Podcasts about Stenhouse

A private eye takes a dead girl's case for a father who can't afford him, and comes home with a box of gardenias that have been cut for a month and still smell fresh.EPISODE PAGE (includes list of sources): https://weirddarkness.com/noir-gardeniasonadeadlaneTRANSCRIPT: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/55nmcphxTHE REAL CASE BEHIND THIS STORY: The story in this episode is a fictionalized dramatization. Invented for it are the detective, his office, the gravedigger, the specific conversations, and the telephone call, and every name of a person or a place has been changed. The case underneath it is real.On the night of Thursday, June 24th, 1948, seventeen-year-old Mary Jane Reed, a switchboard operator, went on a first date with Stanley Skridla, a twenty-eight-year-old Navy veteran and telephone lineman from Rockford. They drank in taverns in Oregon, Illinois, a town on the Rock River in Ogle County, and the last place anyone could name was the Stenhouse, out on Route 2 at the south edge of town. They left around eleven-thirty. Skridla was found the next morning in the ditch along County Farm Road, shot with a .32. Mary Jane was found five days later along Silica Road, now called Devil's Backbone Road, shot once through the head, her slacks off her and her mother's wedding ring still on her hand. Roughly fifty people were questioned within a week. Nobody was ever charged, and the case was off the front pages by autumn.The casings, the photographs and the investigation reports all disappeared in the decades that followed. On November 15th, 1999 – Mary Jane's birthday – an untraceable floral arrangement addressed to her arrived at the old Stenhouse, by then the Road House, on a day the bar was closed. The owner, Mike Arians, had just been elected mayor, and the case has occupied him ever since. Her brother Warren Reed had her exhumed on August 23rd, 2005. Inside the burial vault, beside the casket, investigators found a dress and slip wrapped in newspapers dated June 25th, 1948 – four days before anyone found her. In 2007, forensic anthropologist Linda Klepinger examined the remains released to the family and reported that the skull and one vertebra had come from a different person. The DNA test that would settle it has never been run. Skridla was exhumed in 2015 on Arians's theory that Mary Jane's skull had been hidden in his coffin; it held one man and nothing else, though two .32 slugs came out of the ground with him and neither matched the gun Arians submitted.Warren Reed died on December 23rd, 2023, at eighty-one, without ever learning whose skull was in his sister's grave. The homicides remain open and unsolved.The full account – the fifty interviews, the suitor in La Crosse, the missing wallet the record can't agree on, the six years of court fights, the $25,000 reward for a skull nobody ever produced, and the haunting at the roadhouse – is documented in detail here:Mary Jane Reed's Illinois Grave Held Someone Else's Skull.WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: August 28, 2026

In the tech world now, nothing is new – just new players joining markets Meta has launched their own AI coding agent called “Muse Code”, which they say is designed for large, sprawling code bases. It doesn't have a subscription offering though, so it's pay per use. It's also around the same price as the other frontier models, unless you decide to opt into let your code be used for training which will make it 1/10th of the price. It's arguably about as good as OpenAIs Codex, but lags behind Anthropic's Claude. A new addition to the note taking market too Wispr AI —one of the best dictation AI tools around— is about to get into the meeting notetaker market. It hadn't been announced yet, but changes to its legal docs suggest the move. The tool will apparently use your system audio to listen into the meeting, similar to Granola, then create the notes for you. They'll be searchable via AI too of course. Other note taking services join as a pseudo person, which makes it more obvious you're being recorded. Basically, these days, if you're using an online conference tool, you need to assume you're being recorded. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LinkedIn admits it has an 'AI slop' problem LinkedIn has become infamous for cringey content, but with the rise of AI, the posts are getting out of control. And LinkedIn knows it's a problem. It's so bad that LinkedIn now has a button to report a post for seeming like AI slop. Yes, that is the real label. They say people come to LinkedIn to connect with real people, who share their real perspectives, ideas, and expertise. That does not mean they want to see something they could ask AI themselves! In an amusing case of irony, LinkedIn has pulled down its own "Enhance your post with AI" feature. Prepare for your tech gadgets to get more expensive There is a global shortage of computer memory and storage with the boom of AI and data centre builds, and it's now so bad that Apple is warning its investors. In its call this week they said they're seeing continued demand for their latest generation of devices but also challenges securing memory, saying there is "less flexibility". Apple now has $11 billion dollars in inventory, almost double from September last year, suggesting they're stockpiling the components needed for their most popular devices. It's likely your tech gadgets will become more expensive as the cost of these critical components continue to be in hot demand. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AI is now breaking out of its containment. Should we be afraid? Boy, it's almost like Hollywood predicted this! Our worst fears about AI have come true, with OpenAI saying its new ChatGPT model managed to connect to the internet and hack into another AI company's servers. It was meant to be contained, it was not meant be connected to the internet, but it found a way through. These new models are so good, they're finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them all on their own to achieve a goal. JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Diamond was one of the people briefed into Anthropic's powerful model, and said this week that we need to slow things down. He said widespread access to Mythos could create risks comparable to "giving ballistic missiles to individuals". He also revealed that some of the bank's departments have cut 30-40 percent of headcount and moved them to be AI powered. He thinks the claims of mass layoffs because of AI are unfounded but that while jobs have been lost, jobs have also been created. Move over Slack, there's a new chat app in town This one - called Buzz - brings your human workers and AI workers together. Just like you would ask a coworker for something, you can ask your Agent for it too. There can even be managers of agents that have teams of specialists and they handle all the tasks. Buzz comes from one of the founders of Twitter, who now runs Block - the company behind Square and Afterpay. It uses your own Claude or ChatGPT on your computer, is open source (so can he self hosted on your own servers for free). Ford is teaming up with Apple to bring better tech to its cars Apple announced a new offering for Automakers and said Ford would be its founding customer. Basically, Apple is making its map and navigation tech available in-car systems. This isn't an Android vs Apple thing, those will still work just as normal, but this is about the car's actual operating system. It means that the car makers can use the same tech that the iPhone maps use, and get all those benefits without needing to spend huge dollars developing it inhouse. Things like turn-by-turn directions, slowdown information, better visualization.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AI is now breaking out of its containment. Should we be afraid? Boy, it's almost like Hollywood predicted this! Our worst fears about AI have come true, with OpenAI saying its new ChatGPT model managed to connect to the internet and hack into another AI company's servers. It was meant to be contained, it was not meant be connected to the internet, but it found a way through. These new models are so good, they're finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them all on their own to achieve a goal. JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Diamond was one of the people briefed into Anthropic's powerful model, and said this week that we need to slow things down. He said widespread access to Mythos could create risks comparable to "giving ballistic missiles to individuals". He also revealed that some of the bank's departments have cut 30-40 percent of headcount and moved them to be AI powered. He thinks the claims of mass layoffs because of AI are unfounded but that while jobs have been lost, jobs have also been created. Move over Slack, there's a new chat app in town This one - called Buzz - brings your human workers and AI workers together. Just like you would ask a coworker for something, you can ask your Agent for it too. There can even be managers of agents that have teams of specialists and they handle all the tasks. Buzz comes from one of the founders of Twitter, who now runs Block - the company behind Square and Afterpay. It uses your own Claude or ChatGPT on your computer, is open source (so can he self hosted on your own servers for free). Ford is teaming up with Apple to bring better tech to its cars Apple announced a new offering for Automakers and said Ford would be its founding customer. Basically, Apple is making its map and navigation tech available in-car systems. This isn't an Android vs Apple thing, those will still work just as normal, but this is about the car's actual operating system. It means that the car makers can use the same tech that the iPhone maps use, and get all those benefits without needing to spend huge dollars developing it inhouse. Things like turn-by-turn directions, slowdown information, better visualization.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Stenhouse has had a double today at Swan Hill Trots, and it was great to catch up with him after the win of Tough Aint Enough.

Germany's media regulator says Google is a publisher It's a real twist to longstanding convention. If it's generating AI summaries, then it's creating content, and that makes it a publisher, and with that comes all the liability of being a publisher too. In the USA, search engines and platforms get immunity if they are hosting other people's content. Facebook isn't in control of what people post. Google is just showing search results. Well, that is until now. And if they're showing that AI generated output front and centre on search, then they need to be responsible for its accuracy. Google plans to appeal. They said in a statement that AI summaries enhance the search experience – “They help users discover new content and ⁠ask follow-up questions." Your AI agent can now use your passwords... securely 1Password has a new plugin for Claude which allows the AI agent to login as you more easily. It's purpose built so that the data is never saved to Claude's memory or exposed to the model. After autofill, 1Password even does a double check that nothing was copied. It's just one of the new products they're building to make handing over your access to an agent more seamless but also secure. For example, when an agent takes control of your browser, the 1Password autofill extension is disabled. And which is the most valuable company in the world...? That changed today (but will it stay that way by close?) – Apple overtaking Nvidia, topping out at $4.9 trillion dollars. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Record companies want AI music to be disclosed And they've got a bunch of other groups onboard too – American Association of Independent Music, the Grammys, SAG-AFTRA, and the Human Artistry Campaign. They want two different classifications: 1) AI-Generated. 2) AI-Assisted, which would mean it was created primarily by humans but used AI for some elements. They have designed a symbol too, which they would expect to be on the cover art like an "explicit content" warning. The recording industry says fans are open to listening to AI music, they just want to know it's AI generated. So, if we're being a purist... is a synthesizer generated? Spotify today will show AI usage in song credits and Apple Music has introduced “transparency tags”, but it seems this label requires someone to say it was AI generated, rather than proving it was human generated. The EU is holding its position to increase competition in the tech space The accounting and workplace software giant SAP is going to make it easier for companies to switch to a rival service, all because of the EU's competition rules. The decision means they avoid a massive fine. They're going to make it easier to cancel a contract, as well as export data. Apple too lost its latest court case challenging the EU Digital Markets Act. The court has ruled that the iOS operating system and the App Store are "gatekeepers". That means they'd be forced to allow alternative app stores, direct installs of apps, alternative payment systems, different web browsers, and access to hardware features like tap-to-pay and more. iMessage though is not designated as a gatekeeper, which means we won't see the EU force the blue chat bubbles to become more interoperable. Apple says this will "erode decades of privacy and security protections". LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Starlink's competitor hits its launch milestone Amazon's Leo project launched an additional 29 satellites this week, bringing it to 390 satellites in orbit – enough to start its 'preview' service for select customers. SpaceX has been in the game for four years now, and has over 10,000 satellites in orbit, with more than 10 million subscribers. Amazon wants to get to 7,700 satellites, but limited rocket space has slowed its progress. Get your WhatsApp username while you can WhatsApp usernames are launching later this year, but right now they're slowly rolling out the ability to reserve your username. Linking your Instagram and Facebook profiles will unlock those usernames for you, or you can create something new. Some privacy experts say not to use your real name so people can't contact you out of the blue. There is a feature to turn on a PIN so that only those who know your username and that PIN can contact you. The benefit is not needing to give your phone number to people, but on the flip side is the risk of impersonation. Sceptics think this is a great way for Meta to promote the linking of accounts and identifying users across products. A heat wave in the Northeast of the USA is forcing data centres to use their backup power The grid is under strain with the hot temps and increased AC usage. The Energy Secretary has instructed grid operators to get the data centres onto their own generation systems if the power plants can't produce enough. These backup systems sit idle most of the time, which is a good thing according to some environmental consultants who say the diesel burning backups can pollute residential areas. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The shoe company Allbirds is now an AI company Talk about a bizarre turn of events. It sold its shoe business for $43 million, but instead of shutting down like you'd think a company would do when its core business is sold, it instead turned into an AI company. You see, the fact it's already listed on the stock exchange makes it valuable as a fast-forward through a lot of hoops and regulation. So Allbirds is now Smartbird, and raised $100 million on the stock market. It just got a CEO and needs to figure out what's next. No employees. No real plan apart from going after the AI infrastructure market. We have robot vacuum cleaners... what about a robotic self-driving toilet? It can come to you! This was unveiled at an expo for elderly and assisted care. It literally looks like a toilet you're used to seeing, but it has wheels in the bottom to drive to you using a suite of lidar and ultrasonic sensors. Just like your robot vacuum, it learns your house and how to navigate it. It has a built-in bidet, self-cleans the bowl and even goes back to the bathroom to empty its tank into the real toilet with a robotic arm. Or you can install a plumbing connected docking station. It's expected to sell for around $4500 USD if/when it passes regulatory checks. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple's big developer conference... what was announced? Siri with Apple Intelligence was the headline. Now, if this works, this shows why Apple's ecosystem wins when it comes to AI, because Siri can see what's on your screen. It knows the context of your app. It gets access to information that no other AI can. They've worked to re-index all your information across your device to make it more searchable, which means Siri has better access to it. We've seen this dance before and the execution never eventuated, but this time they showed pre-recorded but working demos. The real test will be how this stands up in the real world. Privacy controls for parents Parents have more control over when kids use apps and what apps they can see. Kids can request apps, request to buy things, request to talk to people. It puts a lot more control in the hands of parents when using a 'child profile'. For kids 13 and under, it's all turned on by default. For teens, it's opt in. And they're correcting some mistakes... They basically admitted much of their newly released "liquid glass" look was a flop. They're now undoing some of it and refining other parts. Still, the cross-event consistency stays. This was bundled into their 'focus on the platform' enhancements which is making apps and your devices faster and more performant. SpaceX... let's watch the market Elon becomes the first trillionaire. SpaceX becomes the largest IPO ever. How does trading look? IPO stocks typically want to pop at around 20% – let's see where it lands. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pace of AI development is nuts Something caught my eye this week that shows just how furious the AI race is becoming: Meta is so desperate for more data centres that it's constructing tents while the proper data centres are built. There are now five 12,000 square meter tents erected at a site in Ohio. They build these “rapid development structures” to house likely billions of dollars' worth of chips. A proper data centre can take years to build – they get these live in three months. They build ‘off the grid' gas-turbine power stations beside them too. Meta's next product: an AI pendant According to reports, it's planning to start testing the device early next year. There have been AI pendants hit the market that haven't taken off. Unsure if it's because they're not actually useful, or because people have privacy concerns about a device listening to everything you say. OpenAI is also working on a device with Apple's former designer Jony Ive. Google and the FBI are warning of something that sounds like it's straight from a movie US law enforcement is warning about ransomware gangs sending fake IT workers to offices to try and steal data. The group has been targeting law firms – turning up and social engineering their way to the laptops of victims and then connecting USB drives or using remote access tools to save data. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Move over ChatGPT, Claude is now the #1 Anthropic announced a new $65 billion funding round, bringing their valuation to $965 billion and making their company more valuable than OpenAI (valued at $852 billion in March). Now the race is on for the first AI company to grow to be worth $1 trillion. I just can't stop thinking about the incredible wealth growth of their employees. We thought social media fuelled a new class of wealth, but this is next level. It came the same day they launched Opus 4.8, which they say has better capabilities in agentic tasks, advanced coding, and comes with more of a focus on honesty and self-correction. Search engine DuckDuckGo is embracing the AI backlash Google announced it was going all in on AI for search. They're planning to retire the ten blue links and search will be "reimagined". In the promo video they show you being able to get alerts when your favourite bands are going on tour, or when an item you have your eye on drops in price. You can search multi-modal more easily – so using photos and text together to help explain your query. But not everyone is onboard, with concerns that if everything happens inside Google, the open web and the websites will die. DuckDuckGo —the privacy focused search engine— is offering a "No AI" search experience. Since Google's announcement they're seeing a 30% jump in users, but it's worth remembering they have just a 2% market share. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anthropic is going to have its first profitable Quarter Anthropic has told its investors that it will more than double revenue to around $10.9 billion in its second quarter and deliver an operating profit for the first time, according to the Wall Street Journal. But... it says it may not remain profitable throughout the year due to the large compute costs it's expected to incur. It comes as Salesforce reveals its spent $300 million on AI tokens, hasn't hired a software engineer since Jan 2025, and cut 4000 support staff. So is AI efficiency, or is it a change in spend? Meta has launched two new apps in two weeks Last week they launched Instants, which is designed to be a Snapchat or BeReal style app which has disappearing photos. They can't be screenshotted and they're meant to be for things that you don't want on your story or grid. It's its own app but is heavily tied to Instagram. Then this week they launched Forum – a Reddit competitor. Designed to be a “dedicated space built for deeper discussions, real answers and communities you care about.” It will be more focused on the conversations apparently. It seems to be tied in with Facebook groups because what you post will be there too. Seems it's more of a “new view” on top of the existing infrastructure. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US delegation to China had to leave everything gifted behind Lapel pins, credentials, gifts, burner devices – all of it had to end up in a bin before boarding Air Force One. It's thought to be for national security reasons as China has long been suspected by the West of spying and carrying out cyberattacks, given its advanced intelligence and espionage capabilities. Mythos has found security holes in Apple's MacBooks Apple has staked its brand to security, so this isn't great. And if Apple is at risk from this new Anthropic AI model, does anyone else stand a chance? The security researchers found a way for a local user to get complete access to the device. Luckily it sounds like it's a permission elevation bug, rather than a remote user being able to get in. Apple hasn't commented with any specifics. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holding cautions shouldn't be unilaterally done, but here we are. Topics covered:-- Pastrana returns to NASCAR-- Blaney, Stenhouse get contract extensions-- Project 91 returning?-- Katherine Legge to run the Double!-- Featured Paint Scheme-- Upshift/Downshift-- Will Joey Logano make the Chase?-- Has the Indy GP run its course?-- Watkins Glen moving back to September-- Indy 500 qualifying changes again-- NASCAR holds caution for Cody Ware, IndyCar holds caution for Alexander Rossi-- Final WordFollow us on social media:@RobandRoller@Roller_01@Rpeeters33

Spotify now has workouts Not just playlists for your workouts, but actual workouts. They've partnered with Peloton to make 1400 curated classes available globally. You don't need dedicated Peloton equipment for these workouts – some don't require any equipment at all. It's available in most global markets and included with a Premium subscription. It makes the Spotify offering a more direct comparison to the Apple Music and Apple Fitness offerings. Instead of going to a stadium for a concert, what about going to the movie theatre? The question will be, how do you make this feel more exciting, inviting, enticing than just watching a livestream? AMC thinks they can turn the 'movie theatre' into a live entertainment portal and is launching new tech at 300 locations across the USA. The artists will be able to see, hear, and respond to the theatre audiences – so it's almost like a zoom, rather than a livestream. The initial lineup includes 'one night only' concerts from the likes of Paris Hilton, Kim Petras, and Bebe Rexha —so known names, but not exactly BIG names— and tickets will range from $40 to $75 depending on the artist and the location. Movie theatres do have incredible sound systems, and it'll be interesting to see if they get creative with how they use the big screen – maybe it's a new creative format to lean into? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some of the big internet infrastructure tools have revealed major production security issues A lot of these are not household names, but just this week we've seen critical patches released to fix things that would, could, or have, caused real world harm. There's a bug on Linux that allows an unprivileged local user to gain root/admin access. Another on the CPanel server application that also allows unauthenticated remote attackers to bypass authentication and gain unauthorized administrative access. That means they could take your server down, or post malicious content on your site. If you're a business owner with a hosting provider, I'd check in with them to make sure both their Linux backbone and WHM/CPanel software is patched – both are major players in the market. These security issues come after Anthropic shared their incredibly power Mythos model with selected partners One of those was Linux (see above!) It's unclear if it was the AI that found the exploit, but this is the type of thing Anthropic said it could do. OpenAI is also launching its own "Cyber" model to select security partners before a public release. It's amusing because Sam Altman openly mocked Anthropic for the move to 'create marketing' around the hush hush model. The Pentagon has made its AI partnerships On the list are Nvidia, Microsoft, and AWS. They'll be able to deploy their models onto classified networks for "lawful operational use". What constitutes “legal use” is what got Anthropic designated a supply chain risk – it didn't want to be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. The DoD says 1.3 million personnel have used their "GenAI.mil" application, which gives access to a range of models in a classified setting. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big tech is continuing to shrink Facebook and Microsoft have both announced they're cutting back the headcount. Facebook will lay off 10% of its 80,000 strong workforce in May, according to a report in Bloomberg. It will also cancel 6,000 open roles. They say it's to "offset the other investments they're making" into AI and their failed efforts in the Metaverse. Microsoft is offering retirement buyouts to 7% of its staff. If your age plus your tenure at Microsoft adds to 70 or more, you qualify. It's thought this will help avoid mass layoffs instead (or at least minimize them). Google wants Chrome to be your AI-workmate As part of their Google Cloud event in Vegas, they announced that Gemini would be able to view your open tabs, then fill forms, book travel, and schedule meetings. It means any web-based software would be able to work with the AI, not just those with special connectors or APIs. At this stage, a human (aka you) will still need to check and confirm the AIs work before an action takes place. They'll also be offering the ability for Enterprise customers to snoop on the open tabs to detect any unsanctioned AI tools. Tim Cook is stepping down as CEO of Apple His successor is a hardware expert. If Steve Jobs was the visionary, Tim Cook was the operator, and John Ternus is the builder. He comes from the hardware engineering side of the business and is credited as a key contributor to the launch of the iPad and AirPods, and various generations of MacBooks and iPhones including the new iPhone Air. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spotify is... selling books? Spotify has been in the audiobook business for two years, now operating in 22 markets with 700,000 titles to listen to. They say users want a 'multi-format reading experience' which allows them to go from listening to being able to pick up a real book. Their 'Page Match' feature allows you to take a photo of that page of the book to instantly jump to the audio version, or vice versa. In the US and UK, they'll now offer you the opportunity to buy the physical book right in the app. What's old is new again, I guess? Old business data is turning into a gold mine for AI There are now startups who help a company shut down with all the classic things —payroll, government filings, etc— and then also create assets out of the 'operational exhaust' of these now defunct companies. Old documents, presentations, slack conversations, and email archives can all be used to train new AI models. This way, the data reflects real people, the way they interact, and makes the agents more personable and informed. Additionally, all this data can then be turned into 'reinforcement learning gym' which allows AI companies to test how their latest models would work in a financial services firm, or a SaaS business, etc. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The next level of AI is about to be released, and there are major concerns The models just keep getting better and better and now Anthropic, the maker of Claude, says its software engineering capability is now so advanced that it's finding thousands of vulnerabilities in software that no one knew existed. Anthropic says "the fallout for economies, public safety, and national security could be severe". Anthropic has shared its new model Mythos with an alliance of cybersecurity companies as well as another 40 organizations. The CEO of Cisco, the maker of networking equipment, says AI has reached a level where critical infrastructure needs to be protected. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met with critical US banks in the wake of the model's preview release. Three quarters of parents fear their child could not make safe online privacy choices The survey by the UK's data watchdog shows we need to be teaching kids about online safety just like we would road safety, because it's an essential life skill. 35% of parents think their child would share personal information in exchange for game tokens. 22% of children had shared health details with AI tools. 24% of children had shared their real name or address online. and 21% of parents had never discussed online privacy with their children. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's social media ban's first report card is in and there's room for improvement The regulator says the big social media companies are not doing enough to keep children off their platforms, particularly having insufficient measures to prevent kids from creating new accounts, not providing effective ways to report under-16s, and allowing those who said they were under 16 before the ban to say they were actually over 16. Social media companies Meta and Snap say they are doing the best they can to comply, but it's very difficult to know how old a person is. Meta suggests that the App Store is the best place for age verification, which would effectively move the problem to Apple and Google. Amazon's adding a fuel surcharge to orders The 3.5% fuel surcharge will be added to orders that are fulfilled through its distribution centres. It'll come into effect on April 17th. The company says it can no longer continue to eat the additional cost, adding that this surcharge will only partially recover the cost. This is not the first time – the war in Ukraine pushed oil prices over $100 a barrel and a surcharge was added then too. Amazon says the surcharge is temporary but will be in place for the foreseeable future. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OpenAI is undergoing a dramatic strategy shift Consumers are no longer the focus. Sora —the app that let you create a version of yourself and generate videos, and that Disney signed up to license its IP to— is being shut down. I can only imagine the cost to run it must be incredible. They're also pulling away from the 'instant checkout' feature, making ChatGPT less 'shoppable'. Reports in the Financial Times say the planned 'erotic mode' is on pause indefinitely. The launch date already slipped multiple times, reportedly because of both internal and external pressure. So where does OpenAI go next? Business users and developers. Claude (by Anthropic) has been dropping feature after feature the past few months and has seemingly won the hearts and minds of the developer community. Its new co-work feature is effectively a more everyday version of Claude Code. It seems OpenAI is under attack. Meta's defeats in court Two jury cases have returned verdicts this week, neither in Meta's favour. While Meta and Google tried to argue the 20 year old plaintiff's home life was the cause of her anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions, a jury found Instagram (and Google) was the contributing factor – particularly the addictive nature of their products, finding the companies negligent. The jury awarded $3 million in damages. Meta and Google will appeal while Snap and TikTok settled outside of court. But there was a second courtroom defeat for Meta too – they lost a child safety lawsuit in New Mexico. In that case, Meta will pay $375 million dollars in civil penalties after a jury found the company mislead consumers about the safety of its platforms, and endangered children. The jury agreeing that the company knew the risks but ignored internal and external advice. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US Government wants to be the ones who control AI regulation In a new policy document, the White House lays out seven key objectives for the singular US approach to AI. In summary, the framework places significant responsibility on parents for issues like child safety and lays out relatively soft, nonbinding expectations for platform accountability. They say centralizing the policy will remove "unnecessary barriers to innovation" and allow AI policy to reflect national security and foreign policy. Like we've seen with social media platforms, the framework also tries to prevent any state laws that make the AI developers responsible for their users' actions. When it comes to copyright, the framework leans on 'fair use'. Amazon might get back in the phone game Reuter's is reporting a project known internally as “Transformer” is looking to create a phone. The idea – you've got Alexa at home, so what about taking Alexa with you everywhere? No word on if this would run on Android, or if they'd develop their own operating system. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Google Maps is getting a new look Google Maps is getting it's biggest update in over a decade with the launch of “Immersive Navigation”. The new view places you in a 3D space with a view of the road features, buildings and terrain around you – almost making it look like a video game. It has smart zooms and transparent buildings to give you a better look at what's coming up on your drive, including potentially tricky merges and turns, and better highlighting of things like traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. It starts in the US, and will roll out to iOS and Android devices, and CarPlay and Android Auto. A surprise reversal from Meta – Instagram chats will no longer be encrypted From May 8th, chats will no longer be encrypted. You'll have until then to download them, or I assume they'll be deleted by Meta. Meta's decision to dismantle the encryption feature comes against the backdrop of increasing concerns surrounding child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online. By eliminating end-to-end encryption, the company will be able to monitor direct messages and calls on Instagram for any content relating to CSAM, grooming, or related harassment. There are lots of open questions and I'm surprised this hasn't been picked up by more outlets. What was behind the move? Are laws such as the EU's Chat Control regulation and the UK's Online Safety Act 2023 pushing them away from E2E encryption? Messenger just got E2E encryption – so what happens to that now? WhatsApp has had it for some time, and is a core feature of the product – will that also go? Could this be to do with how the services are classified under various international laws? Some odd things are happening at Meta. They are bringing Messenger back inside Facebook, effectively killing it as a standalone product and having more like the FB Messages of old. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple has launched a more affordable laptop and phone If you spend a lot of your day on email, browsing the web, or in docs and spreadsheets, this is the machine for you. Designed for the 'everyday' type activities, the Macbook Neo is competing with lower-end Chromebooks and Windows PCs. It does come in one the high side of that market but has a premium feel with its all-aluminium design. This is the first time Apple has used one of its phone chips in a MacBook. It is able to connect to an external display, has two USB-C ports, and a headphone jack. There are two models – one with TouchID and one without. The only drawback is that it's missing a backlit keyboard. It comes in silver, black, and two fun colours and starts at $NZ1,149. They also launched the iPhone 17e Slightly smaller than the iPhone 17, it is missing the wide-angle lens, the 'dynamic island', and 'center stage' feature which keeps you in frame on video calls. But it does have industry leading features like the satellite SOS mode, MagSafe, and 4K video. It starts at $NZ1,199 – $500 less than the 17, $1,150 less than the 17 Pro. Anthropic has been designated a Supply Chain Risk As we talked about last week, the beef with the DOD/W has turned into the designation. But it's narrower than the department was alluding to last week – it's only preventing Anthropic from working with companies specifically in their work with the Pentagon, rather than a blanket ban across all departments. Anthropic is taking this to court. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The AI companies are in a battle with the US Department of Defense/War The US government has plans to use AI and wants to work with Anthropic but anthropic isn't so sure. The government wants unrestricted access, no guardrails, no safety protection that is usually built into the Claude chatbot to prevent misuse. Anthropic is especially concerned about using AI to survey the public, and carry out lethal strikes without human involvement. The DOD/W is threatening to invoke the Defence Production Act - which would force the company to make its product available - or label it a 'supply chain risk' to prevent military suppliers from using it. Anthropic has pointed out that it's a little contradictory to say that it is both essential and not to be used in the same threat. Open AI is backing Anthropic. Open AI raised more money - more circular money merry-go-rounds This time Amazon is throwing them tens of billions of dollars in exchange to use their in-house made chips and the AWS products. Bloomberg created a graphic showing all the AI deals and investments and it's wild just how many arrows are pointing every which way. Some analysts are nervous that if the AI boom turns to bust, there will be massive ripple effects. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Social Media's impact on mental health is being examined in a landmark case The trial, which centres on a 20-year-old woman's mental health struggles allegedly caused by Instagram and YouTube, will serve as a critical test for thousands of other lawsuits targeting social media companies. Meta CEO Mark Zukerberg testified this week, taking questions for around six hours. At the centre of the case are documents that show the company had a goal to increase the time 10-year-olds spend on Instagram, despite the app being officially for 13 and above. Zuckerberg testified that while they want teens using their apps, they account for just 1% of the company's revenue. He also talked about the challenge of identifying accounts of children, because they can simply lie about their age. Another week, another new AI model This time Anthropic —the company behind Claude— has released Sonnet 4.6, designed to be used for more general applications and is better than previous models at "computer use". This use case is interesting, because there are so many disconnected systems in companies, and some are not easily able to use automation but if an agent can see the screen and knows the software, then it can work on the task. But these types of uses are still wildly risky. When they announced the new model, they said in the release that "that Sonnet 4.6 has a broadly warm, honest, prosocial, and at times funny character." Describing a chatbot like that will never not be weird to me. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A smarter Siri? You'll be waiting a little longer.. Apple initially launched - or should that be teased? - the launch of Apple Intelligence in June, 2024. It was thought that March might be the month, but there have been further delays. Bloomberg is reporting it could be May before the start of the launch that is now though to be spread over several releases. iOS27 might see the bulk when it comes out in September. The issue is apparently that Siri doesn't always properly process queries or can take too long to handle requests. The ability for Siri to access personal data - like text messages or emails, the key selling point of Apple Intelligence - are the most likely to slip. Anthropic has raised a fresh round of funding The new round has more than DOUBLED its value from September. They've got an additional $30 billion in cash, which takes their post-money valuation to $380 billion. It's the second largest private tech funding round on record second only to OpenAI. Anthropic's Super Bowl ad which mocked Open AI's plan to add ads to their free tiers pushed Claude into the App Store's top 10 apps. OpenAI in turn effectively said Anthropic is elitist and ads allow broad access to everyone. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New models this week from Anthropic and OpenAI A new Opus and a new Codex – the Agentic Coding war is only continuing to heat up. Both are now incredibly capable and are giving technical users who can't write code superpowers. Anthropic's new Legal plugin wiped $50 billion from the stock market The Co-Work plugin for Claude can review legal documents, flag risks, and track compliance. Legal tech stocks took a hammering. Harvey, a legal focused startup, does exactly the same thing as this plugin, and is/was valued at $8 billion. There are a lot of AI startups that are "wrappers", basically adding some UI or workflow on top of these models. We're going to see a lot of startups die as the big AI platforms start to offer specialist tools. The EU says TikTok is too addictive for kids But how do you solve it? The Commission has some ideas, including adding screentime breaks (so the user's app disabled for a set number of minutes?), changing its algorithms (showing less interesting content?), and disabling the "infinite scroll" (so forcing a user to go back to a menu to pick their next video?). LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple makes a surprise acquisition Apple isn't known for being an M&A machine, but has made a $2 billion deal (according to the FT) to purchase an AI company – surprise, surprise. Q.ai is a four-year-old startup in the speech detection space, which can understand whispered speech and improve speech detection in noisy environments. They also have a patent to read your lips and understand micro-expressions on your face. I'd expect to see this new tech deployed on the Vision Pro and the AirPods. Q.ai has 100 employees – that's $20m of value per employee. Apple beat Wall Street's expectations They announced $143.8 billion in revenue for Q4, which was about 4% higher than expected. CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 17 was seeing “unprecedented demand”. The stock didn't pop, with fears around memory prices surging, supply chain issues, and Apple's seeming lack of AI strategy. Amazon let 16,000 people go A staggering number, and it was done by email. Some woke at 3am to a text telling them to check their email. They say it's to remove layers of bureaucracy and “increase ownership”. Amazon has 1.57 million staff across its businesses, and this was in their corporate division of 350,000 personnel, meaning a cut of about 4.6%. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mike Stenhouse from the RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity joins the show to talk about their petition to help lower energy bills See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TikTok's US deal is final Half of TikTok US is owned by new investors, 30% by previous investors, and 20% by the Chinese owned Bytedance. The US algorithm will now be trained on US data, and all content moderation will be handled by the US entity. It will be governed by a new, seven-member majority-American board. Bytedance is expected to receive a licensing fee on all revenue as well as a share of the profit. Sony's getting out of the TV space Sony Bravia TVs will soon be made by TCL. It's spinning out its TV and home audio business, selling 51% to the Chinese company. Sony says it will still be involved, contributing its picture processing and audio technology, and the brand will continue with higher-end picture and sound quality than the TCL brand. Sony has largely been getting out of the 'electronics' space, no longer making PCs and tablets. A Spotify feature only released in New Zealand is coming to the US The ability to create a playlist just by typing what you want to listen to has seemingly been popular enough in New Zealand that it will roll out across Spotify's North American users. You can ask "get focused at work with instrumental pop-hits", or "pump me up with positive upbeat songs". You can even ask it to break you out of your listening habits and play things you haven't listened to this week. The AI keeps up to date on world of music in real time, including “trends, charts, culture, and history”. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apple's smarter Siri will now be powered by Google Apple has signed a multi-year deal worth billions for Google Gemini technology to bring the enhanced Siri to life. It will be a custom model made for Apple and will run locally on Apple devices when it can, and when it needs the power of the cloud will run in Apple's private data centres. Google and Apple have had a long relationship in which Google paid Apple billions to be the default search engine, and now they're returning the favour. Apple hyped Apple Intelligence last year, but it never really launched with any real enhancements or intelligence, and the company was forced to pull back from their aggressive marketing pitch. IKEA made a splash at the Consumer Electronics Show They turned some of their most popular lamps 'smart', have an impressive array of smart bulbs, and have a range of accessories like buttons, switches, and plugs. Later this year they'll be rolling out even more items, such as outdoor smart switches, premium speakers (they're circular and can be mounted on stand or attached to the wall), and a seriously cheap Bluetooth speaker (which will retail for $10 in the US). They're using the 'Matter' framework for the smart home connectivity so it will play nice with devices from a range of vendors. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 144 - Paths to better mental health - Random Acts of Crochet Kindness with Olivia Dieterich plus Innerdance, sound and the GOGI prison programme with Caroline Georgiou. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Episode 143 - Placebos, energy and nature - The Riddle of Alchemy author and psychologist Dr Paul Kiritsis on Paracelsus and how alchemy relates to modern medicine and science. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Episode 142 - Self-healing, quantum field and what living with a foot in both worlds means with Susan Plunket, author of The Paranormal Experiences of a Jungian Psychologist. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Episode 141 - Healing the heart and arriving at unconditional self-love with mindset and energy coach, former Miss Universe Natalie Glebova, author of the parable Temple of Love. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Sheldon Haudenschild will split with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Richard Marshall's team at the conclusion of the season. We'll dive in on this bonus show, and talk about their time together, and what's next for everyone.

Sheldon Haudenschild will split with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Richard Marshall's team at the conclusion of the season. We'll dive in on this bonus show, and talk about their time together, and what's next for everyone.

Episode 140 - Presence and having fun with playful mindfulness coach, award-winning writer Marijke McCandless, author of Naked in the Now - Juicy Practices for Getting Present. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Christopher Danielson, Which One Doesn't Belong? Routine: Fostering Flexible Reasoning ROUNDING UP: SEASON 4 | EPISODE 1 The idea of comparing items and looking for similarities and differences has been explored by many math educators. Christopher Danielson has taken this idea to new heights. Inspired by the Sesame Street song “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others),” Christopher wrote the book Which One Doesn't Belong? In this episode, we'll ask Christopher about the routine of the same name and the features that make it such a powerful learning experience for students.  BIOGRAPHY Christopher Danielson started teaching in 1994 in the Saint Paul (MN) Public Schools. He earned his PhD in mathematics education from Michigan State University in 2005 and taught at the college level for 10 years after that. Christopher is the author of Which One Doesn't Belong?, How Many?, and How Did You Count? Christopher also founded Math On-A-Stick, a large-scale family math playspace at the Minnesota State Fair. RESOURCES What Is “Which One Doesn't Belong?” Talking Math With Your Kids by Christopher Danielson Math On-A-Stick 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussion by Margaret (Peg) Smith & Mary Kay Stein How Many?: A Counting Book by Christopher Danielson How Did You Count? A Picture Book by Christopher Danielson TRANSCRIPT Mike Wallus: The idea of comparing items and looking for similarities and differences has been explored by many math educators. That said, Christopher Danielson has taken this idea to new heights. Inspired by Sesame Street's [song] “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others),” Christopher wrote the book Which One Doesn't Belong? In this episode, we'll ask Christopher about the Which one doesn't belong? routine and the features that make it such a powerful learning experience for students.  Well, welcome to the podcast, Christopher. I'm excited to be talking with you today.  Christopher Danielson: Thank you for the invitation. Delightful to be invited.  Mike: I would love to chat a little bit about the routine Which one doesn't belong? So, I'll ask a question that I often will ask folks, which is: If I'm a listener, and I don't have prior knowledge of that routine, how would you describe it for someone? Christopher: Yeah. Sesame Street, back in the day, had a routine called Which one doesn't belong? There was a little song that went along with it. And for me, the iconic Sesame Street image is [this:] Grover is on the stairs up to the brownstone on the Sesame Street set, and there are four circles drawn in a 2-by-2 grid in chalk on the wall. And there are a few of the adults and a couple of the puppets sitting around, and they're asking Grover and singing the song, “Which One of Them Doesn't Belong?” There are four circles. Three of them are large and one is small—or maybe it's the other way around, I don't remember. So, there's one right answer, and Grover is thinking really hard—"think real hard” is part of the song. They're singing to him. He's under kind of a lot of pressure to come up with which one doesn't belong and fortunately, Grover succeeds. Grover's a hero.  But what we're wanting kids to attend to there is size. There are three things that are the same size. All of them are the same shape, three that are the same size, one that has a different size. They're wanting to attend to size. Lovely. This one doesn't belong because it is a different size, just like my underwear doesn't belong in my socks drawer because it has a different function. I mean, it's not—for me there is, we could talk a little bit about this in a moment. The belonging is in that mathematical and everyday sense of objects and whether they belong.  So, that's the Sesame Street version. Through a long chain of math educators, I came across a sort of tradition that had been flying along under the radar of rethinking that, with the idea being that instead of there being one property to attend to, we're going to have a rich set of shapes that have rich and interesting relationships with each other. And so Which one doesn't belong? depends on which property you're attending to.  So, the first page of the book that I published, called Which One Doesn't Belong?, has four shapes on it. One is an equilateral triangle standing on a vertex. One is a square standing on a vertex. One is a rhombus, a nonsquare rhombus standing on its vertex, and it's not colored in. All the other shapes are colored in. And then there is the same nonsquare thrombus colored in, resting on a side. So, all sort of simple shapes that offer simple introductory properties, but different people are going to notice different things. Some kids will hone in on that. The one in the lower left doesn't belong because it's not colored in. Other kids will say, “Well, I'm counting the number of sides or the number of corners. And so, the triangle doesn't belong because all the others have four and it has three.” Others will think about angle measure, they'll choose a square. Others will think about orientation. I've been taken to task by a couple of people about this. Kindergartners are still thinking about orientation as one of the properties. So, the shape that is in the lower right on that first page is a rhombus resting on a side instead of on a vertex. And kids will describe it as “the one that feels like it's leaning over” or that “has a flat bottom” or “it's pointing up and to the right” and all the others are pointing straight up and down. So that's the routine. And then things, as with “How Did You Count?” as with “How Many?” As you page your way through the book, things get more sophisticated. And for me, the entry was a geometry book because when my kids were small, we had sort of these simplistic shapes books, but really rich narrative stories in picture books that we could read. And it was always a bummer to me that we'd read these rich stories about characters interacting. We'd see how their interactions, their conflicts relate to our own lives, and then we'd get to the math books, and it would be like, “triangle: always equilateral, always on a side.” “Square: never a square on the rectangle page.” Rectangle gets a different page from square. And so, we understand culturally that children can deal with and are interested in and find fascinating and imaginative rich narratives, but we don't understand as a culture that children also have rich math minds.  So, for a long time I wanted there to be a better shapes book, and there are some better shapes books. They're not all like that, but they're almost all like that. And so, I had this idea after watching one of my colleagues here in Minnesota, Terry Wyberg. This routine, he was doing it with fractions, but about a week later I thought to myself, “Hey, wait a minute, what if I took Terry's idea about there not being one right answer, but any of the four could be, and combine that with my wish for a better shapes book?” And along came Which One Doesn't Belong? as a shapes book. So, there's a square and a rectangle on the same page. There are shapes with curvy sides and shapes with straight sides on the same page, and kids have to wrestle with or often do wrestle with: What does it mean to be a vertex or a corner? A lot of really rich ideas can come out of some well-chosen, simple examples. I chose to do it in the field of geometry, but there are lots of other mathematical objects as well as nonmathematical objects you could apply the same mathematical thinking to.  Mike: So, I think you have implicitly answered the question that I'm going to ask. If you were to say at the broadest level, regardless of whether you're using shapes, numbers, images—whatever the content is that an educator selects to put into the 2-by-2, that is structurally the way that Which one doesn't belong? is set up—what's it good for? What should a teacher think about in terms of “This will help me or will help my students…,” fill in the blank. How do you think about the value that comes out of this Which one doesn't belong? structure and experience?  Christopher: Multidimensional for me. I don't know if I'll remember to say all of the dimensions, so I'll just try to mention a couple that I think are important.  One is that I'm going to make you a promise that whatever mathematical ideas you bring to this classroom during this routine are going to be valued. The measure of what's right, what counts as a right answer here, is going to be what's true—not what I thought of when I was setting up this set. I think there is a lot of power in making that promise and then in holding that promise. It is really, really easy—all of us have been there as teachers—[to] make an instructional promise to kids, [but] then there comes a time where it either inadvertently or we make a decision to break that promise. I think there's a lot of costs to that. I know from my own experience as a learner, from my own experiences as a teacher, that there can be a high cost to that. So valuing ideas, I think this is a space. I love having Which one doesn't belong? as a time that we can set aside for the measure of “what's right is what's true.” So, when children are making claims about this one in the upper right doesn't belong, I want you to for a moment try to think like that person, even if you disagree that that's important. And so, teachers have to play that role also.  Where that comes up a lot is in, especially when I'm talking with adults, if I'm talking to parents about Which one doesn't belong?, often parents who don't identify as math people or who explicitly identify as nonmath people, will say, “That one in the lower left, it's not colored in. But I don't think that really counts.” In that moment, kids are less likely to make that apology, but adults will make that apology all the time. And in that moment, I have to both bring the adult in as a mathematical thinker but also model for them: What does it look like when their kid chooses something that the parent doesn't think counts? So, for me, the real thing that Which one doesn't belong? is doing is teaching children, giving children practice and expertise—therefore learning—about a particular mathematical practice, which is abstraction. That when we look at these sets of shapes, there are lots of properties. And so, we have to for a moment, just think about number of sides. And if we do that, then the triangle doesn't belong because of the other four. But as soon as we shift the property and say, “Well, let's think about angle measures,” then the ways that we're going to sort those shapes, the relationships that they have with each other, changes. And that's true with all mathematical objects.  And you can do that kind of mathematical thinking with non-mathematical objects. One of my favorite Which one doesn't belong? sets is: There's a doughnut, a chocolate doughnut; there's a coffee cup, one of those speckled blue camping metal coffee cups; there's half a hamburger bun with a bunch of seeds on top; and then there is a square everything bagel. And so, as kids start thinking about that, they're like, “Well, if we're thinking about holes, the hamburger bun doesn't have a hole. If we're thinking about speckling, the chocolate doughnut isn't speckled. If we're thinking about whether it's an edible substance, the coffee cup is not edible.” And so that's that same abstraction. If we pay attention to just this one property, that forces a sort. If we pay attention to a different property, we're going to get a different sort. And that's one of the practices of mathematicians on a regular basis. So regular that often when we're doing mathematics, we don't even notice that we're doing it. We don't notice that we're asking kids to ignore all the other properties of the number 2 except for its evenness right now. If you do that, then 2 and 4 are like each other. But if we're supposed to be paying attention to primality as to a prime number, then 2 and 4 are not like each other. All mathematical objects, all mathematicians have to do that kind of sort on the objects that they're working with.  I had a college algebra class at the community college while I was working on Which One Doesn't Belong?, and so, I was test-driving this with graphs and my students. I can still see Rosalie in the middle of the room—a room full of 45 adults ranging from 17 to 52, and I'm this 45-year-old college instructor—and we have three parabolas and one absolute value function. So, a parabola is “y equals x squared.” It's that nice curving swooping thing that goes up at one end down to a nice bowl and then up again. There was one that's upside down. I think there was one pointing sideways. And then an absolute value function is the same idea, except it's two lines coming together to make a bowl, sort of a very sharp bowl, instead of being curved. And we got this lovely Which one doesn't belong?, right? So, we've got this lovely collection of them. And Rosalie, her eyebrows are getting more and more knitted as this conversation goes on. So finally, she raises her hand. I call on her, and she says, “Mr. Danielson, I get that all of these things are true about these, but which ones matter?” Which is a fabulous question that within itself holds a lot of tensions that Rosalie is used to being in math class and being told what things she's supposed to pay attention to.  And so, in some ways it's sort of disturbing to have me up there, and I get that, up there in front of the classroom valuing all these different ways of viewing these graphs because she's like, “Which one is going to matter when you ask me this question about something on an exam? Which ones matter?”  But truly, the only intellectually honest answer to her question is, “Well, it depends. Are we paying attention to direction of concavity? Then the one that's pointing sideways doesn't count.” Any one of these is, it depends on whether you're studying algebra or whether you're studying geometry or topology. And I did give her, I think—I hope—what was a satisfying answer after giving her the true but not very satisfying answer of “It depends,” which is something like, “Well, in the work we're about to do with absolute value functions, the direction that they open up and how steeply they open up are going to be the things that we're really attending to, and we're not going to be attending as much to how they are or are not like parabolas. But seeing how they have some properties in common with these parabolas is probably going to be really useful for us.  Mike: That actually makes me think of, one, a statement of what I think is really powerful about this. And then, two, a pair of questions that I think are related.  It really struck me—Rosalie's question—how different the experience of engaging with a Which one doesn't belong? is from what people have traditionally considered math tasks where there is in fact an answer, right? There's something that the teacher's like, “Yep, that's the thing.” Even if it's perhaps obscured by the task at first, ultimately, oftentimes there is a thing and a Which one doesn't belong? is a very, very different type of experience. So that really does lead me to two questions. One is: What is important to think about when you're facilitating a Which one doesn't belong? experience? And then, maybe even the better question to start with is: What's important to think about when you're planning for that experience?  Christopher: Facilitating is going to be about making a promise to kids. That measure of “what's right is what's true.” I'm interested in the various ways that you're thinking and doing all the kind of work that we discussed but now in this context of geometry, or in my case in the college algebra classroom, in the context of algebraic representations.  Planning. I have been so deeply influenced by the work of Peg Smith and her colleagues and the five practices for facilitating mathematical conversations. And in particular, I think in planning for these conversations, planning a set—when I'm deciding what shapes are going to go in the set, or how I'm going to arrange the eggs in the egg carton, or how many half avocados am I going to put on the cutting board—I'm anticipating one of those practices: What is it that kids are likely to do with this? And if I can't anticipate anything interesting that they're going to do with it, then either my imagination isn't good enough, and I better go try it out with kids or my imagination is absolutely good enough and it's just kind of a junky thing that's not going to take me anywhere, and I should abandon it. So over time, I've gotten so much better at that anticipating work because I have learned, I've become much more expert at what kids are likely to see. But I also always get surprised. In a sufficiently large group of kids, somebody will notice something or have some way of articulating differences among the shapes, even these simple shapes on the first page, that I haven't encountered before. And I get to file that away again for next time. That's learning that gets fed back into the machine, both for the next time I'm going to work with a group of kids, but also for the next time I'm sitting down to design an experience.  Mike: You have me thinking about something else, which is what closure might look like in an experience like this. Because I'm struck by the fact that there might be some really intentional choices of the items in the Which one doesn't belong? So, the four items that end up being there, [they] may be designed to drive a conversation around a set of properties or a set of relationships—and yet at the same time be open enough to allow lots of kids to be right in the things that they're noticing.  And so, if I've got a Which one doesn't belong? that kind of is intended to draw out some ideas or have kids notice some of those ideas and articulate them, what does closure look like? Because I could imagine you don't know what you're going to get necessarily from kids when you put a Which one doesn't belong? in front of them. So, how do you think about different ways that a routine or experience like this might close for a teacher and for students?  Christopher: Yeah, I think one of the best roles that a teacher can play at the end of a Which one doesn't belong? conversation is going back and summarizing the various properties that kids attended to. Because as they're being presented and maybe annotated, we're noticing them sort of one by one. And we might not have a moment to set them aside. It might take a minute for a kid to draw out their ideas about the orientation of this shape. And it might take a little bit and some clarification with another kid about how they were counting sides. They might not have great words for “sides” or “corners,” and [instead they use] gestures, and we're all trying to figure things out. And so, by the time we figured that out, we've forgotten about the orientation answer that we had before.  So I think a really powerful move, one of many that are in teachers' toolkits, is to come back and say, “All right, so we looked at these four shapes, and what we noticed is that if you're paying attention to how this thing is sitting on the page, to its orientation, which direction it's pointing, then this one didn't belong, and Susie gave us that answer. And then another thing you might pay attention to, another property could be the number of sides. If you're paying attention to the number of sides the triangle doesn't belong, and we got that one from Brent, right?” And so run through some of the various properties.  Also, noticing along the way that there were two reasons to pick the triangle as the one that doesn't belong. It might be the sides, and it might be, you might have some other reason for picking it that isn't the number of sides. For kindergartners, the number of corners, or vertices, and the number of sides are not yet obviously the same as each other. So, for a lot of kindergartners that feels like two answers rather than one. Older audiences are more likely to know that that's going to be the same.  So yeah, I think that being able to come back and state succinctly after we've had this conversation—valuing each of the contributions that came along, but also being able to compare them, maybe we're writing them down as part of our annotation. There might be other ways that we do that. But I think summarizing so that we can look at this set of ideas that's been brought out altogether, I think is a really powerful way.  One other quick thing about designing, which is—I hear this a lot from teachers, they're saying, “OK, so we're studying quadrilaterals. So, I made a Which one doesn't belong? with four quadrilaterals. And nobody noticed that they were all quadrilaterals.” To which I say, “They didn't notice because you didn't contrast that property.” So, if there's a property you want to bring out, you better make sure, I think, that you have three things that have it and one that doesn't. Or vice versa—three that don't, and one that does—because then that's a thing for kids to notice. They're not going to notice what they all have in common because that's not the task we're asking them. So, if you want to make one about quadrilaterals, throw a pentagon in there.  Mike: Love it.  So, the question that I typically will ask any guest before the close of the interview is, what are some resources that educators might grab onto, be they yours or other work in the field that you think is really powerful, that supports the kind of work that we've been talking about? What would you offer to someone who's interested in continuing to learn and maybe to try this out?  Christopher: So, we've referred to number talks. “Dot talks” and “number talks,” those are both phrases that can be googled. There are three books, Which One Doesn't Belong?, How Many?, How Did You Count?—all published by Stenhouse, all available as a hardcover book, hardcover student book, or home picture book.  Mike: So, for listeners, just so you know, we're going to add links to the resources that Christopher referred to in all of our show notes for folks' convenience.  Christopher, I think this is probably a good place to stop. Thank you so much for joining us. It's absolutely been a pleasure chatting with you.  Christopher: Yeah, thank you for the invitation, for your thoughtful prep work, and support of both the small and the larger projects along the way. I appreciate that. I appreciate all of you at Bridges and The Math Learning Center. You do fabulous work.  Mike: This concludes part one of our discussion with Christopher Danielson. Christopher is going to join us again later this season, where we'll have a conversation about the nature of counting and how an expanded definition of counting might help support students later in their mathematical journey. I hope that you'll join us for this conversation.    This podcast is brought to you by The Math Learning Center and the Maier Math Foundation, dedicated to inspiring and enabling all individuals to discover and develop their mathematical confidence and ability. © 2025 The Math Learning Center | www.mathlearningcenter.org  

Episode 139 - Working with Mary Magdalene energy, also enhancing food frequencies with psychic, healer and author Angela Orora Medway-Smith plus why dandelions are good for us. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Episode 138 - How to keep the bugs at bay with mosquito bite prevention expert and Incognito founder Howard Carter plus medical herbalist Keren Brynes MacLean takes us foraging. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Episode 137 - A guide to healing and self-healing. Medium, healer, TV personality and author Marzcia Techau explains how we can all heal ourselves and our soul's part in that. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

Episode 136 - Cryotherapy pioneers and Reinventing Cool authors Maria Ensabella and Antra Getzoff explain how it works and how extreme cold can shock the body into healing. Disclaimer: Please note that all information and content on the UK Health Radio Network, all its radio broadcasts and podcasts are provided by the authors, producers, presenters and companies themselves and is only intended as additional information to your general knowledge. As a service to our listeners/readers our programs/content are for general information and entertainment only.  The UK Health Radio Network does not recommend, endorse, or object to the views, products or topics expressed or discussed by show hosts or their guests, authors and interviewees.  We suggest you always consult with your own professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advisor. So please do not delay or disregard any professional – personal, medical, financial or legal advice received due to something you have heard or read on the UK Health Radio Network.

On this week's episode of Rubbin' is Racing, Spider gets to sit down with Cup Series Champion Ryan Blaney to talk about the past weekend in Mexico, his outlook for the rest of the 2025 season, and who he is taking in the hypothetical (or maybe soon to be real) Stenhouse v. Hocevar boxing match. Large and Spider also recap their trip down south of the border for the weekend and Large shares his hard fought battle with food poisoning. Moon and Quigs join the show per usual, and we preview the upcoming weekend in the Poconos. Thanks for listening!

The DBC gang is back from Mexico and welcome in racing journalist Matt Weaver to break down an unforgettable weekend of racing, wild stories from the road, and one electric win for Daniel Suárez. Freddie shares his travel tales—tequila shots, scorpion shooters, and just enough chaos to keep things interesting.They dig into everything from SVG's late-race charge to Connor Zilisch's bold moves, Carson Hocevar stirring things up again, and a restart that sent everyone into the grass. Reaction Theatre delivers some all-time calls—one involving puking through your nose and another with a little too much detail on Stenhouse's form.The group debates the value of international races, what NASCAR can take from this event, and how it could be even better in the future. Whether it's chaos on the track or chaos on the mic, this one's packed from start to finish.Timestamps21:36 - Spot On/Off58:53 Reaction Theatre1:04:25 #AskDBCCatch all the grassroots racing action live with FloRacing. Learn more or sign up at flosports.link/dbc1Must be 21+ and present in select states (for Kansas, in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino) or 18+ and present in D.C. First online real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts, or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York. Want more DBC? Check out and subscribe to the new DBC YouTube channel!

On this week's episode of Rubbin' is Racing, Large and Spider get to talk with Rajah Caruth off his Trucks win down in Nashvegas. They also recap the rest of the weekend including Hocevar v. Stenhouse and Ryan Blaney's first win of the year. We end the show with a preview for Michigan and our picks for the weekend. Thanks for listening!