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My conversation with Francesca starts at about 34 minutes in to today's show after headlines and clips Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous soul Journalist, activist and stand up comedian Francesca Fiorentini has spent most of her life comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable -- from the streets to the screen to the stage. As a host and producer, Francesca helped Al Jazeera Media Network successfully launch the online news channel AJ+ in 2013. She has captured online audiences with viral hits like "The Real Deal with the U.S. Mexico Border"and "How America is Already Socialist." In the Spring of 2016 Francesca launched Al Jazeera's first comedy show. (That's right, the BBC of the Middle East does comedy.) Newsbroke is a weekly scripted deep-dive into nuclear power, the war in Afghanistan, immigration policy and other totally non serious topics. As head writer and host, Francesca's monologues and sketches include viral hits like "How the Rich Want to Keep you Dumb" and "White Fragility in the Workplace." Francesca has also been a correspondent with "Explorer" on the National Geographic Channel since 2016. She has played matchmaker in Japan, toured a cadaver farm in Texas, and met Oklahomans demanding accountability for fracking-induced earthquakes. For her NatGeo work on draconian abortion laws in El Salvador she won a Media Excellence award from Planned Parenthood in 2018. In 2019 Francesca hosted "Red, White and Who?" a special that aired on MSNBC, which looked at the state of healthcare in the U.S. She traveled to Texas, Utah and New York and spoke with doctors, patients and politicians to understand how ten years after Obamacare, healthcare in America is less of a right and more of a luxury commodity. The special concluded with a sit-down interview with 2020 presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders. Francesca regularly speaks dick jokes to power on stage as a stand up comic. She has been featured on the podcast Lovett or Leave It (2018), the BBC Arts Hour (2018), and has been part of SF Sketchfest (2017-2020), SF Comedy Day (2017), and the Asian-American Comedy Comedy Festival in LA (2015). She is also a regular contributor to the progressive news network The Young Turks. ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page Gift a Subscription https://www.patreon.com/PeteDominick/gift
Joe's Premium Subscription: www.standardgrain.comGrain Markets and Other Stuff Links —Apple PodcastsSpotifyTikTokYouTubeFutures and options trading involves risk of loss and is not suitable for everyone.
In this episode, John breaks down the exact steps lawn and landscape business owners should take before the year ends to set up a profitable, organized, and stress-free 2026. From price increases to tax planning to customer list optimization, this episode is your definitive year-end strategy guide. Comments and Questions are welcome. Send to ProfitswithPajak@gmail.com Episode Links: Apple Podcast Listeners- Copy and paste the links below into your browser. Equip Expo 2026 Tickets: https://plus.mcievents.com/EquipExpo2026?RefId=PAJAK Upcoming Events: Show Partners: Yardbook Simplify your business and be more profitable. Please visit www.Yardbook.com Get 30 days of Premium Business level of Yardbook for FREE with promo code PAJAK Relay Relay is small business banking that puts you in complete control of what you are earning, spending, and saving. Click here to sign up for Relay and get $50.00 cash bonus!http://join.relayfi.com/promo/get-50-ulumkswykjzwi4dqsm?referralcode=profitswithpajak&utm_source=influencer&utm_medium=podcast Mr. Producer Click the link to connect with Thee Best Podcast Producer in the biz! https://www.instagram.com/mrproducerusa/ Green Frog Web Design Get your first month for only $1 when you use code, PAJAK, and have your website LIVE in 3 weeks from projected start date or it is FREE for a year. https://www.greenfrogwebdesign.com/johnpajak My Service Area "Qualify Leads Based on Your Profitable Service Area." Click on this link for an exclusive offer for being a "Profits with Pajak" listener. https://myservicearea.com/pajak Training and Courses Budgets, Breakevens, and Bottom Lines™ Workshop John Pajak's exclusive system is designed to help you avoid common failures and achieve your business' financial goals to be profitable and scale your business. https://www.johnpajak.com/offers/qvgvV8m3/checkout Yardbook Training Workshops Learn one-on-one with John Pajak to use Yardbook like a pro to streamline your business and make more money! https://www.johnpajak.com/offers/aJ9YX7aB/checkout
In this episode of Award Travel 101, hosts Angie Sparks and Mike Zaccheo dive deep into the Marriott Bonvoy rewards program. They explore the program's extensive hotel network of over 8,900 properties across 34 brands, ranging from budget-friendly Fairfield Inn to luxury Ritz Carlton. The hosts break down the elite status tiers, highlighting that Platinum status offers the most meaningful benefits, including room upgrades, free breakfast, and guaranteed 4 PM late checkout.The discussion covers Marriott Bonvoy credit card strategies, noting the various cards from Amex and Chase that offer elite night credits and status. They candidly discuss the program's pros and cons, praising its wide footprint and diverse property range while critiquing issues like resort fees on award stays and less-than-impressive benefits for lower-tier status levels. The episode concludes with a key tip: focus on loyalty strategies that genuinely work for your personal travel needs, rather than getting caught up in status-chasing hype.Where to Find Us The 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.travel Buy your Award Travel 101 Merch here Reserve tickets to our Spring 2026 Meetup in Phoenix now. award.travel/phx2026 Our 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.
Audrey MacLean joins D3 Glory Days to talk about her win at D3 XC Nationals.She brings a refreshing perspective to running where she has a lot of run, tries not to put pressure on herself, and very dedicated.She takes us through her thoughts going into the race, the surprise of how big of a gap she had, and how her coach helps her prep for big races.Audrey's love for running is her driving force along with inspirations from her Aunt and Mom.Above all else, Audrey is a true team player. She was so excited for the Middlebury's 8th place finish and is excited to see what they can do next year.She also tells us she'll be studying abroad this Spring and will miss the track season. Support D3 Glory Days!A big thanks to Bombas for supporting D3 Glory Days for our regional coverage. If you've been enjoying the coverage, show some love to Bombas by using our code. Use code: GLORYDAYS21 for 21% off your first order bombas.comHow to Support D3 Glory Days:THE NEWSLETTER!D3 Glory Days Venmo.We launched a Patreon!Subscribe and leave us a review on Apple PodcastsInstagram,Twitter and Strava.
This winter, I'm not shrinking. I'm building. No crash dieting. No January panic. Just real strength and real momentum. Because here's the truth most women never get told: You cannot diet your way into better body composition. If you've been restricting for years, your body isn't broken… it's guarded. Muscle is the midlife game-changer: Stronger metabolism Better hormone support More energy Less joint pain More confidence in your body And the scale? It only shows gravity's opinion. That's it. This episode is all about: Why endless dieting backfires in midlife How to know if you actually need to build instead of shrink Why seasons matter more than willpower And how to stop living in reaction mode with your health You don't need another reset. You need a smarter season. Do you want January to feel like misery or momentum? Smaller or stronger? Restricted… or resilient? Strong by Spring Is Open If you're done starting over every January, this is your season. Strong by Spring is my 12-week winter strength program designed to help you build real momentum through the winter so spring doesn't feel like a panic sprint. ✔ No punishment ✔ No hard-for-the-sake-of-hard ✔ Just smart, sustainable strength Join right here https://kimbarnesjefferson.lpages.co/strong-by-spring Am I The Ahole?
Hi, Spring fans! I'm so excited to chat with fellow Spring developer advocate Dan Vega about his new book, "Fundamentals of Software Engineering" https://www.danvega.dev/books/fundamentals-of-software-engineering
Creating a helpline for eating disorders is now a reality. Sarah Callazzo used to wear smaller jeans and fake a smile. She liked having as many friends as possible. She would never consider herself a leader. Her camera roll was filled with 'progress pictures' of her body. She was fighting a losing battle with herself. She was in denial and was exhausted - but she would've never admitted it. Around five years ago, Sarah decided she didn't want to be that girl anymore. She was exhausted from trying to be the girl that 'does it all.' Rather than trying to be a superwoman for everyone else, she wanted to be her own hero. She has been actively working on her own recovery while encouraging others to do the same. Sarah is a proud sister of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, a former Chapter President at the University of Rhode Island, and author of the book "Unknown Warrior: Battling the Mirror". Sarah just completed her Master of Social Work at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the Spring of 2025, and has recently founded a new organization that she will tell us all about called "Love a Stranger". In episode 625 of the Fraternity Foodie Podcast, we find out the moment when Sarah realized didn't want to be that version of herself anymore (performative), what does Unknown Warrior mean to her, why is there a documented rise in eating disorders nationwide, what are the warning signs students and chapter leaders should be watching for with eating disorders, what was the moment that sparked the creation of this helpline for eating disorders, what does peer-to-peer support offer that traditional treatment or crisis systems often cannot, what is one practical change we could implement this semester to better support students struggling with body image or disordered eating, and what should students actually feel when they hear ""What you look like is the least interesting thing about you". Enjoy!
BYU-Idaho to offer new AI Engineering minor starting in Spring 2026 by BYU-Idaho Radio
The One With Chevy Chase, The Ponytail PI, and The Best Buy Parking Lot AKA A PERFECT SPRING MORNING! Official Description from NBCU: The quiet community of Chevy Chase, Maryland, is shaken when a mother is found murdered in her shower; detectives find plausible suspects quickly, but without evidence the case goes cold until a surprising lead unmasks the killer two decades later. Blayne Alexander reports. If you want more of K & K, join our Patreon or Supercast at the $5 a month level to get Super Secret Superlatives/Bonus Bits/ A Fun Name Yet To Be Determined! This week we have a LENGTHY discussion about what we got wrong recently, lots of outside info from last week's Raising the Dead, the McDonald's chandelier from Running Man, AND we do B-Roll Bonanza, Fashion Police, and more from this week's episode! Check out Kimberly's Etsy shop https://stitchesbekrazy.etsy.com for inappropriate cross stitches! Makes a unique and fun gift for the holidays! Check out Kimberly doing a thesis on the owl theory on Murder She Watched's Patreon! And talking about hit men prices on Crime Seen! Check out our Patreon or Supercast and get instant access to over 80 full length true crime episodes, our monthly livestreams, ad free episodes, Karen Read All About It episodes, and MORE! patreon.com/datedateline datedateline.supercast.com Or gift a Patreon subscription to a friend! https://www.patreon.com/datedateline/gift Shopping with our sponsors is an easy way to support our show! Complete your winter wonderland glam look with Thrive! Go to thrivecausemetics.com/DATEDATELINE for an exclusive offer of 20% off your first order. Give yourself and your loved ones the most extraordinary feeling sleep with 25% off sitewide, plus free shipping and extended returns during Boll & Branch's best sale of the year. Shop now at BollAndBranch.com/datedateline with code datedateline. Exclusions apply. Right now, IQBAR is offering our special podcast listeners twenty percent off all IQBAR products—including the sampler pack—plus FREE shipping. To get your twenty percent off, text DATELINE to sixty-four thousand. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. Treat yourself, your friends, and your family to the most delicious bite size cupcakes! Right now, Baked by Melissa is offering our listeners 20% off your order at bakedbymelissa.com/DATEDATELINE ! To advertise on this podcast please email: ad-sales@libsyn.com Or go to: https://advertising.libsyn.com/ADatewithDateline
“The Chair Recognizes” With November's stinging election results not even a month behind the Virginia GOP, their chairman, State Sen. Mark Peake, announced that he will be stepping down. Peake told me that he's leaving his post at the end of December because he wanted to make sure he could devote his full effort in the Virginia Senate to defeating the redistricting referendum before it needs a special election. He also said that the Republican Party requires a chairman who can devote a similar amount of energy to getting out the vote should it make it to a Spring special election, and beyond that, helping win whatever districts there will be come November's midterms. Peake stepped in after longtime chair Rich Anderson earned a post as assistant secretary of the Air Force. Cameron Hamilton has announced that he wants the State Central Committee to consider him. Hamilton mounted a challenge for the GOP nomination in Virginia's 7th Congressional District in 2024 and his wife Karen was just elected to Virginia's House of Delegates from the 62nd District, succeeding the retired Nick Freitas. Some other frontrunners for the chairmanship include current chairs of Virginia's 1st, 5th, and 6th congressional districts. They are Jeff Ryer, Rick Buchanan, and John Massoud respectively. Ryer has helped Rep. Rob Wittman win reelection in a very competitive district while even outperforming statewide and national Republicans. Buchanan led the 5th District through the tumultuous (and expensive) primary battle between challenger John McGuire and incumbent Rep. Bob Good. Buchanan also pulled the district together to deliver a 15% victory for McGuire in the general election. Massoud has helped Rep. Ben Cline build a strong base that supports him at a better-than-60% clip and has also managed to withstand out-of-state money attempting to flip Virginia House 34th District where incumbent Tony Wilt survived the 2025 “blue wave.” Would Loudon County GOP chair Scott Pio try again for the chairman position? He has been vocal on social media about the need for a change and called for Peake to step down in the wake of the Democrat sweep of the statewide races and a 14-seat “flip” in the house. He was a candidate for the position when Anderson departed and lost to Peake at the State Central Committee vote. Keep Up With The Daily Signal Sign up for our email newsletters: https://www.dailysignal.com/email Subscribe to our other shows: The Tony Kinnett Cast: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2284199939 The Signal Sitdown: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL2026390376 Problematic Women: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL7765680741 Victor Davis Hanson: https://megaphone.link/THEDAILYSIGNAL9809784327 Follow The Daily Signal: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=DailySignal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedailysignal/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDailySignalNews/ Truth Social: https://truthsocial.com/@DailySignal YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
John Giannandrea is stepping down from his role as VP for Machine Learning & AI Strategy and retiring in Spring 2026! Could Apple re-partner with Intel on a future product? Apple overtakes Samsung as the world's top phone maker. And Apple's new holiday season TV ad charms the panel! John Giannandrea to retire from Apple. From Ming-Chi Kuo: "Intel expected to begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M processor as early as 2027..." Apple to resist India order to preload state-run app as political outcry builds. Apple set to become world's top phone maker, overtaking Samsung. EU to examine if Apple Ads and Maps subject to tough rules, Apple says no. Apple releases 2025 holiday season TV ad: 'A Critter Carol'. Apple Music replay 2025 now fully available. Apple security bounties slashed as Mac malware grows. MKBHD's wallpaper app Panels is shutting down. Apple TV series The Hunt postponed due to plagiarism allegations. Apple TV debuts trailer for all-new holiday special "The First Snow of Fraggle Rock," premiering globally Friday, December 5. Apple and (RED) announce limited-time $3M Apple Pay partnership. After Apple originally announced the first version of Halo in 1999, Xbox apparently called Bungie and said 'Steve Jobs can't have that. We're going to buy you.' David Lerner, a Mr. Fix-it of Apple computers, dies at 72. 34 years ago, Apple created a multimedia file format for the Mac, and it's still all around us. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Logic Pro for iPad Andy's Pick: 'I Made Apple's Widget Clock" Jason's Pick: Govee Christmas Lights 2 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit 1password.com/macbreak zocdoc.com/macbreak framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK
Welcome to episode 293 of Growers Daily! We cover: our monthly check in with Mikey and Kez at Five Tales Farm in Australia. We talk about their low fi tomato grafting and some farm team dynamics. We are a Non-Profit!
John Giannandrea is stepping down from his role as VP for Machine Learning & AI Strategy and retiring in Spring 2026! Could Apple re-partner with Intel on a future product? Apple overtakes Samsung as the world's top phone maker. And Apple's new holiday season TV ad charms the panel! John Giannandrea to retire from Apple. From Ming-Chi Kuo: "Intel expected to begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M processor as early as 2027..." Apple to resist India order to preload state-run app as political outcry builds. Apple set to become world's top phone maker, overtaking Samsung. EU to examine if Apple Ads and Maps subject to tough rules, Apple says no. Apple releases 2025 holiday season TV ad: 'A Critter Carol'. Apple Music replay 2025 now fully available. Apple security bounties slashed as Mac malware grows. MKBHD's wallpaper app Panels is shutting down. Apple TV series The Hunt postponed due to plagiarism allegations. Apple TV debuts trailer for all-new holiday special "The First Snow of Fraggle Rock," premiering globally Friday, December 5. Apple and (RED) announce limited-time $3M Apple Pay partnership. After Apple originally announced the first version of Halo in 1999, Xbox apparently called Bungie and said 'Steve Jobs can't have that. We're going to buy you.' David Lerner, a Mr. Fix-it of Apple computers, dies at 72. 34 years ago, Apple created a multimedia file format for the Mac, and it's still all around us. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Logic Pro for iPad Andy's Pick: 'I Made Apple's Widget Clock" Jason's Pick: Govee Christmas Lights 2 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit 1password.com/macbreak zocdoc.com/macbreak framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK
John Giannandrea is stepping down from his role as VP for Machine Learning & AI Strategy and retiring in Spring 2026! Could Apple re-partner with Intel on a future product? Apple overtakes Samsung as the world's top phone maker. And Apple's new holiday season TV ad charms the panel! John Giannandrea to retire from Apple. From Ming-Chi Kuo: "Intel expected to begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M processor as early as 2027..." Apple to resist India order to preload state-run app as political outcry builds. Apple set to become world's top phone maker, overtaking Samsung. EU to examine if Apple Ads and Maps subject to tough rules, Apple says no. Apple releases 2025 holiday season TV ad: 'A Critter Carol'. Apple Music replay 2025 now fully available. Apple security bounties slashed as Mac malware grows. MKBHD's wallpaper app Panels is shutting down. Apple TV series The Hunt postponed due to plagiarism allegations. Apple TV debuts trailer for all-new holiday special "The First Snow of Fraggle Rock," premiering globally Friday, December 5. Apple and (RED) announce limited-time $3M Apple Pay partnership. After Apple originally announced the first version of Halo in 1999, Xbox apparently called Bungie and said 'Steve Jobs can't have that. We're going to buy you.' David Lerner, a Mr. Fix-it of Apple computers, dies at 72. 34 years ago, Apple created a multimedia file format for the Mac, and it's still all around us. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Logic Pro for iPad Andy's Pick: 'I Made Apple's Widget Clock" Jason's Pick: Govee Christmas Lights 2 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit 1password.com/macbreak zocdoc.com/macbreak framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK
John Giannandrea is stepping down from his role as VP for Machine Learning & AI Strategy and retiring in Spring 2026! Could Apple re-partner with Intel on a future product? Apple overtakes Samsung as the world's top phone maker. And Apple's new holiday season TV ad charms the panel! John Giannandrea to retire from Apple. From Ming-Chi Kuo: "Intel expected to begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M processor as early as 2027..." Apple to resist India order to preload state-run app as political outcry builds. Apple set to become world's top phone maker, overtaking Samsung. EU to examine if Apple Ads and Maps subject to tough rules, Apple says no. Apple releases 2025 holiday season TV ad: 'A Critter Carol'. Apple Music replay 2025 now fully available. Apple security bounties slashed as Mac malware grows. MKBHD's wallpaper app Panels is shutting down. Apple TV series The Hunt postponed due to plagiarism allegations. Apple TV debuts trailer for all-new holiday special "The First Snow of Fraggle Rock," premiering globally Friday, December 5. Apple and (RED) announce limited-time $3M Apple Pay partnership. After Apple originally announced the first version of Halo in 1999, Xbox apparently called Bungie and said 'Steve Jobs can't have that. We're going to buy you.' David Lerner, a Mr. Fix-it of Apple computers, dies at 72. 34 years ago, Apple created a multimedia file format for the Mac, and it's still all around us. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Logic Pro for iPad Andy's Pick: 'I Made Apple's Widget Clock" Jason's Pick: Govee Christmas Lights 2 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit 1password.com/macbreak zocdoc.com/macbreak framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK
In 2025, Venezuela is once again in the crosshairs of US foreign policy, facing the threat of military intervention and heightened sanctions from a new Trump administration. But to understand the resilience of the Venezuelan people today, we must look back to a pivotal moment in their history that is often overlooked: the "Trienio" of 1945-1948.In this episode, Nick explores the dramatic coup of October 1945, led by young officers like Carlos Delgado Chalbaud and the democratic party Acción Democrática. We delve into how a military uprising transformed into a radical experiment in social democracy—quadrupling budgets for health and housing, eradicating malaria, and enfranchising the illiterate and women for the first time. Drawing on Keith Lowe's The Fear and the Freedom, we ask: Why did this democratic spring terrify the elites? And how does the memory of this revolution continue to shape Venezuelan resistance to US imperialism today?Key Topics:The 1945 Coup: How junior officers and democrats toppled a dictatorship.The Trienio (1945-48): A brief golden age of literacy, health, and worker power.Oil and Sovereignty: The radical decision to split oil profits 50/50, setting a global precedent.Class War: Why the middle classes and traditional elites revolted against the "government of espadrille-wearing peasants."Modern Parallels: US interventionism from 1945 to the Trump doctrine of 2025.Books Mentioned:The Fear and the Freedom by Keith LoweWar is a Racket by Smedley ButlerThe Spanish Holocaust by Paul PrestonExplaining History helps you understand the 20th Century through critical conversations and expert interviews. We connect the past to the present. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and share.▸ Support the Show & Get Exclusive ContentBecome a Patron: patreon.com/explaininghistory▸ Join the Community & Continue the ConversationFacebook Group: facebook.com/groups/ExplainingHistoryPodcastSubstack: theexplaininghistorypodcast.substack.com▸ Read Articles & Go DeeperWebsite: explaininghistory.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Send us a message!In this episode, Dana is joined by BU student co-host, Elizabeth, for her very first time behind the mic as they sit down with PCOS expert Caitlin Johnson, RD. Follow Caitlin on Instagram @pcosfertilitynutrition. In this conversation, Caitlin breaks down insulin resistance in PCOS, explains the science behind myo-inositol, and shares practical insights from her work supporting women through nutrition and functional medicine.Caitlin Johnson, RD, is a registered dietitian and functional medicine practitioner who specializes in helping women with PCOS restore hormonal balance, reclaim their fertility, and better understand their bodies. After navigating her own PCOS journey and naturally conceiving three children, she founded PCOS Fertility Nutrition, a platform that offers education, personalized coaching, and The PCOS App to support women seeking evidence-based guidance.Caitlin is the creator of PCOS Formularies, a supplement line designed specifically for women with PCOS, and the co-host of the Food Freedom & Fertility podcast, where she brings research-informed conversations to women's nutrition. Her upcoming book, How to Get Pregnant with PCOS, releases in Spring 2026! Book Recommendations/ Resources mentionedhttps://realfoodforfertility.com/ https://whnacademy.com/ https://avivaromm.com/
The Professor Frenzy Show Episode 386 Maria Llovet's Artificial #3 from Image | Written and art by Maria Llovet The Invisible Man #4 of 4 from Image Comics (W) James Tynion IV (A) Dani $4.99 Assorted Crisis Events #6 from Image Comics (W) Deniz Camp (A) Eric Zawadzki $4.99 Exquisite Corpses #7 from Image Comics (W) Michael Walsh w/James Tynion IV (A) Claire Roe w/Michael Walsh $4.99 Red Book #2 from Dark Horse Comics (W) James Tynion IV (A) Michael Avon Oeming $4.99 Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #4 from IDW Publishing (W/A) Patrick Horvath $4.99 The Twilight Zone #2 from IDW Publishing (W/A) Thomas Scioli $4.99 Dick Tracy #13 from MadCave Studios (W) Alex Segura and Michael Moreci (A) Geraldo Borges $4.99 Josie and the Pussycats Annual Spectacular #1 (one shot) from Archie Comics MAD magazine #46 $5.99 Minor Arcana #11 from Boom Studios | Written by Jeff Lemire | Art by Patricio Delpeche | Cruel Universe #11 Hello Darkness #16 from Boom Studios
00:00 Cross talk.19:40 Spring is with Nate talking Broncos.39:15 Insights to Insights To Excellence.
For this episode, we sat down with Dr. Jonelle Basso, a research scientist at the Joint Genome Institute. She discussed how bacteria and viruses team up with their hosts to provide mutual benefits, and how her team uses genomic approaches to decode these underground partnerships. From computational analysis to experimental work, discover how scientists are unraveling the complex relationships between plants and their microbial allies. This episode was recorded in Spring of 2024. Some information discussed may have changed since the recording date.
John Giannandrea is stepping down from his role as VP for Machine Learning & AI Strategy and retiring in Spring 2026! Could Apple re-partner with Intel on a future product? Apple overtakes Samsung as the world's top phone maker. And Apple's new holiday season TV ad charms the panel! John Giannandrea to retire from Apple. From Ming-Chi Kuo: "Intel expected to begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M processor as early as 2027..." Apple to resist India order to preload state-run app as political outcry builds. Apple set to become world's top phone maker, overtaking Samsung. EU to examine if Apple Ads and Maps subject to tough rules, Apple says no. Apple releases 2025 holiday season TV ad: 'A Critter Carol'. Apple Music replay 2025 now fully available. Apple security bounties slashed as Mac malware grows. MKBHD's wallpaper app Panels is shutting down. Apple TV series The Hunt postponed due to plagiarism allegations. Apple TV debuts trailer for all-new holiday special "The First Snow of Fraggle Rock," premiering globally Friday, December 5. Apple and (RED) announce limited-time $3M Apple Pay partnership. After Apple originally announced the first version of Halo in 1999, Xbox apparently called Bungie and said 'Steve Jobs can't have that. We're going to buy you.' David Lerner, a Mr. Fix-it of Apple computers, dies at 72. 34 years ago, Apple created a multimedia file format for the Mac, and it's still all around us. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Logic Pro for iPad Andy's Pick: 'I Made Apple's Widget Clock" Jason's Pick: Govee Christmas Lights 2 Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: outsystems.com/twit 1password.com/macbreak zocdoc.com/macbreak framer.com/design promo code MACBREAK
It's a stressful time of year. If you're in Higher Ed, you're wrapping up the fall term and planning for the spring. Plus, you're smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. That's a ton of expectations and stress for you and your team, so it's perhaps the perfect season to discuss boundaries. In this episode, you'll learn the difference between boundaries and rules. And you'll discover how you can set both around your unique Talent Themes. If you'd like to be more productive and less stressed during the end of the year, you'll want to check out this episode. We're thrilled to announce our newest program, the Strengths Accelerator Academy! If you've wanted to dive deeper into your own Strengths or implement a Strengths-based culture with your team or organization, this Academy is for you. Join us for the Spring 2026 Cohort starting Thursday, January 22nd! We know it's early, but register NOW to take advantage of early bird pricing! It EXPIRES Friday, December 5th, so act now! You'll get eight weeks of powerful online content, designed to help you better understand yourself, your talents, and how to better manage your team. This program combines online learning with weekly cohort calls to discuss the content. Plus, you get one individual coaching call to let you focus on the things that matter to you the most. Get more information about the Academy and Register here -https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/acceleratoracademy Oh and we're also enrolling for the Spring Cohort of the Supervisor Strengths Institute. Get more information about the Institute and Register here - https://learn.strengthsuniversity.org/Institute Have questions? Email Anne at anne@strengthsuniversity.org or set up a meeting with her HERE. Want more information about Strength...
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We're re-releasing this powerful conversation with one of my best friends, Layla Martin, as we prepare for our next pilgrimage to Greece in Spring 2026. This episode kicks off our Priestess Pilgrimage series — a journey into the mysteries, medicines, and feminine technologies that shaped entire civilizations. In Part 1, Layla and I explore what it meant to walk as a priestess, why words like witch and oracle were once titles of honor, and how ancient rituals using breath, trance, plants, and embodied worship were designed to help humans experience the divine directly. We also share why tens of thousands of people once traveled to Eleusis to transform their relationship with death — and why those same technologies are rising again now. If you've ever felt the pull toward deeper remembrance, this episode is a doorway. In this episode, we explore: •The true meaning of “High Priestess” — beyond trend, beyond aesthetic •Why the ancient “witch” was simply the wise woman and spiritual leader • How Eleusis became the epicenter of direct divine experience • The connection between plant medicine and early mystical Christianity • Why embodied spirituality threatens systems of control • The Persephone descent as a map for healing and power • How reclamation impacts love, sex, creativity, body image & sovereignty • The very real, very human moments of pilgrimage (including the porta potty initiation) Key Moments: [00:01] High priestesses & the origins of plant medicine as sacrament [00:56] Why Emily & Layla created their own priestess pilgrimage [02:40] Witch, wise woman, priestess — reclaiming the lineage [05:06] What it means to hold spiritual authority in your own body [07:02] How patriarchy severed women from the divine [08:05] The “religion with no name” — nature, cosmos, direct experience [09:41] The Eleusinian Mysteries & dying before you die [12:01] The ingredients, codes & hidden teachings of the Kaikion [15:11] Plant medicine, sovereignty & why it threatened empire [17:18] The psychological impact of remembering your divinity [20:03] Inside the descent myth of Persephone & Demeter [23:52] The moment the pilgrimage became hilariously human Layla Martin — Founder of the VITA Method, teacher of Tantra, sexuality, emotional mastery, and spiritual awakening. Instagram: @thelaylamartin Learn more: laylamartin.com Join the Upcoming Pilgrimage to Greece — Spring 2026 If you feel the call of Eleusis, the mysteries, or this lineage…Emily is opening the next pilgrimage to Greece in Spring 2026. Submit your refundable deposit to secure your spot to apply, this ensures you're among the first considered when applications open. Learn More: zivameditation.com/pages/nextlevel More from Emily & Ziva: • Join Ziva Magic: zivameditation.com/pages/zivamagic • Learn Ziva Meditation: preview.zivameditation.com •Free masterclass: learn.zivameditation.com •Get 15% off with promo code WHYTHIS: whythis.zivameditation.com • Follow us on Instagram: @zivameditation •Visit upgradedformulas.com/emily and use code EMILY for 20% off everything at UpgradedFormulas.com These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Consult your healthcare provider if pregnant/nursing, on medication, or have a medical condition.
Will the Federal Reserve cut interest rates when it meets again in two weeks?Wall Street has been whipsawing the odds back & forth over the past few weeks.To address that question, plus the even larger one of who is likely to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell when his tenure ends in the Spring, we're fortunate to welcome back to the program Dr Thomas Hoenig, former CEO of the Kansas City Fed, former voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, a former director of the FDIC, and now a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Mercatus Center.Follow Dr Hoenig at https://www.finregrag.com/ and https://www.mercatus.org/WORRIED ABOUT THE MARKET? SCHEDULE YOUR FREE PORTFOLIO REVIEW with Thoughtful Money's endorsed financial advisors at https://www.thoughtfulmoney.com#federalreserve #QE #moneyprinting _____________________________________________ Thoughtful Money LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor Promoter.We produce educational content geared for the individual investor. It's important to note that this content is NOT investment advice, individual or otherwise, nor should be construed as such.We recommend that most investors, especially if inexperienced, should consider benefiting from the direction and guidance of a qualified financial advisor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or state securities regulators who can develop & implement a personalized financial plan based on a customer's unique goals, needs & risk tolerance.IMPORTANT NOTE: There are risks associated with investing in securities.Investing in stocks, bonds, exchange traded funds, mutual funds, money market funds, and other types of securities involve risk of loss. Loss of principal is possible. Some high risk investments may use leverage, which will accentuate gains & losses. Foreign investing involves special risks, including a greater volatility and political, economic and currency risks and differences in accounting methods.A security's or a firm's past investment performance is not a guarantee or predictor of future investment performance.Thoughtful Money and the Thoughtful Money logo are trademarks of Thoughtful Money LLC.Copyright © 2025 Thoughtful Money LLC. All rights reserved.
Summary:This week on Next in Media, Mike Shields talks with Erick Opeka, President & Chief Strategy Officer at Cineverse and board member at the startup Micro Co. Opeka breaks down how short-form “micro-dramas”—already attracting hundreds of millions of daily viewers in China—are taking shape in the U.S. and why they could become a $20 billion category.He explains how Cineverse's 22 streaming services, proprietary Matchpoint technology, and deep ad-tech stack position it to lead this wave. From Quibi's missteps to AI-driven efficiencies, Opeka shares how the next generation of vertical video could transform storytelling, advertising, and the very idea of television.⭐ Key Highlights
In this episode, Mike and Larry hit pause on all the EQUIP Expo and Lawntrepreneur Academy Live content to bring you a timely deep-dive into one of the most overlooked parts of the lawn care game: proper winterization and storage. We break down why winterizing your equipment isn't just maintenance — it's money in the bank. From engines to handhelds to your Permagreens, we walk through how to protect your gear now so you're not losing days (or dollars) when spring chaos hits. We also give an update on what's happening behind the scenes at Coastal- the shop setup, business momentum, new projects in motion, and how we're gearing up for our biggest year.
Giving Tuesday is here! Anna and Raven discuss the day of generosity and everything in between that comes with it! Spoiler alert...What is the standard wait time to talk about spoilers from a new show or movie? Anna sometimes doesn't even realize she does it by accident-On the air. Would you listen to a psychic to make an adjustment to your everyday life? Anna and Raven discuss what Meghan Trainor was told to stop doing. And she did. It's back! The Anna and Raven Santa Tipline! Santa needs to know who's naughty, and who's nice. Call and leave a message 24/7 and you may hear yourself on the air. Call 888-702-9646 to leave a message for the Big Guy! Anna and Raven discuss their take on asking people for money and hear some wild personal loan stories. How much is too much money? How long should you really be waiting for a reimbursement? Anna regrets the fitness text chain she joined for motivation. Raven wishes he never got involved in his son's home renovation. Together, they discuss the regretful situations they committed to one day. Brent and Jen's neighbor requested that they don't paint their home a bright yellow color. They are longtime friends, and she had shown the neighbor the paint color they were selecting for the job in the Spring, and a few days later the neighbor said that she thought it was really ugly and it didn't fit the neighborhoods vibe. Jen thinks that this is a reasonable request and wants to pick a basic white color now, Brent never liked the yellow that much but is so annoyed that the neighbor said this, that he wants to paint the house yellow out of spite now. What would you do? Luanne has a chance to win $300! All she has to do is answer more pop culture questions than Raven in Can't Beat Raven!
Last Week of Class Business Finance, FIL 240-002, Autumn 2025, Lecture 28 Type: mp3 audio file ©2025
Last Week of Class Business Finance, FIL 240-001, Autumn 2025, Lecture 28 Type: mp3 audio file ©2025
Amy Lynn Brown had everything going for her in the Spring of 1998. She had just signed a lease for a new apartment, obtained a new and exciting job, and just adopted her very first dog. She and her family embarked on a tropical cruise vacation to celebrate all of her success. However, what started out as a fun filled celebration turned tragic when Amy went missing while at sea. Did she fall overboard, leave at her own volition, or was foul play involved? 27 years later, Amy's family is still asking "What happened to Amy?"
We're starting the chapter called "Sex." Chapter 3. We discuss his first sub-chapter, "The GI Generation and Its Failures." This is a continuation of a transformative reading and fair use of Chris Caldwell's "The Age of Entitlement" published by Simon and Schuster in 2020. We finish chapter 2, Race, today, including the crucial subsections pertaining to the origins of political correctness. We'd like to thank Chris Caldwell for writing it, Simon and Schuster for making it available, and encourage you to purchase your own physical copy of the book so that you can follow along. Please support brick and mortar book dealers, you local book dealers. I'd like to thank my former political philosophy student Matt Stone (Phil M03: Social and Political Philosophy at Moorpark College, Spring 2008) for purchasing my copy of the book for me and supporting TRP podcast. Let's foster a culture that values good authors and good books, physical books, and honors and rewards publishers for making those books available for us to read and to think about. Please support this author and this publisher. Also, support your local brick and mortar book dealer, dealers in physical books. This episode was filmed the morning the day after Thanksgiving Day, Friday of color 28 November 2025 years after Jesus in the backyard of my long-time (nearly a quarter of a century) Epistemology mentor Dr. Doug Geivett (PhD, USC under Dallas Willard), a student himself of the famous late-great Republican professor, the late-great Dallas Willard of USC's Philosophy Department. This episode includes a reading of Psalm 130 (ESV) and Streams in the Desert January 21st (Cowman Publications: Los Feliz Station, Lost Angeles , California 1925 years after Jesus). The Republican Professor is a pro-political-phenomeonology-done-right podcast. The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D.
How can we make our exhibitions more sustainable — in every way?Where do we start? What can museum teams learn from sustainability advancements in architecture? What's a “red list?” What is the difference between embodied and operational carbon? What does it mean to do “design for deconstruction?” And when can we all buy the upcoming “Sustainable Museum Exhibition Handbook?”Douglas Flandro (Exhibition Designer & Director of Sustainability, CambridgeSeven) discusses “What is Sustainable Exhibition Design?” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).Along the way: museum egos, dark skies, and heat islands.Talking Points:1. Embracing Imperfection2. Design for Human Health3. Design for Social Health and Equity4. Design for Ecosystem Health5. Design for Climate Health6. Design for the Circular EconomyHow to Listen:Listen on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311 Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/ Guest Bio:Drawing on his background in theater and film design, Douglas Flandro is especially interested in sustainable exhibit design, new technologies, immersive experiences, experiential graphic design and hands-on interactive exhibits. He has designed exhibits and graphics for numerous science museums, children's museums, nature and visitor centers, aquariums, and zoos. As the firm's Director of Sustainability, Douglas leads CambridgeSeven's Sustainable Working Group and has taught and lectured at AAM, ASTC, Parson's School of Design, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the author of the forthcoming book, “The Sustainable Exhibition Handbook,” due to be released in the Spring of 2026.About Making the Museum:Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/ Links for This Episode:Douglas by Emaildflandro@cambridgeseven.com Douglas on LInkedinhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-flandro/ CambridgeSevenhttps://www.cambridgeseven.com The Sustainable Exhibition Design & Construction Toolkithttps://www.cambridgeseven.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/SEDC-Toolkit_v6_Sep2024.pdf The Museum Exhibition Materials Pledgehttps://www.mindfulmaterials.com/museum-materials-pledge The Gallery Climate Coalitionhttps://measure.galleryclimatecoalition.org/ The Bizot Green Protocolhttps://www.cimam.org/sustainability-and-ecology-museum-practice/bizot-green-protocol/ The Climate Toolkithttps://climatetoolkit.org/about/ Living Future (ILFI) Red List of Worst in Class Chemicalshttps://living-future.org/red-list/ Green Science Policy Institute Six Classes of Chemicalshttps://www.sixclasses.org/ DarkSky Internationalhttps://darksky.org/ Terrapin Bright Green 14+ Patterns of Biophilic Designhttps://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/14-patterns/ The Design Museum, "The Waste Age: What can design do?"https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/waste-age-what-can-design-do Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:Contact Making the Museumhttps://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger Email Jonathan Algeralger@cgpartnersllc.com C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studiohttps://www.cgpartnersllc.com/ Making the Museum, the Newsletter:Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.Subscribe to the newsletter:https://www.makingthemuseum.com/
Send us a messageWe all move through seasons in life - times of growth, times of challenge, times of change, and times of joy. Just like the natural seasonal cycles through winter, spring, summer, and autumn, our lives follow a similar rhythm. Some seasons invite us to slow down, some push us forward, and some reshape us in ways we never expected. And whether we recognize it or not, each season holds purpose. In the first part of our new four-part series to kick off season 6, we take a look at Winter - the season of waiting. When we think of winter, we often picture cold, stillness, and silence. It's the season where everything appears dormant, and the world feels quieter than usual. But, winter isn't a dead season. In fact, it's often one of the most necessary seasons we walk through. Beneath the surface, growth is happening in ways we can't see, preparing us for what comes next. Winter invites us to slow down, it calls us to reflect, and it begs us to trust that the stillness is not wasted. It's sacred space for God's unseen work.
In this episode of Risky Benefits, Rick and Kyla sit down with Eleanor Joseph, VP of the Public Sector at Spring Health, to unpack why traditional EAPs often fail to meet the real needs of today's workforce—especially caregivers, frontline workers, and public sector employees. Eleanor explains how Spring Health is redefining mental health benefits with faster access to care, culturally competent support, continuous check-ins, and measurement-based outcomes that show whether people are actually getting better.The conversation explores the impact of high-exposure roles, the persistent stigma around mental health (particularly for men), and the importance of treating mental well-being as preventative care—not a crisis-only response. Employers and HR leaders will walk away with practical insights, common pitfalls to avoid, and a clearer picture of what modern, effective mental health support can look like.To listen in and subscribe to more episodes, visit our website: fbmc.com/podcast.
Teatro ZinZanni, is a Chicago classic and one of the most unique theatrical and entertainment experiences in the city! Perfect for Chicagoans and a must for visitors. Imagine an evening of dinner and a show filled with music, orchestra, circus and fun all taking place in an antique Spiegeltent on the 14th floor Cambria Hotel in downtown […]
Join Dan Vega and DaShaun Carter for the latest updates from the Spring Ecosystem. In this episode, Dan and DaShaun are joined by Spring Security team member Josh Cummings to explore the new Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) support in Spring Security. At the end of this episode, you will understand how to implement MFA in your Spring applications to enhance security beyond traditional username and password authentication. You can participate in our live stream to ask questions or catch the replay on your preferred podcast platform.Show Notes: Spring Security MFA DocsJosh Cummings on BlueSky
2PM's Taecyeon is engaged and will marry his longtime girlfriend next spring
// Longevity ist gerade der(!) Gesundheits-Megatrend . Von allen Ecken und Enden ruft es uns entgegen: „Spring endlich auch auf auf den Zug zu einem möglichst langen Leben.” Und vor allem: „Mach' schön dein Portmonnaie auf dafür!” Aber brauchen wir all das, was uns da schmackhaft gemacht wird, wirklich? Ist es nicht sinnvoller, sich erstmal um die Basics zu kümmern, bevor man zu teuren Präparaten oder Blutplasma-Infusionen greift? Und wenn ja, was sind diese Basics überhaupt? Ich hatte das Gefühl, dass ich mich mit diesen Fragen mal ausführlich beschäftigen sollte. In dieser Folge tue ich genau das, und zwar mit einer Mischung aus wissenschaftlicher Analyse und ganz persönlichem Blick, begleitet von gelegentlichem Kopfschütteln, überraschenden Erkenntnissen und dem guten Gefühl, dass das Einfache offenbar immer mehr zum echten Zufluchtsort wird. Ach ja, und dann gibt es noch einen Termin zum Markieren in deinem Kalender ... // Alle Werbepartner des FREI RAUS Podcast und aktuelle Rabatte für Hörer:innen findest du unter https://www.christofoerster.com/freiraus-partner // Hier kannst du den wöchentlichen Newsletter zum Podcast abonnieren: https://www.christofoerster.com/freiraus // Ich freue mich, wenn du den Podcast mit einem keinen Beitrag unterstützt! Alle Infos dazu ebenfalls auf https://www.christofoerster.com/freiraus // Outro-Song: Dull Hues by Lull (audiio.com)
We're headed on the road in Spring 2026! Sign up to be the first to know our tour cities and dates and ticket access! https://forms.gle/zFmxCUNBN2SX42yU7"Jess came in and saw all those moms not willing to fight, and decided I'm going to fight so I get a permanent spot." Well you can't argue with results! Yes it's a big week because not only are Christi and Kelly finally in the clear from being mentioned on the show (the one perk of Abby insisting no one get free promotion), but their replacement has arrived in the form of Jessalyn and Jojo Siwa. Yes if Christi didn't leave you wouldn't have Jojo, you're welcome! But since our lovely Bitches barely even know the Siwas personally, what will they make of them?Maddie is out in LA performing with Sia this week, so Jojo is brought in to fill out the team, though only for the week as Maddie is irreplaceable. Jessalyn however immediately goes on the offensive against the other moms, positioning Jojo to be a permanent member. The other moms scoff, but Jessalyn quickly gets her way regardless, securing a solo for Jojo and having the choreography changed to fit her strengths.Will the ALDC manage to sort out their differences before making the jump to LA in just a matter of weeks?Quotes“I love this episode of Dance Moms because I didn't hear the word 'Christi' one time." (06:07-06:12 | Christi)“Abby says it shows diversity in religion. I gasped, clutched my pearls and buckled up because I can only imagine how wrong we're going to get this." (25:18-25:30 | Christi & Kelly)“Basically the Producers said that was a good schtick last season, let's do it again!" (26:16-26:21 | Christi)“Now to be clear this is Jill's lot in life. I've never met anyone who questions people more." (32:47-32:52 | Christi)LinksSubscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarreThank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Whitney Elkins-Hutten of PassiveInvesting.com interviews multifamily investor Percy Nikora about his acquisition of the 192-unit Spring Forest in Mebane, North Carolina. He shares insights into the deal-sourcing process, mired with some negotiating challenges with attorneys. Percy also delves into the physical and financial due diligence, as well as how he brought in institutional money to boost revenue while mitigating risks.
Esperanza and Irwin return to their sweet spot: the 1970's. 50 years ago, in the Spring of 1975, the Rolling Stones were arguably the biggest rock band in the world; some would say they still are. But facing a variety of tax problems in the UK, the Stones recorded throughout Europe, in addition to LA. But there was a special lure to Montauk in 1975, where the locals gave them their space. The heart of this podcast is the Stones, but the star is Montauk, including the Shagwong, Eothen, Deep Hollow Ranch, and yes, the Memory Motel.
What do you really believe about heaven? When faced with her own terminal diagnosis, author Colleen Chao discovered that heaven wasn't a faraway idea. It was a living hope that changed how she faced each day. In this moving episode, Colleen shares the peace, beauty, and courage that come from fixing our eyes on eternity—even when life on earth is marked by suffering. Her words will stir your heart, strengthen your faith, and remind you: this isn't the end of the story. RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE On Our Way Home: Reflections on Heaven in the Face of Death Visit Colleen's Website ABOUT OUR SPECIAL GUEST Colleen Chao is an editor, writer, and former English teacher. During her unexpected chapter of singleness, she traveled and explored new places, mentored young women, sang and acted, and spent unhealthy amounts of time at coffee shops. In 2010, at age 34, she married strong and handsome Eddie Chao, and eleven months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Jeremy. In 2017, after a long journey through chronic pain and illness (both her own and her son's) Colleen was diagnosed with breast cancer. After intensive chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, Colleen enjoyed two years of clear test results—but in Spring 2021 she learned that the cancer was back, and it was terminal this time. Out of this indescribable sorrow has come stunning beauty, and Colleen's desire is to spend the remainder of her days sharing this beauty with others who suffer. When she's not visiting a doctor or wrangling words, Colleen enjoys the beautiful outdoors, side-splitting laughter, and half-read books piled bedside. She makes her home just outside Boise, Idaho with Eddie and Jeremy, and their dog, Willow.
This episode we look at many of the natural events and talk about those observing and writing things down, and why they may have wanted to do so. For more, check out our podcast blogpage: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-139 Rough Transcript: Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan. My name is Joshua and this is episode 139: Observing the "Natural" World. Members of the Onmyou-ryou, dressed in the official robes of their office, sat around in their observation tower, measuring the location of the stars. They kept their light to a minimum, just enough so that they could write down their observations, but not so much that it would destroy their vision. As they looked up, suddenly they saw a strange movement: a streak through the sky. They waited, and observed, and then there was another, and another after that. It was as if the stars themselves were falling from the heavens. They watched as it seemed that the constellations themselves were melting and falling apart. Quickly they scribbled down notes. Tomorrow, with the light of day, they would consult various sources to see just what it could mean. For now, their role was simply to observe and record. Welcome back, everyone. It is the height of holiday season in the US as I record this, and in our narrative we are in the middle of the reign of Ohoama, aka Temmu Tennou, who came to power in 672 and who has been shoring up the Ritsuryo state instigated by his late brother, Naka no Oe, aka Tenji Tennou. We have talked in recent episodes about how Ohoama put a lot of the state under the control of members of the royal family, or at least those with claims to royal blood, and how he had also begun work on the Chronicles—the very works that we have been using to try and understand the history of this and earlier periods. It seems clear that Ohoama and his cohorts were doing their best to solidify their control and, in the process, create what they felt was a modern state, leveraging the continental model, but not without their own local flavor. After all, they were also investing in the kami based rituals of state and specifically in Ise shrine, which they claimed as an ancestral shrine for their lineage. This episode, let's dig into another thing that was getting reported around this time. And that is… science! Or at least observations of the world and indications of how people were interacting with it. Before going into the subject, I want to acknowledge that "science", or "Kagaku" in modern Japanese, may not look like what we think of as "science" today. The word "Kagaku" itself appears to come about in the late Edo period, and became associated with the western idea of "Science" in the Meiji period. Today we think of it as observations, yes, but also testing via the scientific method. I think it might be more appropriate to categorize a lot of earlier science under a term like "learning" or "study", and it seems to have encompassed a wide range of topics of study, some of which we would include as "science" and some which we might refer to more as "arts". There is also a very fine line with religion and philosophy as well. From a modern perspective, I think one could fairly argue that "science"—particularly the so-called "hard" sciences—refers to something that can be empirically tested via the scientific method. So you can see something, form a hypothesis, create a test, and then that test should produce the same results no matter who conducts it, assuming you account for the variables. And please don't @ me about this… I know I am simplifying things. This isn't a podcast about science unless we are talking about the social sciences of history and archaeology. In contrast to our modern concept of science, much of what we see in the Asuka era is built around using our reasoning to arrive at the truth of something. In cases where we are dealing with clearly physical phenomena that have observable causes and effects, this can lead to remarkably reliable results. One example of this is calendrical science—it isn't that hard to observe the passing of days and seasons. Even the rotation of the earth and the movements of stars and even something with as large a period as comets could be observed and tracked, especially if you had centuries of data to comb through. In fact, they often would predict things that it turns out they couldn't, themselves, see. They could predict that an eclipse would occur, for example, even when that eclipse was only visible somewhere else. And they didn't have to calculate gravitational pull, mass, or distances between different heavenly bodies for that to occur. Similarly, in the agricultural sphere: you had so many people who observed the seasons and would figure out new ways of doing things. It doesn't take an understanding of chlorophyl to know that plants generally do better when exposed to sunlight. I believe the leap happens when you get to things that go beyond purely observable means. Sickness, for example—how do you explain viruses or germs without equipment like microscopes to see what our eyes alone cannot? And if such "invisible" things could cause so much damage, then why could there not be other "invisible" elements, such as kami and boddhisatvas? And as humans we are driven to make connections. It is one of the things that has driven our technological innovation and rise, but it is also something that can easily go awry. Like when you are sitting in a dark house, alone, and you hear a noise. Rationally, you might know that houses settle and creak, but that doesn't necessarily stop your brain from connecting it with thoughts that someone must be in the house making that noise. Or even how we make judgments based on nothing more than how someone talks or what they look like, because our brains have made connections with those things, for good or ill. A large part of the rationalization that was accomplished in Asian thought had to do with concepts of Yin and Yang, the negative and the positive, the dark and the light. This was thought of as a kind of energy—qi or ki—that was embedded in things. We discussed this somewhat back in episode 127, because yin yang theory, along with the five element theory, known as Wuxing or Gogyou in Japanese, became embedded in the idea of the calendar. Why was summer hot, except that it was connected with an excess of fire energy? And the cold, dark days of winter would be associated with an excess of water, naturally. I should note that while this is one of the more comprehensive philosophical systems in use, it was not the only means by which various phenomena and effects were rationalized. After all, it had to be imposed on a framework of how the world otherwise worked, and descriptions of the world came from a variety of places. There was, for example, the Classic of Mountains and Seas, or Sanhaijing, which detailed the world as envisioned in the period before the Qin dynasty, although there were occasional updates. The Sanhaijing described regular plants and animals in the same breath as gods and monsters. There were also various buddhist sutras, which brought their own cosmological view of the universe that had to be squared with other visions, including those passed down locally describing the archipelago as the "Reed Plain" and giving particular importance to eight of the islands—though which eight depends on which variant of the creation myth you are referencing. To categorize the study of the natural—and what we would consider the supernatural—world around them, the Ritsuryou set up specific bureaus. One of these was the Onmyou-ryou, the Bureau of Yin-yang, also known as the Onyo no Tsukasa. This Bureau oversaw divination, astronomy, time, and calendars. At its head was the Onmyou-no-kami. Below them were the various scholars studying the core subjects, as well as technical practitioners to carry out the rites and divination. On the continent, priority was generally given to astronomical and calendrical studies, and many of the more magical practices or rituals would fade away, likely because there were local Taoist institutions who could take up much of that work. In Japan, however, it seems that the calendrical studies tended to ossify, instead, while onmyoji came to fill a role not just for the state but also among the population for divination and other such practices. Even into the Edo period one could find private onmyoji, and the Bureau itself lasted until the very beginning of the Meiji period. Another important institution of the Ritsuryo government for learning was the Daigakuryou, the Bureau of Great Learning. Students of Japanese may recognize the term "Daigaku" referring, today, to universities. The original concept for the Daigaku-ryou, or Daigaku no Tsukasa, was focused on the study of those things that were considered perhaps a bit more practical and necessary to anyone who might want a political career. Since this was founded on concepts of Confucian government, it is little wonder that it was originally designed to focus on Confucian studies, among other things. This fits into the idea of a supposed meritocracy, where one's education was part of the examination. You may recall from Episode 115 we talked about the National University in Chang'an, which is likely something that the Daigaku Ryou could only ever dream of becoming. Early arts taught at the Daigaku Ryou included the Confucian classics, mathematics, writing, and Chinese pronunciation. These were all things that you would need to know to become a part of the bureaucracy The idea of a school may have been born along with the early institution of the government, with mention as early as 671, in the last year of Naka no Oe's reign, but we don't have it clearly established in the code until later. Full operations may have been somewhat delayed due to the tumultuous events of Ohoama's accession to power in 672, but we do see it explicitly mentioned in the year 675. On the first day of the year we are told that Students from the Daigaku Ryou, along with students from the Onmyou-Ryou and from the Gaiyaku Ryou, the Bureau of External Medicine; along with the Woman of S'ravasti, the Woman of Tara, Prince Syeonkwang of Baekje, and Silla labourers offered presents of drugs and various rarities. We talked about the first two, the Daigaku-ryou and the Onmyou-ryou, but the Gaiyaku Ryou doesn't seem to have a lot of information out there beyond this mention. Later there would a "Ten'yaku Ryou", or Bureau of Medicine, established in the code. Since we don't have any extant codes from this period beyond what was written down in the Nihon Shoki, we don't know for certain what the Gaiyaku-ryou was , and it is possible that the Gaiyaku-Ryou was a precursor to the Ten'yaku Ryou. "GAI" means "outside" or "external", leading me to wonder if this referred to external medicine in contrast to internal medicine, or if it meant medicine or drugs from outside teh archipeloago. I would point out that these students are found with the Woman of S'ravasti, or Shae; the Woman of Tara; a Baekje prince and Silla labourers. In other words, they were all people from outside of the archipelago. This is not entirely surprising as it was from outside that much of the learning was coming into the country. "Yaku" or "Kusuri", which can be translated as either "Drugs" or "medicine", could refer to a number of things. How effective they were is somewhat questionable. Almost certainly some of them had confirmed medicinal efficacy, but others may have been thought to have been effective due to things like their connection to the five elements, or wuxing, theory. For example, something red might be assumed to have a warming effect because of the presumed presence of the fire element. And the power of the placebo effect no doubt made them seem at least partially effective. Consider, for example, how many people will swear by certain remedies for the common cold when all it really does is distract you, or perhaps make you a bit more comfortable, until the symptoms pass on their own. A more certain science was probably that of Astronomy, which we've mentioned a few times. The passage of the stars through the sky was something that could be easily observed. There is a theory that some of the first lines in the Yijing, or book of changes, may actually be a description of the changing of seasons as different aspects of a given constellation rise over the horizon, and the placement of certain stars would help in the adjustment of the lunar calendar, since the moon's orbit does not match up exactly with the solar year, and year the solar year was quite important to things like agriculture and even sailing to the mainland. This all makes 675 a seemingly banner year for science, as four days after the presentation of medicine to the throne, the government erected a platform by which to observe the stars. This wouldn't need to be much—it could have been an earthen mound, or just a tower, from which one could get above the ground, presumably see over any buildings, to the horizon. Granted, Asuka might not be the best place for such observations, with the nearby mountains meaning that the true horizon is often obstructed. Nonetheless, it may have been enough to make calculations. Astronomy platforms, or Tenmondai, would continue to be used up until at least the Meiji period. Without a telescope, observations were somewhat limited—though they also didn't have the same level of light pollution that we have today. Remember, many woke just before dawn and went to sleep not too long after the sun went down, which only makes sense when you are living in a place where creating light, while doable, also ran the risk of burning your entire house to the ground. It is worth noting that the sky for the ancient Japanese was likely quite different than what most of us see when we look up, unless you are fortunate enough to live in a place with very little light pollution. For many of those living today in the cities and suburban landscape, go outside at night and you might see the moon and some of the brightest stars, but for most of the ancient Japanese, they would look up and see the heavenly river, the Amakawa, or Milky Way. They would have looked up at a sky glittering with myriad dots of light, as well as planets and more. It was both familiar and strange—something one saw regularly and yet something that was also extremely inaccessible. Astronomical observations would have been important for several reasons, as I've mentioned. They would have been used to keep the calendar in check, but they would also have likely been used to help calibrate the water clock, which helped to tell time. Of course, going back to the five elements and yin yang theory, it is also believed that the energy, the qi or ki, changed with the seasons and the movements of the stars and planets—planets were not known as such, of course, but their seemingly erratic movements compared to bright lights in the sky meant they were noticed and assigned values within the elemental system. One of the things that came with the changing seasons, the heavenly movements, and the flow of ki was a concept of "kata-imi", literally directional taboos. There were times when certain directions might be considered favorable or unfavorable for various actions. This could be something as simple as traveling in a given direction. In the centuries to come this would spawn an entire practice of kata-tagae, or changing direction. Is the north blocked, but you need to travel there, anyway? Well just go northwest to say hello to a friend or visit your local sake brewery, and then travel due east. Ta-da! You avoided going directly north! There were also mantra-like incantations that one might say if they had to travel in an inauspicious direction to counteract the concept of bad influences. This also influenced various other things, and even today you will often see dates where a year and month might be followed by simply the character for "auspicious day" rather than an actual day of the month. So observing the heavens was important, and it was also important that they tostudy the works of those on the continent, whose records could help predict various astronomical phenomena. Except that there was one tiny problem: I don't know if you've noticed, but Japan and China are in two different locations. Not all astronomical phenomena can be observed from all points of the globe. The Northern Lights, for example, are rarely seen in more southerly latitudes, and while eclipses are not too rare, a total eclipse only impacts certain areas of the earth, along relatively narrow paths. I mention this because it isn't always clear if the records we get in the Nihon Shoki are about phenomena they directly observed or if they are taking reports from elsewhere and incorporating them into the narrative. One such event is the comet of 676. The entry in the Nihon Shoki tells us that in the 7th lunar month of the 5th year of Temmu Tennou, aka 676 CE, a star appeared in the east that was 7 or 8 shaku in length. It disappeared two months later. We've mentioned some of this before, but the sky was divided up into "shaku", or "feet", though how exactly it was measured I'm not entirely sure. It appears to be that one foot was roughly 1.5 degrees of the sky, give or take about a quarter of a degree, with 180 degrees from horizon to horizon. So it would have been about 10 to 12 degrees in the sky. Another way to picture it is if you hold out your arm towards the object, and spread your index and little finger, it would probably fit between those two points. This comet hung around for some time, and a great part about a comet like this is that it was viewable from multiple locations. After all, as the earth turned, different areas were exposed to the comet as it passed through our part of the solar system. Thus we have records of it from not just the Nihon Shoki: We also find it in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, where it was thought to have foretold the end of Bishop Wilfred's control of Northumbria. We also see it in Tang, Silla, and Syrian sources. These sources aren't always in complete agreement. For one thing, they noted when they first saw it, which might have been impacted by local conditions. And then conversion between lunar and solar calendars can also sometimes get in the way. Roughtly speaking, we have the Nihon Shoki providing dates of somewhere from about August or September of 676, on the Western calendar, to October or November. Tang sources put it from 4 September to 1 November. Silla Chronicles claim that it first appeared in the 7th lunar month, so between August and September. A Syrian Chronicle notes a comet from about 28 August to 26 October in the following year, 677, but this is thought to have been a mistake. European sources generally seem to claim it was seen in August and lasted for three months. All of these sightings put it at roughly the same time. Working with that and with known comets, we think we actually know which comet this is: The Comet de Cheseaux also known as the Comet Klinkenberg-Cheseaux. And I should mention this is all thanks to a research paper by M. Meyer and G. W. Kronk. In that paper they propose that this is the comet with the designation of C/1743 X1, or the common names I just mentioned. If so, based on its trajectory, this comet would have been visible in 336, 676, 1032, 1402, 1744, and is next predicted to show up in 2097. And no, those aren't all exactly the same amount of time. It is roughly every 350 years or so, but with the movements of the solar system, the planets, and various gravitational forces that likely slow or speed up its movement, it doesn't show up on exactly regular intervals. Still, it is pretty incredible to think that we have a record of a comet that was seen the world over at this time, by people looking up from some very different places. Comets were something interesting for early astronomers. They may have originally been seen as particularly ominous—after all, in the early eras, they were hardly predictable, and it would take years to get enough data to see that they were actually a somewhat regular occurrence. In fact, it is likely that early astronomers were able to figure out eclipse schedules before comets. Still, they seem to have come to the realization that comets were in fact another type of natural and reoccurring phenomenon. That isn't to say that they didn't have any oracular meaning, but it did mean they were less of an obvious disturbance of the heavenly order. We have another comet mentioned in the 10th lunar month of 681, but that one seems to have had less attention focused on it, and we don't have the same details. Then in the 8th lunar month of 682 we have an entry about a Great Star passing from East to West—which was probably a shooting star, rather than a comet. Comets, for all that they appear to be streaking across the sky thanks to their long tails, are often relatively stable from an earthbound perspective, taking months to appear and then disappear again. Then, on the 23rd day of the 7th month of 684 we get another comet in the northwest. This one was more than 10 shaku in length—about 15 degrees, total, give or take. Given the date, we can be fairly confident about this one, as well: it was the famous Halley's comet. Halley's comet is fascinating for several reasons. For one, it has a relatively short period of about 72 to 80 years, though mostly closer to 75 to 77 years in between sightings. The last time it visited the earth was in 1986, and it is expected back in 2061. Halley's comet has been recorded since the 3rd century BCE, and, likely because of its short period, it was the first periodic comet to be recognized as such. There are other periodic comets with short periods, but many of them are not visible with the naked eye. Halley's comet is perhaps the most studied comet, given its regular and relatively short periodicity. It is also connected to the famous writer, humorist, and essayist, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, aka Mark Twain. He was born only a few days after the comet reached perihelion in 1835 and died a day after it reached the same point again in 1910, and while he may not have visited Japan in his lifetime, it was a period of great change both in his home country of America and in Japan. America, of course, would undergo a Civil War over the issue of slavery in the early 1860s, and shortly after that Japan would have its own civil war in the form of the Meiji Revolution. And while he never visited—and translation could only do so much to capture the art of his prose—Mark Twain's works were apparently quite influential in Japan in the early 20th century. Of course, comets were just one of the celestial phenomena to be observed. The astronomers were interested in just about anything happening in the sky. We have accounts of both solar and lunar eclipses, and not necessarily full eclipses either. We even have notice of the movement of some planets, such as in 681, when they noted that the planet mars "entered" the moon. Obviously the astronomers weren't recording every raincloud that came through—at least not in the main chronicles—but they did capture a fair number of events. They did record particularly memorable storms. For instances, in the 8th lunar month of 675 there was a storm that is said to have caused sand to fly and which then damaged houses. This sounds like a wind storm without rain—after all, if there was rain, you would expect that the sand would have been wet and tamped down. It is possible to have hurricane level winds without the rain. While typhoons typically bring rain, especially as they usually build up their strength at sea, it is possible to have the winds alone, as I've experienced, myself, in Tokyo. This most likely happens in an isolated area—there is water and rain somewhere, but the typhoon can be large, so parts of it may only get the wind and little or no rain. I wonder if something like that happened in this instance. It is also possible that this record refers to actual sand being brought across from the continent. In some instances, sand can be lifted up from as far away as Mongolia and carried all the way to Japan, though it is pretty rare. And it wasn't just wind and sand. We get accounts of hail coming down as large as peaches, torrential rainstorms, and even ash, likely from a volcanic eruption that was otherwise unrecorded. There are also accounts of snow, though typically recorded in times where you wouldn't expect to see it, such as the third lunar month, which would mean snow in late April or early May. Mostly these storms are mentioned in terms of how they affected the immediate fortunes of the living, but sometimes storms did even more damage. In 682, for example, a hoar-frost was reported in both Shinano and Kibi in the 7th lunar month. On its own, this probably wouldn't have been worth mentioning, but the chroniclers add that because of storms the "five grains had not formed". So storms had diminished the crops and the hoar-frost was apparently the killing blow. The harvest that year would be lean, and it would not be a happy time for many that winter. And then, just as important as what was happening was what was not. There are several mentions of droughts, particularly towards the end of Spring, early Summer. This is traditionally a drier period, and if it is too dry it could harm the harvest. And so the government was expected to find a way to bring the rain—a tall order, the general resolution to which seems to be prayers and rituals designed to bring rain. In a place like Japan, I suspect that it was usually just a matter of time before the prayers were "successful", thus reinforcing their presumed efficacy. Some of the things that they recorded were a bit more mysterious. For example, in the second lunar month of 680 we are told that a sound like drums was heard from the East. There are many things this could theoretically be, from rumbles of thunder to some other phenomenon, though the following year we have a note about thunder in the West, so theoretically they knew the difference between thunder and drums. Later that same year, 680, we are told that there was a "brightness" in the East from the hour of the dog to the hour of the rat—about 8pm to midnight. Was this some kind of aurora? But wouldn't that have been in the north, rather than the east? Could it have been some kind of lightning? But that is a long time for a lightning storm to hang around. And there are other strange things, some of which seem impossible and we have to doubt. For example, in 684 they said that, at dusk, the seven stars of the Big Dipper drifted together to the northeast and sank. Unless they are just recording the natural setting of the stars of the big dipper. Certainly, over time the constellation appears to rotate around the north star, and it dips down to or below the horizon in the autumn months. So were they just talking about the natural, yearly setting of the stars, or something else? There may be some clues in that the 11th lunar month, when that was recorded, we see several other heavenly phenomena recorded. Two days after the Big Dipper set, at sunset, a star fell in the eastern quarter of the sky that we are told was as large as a jar. Later, the constellations were wholly disordered and stars fell like rain. That same month, a star shot up in the zenith and proceeded along with the Pleiades until the end of the month. While this sounds like shooting stars and a possible meteor shower, a later commenter suggested that this was all a heavenly omen for the state of the court, showing the "disordered" state of the nobility at this time. Of course, this was also a year and change before the sovereign's eventual passing, so there is also the possibility that the Chroniclers were looking at events later and ascribing meaning and importance after the fact. In another account of something seemingly wonderous: in 682 we are told that something shaped like a Buddhist flag, colored like flame, was seen by all of the provinces and then sank into the Japan sea north of Koshi. A white mist is also said to have risen up from the Eastern mountains. There are various things that could be going on here. It strikes me that the white mist could be a cloud, but could also be something volcanic. And the flame colored prayer flag makes me think about how a high cloud can catch the light of the rising or setting sun. That could look like a flag, and can seem extremely odd depending on the other conditions in the sky. Or maybe it was aliens. Okay, it is unlikely that it was aliens, but I think that these do give an idea of the kinds of records that were being made about the observed phenomena. Obviously the Nihon Shoki is recording those things that were considered particularly significant for whatever reason. This could just be because it was something odd and unexplained, or perhaps it was more well known but rare. It may have even had religious connotations based on some aspect, like evoking the image of Buddhist flags. And it is possible that it was thought to have had significant impact on events—perhaps even an impact that isn't clear to us today, many centuries removed from the events. Some things were clear, however. Lightning strikes are often mentioned specifically when they strike something of note. In 678, we are told that a pillar of the Western Hall of the New Palace was struck by lightning, though apparently the building itself survived. Then, in 686, Lighting appeared in the southern sky with a large roar of thunder. A fire broke out and caught the tax cloth storehouse of the Ministry of Popular affairs, which immediately exploded in flames. After all, a thatched roofed, wooden building filled with kindling in the form of cloth—and likely a fair amount of paper and writing supplies to keep track of it all—sounds like a bonfire waiting to happen. There were reports that the fire had actually started in Prince Osakabe's palace and then spread to the Ministry of Popular Affairs from there. It is also worth noting that recording of such events was still somewhat new to the archipelago as a whole. They were learning from the continent, but also defining their own traditions. Observations of natural phenomena weren't just relegated to celestial occurrences or weather. After all, there was something else that one could observe in the sky: birds. Now this wasn't your average bird-watching—though I'm not saying that there weren't casual birders in ancient Japan, and if we ever find someone's birding diary from that era I think that would be so cool. But there were some things that were significant enough to be mentioned. For example, in 678 we get a report of "atori", or bramblings. Bramblings are small songbirds which are found across Eurasia. Notably they are migratory, and are known to migrate in huge flocks especially in the winter time, and sure enough on the 27th day of the 12th month we are told that the bramblings flew from the southwest to the northeast, covering the entire sky. This makes me think about some of the other mass migrations that used to occur that have largely been reduced significantly due to habitat loss, disruption to traditional migratory routes, and other population pressures on various bird species. Still, having so many birds that it blocked out the sky certainly seems a significant event to report on. We later see a similar account in 680, with the flock moving from southeast to northwest. Given the location of Asuka it sounds like they were flocking in the mountains and heading out over the Nara Basin, perhaps seeking food in another mountainous area. In 682, the birders were at it again. This time, around midday on the 11th day of the 9th lunar month, several hundreds of cranes appeared around the Palace and soared up into the sky. They were there for about two hours before they dispersed. Once again, cranes are migratory and known to flock. Cranes are also known as a symbol of long life and joy—and I can understand it. Have you ever seen a flock of cranes? They are not small birds, and they can be really an incredible sight. Flocks of cranes themselves were probably not that rare, and it was no doubt more about so many gathering around the palace which made it particularly special. It wasn't just birds in the sky that were considered important symbols, though. Birds often are noted as auspicious omens. Usually strange birds, plants, or other such things are found in various provinces and presented to the throne. So in 675, Yamato presented auspicious "barn-door fowl", likely meaning a fancy chicken. Meanwhile, the Eastern provinces presented a white falcon and the province of Afumi presented a white kite. Chickens are associated with the sun and thus with the sun goddess, Amaterasu, and albino versions of animals were always considered auspicious, often being mentioned in Buddhist sources. Later, in 680, we see a small songbird, a "Shitodo", also described as white, and probably albino, sent to the court from nearby Settsu. Then, in 681 there is mention of a red sparrow. Red coloration is not quite the same as albinism, though it is something that does occur at times, when the brownish coloration comes out more red than brown, and I suspect this is what we are talking about. This is most likely just a recessed gene or genetic mutation, similar to causes for albinism, but just in a different place in the DNA. As for why it was important: I'd first and foremost note that anything out of the ordinary (and even some ordinary things) could be considered a sign. Red was also seen as an auspicious color, so that may have had something to do with it as well. And then there is the concept of Suzaku, the red bird of the south. Suzaku is usually depicted as an exotic bird species of some kind, like how we might depict a phoenix. But it was also just a "red bird", so there is that, and perhaps that was enough. Not that this red sparrow was "Suzaku", but evoked the idea of the southern guardian animal. A year prior, in 680, a red bird—we aren't told what kind—had perched on a southern gate, which even more clearly screams of the Suzaku aesthetic. It is probably worth noting here that in 686, towards the end of the reign, not that anyone knew it at the time, Ohoama decided to institute a new nengo, or regnal period. It was called Shuuchou—red or vermillion bird—and it likely referred to Suzaku. This nengo was cut short, however, with Ohoama's death that same year. Nengo were often chosen with auspicious names as a kind of hope for the nation, so clearly "red bird" was considered a good thing. A month after the red sparrow, Ise sent a white owl, and then a month after that, the province of Suwou sent a red turtle, which they let loose in the pond at the Shima palace. Again, these were probably just examples of animals seen as auspicious, though they would have likely been recorded by the Onmyou-ryou, who would have likely combed through various sources and precedents to determine what kind of meaning might be attached to them. Color wasn't the only thing that was important. In 682, the Viceroy of Tsukushi reported that they had found a sparrow with three legs. There are numerous reasons why this could be, but there is particular significance in Japan and Asia more generally. A three legged bird is often associated with the sun Andusually depicted as a black outline of a three legged bird inside of a red sun. In Japan this was often conflated with the Yata-garasu, the Great Crow, which is said to have led the first mythical sovereign, Iware Biko, to victory in his conquest of Yamato. Thus we often see a three legged crow depicted in the sun, which was an object of particular veneration for the Wa people from centuries before. And I suspect that the little three-legged sparrow from Tsukushi I suspect that this had particular significance because of that image. Animals were not the only auspicious things presented to the throne. In 678, Oshinomi no Miyatsuko no Yoshimaro presented the sovereign with five auspicious stalks of rice. Each stalk, itself, had other branches. Rice, of course, was extremely important in Japan, both from a ritual and economic sense, so presenting rice seems appropriate. Five stalks recalls things like the five elemental theory—and in general five was consider a good number. Three and five are both good, prime numbers, while four, pronounced "Shi", sounds like death and is considered inauspicious. Three, or "San" is sometimes associated with life, and five is associated with the five elements, but also just the fact that it is half of ten, and we have five fingers on one hand and in so many other ways, five is regarded as a good number in much of Asia. That the stalks had multiple branches likely referred to them bearing more than the usual amount of rice on them, which seems particularly hopeful. Certainly the court thought so. In light of the auspicious gift, all sentences of penal servitude and lower were remitted. In 680, Officials of the Department of Law gave tribute of auspicious stalks of grain, themselves. I'm not sure, in this case, that it was all that they hoped, however, as that began three days straight of rain and flooding. A year earlier, in 679, we are told that the district of Ito, in Kii, immediately south of Yamato, sent as tribute the "herb of long life". We are told that it "resembled" a mushroom—probably meaning it was a mushroom, or maybe something formed into a mushroom shape. But the stem was about a foot long and the crown was two spans, about 6 feet in diameter. This is pretty incredible, and I have to wonder if there is a bit of exaggeration going on here. Another tribute was a horn found on Mt. Katsuraki. It branched into two at the base, was united at the end, and had some flesh and hair still attached, about an inch in length. They claimed it must be horn or a Lin, or Kirin, sometimes referred to as an Asian unicorn—a mythical creature considered to be quite auspicious and benevolent. This was on the 26th day in the 2nd lunar month of the year 680, probably around March or April. I highly suspect that what they found was an oddly shaped bit of antler from a buck whose antlers had begun to come in and which might have been taken out by wolves or bears or something else altogether. The fact that the ends were said to be fused together could just be referring to some kind of malformation of the antlers. The fur and flesh could mean that the antlers were still growing—antlers would probably just be coming in around early spring time. Still, there is no telling how long it was there, so it could have been from the previous year as well. Attributing it to a kirin seems a bit of a stretch, but it was clearly something unusual. Animals and plants were recorded in tribute, but also when something odd happened. Fruiting out of season was one such occurrence, which we've seen elsewhere in the chronicles as well. There was even a record when the famous Tsuki tree outside of Asukadera had a branch fall down. Presumably it was a large and noticeable branch, and by now this appears to have been a tree with a bit of age to it that had seen a lot, so it makes sense it got a mention. Finally, we go from the heavens to the earth. Perhaps the most numerous observations in the Chronicles were the earthquakes. We've noted in the past that Japan is extremely active, volcanically speaking, so it makes sense that there are multiple accounts of earthquakes each year, especially if they were compiling reports from around the country. Most of these are little more than just a note that there was an earthquake, but a few stand out. The first is the 12th lunar month of 678. We are told that there was a large earthquake in Tsukushi—modern Kyushu. The ground split open to the width of about 20 feet for more than 30,000 feet. Many of the commoners' houses in the area were torn down. In one place there was a house atop a hill, and though the hill crumbled down the house somehow remained intact. The inhabitants had apparently been home and must have been oblivious, as they didn't realize anything had happened until they woke up the next morning. Again, probably a bit of hyperbole in here, but if we think back to things like the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake, where large areas of land shifted noticeably along the fault lines, it is likely that this was a similar or even more catastrophic event. And here I'll give a quick plug for Kumamoto, which is still working to rebuild from the earthquake, and if you ever get a chance, I recommend a visit to the Kumamoto Earthquake Memorial Museum or Kioku, where you can see for yourself just how powerful mother nature can be. Another powerful earthquake was mentioned in the 10th lunar month of 684. If the earthquake in Tsukushi had hit mostly agricultural areas, based on the description, this seems to have hit more populated regions. We are told that it started in the dark of night, the hour of the boar, so about 10pm, give or take an hour. The shaking was so bad that throughout the country men and women cried out and were disoriented—they could not tell east from west, a condition no doubt further hindered by the dark night sky. There were mountain slides and rivers changed course, breaking their banks and flooding nearby areas. Official buildings of the provinces and districts, the barns and houses of the common people, and the temples, pagodas, and shrines were all destroyed in huge numbers. Many people and domestic animals were killed or injured. The hot springs of Iyo were dried up and ceased to flow. In the province of Tosa, more than 500,000 shiro of cultivated land sank below sea level. Old men said that they had never seen such an earthquake. On that night there was a rumbling noise like that of drums heard in the east—possibly similar to what we had mentioned earlier. Some say that the island of Idzu, aka Vries Island, the volcanic island at the entrance of Edo Bay, increased on the north side by more than 3,000 feet and that a new island had been formed. The noise of the drums was attributed to the gods creating that island. So here we have a catastrophic quake that impacted from Iyo, on the western end of Shikoku, all the way to the head of Edo Bay, modern Tokyo. This appears to be what seismologists have labelled a "Nankai Trough Megathrust Earthquake". Similar quakes have occurred and are predicted to occur in the future., along a region of Japan from the east coast of Kyushu, through the Seto Inland Sea, including Shikoku, through the Kii peninsula and all the way to Mt. Fuji. The Nankai Trough, or Southern Sea Trough, is the area where the continental shelf drops down, and where the Philippine tectonic plate slips underneath the Eurasian—or more specifically the Amuric—plate. As these plates move it can cause multiple events all along the trough at the same time. Since being regularly recorded, these quakes have been noted every 100 to 150 years, with the last one being the Showa Nankai quakes of 1944 and 1946. For all of the destruction that it brought, however, apparently it didn't stop the court. Two days after this devastating quake we are told that Presents were made to the Princes and Ministers. Either they weren't so affected in the capital, or perhaps the date given for one of the two records is not quite reliable. Personally, I find it hard to believe that there would be presents given out two days later unless they were some form of financial aid. But what do I know? It is possible that the court itself was not as affected as other areas, and they may not have fully even grasped the epic scale of the destruction that would later be described in the Chronicles, given the length of time it took to communicate messages across the country. Which brings us back to the "science" of the time, or at least the observation, hoping to learn from precedence or piece out what messages the world might have for the sovereign and those who could read the signs. While many of the court's and Chronicler's conclusions may give us pause, today, we should nonetheless be thankful that they at least decided to keep notes and jot down their observations. That record keeping means that we don't have to only rely on modern records to see patterns that could take centuries to reveal themselves. Sure, at this time, those records were still a bit spotty, but it was the start of something that would be remarkably important, and even though these Chronicles may have been focused on propaganda, the fact that they include so many other references are an incalculable boon to us, today, if we can just see to make the connections. And with that, I think I've rambled enough for this episode. We still have a couple more to fully cover this period. Until then, if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts. If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page. You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com. Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now. Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.
Laurana, without her consent, is made the Commander of the Knights of Solamnia. Despite her misgivings she accepts the assignment. As part of accepting her new responsibilities, and despite what her heart may want, she also lets go of her love for Tanis. She does not have the time and energy to pursue it and she believes he is lost to the Darkness. Tas and Flint inspect the fortifications, worry about Laurana, and reveal their thoughts about Kitiara now that they know she is a Dragon Highlord. The good dragons finally arrive! Gilthanas & Silvara come with them. We learn from them why the metallic dragons have not made themselves before now: the twisted machinations of Takhisis! But through the sacrifice of Gilthanas and Silvara they've finally come out of hiding to help. Gilthanas also knows about Tanis' indiscretions now and shares it with Laurana. She is uninterested. Content warning - mild swears One More Thing: Jonathon: OpenRCT2 - https://openrct2.io/ Shivam: Home gardening & preserving You can find us at: Jonathon - https://bsky.app/profile/falselogic.bsky.social Shivam - https://bsky.app/profile/shivambhatt.bsky.social Casual Magic w/ Shivam Bhatt - https://casualmagic.libsyn.com/ Shivam & Wheeler Love Magic - https://sites.libsyn.com/460224 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1147877956611082 Discord - https://discord.gg/MM7nEwgmZv We now have a Patreon for those who want to support the podcast! Benefits include seeing the show notes and getting a shout out. Details @ https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofDragonlancePodcast Our cover art by Josiah Cameron. Find more of his work here: https://josiahcameronart.com/ Intro/Outro music: Shadow Whispers by Alexander Nakarada/Spirits of the Greenwood by Alexander Nakarada
This week we talk about what it means for love to really last. Every couple begins their marriage believing the best. We picture “for better” but rarely imagine “for worse.” Yet Scripture reminds us that real love is not built on chemistry or convenience. It is built on commitment.Every marriage goes through seasons. Spring brings excitement and growth. Summer is full of energy and busyness. Fall brings change and challenge. And winter can feel cold and quiet. But mature love learns to endure every season, trusting that God is still working when life looks barren.Message 811.23.2025
Conor Geraghty, Chair of Medicines at Veterinary Ireland, as a suspected case of the Bluetongue virus is discovered in Northern Ireland.
It's a veritable tsunami of The War Between the Land and the Sea news this week, including a trailer, a new episode of the Whoniverse Show, Turf and Surf behind the scenes VAM, a reassurance from RTD that yes, he will eventually write a 2026 Xmas special, deleted scenes, dollies, figurines, AND part the fourth of our retrospective of Children of Earth! Have a listen, and then take a nap! Links: Support Radio Free Skaro on Patreon New trailer for The War Between the Land and the Sea Behind the Scenes of The War Between The Land And The Sea The Whoniverse episode on The War Between Titles and synopses for The War Between Episodes 1-4 released Title and synopsis of The War Between Episode 5 The War Between soundtrack releases digitally December 5 Doctor Who Series 10 soundtrack releases on Dec 12 Russell T Davies has plot of 2026 Christmas Special worked out, will write script early next year Season 2 Deleted Scenes Season 2 scripts added to the BBC Writers Room Character Options Doctor Who Constable Zreeg and Sergeant Zogroth Wrarth Warrior Set Panini Doctor Who: UNIT Declassified due Dec 4 Doctor Who – The Early Years bookazine from The Radio Times Doctor Who Series 1-4 + some specials now on Hoopla is some areas TARDIS Display Case with Figurines of 17 Doctors coming Spring 2026 Rachel Talalay: Tenth Anniversary of Heaven Sent Big Finish Torchwood: The Flawless Man released Big Finish Short Trips: Impeccable and Other Stories due Feb 2026 Review: Torchwood: Children of Earth, Day Four Children of Earth scripts on BBC Writer's Room Radio Free Skaro Wednesday Cutaway – The Ballad of Jack and Ianto Radio Free Skaro presents Bridging the Rift
In this episode Lunchbox talks about that hate he has for Fantasy Football and how every year he says he isn't going to care but in the end he still ends up pissed off. Ray reflects on the mistakes he and Justin have made as managers in The Sore Losers Fantasy League and what they're going to change going into next year. Also we help a couple of Vegas Virgins plan out their trip to Las Vegas in the Spring and Lunchbox has an apology for Ray. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.