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Sometimes becoming unstoppable begins with realizing you have more control over your life than you thought. Merrill Isherwood shares how her journey from professional ballet and a battle with bulimia to an abusive marriage, single parenthood, corporate struggles, and life coaching taught her the importance of self-ownership. She and Michael explore trauma recovery, toxic relationships, self-esteem, emotional support, and the courage to ask for help. Merrill also explains why coaching is not about giving people answers, but helping them discover their own strength and make conscious choices about the life they want to live. Highlights: 03:11 - Merrill shares how ballet shaped her early life and career. 11:00 - Pressure around weight led to bulimia and leaving professional ballet. 20:49 - Toxic relationships taught Merrill the importance of setting boundaries. 31:09 - A life coaching course changed how Merrill viewed control and personal responsibility. 43:28 - Trauma recovery became a focus of Merrill's coaching work. 59:16 - Undivided attention can help parents build stronger connections with their children. . About the Guest: I am still here, and I am most grateful for that privilege.  I have been fortunate to live out most young girls' dreams of being a professional ballet dancer and an air hostess / flight attendant. However, for many years was terribly unhappy and felt life was not worth living.... Abusive relationships were the order of the day, both at work and in my personal life, and I unfortunately developed a severe eating disorder which taunted me for 12 years. Atop that were several sexual assaults, exorcism, home robberies, burnout, financial scarcity, manipulation and more. I overcame being completely broken emotionally; physically, experienced grief from the loss of multiple loved ones and friends; was a single parent (for over 20 years with no support), lost most of our material possessions, and loads more. Often questioning, “Why me?”, I read one day what we should be asking ourselves is “Why not me?”  Why should I think, or assume I should be immune to difficulties in life?  This was when I realised the power of my mind.  I overcame the trauma of the above through mind control, determination, reflection, introspection, and willpower. That was a changing point in my life.  Perhaps I went through these experiences so I could help others. In 2019 I studied to become a certified life coach, intent on helping others. Subsequently, I created a course on healing oneself emotionally, using the principles of life coaching. I discovered once my emotions were better aligned, the physical 'tiredness', and lethargy, decreased, and for the first time, (in what felt like forever), I decided life might be worth living after all. My desire is to teach others to do the same. Realising how much valuable time I had wasted, hiding from the world, feeling pathetic, and unworthy, I set out to make a difference, spreading love and support. At the lowest of the low, God sent heavenly friends to support me through the dark days. My mission is to strengthen, and empower others by teaching them the tools, strategies, and skills they need to succeed, and to be able to live the life they choose. I encourage them not to waste their lives being unhappy, it really IS worth putting in the work, healing, and being able to actually LIVE a productive AND fulfilling life! Ways to connect with Merrill**:** Website 1:  Merrills Life Transformation Coaching:  https://merrills.co.za Website 2:  My Healing Program: https://myhealingprogram.com Instagram:     The Sista Hood:                    @thesistahoodsa Facebook:      Merrill Isherwood:                           https://www.facebook.com/merrill.isherwood Merrills Life Coaching:       https://www.facebook.com/Merrillsthesistahood/ The Sista Hood:                    https://www.facebook.com/Merrillsthesistahood/ LinkedIn:       Merrill Isherwood:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/merrill-isherwood-the-change-catalyst/ **My Healing Program: ** ? About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes:

Following the dispute between the tanna of our Mishna and Rabbi Yosi HaGelili, where each derived from a different verse the exemption from firstborn status for an animal that gave birth to an offspring resembling a different species, the Gemara clarifies what Rabbi Yosi HaGelili derives from the proof-verses of our tanna ("peter hamor" twice). Rabbi Yosi HaGelili derives from there the source for exempting horses and camels from firstborn status. Rav Achai raises a difficulty against his derivation, but the Gemara answers his objection. Our tanna derives this rule (exempting the firstborn of horses and camels) from a general rule and a detail (klal u'phrat): "All your livestock you shall designate as male" is a general rule, "ox and sheep and donkey" is a detail, and a general rule includes only that which is in the detail; therefore, firstborn laws apply only to a donkey and not to other non-kosher animals. The Gemara discusses a series of uncertainties regarding an animal that gave birth to a different species that possesses some of the mother's features: regarding a cow that gave birth to a donkey-like offspring, do we judge it like a goat that gave birth to a sheep-like offspring that looks somewhat like its mother, which is subject to firstborn status because both are subject to firstborn status, or perhaps here the laws are different because one is sanctified with intrinsic holiness (kedushat haguf) and the other with monetary value (kedushat damim), and one is kosher while the other is not? Subsequently, the Gemara inquires about a donkey that gave birth to a horse-like offspring and a cow that gave birth to a horse-like offspring. From the braitot, the Gemara proves that the obligation when there are partial features was stated regarding a cow that gave birth to a donkey-like offspring, but it remains unclear regarding the other questions. Regarding eating, the Mishna clarifies the principle that what emerges from the non-kosher is non-kosher, and it is not judged according to the offspring's appearance but rather according to its mother - this rule was intended to remember the law. The source showing that a kosher animal born from a non-kosher mother is forbidden to be eaten is from the verse "These you shall not eat," whereas a non-kosher offspring born from a kosher mother is permitted, as it is said, "the camel... it is non-kosher" - it is non-kosher, but a non-kosher born from a kosher mother is kosher. Rabbi Shimon disagrees and forbids a non-kosher animal born from a kosher mother based on the repetition of the word "camel" in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and he derives the prohibition of milk from a non-kosher animal from the phrase "et ha-gamal" (the camel), whereas the Sages forbid milk from "camel" "camel" and do not derive laws from the word "et." To show that there are those who derive laws from the word, et, the Gemara brings the position  of Shimon HaAmsoni, who derives laws from that word, but changed his position when he reached "You shall fear the Lord (et Hashem) your God," until Rabbi Akiva came and taught that it serves to include Torah scholars. The Gemara clarifies why a special verse was needed to forbid the milk of a non-kosher animal and presents two possible explanations. Afterwards, it discusses the source for permitting the milk of a kosher animal and presents six proofs, of which three are rejected. The Gemara cites a braita stating that a sheep that gave birth to a goat-like offspring or a goat that gave birth to a sheep-like offspring is exempt from firstborn status unless it possesses some of the mother's features, and Rabbi Shimon disagrees, maintaining that it is not obligated until its head and most of its body resemble its mother. The Gemara concludes with the question: Does Rabbi Shimon require its head and most of its body to resemble its mother regarding the prohibition of eating as well?

Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific. Asian equities and Wall Street stock-index futures advanced after the US described talks with China as “very successful” ahead of a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping this week. Oil fell for a fourth day. In the discussions the two sides agreed to set up a dialogue on AI aimed at reaching a common understanding on goals and threats, Bessent said. Subsequently, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to speak before the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday. For a look ahead at Takaichi's visit, we spoke to Bloomberg's Tokyo Bureau Chief Isabel Reynolds. For an outlook at how market risks will play out across the Asia-Pacific region, Bloomberg TV Hosts Haidi Stroud-Watts and Paul Allen spoke to Louise Loo, Head of Asia Economics at Oxford Economics.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lu Checkowsky has risen to the the top level of creative people from her career spanning legendary ad agency, Weiden + Kennedy, to executive creative director jobs at Comedy Central, MTV and Facebook. Make no mistake, Lu earns this all through extraordinary talent and hard work. Lu's worked behind the scene, managing the creative advertising of shows with just about every celebrity you can imagine — all while struggling with a serious eating disorder — at one point weighing almost 300 lbs. while excelling under crazy pressure. Subsequently, she gets seriously ill, forcing her to leave her career. The book she wrote about her experience and recovery Don't Buy What I'm Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole, Fat Self, has just been published by Brown + Little. Currently she's and working on another book — this time, a novel. Three months ago, (June 2026), and we find out about how Lu feels having her life in the form of a book out in public We also talk about her mother who passed away when Lu was 22, but infused Lu with some empowering ideas as well as some good lessons she would need in the future. Personally am a huge fan of this book. Lu managed to take a stressful story so enjoyable to read, that my husband got mad because I literally wouldn't put it down.  Buy the Book / Instagram / Website / Tik Tok Bio: Lu Chekowsky [she/they] is a writer and Emmy Award–winning creative director. In Lu's most recent job in the advertising industry, she was lead creative director for video at Facebook. Before that, Lu was the SVP of brand creative at Comedy Central, where they developed campaigns for shows like The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, South Park, Nathan for You, and Broad City. Previously, Lu was VP, creative director at MTV, where they made ads for Teen Wolf, Jersey Shore, The Real World, and the Video Music Awards. Before working in entertainment, Lu was a creative director and copywriter at Wieden+Kennedy, where she over- saw work for brands such as Jordan, Noxzema, Delta Airlines, and The National MS Society. Lu is a 2023 New York State Council on the Arts / New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in nonfiction literature, and their writing has been supported by MASS MoCA, Vermont Studio Center, Craigardan, and Tin House. Her essays and poetry have been published in The Rumpus, Pigeon Pages, and Autofocus, and her pieces about the cultural impacts of advertising have appeared in Ad Age and Muse by Clios. Lu lives in the Hudson Valley. 

Interview recorded - 9th of September, 2026On this episode of the WTFinance podcast I had the pleasure of welcoming back Alasdair Macleod. Alasdair Macleod has over decades of experience in financial markets, with a focus on monetary history, systemic risk, and the enduring role of gold. He is one of the most respected voices on sound money and wealth preservation.During our conversation we spoke about the current situation in the economy, the geopolitical crisis we're working through, Scott Bessents buyback, why yields could go to 20% and more. I hope you enjoy!0:00 - Introduction2:13 - Overview of Markets and Economy8:05 - Geopolitical crisis10:11 - Scott Bessent buyback?14:18 - Where would yields go?21:05 - Take down the rest of the world?32:05 - Is there a way out?Alasdair Macleod is is an educator and advocates for sound money through demystifying finance and economics. His background includes being a stockbroker, banker, and economist.Alasdair Macleod started his career as a stockbroker in 1970 on the London Stock Exchange. Within nine years, he had risen to become senior partner of his firm.Subsequently, he held positions at the director level in investment management and worked as a mutual fund manager. Mr. Macleod also worked at a bank in Guernsey as an executive director.For most of his 40 years in the finance industry, he has been demystifying macroeconomic events for his investing clients. The accumulation of this experience has convinced him that unsound monetary policies are the most destructive weapon governments use against the common man. Accordingly, his mission is to educate and inform the public in layman's terms what governments do with money and how to protect themselves from the consequences.Alasdair Macleod - Substack - https://alasdairmacleod.substack.com/Twitter - https://twitter.com/MacleodFinanceLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alasdair-macleod-9494b27/WTFinance -Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wtfinancee/Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/67rpmjG92PNBW0doLyPvfniTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wtfinance/id1554934665?uo=4Twitter - https://twitter.com/AnthonyFatseas

P. K. Edgewater, a military veteran and doctor of 40 years, is the debut author of the novel Passages: A Voyage From War To Peace, which offers a timely and deeply human perspective on recovery after conflict. The book focuses not just on war itself, but on mental health challenges that follow, like trauma, grief, moral injury, and the difficult work of healing. I've read Passages and can tell you it's a wonderfully well-written exploration of how lives intertwine in unexpected ways, changing our perspectives on life and how we live it, even through deep trauma. P.K.'s vividly drawn tale seems as much like a memoir as it does a fictional story.P.K. retired in 2020 after a four-decade medical career that included working as an internist and rheumatologist, founding and managing an arthritis and rheumatology research center, and consulting on clinical trials in China and Russia.He was named a Top Doctor by Phoenix Magazine annually from 2005-2019. He served as a clinical volunteer in numerous countries, including Vietnam, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, and Nicaragua, as well as in Guadalupe and Phoenix. P.K. published his doctoral dissertation on short-term medical volunteering overseas.P.K. served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War but did not see combat. Subsequently, he's treated many military veterans during his long medical practice. He's also taught medicine all over the world. And he's published dozens of articles in numerous medical publications. For the past three years, he's been a clinical volunteer with the Lincoln County Medical Reserve Corps in Oregon. He now tends to overnight guests in a winter shelter for those who are experiencing homelessness.

A braita rules that if one cuts an olive-bulk of flesh from a limb attached to a living animal, designating it for food only after cutting renders it pure, whereas designating it prior to cutting renders it susceptible to food impurity, as it touches the limb (which has high level impurity) as it is being cut. The Gemara presents Rav Asi's challenge to Rabbi Zeira as to why prior designation causes impurity, given that the cut site is a concealed place (tumat beit ha-satarim) and concealed impurity does not transmit impurity. Rava clarifies that the case involves a situation where liquids (hechsher) came upon it and Rabba bar Rav Chanan questions that, noting that it should not even require hechsher under the rule of an item destined to transmit severe impurity does not need hechsher, since here it came from a limb with a high level of impurity. Rava responds with a fundamental principle that when food functions as a connection or for a purpose other than food, it is considered "when used, it functioned like wood" and thus the rule of "destined to transmit severe impurity" does not apply. The Gemara presents five challenges that are resolved by applying this same explanation – "when used, it functioned like wood." Returning to the Mishna dealing with a dangling limb and flesh on an animal, the Gemara asks for the rationale of Rabbi Shimon, who rules them pure in the case of the animal's death, challenging his view as completely illogical. The Gemara suggests that Rabbi Shimon disagrees with the reisha (opening clause) of the Mishna when the animal is still alive, based on Rabbi Yochanan's explanation that Rabbi Shimon derives from scripture "מכל אשר יאכל"  that food is defined as such only if you can feed it to others; since a dangling limb or flesh from a living animal is forbidden to consume even for non-Jews, it cannot transmit food impurity. However, Rabbi Zeira raises a difficulty, explaining that if Rabbi Shimon disagrees with that case, it is because the flesh and limb are still somewhat attached, as learned from a Mishna in Uktzin (3:8). Thus, Rabbi Yochanan's explanation of Rabbi Shimon's view must apply to another case. The Gemara suggests it might apply to the metzi'ata (middle clause) where the animal was slaughtered, but this resolution is also difficult. In light of these difficulties, the Gemara returns to understand Rabbi Shimon's statement and Rabbi Yochanan's explanation, concluding that they actually refer to the seifa (final clause), not regarding the dangling limb (from which the difficulty was raised), but rather regarding the dangling flesh. The Mishna discusses a dangling limb and flesh on a living human, ruling that they are pure during the person's lifetime. Upon the person's death, the flesh is pure from food impurity, while the dangling limb transmits impurity as a limb from a living person, but not as a limb from a corpse, according to Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon considers it pure. The Gemara again challenges Rabbi Shimon's view in the same manner as before. As a first resolution, it explains that Rabbi Shimon disagrees with a general underlying premise of Rabbi Meir's view. Subsequently, however, the Gemara successfully understands Rabbi Shimon's position in a different manner, based on a Mishna in Eduyot 6:3.

China's Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II (U Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Emily Matson is an in-depth investigation of the Chinese Communist Party's remapping of China's World War II timeline from eight years (1937–1945) to fourteen years (1931–1945). Instead of the previously accepted starting date of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Chinese Communist Party defined the war's starting date as the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, which triggered the Japanese Kwantung Army's invasion of Manchuria. Since the 1980s, scholars from Manchuria have demanded a fourteen-year war timeline to encompass the invasion of their homeland. By the 1990s, other scholars took notice and started to counter with claims that the eight-year timeline was the more accurate. Subsequently, a fierce “date debate” emerged between the two sides that was only resolved by the 2017 proclamation from the Ministry of Education. Dr. Matson demonstrates that the decision to set China's World War II timeline at fourteen years was not merely a top-down decision, but was influenced by decades of Manchurian scholarship on the war. China's Date Debate recenters Manchuria as a region of critical importance for China's national identity today and the implications of this “date debate” on the Chinese Communist Party's domestic legitimacy and international image. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

China's Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II (U Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Emily Matson is an in-depth investigation of the Chinese Communist Party's remapping of China's World War II timeline from eight years (1937–1945) to fourteen years (1931–1945). Instead of the previously accepted starting date of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Chinese Communist Party defined the war's starting date as the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, which triggered the Japanese Kwantung Army's invasion of Manchuria. Since the 1980s, scholars from Manchuria have demanded a fourteen-year war timeline to encompass the invasion of their homeland. By the 1990s, other scholars took notice and started to counter with claims that the eight-year timeline was the more accurate. Subsequently, a fierce “date debate” emerged between the two sides that was only resolved by the 2017 proclamation from the Ministry of Education. Dr. Matson demonstrates that the decision to set China's World War II timeline at fourteen years was not merely a top-down decision, but was influenced by decades of Manchurian scholarship on the war. China's Date Debate recenters Manchuria as a region of critical importance for China's national identity today and the implications of this “date debate” on the Chinese Communist Party's domestic legitimacy and international image. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

China's Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II (U Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Emily Matson is an in-depth investigation of the Chinese Communist Party's remapping of China's World War II timeline from eight years (1937–1945) to fourteen years (1931–1945). Instead of the previously accepted starting date of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Chinese Communist Party defined the war's starting date as the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, which triggered the Japanese Kwantung Army's invasion of Manchuria. Since the 1980s, scholars from Manchuria have demanded a fourteen-year war timeline to encompass the invasion of their homeland. By the 1990s, other scholars took notice and started to counter with claims that the eight-year timeline was the more accurate. Subsequently, a fierce “date debate” emerged between the two sides that was only resolved by the 2017 proclamation from the Ministry of Education. Dr. Matson demonstrates that the decision to set China's World War II timeline at fourteen years was not merely a top-down decision, but was influenced by decades of Manchurian scholarship on the war. China's Date Debate recenters Manchuria as a region of critical importance for China's national identity today and the implications of this “date debate” on the Chinese Communist Party's domestic legitimacy and international image. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A braita rules that if one cuts an olive-bulk of flesh from a limb attached to a living animal, designating it for food only after cutting renders it pure, whereas designating it prior to cutting renders it susceptible to food impurity, as it touches the limb (which has high level impurity) as it is being cut. The Gemara presents Rav Asi's challenge to Rabbi Zeira as to why prior designation causes impurity, given that the cut site is a concealed place (tumat beit ha-satarim) and concealed impurity does not transmit impurity. Rava clarifies that the case involves a situation where liquids (hechsher) came upon it and Rabba bar Rav Chanan questions that, noting that it should not even require hechsher under the rule of an item destined to transmit severe impurity does not need hechsher, since here it came from a limb with a high level of impurity. Rava responds with a fundamental principle that when food functions as a connection or for a purpose other than food, it is considered "when used, it functioned like wood" and thus the rule of "destined to transmit severe impurity" does not apply. The Gemara presents five challenges that are resolved by applying this same explanation – "when used, it functioned like wood." Returning to the Mishna dealing with a dangling limb and flesh on an animal, the Gemara asks for the rationale of Rabbi Shimon, who rules them pure in the case of the animal's death, challenging his view as completely illogical. The Gemara suggests that Rabbi Shimon disagrees with the reisha (opening clause) of the Mishna when the animal is still alive, based on Rabbi Yochanan's explanation that Rabbi Shimon derives from scripture "מכל אשר יאכל"  that food is defined as such only if you can feed it to others; since a dangling limb or flesh from a living animal is forbidden to consume even for non-Jews, it cannot transmit food impurity. However, Rabbi Zeira raises a difficulty, explaining that if Rabbi Shimon disagrees with that case, it is because the flesh and limb are still somewhat attached, as learned from a Mishna in Uktzin (3:8). Thus, Rabbi Yochanan's explanation of Rabbi Shimon's view must apply to another case. The Gemara suggests it might apply to the metzi'ata (middle clause) where the animal was slaughtered, but this resolution is also difficult. In light of these difficulties, the Gemara returns to understand Rabbi Shimon's statement and Rabbi Yochanan's explanation, concluding that they actually refer to the seifa (final clause), not regarding the dangling limb (from which the difficulty was raised), but rather regarding the dangling flesh. The Mishna discusses a dangling limb and flesh on a living human, ruling that they are pure during the person's lifetime. Upon the person's death, the flesh is pure from food impurity, while the dangling limb transmits impurity as a limb from a living person, but not as a limb from a corpse, according to Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon considers it pure. The Gemara again challenges Rabbi Shimon's view in the same manner as before. As a first resolution, it explains that Rabbi Shimon disagrees with a general underlying premise of Rabbi Meir's view. Subsequently, however, the Gemara successfully understands Rabbi Shimon's position in a different manner, based on a Mishna in Eduyot 6:3.

China's Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II (U Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Emily Matson is an in-depth investigation of the Chinese Communist Party's remapping of China's World War II timeline from eight years (1937–1945) to fourteen years (1931–1945). Instead of the previously accepted starting date of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Chinese Communist Party defined the war's starting date as the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, which triggered the Japanese Kwantung Army's invasion of Manchuria. Since the 1980s, scholars from Manchuria have demanded a fourteen-year war timeline to encompass the invasion of their homeland. By the 1990s, other scholars took notice and started to counter with claims that the eight-year timeline was the more accurate. Subsequently, a fierce “date debate” emerged between the two sides that was only resolved by the 2017 proclamation from the Ministry of Education. Dr. Matson demonstrates that the decision to set China's World War II timeline at fourteen years was not merely a top-down decision, but was influenced by decades of Manchurian scholarship on the war. China's Date Debate recenters Manchuria as a region of critical importance for China's national identity today and the implications of this “date debate” on the Chinese Communist Party's domestic legitimacy and international image. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

China's Date Debate: How Manchurian Scholars Rewrote World War II (U Michigan Press, 2026) by Dr. Emily Matson is an in-depth investigation of the Chinese Communist Party's remapping of China's World War II timeline from eight years (1937–1945) to fourteen years (1931–1945). Instead of the previously accepted starting date of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7, 1937, the Chinese Communist Party defined the war's starting date as the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, which triggered the Japanese Kwantung Army's invasion of Manchuria. Since the 1980s, scholars from Manchuria have demanded a fourteen-year war timeline to encompass the invasion of their homeland. By the 1990s, other scholars took notice and started to counter with claims that the eight-year timeline was the more accurate. Subsequently, a fierce “date debate” emerged between the two sides that was only resolved by the 2017 proclamation from the Ministry of Education. Dr. Matson demonstrates that the decision to set China's World War II timeline at fourteen years was not merely a top-down decision, but was influenced by decades of Manchurian scholarship on the war. China's Date Debate recenters Manchuria as a region of critical importance for China's national identity today and the implications of this “date debate” on the Chinese Communist Party's domestic legitimacy and international image. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Here in Victoria's Goulburn Valley, the climate conversation is rather mute; people know it is happening, want something done about it, but rarely speak about the dilemma.Here at "Climate Conversations", it was decided that an attempt would be made to provide the discussion with some oxygen.Subsequently, it was decided we would ask 10 basic questions about climate change to 500 people in 50 weeks - that is 10 each week for the best part of a year.Overly optimistic? Maybe so, but it is worth a try in the hope that the project might encourage some people to think more deeply about the issue, talk about it with friends and family and demand more action from our decision-makers at all three levels of government: Local, State, and Federal.Thanks, especially, to the first 10 interviewees - Sue, Jennifer, Michael, Kirsty, Dave, Graeme, Lauren, George, John and Jemima.The interviews happened in a variety of environments, and so the quality of the audio varies, something I intend to sharpen up as time passes.

HEALTH NEWS   Purslane Extract Tied to Improved Mood and Reduced Liver Stiffness in Trials, Researchers Say Natural Compound in Broccoli Could Help Treat a Rare, Incurable Neurological Disease Intermittent fasting reveals gut-brain pathway that may reduce chronic pain Microalga extract shows promise for fatigue through mitochondrial function Vitamin D Supplementation Tied to Slower Biological Aging, Studies Find         Purslane Extract Tied to Improved Mood and Reduced Liver Stiffness in Trials, Researchers Say Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Iran), August 21 2026 (Natural News)     Purslane, a weed commonly found in garden beds and sidewalk cracks, has been linked in two clinical trials to improved mood and reduced liver stiffness. Purslane is an herbaceous succulent valued in many cultures for its vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.   A trial published in the journal Health Science Reports enrolled adults with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Participants received either purslane extract or a placebo in addition to regular care. The report said those who received purslane showed reductions in stress and low mood compared with the placebo group, and researchers said the results warrant further investigation. In 2024, the same research team published a trial of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease received 700 milligrams of purslane extract daily for eight weeks. According to the study, liver stiffness decreased significantly compared with placebo, and the hepatorenal ultrasound index, a direct measure of fat buildup in the liver, also improved.   Natural Compound in Broccoli Could Help Treat a Rare, Incurable Neurological Disease Swinburne University of Technology (Australia), August 21, 2026 (SciTech Daily)   A naturally occurring compound in broccoli is being investigated as a possible treatment for Friedreich ataxia, a rare nervous system disease. Research from Swinburne suggests the compound can act on biological processes involved in the condition. Friedreich ataxia develops as neurons in the brain and spinal cord deteriorate, progressively affecting movement, speech, and survival. The research found that sulforaphane, a natural compound present in broccoli, can raise levels of frataxin, the protein that is deficient in people with Friedreich ataxia. It also helped protect vulnerable nerve cells from damage. Sulforaphane has also been found to affect several disease-related processes, including cellular stress and inflammation.   Intermittent fasting reveals gut-brain pathway that may reduce chronic pain Zhengzhou University & First Affiliated Hospital (China) August 24 2026 (Medical Xpress) Chronic pain, pain that persists or returns for more than three months, can affect people's emotional well-being and is often accompanied by difficulty concentrating or remembering things.  Researchers at Zhengzhou University and its First Affiliated Hospital conducted a study investigating the effects of intermittent fasting on chronic pain in mice. Their findings, published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, suggest that fasting for set hours can alter gut bacteria and influence the connection between the digestive tract and the brain, which may in turn reduce pain sensitivity and improve mental function. The researchers observed that mice with chronic pain who followed the intermittent fasting regimen appeared to exhibit reduced sensitivity to normally harmless touch and heat. In addition, fasting appeared to improve their performance on simple tasks and reduce anxiety-like behaviors. Collected data suggested that fasting had strengthened the mice's intestinal barrier, reduced neuroinflammation and altered the composition of their gut microbiota. A species of gut bacteria that appeared to consistently increase with intermittent fasting was Alistipes finegoldii. This study suggests that intermittent fasting can change the composition of the gut microbiota, particularly in mouse models of chronic pain. Interestingly, the team also found that supplementing mice with Alistipes finegoldii, the bacterial species that increased with fasting, reproduced the pain-relieving effects and cognitive improvements observed in fasting mice.   Microalga extract shows promise for fatigue through mitochondrial function Jeonbuk National University & Yuhan Care Co (South Korea), August 11 2026 (Nutrition) Algae have long been used for nutritional and health-promoting purposes in several cultures. Haematococcus pluvialis, a fresh water green algae widely recognized as containing high levels of astaxanthin, has attracted growing interest as a functional bioresource with potential to improve physical performance and alleviate fatigue; however, its underlying mechanisms remain unclear.  This study aimed to evaluate the anti-fatigue effects of H. pluvialis extract (YHC-T-2414) and its underlying mechanisms. Its antioxidant effect was assessed by measuring reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation.  Mice were administered YHC-T-2414 for 3 weeks and subjected to an exhaustive swimming test. Subsequently, fatigue-related biochemical parameters, including lactate, LDH, creatine, malondialdehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured in serum and muscle tissues. YHC-T-2414 attenuated H2O2-induced reductions in cell viability, and reduced LDH and CK activities and ROS generation in H2O2-treated C2C12 myoblasts.  Furthermore, it significantly increased swimming time in the forced swimming mouse model while reducing lactate, LDH, CK, MDA, TNF-α, and IL-6.   Vitamin D Supplementation Tied to Slower Biological Aging, Studies Find Yale University, August 23 2026 (Natural News)     Recent analyses of clinical trial data have linked daily vitamin D3 supplementation to slower biological aging, according to researchers.   A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that 2,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 daily significantly reduced telomere shortening over four years among participants.   Researchers followed 1,036 adults with vitamin D deficiency in the Berlin Aging Study II and GendAge study for an average of 7.4 years. According to the report, participants who began taking vitamin D supplements after the initial assessment had lower epigenetic age acceleration at follow-up than deficient participants who did not supplement. The difference was about 2.6 years on one epigenetic clock and 1.3 years on another.   The report also stated that participants whose deficiency was successfully treated had epigenetic aging measures that were not significantly different from those of vitamin D-sufficient participants. These findings suggest that correcting a vitamin D deficiency may move some markers of biological aging in a more favorable direction.    

fWotD Episode 3396: Edmontosaurus mummy SMF R 4036 Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Saturday, 22 August 2026, is Edmontosaurus mummy SMF R 4036.The Edmontosaurus mummy SMF R 4036, nicknamed the Senckenberg mummy or Edmond, is an exceptionally well-preserved dinosaur fossil in the collection of the Senckenberg Museum (SMF) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was found in 1910 in Wyoming, United States, in rocks of the Lance Formation that date to the late Maastrichtian, close to the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event around 66 million years ago. The mummy is ascribed to the species Edmontosaurus annectens (originally Trachodon), a member of the Hadrosauridae ("duck-billed dinosaurs"). It comprises a nearly complete skeleton that was found wrapped in skin impressions, a rare case of preservation for which the term dinosaur mummy has been used. The fingers of the right hand are wrapped in a mitten-like envelope of skin impressions, initially interpreted as a paddle unsuited for terrestrial locomotion, thereby reinforcing the now outdated hypothesis that hadrosaurs were aquatic. The impression of a horny beak is also preserved with this specimen. Plant remains found in the body cavity were interpreted as stomach contents, indicating a diet of terrestrial plants. It is now believed that this plant material was washed into the body cavity of the carcass.It is assumed that the individual died during a drought, in or near a riverbed. Subsequently, the carcass would have dried out before being carried away by a sudden flood and been buried rapidly. Sand filled the body cavity, preserving the three-dimensional shape of the body, and a biofilm (bacterial mat) on the skin formed a thin crust of clay that preserved the shape of the skin in positive relief (protruding up from the surface). The mummy was found by fossil hunter Charles H. Sternberg and his sons, who sold their numerous finds to museums in North America and Europe. It is one of the best preserved hadrosaurid mummies and the second to be discovered, after the first such mummy was discovered by the Sternbergs in the same region two years earlier.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:05 UTC on Saturday, 22 August 2026.For the full current version of the article, see Edmontosaurus mummy SMF R 4036 on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Bluesky at @wikioftheday.com.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Kimberly.

Last time we spoke about the beginning of the Pacific War. In late 1941, the Second Battle of Changsha ended with Chinese forces claiming victory despite suffering nearly 100,000 casualties against roughly 1,670 Japanese losses. Chiang Kai-shek's government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign, flooding international press with fabricated triumph narratives to sustain national morale. Behind closed doors, Chiang was furious at his generals' tactical failures, executing commanders and dismantling units. Meanwhile, geopolitical forces threatened China's survival. Japan's 1939 defeat at Nomonhan crushed hopes for a Soviet alliance against Tokyo. Germany's pact with the Soviet Union left China isolated, while Western powers remained reluctant to commit meaningful support. Britain offered little; the US provided only modest loans. By 1941, facing potential collapse, Chiang desperately searched for allies while Wang Jingwei's Japanese-backed rival government beckoned as an alternative. China's exhausted people endured horror—including a 1941 bombing massacre in Chongqing that killed over 400 trapped civilians. Then Japan unleashed a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.   #215 An Implosion in the East Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War.   In the early morning of December 7, 1941, the US Pacific Fleet was anchored at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Two waves of Japanese bomber aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers, attacked the vessels and their sleeping crews, destroying the battleship Arizona outright and damaging seventeen others, as well as most of the military aircraft parked nearby. Some 2,400 Americans died, and another 1,100 were wounded. Within a day Japanese invasion forces had attacked Siam, Malaya, and the Philippines. Chiang Kai-shek heard the news at one o'clock in the morning and immediately dictated a letter of support to President Roosevelt, pledging commitment to a new "common battle." The news reached Zhou Fohai in Shanghai as well. On December 8 across the international date line from Hawaii he had heard the sounds of firing as the Japanese took over the rest of the city, and then received reports that Japan had declared war on the Western powers. "I heard they'd bombed Honolulu, Manila, Singapore, and Hong Kong. From now on, the Pacific becomes a killing ground."   When Japanese carrier planes descended on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, they were executing far more than a tactical strike. They were unleashing the culmination of a strategic vision that had shaped Japanese military planning since the 1920s: the Nanshin-ron, or "Southern Advance" doctrine.    The Nanshin-ron represented a critical strategic choice that emerged from internal Japanese debates during the 1920s and 1930s. Japan faced an inescapable vulnerability: it was an island nation with virtually no natural resources of its own. The nation's population had doubled since the Meiji Restoration, growing to over 70 million by 1941. An industrial economy of tremendous sophistication, capable of producing world-class warships, aircraft, and military equipment, depended entirely on imported raw materials. Oil, rubber, tin, iron ore, bauxite, copper, and manganese all had to be acquired through foreign trade or conquest. This resource dependency was not a luxury problem; it was an existential one. A nation that could not feed itself or fuel its economy was a nation vulnerable to strangulation by enemies who controlled the resources it needed. Japanese strategic thinkers divided into two camps on how to resolve this vulnerability. The Hokushin-ron advocates, primarily within the Army, pushed for expansion northward into Siberia and Mongolia, seeking to conquer Soviet territory and resources. The Soviet Union possessed vast tracts of land, mineral wealth, timber, and agricultural output. From a purely materialist perspective, the Northern Advance made geographic sense—it was contiguous with Manchuria, which Japan had already secured in 1931. Yet by the late 1930s, the Hokushin-ron strategy had suffered a catastrophic blow. In 1938 and 1939, Japanese and Soviet forces clashed at Khalkhin Gol in Mongolia in what the Japanese called the Nomonhan Incident. The battles revealed a terrifying truth: the Soviet Red Army, under General Georgy Zhukov, was far more formidable than Japanese military planners had anticipated. Soviet armor, air power, and coordinated tactics annihilated Japanese forces. Japan suffered over 60,000 casualties while inflicting perhaps 10,000 on the Soviets. The defeat was concealed from the Japanese public, but it was unmistakable to military planners. A direct clash with Soviet power could end catastrophically. The Northern Advance, it became clear, would almost certainly provoke war with a nation capable of destroying the Japanese Army. This strategic defeat tilted the balance decisively toward the Nanshin-ron. If Japan could not safely expand northward, it must expand southward, toward Southeast Asia, the Dutch East Indies, Indochina, and the western Pacific. The appeal of the Nanshin-ron was immediately apparent to the Navy, which had always been more oriented toward maritime commerce and expansion across the ocean. The territories to the south were not militarily formidable. The colonial powers, Britain, the Netherlands, France, were either already defeated in 1940 or distracted by their own desperate struggles leaving Britain fighting alone against Germany. The United States, though potentially a formidable adversary, was not yet at war, and there was a chance, however slender, that a decisive blow against American naval power might convince America to negotiate rather than fight. But beyond strategic opportunity, the Nanshin-ron offered something that the Hokushin-ron did not: it offered resources of staggering abundance. The Dutch East Indies possessed oil reserves that could dwarf Japan's consumption for years. Malaya produced the world's rubber. Thailand offered agricultural bounty and geographic position. Burma's timber and agricultural products could feed Japan's growing empire. The Philippines possessed harbors, airfields, and economic output. These were not marginal additions to Japan's economy—they were transformative. Together, they would convert Japan from a resource-hungry island nation into the master of an imperial domain encompassing hundreds of millions of people and containing most of the strategic materials necessary for sustained industrial warfare. In the last episode I explained the western sanctions and embargoes that drained Japan's military of the resources they required to continue the China War. By 1941, Japan faced a civilization crisis. Japan imported roughly 90 percent of its petroleum, and the bulk of that came from the Dutch East Indies and the United States. Suddenly, the American supply was cut off entirely. Reserves would last perhaps 18 months if Japan's military and industrial consumption continued at existing rates. After that, the military machine would sputter and die. The industrial economy would collapse. Even civilian life would become impossible to sustain. Japan was facing not merely economic inconvenience but literal strangulation by the Western powers.   Yet it would be a mistake to reduce Japanese motivation to just materialism. Japanese military leaders wrapped their conquests in an ideological framework, one that many of them genuinely believed, or wanted to believe, served a higher historical purpose. The concept of the Daitoa Kyoeiken, the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," posited a new regional order in which Japan would play the leading role in liberating Asian peoples from Western colonial domination and creating an Asian-centered political and economic system. This ideology drew on genuine anti-colonial sentiment. For a century, Western powers had dominated Asia, treating Asian peoples and nations as subordinate, colonized territories existing to serve Western economic interests. Japan, which had modernized and Westernized enough to avoid colonization, saw itself as the natural leader of an Asian renaissance—a civilizing force that would restore Asian dignity and independence even as it established Japanese hegemony. Of course, this was propagandistic. Japanese conquest represented a substitution of one imperial master for another, and often a harsher and more brutal one at that. But for understanding Japanese decision-making, the ideology mattered profoundly. It provided Japanese leaders with a moral narrative for conquest. It allowed them to understand themselves as liberators rather than mere conquerors. It provided a rationale for extracting resources from occupied territories and for mobilizing subject populations to support the Japanese war effort. And it resonated with anti-Western sentiment throughout Asia, making Japanese occupation seem, in some quarters, preferable to continued Western colonial rule. The slogan Hakko ichiu—"eight corners under one roof", captured this ideological vision: a unified Asia and eventually world under Japanese guidance. Whether Japanese leaders truly believed this vision or cynically deployed it as propaganda, it shaped how they understood their actions and justified them to their subjects. Now I know this is a podcast dedicated to the century of humiliation, ie: China's experience. But I thought it was necessary just to have one episode explain what Dan Carlin titled "a supernova in the east" and I have titled an implosion in the east. I won't go into depth into the campaigns as some of them have a lot of Chinese involvement and we will be covering them in depth, but rather I will explain the rationale for Japan's numerous invasions following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.   Japan's assault on Malaya began within hours of the Pearl Harbor attack, indeed, Japanese troops were already landing on the Kota Bharu beachhead on the Malaysian peninsula before dawn on December 8, 1941 local time. Malaya was one of the world's largest rubber producers, and Singapore, at the tip of the peninsula, was the linchpin of British naval power in the Far East.The Japanese interest in Malaya was straightforward but crucial: rubber. The Japanese military consumed vast quantities of rubber for tires, gaskets, hoses, and countless other applications. American and Dutch rubber supplies were now cut off by embargo. Malaya's rubber plantations represented perhaps the world's richest reservoir of this strategic material. Beyond rubber, Malaya and the surrounding region were major tin producers—essential for alloys and manufacturing. For Japan to conduct prolonged warfare, Malaya was not a luxury target; it was a necessity. Singapore represented something different: a symbol of Western power in Asia and a strategic chokepoint. As the major British naval base in the region, Singapore served as the anchor of British imperial authority across the South China Sea. By seizing Singapore, Japan would not only capture crucial resources and port facilities but would also deliver a psychological blow to the entire edifice of Western dominance in Asia. The fortress city that the British considered nearly impregnable fell within seventy days, a stunning demonstration of Japanese military capability and the vulnerability of overextended Western empires. If Malaya was critical for rubber, the Dutch East Indies was essential for oil. The region, comprising present-day Indonesia, was the world's third-largest oil producer and had reserves that could sustain Japanese military operations for years. This was the jewel of the resource-conquest strategy. Japanese planners had long eyed the East Indies, but direct conquest had seemed risky while Britain and America remained neutral or opposed. With both now at war, the window of opportunity had opened. Japan needed the oil so desperately that when the Dutch East Indies Petroleum Company initially agreed to some Japanese oil purchases before the war, Tokyo was already planning its takeover. The conquest of the Dutch East Indies would provide not just oil but also tin, nickel, bauxite, and other materials essential to an industrial war machine. The islands would also provide air and naval bases from which Japan could defend its new empire and potentially threaten Australia. The Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies, which began in late December 1941 and accelerated through January and February 1942, was methodical and comprehensive. Various island groups were targeted systematically: Java, Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas. Dutch military forces, though brave, were overwhelmed. By March 1942, Japan had secured the entire archipelago,a stunning logistical and military achievement that delivered vast resources into Japanese hands. Thailand presented a fundamentally different case from Japan's other targets. Rather than conquest, Japan pursued alliance with military strongman Plaek Phibunsongkhram, who had seized power in a 1938 coup as a nationalist ideologue determined to reassert Thai sovereignty and recover territory lost to French colonialism in the nineteenth century. Thailand was the last independent state in mainland Southeast Asia, hemmed in by British-controlled Burma and Malaya to the west, and French Indochina to the east. For a century, Thailand had survived by playing European imperial powers against each other. But by the late 1930s, this strategy was becoming obsolete. Europe was distracted by Hitler's Germany. Colonial powers were weakening. Japanese power was visibly ascending. Phibunsongkhram recognized both danger and opportunity. He could resist Japan and invite invasion, or he could ally with Japan and profit from rising Asian power. Japanese diplomats approached Thailand with sophistication: they offered military alliance and support for Thai territorial expansion at French expense. This addressed Thailand's deepest national wound, the humiliation of nineteenth-century territorial losses to France. The Franco-Thai War of 1940-1941 became transformative. With Japan providing military support, advisors, tanks, aircraft, Thai forces defeated the French for the first time in history. By May 1941, Thailand had recovered 54,000 square kilometers of Cambodian territory and portions of Laos. For Phibunsongkhram, this was extraordinary: he had achieved what Thai leaders could not in a century, reclaiming territory from a Western imperial power. Domestically, his position was dramatically strengthened. The parallel to China's century of humiliation—the foundation of your podcast is striking: Thailand too was reversing colonial diminishment through association with rising Asian power. The Thai-Japanese relationship was unique. Unlike the Philippines, Malaya, or the Dutch East Indies, Thailand would retain nominal independence. Phibunsongkhram remained in power. Japanese occupation was light. Thai forces maintained their own command structure. Most importantly, Thailand's territorial gains from the Franco-Thai War were recognized and secured. Japan valued Thai cooperation more than conquest. Burma, controlled by the British, was the next target in Japan's southwestward advance. Japanese planners had multiple motivations for invading Burma. First, it was strategically positioned on India's eastern frontier, and Japan harbored ambitions of eventually striking toward India and linking up with Germany in the Middle East or at least destabilizing the British position in South Asia. Second, Burma was a significant producer of timber and agricultural products. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the invasion of Burma was meant to cut the Burma Road, the crucial supply line that allowed American aid to reach Nationalist China. The invasion of Burma began in late 1941 and accelerated through early 1942.  The invasion of the Philippines, which began on December 10, 1941, just days after Pearl Harbor, served multiple strategic purposes. Like the assault on Pearl Harbor itself, it was meant to neutralize American military power in the region, in this case, the American garrison under General Douglas MacArthur and the American colonial administration. But the Philippines were also valuable in their own right. The islands sat directly in the path of what Japan envisioned as its defensive perimeter. By controlling the Philippines, Japan would make it extraordinarily difficult for American forces to project power westward into Southeast Asia. The territory would provide naval and air bases critical to defending Japan's new empire. Additionally, the Philippines possessed some agricultural and industrial resources valuable to the war effort, and their conquest delivered a psychological victory, defeating American forces and ending American colonial rule in Asia, which appealed to anti-Western sentiment that Japan tried to cultivate. Beyond Southeast Asia and the Philippines, Japan rapidly invaded Guam and Wake island to extend Japan's defensive perimeter further into the Pacific and eliminate American air and naval bases that could threaten Japanese operations. Guam, seized on December 10, 1941, fell within two days, the American garrison was small and the island's strategic value lay primarily in denying the United States a forward staging ground for any counteroffensive. Wake Island, attacked the same day and finally captured on December 23 after a brief but heroic American defense, served similar purposes: cutting off American reconnaissance and interdicting potential supply lines to the Philippines.  Now I believe that's enough of the implosion in the east, let's get back to the situation in China. After Chiang Kai-shek sent his letter of support to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, pledging Chinese commitment to what he termed a new "common battle." he did something most revealing about his mood towards the global war. He played "Ave Maria" on his gramophone, celebrating with an almost spiritual gratitude the implications of what had just transpired in the American Pacific. This moment crystallized the profound difference Pearl Harbor would mean to different members of the emerging Allied coalition. For the United States, the attack was pure shock, a violation of the sanctity of American soil and the complacency of American isolationism. For Britain, it was like the pricking of a large, painful blister—painful but perhaps not entirely unexpected given Japan's regional ambitions. But for China, the relief that surged through the government and the consciousness of the Chinese people surpassed even Britain's response. For four long years, China had fought Japan almost alone, watching as Western nations remained neutral or limited their commitment to rhetorical support and modest material assistance. Now, suddenly, the trajectory of the entire conflict had shifted with breathtaking speed. Chiang's emotional state at this moment could scarcely be contained, and those close to him understood that beneath his carefully maintained Confucian composure burned an intoxicating sensation of vindication. These Western powers who had been so impatient with Chinese strategy, who had mocked the retreats of the Nationalist Army and spoken scornfully of Japanese capabilities, were now themselves in headlong retreat from those very islanders. In Hong Kong, Singapore, and Manila, British and American forces would be fighting desperately for their lives against the Japanese military that China had been contending with for years. Chiang could not have failed to perceive the irony: the Japanese had conquered vast stretches of China through relentless campaigns, yet Westerners had dismissed Chinese resistance as inadequate. Now the Japanese were proving that they posed a formidable challenge to Western military power as well. There was a bitter satisfaction in this vindication, even as Chiang understood that the strategic implications of American entry far outweighed any emotional satisfaction. What was pragmatic and strategically clear to Chiang, however, was far more important than any emotional satisfaction. The United States was now at war, and it was on China's side. This represented the transformation for which Chiang had labored for years, bringing the full weight of American industrial capacity and military might to bear against the Japanese enemy. The diplomatic foundations for this alliance had already been laid in the months preceding Pearl Harbor. Beginning in the spring of 1941, the United States had begun to commit significant resources to supporting China. In April 1941, following the conclusion of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality agreement, which had devastated Chinese morale by suggesting that Japan might attack the Soviet Union rather than move southward, the Roosevelt administration had determined to provide $45 million worth of militarily useful commodities to China as an immediate gesture of support. Then, on May 6, 1941, President Roosevelt had made a more formal commitment by announcing that the munitions provisions of the Lend-Lease Act applied to China, declaring a phrase that captured the strategic logic of American assistance: "defending China is the key to defending America." This declaration represented a significant shift in American policy, elevating China from a regional concern to a central element of American grand strategy in Asia. Subsequently, in July 1941, Roosevelt had sent Owen Lattimore to China to serve as political adviser to the Chinese government, a position that signaled deepening American engagement with Chinese affairs. In August, the administration appointed John Magruder as military attaché and head of the American Military Mission to China (AMMISCA), with the primary responsibility of overseeing the delivery of Lend-Lease material to the Chinese armed forces. On the diplomatic front, Chiang moved with remarkable alacrity. He had already severed relations with Germany on July 2, 1941, the very day after Hitler had formally recognized the Wang Jingwei puppet government in an attempt to appease Japan and encourage it to finally implement the Southern Advance. Now, on December 8, 1941, just one day after the Pearl Harbor attack, Chiang took the decisive step of formally declaring war against the Axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan. This declaration transformed China's position from a beleaguered nation fighting a war of survival into a formal member of the Allied coalition. Chiang had seized the opportunity that Pearl Harbor presented to ally China with a genuinely strong power against Japan, a gambit that fundamentally altered the diplomatic weight and international legitimacy of both the Chinese government and the Chinese cause. From a strategic perspective, the Japanese had committed what Chiang and others immediately recognized as a catastrophic blunder. On the operational level, Pearl Harbor was indeed a devastating tactical success, the American Pacific Fleet was crippled, and Japanese forces now enjoyed temporary naval superiority throughout much of the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Yet strategically, Pearl Harbor represented a failure of epic proportions, a miscalculation rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of the intangibles of warfare: what motivated the Chinese people and what motivated the Americans. The Chinese had understood, through four years of brutal conflict, that warfare was about more than territorial conquest and resource acquisition. It was about will, about endurance, about the capacity to absorb punishment and continue fighting. The Japanese had learned this lesson imperfectly in China, where despite overwhelming military advantages they had been unable to force a decisive conclusion or compel Chinese surrender. The Americans would teach the Japanese this lesson even more emphatically. The attack on American sailors in Hawaii instantly galvanized the American population to prosecute an unlimited war, with Tokyo itself as the ultimate destination of American counterattack. While Americans would remember the "date that will live in infamy" primarily because of the assault on Pearl Harbor itself, the strategic consequence was that Japanese actions in Hawaii had introduced numerous new adversaries into the Pacific conflict: not only the United States, but also Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. These additions transformed what had been, from the Japanese perspective, a regional conflict with manageable parameters into a global war that Japan could not possibly win through any conceivable means. What made this particularly disastrous for Japan was the context in which the new theater had been opened. Japan was already deeply mired in a quagmire in China—a "malignant quagmire," as one observer would later characterize it, that had consumed vast resources, inflicted enormous casualties, and failed to produce decisive victory. In military strategy, it is sometimes wise to open a new theater in order to attack an enemy from an additional and unexpected direction, thereby dispersing their forces and creating new challenges for them to manage. But opening a new theater that introduces an entirely new, powerful adversary, and doing so when one is already overextended in an existing theater is a prescription for strategic catastrophe. This was precisely what Japan had done at Pearl Harbor. Chiang Kai-shek understood the magnitude of Japan's miscalculation with crystalline clarity. He understood that whatever the military complexities that lay ahead, whatever the challenges of coordinating with Western allies, and whatever the limitations of Western military assistance to China might be, the fundamental equation had changed. The United States would ultimately defeat Japan. The Chinese did not need to defeat Japan by themselves; they merely needed to survive long enough for American industrial and military capacity to grind the Japanese military into defeat. In the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Chinese and American officials moved swiftly to formalize the alliance and establish the mechanisms of wartime cooperation. Roosevelt asked Chiang Kai-shek to serve as commander in chief of the Allied forces in the China theater, a designation that recognized China's central role in the Pacific War and elevated Chiang's international standing to something he had long sought: a position as an equal partner in the Allied coalition, a seat at the "top table of global decision-making" alongside Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. To support this expanded role and to ensure effective coordination of the military effort, Roosevelt dispatched Lieutenant General Joseph W. Stilwell to China. Stilwell was not chosen randomly; he brought fifteen years of experience in China, a deep familiarity with the country, its military, and its complexities that few American officers possessed. Stilwell was appointed to serve simultaneously as the U.S. government's military representative in China, as chief of staff of the China Theater, and as commander in chief of the American forces in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater. This appointment established the framework for joint Chinese-American military cooperation and represented an American commitment to the Asian theater that, while never receiving the resources devoted to the European theater, nonetheless signified recognition of China's strategic importance. Trust me, going forward we will be having a lot of time dedicated to the hilarious bromance / bro hatred of Vinegar Joe and Peanut.  Yet the formation of an alliance and the establishment of command structures was easier than the practical implementation of military cooperation. The fundamental challenge that would plague Chinese-American relations throughout the war emerged almost immediately: the problem of delivering military assistance to China. Before Pearl Harbor, the United States and China had reached agreement on three major points regarding military assistance. First, the United States would provide training and technical support to assist China in establishing a modern air force. Second, the United States would provide training and equipment for a ground army consisting of thirty divisions. Third, the United States would assist China in constructing railways and highways from Yunnan to Burma, along with the provision of rolling stock and vehicles to support these new transportation routes. These were ambitious plans, reflecting the extent of Chinese need and American willingness to support the Chinese war effort. However, the outbreak of the Pacific War threw American plans into disarray. The fundamental strategic doctrine guiding American policy was the "Europe first" strategy, which meant that the European theater and the defeat of Nazi Germany received priority over the Pacific theater. Additionally, China's geography made it extraordinarily difficult to supply. China could only be reached through supply lines of extraordinary length and complexity, either through the port of Rangoon in Burma and then overland via the treacherous Yunnan-Burma Road, or through the port of Hong Kong, which immediately fell into Japanese hands after Pearl Harbor. The first Sino-American loan agreement had specified that the United States would deliver commodities worth $45 million to China in 1941. However, shipping shortages meant that only $26 million worth of commodities actually left the United States. These commodities were shipped to the transit port of Rangoon, where a massive traffic jam developed as supplies accumulated faster than they could be distributed onward to China. Along the Yunnan-Burma Road, that "much-contested life line" as it came to be known, conditions were chaotic. The road had always been a source of trouble: it was long, extraordinarily difficult to keep in repair, fantastically dangerous to travel, and too narrow to permit much volume of traffic at any one time. Due to mismanagement and pilfering, the commodities that were shipped out of Burma suffered heavy losses in transit, and only one-third of them eventually arrived in Chongqing. Yet the United States had already established one valuable asset in China that could be deployed relatively quickly: an air force nucleus. Just before Pearl Harbor, a group of American aviators had been formally organized in Chongqing who worked on volunteer status for China under the command of Colonel Claire Chennault, an American aviation officer who served as instructor at the Chinese Air Force Cadet School. Some of these men had been flying in China since the Kuomintang first began purchasing American aircraft, having come to demonstrate the aircraft and remaining to pilot and teach. Others had hurried to China after being released from their volunteer service in Spain, where they had gained combat experience during the Spanish Civil War. It was a familiar joke that pilots from both sides of the Spanish conflict were likely to meet and work side by side in China, but political convictions proved immaterial to these professional aviators, they got on well enough with each other, mercenaries of the twentieth century united by their expertise and their willingness to fight. When American traffic on the Burma Road swelled in volume and became chaotic, with cargo lost to pilfering and trucks breaking down from mishandling, the air freight service into Chongqing became increasingly vital to maintaining Chinese military capabilities. The backbone of this organization was American, and it had been in operation for months before the Japanese attack. Halfway down the Burma Road, over the border in Burma, was a plane factory backed by American and Chinese capital, providing some degree of repair and maintenance capacity for the aircraft operating out of China. Recognizing the strategic value of these experienced aviators and the need to formalize and expand their operations, American and Chinese officials moved quickly to incorporate this volunteer group, formally known as the American Volunteer Group or "Flying Tigers," into the U.S. Army Air Force. This transformation of volunteer aviators into official American military personnel represented a commitment to providing air support to Chinese operations, recognizing that air power could compensate to some degree for Chinese numerical disadvantages in ground combat. In Chongqing, it was clear that among the United Nations fighting Japan, America was the only one taking China seriously, the only one prepared to invest significant resources in Chinese military capabilities and the Chinese war effort. Yet Pearl Harbor brought consequences that extended far beyond the strategic and diplomatic spheres. For Western civilians living in China,missionaries, teachers, doctors, businessmen, and journalists, the attack represented a catastrophic change in their status and their fate. Until December 8, 1941, Westerners residing in China had maintained a curious protected status as foreign neutrals, even in areas nominally controlled by the Japanese. This status had provided them with a measure of distance from, and protection against, the grinding reality of the war that had devastated Chinese populations. For a century, Americans had been part of an imperial presence in China, sometimes benevolent, sometimes violent, but always ultimately under Western control. That world came to an abrupt end on December 8, 1941. All across eastern China, Americans and Britons were rounded up and interned. The International Settlement of Shanghai—that remarkable oasis of neutrality that had persisted in the midst of a war-torn city—was now reunified under Japanese control. Thousands of foreigners with Allied nationality were sent to holding camps scattered throughout occupied China. Some, like the eleven-year-old British boy Jim Ballard, would remain imprisoned for the remainder of the war, enduring hunger, cold, and disease in camps like Longhua, which housed approximately 2,000 detainees. Forty years later, as the novelist J. G. Ballard, he would memorialized this experience in his semi-autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun. For missionaries like Velva Brown, the evacuation process was degrading and final. The missionary staff were permitted to pack no more than three suitcases with their belongings. As they prepared to leave, Japanese and Taiwanese "sightseeing" parties arrived to decide which houses they might want to occupy. The journey home aboard crowded Japanese ships offered no concessions to status or dignity; ambassadors, consuls, merchants, and missionaries alike were given "bed-sized strips of Chinese matting which we spread side by side on the iron floor of the hold," as Brown recorded. The humiliation was compounded by the finality of it all. For many, their decades-long presence in China was ending not in orderly retreat but in hasty evacuation, leaving behind "servants, many of whom had been with us for fifteen or twenty years." Despite these immediate human tragedies, the strategic transformation that Pearl Harbor wrought for China was undeniable. Chiang Kai-shek now embarked on an entirely new sort of life, heavily involved with the leaders and generals of the Western powers. He held diplomatic discussions with the leaders of the United Nations and military planning sessions with Western generals. In these unfamiliar circumstances, he did his best to live up to the Confucian ideal of the gentleman, seldom permitting the mask to slip—though the pressure of these new responsibilities and the intoxicating combination of vindication and anxiety would occasionally prove too much even for his considerable self-control. Within weeks of Pearl Harbor, Chiang demonstrated the value he could bring to the new alliance. He visited India and spoke with the leaders of the Indian independence struggle as an ally and friend, as a fellow non-European speaking to others seeking to escape from colonialism and imperial domination. He joined the Allies in their first joint campaign, not in China but in the jungles of neighboring Burma, committing Chinese forces to operations outside China's borders in support of the broader Allied military strategy. Yet the price that Chiang would pay for China's belated entry into the global alliance against the Axis powers would prove to be a heavy one. Chiang desperately needed his new American and British partners, but accepting this alliance would unleash forces within Chinese society that would threaten the very basis of his political control. The complexities of this bargain would become most visible in the four-year struggle between Chiang and General Joseph Warren Stilwell, the American officer who would become simultaneously his chief of staff and the administrator of American military assistance to China. This relationship, shaped by mutual suspicion, different strategic visions, and incompatible political agendas, would define Chinese-American military cooperation during the Pacific War and would have profound implications extending far beyond the battlefields of Asia. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Pearl Harbor's shock reverberated through Asia. Japan's assault on Hawaii, combined with invasions of Burma, the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island, inadvertently transformed regional conflict into global war. Chiang Kai-shek, vindicated after four years of isolation fighting Japan, embraced American alliance with profound relief. The U.S. committed military aid, appointed General Stilwell as chief of staff, and recognized China as a co-belligerent. For Chiang, this partnership brought diplomatic status but also internal tensions that would define the Pacific War's final chapter.

Welcome to The Turf Zone podcast. This episode features the article “Plant Growth Regulators and Biostimulants For Fine Turf — What's the Difference?” written by Richard E. Schmidt, Professor Emeritus, Virginia Tech. Read from the July / August 2026 issue of Virginia Turfgrass Journal. Introduction, written by Mike Goatley, Jr., Professor and Extension Turfgrass Specialist, Virginia Tech Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus Richard E. Schmidt passed on December 31, 2025 at the age of 94. Upon the passing of his wife, June, in 2022, Dick's son, Stephen, asked me to please “keep Dad active and engaged by involving him in a project”. Well, the project I asked Dick to work on for me was to summarize what he considered to be some of the most significant findings of his research of biostimulants as compared to more traditional plant growth regulators. Dick literally continued to review articles and write from that point until he was prepared to pass, calling me on December 30 to let me know that he did not have much more time and it was up to me to complete this article. There was little that was needed for me to “complete” this article, but it was my pleasure to provide the final review and edits to Dick's last scientific publication for the turfgrass industry. I decided I can't give you everything Dick was exploring… he went into areas of literature review on gene regulation and expression in plant hormone production, the chemistry and production of phytosiderophores, and a host of other topics that I simply am not qualified to discuss. My effort focused on refining Dick's article in a way that I felt would most benefit you, the turfgrass manager. Dick is referred to by many as “the Godfather of turfgrass biostimulants,” but his recognition for his efforts in better understanding these compounds did not come without professional challenges. He was often confronted by scientific peers that he should not be wasting his time doing “snake oil research”. But Dick remained resolute that these compounds had the potential to play important roles in managed turfgrass, especially turfgrass that was likely to encounter environmental stress. Dick, along with research scientists like VT's Dr. Xunzhong Zhang (and a number of graduate students such as myself studying under him at Tech) slowly but surely progressed in the understanding of why and how these compounds might work (or not) rather than just practicing the approach of “spray and pray”. VT Turfgrass alum and Purdue University Turfgrass Professor Dr. Cale Bigelow made a comment about Dick's legacy that I thought was very astute: “I dare say that almost every high-profile golf course or sports field anywhere in the country likely has some formulation(s) of a biostimulant in their chemical room that the manager is applying as a standard tool in their management program.” I hope you will take a few minutes to read Dick's final article on this subject matter as a way to pay tribute to his lifetime of research efforts, and to learn a little more about how to use these compounds to improve your turfgrass management program. Plant Growth Regulators and Biostimulants For Fine Turf — What's the Difference? Are you confused concerning the use of plant growth regulators (PGR's) or biostimulants? First a couple of basic definitions of these compounds to set the stage for this discussion. For the purpose of this paper, I will define a PGR as any compound that alters plant growth or development and a biostimulant as an organic substance derived from plants and animals that, when applied in small quantities, may enhance plant growth and metabolism to enhance turfgrass tolerance to environmental stress. There is definitely some overlap in these definitions, so it's understandable if you are confused by the distinctions between these two classes of chemistry. Conflicting information concerning the efficacy of newly introduced materials occurs frequently. Dr. Bill Kreuser (2015) points out the advantages of using plant growth regulators for fine turf. Subsequently, VT alum Dr. Jordan Booth (2023) advocates managing bentgrass putting greens in the transition zone without plant growth regulators. Here are two highly regarded scientists with quite variable viewpoints on this subject, and I think both are correct in their findings and recommendations, depending on the situation. To get a perspective on the subject let us briefly review the history of the use of compounds that fall outside the category of fertilizers but are known to affect the growth and development of plants. Prior to World War II, a growth hormone in the form of the herbicide 2,4-D, was introduced to selectively control broadleaf weeds in turfgrass populations. Reports of effectiveness varied. Its application for weed control did not become widespread until sufficient research was conducted to show that applications made during the winter months were not effective until warmer weather in the spring when broadleaf weeds were actively growing. Once it was established that this chemical effectiveness was influenced by the environment, its use became standard. This is a reminder that from the beginning of the use of synthetic chemicals that environmental condition must be considered in obtaining desired results when applying chemicals to turf. 2,4-D and similar compounds later became standard components in tissue culture research in the selection and development of new turfgrass cultivars through callus culture. This ‘positive' growth response of 2,4-D clarifies something that we have long known for pesticides, hormones, fertilizers etc. – concentration is very important. In Search of Compounds for Faster Growth Responses Other factors and compounds must also be considered when discussing the initial research into the possible use of these compounds. During the 1980's the first synthetic gibberellic acid (GA) compounds became available. Research by Dr. Felix Juska (1958) detailed how gibberellic acid stimulates plant growth by elongation of stems between the nodes. This was originally thought to be a miracle compound for turfgrass culture. However, by the late 1980s use of GA as a plant growth accelerator was basically terminated except for specialty uses such as pre-germinating perennial ryegrass seed for sports field surface recovery uses, a standard practice by many sports field managers still today. When delving into the reasons cited by scientists and turfgrass managers alike why GA use essentially ceased outside of seed treatments, it seemed that the general consensus was that once a dense turf was established, most managers desired that the grass grew more slowly to decrease maintenance cost! Perhaps Compounds for Slower Growth? To obtain slower turf growth, there was also a lot of interest in the 1980s in the development and testing of Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) as a component of turfgrass management, with initial compounds mostly being used on unimproved turf for radical reductions in foliar growth or seedhead development. Emphasis for fine turf management was placed on synthetic gibberellic inhibitors, such as compounds still widely used today in paclobutrazol and trinexapac-ethyl, to control foliar growth of turfgrasses and improve turfgrass density and playability. One common theme with their use that was first somewhat surprising to end users was the surge of foliar growth when the regulated turf was removed from the treatment program- a phenomenon often referred to as the “rebound stage” of growth and development. Clipping yields increased drastically during the rebound stage due to a buildup of carbohydrates and stored nitrogen in the plants that accumulated during the suppression phase. This is further evidence of response that is due to concentrations of hormones inside the plants (as well as the interactions with other compounds). I briefly mentioned before how 2,4-D is most commonly thought of as a broadleaf herbicide, but at low concentrations it can trigger very positive auxin hormone-based responses that promote cell elongation. The late biochemical pathway suppression of GA by a Class A PGR like trinexapac-ethyl revolutionized how fine turf is managed with a PGR. The main beneficial claim for using gibberellic inhibitors is the reduction of clipping yield plus the enhancement of color, increased stress tolerance and reduced nutrient requirements. Because of the short growth suppression phase, frequent retreatments are required. It is impractical to visually determine the effectiveness of the gibberellic inhibitor treatment to ascertain when retreatment is necessary. One standard method in golf turf putting green management has been golf ball roll distance; when ball roll is slowed because of faster turfgrass growth rate (as measured by an increase in clipping yield), it is a signal to re-treat. Technology and smart devices have now made it common to have PGR-treatment prediction models that combine data collected over the years with varying rates and sources of PGRs with Growing Degree Day data. This is an example of how technology is helping the turfgrass manager further refine their PGR management programs and maintain consistent ball roll speeds for their golfing public. Growth Inhibitors or Metabolic Stimulators Although classified as a PGR, naturally occurring growth regulators such as seaweed extracts and humic acid are not discussed in the same ways as gibberellic acid inhibitors. This is because the main effect of the natural growth regulators is in metabolic enhancement, and these compounds are commonly referred to as biostimulants. By this definition, some PGR'S also may be classified as biostimulants as they also influence the metabolic activity of plants. Therefore, when a material is used to influence plant growth it often is being used primarily as a PGR. When it is used to affect the metabolism of the plant, it may be referred to as a biostimulant. It has been well documented that turfgrasses under environmental stress have an internal increase at the molecular level in potentially phytotoxic oxygen species (called free radicals) within their cells. Simply put, the plant is incapable of utilizing all of the energy from the sun that it is receiving (something we generally associate with photosynthesis and think of as a “good thing” because it is leading to food production). Under conditions of excessive energy absorption, oxygen molecules accept electrons and become a highly reactive free radical form. These free radicals are capable of damaging cell membranes. Under normal conditions the plant has biochemical pathways in place to neutralize free radical formation, but under stress, the build-up of free radicals exceeds the plant's capability of quenching that excessive energy by the production of compounds called antioxidants. It has been shown that supplemental applications of biostimulants (particularly before the most extreme periods of stress arrive) can enhance the development of the antioxidant compounds that can mitigate the toxic influence of the free radicals. Whether materials are applied for growth control or development of antioxidants, environmental conditions must be considered. For example, research has shown that adequate nitrogen fertilizers in the fall and early winter (when grass foliar growth is reduced by cooling temperatures), carbohydrate reserves increase and this ultimately favors root production. However, heavy spring nitrogen fertilization stimulates foliar growth at the expense of root production and places the plant under stress, particularly if the summer months prove to be hot and dry. In Booth's 2023 article, he makes the case that applying PGR's, such as those that inhibit gibberellin production, can add to the stress associated with the summer weather. Data, however, shows these products do influence the metabolic processes that are reported to negate the effects of environmental stress. Other interacting factors that influence the action of the biostimulant are nutrient balance and/or pest activity that negates the results of the treatment. It is difficult to visually observe changes associated with PGR's and the opportunity to adjust programs is often missed. Again, one of the best (but time consuming strategies to adjust programs) is to take daily stimpmeter readings to assess ball roll and/or clipping yields to determine the level of plant growth effect of the supplemental PGR treatments. Relation Between Metabolism and Plant Growth Responses As a means to hopefully better explain some of my earliest research findings in terms of PGR/biostimulant concentrations and turfgrass response(s) (and what I have found in my literature review beyond my time as an active faculty member at Virginia Tech), I turn to findings from a scientific publication from the work done by my successor in turfgrass physiology research at Virginia Tech, Dr. Erik Ervin. Ervin at al. (2004) published a paper on the seasonal influence of biostimulants on root growth, metabolic activity, and overall shade tolerance of creeping bentgrass, an article that covers both basic and applied research findings in this area. Root development of bentgrass, as measured by physical root pulls of plugs grown under the first shade treatment sequence of 88% shade from June to 30 October 2001 (summer through early fall) was not enhanced by trinexapac ethyl, iron, or seaweed + iron treatments, but had an approximate 44% increase for treatment with a standard fungicide, propiconazole. When returned to light conditions for the next six months (November to April 2002, late fall through winter), all root pull measurements were much greater than before, with increases of 37, 41, 20, and 17%, respectively for trinexapac ethyl, propiconazole, iron, and seaweed + iron treatments compared to the untreated control. When shade was introduced again from April to November 2002 (spring to fall sequence), root strength once again declined due to the shade, but trinexapac ethyl, propiconazole (the active ingredient in a standard fungicide, shown to have hormonal-type activity in previous VT research), iron, and seaweed + iron treatments all provided root strength increases of 92, 33, 24, and 6%, respectively, as compared to the untreated control. Two factors are at play here. Root development is obviously linked to the plants producing energy in the lighted conditions. Secondly, grass roots tend to develop during the late fall/winter months when foliar growth was impeded. The bentgrass receiving the trinexapac ethyl treatments retained the most root development compared to the control when measured in Nov 2002. This indicates that the benefits of treatment that enhanced root development during the winter period when the bentgrass was exposed to light persisted. Although the treatments that had the largest root development (bentgrass treated with trinexapac- ethyl under full light in the winter, October 2001 to April 2002) because of the root growth response, they also had the largest percentage root loss the following spring and summer when grown under shade. However, in terms of absolute root numbers as determined by root strength measurements, the bentgrass receiving these treatments still had significantly better root growth than the untreated control. Metabolic Activity Now, how about metabolic activity? Two metabolic variables measured in this shade trial were photochemical efficiency (PE, a measurement of how efficiently plants are utilizing photosynthetically active radiation) and antioxidant activity (a measurement of how the plants were capable of quenching the potentially membrane-damaging energy of free radicals) by way of an increase in an energy-quenching compound, Superoxide Dismutase. PE levels under shaded conditions increased slightly for all treatments compared to the untreated control, but the values only ranged from a 2% increase for Seaweed Extract + Humic Acid to a 9% increase for trinexapac ethyl. While the dense shade drastically reduced all levels of SOD in shaded plants, the relative increases in SOD in the treated bentgrass compared to the untreated control was 39, 74, 78, and 86% greater for seaweed extract + humic acid, trinexapac ethyl, propiconazole, and FeSO4, respectively. Greater SOD levels in the plant impart improved stress tolerance to the bentgrass as it was moved from the shade to sunny conditions. Now, clearly the treatments were no replacement for growing grass in sufficient sunlight, correct? But under such extreme light deprivation, the treatments did trigger the plant's metabolic responses to improve shade tolerance. What This Might Mean for Future Objective Assessments of Overall Turfgrass Health When combining the metabolic enhancement data from the bentgrass shade investigation trial with that of the root development under altering shade and light conditions, it is evident that in general, there were positive responses to the PGR and biostimulant treatments. Determination of the antioxidant activity to ascertain turf health in “real time” is a wet laboratory process and would be impractical for the average turfgrass manager to use it to measure health of the grass. However, the remote sensing technologies that the research teams of Drs. McCall and Askew at Virginia Tech (and scientists at other universities) are evaluating, coupled with the expanding availability of these types of tools to golf course superintendents and sports field managers, and a summary/evaluation of computations possible through artificial intelligence, I think it is likely that one day soon the turf manager will be determining the PE and SOD levels etc. to assess turfgrass health both rapidly and accurately. While ball roll speed, trueness of roll, and/or clipping yields will always give the turf manager very meaningful data in terms of management decisions that affect health and playability aspects, the use of electronic tools will provide the turfgrass manager real time data to tweak the metabolic activity of the turfgrass by way of a PGR or biostimulant application. Summary Although turfgrass ecology is a science, it also very much remains an art as well. Therefore, we should always respect the observations of dedicated turfgrass professionals that pay such close attention to their grasses on a daily basis. Their judgments and measurements reflect the ideal and the extremes in environmental conditions. And their exploration with the pros and cons of PGRs and biostimulants have demonstrated the possibilities and pratfalls for how these tools can affect metabolic processes within the plant that may (or may not) promote better stress tolerance. For as much progress that has been made in this area from the time I began studying biostimulants in the 1980s, there is no doubt that there is so much more we don't know. There are an infinite number of plant hormone concentration possibilities inside plants that trigger plant responses, and with the application of the biostimulant the turfgrass manager is trying to effectively and safely manipulate that hormonal balance. Add to the equation the diversity of turfgrass species, climate, soils, pests, maintenance protocol, turfgrass use etc. and you can appreciate the challenges involved in gaining the desired plant responses. I have somewhat alluded to it, but I don't think I have completely addressed this point: when Dr. Goatley first spoke with me about developing an article about biostimulants and PGRs he made the statement that “in particular one needs to know exactly what is in their biostimulant package if they are on a PGR program”. I agree and it's a reminder that carefully reading and following the label is no different than for a pesticide. For instance, if a turfgrass manager is on a trinexapac-ethyl regulation program and is simultaneously applying a biostimulant that contains GA, their growth regulation is very likely being affected since they are applying the antidote to the PGR activity. There always will be research that needs to be conducted in this area, and I am pleased that the lab of Dr. Xunzhong Zhang at Virginia Tech continues to expand knowledge in this area. Dr. Zhang has published research showing that turfgrass stresses such as drought, salinity, temperature, exposure to UV light, and shade can be reduced by elevating plant antioxidant levels by way of biostimulant applications. Biostimulants are not and will never be replacements for sound management strategies, but they are tools that when applied at the right time and concentration can enhance stress tolerance and improve the health and performance of your turfgrass system. You have been listening to The Turf Zone Podcast. Follow The Turf Zone on X, Facebook and LinkedIn for all things turfgrass, featuring podcasts, magazines, events and more. The post Plant Growth Regulators and Biostimulants For Fine Turf — What's the Difference? appeared first on The Turf Zone.

In Hour 3, Segment 2 of The Charlie James Show on August 4, 2026, host Charlie James takes calls from listeners regarding Senate primary candidates and show commentary. Caller David in Greenville expresses support for candidate Mark Lynch, praising his community advocacy during local statue removal controversies and raising concerns over data centers and "SignalTrace software" used in surveillance cameras to track Bluetooth devices. James agrees on the necessity of privacy firewalls between citizens and government. Subsequently, caller Daniel in Greenville critiques James for impersonating Darline Graham's Southern accent, prompting James to defend his long-standing use of comedic impressions and accents on air before taking the show to a commercial break.

On a recuperative sojourn in Italy, a civil servant becomes fascinated by two fellow guests – one who always looks upand his silent companion.This originalrecording is an audio presentation by Jasper L'Estrange for EnCrypted Horror. “LOOK UP THERE!” by H. R. Wakefield, 1929.Supporting my workIf you like, you can donate in the following ways:Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/encryptedpodYouTube channelmembership: https://www.youtube.com/c/EnCryptedClassicHorror/joinOne-off donation:https://ko-fi.com/encryptedpodcastYou can now also sayTHANKS (on YouTube) with a SUPER THANKS!LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE- it all helps the show survive and prosper!If you want todiscuss the show, talk business, or have any ideas for stories you'd liketo hear in future episodes, contact me: encryptedpod@gmail.com

In this Film Ireland podcast, recorded live on location in Washington, D.C. at the Capital Irish Film Festival, Gemma Creagh chats with filmmaker Nuala O'Connor about her film In Time: Dónal Lunny. The documentary chronicles the enigmatic and innovative musician Dónal Lunny, tracing his profound influence on Irish music and his role in shaping its modern evolution.In this conversation, Nuala shares insights into her varied career, balancing her two passions - film and music - her craft, and the challenge of capturing the spirit of such a pioneering artist on screen.The episode was recorded live at the Irish film festival, presented annually by Solas Nua. The 20th edition of the festival took place in Washington, D.C., from February 26 to March 1, 2026.Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts or watch the otigional recording here:https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-filmmaker-nuala-oconnor-on-in-time-donal-lunnyAbout In Time: Dónal Lunny Charting the life and legacy of the iconic Irish traditional musician Dónal Lunny, one of Ireland's most outstanding artists, this film offers an insightful appraisal of his creative process, exploring the enduring and far-reaching influence he has had on Irish traditional music. The film reveals a life lived entirely for art's sake. The major events of his creative and personal life have converged with major cultural, political and historic changes in Ireland and around the world and reflects the impact this had on his art from the 1950s to the present day. Music fuses with the personal material of Dónal Lunny's biographical journey and brings the artist into being in this film. That journey is the journey of Irish culture and people who lived through those decades from the 1950s to the present day. Nuala O'ConnorNuala O'Connor has worked for nearly twenty years in broadcasting: in RTÉ for nine years as a researcher and radio producer, and for the past ten years in the independent film sector. In 1987, Nuala established Hummingbird Productions with Philip King to produce high quality music and arts documentaries. With Philip King, she worked as assistant producer on Bringing It All Back Home and is the author of the book which accompanied the series.Nuala went on to produce documentaries including A River of Sound, Christy, Meitheal and Bláth Gach Géag Dá dTig, collaborating with Donal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn, Seamus Heaney, Sinéad O'Connor and Mary Black.Subsequently, with Philip King and Tina Moran, she was a founder director of South Wind Blows Productions, initially directing the Irish history documentary series The Limits of Liberty with Professor Diarmaid Ferriter. In 2013, she co-directed An Glaoch: The President's Call with President Michael D. Higgins and also that year wrote and directed From Moment to Moment about the Irish band The Gloaming. In 2014, she worked as co-producer on the acclaimed Ceiliúradhconcert at the Royal Albert Hall.Nuala also worked as the traditional music reviewer for The Irish Times for many years.Capital Irish Film FestivalSolas Nua's annual Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington, D.C., presents one of the largest programmes of Irish cinema in North America, showcasing the latest Irish dramatic and documentary features, shorts, art films and animation releases by Irish and Ireland-based filmmakers. The 20th edition of the four-day festival takes place 26 February – 1 March 2026 in partnership with the prestigious American Film Institute's Silver Theatre & Cultural Center.Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.So make sure to subscribe and listen back! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's Monday, July 13th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Texas police officers vs. Christian preachers at “pride” event Today, our persecution of Christians story comes surprisingly from Texas. On June 27th, Rich Penkoski and like-minded believers spoke the truth and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a bullhorn at the Trinity Homosexual Pride Fest in Fort Worth, Texas.  Not surprisingly, homosexual activists and nearby business owners complained to police about both his message and the amplification. When police responded, the officers threatened to arrest and cite the preachers, telling them that phrases like “homosexuality is a sin” were offensive. Listen to a portion of one video posted by preacher Penkoski of his interaction with a female officer. POLICE OFFICER: “If someone is offended by your talking, then we have a problem.” PREACHER: “That's a constitutional violation of our rights. If you shut us down for talking or speech …” (crosstalk) POLICE OFFICER: “No. If they are offended by speech, …” PREACHER: “I don't care if they're offended.” POLICE OFFICER:  “Okay, then I'll write you a ticket, and we'll go from there.” PREACHER: “Wait, you're going to ticket us for offensive speech?” POLICE OFFICER: “Yes, absolutely.” PREACHER: “Are you serious? You're going to cite us for offensive speech.” POLICE OFFICER: “It's called disorderly conduct.” Plus, according to another video, a male police officer also said if the preacher used biologically accurate pronouns for someone pretending to be the opposite gender that also could be considered an offense. The preacher was warned that continued use of the bullhorn would violate the city's noise ordinance before ultimately receiving a disorderly conduct citation after continuing to use the device. Subsequently, the Fort Worth Police Department acknowledged that an officer made "certain statements that were not accurate," reports Fox News. In last Thursday post on X, Penkoski wrote, "Police officers have been violating preachers' 1st amendment rights for years. This isn't new, we just got it on video, and they can't walk it back or deny it.” He added, “As a street preacher, it is not my job to coddle anyone or go soft on sin. People are dying and going to hell every day and we have to warn them. ​… Christians need to wake up. We have got to stop sitting in the safety and comfort of our church pews and start taking the Gospel back to the streets. If we refuse to exercise our constitutional rights, we are going to lose them." In Matthew 5:13, Jesus said, “You are the salt of the Earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” Homosexual couple sues surrogate who refused to abort baby with cleft lip A homosexual male couple in Canada has sued a surrogate mother who believes she is being punished because she refused a request to abort the baby after doctors detected a cleft lip and a possible heart defect, reports The Christian Post. They used a donor egg and sperm from each of the intended fathers. In a suit filed in Ontario Superior Court in May, the homosexuals allege the surrogate mother failed to keep them informed about the baby's health, caused them emotional distress, and violated their confidentiality, reports The National Post. The lawsuit came two years after the perverted couple asked her to abort the baby at 22 weeks — a request she refused. Specialists at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto later determined that the baby was otherwise healthy, except for the cosmetically fixable cleft lip. The couple accepted this assessment, agreed to continue the pregnancy, and took the baby boy home after birth. The surrogate unsuccessfully sought repayment of about $10,000 in out-of-pocket costs. Ironically, the couple filed a lawsuit for $600,000 in damages against the single mother for her failure to abort their now living son. More than 50 countries prohibit both commercial and altruistic surrogacy. And here in the United States, surrogacy laws vary by state. New video: Senator Mitch McConnell loaded into ambulance New video posted on July 10th shows Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky being loaded into an ambulance after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest at his Capitol Hill home last month, reports the New York Post. McConnell has been absent from the Senate for nearly a month as he continues to recover in the hospital. The 84-year-old lawmaker is not seeking re-election this November and will retire when his term ends in January. California puts abortion pill reversal on trial Heartbeat International, a pro-life group, is on trial in a California court for daring to inform women that the effects of the Abortion Kill Pill can sometimes be reversed, reports The Washington Stand. Their attorney, Danielle White, said, “Women deserve to know all of their options. They don't lose that right after beginning a chemical abortion.” In 2023, Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta  sued Heartbeat and a pro-life pregnancy center for “advertising Abortion Pill Reversal as safe and effective.”  Factually speaking, the abortion pill reversal protocol simply requires the use of the natural hormone progesterone which is both safe and helps save 65% of the babies. Bonta asked the court to impose a penalty of more than $20 million against Heartbeat and $600,000 against the pregnancy center. That would amount to a financial death sentence for the pro-life non-profits. The case went to a bench trial on June 24, 2026, and the trial may continue for another three weeks. Thomas More Society's Paul Jonna said, “A ruling in California's favor would hand attorneys general across the country a roadmap to penalize any non-profit organization that provides women with information the state disagrees with. If the [California] Attorney General prevails and our clients cannot deliver free, truthful, and lifesaving information to women who request it, then countless babies that could survive may not — and countless women may never meet the children that they wanted to carry to term.” Marriage advocate Mike McManus entered Heaven On a personal note, my father, Mike McManus, entered the gates of Heaven on July 5th at the age of 85 in Nashville, Tennessee.  Standing at 6'8” tall, he might have had to duck to walk through. To be sure, Dad had a God-sized vision to make a difference. After graduating from Duke University, he was employed at Time Magazine where he was stationed in Bueno Aires, Argentina and later covered President Lyndon Johnson at the White House, writing two cover stories. In 1973, my Dad organized a public participation campaign, “Choices for ‘76” to engage 10 percent of the 20 million people of the New York Metropolitan region in policy issues as the U.S. approached its Bicentennial. The project aimed to spark public debate through a series of television town meetings on issues like housing, transportation, the environment, poverty and urban growth. After becoming informed, citizens were invited to express their opinion on possible public policy tradeoffs, using ballots available in newspapers, banks and libraries. Then, he wrote two self-syndicated weekly newspaper columns which appeared in 100 newspapers.  The first, called “Solutions,” was politically focused and offered practical public policy suggestions. The second, “Ethics & Religion,” was inspired by the preaching of Pastor Terry Fullam of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Darien, Connecticut. It grappled with church news and moral issues like abortion, pornography, and the homosexual agenda. I remember helping him copy, collate, stuff, stamp, address, and seal the envelopes to send out his weekly columns to newspaper editors across the country before the advent of the internet and email. We were always racing to the post office to get there before the deadline at 11pm at night. In 1993, he published his first book Marriage Savers: Helping Your Friends and Family Stay Married. Other books included 50 Practical Ways to Take Our Kids Back from the World and Living Together: Myths, Risks and  Answers. In a 2013 phone interview on American Family Radio, Dad talked about the major myth that women believe about living together. MIKE McMANUS: “One of the myths, believed widely by women, is that ‘'If I live with him, he's going to see how wonderful I am, and he'll ask me to marry him.' But he knows that this woman would marry him if he asked her. He's living together with her because he doesn't want to get married. He wants the sex, he wants the companionship, and the shared rent. But he doesn't want to get married. “She believes this myth until about a year and a half, two years into the relationship, when she realizes he's not going to ask her to marry him, and she sadly walks away. Unfortunately, by that time they may have already had a child. The unwed birth rate has risen right along with cohabitation. “This is an unbiblical position, of course. I mean, the church has been silent on the problem, and it's part of the problem.” Cognizant of the clarity of Malachi 2:16 in which God says He “hates divorce,” my father's passion on the issue led to his founding of the non-profit Marriage Savers with my mother, Harriet, to whom he was married for 61 years and whom he simply adored.  He said, “Most divorces are filed by one person who alleges incompatibility, while the other spouse wants to save the marriage. Sadly, divorce is always granted. When adultery or abuse is not alleged, divorce should only be granted if there is 'mutual consent' by husband and wife. What was entered into by two people, should not be ended, unless both people agree." They organized 10,000 pastors in 229 cities in 43 states to sign a Community Marriage Policy agreement that established rigorous premarital preparation for engaged couples and trained volunteer mentor couples to help people in troubled marriages. The Baptist Press reported that the divorce rate in those cities dropped by 17.5%. Think about the heartache that saved untold families and children! Their work led to appearances on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CBN News, The O'Reilly Factor, The Ricki Lake Show, Breakpoint with Chuck Colson, Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson, Truths that Transform with D. James Kennedy, and Moody Radio's Janet Parshall. I treasure the books that Dr. Dobson personally inscribed to my father as a fellow warrior for the family that are now in my library. And Chuck Colson, President Richard Nixon's former hatchet man who was gloriously saved on his way to prison over Watergate and founded Prison Fellowship, wrote the forward to one of Dad's books after their friendship blossomed. Having always aspired to live on the water, he eventually moved into his dream home with his bride in Kilmarnock, Virginia, just 50 feet from Indian Creek that fed into the Chesapeake Bay.  A great day for him was enjoying the view from his leather chair, reading the paper, listening to classical music, and talking with my mother, who was his great joy. My father taught me how to write clearly and think Biblically. I remember him quizzing us three boys at the dining room table about current events. And he was a faithful husband who pointed the family to faith in Jesus Christ, His legacy lives on in my two younger brothers, John and Tim, and in me, as I strive, with my bride Amy, to disciple Honor, Mercy, and Valor in the ways of the Lord, urging them not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds in the Word of God, as Romans 12:2 articulates. 9 Worldview listeners gave $2,055 And finally, toward our $30,875 goal during the first full week of our month-long fundraiser, 9 listeners stepped up to the plate by 10:30pm Central on Saturday and invested their treasure to fund the six-member team behind The Worldview for another 365 days. Our thanks to 12-year-old Halen in Blum, Texas who gave $5 as well as Mark in Newark, Ohio and Brigitte in Brookings, South Dakota – both of whom gave $25. We're grateful to God for Julie in Victoria, Texas who gave $50, Dirk in Englewood, Colorado who gave $100, and Twyla in Ellensburg, Washington who gave $150. And we were touched by the generosity of Jason in Calhoun, Georgia who gave $200, Elaine here in San Antonio, Texas who gave $500, and Stephen in California, Maryland who gave $1,000. Those 9 gifts add up to $2,055. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please. (drum roll sound effect) $23,098 (sound effect of people cheering) That means, in all candor, we missed last Friday's goal by $7,777. Please, do not wait until the last minute.  Every gift gets us closer to our $123,500 goal by July 31st.  So far, out of our tens of thousands of listeners, the most people who have donated in a single day is 15 people. Help us double that.  Will you be one of 30 to step up? Make a donation today to help us hit our $56,565 goal by this Friday, July 17th.  We need to find 7 Worldview listeners who will pledge $100/month for 12 months or give a one-time gift of $1,200, 20 folks who will pledge $50/month or give a one-time gift of $600 and 40 listeners who will pledge $25/month or give a one-time gift of $300. Go to TheWorldview.com, click on Give, select the dollar amount, and make sure to click on the “recurring” button if that's your wish.  What has the Lord placed on your heart to give? Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, July 13th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

From the Gospel of Luke (8:26-39): And They Asked Jesus to Leave Introduction -- Compassion Unpacked: God wants to have a heart-to-heart talk with us. Therefore, if there is anything in our lives blocking this talk with God, we must remove it – we need to open ourselves to what God will do for us if we will just let go of our life impediments. We must pray for God's guidance that He keeps us from becoming judgmental, self-righteous, self-centered Christians like the Pharisees in Luke 7:36-50. Today's Message -- And They Asked Jesus to Leave: When Jesus stepped ashore after a storm-tossed sail across the Sea of Galilee, Luke 8:26-39 tells us that Jesus was met by a demon-possessed man. True Christians cannot be demon-possessed; the Holy Spirit indwells and possesses Christians. For non-believers, their spirit is void and open to passion by demons. However, Christians can be oppressed by demons. In Luke 8:32-33, Luke tells us that the demons called Jesus by name and asked that they not be removed from the demon-posed man and be sent to the “abyss”. Therefore, Jesus removed the demons from the man and transferred the demons into a large herd of pigs: “Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.". Subsequently, the people from the town came to observe the formerly possessed man and the fate of the pig herd (Luke 8:36-39): “And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him {Jesus} to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.'". The people of the town asked Jesus, the Creator of the Universe, to leave because he had cost their economy, and they were afraid. However, “asking him {Jesus} to depart” is something we Christians do. We learn from this story of the demon-possessed man and the people of “Gerasenes” that: 1) Jesus has power over demons (demon passion and oppression are real and should not be taken lightly); 2) it is easy to talk those people that we do not know well about what Jesus has done for us, but Jesus wants us to witness to our families and friends; 3) we should be careful what we invest, especially those investments that are against God's law; 4) we do  “ask Jesus to leave” – every time we sin, every time we begin our day without Jesus, every time we walk away from His calling on our lives, every time we say “my will be done” rather than “they will be done”; 5) Jesus wants us to share what He has done for us – wherever we are and whomever we are with, especially where we live and work; and 6) this story tell us Jesus  who Jesus is – the demon-possessed man tells us (Luke 8:32) who Jesus is: “When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.'”. The ultimate question that we all must all answer: “Who do we say that Jesus is?”.   TODAY'S PRAYER: Keeping the Sabbath, Lord, will require a lot of changes in the way I am living life. Teach me, Lord, how to take the next step with this in a way that fits my unique personality and situation. Help me to trust you with all that will remain unfinished and to enjoy my humble place in your very large world. In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 129). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM A CHILD OF GOD. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. John 1:12f SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Ephesians 6:10; Luke 8:22-25; Luke 8:26-39; Psalms 141:1-10. SCRIPTURE REFERENCE SEARCH: www.AWFTL.org/bible-search/ A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S DAILY DEVOTIONAL – “Jesus Followers' Righteousness Will Flow, with the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, from Their Heart Through Their Personal Relationship with Jesus”: https://awordfromthelord.org/devotional/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Thanks again for joining us at Behind Greatness. This episode was recorded Spring of 2026 and is part 1 of a developing series with Thomas Campbell. Thomas is a physicist, lecturer, and author of the My Big T.O.E. (Theory of Everything), a trilogy of books that claims to unify general relativity, quantum mechanics, and metaphysics, as well as the origins of consciousness. He worked as a systems analyst with U.S. Army technical intelligence for a decade before moving into the research and development of technology supporting defensive missile systems. Subsequently, he spent the better part of 30 years working within the U.S. missile defense community as a contractor to the Department of Defense. He most recently worked for NASA on the Ares I program (a follow-on to the Shuttle), assessing and solving problems related to risk and vulnerability to ensure mission and crew survivability and success. Thomas speaks and writes often about the importance of shifting from our current materialistic-focused ethic based on control-power-force to caring-sharing-compassion.   A deep-end dive from the get-go. Thomas has a lot to share on consciousness and physics, making decisions on love vs fear, and low vs high entropy choices. We talk about how to avoid making decisions on "mouthing the scripts", on being stuck as a "mimic of yourself" and on living a sterile life. We hear about the partnership between the intellect and intuition, living a life of elegance, the forgotten value of living in a tribe, grace vs anger and developing the ability to seeing the bigger picture. Thomas also gives his view on his own awareness.   Another episode mentioned in this episode: Olympian 100m sprinter, Anson Henry (ep 74)   Tom, Website: https://www.my-big-toe.com/about/tom-campbell/ YT Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYwlraEwuFB4ZqASowjoM0g   To give to the Behind Greatness podcast, please visit here: https://behindgreatness.org . As a charity, tax receipts are issued to donor.

For content follow the podcast on Twitter / Instagram @darkroastcult Each week we choose a movie from one of the horror genre to discuss the following week. Follow along each week by keeping up with the movies we are watching to stay in the loop with the movie club! Check out other podcasts, coffee and pins at www.darkroastcult.com ! THANKS TO ANDREW FOR MAKING THE INTRO SONG. (soundcloud.com / andoryukesuta)@andoryukesuta A paramedic rescues a young girl from the blazing Saint Luke's hospital before unsuccessfully inquiring about her mother's whereabouts. Sometime afterwards, undergraduate Shelley Baum hears her cat meowing near her house's koi pond. After she heads over to investigate, a hand appears and drowns her and her cat. Days later, college students Beth Raymond and Leann Cole discuss Shelley's funeral. Leann's cellphone rings in a lullaby-esque ringtone, with a call from Shelley. She opens it to an eerie voicemail of herself, dated June 12 at 10:17 PM. Subsequently, suffering from disturbing hallucinations, she calls Beth while returning from a study session. Beth rushes to her location but arrives just as Leann falls off an overpass and is struck by a train. A red candy pops out of her mouth, and her severed hand dials a number on her phone. At Leann's funeral, her ex-boyfriend Brian Sousa departs after experiencing hallucinations. Outside a coffee shop, he shows Beth Leann's post-mortem voicemail, dated minutes away. An acetylene tank explosion from the adjacent construction site launches debris into the air, and a rebar impales Brian's torso. A red candy is ejected from his mouth, and he collapses. The next day, Beth meets police detective Jack Andrews, who mentions that his sister Jean interned with Shelley at Saint Luke's and died herself two days prior. They determine the events are interrelated and he provides his contact card. Beth consoles her friend Taylor Anthony, who is distraught by a premonitory feeling of being the next victim, so Beth removes the batteries from both their cellphones to disable them. That night, Taylor's cellphone rings; she opens it to see a video of her apparent demise. The following morning, Jack and Beth research geriatric nurse Marie Layton, originator of the calls, and find the autopsy report of her eldest daughter Ellie, who died from an acute asthmatic episode. The file, mentioning "no bruising but evidence of past scars" with an attached CPS file for further consultation, indicates that Jean, a psychiatric nurse, questioned Marie at Saint Luke's and noted nine admissions between April and May for Ellie and her sister Laurel, concerning several causes, leading Beth to assume that Marie had FDIA. Meanwhile, TV producer Ted Summers, who approached Taylor earlier, prepares to record her exorcism, explaining that spiritual energy operates in the same electromagnetic spectrum as light/microwaves and is therefore transmissible via cellular phones from which it manifests as hallucinations. Noticing the show's advertisement on TV, Beth races to the site, arriving to an unseen force fatally choking Taylor. Her phone then sounds with a voicemail dated for tomorrow. Taking Beth home, Jack learns about her past in which her mother was abusive towards her (in particular burning her daughter with cigarettes), and her father, aware of his wife's abuse, hanged himself in their house's attic.

Many people worry about memory loss and cognitive decline as they age. In this episode of Health Matters, host Courtney Allison speaks with Dr. Matthew Fink, neurologist-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, about how lifestyle choices—especially diet—can help protect the brain. Dr. Fink explains the MIND diet, a combination of the Mediterranean and DASH diets, which emphasizes whole foods like leafy greens, berries, fish, nuts, and olive oil while limiting salt, sugar, and ultra-processed foods. He breaks down how key nutrients such as B vitamins and antioxidants support brain metabolism, reduce inflammation, and may slow the aging process. The conversation also highlights the brain's high energy demands and why proper nutrition is essential for cognitive function. Dr. Fink shares research showing that healthy lifestyle interventions can significantly lower the risk of dementia and discusses the broader benefits of the MIND diet for heart health and stroke prevention. Finally, Dr. Fink outlines additional habits that support brain health, including regular physical activity, quality sleep, and social connection, emphasizing that even small, gradual changes can lead to meaningful long-term benefits.   Chapters 00:00 – Why Brain Health Is in Your Control How lifestyle choices can reduce dementia risk and why prevention starts early 03:00 – What Is the MIND Diet? Key components of the Mediterranean and DASH diets and how they support the brain 06:00 – Brain-Boosting Nutrients and Foods to Avoid The role of B vitamins, antioxidants, and which foods increase risk 10:30 – Beyond Diet: Exercise, Sleep, and Daily Habits How movement, rest, and social connection contribute to cognitive health     Key Topics Covered MIND diet overview Mediterranean diet and DASH diet Brain metabolism and energy use B vitamins and brain health Antioxidants and inflammation Foods that support cognitive function Foods to limit (salt, sugar, processed foods) Dementia and Alzheimer's prevention Stroke and heart disease connection Exercise and brain function Sleep and cognitive health Lifestyle changes for healthy aging   Takeaway Message You have more control over your brain health than you might think. By focusing on whole, nutrient-rich foods, limiting processed options, staying active, and getting enough sleep, you can significantly reduce your risk of cognitive decline and support a healthier brain as you age.   Doctor Bios Matthew E. Fink, MDis currently the Louis and Gertrude Feil Professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medicine, and neurologist-in-chief at NewYork Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.  In addition, he is chief of the Division of Stroke and Critical Care Neurology at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, and vice chair of the medical board. Dr. Fink attended college at the University of Pennsylvania, medical school at the University of Pittsburgh, and served as resident and chief resident in internal medicine at the Boston City Hospital. He came to New York and trained in neurology at the Neurological Institute of NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and served as chief resident under Dr. Lewis P. Rowland. Subsequently, he joined the faculty of Columbia University and became the founding director of the Neurology-Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit at NewYork-Presbyterian and was appointed associate professor of clinical neurology and neurosurgery while at Columbia. Dr. Fink was a founding member and chair of the critical care section of the American Academy of Neurology, and the research section for neurocritical care of the World Federation of Neurology. He is board-certified in internal medicine, neurology, critical care medicine, vascular neurology, and neurocritical care.  He has been elected as a Fellow of the American Neurological Association, the American Academy of Neurology, and the Stroke Council of the American Heart Association. Throughout his career, Dr. Fink has been involved in the education and training of students, residents and fellows in the field of stroke and critical care neurology, as well as an active participant in clinical research within this field. He is a leader in this new specialty, has lectured widely, and has published many research and clinical articles in the field of stroke and critical care. In addition, he currently serves as editor of the monthly publication, NEUROLOGY ALERT, and is a past-president of the New York State Neurological Society.

Weekly Kingdom Outlook Episode 237-Diligently Seeking The Father rewards those who diligently seek Him. This reward is both in heaven and on earth. Initially, the Father bestows upon us Himself, allowing us to be consumed by His love and presence. Subsequently, in the coming seasons, He will progressively provide us with additional blessings as we demonstrate the ability to steward them. We extend our sincere gratitude for your presence at the Gate Church. Your support in liking and subscribing to our channel is greatly appreciated, as it brings us immense blessings. We earnestly pray that the Lord will bestow His divine favor upon you. www.thegatejax.com www.louisdesiena.com ​@louisdesienaministries⁩

Our guest purchased the assets of planemaker Sonex and restarted the company. In the news, Customs and Border Protection officers at airports, Eclipse 500 spare parts availability, a Spitfire kit plane, recreating cockpit voice recorder audio from spectrograms, and a new website to track ATC modernization progress. Guest Stephen Osborne is the owner and founder of Top Aviation Services and the president and CEO of The Osborne Company. Shortly after planemaker Sonex shut down, he purchased its assets and reopened operations as Sonex Aviation LLC. Sonex has a history of providing the recreational aviation community with innovative and affordable aircraft kits, powerplants, and accessories. The company is a leader in the homebuilt space and works to cultivate new pilots and airplane builders through educational efforts. Stephen describes how he quickly moved to purchase the Sonex assets, resume shipping kits, and set the tone for the company’s future. Sonex has a strong “work family” environment that serves not only employees but also customers and vendors. As Sonex moves forward, its success will be built on those core values and the mission to make aviation affordable for everyone. Stephen is a military veteran and former U.S. Army Captain and FAA-certificated commercial pilot. Top Aviation provides FAA-certified flight training for Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, and Commercial, as well as discovery flights and aircraft rentals at KTOP in Topeka, Kansas. The Osborne Company is a general contracting firm specializing in the design and installation of electric vehicle and aircraft charging infrastructure across the United States. Group photo of employees, courtesy Sonex. Aviation News Feds Mull Pulling Customs From New York, LA, Chicago, and Other Airports in ‘Sanctuary Cities' Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has suggested removing Customs and Border Protection officers from airports in so-called sanctuary cities where local authorities do not assist federal immigration investigations. Those cities include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco international hubs. In a recent congressional hearing, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, “We shouldn't shut down air travel in a state that doesn't agree with our politics.” Airlines and business groups warn of chaos if US restricts international flights In a joint statement, the U.S. ​Chamber of Commerce, Airlines for America, the National Retail Federation, U.S. Travel, and other groups said the move “threatens to cause unnecessary chaos throughout the nation’s air transportation system.” “Any reduction in Customs and Border Protection operations at major U.S. gateway airports threatens to cause unnecessary chaos throughout the nation's air transportation system. International aviation networks are highly interconnected, and operational changes at a small number of gateway airports will quickly ripple across the country, negatively impacting travelers, cargo shipments, supply chains, and the communities that depend on those connections. Airports and airlines rely on stable, predictable federal inspection services to keep people and commerce moving safely and efficiently. We urge DHS to avoid actions that would create unnecessary operational and economic consequences for communities nationwide. As the United States prepares for growing international travel demand, DHS should avoid actions that would create unnecessary bottlenecks and economic consequences for communities across the country. Now is the time to strengthen America's gateway infrastructure, not weaken it.” See also, Airlines urge Trump administration not to curb international flights in feud over ‘sanctuary cities' Eclipse Aero Says It Has about 3 Years of Parts in Stock Eclipse supplier Resurgent Aviation Solutions (RAS) says on its webpage that the company “has elected to wind down all business operations and liquidate all remaining assets. All finished goods will be made available for outright purchase using an auction format. The liquidation will be completed over several auctions over the next two months.” Spitfire could return to production 90 years after first flight An original Supermarine Spitfire will set you back about £3 million. The new Aerolite Spitfire Type 433 has been constructed at a cost of about £750,000. The composite kit plane is touring the UK this spring and summer at air shows and military and classic motor festivals. Great British Supermarine Ltd, is the manufacturer. Chief executive Jeremy Meeson, said: “The moment is right to reimagine the Supermarine Spitfire because today's materials, propulsion, and digital engineering finally let us evolve an icon without losing what made it exceptional.” A PDF let the internet hear the final words in the cockpit of a UPS plane as it crashed. The NTSB now wants it taken down The NTSB does not release cockpit voice recordings made during an accident. Other evidence from investigations is released to the public, including photographs, videos, maps, and other data. During a two-day investigative hearing on the UPS flight 2976 accident, a PDF file was released that showed an analysis of the spectrogram of the audio recorded by the CVR. However, the NTSB was not aware “that advances in image recognition and computational methods have enabled individuals to reconstruct approximations of cockpit voice recorder audio from sound spectrum imagery.” Subsequently, the NTSB closed public access to all dockets. Spectrogram of the spoken words in a clip from Airplane Geeks Episode 895. Frequencies are on the vertical axis, and time is on the horizontal axis. NBAA Welcomes New Website to Track ATC Modernization Progress The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) expressed its support for a new online dashboard developed by the Department of Transportation and the FAA to provide updates on the status of modernization of the country's air traffic control (ATC) network. The Modern Skies dashboard provides information on ATC modernization projects already underway and updates at more than 4,600 FAA sites across the country, along with a map overlay detailing specific efforts. Mentioned Rob Mark and Max Trescott were shortlisted for the Aerospace Media Award in the Best Multimedia category for Episode 26 of NTSB News Talk – March 25, 2026 LaGuardia Plane Crash Into Fire Truck + Rob Mark on Losing a Pilot Friend. The Aerospace Media Awards will be presented on the evening of 19th July at No 8 Northumberland Avenue, London. The 2026 Call for Nominations closed with a record 700 nominations. Amelia Earhart is back in Harbour Grace as stolen statue returns home Infighting, court battles could put long-hyped air taxi breakthrough in jeopardy An Air Taxi Lands in Manhattan, but You Can't Fly in It Yet Hosts this Episode Max Flight, our Main(e) Man Micah, Rob Mark, and David Vanderhoof.

This week's show was recorded using an improvised audio recording setup while the podcast team was on pilgrimage through India. Thank you for your understanding.

Send us Fan MailIn episode #184, we bring back pro mountain runner Adam Kimble to talk about his incredible year of racing so far, including breaking course records at Badwater Cape Fear 50k and Outlands Endurance Races 50k, winning American River 50 miler, and most recently a DNF at Cocodona 250, and the strategies he employed, dealing with injury, and lessons learned.Key Points:How to adapt training and nutrition for different race lengths and terrains.The importance of race simulationsManaging sleep deprivationThe significance of course familiarity and learning from race DNFs.Practical tips for hydration: fluid strategies, salt intake, and hyperhydration protocols.Upcoming races and injury managementAdam Kimble is a professional ultrarunner, race director, motivational speaker and running coach from Truckee, CA. In 2016, Adam ran 2,500 miles over the course of 60 days to cross the USA on foot. Subsequently, in November of 2016, he successfully completed a 60-day journey alone in the wilderness of South America to become winner of Discovery Channel's survivalist show, The Wheel. Following that adventure, Adam set two prominent Fastest Known Times (FKTs): in 2017 he became part of the first duo to ever run self-supported on foot across Great Britain (Scotland, England and Wales) while summiting the highest peak in each country along the way; and in 2020, he set the supported FKT on the Tahoe Rim Trail—a 171-mile circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe.  Most recently in 2025, Adam finished 4th overall and ran one of the Top-10 fastest times ever at the historic Badwater 135.  Adam's life mission is to push himself past his perceived limits and achieve the impossible. His calling is to share what he has learned and help others grow in their journey so as to push through the ceiling and achieve their own 'impossible'.Please note that this podcast is created strictly for educational purposes and should never be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.FREE RESOURCE:Recovery Protocol: https://mailchi.mp/nutritional-revolution.com/recovery-protocolHydration 101: https://mailchi.mp/nutritional-revolution/hydration101FOLLOW ADAM:IG: https://www.instagram.com/adamkimble818/Web: www.adamkimble.comMENTIONED:Episode 81: https://nutritional-revolution.com/podcasts/ultrarunner-and-coach-adam-kimble/Episode 147: https://nutritional-revolution.com/podcasts/badwater-breakthrough-adam-kimbles-journey-at-the-worlds-toughest-race/Run Gum: https://amzn.to/4v6mTnvMaurten Caffeine Gels: https://amzn.to/4utpwQgScience In Sport Caffeine Gum: https://go.shopmy.us/p-59556271Creatine: https://nutritional-revolution.com/product/thorne-creatine/MORE NRApply to work with Kyla → https://p.bttr.to/3ZrwzcFUse code NEWPOD10 for 10% off our meal plans → https://nutritional-revolution.com/products/CONNECT Instagram → www.instagram.com/nutritionalrevolutionSponsorship inquiries → kyla.c@nutritional-revolution.comInterested in having your biomarkers or nutrigenomics checked? Email us at nutritionalrev@gmail.com TRUSTED RESOURCES Supplements (save 20%) → https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/kchannellFeed Club ($20 off) → https://thefeed.com/teams/nutritional-revolutionKyla's top picks → https://shopmy.us/shop/nutrevFollow us @nutritionalrevolution

The year 1968 has become synonymous with protest and upheaval around the world. On this episode of the Transatlantic, Bakhti talks with Adrian Matus, author of the book The Long 1968 in Hungary and Romania, about what this pivotal year looked like in Hungary, Romania, and elsewhere behind the Iron Curtain. Bakhti and Adrian discuss how the generation of eastern Europeans born admidst World War II resisted the authoritarian systems they grew up in in uncoventional ways—through universities, literature, and even making their own instruments. Adrian then shares how the legacy of the '68ers lives on in Ukrainians under Russian occupation who are keeping their culture and identity alive using many of the same methods. --- Adrian Matus is an educator and scholar annd the Editor of the Democracy and Culture section. He defended his PhD in History at the European University Institute in 2022. Subsequently, he wrote a book entitled, "The Long 1968 in Hungary and Romania." Previously he graduated from Université Sorbonne Paris IV and Babeș-Bolyai University from Cluj-Napoca. From 2020 to 2022, he curated the "Communist Parties from Non-Socialist Countries" collection at the Blinken Open Society Archives, then continued researching this topic as a postdoctoral fellow at the New Europe College Bucharest. Adrian has also worked on various educational initiatives, designing history, cultural studies and social sciences syllabi for high-school students, asylum-seekers, and refugees. --- This podcast is hosted by Bakhti Nishanov and produced by Alanna Novetsky and Carly Breland, in conjunction with the Senate Recording Studio.

Interview recorded - 12th of May, 2026On this episode of the WTFinance podcast I had the pleasure of welcoming back Alasdair Macleod. Alasdair Macleod has over decades of experience in financial markets, with a focus on monetary history, systemic risk, and the enduring role of gold. He is one of the most respected voices on sound money and wealth preservation.During our conversation we spoke about the Middle East conflict, shifting world order, neutralising the US military, Petroyuan, precious metals future and more. I hope you enjoy!0:00 - Introduction1:50 - Middle East conflict7:43 - Neutralising US military10:40 - Taiwan14:32 - Multipolar world?19:00 - Saudi Arabia vs Iran24:34 - Petroyuan28:57 - China fixed currency32:04 - Precious metals prices37:10 - Liquidating gold39:23 - Comex defaults42:20 - One message to takeaway?Alasdair Macleod is is an educator and advocates for sound money through demystifying finance and economics. His background includes being a stockbroker, banker, and economist.Alasdair Macleod started his career as a stockbroker in 1970 on the London Stock Exchange. Within nine years, he had risen to become senior partner of his firm.Subsequently, he held positions at the director level in investment management and worked as a mutual fund manager. Mr. Macleod also worked at a bank in Guernsey as an executive director.For most of his 40 years in the finance industry, he has been demystifying macroeconomic events for his investing clients. The accumulation of this experience has convinced him that unsound monetary policies are the most destructive weapon governments use against the common man. Accordingly, his mission is to educate and inform the public in layman's terms what governments do with money and how to protect themselves from the consequences.Alasdair Macleod - Substack - https://alasdairmacleod.substack.com/Twitter - https://twitter.com/MacleodFinanceLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alasdair-macleod-9494b27/WTFinance -Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wtfinancee/Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/67rpmjG92PNBW0doLyPvfniTunes - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wtfinance/id1554934665?uo=4Twitter - https://twitter.com/AnthonyFatseas

If you wish to support our podcast, please visit this link. Thank you! Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The fifth in a series of six episodes recorded during the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimage, this instalment was made in Kushinagar, India, in February 2026. In it, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are joined by Zen Buddhist nun Sister Tam Muoi and Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to reflect on the Buddha's final days and the legacy and continuation of his teachings. They also discuss Thich Nhat Hanh's passing and how Plum Village responded to his transition; the responsibility of current and future generations to continue his work and teachings; and the importance of the multi-fold community in preserving and spreading the Buddha’s teachings in a way that is relevant and accessible to the modern world. Furthermore, Shantum Seth provides historical context about the Buddha’s final journey and the events after his passing, including the first Buddhist council and the spread of Buddhism; Brother Phap Huu draws parallels between the Buddha’s and Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings and legacies; and Sister Tam Muoi discusses the importance of the monastic order in continuing the Buddha’s teachings – as well as Thich Nhat Hanh’s vision for the Plum Village tradition to evolve and adapt while staying true to its core principles. About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice – one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. Sister Tam Muoi (Sister Samadhi) is from the UK and was ordained in 2012, becoming a Dharma teacher in 2022. Having encountered the practice whilst living in France, she became engaged in the French lay sangha and was ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 2004. She is actively supporting the recently created Being Peace Practice Centre in the UK and is deeply committed to the work of healing ancestral harm, participating in trainings and retreats exploring White Awareness. Read more here. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ Recordist: Ann Nguyenhttps://ann.earthSound editor: Joe Holtawayhttps://joeholtaway.comPublisher: Anca RusuProducer: Clay Carnillhttps://claycarnill.comExecutive Producer: Catalin Zorzini List of resources  The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (3/6) | The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings (Episode #104)’https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-3-6-the-heart-of-the-buddhas-teachings-episode-104 The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (2/6) | Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (Episode #103)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-2-6-enlightenment-under-the-bodhi-tree-episode-103 The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (1/6) | The Buddha: Down to Earth (Episode #102)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-1-6-the-buddha-down-to-earth-episode-102Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition Kushinagarhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushinagar Blue Cliff Monasteryhttps://www.bluecliffmonastery.org/ No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Sufferinghttps://www.parallax.org/product/no-mud-no-lotus/ The Order of Interbeinghttps://plumvillage.org/community/order-of-interbeing The Way Out Is In: ‘The Three Jewels (Episode #89)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/the-three-jewels-episode-89 Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C4%81y%C4%81na_Mah%C4%81parinirv%C4%81%E1%B9%87a_S%C5%ABtra Vinayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinaya Ashokahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka Stephen Batchelorhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Batchelor_(author) Bodhicittahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhicitta Sister Dao Nghiemhttps://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-dao-nghiem Letters from Thich Nhat Hanhhttps://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/letters Dharma Talks: ‘Redefining the Four Noble Truths'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/redefining-the-four-noble-truths Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path Vasubandhuhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasubandhu Sunyatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C5%ABnyat%C4%81 King Prasenajithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasenadi Kapilavastuhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapilavastu_(ancient_city) Mahākāśyapahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mah%C4%81k%C4%81%C5%9Byapa Quotes “Thay really practiced the present moment, because in the present you’re also practicing impermanence. There’s only one moment to live and to touch life, and that is the very here and now.”“All conditioned reality is subject to decay. Strive on diligently – essentially meaning, Everything is impermanent; keep up the practice.” “Dwelling happily in the present moment is the insight of meditation. But dwelling happily in the present moment doesn’t mean that suffering doesn’t exist; doesn’t mean that our anger and our frustration is not there. But, no matter what the situation is – whether it is loss, grief, frustration, chaos – as a practitioner, we have to have the ability to dwell in the very here and now, and allow ourselves to see that wonder, because that wonder is the light that shines through the darkness, the fog, the chaos.” “When we’re reaching the end of our lives, we want to declutter. We want to put our affairs in order. We want to make sure, to the best of our abilities, that we leave life clean, that we don’t leave arguments, resentments, and suffering behind for the next generation to have to deal with.” “I have never met an individual. I meet the entire lineage of that person stretching back to the beginning of time – because, if there’d been an interruption, then you wouldn’t exist.” “The Buddha said, ‘I’ve never taught with a clenched fist, I have offered all the teachings for you to be calm, peaceful, transform your emotions, and be liberated. And so keep the Dharma as your island and be a light unto yourself, and keep the Dharma as your island.' So he’s very clear that the Dharma is his continuation; the teachings and practice are his continuation.” “In a country like India, the Buddha exists at a very ambient level, in the way we live our lives and feel the interconnectedness of everything, with nature, with other people.” “If we know how to suffer, we’re going to suffer a whole lot less.” “Thay would always include our lay friends. Whenever he was teaching in any ceremony he would always add, ‘And our lay friends, our sisters and our brothers from the lay community, the multi-fold community.' He would always correct the language as he went along, even if it wasn’t written down, to include everybody. And this was such a teaching for us that we want to continue it. We do not want to be a monastic community where the monastics are the privileged ones. Instead, we are all practicing together and all have different capacities and different things that we can offer.” “Thay once shared that his vision is that, one day, we’re all walking in the marketplace and see a monk walking by with peace and grace. And that monk is a bell of mindfulness. You see that monk and you stop and just breathe, connecting back to your spiritual dimension. And then you go on.” “Thay empowered us, each of us, and now we can empower so many other people. And I think it’s a reminder that we don’t need to look for the teachers and what impact they had; instead, we can look at the impact we are having every day, in all the interactions we have, in all the people we meet, in all of the thoughts we have and all the words we speak, in all the actions. We, each of us, are a continuation. And we’re not a continuation to one other person; we’re a continuation to all of life. The way we are present in nature is the way that nature can be present for us. The way that we are available to other people then gives people the opportunity to be available to others.” “Everything Thay did, he always reflected back to the Buddha. The Buddha’s whole way of teaching was also to empower everyone he met, to water the seeds of mindfulness and awakening in every person.”

This week I have two guests, Zach Tavcar and Fran Bailey. Where we discuss their near death experiences. Zach Tavcar was born in Reno, Nevada. He has always had an innate feeling of wanting to be an example, and of service, to others since his earliest memories. As he grew into adolescence he began to diminish this inner guidance, not fully comprehending the importance of this inner yearning. At 14, Zach was diagnosed with leukemia. Throughout the 10 months of intensive treatment Zach found an inner strength, with the incredible support of his family, in which he unconsciously realized the power of human potential. However, at 16, Zach relapsed. His treatment was much different the second time; it was more difficult because he had a bone-marrow transplant, but more importantly, because he watched as young children, 6 months old to 18 years old, and their parents and family members, suffered immensely. The suffering he observed, the death, the pain, caused Zach to enter on to the path he is now continuing to walk. His asking of, "WHY?!" has been the greatest quest-ion he could have ever asked. Why are these children suffering, why are these parents suffering, why are we all suffering, and how can we reduce this suffering? Zach has found many answers to his questions and continues to awaken each day the deeper understandings of the heart, in which we all have the answers to our questions. Zach's passion for helping others through his knowledge on nutrition and exercise was cultivated in part by his avid athletics throughout the entirety of his childhood and adolescence. As Zach continued his universal asking, he began to remember a deeper knowing and wanted to help others through his ability to teach them how to heal their bodies and minds as he did. As he remembered from authors, teachers, and unbeknownst guru's, Zach realized a healthy and fulfilling life not only includes proper nutrition, physical activity, healthy relationships with friends, family, and lovers, but most importantly a healthy mind and outlook towards life, a deeper understanding which we all possess. https://www.zachtavcar.com/   Fran Bailey At age 12, Fran Bailey had a remarkable Near-Death Experience (NDE). That same year, she also had an extraordinary encounter with non-human intelligences that profoundly changed her life, sparking a spiritual journey that transformed her understanding of existence and, she says, enabled her to heal herself from stage-4 cancer. As a child, Fran's world was surrounded in music, dance, singing and believing in positive thought and philosophy. Her connection with the metaphysical world was a natural state of being. She started at the age of 4 dancing in a barn with a ballet barre she could never reach, but it didn't matter ~ she was hooked. There was something about expressing emotions, moving energy with her body that fit like a glove. Fran went on to receive a BFA in dance, and for many years performed, choreographed, and taught children, adults, private and group classes. Fran still performs when she gets the chance. Her interest and training in energy healing started about 16 years ago, with world–renowned energy healer, Rosalyn L. Bruyere, thus connecting with the metaphysical aspect of her life. For twelve years Fran worked as an energy healer for the Alliance Institute for Integrative Medicine under Drs. Steve and Sandi Amoils in Cincinnati, Ohio. Subsequently, Fran began developing her meditation and psychic skills with noted psychic healers John Friedlander and Gloria Hemsher, authors of the definitive books Basic Psychic Development and Psychic Psychology. Fran's additional work in the field includes five years as an energy consultant for the staff at The Affinity Center for ADD adult and children in Cincinnati, Ohio. Recently, through Deborah A. Ooten PhD, founder/director of The Conscious Living Center, Fran received her certification as an accredited Enneagram teacher and trainer. Combining these skills into a method of teaching has been an ongoing goal for Fran. Her passion is to integrate all of these tools to open up the conscious mind, body and spirit. She integrates and offers her experience and skills to her clients and students through a variety of consultations in energy communication. https://franbaileyhealer.com/ https://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/ourparanormalafterlifeMy book 'Verified Near Death Experiences' https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DXKRGDFP Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Monday, May 11th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com.  I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Nigeria's $10 million genocide cover-up A disturbing new report from International Christian Concern highlights how Nigeria's government is weaponizing misinformation to hide a decades-long campaign of violence against Christians. Written by ICC Fellow Justin Joseph, “Nigeria's $10 Million Genocide Cover-Up” reveals how power, politics, and propaganda are fueling a human catastrophe. Since 2009, at least 190,150 Nigerians — 128,750 of whom were Christians — have been murdered in ethno-religious killings, with the slaughter escalating in 2026. Yet, instead of addressing the crisis, officials are spinning a dangerous narrative. During meetings with other heads of state, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu claims the terrorism plaguing his nation stems solely from climate change and regional instability. Researchers have repeatedly debunked this reasoning, pointing to the targeting of Christian communities. Tinubu's administration has launched a $10 million lobbying front to silence human rights accountability in the U.S. and whitewash the genocide of Nigerian Christians. Prosperity gospel champion Joni Lamb died Joni Lamb, a Prosperity Gospel enthusiast and co-founder of the Daystar Television Network, died on May 7th at the age of 65, reports Christian Daily. Lamb had been privately battling serious health issues before suffering a recent back injury that significantly worsened her condition in recent days. Founded in 1993 alongside her late husband, Marcus Lamb, Daystar Television grew from a small Christian television station into one of the world's largest Christian broadcasting networks, with 100 stations worldwide, employing 300 staff, and bringing in $100 million annually. On December 1, 2010, Marcus Lamb confessed on Daystar Television to having had an affair which Joni initially described, reported ABC News. JONI LAMB: “Several years ago, Marcus and I went through a challenge in our marriage. I discovered that he was having an emotional relationship, if you will, with someone. It had turned into an improper relationship.” MARCUS LAMB: “I take 100% responsibility. Joni has no blame. The other person doesn't have any blame. It's all --- I don't even blame the devil. It's all on me. ”I'm so sorry. I've asked God to forgive me. Years ago, I asked my precious Joni. And when with this first came out, I said to her, I said, ‘Honey, I only want us to stay together if we really love one another, not for the ministry's sake, not even for our kids' sake. Ladies and gentlemen, I love this woman.” The reason they announced this affair is because they were being threatened with blackmail. JONI LAMB: “There actually are three people who were not involved in what we're talking about today or affected by our marital challenge. They're now saying, that unless Daystar pays them $7.5 million, that they're going to take our story, that we just shared with you, to the media.” MARCUS LAMB: “You see these three people, that Joni shared with you, they're trying to take our pain and turn it to their gain. Ladies and gentlemen, we're not going to take God's money and pay to keep from being, uh, humiliated, I guess, or exposed or exploited, whatever you want to call it.” Subsequently, Marcus died at the age of 64 on November 30, 2021 after contracting COVID-19. According to MinistryWatch, in 2020, the ministry used a $3.9 million Paycheck Protection Program loan, offered to pay the salaries of employees, to buy a private airplane, which the family used for vacations, reported Inside Edition. That loan was reportedly paid back after Inside Edition began asking questions about it. Over the years, Joni Lamb became one of the most recognizable faces in Christian media.  Unfortunately, Daystar frequently featured prosperity-oriented themes such as: financial blessing tied to faith and giving, “seed faith” donations, and testimonies of material and personal success through faith. Joni and her late husband Marcus Lamb regularly hosted ministers connected to the Prosperity Gospel movement, including: Creflo Dollar Jesse Duplantis Paula White and Benny Hinn James 3:1 says, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” And, in another controversy involving Daystar Television, Joni's son, Jonathan, claimed that his mother covered up the sexual abuse of his 5-year-old daughter by a relative, according to the Roys Report. While Jonathan had been Daystar Television's vice president, he was demoted to a manager position for refusing to sign a non-disclosure agreement.  On May 8th, The Economic Times reported that Joni's daughter-in-law, Suzy, who is married to Jonathan, stated online, “We weren't informed of anything,” claiming relatives knew Joni Lamb was dying the night before her death but “didn't call Jonathan to come say goodbye.” Joni Lamb is survived by her second husband, Doug Weiss, and her three children — Jonathan, Rachel, and Rebecca. Pastor Sam Allberry resigns after “inappropriate” relationship with man And finally, a Tennessee pastor and advocate for Christians who suffer from so-called “same-sex attraction” has stepped down after revealing an “inappropriate” relationship with a man some years ago, reports Beliefnet.com. Pastor Sam Allberry, author of Is God Anti-Gay?, stepped down from his position as an associate pastor at Immanuel Church Nashville, a nondenominational, independent congregation after what the church called “a serious breach of trust.” In a statement put out by the church elders, it stated Allberry had informed the church in 2024 of an “inappropriate relationship” with a man in 2022. The statement noted that the relationship had concluded prior to Allberry being called to his position in the church in 2023. At the time, the church stated it conducted a “thorough investigation” of the relationship and concluded that it was not “disqualifying” for the position. In a February 15, 2017 statement, Sam Allberry said this. ALLBERRY: “Sam Allberry, Oxford. I am same-sex attracted and have been my entire life. By that I mean that I have sexual, romantic and deep emotional attractions to people of the same sex. “I choose to describe myself this way because sexuality is not a matter of identity for me, and that has become good news. My primary sense of worth and fulfillment as a human being is not contingent on being romantically or sexually fulfilled, and this is liberating. “The most fully human and complete person who ever lived was Jesus Christ. He never married, He was never in a romantic relationship, and never had sex. If we say these things are intrinsic to human fulfillment, we are calling our Savior, subhuman.” When news broke last week about Sam Allberry's inappropriate relationship with a man, The Gospel Coalition, a group of pastors and churches that “put the Gospel of Jesus Christ at the center of all activities,” immediately announced that it would be removing all of Sam Allberry's content from its website and channels. By contrast, Living Out, the organization co-founded by Allberry to encourage Christians to “live out their sexuality and identity in ways that enable all to flourish in Christ-like faithfulness,” took a different position. In an online statement, they confirmed that Allberry's “many past contributions to this site retain their value, and they will not be taken down”, adding that the organization “exists because of people like Sam, for people like Sam.” Four Christian leaders most closely associated with Sam Alberry include Ray Ortlund, Russell Moore, Preston Sprinkle, and the late Ravi Zacharias. Romans 1:24, 26-28 says, “Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. … “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way, the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. “Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, May 11th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com.  Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

We kickstart the Book of Numbers with a census of the twelve tribes of Israel – not including the tribe of Levi who is counted independently – conducted by Moses, Aaron, and the most distinguished leaders of said tribes. Subsequently, we read about the banners of the tribes and their assigned encampments, the transference of […]

We kickstart the Book of Numbers with a census of the twelve tribes of Israel – not including the tribe of Levi who is counted independently – conducted by Moses, Aaron, and the most distinguished leaders of said tribes. Subsequently, we read about the banners of the tribes and their assigned encampments, the transference of the sanctity of the firstborn to the Levites, and the designated role of each of the Levite families.– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –DONATE: Please consider supporting the podcasts by making a donation to help fund our Jewish outreach and educational efforts at https://www.torchweb.org/support.php. Thank you!– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –NEW TORCH Mailing Address POBox:TORCHPO BOX 310246HOUSTON, TX 77231-0246– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –Email me with questions, comments, and feedback: rabbiwolbe@gmail.com– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to my Newsletterrabbiwolbe.com/newsletter– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –SUBSCRIBE to Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe's PodcastsThe Parsha PodcastThe Jewish History PodcastThe Mitzvah Podcast This Jewish LifeThe Ethics PodcastTORAH 101 ★ Support this podcast ★

If you want to support our podcast please visit this link. Thank you! Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The fourth in a series of six episodes recorded during the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimage, this instalment was made in Vaishali, India, in February 2026. In it, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are joined by Zen Buddhist nun Sister Tam Muoi and Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to discuss new steps in the pilgrimage, like their visit to Nalanda University, an ancient seat of Buddhist learning, and Vulture Peak, where the Buddha gave some of his most important teachings. In Vaishali, the Buddha made the revolutionary decision to ordain the first nuns, which was a significant step towards gender equality in Buddhism.Shantum Seth discusses the historical context and significance of these events and places, the importance of adapting Buddhist teachings to the present day, and a vision for Plum Village India to be a multifold community that embraces diversity and continues the legacy of the Buddha and Thich Nhat Hanh in a way relevant to the current times. Sister Tam Muoi and Brother Phap Huu share their personal experiences and reflections on the role of nuns and the evolution of the Plum Village community, emphasizing the importance of embodying Buddhist teachings, skillfully navigating change, and continuing Thich Nhat Hanh's legacy of inclusivity and gender equality. About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice—one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. Sister Tam Muoi (Sister Samadhi) is from the UK and was ordained in 2012, becoming a Dharma teacher in 2022. Having encountered the practice whilst living in France, she became engaged in the French lay sangha and was ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 2004. She is actively supporting the recently created Being Peace Practice Centre in the UK and is deeply committed to the work of healing ancestral harm, participating in trainings and retreats exploring White Awareness. Read more here. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ Recordist: Ann Nguyenhttps://ann.earthSound editor: Joe Holtawayhttps://joeholtaway.comPublisher: Anca RusuProducer: Clay Carnill:https://claycarnill.comExecutive Producer: Catalin Zorzini List of resources  The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (3/6) | The Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings (Episode #104)’ https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-3-6-the-heart-of-the-buddhas-teachings-episode-104 The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (2/6) | Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (Episode #103)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-2-6-enlightenment-under-the-bodhi-tree-episode-103 The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (1/6) | The Buddha: Down to Earth (Episode #102)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-1-6-the-buddha-down-to-earth-episode-102Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing   Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition Nalanda Universityhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalanda_University‘Female Buddhas: A Revolution for Nuns in the Plum Village Tradition'https://plumvillage.org/articles/female-buddhas-a-revolution-for-nuns-in-the-plum-village-tradition Mahayanahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana Flower Sermonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_Sermon New Heart Sutra translation by Thich Nhat Hanhhttps://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/letters/thich-nhat-hanh-new-heart-sutra-translation Sister Chan Duchttps://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/sr-chan-duc Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong The Way Out Is In: ‘The Three Jewels (Episode #89)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/the-three-jewels-episode-89 Pratimokṣahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratimok%E1%B9%A3a Joan Halifaxhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_HalifaxSutras: ‘The Ten Great Aspirations of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva'https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/the-ten-great-aspirations-of-samantabhadra-bodhisattva Vaishalihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaishali_(ancient_city)Notre Dame Academy, Patnahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_Academy,_Patna Theravadahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheravadaKapilavastuhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapilavastu_(ancient_city) The Order of Interbeinghttps://plumvillage.org/community/order-of-interbeingSujatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujata_(milkmaid) Kisa Gotamihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kisa_Gotami Patacarahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PatacaraKhemahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khema King Prasenajithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasenadi Bodhi treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Brahmajala Sutrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmaj%C4%81la_S%C5%ABtra Sariputrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9A%C4%81riputra Nagarjunahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NagarjunaVasubandhuhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasubandhu Padmasambhavahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmasambhava Xuanzanhhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang Visakhahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VisakhaTheragathahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theragatha Dharma Talks: ‘Redefining the Four Noble Truths'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/redefining-the-four-noble-truths Vinayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinaya Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path Quotes “Thay knew that the harmony of energies is so important to success, as well as to creation and to living organisms. You need all the elements. You can’t cut one off, because that’s discrimination. Thay continues to keep pushing boundaries in the context of Buddhism, of traditions. In very traditional monasteries and temples, the nuns can’t teach the monks. Even today, in 2026. In some of the institutes in Vietnam, in China, the nuns are still on one side, the monks on the other side. The nuns have to wear one color, the monks another. But Thay unifies all in brown.” “‘If, ten years after I’ve transitioned, Plum Village looks exactly the same, Thay will be very disappointed.' I really took that as his empowerment. We need to keep moving forward. We’re in a river. We cannot stop the river. The river needs to carry on flowing.” “The precepts are your teachers. And when the time comes, keep renewing the precepts to make them relevant.” “I can make change by embodying my practice.” “The full inclusion of everyone can bring balance to a community.” “Plum Village is not just monks and nuns; Plum Village is a multifold sangha.” “If we don’t adapt to the current generation, even if we have all the amazing teachings, if they’re not relevant to people then the tradition will die.” “Buddhism is very inclusive; there’s a lineage for everyone.” “A great reminder is to embody the change – and not just to have a sign or shout about it, because that doesn’t have the impact of harmony.”

The Gemara raises a difficulty from the laws of pigul against the principle that "anything ready to be sprinkled is considered as if it were already sprinkled," which implies viewing the act of sprinkling the blood as having already occurred. After resolving this difficulty, the Gemara presents the position of Rav Ashi, who rejects this principle. However, following a challenge from the laws of meilah (misuse of consecrated property), it is clarified that his statement applies only to the laws of ritual impurity of foods; regarding meilah, conversely, Rav Ashi admits that the principle is valid, and the meat is released from the status of meilah the moment it is ready for sprinkling. Subsequently, another difficulty is raised against Rav Ashi from Rabbi Yosi's ruling regarding the meat of an asham talui, as Rabbi Yosi - according to Rava's understanding - agrees with Rabbi Shimon that "anything standing to be sprinkled is considered as if it were already sprinkled." This difficulty is resolved by providing an alternative explanation for Rabbi Yosi's position that does not rely on this principle. Additionally, Rav Ashi challenges the opposing view, and this difficulty is also resolved. The Mishna discusses the laws of deviations in meal-offering vows, detailing the law for cases where an individual vowed or pledged a specific type of mincha but brought a different type instead.

If you want to support our podcast please visit this link. Thank you! Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The third in a series of six episodes recorded during the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimage, this instalment was made in Rajgir, India, in February 2026. In it, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are again joined by Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to discuss the foundational initial teachings of the Buddha: the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, Non-Self, and the Fire Sermon. Together, they also share personal experiences of encountering the Buddha’s teachings, practicing Thich Nhat Hanh's wisdom in daily life, highlighting the transformative power of mindfulness, community, the realization of non-self, and more. About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice—one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ Recordist: Ann Nguyenhttps://ann.earthSound editor: Joe Holtawayhttps://joeholtaway.comPublisher: Anca RusuProducer: Clay Carnillhttps://claycarnill.comExecutive Producer: Catalin Zorzini List of resources The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (2/6) | Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree (Episode #103)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-2-6-enlightenment-under-the-bodhi-tree-episode-103 The Way Out Is In: ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha (1/6) | The Buddha: Down to Earth (Episode #102)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/in-the-footsteps-of-the-buddha-1-6-the-buddha-down-to-earth-episode-102Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition Old Path White Cloudshttps://www.parallax.org/product/old-path-white-clouds Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong Rajgirhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajgir Bodhi treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Sujatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujata_(milkmaid) Magadhahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magadha Poem: ‘Please Call Me By My True Names'https://www.parallax.org/mindfulnessbell/article/poem-please-call-me-by-my-true-names Dharma Talks: ‘Redefining the Four Noble Truths'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/redefining-the-four-noble-truths Vinayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinaya Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path Duhkhahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du%E1%B8%A5kha Dignagahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dign%C4%81ga The Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anattalakkha%E1%B9%87a_Sutta The Way Out Is In: ‘The Three Jewels (Episode #89)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/the-three-jewels-episode-89 Kosala Kingdomhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosala_kingdom Kashyapahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashyapa Kalachakrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalachakra Joan Halifaxhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Halifax Quotes “Suffering is all around us. Hell is in the here and now. We have to collectively have the determination, as the Buddha did, not to deprive ourselves from food, from nutriment, but to understand the sources of our suffering – as well as the sources of the path of liberation.” “The teaching of the Four Noble Truths is the understanding of suffering. We all have suffering. This is the shared experience of us all. We are all equal because we all suffer. In spite of status, class – whatever labels humanity may have for one another – suffering is a truth that none of us can ignore or can escape.” “We only have so much time on this planet. But there’s so much we can direct our attention towards. What are the seeds we are watering every day? The diligence of watering our consciousness and the seeds that become the action.” “We have to see the Buddha a little bit like a doctor. We have to see suffering as a disease, a universal disease. You might think it’s very obvious that we all suffer, that we all get angry, that we are all separated from the ones we love, that we have sickness and old age. But it wasn’t a universal idea. Some people said, ‘This life is bliss.' So when we start with the primacy of suffering, that in itself is a revolutionary moment.” “As somebody who really is imbued with the Buddha’s teachings, I feel that all human beings experience suffering. And that in itself is revolutionary, saying, ‘This is where it starts.' Because a lot of it is about escaping from the present, escaping from this world. Most teachings are around something which will come hereafter – but the Buddha is saying, ‘Come back to now; feel, understand your mind, see that your mind is creating your reality.'” “Thich Nhat Hanh always emphasized that people talk about Buddhism being about suffering. But he said, ‘No, it’s the third noble truth. It is about the releasing of suffering and the transforming of suffering into joy and happiness. That’s very important; don’t get stuck in the suffering. That’s why the first noble truth is a noble truth, because you use the suffering as a compost for happiness.” “Siddhartha touched the reality that life and death are just a game of hide and seek. They are just labels.” “Acceptance, and being with all the conditions in the present moment, is a superpower. You cannot escape the present moments – except by being in your suffering and your wishful thinking. But once you arrive in the here and now, and you embrace these realities, you are free.” “This is because that is. This is not because that is not.” “‘Thay, what happens when I die?' Thay said, ‘I haven’t died yet, I don’t know. But what I can tell you is what happens when we are very much alive.' Let’s come back to that present moment, to that insight.” “Thay spoke so eloquently of the second teaching, the Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta; the sutra on non-self. Under the tree, the Buddha looked at the Bodhi leaf and said, ‘Ah, in that leaf is the sunshine, the earth, the rain, the seed, everything. And if you take one of those elements out of that leaf, the leaf won’t exist as we know it now.' And that was his deep realization.” “One Buddha is not enough.” “The Buddha is the sangha.” “I’d been a political activist looking for a way of being peace, not fighting for peace. I had a lot of anger in me and I really felt I touched peace for the first time in that walking meditation – as a visceral experience, not as an idea, not as the concept of wanting peace, but as something that I could embody.”

It's Easter Monday, April 6th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus India further restricts funding of foreign non-governmental organizations India's Christian community complains that federal amendments to the law on foreign funding give the government excessive power over organizations tied to minority religions like Christianity, reports International Christian Concern. They termed the amendments as “draconian” and “constitutionally suspect.” The Foreign Contribution Regulation Act is the channel through which all non-governmental organizations involved in charitable works receive foreign funding in the country. A key and contentious feature of the 2026 amendment is the creation of a “Designated Authority,” notified by the federal government, which will take provisional control of foreign contributions and assets in cases of cancellation, surrender, or cessation of registration. This control extends even to assets that are only partly funded through foreign contributions. The authority is empowered to supervise, manage, and maintain these assets. Unbelievably, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has, during the past decade, revoked or suspended the FCRA registrations of more than 20,000 organizations. Fidel Castro's daughter: It's time for Cuban regime change Alina Fernández Revuelta, daughter of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, has strongly criticized the communist regime her father launched in 1959, stating that Cuba is overdue for a new government, reports The Epoch Times. She fled Havana in 1993 at the age of 37 and settled in Miami, living a modest life much like that of other Cuban exiles. Born in 1956, Revuelta grew up in post‑revolution Havana, as part of the privileged revolutionary elite. Yet from a young age, she became aware of the realities of communism and later emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of her father's rule, which she described as oppressive. In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, she said, “For me, it's been time for a regime change since the late ‘80s. At the time Fidel Castro died, we were all thinking [his regime] had come to an end, because it was a very personalized and paternalist ... narcissistic government. ... But it survived.” Revuelta is the daughter of Fidel Castro and Havana socialite Natalia Revuelta, who had an affair in the mid-1950s while both were married to other people. She grew up with her mother and stepfather, and did not learn that Castro was her biological father until age 10. U.S. fighter jet shot down over Iran On April 3rd, a U.S. F-15 fighter jet was reportedly shot down over southern Iran, with Iranian state media claiming the regime downed the aircraft, reports One America News. The incident prompted search and rescue missions for the aircraft's two-person crew. Tehran's state media shared images of debris from the crash on Friday. According to Israeli officials, the United States dispatched search teams to the crash area, and so far, the teams have succeeded in rescuing one crew member, with the search for the second ongoing, reports The Epoch Times. The semi-official Tasnim News Agency, citing an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps statement, said U.S. forces were seen conducting a search operation in the area using Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 Hercules aircraft. The incident comes amid mounting tensions as Trump's ultimatum for Iran to agree to a peace deal approaches an April 6 deadline, with talks showing little sign of progress. Tennessee legislature passes bill to stop mail-order Abortion Kill Pill The Tennessee General Assembly has passed legislation that would hold out-of-state distributors of Abortion Kill Pills accountable when the drugs are mailed into the state and result in the death of a preborn child, reports LifeNews.com. The goal of the bill is to stop mail-order Abortion Kill Pills that are killing thousands of babies and undermining the pro-life law Tennessee approved to protect unborn children from abortions. House Bill 5 creates a civil cause of action allowing certain family members, including the baby's mother, to file a wrongful death lawsuit against those who send abortion-inducing drugs into Tennessee. It provides for statutory damages of at least $1 million, if the plaintiff proves by a preponderance of the evidence, that the drugs caused the death of her preborn child. The bill, sponsored by GOP Rep. Gino Bulso, passed both the House and Senate and now heads to the desk of Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee for his signature. You can thank Rep. Bulso by calling (615) 741-6808 or sending him a one-sentence note to Rep. Gino Bulso, 425 Rep. John Lewis Way N. Suite 520, Cordell Hull Bldg., Nashville, TN 37243. President Trump unapologetic about Christian message In an address at the Oval Office on Good Friday, President Trump was unapologetic about the Christian message. TRUMP: “On Good Friday, the Son of God was nailed to the cross, crucified, and He died for all of us. It was a day of darkness, but it wasn't the end by any means. It was not the end. “On Easter Sunday, the stone was rolled away and the grave was empty. Christians everywhere rejoiced, and we continue to rejoice. Easter is one of the incredible days. It was the miracle in all of history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was one of the great, it was the great miracle, I guess, right? (clapping) “With Christ, not one thing can separate humanity from the powers of God's everlasting love.” Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Martyrdoms of British Pilgrims Henry Barrow and John Greenwood And finally, when Queen Mary I assumed the throne in England in 1553, she made the Catholic Church in England and Wales once again to be the state religion. In her bloody zealousness to imprison and execute Protestants, she became known as Bloody Mary, after whom a spicy drink with tomato juice and vodka is named today. Early in 1586, Henry Barrow was converted to Christianity by a Puritan sermon in a church he had been walking past. Eighteen months later, he attempted to write a rebuttal of one of Robert Browne's separatist works, but instead was converted by it. Subsequently, Barrow became close friends with John Greenwood, a Separatist leader. Barrow and Greenwood led the London Underground Church, the illegal Brownist congregation, which had met in inns and private houses since the late 1560s during Bloody Mary's reign which ended in 1558. It began with 20 people and grew to 200.  Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift of the Church of England and high-ranking state officials ordered the executions of Henry Barrow and John Greeenwood under the 1592 Seditious Sectaries Act which criminalized any Brit's refusal to attend the Church of England. They were hung in London on April 6, 1593. Matthew 10:28 says, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, cited that London underground church as the first that “professed and practiced the cause” of the Pilgrim Fathers. Close And that's The Worldview on this Easter Monday, April 6th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

If you want to support our podcast please visit this link. Thank you! Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The second in a series of six episodes recorded during the In the Footsteps of the Buddha pilgrimage, this instalment was made in Bodh Gaya, India, in February 2026. In it, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are joined again by Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to discuss the journey of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, before he reached enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya. It covers Siddhartha’s early life, the various ascetic practices he tried, his finding of the middle way between extreme asceticism and hedonism and going through various stages of meditation and insight, to becoming the awakened one, and his first teaching. Together, the three participants further reflect on the relevance of the Buddha’s journey to their own spiritual practices; the challenges of maintaining mindfulness and presence in the modern world; the importance of the sangha in the Buddhist tradition; and how the Buddha’s teachings emphasize the interconnectedness of all things. About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice—one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/  And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ Recording by Ann Nguyenhttps://ann.earthSound editing by Joe Holtawayhttps://joeholtaway.comPublishing by Anca RusuProduced by Clay Carnillhttps://claycarnill.comExecutive Producer: Catalin Zorzini List of resources Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition Old Path White Cloudshttps://www.parallax.org/product/old-path-white-clouds Kaundinyahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaundinya Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong Bodhi treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Bodh Gayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodh_Gaya Sujatahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sujata_(milkmaid) Mahavirahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavira Kumbh Melahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela Maulana Azadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Azad Dalithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit Dharma Talks: ‘Redefining the Four Noble Truths'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/redefining-the-four-noble-truths Dharma Talks: ‘The Noble Eightfold Path'https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-noble-eightfold-path Quotes “We think we’re practicing for ourselves only, but there are invisible connections that we may not see. So your own practice, your own transformation, your decision-making can shift a whole lineage that precedes you. Without even doing much. It’s just some decisions; it’s almost like the turning of the dharma wheel, something in our whole lineage. And it’s true for a lot of my Western monastics; they might be the first in their whole ancestral lineage to be on the path of love and understanding. So you’re not doing this for yourself only, you’re doing this for your whole lineage.” “Everyone on this pilgrimage, in this room right now, sitting, I invite you to plant that seed to see that this journey is not yours alone. There’s a deep interbeing and it’s a weaving of past, present, and future.” “I got involved in activist politics, organizing big demonstrations, going to jail, organizing in a big way. But then I burnt out and found that I was very angry. And that anger was actually infusing my action, and I realized I was also part of the problem. So I had to find a way of being peace, not just fighting for peace.” “In the Indic civilizational system, at least in some traditions, and especially in the Brahmanical system – I don’t call it Hinduism – we have four stages of life. The first is what we call brahmacharya: the celibate life, when you’re a student. The second stage is the grahasthi, where you become a family person and have children and build up the family. And the third is vanaprastha: sort of a forest dwelling, but more like social work; your children are getting married and you get involved more in society, like a philanthropist. And the fourth stage is sannyas, where you actually leave the family, break your ties, and become, in effect, dead to the family and take the path of a monastic. So the Buddha is saying, ‘You don’t need to wait till you’re an older person. Start now. Don’t waste your life. The path of awakening can be walked when you’re young, too.'” “Having children is courageous; you’re taking on responsibility for future generations, and that's not easy. I feel that’s why we need a sangha of parents, friends. They say it takes a village, but it takes the global humanity, eight billion people, to create a civilizational shift. And that’s what we’re trying to do, to make the world a better place.” “Courage is a moment-to-moment act. It’s not just a moment; it’s each day we get up and say, ‘Okay, it’s a blessing we have this life for these 24 hours. Can I, in some way, make it better? Can I not make it worse? Can I enhance the life of people around me and keep being mindful?' The word ‘Buddha' just means to be awake. So how can we really be awake? We can be awake by being mindful: being attentive, breathing in, breathing out. That’s a moment of awakening, to be present. The Buddha became a full-time Buddha, but we can do it moment-to-moment, as little, part-time Buddhas. I think all of us can touch it – and that requires courage, too, to be diligent in our practice; it’s very easy to get distracted so we need to watch our mental state of irritation, anger, jealousy, whatever comes up. I have eyes to see – wow, that’s a miracle. That’s, again, a type of awakening. So I think this path is the path of courage.” “You can share the same bed with someone, but if you don’t share an aspiration, it can cause immense suffering.” “The problem with the middle path is that it’s not a single line. It is an appropriate response to a particular situation. The middle part requires attentiveness, mindfulness, moment-to-moment. You might think drinking water is an appropriate action, but if you’ve had a stomach operation, drinking water might kill you. So something simple like that has to be appropriately done; the middle way is appropriate to time and place.” “We can’t start off on the middle path. We have to understand our suffering deeply in order to know the middle path, to know the two extremes in order to find that path.” “That’s why retreats are so important: we step away from the world to realize what our deepest aspiration is. And then we can go back with a new set of eyes.”

Welcome to a new episode of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. The first of a series of six episodes recorded during the pilgrimage ‘In the Footsteps of the Buddha’, this instalment was made in Varanasi, India, in February 2026. In this opening episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach Jo Confino are joined by Dharma teacher Shantum Seth to discuss the importance of understanding the Buddha as a fully human being; a boat journey on the sacred Ganges river at sunrise, from which it was possible to witness cremation and devotion; teachings on death and impermanence as daily practice; the importance of living in the present moment; and much more.The speakers also share personal experiences and reflections on their spiritual journeys, the role played by the community, and the continuation of the Buddha’s teachings through their own lives and practice.About the pilgrimage: In 1988, Shantum Seth was invited by Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to organize a pilgrimage to the sacred sites associated with the Buddha's life across India. Subsequently, Thay encouraged Shantum to continue guiding such journeys each year, offering pilgrimage itself as a mindfulness practice—one that the Buddha had suggested. Shantum has been leading these transformative journeys ever since, offering people from around the world the opportunity to follow In the Footsteps of the Buddha with awareness and insight. After 15 years at the United Nations, Shantum left to volunteer with the Ahimsa Trust, which represents Thay's work in India and promotes the practice of “peace in oneself and peace in the world”. Through Buddhapath, his expression of Right Livelihood, Shantum continues to guide pilgrimages and share the wisdom and culture of the places he visits in India and across Buddhist Asia, cultivating community through these deeply meaningful journeys.To learn more about upcoming pilgrimages, visit www.buddhapath.com, or follow Shantum on Facebook and Instagram at @eleven_directions. Shantum Seth, an ordained Dharmacharya (Dharma teacher) in the Buddhist Mindfulness lineage of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, teaches in India and across the world. A co-founder of Ahimsa Trust, he has been a student of Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings for the past 35 years, and, since 1988, has led pilgrimages and other multi-faith, educational, cultural, spiritual, and transformative journeys across diverse regions of India and Asia. He is actively involved in educational, social, and ecological programmes, including work on cultivating mindfulness in society, including with educators, the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, and the corporate sector. Across various Indian sanghas, Dharmacharya Shantum is the primary teacher of different practices of mindfulness from Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition. List of resources The Way Out Is In: ‘Ancient Path for Modern Times: Active Nonviolence (Episode #70)'https://plumvillage.org/podcast/ancient-path-for-modern-times-active-nonviolence-episode-70 Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing Plum Village Traditionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Village_Tradition ‘The Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings'https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-14-mindfulness-trainings Sarnathhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarnath Dharadunhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehradun_district Bodh Gayahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodh_Gaya Rajgirhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajgir Old Path White Cloudshttps://www.parallax.org/product/old-path-white-clouds Federico Fellinihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Fellini Ghathttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghat Alara Kalama https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80%E1%B8%B7%C4%81ra_K%C4%81l%C4%81ma Jack Kornfieldhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kornfield Upanishadshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong Bodhi treehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi_tree Mokshahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moksha Rishi Joan Halifaxhttps://www.joanhalifax.org/ Daily Contemplations on Impermanence & Interbeinghttps://plumvillage.org/daily-contemplations-on-impermanence-interbeing#the-five-remembrances Sutras: ‘Discourse on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone'https://plumvillage.org/library/sutras/discourse-on-knowing-the-better-way-to-live-alone Sutrashttps://plumvillage.org/genre/sutras Leila Sethhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leila_Seth On Balancehttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1754796.On_Balance_an_Autobiography Quotes “Every step is a miracle. Every breath is an offering.” “The transformation is both individual and collective – and not just right now; it is something which seeps into our understanding and informs our life. The real journey begins when you get home. When you see your familiar surroundings with these pilgrimage lenses, those are very, very important moments. When you see your familiar surroundings slightly differently, and you see what brings you suffering, what brings you joy, what brings a sense of ease, then you can tweak your life.” “Siddhartha always says, ‘I’m on this path not for power, not for leadership, but to find liberation within us.' And that means we have to be ready to let go of all of the ideology that we have received from our ancestors, not from just us, but from the lineage of our whole ancestors and society.” “We can be free amidst the suffering. We can still find our calm, our peace with every storm that arises, that manifests. We find a way to understand it, to embrace it even, because we see that that storm is a part of us.” “In the Mahaparinirvāṇa Sutta, the Buddha said, ‘Go to the places where I was born, died, where the first teachings were given, where I awakened.' But I think he’s saying, ‘Leave your familiar surroundings and explore, and you’ll find different seeds in your consciousness being touched, which are not touched when you go every day to work or in your familiar surroundings.' And that is the learning of yourself. It’s an interior journey on this exterior part.” “In India, your path to God is through your guru – but in the Buddha Dharma, the guru shows you the path, and you walk it. In the classic example of the Buddha pointing to the moon, he says, ‘Don’t get caught looking at my finger; look at the moon.'” “Somebody once asked Thay, ‘What happens when we die?' He said, ‘I don’t know, but I can tell you what happens when we’re alive.'” “The only ingredient that you have any control about for the future is the present. We can only act in the present. As you know, the past is gone, the future is an idea – but all these situations that arise in our lives, how do we respond appropriately? With ethics, with a sense of calm, with a sense of love, how can we respond appropriately to each situation? Because that is the ingredient for the future.” “The Buddha is saying, ‘Stay open, stay alive. This is the most precious moment. This is a gift. And when we die, we’ll have no control over it.'” “In Indian philosophy, we don't have only yes or no. We say, yes, no, neither yes or no, both yes and no. So it’s the idea that I am the same person, I’m a different person, I’m neither the same or a different person, and both the same person and the different person. That’s the Buddha Dharma’s understanding of continuity, birth and death, and in that we don’t get caught.” “Awakening is a collective awakening.” “The Buddha was teaching us how to be a human being, how to take both the joy and the happiness of being a human being, but also to understand the suffering of a human being, and then take suffering as a noble truth. But it’s a noble truth only because we can transform it – otherwise it’s just plain old suffering. Use suffering as the compost for liberation. Looking at the cause, knowing the path to overcome suffering. And that’s key in Buddha. Otherwise, death is suffering, loss is suffering. The Buddha is saying, ‘Take that and look at it deeply, transform it, and live your life today as if it’s your last moment, your first moment, your present moment, our present moment.'” “Secular in India means different from secular in the West. Secular in India means respecting all religions. It doesn’t mean non-religious. I was brought up in a household like that, where we had Hindu icons, Christian icons, Islamic icons, everything. And we would go to midnight mass or go to a mosque or go to a temple, but we were not religious. It was just respecting people like that. And we had friends from every religion.”