to work at the muzack station, and I was moving to Los Angeles to go to a bigger market, to attempt to penetrate a bigger broadcast market. And one of the sales guys, a very nice guy named Ralph pizzella said, Well, when you get to La you should study with a friend of mine down to pie Troy, he teaches voiceovers. I said, What are voice overs? He said, You know that CVS Pharmacy commercial just carted up and did 75 tags, available in San Fernando, available in San Clemente, available in Los Angeles, available in Pasadena. And I said, Yeah. He said, Well, you didn't get paid any extra. You got paid your $165 a week. The guy who did that commercial for the ad agency got paid probably 300 bucks, plus extra for the tags, that's voiceovers. And I thought, why? There's an idea, what a concept. So he gave me the name and number of old friend acquaintance of his who he'd known in radio, named Don DiPietro, alias Johnny rabbit, who worked for the Dick Clark organization, had a big rock and roll station there. He'd come to LA was doing voiceovers and teaching voiceover classes in a little second story storefront out of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. So I signed up for his class, and he was an experienced guy, and he liked me, and we all had fun, and I realized I was beginning to study like an actor at 1818, who goes to New York or goes to Los Angeles or Chicago or Atlanta or St Louis to act in the big theaters, and starts acting classes and realizes, oh my goodness, these people are truly professionals. I don't know how to do what they do. And so for six years, I took voice over classes, probably 4050, nights a year, and from disc jockeys, from ex show hosts, from actors, from animated cartoon voices, and put enough time in to get a degree in neurology in medical school. And worked my way up in radio in Los Angeles and had a morning show, a lovely show with a wonderful news man named Phil Reed, and we talked about things and reviewed movies and and played a lot of music. And then I realized, wait a minute, I'm earning three times the money in voiceovers as I am on the radio, and I have to get up at 430 in the morning to be on the radio. Uh, and a wonderful guy who was Johnny Carson's staff announcer named Jack angel said, You're not still on radio, are you? And I said, Well, yeah, I'm working in the morning. And Ka big, get out of there. Man, quit. Quit. And I thought, well, how can I quit? I've always wanted to be a radio announcer. And then there was another wonderful guy on the old am station, kmpc, sweet Dick Whittington. Whittington, right? And he said at a seminar that I went to at a union voice over training class, when you wake up at four in the morning and you swing your legs over the bed and your shoes hit the floor, and you put your head in your hands, and you say to yourself, I don't want to do this anymore. That's when you quit radio. Well, that hadn't happened to me. I was just getting up early to write some comedy segments and on and on and on, and then I was driving around town all day doing auditions and rented an ex girlfriend's second bedroom so that I could nap by myself during the day, when I had an hour in and I would as I would fall asleep, I'd picture myself every single day I'm in a dark voiceover studio, a microphone Is before me, a music stand is before the microphone, and on it is a piece of paper with advertising copy on it. On the other side of the large piece of glass of the recording booth are three individuals, my employers, I begin to read, and somehow the text leaps off the page, streams into my eyes, letter for letter, word for word, into a part of my back brain that I don't understand and can't describe. It is processed in my semi conscious mind with the help of voice over training and hope and faith, and comes out my mouth, goes into the microphone, is recorded in the digital recorder, and those three men, like little monkeys, lean forward and say, Wow, how do you do that? That was my daily creative visualization. Michael, that was my daily fantasy. And I had learned that from from Dale Carnegie, and I had learned that from Olympic athletes on NBC TV in the 60s and 70s, when the announcer would say, this young man you're seeing practicing his high jump is actually standing there. He's standing stationary, and the bouncing of the head is he's actually rehearsing in his mind running and running and leaping over the seven feet two inch bar and falling into the sawdust. And now he's doing it again, and you could just barely see the man nodding his head on camera at the exact rhythm that he would be running the 25 yards toward the high bar and leaping, and he raised his head up during the imaginary lead that he was visualizing, and then he actually jumped the seven foot two inches. That's how I learned about creative visualization from NBC sports on TV.   Michael Hingson ** 43:23 Channel Four in Los Angeles. There you go. Well, so you you broke into voice over, and that's what you did.   Bill Ratner ** 43:38 That's what I did, darn it, I ain't stopping now, there's a wonderful old actor named Bill Irwin. There two Bill Irwin's one is a younger actor in his 50s or 60s, a brilliant actor from Broadway to film and TV. There's an older William Irwin. They also named Bill Irwin, who's probably in his 90s now. And I went to a premiere of a film, and he was always showing up in these films as The senile stock broker who answers the phone upside down, or the senile board member who always asks inappropriate questions. And I went up to him and I said, you know, I see you in everything, man. I'm 85 years old. Some friends and associates of mine tell me I should slow down. I only got cast in movies and TV when I was 65 I ain't slowing down. If I tried to slow down at 85 I'd have to stop That's my philosophy. My hero is the great Don Pardo, the late great   Michael Hingson ** 44:42 for Saturday Night Live and Jeopardy   Bill Ratner ** 44:45 lives starring Bill Murray, Gilder Radner, and   Michael Hingson ** 44:49 he died for Jeopardy before that,   Bill Ratner ** 44:52 yeah, died at 92 with I picture him, whether it probably not, with a microphone and. His hand in his in his soundproof booth, in his in his garage, and I believe he lived in Arizona, although the show was aired and taped in New York, New York, right where he worked for for decades as a successful announcer. So that's the story.   Michael Hingson ** 45:16 Michael. Well, you know, I miss, very frankly, some of the the the days of radio back in the 60s and 70s and so on. We had, in LA what you mentioned, Dick Whittington, Dick whittinghill on kmpc, Gary Owens, you know, so many people who were such wonderful announcers and doing some wonderful things, and radio just isn't the same anymore. It's gone. It's   Bill Ratner ** 45:47 gone to Tiktok and YouTube. And the truth is, I'm not gonna whine about Tiktok or YouTube, because some of the most creative moments on camera are being done on Tiktok and YouTube by young quote influencers who hire themselves out to advertisers, everything from lipstick. You know,   Speaker 1 ** 46:09 when I went to a party last night was just wild and but this makeup look, watch me apply this lip remover and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no, I have no lip.   Bill Ratner ** 46:20 You know, these are the people with the voices. These are the new voices. And then, of course, the faces. And so I would really advise before, before people who, in fact, use the internet. If you use the internet, you can't complain if you use the internet, if you go to Facebook or Instagram, or you get collect your email or Google, this or that, which most of us do, it's handy. You can't complain about tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. You can't complain about tick tock or YouTube, because it's what the younger generation is using, and it's what the younger generation advertisers and advertising executives and creators and musicians and actors are using to parade before us, as Gary Owens did, as Marlon Brando did, as Sarah Bernhardt did in the 19 so as all as you do, Michael, you're a parader. You're the head of the parade. You've been in on your own float for years. I read your your bio. I don't even know why you want to waste a minute talking to me for goodness sakes.   Michael Hingson ** 47:26 You know, the one thing about podcasts that I like over radio, and I did radio at kuci for seven years when I was in school, what I really like about podcasts is they're not and this is also would be true for Tiktok and YouTube. Primarily Tiktok, I would would say it isn't as structured. So if we don't finish in 60 minutes, and we finish in 61 minutes, no one's gonna shoot us.   Bill Ratner ** 47:53 Well, I beg to differ with you. Now. I'm gonna start a fight with you. Michael, yeah, we need conflict in this script. Is that it The Tick Tock is very structured. Six. No,   Michael Hingson ** 48:03 no, I understand that. I'm talking about podcasts,   Bill Ratner ** 48:07 though, but there's a problem. We gotta Tone It Up. We gotta pick it up. We gotta there's a lot of and I listen to what are otherwise really bright, wonderful personalities on screen, celebrities who have podcasts and the car sucks, and then I had meatballs for dinner, haha. And you know what my wife said? Why? You know? And there's just too much of that. And,   Michael Hingson ** 48:32 oh, I understand, yeah. I mean, it's like, like anything, but I'm just saying that's one of the reasons I love podcasting. So it's my way of continuing what I used to do in radio and having a lot of fun doing it   Bill Ratner ** 48:43 all right, let me ask you. Let me ask you a technical and editorial question. Let me ask you an artistic question. An artist, can you edit this podcast? Yeah. Are you? Do you plan to Nope.   Michael Hingson ** 48:56 I think conversations are conversations, but there is a but, I mean,   Bill Ratner ** 49:01 there have been starts and stops and I answer a question, and there's a long pause, and then, yeah, we can do you edit that stuff   Michael Hingson ** 49:08 out. We do, we do, edit some of that out. And I have somebody that that that does a lot of it, because I'm doing more podcasts, and also I travel and speak, but I can edit. There's a program called Reaper, which is really a very sophisticated   Bill Ratner ** 49:26 close up spaces. You   Michael Hingson ** 49:28 can close up spaces with it, yes, but the neat thing about Reaper is that somebody has written scripts to make it incredibly accessible for blind people using screen readers.   Bill Ratner ** 49:40 What does it do? What does it do? Give me the elevator pitch.   Michael Hingson ** 49:46 You've seen some of the the programs that people use, like computer vision and other things to do editing of videos and so on. Yeah.   Bill Ratner ** 49:55 Yeah. Even Apple. Apple edit. What is it called? Apple? Garage Band. No, that's audio. What's that   Michael Hingson ** 50:03 audio? Oh,   Bill Ratner ** 50:06 quick time is quick   Michael Hingson ** 50:07 time. But whether it's video or audio, the point is that Reaper allows me to do all of that. I can edit audio. I can insert, I can remove pauses. I can do anything with Reaper that anyone else can do editing audio, because it's been made completely accessible.   Bill Ratner ** 50:27 That's great. That's good. That's nice. Oh, it is. It's cool.   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 So so if I want, I can edit this and just have my questions and then silence when you're talking.   Bill Ratner ** 50:38 That might be best. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Bill Ratner,   Michael Hingson ** 50:46 yep, exactly, exactly. Now you have won the moth stories. Slam, what? Tell me about my story. Slam, you've won it nine times.   Bill Ratner ** 51:00 The Moth was started by a writer, a novelist who had lived in the South and moved to New York City, successful novelist named George Dawes green. And the inception of the moth, which many people listening are familiar with from the Moth Radio Hour. It was, I believe, either late 90s or early 2000s when he'd been in New York for a while and was was publishing as a fiction writer, and threw a party, and decided, instead of going to one of these dumb, boring parties or the same drinks being served and same cigarettes being smoked out in the veranda and the same orders. I'm going to ask people to bring a five minute story, a personal story, nature, a true story. You don't have to have one to get into the party, but I encourage you to. And so you know, the 3040, 50 people showed up, many of whom had stories, and they had a few drinks, and they had hors d'oeuvres. And then he said, Okay, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats. It's time for and then I picked names out of a hat, and person after person after person stood up in a very unusual setting, which was almost never done at parties. You How often do you see that happen? Suddenly, the room falls silent, and someone with permission being having been asked by the host to tell a personal story, some funny, some tragic, some complex, some embarrassing, some racy, some wild, some action filled. And afterward, the feedback he got from his friends was, this is the most amazing experience I've ever had in my life. And someone said, you need to do this. And he said, Well, you people left a lot of cigarette butts and beer cans around my apartment. And they said, well, let's do it at a coffee shop. Let's do it at a church basement. So slowly but surely, the moth storytelling, story slams, which were designed after the old poetry slams in the 50s and 60s, where they were judged contests like, like a dance contest. Everybody's familiar with dance contests? Well, there were, then came poetry contests with people singing and, you know, and singing and really energetically, really reading. There then came storytelling contests with people standing on a stage before a silent audience, telling a hopefully interesting, riveting story, beginning middle, end in five minutes. And so a coffee house was found. A monthly calendar was set up. Then came the internet. Then it was so popular standing room only that they had to open yet another and another, and today, some 20 years later, 20 some years later, from Austin, Texas to San Francisco, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota to New York City to Los Angeles. There are moth story slams available on online for you to schedule yourself to go live and in person at the moth.org as in the moth with wings. Friend of mine, I was in New York. He said, You can't believe it. This writer guy, a writer friend of mine who I had read, kind of an avant garde, strange, funny writer was was hosting something called the moth in New York, and we were texting each other. He said, Well, I want to go. The theme was show business. I was going to talk to my Uncle Bobby, who was the bell boy. And I Love Lucy. I'll tell a story. And I texted him that day. He said, Oh man, I'm so sorry. I had the day wrong. It's next week. Next week, I'm going to be back home. And so he said, Well, I think there's a moth in Los Angeles. So about 15 years ago, I searched it down and what? Went to a small Korean barbecue that had a tiny little stage that originally was for Korean musicians, and it was now being used for everything from stand up comedy to evenings of rock and roll to now moth storytelling once a month. And I think the theme was first time. And so I got up and told a silly story and didn't win first prize. They have judges that volunteer judges a table of three judges scoring, you like, at a swim meet or a track beat or, you know, and our gymnastics meet. So this is all sort of familiar territory for everybody, except it's storytelling and not high jumping or pull ups. And I kept going back. I was addicted to it. I would write a story and I'd memorize it, and I'd show up and try to make it four minutes and 50 seconds and try to make it sound like I was really telling a story and not reading from a script. And wish I wasn't, because I would throw the script away, and I knew the stories well enough. And then they created a radio show. And then I began to win slams and compete in the grand slams. And then I started submitting these 750 word, you know, two and a half page stories. Literary magazines got a few published and found a whole new way to spend my time and not make much   Michael Hingson ** 56:25 money. Then you went into poetry.   Bill Ratner ** 56:29 Then I got so bored with my prose writing that I took a poetry course from a wonderful guy in LA called Jack grapes, who had been an actor and a football player and come to Hollywood and did some TV, episodics and and some some episodic TV, and taught poetry. It was a poet in the schools, and I took his class of adults and got a poem published. And thought, wait a minute, these aren't even 750 words. They're like 75 words. I mean, you could write a 10,000 word poem if you want, but some people have, yeah, and it was complex, and there was so much to read and so much to learn and so much that was interesting and odd. And a daughter of a friend of mine is a poet, said, Mommy, are you going to read me one of those little word movies before I go to sleep?   Michael Hingson ** 57:23 A little word movie, word movie out of the   Bill Ratner ** 57:27 mouths of babes. Yeah, and so, so and I perform. You know, last night, I was in Orange County at a organization called ugly mug Cafe, and a bunch of us poets read from an anthology that was published, and we sold our books, and heard other young poets who were absolutely marvelous and and it's, you know, it's not for everybody, but it's one of the things I do.   Michael Hingson ** 57:54 Well, you sent me pictures of book covers, so they're going to be in the show notes. And I hope people will will go out and get them   Bill Ratner ** 58:01 cool. One of the one of the things that I did with poetry, in addition to wanting to get published and wanting to read before people, is wanting to see if there is a way. Because poetry was, was very satisfying, emotionally to me, intellectually very challenging and satisfying at times. And emotionally challenging and very satisfying at times, writing about things personal, writing about nature, writing about friends, writing about stories that I received some training from the National Association for poetry therapy. Poetry therapy is being used like art therapy, right? And have conducted some sessions and and participated in many and ended up working with eighth graders of kids who had lost someone to death in the past year of their lives. This is before covid in the public schools in Los Angeles. And so there's a lot of that kind of work that is being done by constable people, by writers, by poets, by playwrights,   Michael Hingson ** 59:09 and you became a grief counselor,   Bill Ratner ** 59:13 yes, and don't do that full time, because I do voiceovers full time, right? Write poetry and a grand. Am an active grandparent, but I do the occasional poetry session around around grief poetry.   Michael Hingson ** 59:31 So you're a grandparent, so you've had kids and all that. Yes, sir, well, that's is your wife still with us? Yes?   Bill Ratner ** 59:40 Oh, great, yeah, she's an artist and an art educator. Well, that   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 so the two of you can criticize each other's works, then, just   Bill Ratner ** 59:52 saying, we're actually pretty kind to each other. I Yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of outside criticism. Them. So, yeah, you don't need to do it internally. We don't rely on it. What do you think of this although, although, more than occasionally, each of us will say, What do you think of this poem, honey? Or what do you think of this painting, honey? And my the favorite, favorite thing that my wife says that always thrills me and makes me very happy to be with her is, I'll come down and she's beginning a new work of a new piece of art for an exhibition somewhere. I'll say, what? Tell me about what's, what's going on with that, and she'll go, you know, I have no idea, but it'll tell me what to do.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:33 Yeah, it's, it's like a lot of authors talk about the fact that their characters write the stories right, which, which makes a lot of sense. So with all that you've done, are you writing a memoir? By any chance, I   Bill Ratner ** 1:00:46 am writing a memoir, and writing has been interesting. I've been doing it for many years. I got it was my graduate thesis from University of California Riverside Palm Desert.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:57 My wife was a UC Riverside graduate. Oh, hi. Well, they   Bill Ratner ** 1:01:01 have a low residency program where you go for 10 days in January, 10 days in June. The rest of it's online, which a lot of universities are doing, low residency programs for people who work and I got an MFA in creative writing nonfiction, had a book called parenting for the digital age, the truth about media's effect on children. And was halfway through it, the publisher liked it, but they said you got to double the length. So I went back to school to try to figure out how to double the length. And was was able to do it, and decided to move on to personal memoir and personal storytelling, such as goes on at the moth but a little more personal than that. Some of the material that I was reading in the memoir section of a bookstore was very, very personal and was very helpful to read about people who've gone through particular issues in their childhood. Mine not being physical abuse or sexual abuse, mine being death and loss, which is different. And so that became a focus of my graduate thesis, and many people were urging me to write a memoir. Someone said, you need to do a one man show. So I entered the Hollywood fringe and did a one man show and got good reviews and had a good time and did another one man show the next year and and so on. So But writing memoir as anybody knows, and they're probably listeners who are either taking memoir courses online or who may be actively writing memoirs or short memoir pieces, as everybody knows it, can put you through moods from absolutely ecstatic, oh my gosh, I got this done. I got this story told, and someone liked it, to oh my gosh, I'm so depressed I don't understand why. Oh, wait a minute, I was writing about such and such today. Yeah. So that's the challenge for the memoir is for the personal storyteller, it's also, you know, and it's more of a challenge than it is for the reader, unless it's bad writing and the reader can't stand that. For me as a reader, I'm fascinated by people's difficult stories, if they're well   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:24 told well, I know that when in 2002 I was advised to write a book about the World Trade Center experiences and all, and it took eight years to kind of pull it all together. And then I met a woman who actually I collaborated with, Susie Florey, and we wrote thunder dog. And her agent became my agent, who loved the proposal that we sent and actually got a contract within a week. So thunder dog came out in 2011 was a New York Times bestseller, and very blessed by that, and we're working toward the day that it will become a movie still, but it'll happen. And then I wrote a children's version of it, well, not a children's version of the book, but a children's book about me growing up in Roselle, growing up the guide dog who was with me in the World Trade Center, and that's been on Amazon. We self published it. Then last year, we published a new book called Live like a guide dog, which is all about controlling fear and teaching people lessons that I learned prior to September 11. That helped me focus and remain calm.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:23 What happened to you on September 11,   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:27 I was in the World Trade Center. I worked on the 78th floor of Tower One.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:32 And what happened? I mean, what happened to you?   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:36 Um, nothing that day. I mean, well, I got out. How did you get out? Down the stairs? That was the only way to go. So, so the real story is not doing it, but why it worked. And the real issue is that I spent a lot of time when I first went into the World Trade Center, learning all I could about what to do in an emergency, talking to police, port authorities. Security people, emergency preparedness people, and also just walking around the world trade center and learning the whole place, because I ran an office for a company, and I wasn't going to rely on someone else to, like, lead me around if we're going to go to lunch somewhere and take people out before we negotiated contracts. So I needed to know all of that, and I learned all I could, also realizing that if there ever was an emergency, I might be the only one in the office, or we might be in an area where people couldn't read the signs to know what to do anyway. And so I had to take the responsibility of learning all that, which I did. And then when the planes hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building, we get we had some guests in the office. Got them out, and then another colleague, who was in from our corporate office, and I and my guide dog, Roselle, went to the stairs, and we started down. And   Bill Ratner ** 1:05:54 so, so what floor did the plane strike?   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:58 It struck and the NOR and the North Tower, between floors 93 and 99 so I just say 96 okay, and you were 20 floors down, 78 floors 78 so we were 18 floors below, and   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:09 at the moment of impact, what did you think?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:13 Had no idea we heard a muffled kind of explosion, because the plane hit on the other side of the building, 18 floors above us. There was no way to know what was going on. Did you feel? Did you feel? Oh, the building literally tipped, probably about 20 feet. It kept tipping. And then we actually said goodbye to each other, and then the building came back upright. And then we went,   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:34 really you so you thought you were going to die?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:38 David, my colleague who was with me, as I said, he was from our California office, and he was there to help with some seminars we were going to be doing. We actually were saying goodbye to each other because we thought we were about to take a 78 floor plunge to the street, when the building stopped tipping and it came back. Designed to do that by the architect. It was designed to do that, which is the point, the point.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:02 Goodness, gracious. And then did you know how to get to the stairway?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:04 Oh, absolutely. And did you do it with your friend? Yeah, the first thing we did, the first thing we did is I got him to get we had some guests, and I said, get him to the stairs. Don't let him take the elevators, because I knew he had seen fire above us, but that's all we knew. And but I said, don't take the elevators. Don't let them take elevators. Get them to the stairs and then come back and we'll leave. So he did all that, and then he came back, and we went to the stairs and started down.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:33 Wow. Could you smell anything?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:36 We smelled burning jet fuel fumes on the way down. And that's how we figured out an airplane must have hit the building, but we had no idea what happened. We didn't know what happened until the until both towers had collapsed, and I actually talked to my wife, and she's the one who told us how to aircraft have been crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth, at that time, was still missing over Pennsylvania. Wow. So you'll have to go pick up a copy of thunder dog. Goodness. Good. Thunder dog. The name of the book is Thunder dog, and the book I wrote last year is called Live like a guide dog. It's le

This episode is sponsored by Cain International and Arrow Global and first appeared on The PERE Podcast After several years defined by rising rates and pricing uncertainty, Europe's property market may be at an inflection point. Jay Patel, managing director at Arrow Global, and Arvi Luoma, who heads Cain International's European investment committee, share perspectives on how capital is rebalancing toward the continent in this special episode. Patel notes that allocators from the US, Middle East and beyond are looking to Europe in ways they weren't just a year ago, opening the door for both credit and equity strategies. Luoma, meanwhile, emphasizes that valuations appear to have bottomed and that green shoots are starting to show as financing conditions stabilize. The two also highlight where opportunities are clearest: Germany's distressed construction projects, Southern Europe's structural tourism boom, student housing, and continued undersupply in residential and hospitality. Data centers and logistics remain attractive, while ESG regulation – once seen as a hurdle – is increasingly embedded in business plans, shaping how new assets are built and old ones are repositioned. Taken together, their outlook is one of cautious optimism. Core capital is beginning to return, early movers are testing distressed opportunities, and Europe's mix of stability, rule of law and long-term demand drivers are drawing greater global interest.

Best Places in Malta for LGBTQ+ RetirementPalm Springs is cute, but what if your retirement backdrop was honey-colored cliffs, café culture, and 300 days of Mediterranean sunshine?By popular demand, we're spilling the limoncello on Malta—a tiny archipelago that's big on LGBTQ+ rights (ranked #1 in Europe!) and just might be your queer retirement fantasy. From Pride parades in Valletta to drag brunches at Café del Mar, Malta offers more than just Game of Thrones vibes and tax shelters for Crypto Bros.In this episode, we:

Headlines: – Welcome to Mo News + Tropical Storm Erin Update (02:00) – ​​Everything You Need To Know About Today's Trump-Putin Summit (04:00) – US Producer Prices Rise by Most in Three Years on Services (06:20) – Veggie-flation Strikes, With A Warning for Grocery Prices – HHS Revives Child Vaccine Safety Panel Sought By Anti-Vaccine Activists (10:20) – What to Know About the Heat Wave and Wildfires in Southern Europe (13:10) – Young Men Are Struggling In A Slowing Job Market, Even If They Have College Degrees (14:30) – Venus Williams, 45, Gets Singles Wild Card For US Open (16:45) – Everything You Need To Know About Taylor Swift's Appearance On New Heights Podcast (17:50) – What We're Watching, Reading, Eating (21:30) Thanks To Our Sponsors:  – ⁠LMNT⁠ - Free Sample Pack with any LMNT drink mix purchase –⁠ Industrious⁠ - Coworking office. 50% off day pass | Promo Code: MONEWS50 – Incogni - 60% off an annual plan| Promo Code: MONEWS – Leesa – 25% off mattress, plus extra $50 off | Promo Code: MONEWS – Shopify – $1 per-month trial | Code: monews

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Despite Cyprus being better prepared than ever ahead of the wildfire season, last month Cyprus was hit with its worst wildfire in decades. As Cypriots look for answers, countries in the region - including Greece - are also facing similar challenges as they struggle to build resilience and keep up with the impacts of climate change. Nektaria Stamouli, the deputy editor in chief of Kathimerini's English Edition and Politico's Eastern Mediterranean correspondent, joins Thanos Davelis as we dig into this story.You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:Confused politics fans the flames of Southern Europe's wildfiresTurkish parliamentary committee begins work on PKK peace initiativeAnti-drone system propels Greek plans for home-grown defence industry