Podcasts about TAC

Mercenaries is out and TAC got a chance to play it early. Join Garrett and RidiculousHat for as they break down how Hearthstone's latest edition is more fun than expected!

In this video, I'll show you the 5 best Canadian acoustic guitars under $800. These are the top 5 acoustic guitar made by trusted and respectable brands from Canada that I think are worth checking out in 2021! This list includes all of the brands that are inside the Godin Company. And, while I'm sure there are plenty of guitars out there that are also under $800, I'll need your help to discover those. So be sure to leave a comment in the description about your favorite Canadian-made acoustic guitars that are under $800! Now, back to our list! I chose each guitar on this list because they strike the perfect balance between quality, value, and sustainability. There are so many incredible things going on at each of these guitar builders, and I really hope you take a chance to check them out individually. Once we're done with the 5 best canadian guitar under $800, I want to take a moment and talk about how awesome the live guitar party at TAC was. What an incredible turnout, and it was so great talking with all of the TAC members and hearing about their experiences. Last but not least, I want to recognize the incredible amount of work Santa Cruz Guitar Company has done for the industry over the last 45 years. In fact, to help recognize and celebrate it, SCGC actually made a video highlighting the challenges they've faced over the last few years. I highly recommend you check it out!

Curt Mills, contributing editor, and William Ruger, TAC board member, reboot EHNC and revisit the decision to leave Afghanistan after the deluge. Mills and Ruger explore the timeline on the decision, its tradeoffs, and Ruger's own nomination to be ambassador to Afghanistan under former President Donald Trump.

Today, we are breaking down Taboola, a company you may not know but one you've definitely seen. When you read articles on CNBC, Bloomberg, or the Independent, Taboola powers the sidebar and banner recommendations for what you should read next.   The company works with publishers and advertisers to help readers discover what's new and interesting. Founded in 2007, Taboola recently went public and is now the leading recommendation engine for the open web, serving over 500 million users a day.   To break down the business, host Jesse Pujji is joined by Taboola's founder and CEO, Adam Singolda. During our conversation, we cover the ways in which Taboola's value prop differs from Facebook and Google, unpack the advertising concepts of Yield and ex-TAC, and dive into Adam's vision for Taboola to recommend anything, anywhere.   Please enjoy this breakdown of Taboola.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   This episode is brought to you by Tegus. We created Business Breakdowns to uncover the lessons and frameworks behind every business, and that's what makes Tegus our perfect launch partner. Much of the foundational prep for these episodes starts with research on the Tegus platform.   With Tegus, you can learn everything you'd want to know about a company in an on-demand digital platform. Investors share their expert calls, allowing others to instantly access more than 20,000 calls on Coinbase, Hinge Health, Farfetch, or almost any company of interest. All you have to do is log in. If you're ready to go deeper on any company and you appreciate the value of primary research, head to tegus.co/breakdowns for a free trial.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss   Show Notes [00:02:48] - [First question] - What is Taboola?  [00:03:35] - The scale of the business, revenue, impressions, and payouts to date [00:05:18] - What problem Taboola solves for advertisers and their user experience [00:07:22] - Comparing the advertising differences between Taboola and Facebook [00:09:15] - Why a publisher would choose Taboola and what they solve for them [00:11:06] - Reasons why advertising through Taboola is desirable [00:14:41] - The founding insight and early struggles of building Taboola [00:18:42] - Important metrics when evaluating their business and what generates revenue [00:20:32] - What they offer to both sides of the marketplace to grow their business [00:22:26] - Defining yield and how they position their rates [00:25:38] - Things they do to improve the value proposition for clients [00:29:29] - What allows Taboola to grow and remain competitive  [00:30:37] - Prioritizing sales and marketing spend to ensure their long term success [00:32:24] - Positive and negative factors in relation to scaling a business like this [00:34:11] - Reasons why they wanted to merge with Outbrain [00:35:16] - Their latest deal with Connexity and his thoughts on M&A for the future [00:37:50] - The top things that would maximize their success over the next decade [00:40:05] - Cookies, privacy, and the role they might play in years to come [00:42:09] - The biggest threats and risks for the future of Taboola [00:44:14] - The competitive landscape of advertising and content placement [00:46:09] - Lessons for builders and investors when studying Taboola's story   [00:47:47] - Where to go if you want to learn more about Taboola

It's a new host lineup at TAC Right Now. Emile Doak, Helen Andrews, Sohrab Ahmari, and Micah Meadowcroft discuss the Texas heartbeat bill and its detractors, literal fake news on ivermectin and Oklahoma hospitals, and, in light of Labor Day, whether the Right should embrace organized labor. Editors' picks: Helen: Our Experts' Epidemic of Incompetence, Bradley Devlin Micah: Can the Right Fight Corporate Power?, Sohrab Ahmari Emile/Sohrab: A Lesson From Robert E. Lee, Helen Andrews Become a member of TAC: https://www.theamericanconservative.com/donate/

The war in Afghanistan is over. In this episode, we document how and why the Biden administration finally admitted defeat in our 20 year attempt to create a new government in Afghanistan and we take a hard look at the lessons we need to learn. Afghanistan is a country in a far away land, but there are disturbing similarities between the Afghanistan government that just collapsed and our own. We'd be wise not to ignore them. Executive Producer: Rachel Passer Executive Producer: Anonymous  Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD236: January 6: The Capitol Riot CD218: Minerals are the New Oil CD210: The Afghanistan War CD124: The Costs of For-Profit War How We Got Here Craig Whitlock. The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War. Simon and Schuster, 2021. Patrick Tucker. August 18, 2021. “Trump's Pledge to Exit Afghanistan Was a Ruse, His Final SecDef Says.” Defense One. Eugene Kiely and Robert Farley. August 17, 2021. “Timeline of U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan.” FactCheck.org. Eric Schmitt and Jennifer Steinhauer. July 30, 2021. “Afghan Visa Applicants Arrive in U.S. After Years of Waiting.” The New York Times. Craig Whitlock, Leslie Shapiro and Armand Emamdjomeh. December 9, 2019. “The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war.” The Washington Post. Mark Landler and James Risen. July 25, 2017. “Trump Finds Reason for the U.S. to Remain in Afghanistan: Minerals.” The New York Times. John F. Harris. October 15, 2001. “Bush Rejects Taliban Offer On Bin Laden ” Washington Post. The Evacuation: Those Left Behind William Mauldin. September 2, 2021. “Afghanistan Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Staff Left Behind.” Wall Street Journal. Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Annie Karni. August 29, 2021. “Series of U.S. Actions Left Afghan Allies Frantic, Stranded and Eager to Get Out.” The York Times. Sami Sadat. August 25, 2021. “I Commanded Afghan Troops This Year. We Were Betrayed.” The New York Times. Marjorie Censer. August 18, 2021. “US contractors rush to get former employees out of Afghanistan.” Defense News. Siobhan Hughes. August 18, 2021. “Afghanistan Veterans in Congress Trying to Prevent ‘a Death Warrant' for Helping America.” Wall Street Journal. Alex Sanz and Tammy Webber. August 18, 2021. “US friends try to rescue brother in arms in Afghanistan.” AP News. Seth Moulton. June 04, 2021. "Moulton, Bipartisan Honoring Our Promises Working Group to White House: Evacuate our Afghan Partners.” Contractors in Afghanistan Matt Taibbi. August 18, 2021. “We Failed Afghanistan, Not the Other Way Around.” TK News by Matt Taibbi on Substack. Jack Detsch. August 16, 2021. “Departure of Private Contractors Was a Turning Point in Afghan Military's Collapse.” Foreign Policy. Matt Stoller. July 15, 2021. “‘A Real S*** Show': Soldiers Angrily Speak Out about Being Blocked from Repairing Equipment by Contractors.” BIG by Matt Stoller. Lynzy Billing. May 12, 2021. “The U.S. Is Leaving Afghanistan? Tell That to the Contractors.” New York Magazine. Oren Liebermann. March 29, 2021. “Pentagon could open itself to costly litigation from contractors if US pulls out of Afghanistan this year.” CNN. Lucas Kunce and Elle Ekman. September 15, 2019. “Comment Submitted by Major Lucas Kunce and Captain Elle Ekman.” [Regulations.gov(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulations.gov). Aaron Mehta. Oct 25, 2016. “30 Years: William Perry — Reshaping the Industry.” Defense News. Jared Serbu. August 22, 2016. “DoD now awarding more than half its contract spending without competitive bids.” Federal News Network. 41 U.S. Code § 3307 - Preference for commercial products and commercial services. Money: Lost and Gained David Moore. August 23, 2021. “Lawmakers Benefit From Booming Defense Stocks.” Sludge. Lee Fang. August 20, 2021. “Congressman Seeking to Relaunch Afghan War Made Millions in Defense Contracting.” The Intercept. Anna Massoglia and Julia Forrest. August 20, 2021. “Defense contractors spent big in Afghanistan before the U.S. left and the Taliban took control.” OpenSecrets.org. Stephen Losey. April 16, 2021. “The Bill for the Afghanistan War Is $2.26 Trillion, and Still Rising.” Military.com. Eli Clifton. February 16, 2021. “Weapons Biz Bankrolls Experts Pushing to Keep U.S. Troops in Afghanistan.” Daily Beast. Open Secrets. 2021. Defense: Lobbying, 2021. Open Secrets. 2021. Defense: Money to Congress. Laws S.1790 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 Sponsor: Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Status: Became Public Law No: 116-92 on December 20, 2019 H.R. 3237: Emergency Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 Sponsor: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) Status: Signed into law, 2021 May 20 House Vote Breakdown Congressional Budget Office Score Law Outline TITLE IV: BILATERAL ECONOMIC ASSISTANCE GENERAL PROVISIONS EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF THE AFGHAN SPECIAL IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM Sec. 401: Amends the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 to expand eligibility to include Afghans who worked not only for the US Government for more than 1 year but also our allies as an off-base interpreter or if they performed "activities for United States military stationed at International Security Assistance Force (or any successor name for such Force). Increases the number of Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) to Afghan partners by 8,000, for a total of 34,500 allocated since December 19, 2014. Sec. 402: Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security and Secretary of state to jointly waive for 1 year (maximum 2 years with an extension) the requirement that Afghan partners eligible for SIVs get a medical exam before they can receive their visa. The Secretary of Homeland Security has to create a process to make sure Afghan SIV holders get a medical exam within 30 days of entry into the United States. Sec. 403: Allows the surviving spouse or child or employee of the United States Government abroad to be eligible for immigration into the United States if the employee worked for our government for at least 15 years or was killed in the line of duty. It also expands entry permissions for Afghan SIV applicants in addition to those who have already been approved. This is retroactive to June 30, 2021. Policies for Visa Processing: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Policy Manual, Chapter 9: Certain Afghan Nationals U.S Department of State -- Bureau of Consular Affairs. “Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans - Who Were Employed by/on Behalf of the U.S. Government.” Audio Sources Gen. Mark Milley: "There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days." August 18, 2021 General Mark Milley: The time frame of rapid collapse that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months, and even years following our departure, there was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days. Central Command submitted a variety of plans that were briefed and approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense and the President. These plans were coordinated, synchronized and rehearsed to deal with these various scenarios. One of those contingencies is what we are executing right now. As I said before, there's plenty of time to do AARs(After Action Reviews) and key lessons learned and to delve into these questions with great detail. But right now is not that time. Right now, we have to focus on this mission, because we have soldiers at risk. And we also have American citizens and Afghans who supported us for 20 years also at risk. This is personal and we're going to get them out. President Biden on Afghanistan Withdrawal Transcript July 8, 2021 Sound Clips 01:30 President Biden: When I announced our drawdown in April, I said we would be out by September, and we're on track to meet that target. Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31. The drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart 3:40 President Biden: Together with our NATO allies and partners, we have trained and equipped nearly 300,000 current serving members of the military, the Afghan national security force, and many beyond that are no longer serving. Add to that hundreds of thousands more Afghan national defense and security forces trained over the last two decades. 04:04 President Biden: We provided our Afghan partners with all the tools, let me emphasize, all the tools -- training, equipment -- of any modern military. We provided advanced weaponry, and we're going to continue to provide funding and equipment and we'll ensure they have the capacity to maintain their Air Force. 5:54 President Biden: We're also going to continue to make sure that we take on Afghan nationals who worked side by side with US forces, including interpreters and translators. Since we're no longer going to have military there after this, we're not going to need them and they'll have no jobs. We're [sic] also going to be vital to our efforts. they've been very vital, and so their families are not exposed to danger as well. We've already dramatically accelerated the procedure time for Special Immigrant Visas to bring them to the United States. Since I was inaugurated on January 20, we've already approved 2,500 Special Immigrant Visas to come to the United States. Up to now, fewer than half have exercised the right to do that. Half have gotten on aircraft and come commercial flights and come and other half believe they want to stay, at least thus far. We're working closely with Congress to change the authorization legislation so that we can streamline the process of approving those visas. And those who have stood up for the operation to physically relocate 1000s of Afghans and their families before the US military mission concludes so that, if they choose, they can wait safely outside of Afghanistan, while their US visas are being processed. 8:13 President Biden: For those who have argued that we should stay just six more months, or just one more year, I asked them to consider the lessons of recent history. In 2011, the NATO allies and partners agreed that we would end our combat mission in 2014. In 2014, some argued one more year. So we kept fighting. We kept taking casualties. In 2015, the same, and on and on. Nearly 20 years of experience has shown us that the current security situation only confirms that just one more year of fighting in Afghanistan is not a solution, but a recipe for being there indefinitely. It's up to the Afghans to make the decision about the future of their country. Others are more direct. Their argument is that we should stay with the Afghans and Afghanistan indefinitely. In doing so they point to the fact that we we have not taken losses in this last year. So they claim that the cost of just maintaining the status quo is minimal. 9:19 President Biden: But that ignores the reality, and the facts that already presented on the ground in Afghanistan when I took office. The Taliban is at its strongest militarily since 2001. The number of US forces in Afghanistan had been reduced to a bare minimum. And the United States and the last administration made an agreement that they have to with the Taliban remove all our forces by May 1 of this year. That's what I inherited. That agreement was the reason the Taliban had ceased major attacks against US forces. 9:55 President Biden: If in April, I had instead announced that the United States was going to go back on that agreement, made by the last administration, the United States and allied forces will remain in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future, the Taliban would have again begun to target our forces. The status quo was not an option. Staying would have meant US troops taking casualties, American men and women back in the middle of a civil war, and we would run the risk of having to send more troops back in Afghanistan to defend our remaining troops. Once that agreement with the Taliban had been made, staying with a bare minimum force was no longer possible. 10:34 President Biden: So let me ask those who want us to stay: how many more? How many 1000s more Americans' daughters and sons are you willing to risk? How long would you have them stay? Already we have members of our military whose parents fought in Afghanistan 20 years ago. Would you send their children and their grandchildren as well? Would you send your own son or daughter? After 20 years, a trillion dollars spent training and equipping hundreds of 1000s of Afghan National Security and Defence Forces. 2,448 Americans killed, 20,722 more wounded, and untold 1000s coming home with unseen trauma to their mental health. I will not send another generation of Americans to war in Afghanistan with no reasonable expectation of achieving a different outcome. 11:51 President Biden: Today the terrorist threat has metastasized beyond Afghanistan. So, we are repositioning our resources and adapting our counterterrorism posture to meet the threats where they are now: significantly higher in South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. 12:07 President Biden: But make no mistake, our military and intelligence leaders are confident they have the capabilities to protect the homeland and our interests from any resurgent terrorist challenge emerging or emanating from Afghanistan. We're developing a counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability that will allow us to keep our eyes firmly fixed at any direct threat to the United States in the region and act quickly and decisively if needed. 12:38 President Biden: We also need to focus on shoring up America's core strengths to meet the strategic competition competition with China and other nations that is really going to determine our future. 14:58 Reporter: Is the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan now inevitable? President Biden: No. It is not. Because you have the Afghan troops, 300,000. Well equipped, as well equipped as any army in the world, and an air force against something like 75,000 Taliban. It is not inevitable. 15:45 President Biden: Do I trust the Taliban? No, but I trust the capacity of the Afghan military who is better trained, better equipped, and more competent in terms of conducting war. 18:07 Reporter: Your own intelligence community has assessed that the Afghan government will likely collapse President Biden: That is not true 18:53 President Biden: And I want to make clear what I made clear to Ghani, that we are not going to walk away and not sustain their ability to maintain that force. We are. We're going to also work to make sure we help them in terms of everything from food necessities and other things in the region. But there is not a conclusion that in fact, they cannot defeat the Taliban. I believe the only way there's going to be -- this is now Joe Biden, not the intelligence community -- the only way there's only going to be peace and secure in Afghanistan, is that they work out a modus vivendi with the Taliban, and they make a judgement as to how they can make peace. And the likelihood there's going to be one unified government in Afghanistan, controlling the whole country is highly unlikely. 21:30 Reporter: Mr. President, how serious was the corruption among the Afghanistan government to this mission failing there? President Biden: First of all, the mission hasn't failed yet. 22:00 President Biden: There were going to be negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan national security forces, and the Afghan government that didn't come to fruition. So the question now is where do they go from here? The jury is still out, but the likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely. 23:20 Reporter: Mr. President, "speed is safety," as you just said in your remarks. Are you satisfied with the timeline of relocating Afghan nationals? Is it happening quickly enough to your satisfaction if it may not happen until next month at the end? President Biden: It has already happened, there have already been people, about 1000 people have gotten on aircraft and come to the United States already on commercial aircraft. So as I said, there's over 2500 people, that as from January to now, have have gotten those visas and only half decided that they wanted to leave. The point is that I think the whole process has to be speeded up -- period -- in terms of being able to get these visas. Reporter: Why can't the US evacuate these Afghan translators to the United States to await their visa processing as some immigrants of the southern border have been allowed to? President Biden: Because the law doesn't allow that to happen. And that's why we're asking the Congress to consider changing the law. President Biden Remarks on Afghanistan Strategy Transcript April 14, 2021 Sound Clips 00:38 President Biden: I'm speaking to you today from the Roosevelt -- the Treaty room in the White House -- the same spot where in October of 2001, President George W. Bush informed our nation that the United States military had begun strikes on terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. It was just weeks, just weeks after the terrorist attack on our nation that killed 2,977 innocent souls, that turned Lower Manhattan into a disaster area, destroyed parts of the Pentagon and made hallowed ground in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and sparked an American promise that we would never forget. We went to Afghanistan in 2001, to root out al Qaeda to prevent future terrorist attacks against the United States planned from Afghanistan. Our objective was clear, the cause was just, our NATO allies and partners rallied beside us. And I supported that military action along with the overwhelming majority of the members of Congress. More than seven years later, in 2008 weeks before we swore the oath of office -- President Obama and I were about to swear -- President Obama asked me to travel to Afghanistan and report back on the state of the war in Afghanistan. I flew to Afghanistan to the Kunar Valley, a rugged, mountainous region on the border of Pakistan. What I saw on that trip reinforced my conviction that only the Afghans have the right and responsibility to lead their country. And that more and endless American military force could not create or sustain a durable Afghan Government. I believed that our presence in Afghanistan should be focused on the reason we went in the first place: to ensure Afghanistan would not be used as a base from which to attack our homeland again. We did that, we accomplished that objective. I said, along with others, we would follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell if need be. That's exactly what we did. And we got him. It took us close to 10 years to put President Obama's commitment into form. And that's exactly what happened Osama bin Laden was gone. That was 10 years ago. Think about that. We delivered justice to Bin Laden a decade ago. And we've stayed in Afghanistan for a decade since. Since then, our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan have become increasingly unclear, even as the terrorist threat that we went to fight evolved. Over the past 20 years, the threat has become more dispersed, metastasizing around the globe. Al Shabaab in Somalia, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, on Al Nusra in Syria, ISIS attempting to create a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and establishing affiliates in multiple countries in Africa and Asia. With the terror threat now in many places, keeping 1000s of troops grounded and concentrated in just one country at a cost of billions each year makes little sense to me and our leaders. We cannot continue the cycle of extending or expanding our military presence in Afghanistan, hoping to create ideal conditions for the withdraw and expecting a different result. I'm now the fourth United States President to preside over American troop presence in Afghanistan: two Republicans, two Democrats. I will not pass this responsibility on to a fifth. After consulting closely with our allies and partners, with our military leaders and intelligence personnel, with our diplomats and our development experts, with the Congress and the Vice President, as well as with Mr. Ghani and many others around the world. I concluded that it's time to end America's longest war. It's time for American troops to come home. 5:01 President Biden: When I came to office, I inherited a diplomatic agreement, duly negotiated between the government of the United States and the Taliban, that all US forces would be out of Afghanistan by May 1 2021, just three months after my inauguration. That's what we inherited. That commitment is perhaps not what I would have negotiated myself, but it was an agreement made by the United States government. And that means something. So in keeping with that agreement, and with our national interest, the United States will begin our final withdrawal beginning on May 1 of this year. 8:11 President Biden: You all know that less than 1% of Americans serve in our Armed Forces. The remaining 99%, we owe them. We owe them. They've never backed down from a single mission that we've asked of them. I've witnessed their bravery firsthand during my visits to Afghanistan. They've never wavered in their resolve. They paid a tremendous price on our behalf and they have the thanks of a grateful nation. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) High-Risk List Center for Strategic and International Studies Transcript March 10, 2021 Speaker: John Sopko - Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Sound Clips 7:40 John Sopko: But right now, that state is under threat. In the wake of the February 2020 withdrawal agreement, all is not well. Compromise appears in short supply on either side. Taliban attacks have actually increased since the agreement was signed. Assassination of prominent officials, activists, journalists, aid workers and others have also increased, including an unsuccessful attack on one of the female members of the peace negotiating team. And the Taliban offensive on Kandahar city last October, as peace negotiations were ongoing, may well have succeeded, were it not for U.S. air support. Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have achieved little for Afghanistan so far, and only time will tell as to whether the new Biden administration initiative will bear fruit. And the Afghan people's fears for its own government survival are exacerbated by the knowledge of how dependent their country is on foreign military and financial support. 12:56 John Sopko: Another equally serious threat to Afghanistan's stability has also largely been ignored as we focus on the boots on the ground in Afghanistan. And that is the provision of last year's U.S.-Taliban agreement that stipulates that in addition to the departure of U.S. and coalition troops, or non-diplomatic civilian personnel: private security contractors, trainers, advisors, and supporting service personnel also must leave the country by May 1. Should this come to passSIGAR and many others believe this may be more devastating to the effectiveness of the Afghan security forces than the withdrawal of our remaining troops. Why is that? Because the Afghan government relies heavily on these foreign contractors and trainers to function. In the first quarter of fiscal year 2021 there are over 18,000 Defense Department contractors in Afghanistan, including 6000 Americans, and 7,000 3rd country nationals, 40% of whom are responsible for logistics, maintenance, or training tasks. Now, it is well known that the Afghan security forces need these contractors to maintain their equipment, manage supply chains, and train their military and police to operate the advanced equipment that we have purchased for them. For example, as of December, the Afghan National Army was completing just under 20% of its own maintenance work orders, well below the goal of 80% that was set and the 51% that they did in 2018. So that's actually going down. The Afghan National Police were just as bad if not worse, undertaking only 12% of their own maintenance work against a target of 35% and less than the 16% that we reported in our 2019 high risk list. Additionally, and more troubling. The Department of Defense does train, advise and assist command air, or commonly called TAC air recently reported that since late 2019, they have reduced their personnel in Afghanistan by 94%, and that the military drawdown now requires near total use of contract support to maintain the Afghan Air fleet. They assess that quote “further drawdown in the associated closure basis will effectively end all in country aviation training contracts in Afghanistan.” Again, why is this significant? Why do we view this as a high risk? Namely because contractors currently provide 100% of the maintenance for the Afghan Air Force, UAE 60 helicopters and CE 130 cargo aircraft and a significant portion of Afghans Light Combat Support aircraft. TAC air this January gave a bleak assessment, namely, that no Afghan airframe can be sustained as combat effective for more than a few months in the absence of contractor support. 17:51 John Sopko: Continued funding for U.S. reconstruction programs aimed at promoting economic development, rule of law, respect for human rights, good governance and security for the Afghan people may be more significant, because it may be the primary lever left for the US and other donors to influence that country. It appears that even the Taliban understand Afghanistan's dire need for foreign assistance. Because, as one of the few commitments that the US had to make last year was, “to seek economic cooperation for reconstruction, with the new post settlement, Afghan Islamic government.” Now how much the donor community wishes to stay involved will of course depend on what that government looks like and how it behaves. Numerous officials, including then Secretary of State Pompeo and Ambassador Halley, have stated that the US will be able to advance its human rights goals, including the rights of women and girls with the Taliban by leveraging or conditioning this much needed financial assistance. But unfortunately, as SIGAR has long reported, even when conditionality involved only dealing with the Afghan government, donors do not have a stellar record of successfully utilizing that conditionality to influence Afghan behavior. 27:19 John Sopko: Today our report suggests the donor community should realize the Afghan government is focused on a single goal, its survival. Afghanistan is more dependent on international support than ever before. It may not be an overstatement that if foreign assistance is withdrawn and peace negotiations fail, Taliban forces could be at the gates of Kabul in short order. Hearing: A PATHWAY FOR PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN: EXAMINING THE FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE AFGHANISTAN STUDY GROUP House Committee on Oversight and Reform: Subcommittee on National Security February 19, 2021 Testimony was heard from the following Afghanistan Study Group officials: Kelly A. Ayotte, Co-Chair; News Corp Board of Directors since April 2017 BAE Systems Board of Directors since June 2017 Blackstone Board of Directors Boston Properties Board of Directors Caterpillar Board of Directors Board of Advisors at Cirtronics General Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. (Retired), Co-Chair Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Obama and Trump presidencies. Lockheed Martin Board of Directors since February 2020 Nancy Lindborg, Co-Chair President and CEO of the David Lucile Packard Foundation Former President and CEO of the US Institute for Peace Former Assistant Administrator for the bureau for democracy conflict and humanitarian assistance at USAID During the mid-Obama years. Sound Clips 3:13 Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA): I'd also like to take a moment to thank the nonpartisan US Institute of Peace for the support and expertise they provided to the study group during the course of its work. 3:23 Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA): In the fiscal year 2020 omnibus bill Congress led by Senator Graham Senator Patrick Leahy and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee of state foreign ops and related programs. They tasked the independent and bipartisan Afghanistan study group to quote, consider the implications of a peace settlement or the failure to reach a settlement on US policy, resources and commitments in Afghanistan. After nearly nine months of review and consultation with current and former US and Afghan government officials, allies and partners and other key stakeholders, the Afghanistan study group issued its final report earlier this month. 15:12 Kelly Ayotte: We recommend that US troops remain beyond may 1. We believe a precipitous withdrawal of US and international troops in May, would be catastrophic for Afghanistan, leading to civil war, and allow the reconstitution of terror groups which threaten the United States within an 18 to 36 month period. 15:41 Kelly Ayotte: Let me be clear, although we recommend that our troops remain beyond may 1, we propose a new approach toward Afghanistan, which aligns our policies, practices and messaging across the United States government to support the Afghan peace process, rather than prosecute a war. Our troops would remain not to fight a forever war, but to guarantee the conditions for a successful peace process and to protect our national security interests to ensure that Afghanistan does not become a haven again, for terrorists who threaten the United States of America. 37:15 General Joseph F. Dunford: Do we need to increase forces if the Taliban don't accept an extension past the first of May, and if they then would re initiate attacks against US forces? and Chairman, we heard exactly what you heard. In the fall. What we were told by commanders on the ground in the department of fence was that 4500 US forces, in addition to the NATO forces that are there was the minimum level to address both the mission as well as protection of our forces in the context of the conditions that existed in the fall in as you've highlighted, those conditions have only gotten worse since the fall so in in our judgment 2500 would not be adequate. Should the Taliban re initiate attacks against the United States Hearing: Examining the Trump Administration's Afghanistan Strategy House Committee on Oversight and Reform, Subcommittee on National Security January 28, 2020 Witness: John Sopko - Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) Sound Clips 48:54 John Sopko: We've almost created a system that forces people in the government to give happy talk success stories because they're over there on very short rotations. They want to show success. The whole system is almost geared to give you, and it goes up the chain of command, all the way to the President sometimes. He gets bad information from people out in the field because somebody on a nine month rotation, he has to show success, and that goes up. 54:24 John Sopko: Maybe incentivize honesty. And one of the proposals I gave at that time,be cause I was asked by the staff to come up with proposals, is put the same requirement on the government that we impose on publicly traded corporations. Publicly traded corporations have to tell the truth. Otherwise the SEC will indict the people involved. They have to report when there's a significant event. So put that onus, call it The Truth in Government Act if you want, that you in the administration are duty bound by statute to alert Congress to significant events that could directly negatively impact a program or process. So incentivize honesty. 1:10:25 John Sopko: Over 70% of the Afghan budget comes from the United States and the donors. If that money ended, I have said before and I will stand by it, then the Afghan government will probably collapse. Wartime Contracting Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs September 21, 2011 Witnesses: Charles Tiefer: Commissioner on the Commission on Wartime Contracting Clark Kent Ervin: Commissioner on the Commission on Wartime Contracting Sound Clips 1:11:30 Charles Tiefer: Our private security in Afghanistan appears to be a major source of payoffs to the Taliban. Our report has the first official statement that it's the second-largest source of money for the Taliban. Sen. Carl Levin: After drugs. Charles Tiefer: After drugs, that's right. 1:25:18 Clark Kent Ervin: It's critical that the government have a choice, and that means that there needs to be at least a small and expandable, organic capacity on the part of these three agencies to perform missions themselves, so the next time there's a contingency, the government has a choice between going with contractors and going in-house and the determination can be made whether it's more effective to do it either way, whether it's cheaper to do it either way. As we said at the inception, right now the government doesn't have an option. Contractors are the default option because they're the only option. President George W. Bush announces U.S. Military Strikes on Afghanistan October 7, 2001 President George W. Bush: Good afternoon. On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against Al-Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime. More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: close terrorist training camps, hand over leaders of the Al-Qaeda network, and return all foreign nationals including American citizens unjustly detained in your country. None of these demands were met and now the Taliban will pay a price by destroying camps and disrupting communications. We will make it more difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans. ** International Campaign Against Terrorism Senate Foreign Relations Committee October 25, 2001 Witness: Colin Powell: Secretary of State Sound Clip 27:00 Colin Powell: Our work in Afghanistan though, is not just of a military nature. We recognize that when the Al Qaeda organization has been destroyed in Afghanistan, and as we continue to try to destroy it in all the nations in which it exists around the world, and when the Taliban regime has gone to its final reward, we need to put in place a new government in Afghanistan, one that represents all the people of Afghanistan and one that is not dominated by any single powerful neighbor, but instead is dominated by the will of the people of Afghanistan. Executive Producer Recommendations Elect Stephanie Gallardo 2022 Krystal Kyle and Friends. August 21, 2021. “Episode 35 Audio with Matthew Hoh.” Cover Art Design by Only Child Imaginations Music Presented in This Episode Intro & Exit: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)

On today's episode Dimitri & I were joined by AJ Iaquinta & Isaac Aleman Jr. Both of these guys have been on the podcast before and we wanted to chat about a few different things with them before their hunting seasons kickoff. Isaac shares what's going on now that TAC is over and what is in store for his hunting season. AJ jumps down a rabbit hole talking gear and we absolutely had a blast with it! From muleys, bows, shooting, & gear this episode has it covered. This was a really fun episode to record, so sit back and enjoy this fun episode!! ANTLER UP!! USE CODE: Podcast at The Elk Collective to save $30 USE CODE: Antlerup to save 20% at Spartan Forge USE CODE: ANTLER to save 20% at Black Rifle Coffee VORTEX NATION HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK: AN IMPORTANT PIECE OF GEAR! —————————————————————— Our podcast can be found on all major platforms like iTunes, Spotify, Podbean and MORE! Just follow the link in our bio to take you there! Thank you for the support and ANTLER UP!! A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT AND ESPECIALLY THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR AMAZING PARTNERS. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT OVER ON OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.ANTLERUPOUTDOORS.COM Again, thank you for listening, I hope you enjoy today's show...until next time ANTLER UP! Check us out at the following channels: Website: https://www.antlerupoutdoors.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antler_up_outdoors/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5JBVVa0aVNqAd0ec-752YQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/antlerupoutdoors/ Check us out our partners: Spartan Forge America's Best Bowstrings First Lite Tethrd Shay Butler Knives Domain Outdoor Vortex Optics Half-Rack --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/antleruppodcast/support

The former head of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, Tim Smith, says he "can't think of a single coherent reason" why the Government still hasn't responded to its report or set up the statutory body which was to replace it. The Trade and Agriculture Commission was created last summer to advise Ministers on trade deals, after concerns that giving tariff free access to our markets could undermine UK farming and food businesses. Its report, with 22 recommendations, was published in March - at which point it was disbanded to be replaced with a new commission which would examine future trade agreements. But the new TAC hasn't yet appeared. Fruit and veg farmers could increase their profits by 20% by getting to grips with how much of their crop is going to waste and why. We hear how robots could be part of the solution. And, staff shortages in the food chain are causing serious problems farmers and food companies. A cross-industry report says the cause is a combination of post-Brexit immigration rules and Covid-19. We hear from a poultry producer who is struggling and a raspberry farm that's giving fruit away for free to those who can pick it. Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

The former head of the Trade and Agriculture Commission, Tim Smith, says he "can't think of a single coherent reason" why the Government still hasn't responded to its report or set up the statutory body which was to replace it. The Trade and Agriculture Commission was created last summer to advise Ministers on trade deals, after concerns that giving tariff free access to our markets could undermine UK farming and food businesses. Its report, with 22 recommendations, was published in March - at which point it was disbanded to be replaced with a new commission which would examine future trade agreements. But the new TAC hasn't yet appeared. A farm in Yorkshire which is offering free raspberries to anyone who wants to come and pick them, because it can't find enough workers to bring the fruit in. We meet Richard and Rhonda Merrit, who farm near York, and have 700 metres of raspberries across 4 polytunnels. And, we find out about a project to cultivate new varieties of hops. Hops are notoriously vulnerable to disease and pests in the UK's temperate climate, leaving conventional growers heavily reliant on a dwindling number of agrichemicals, and organic growers facing crop failures too frequently to be commercially reliable.  To tackle this issue, a field lab, run through the Innovative Farmers programme, is bringing together organic hop growers and breeders to conduct on-farm research, trialling new hop varieties selectively bred to be resistant to pests and disease, and testing to see how well they grow without pesticides. Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

All the way from sunny South Africa, we sit down with the hilarious Simmi Areff and hear all the ideas he's got for us, especially for Tac. Simmi is a comedian, award winning African podcaster, founder of POC Podcasts and generally a lovely dude. #WeCauseCultureHosted by OT, Reem, and Akkaoui, the Dukkan Show is brought to you by the audiophiles at Dukkan Media.

In this Technique Check, I show you how to execute hammer-ons and pull-offs.  A "hammer on" is when you use one finger (usually your first) to play a note on the guitar over an open string. A "pull off" is when you use one finger (usually your last) to play a note on the guitar by pulling it away from the strings. Each of these techniques can help take your guitar playing to the next level. However, if not done properly, these techniques can be frustrating to practice and learn. That's why it's important that you watch this technique check on hammer-ons and pull-offs. In the video, I'll define what a hammer-on and pull-off is, what it sounds like, how to best execute the technique, and the best ways to practice learning the technique. Whether you're a beginner guitar player or have been playing for years, these exercises can help fine-tune your hammer-on and pull-off technique. Besides learning about these two crucial guitar techniques for beginners, you're also going to hear about one TAC family member who really took his playing to the next level by following his guitar routine. Last but not least, you'll get my weekly roundup of guitar news you can use. From a guitar made to look like it was hand-built in the '20s to a cello bandit playing in an airport, don't miss this week's acoustic guitar news segment!

This month on Episode 27 of Discover CircRes, host Cynthia St. Hilaire highlights four original research articles featured in the July 23rd and August 6th issues of Circulation Research. This episode also features an in-depth conversation with Drs Ana Gomez and John Pierre Benitah, from INSERM and the Paris-Saclay University, about their study, Impaired Binding to Junctophilin 2 and Nanostructural Alterations in CPVT Mutation.   Article highlights:   Glasenap, et al. Imaging Inflammation and Fibrosis in Heart Failure   Shi, et al. Cardiomyocyte Pyroptosis Aggravates MI/R Injury   Koenis, et al. SPM Temper Phagocyte Responses in COVID-19   Zhang, et al. Common Origin of Heart and Extraembryonic Lineages   Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Hi, and welcome to Discover CircRes, the podcast to the American Heart Association's journal, Circulation Research. I'm your host, Dr Cynthia St. Hilaire from the Vascular Medicine Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, and today I'll be highlighting articles presented in our July 23rd and August 6th issues of Circulation Research. I also will speak with Drs Ana Gomez and John Pierre Benitah, from Inserm and the Paris-Saclay University, about their study, Impaired Binding to Junctophilin 2 and Nano-structural Alterations in CPVT Mutation. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     The first article I want to share comes from the July 23rd issue of Circ Res, and it's titled Molecular Imaging and Inflammation and Fibrosis in Pressure Overload Heart Failure. The first author is Aylina Glasenapp and the corresponding author is James Thackeray, and they're from Hanover Medical School in Germany. After a heart attack, inflammation and fibrosis of the heart alter cardiac contraction and can lead to its failure. Currently, for ischemic heart failure, doctors use imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, to measure the inflammation and fibrosis to provide a prognosis. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     However, whether these imaging techniques are useful for non-ischemic heart failure was unknown. To find out, this group performed transverse aortic constriction on mice, which is a commonly used method to model non-ischemic heart failure, and then they analyzed the animal's hearts with positron emission tomography to assess the inflammation and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to quantify scar tissue. Compared with Sham-operated animals, those that underwent TAC exhibited increased heart inflammation for at least three weeks and significant fibrosis for at least six weeks. The degree of scarring and inflammation was inversely correlated with heart function. The team also found that reversal of TAC led to reduced inflammation and fibrosis over time. Together, the results confirm that these imaging modalities are valuable for monitoring fibrosis and inflammation in non-ischemic heart failure, and they could potentially be useful for assessing the effectiveness of interventions. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     The second article I want to share is titled GSDMD Mediated Cardiomyocyte Pyroptosis Promotes Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury. The first author is Huairui Shi and the corresponding author is Junbo Ge, and they're from Fudan University in China. After myocardial infarction, restoring blood flow is essential to saving muscle function. However, restoration of flow itself causes damage by inducing inflammation and cell death. This study found that the cell death aspect of a reperfusion injury occurs via a process called pyroptosis, which is a controlled form of necrosis that is due to excessive inflammation. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     The team developed an in vitro model of reperfusion injury, where cultured cardiomyocytes are starved and then resupplied with oxygen. Using this model, they found that cells exhibited features of pyroptosis, including the release of inflammatory factors, increased production of the pyroptotic factor gasdermin D and cell death. Cardiomyocytes lacking gasdermin D did not display signs of pyroptosis under these same conditions. The team went on to show that gasdermin D was significantly increased in the hearts of mice following ischemia reperfusion. And compared with control animals, mice whose cardiomyocytes were engineered to lack gasdermin D, suffered less necrosis and smaller reperfusion injuries in their hearts. Together, these findings provide insights into the mechanisms that should be targeted to minimize pyroptosis and subsequent ischemia reperfusion injury, following myocardial infarctions. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     The next article I want to share is titled Disruptive Resolution Mechanisms Favor Altered Phagocyte Responses in COVID-19. The first authors are Duco Steven Koenis, Issa Beegun and Charlotte Camille Jouvene, and the corresponding author is Jesmond Dalli. And they're from Queen Mary University of London. Inflammation is essential in the early stages of battling and invading pathogen, but at the same time, inflammation can become damaging to the host if it is not resolved in a timely manner. Prolonged and unresolved inflammation is responsible for the hospitalizations and deaths of many COVID-19 patients. An excess of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines is one of the key features of severe COVID-19. And now, Koenis and colleagues show that certain pro-resolving factors are out of balance in these severe patients. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Blood samples from patients with mild COVID-19 showed an increase in specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators. However, blood from patients with severe COVID-19 had lower levels of these pro-resolving lipid factors. Expression of specialized pro-resolving lipid mediator receptors on phagocytes was also higher in patients with mild disease than those with severe COVID-19. And, in line with this, the proportion of activated pro-inflammatory phagocytes was higher in patients with severe disease. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     When patients were treated with the steroid dexamethasone, they subsequently inhibited the increased levels of the specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators in the blood. Together, these results reveal specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators are dysregulated in severe cases of COVID-19, and the findings suggest increasing these pro-resolving lipid mediators could promote resolution of out-of-control inflammation. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     The last article I want to share is titled Unveiling Complexity and Multi Potentiality of Early Heart Fields. The first authors are Qinqguan Zhang and Daniel Carlin, and the corresponding authors are Sylvia Evans, Joshua Bloomekatz, and Neil Chi, and they're from UC, San Diego. The developing heart is thought to originate from two populations of cells; the first and the second heart fields. And these are first identifiable at stages E 7.5 in the mouse, or on day 15 in the human embryo. Genes controlling the development of these fields have been linked to congenital heart defects, but interestingly, congenital heart defects are also sometimes linked to placental abnormalities. However, the mechanisms underlying this link have been unclear. Now this study has gone on to discover an unexpected link between the first heart field and extra embryonic tissues, which give rise to the yolk sack and the placenta. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Through lineage tracing experiments and single cell transcriptomics, the team discovered that the first heart field consists of two sources of mesoderm progenitor cells, one source that is embryonic in nature and the other source arises from the interface between the extra embryonic and the embryonic tissue of the early gastrula. This latter population of progenitor cells, which is defined by the expression of the transcription factor hand one, gives rise to extra embryonic mesoderm cells in addition to the two Hartfield cell populations. The discovery of this shared source of mesodermal progenitors not only blurs the lines between the embryo and its supporting tissue but may also explain the link between placental abnormalities and congenital heart defects. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Today I have with me Drs Ana Gomez and Jean-Pierre Benitah, and they're from Inserm and the Paris-Saclay University. And today we'll discuss their study Impaired Binding of Junctophilin 2 and Nano-structural Alterations in CPVT Mutation. And this article is in our July 23rd issue of Circulation Research. So thank you both very much for joining me today. Jean-Pierre Benitah:    Thank you. Ana Gomez:                Thank you. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     You're in Paris, so we're trying to match it so we're all meeting our normal workday on a Friday. So I very much appreciate you taking the time to meet with me. So this study is investigating a rare disease called Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Centricular Tachycardia, or CPVT. So can you describe to us what is CPVT and how does this disease present in patients? Ana Gomez:                Okay, so CPVT stands for Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Centricular Tachycardia. So it is a genetic disease that appears mainly in childhood and youth with sudden death. So the patients don't have any remarkable problem, either in the electrocardiogram or arteries, or in the cardiac structure by echocardiography, and they seem healthy. But when they have stress, it can be emotional or it can be physical, so during exercise, it presents with syncope or sudden cardiac arrest. So the problem is that, many of the times, the first symptom is the death of a child playing soccer or doing exercise and then the only treatment that they, so far, it's beta blockers, to avoid this stress, and also flecainide and propafenol. But these treatments are still not completely efficacious, or sometimes the people need to get implant defibrillator. It's a big cost and it's also stressful because if the patient feels that they have to recharge, that supposes stress, and this stress is bad for them. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Right, so it's like if they feel a flutter, it makes them more stressful, which can exacerbate. That is terrifying. And so the goal, I guess, regarding gaps in knowledge that are leading to your investigation, what was known about this disease before you started your study? And where did you leap off from that? Jean-Pierre Benitah:    Up to now, what we know about the disease is an alteration of the calcium homeostasis in cardiac myocyte. That could induce trivial activity, and then arrhythmia and cardiac sudden death. So mainly the mutation related to an intracellular calcium channel called Ryanodine receptor. So it's up to 60% of the patient with this mutation, but also you have a mutation related also to proteins that are in-buried in the control of the Ryanodine receptor activity, priadine, calmodulin. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Yeah, that was actually going to be my next question. So I know this cardiac Ryanodine receptor 2, or RYR2, it's obviously the channel component that helps to release that calcium signal, but it's part of a larger complex. I believe it's called the Calcium Release Unit. Can you talk about what is in that unit in terms of proteins and then where those other genetic mutations fit into that? Ana Gomez:                Yeah, so the Calcium Release Unit is formed by a cluster of Ryanodine receptors. So in the reticular cardiomyocytes, these are mostly in the junction of sarcoplasmic reticulum that is very close to the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane inside the cardiomyocyte, inside the cell. So the channel is internal. But it's very close to the sarcolemma in the T-tubule invaginations where the L-type calcium channels are located. So this is... The channels are very important to activate contraction, so it's heartbeat. The calcium entry through the attached calcium channel on the surface makes some calcium get into these very restricted spaces, like 20 nanometers, and in this space this calcium activates the Ryanodine receptor. So the Ryanodine receptor is activated by calcium and these release much more calcium than is needed for the contraction. So the problem of the CPVT is that the channels may release calcium during diastole, so when calcium should be low because they had to relax. Ana Gomez:                For your new question, which proteins? So the main proteins are the Ryanodine receptor. But Ryanodine receptors are a very big macro complex. They are the biggest channels that are known and they have a big cytoplasmic portion with proteins that can bind to them, and most of them just keep the channel quiet. So this may be calmodulin, FKPB 12.6, or 12, sorcin. And then there are also some other proteins that scaffold kinases, like PKA and CaM kinase. And also they have some proteins that moderate the channel from the luminal side. So, calsequestrin, triadin and junctin. And this agents to fill in that we will speak later. It's important because it binds to the L-type calcium channel and to the ryanodine receptor. So it's important to keep the dyad structure. It's not only a structural role. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Yeah, that is so interesting. So your study focused on a very specific mutation. It's the RYR2 arginine in the 420 spot to glutamine mutation. So I guess my first question is based on the patient population, how common is this specific mutation? How common is that? Ana Gomez:                Yeah. So in fact, I'm going to say that it's very common, because normally CPVT is one mutation, one family. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     I see. Ana Gomez:                Even if they are located in hotspots, but these particular mutations, we were approached by a cardiologist working in Spain who had this family with a child that died at the age 14, playing soccer game. And so Dr Zorio in Valencia, she found this RyR2 420Q mutation. And at this time this was the first mutation in this site. I mean, not really in the site, there was already RyR2 420W that was already, so it was the same spot, but different. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     That was my next follow up question to that. My PhD was biochemistry, so this brought back having to memorize the amino acid structure. So arginine is large and positively charged to glutamine is neutral. So what were the experiments that you designed to help determine the functional causes of this mutation? You know, in addition to just, okay, obviously there's a charge change, so there's probably a structural or a binding change, but how did you determine the functional consequences of this mutation? Ana Gomez:                The structure, as you say, this has been shown. In fact, they was the first family, but then also in this region, there was another family and in Israel also there is another family. So there are three, but the structural limitations that these arginine is neutral. It has been shown by a laboratory, who works in Vancouver, in a structural and the end terminal has like three logs and these are 420. It's important to hold a chloride that in the middle and, and to hold the position. So, but this is not the functional, the functional is what we were going to analyze. So the first thing that we did is to analyze calcium sparks because calcium sparks is the functional, let's say elementary event, of calcium release to RyR2 receptors. So we start analyzing calcium sparks in the cells and we found strange things, like very long calcium sparks that was not so clear in other CPVT models, even one that we studied earlier. And so then we started to continue to know why we have longer calcium sparks and different kind of analysis. So we also collaborate with some other laboratories to do the ultrastructure of the dyad by electromicroscopy. Ana Gomez:                And then we found that the sarcoplasmic reticulum, junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum, was enlarged. So we thought, well, maybe the channel, the calcium spark is longer because locally they delayed depletion. So we did another kind of experiment changing the volume of the SR and it was not so concluded so we found that it may contribute to longer calcium sparks, but it doesn't explain for it. So then we start with to analyze different proteins candidates, also the phosphorylation of course. And then we didn't find in most of these proteins, like FKVP. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Kind of a standard go-tos. None of them were involved. Yeah. Ana Gomez:                Yeah. And then, because there is this ultrastructural alteration, we thought of junctophilin and that is how we found that junctophilin binding was impaired. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     That's a perfect segue. You're hitting all of my next questions. So can you tell us a little bit about, what did you find regarding junctophilin and the RyR2 channel? Jean-Pierre Benitah:    So mainly, junctophilin act to us the good structural design between the ryanodine receptor and the trigger L-type calcium channel. And people say that junctophilin binds to both proteins to keep them close to each other. So mainly what we found is that we don't have activation of the expression of junctophilin, but it seems that with this mutation the junctophilin is less in contact with ryanodine receptor. But it's not the case for the L-type calcium channel. It seems that coimmunoprecipitation experiments that we've done show that junctophilin stayed still with the L-type calcium channel, but have a lower affinity to the ryanodine receptor when you have this mutation. What was really important is that we saw that not only in the mouse model where we induce this mutation, but also in cardiomyocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells from patients that have this mutation. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     I think that's one of the great strengths of your study. You know, I like how you took a multi-faceted approach, you know, using these IPS cells from the patients and also created a knock in model. Previous studies had used more global or whole exon deletions. So how is your knock-in able to identify additional information that built upon those former studies? Ana Gomez:                Maybe this is not an exact answer to your question, but what I think is that the strength of our study or one of the strengths of our study is that we have the patients with electrocardiograms working, we have the cells from the patients. So we have...Our IPS cell is from one of the persons that have been patient, and the control line is from his brother. So we have the two brothers. They are still living, and we have the mice and everything is in the same point mutation. So in this thing, because there is a lot of, let's say, critics to the IPS cells studies because they are not mature and they don't look like an adult cardiomyocyte. And I think that besides CPVT, we can also show that of course cardiomyocytes derive from IPS cells. They are not adult, but they are still a good model because we recapitulate the same thing. Ana Gomez:                So we can mix the human context to really have what happened in patients, because that is the important thing, but we also need to manipulate the in vivo animals and there are some things that we cannot do. We cannot get adult cardiomyocytes from patients, so for that, we have the mice and we can also analyze from in vivo to the molecular level. So I think that it's a big strong point from our study that you take compared to others, that they are only in mice or only in IPS, cannot do this correlation. Then, each mutation, we think that it may, or at least each region of the mutation, may have different mechanisms. So if we find these longer calcium sparks in these R420Q mutation, it doesn't mean that because we also have other studies in C-terminal mutation, and we don't find longer calcium sparks, we just find more. So this is not because of the design of the study, but because the mechanism of the mutation is different. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     In terms of translational potential, what do your findings suggest about either the ability to screen patients potentially for the development of CPVT or actually more importantly, you know, therapies to help treat these patients when they're identified? Jean-Pierre Benitah:    Yeah. It's one of the big problems with the CPVT, especially since when you look at the different mutations, those are different mutations that have been reported on the ryanodine receptor located on different hotspots on the ryanodine receptor. And it's seems that each hotspot could have a different type of mechanism behind that. So, for example, we show, there you see, you know, different mutations in collaboration with CPVT or 420Q mutation. So the mechanism was related to an alliteration of the sensitivity of the ryanodine receptor to the calcium. So the group of branching show that in other mutations, in other spots, hot spots, it was related in fact, to a modification of this. Also the sensitivity of calcium of the ryanodine receptor calcium, but from the luminal side. Ana Gomez:                Regarding your first question was diagnosis. I think that after our work, we may also include junctophilin, because so far there has not been any link to junctophilin for sensitivity. So when a patient has CPVT, they start screening for mutations in the ryanodine receptor, since it was found that this child was involved and then in other proteins. So I think now if they don't find in a patient, because there are still like 40% of CPVT patients that the mutation has not been found. Ana Gomez:                For therapeutic side maybe find a molecule that stimulates the binding of junctophilin to ryanodine receptor, but also maybe some smaller molecule that may interact between the N-terminal and the core solenoid because we found that in the interim molecular structure, they show tighter association between the N-terminal and the core solenoid. So maybe it's more of a tide or something that can be in between too. I mean, I don't know, but it's first line there. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Potential, but still far off. That's wonderful. So are some of these mechanisms, I assume, they would also be relevant in non-genetic forms of tachycardia? Is that the case? Could some of your findings also perhaps be applied to the tachycardia related to heart failure or other types of disease states? Ana Gomez:                I think it's actually, for example, junctophilin binding to ryanodine receptor in heart failure. It has not been yet studied, but we want to do it. It's something because as you say heart failure, it's a very common disease. So it's also very relevant to the public health. This is something that we need to know. Jean-Pierre Benitah:    One of the things that happens in heart failure is that it seems also that you are a dissociation between the calcium channels and the ryanodine receptor because you have less tissue formation. So perhaps this is difficult to try to figure out whether it would be the same, but perhaps this activation between the communication between the two channels is one of the main points that we have in CPVT and in heart failure related to tachycardia. Ana Gomez:                Yeah. In fact, many years ago we showed that. We showed that in heart failure there is a defect in calcium channel and ryanodine receptor. So in this study it was only functional. We didn't do the structure, but of course it is something that we have to keep in mind, continue investigating. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Yeah. Well that sounds like a great future project. Well, I want to thank you so much for joining me today and helping to discuss your paper. I love it when we take rare diseases and figure out the mechanism with hopefully applying it to more common disease states. That's what I do in my lab with vascular calcification, and so thank you so much for joining me and for this great publication. And we look forward to your future work that is hopefully in Circ Res. Jean-Pierre Benitah:    Thank you for the invitation. Ana Gomez:                Yeah, thank you very much for your time. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     That's it for the highlights from the July 23rd and August 6th issues of Circulation Research. Thank you for listening. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     Please check out the Circ Res Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram with the handle @CircRes and #DiscoverCircRes. Thank you to our guests, doctors Ana Gomez and John-Pierre Benitah. Cynthia St. Hilaire:     This podcast is produced by Ashara Ratnayaka, edited by Melissa Stoner, and supported by the editorial team of Circulation Research. Some of the copy text for the highlighted articles was provided by Ruth Williams. I'm your host, Dr Cynthia St. Hilaire, and this is Discover CircRes, your on-the-go source for the most exciting discoveries in basic cardiovascular research. This program is copyright of the American Heart Association, 2021. The opinions expressed by speakers in this podcast are their own and not necessarily those of the editors or of the American Heart Association. For more information, visit ahajournals.org.  

We're in the end game now because we watched Case File 46 of Timeranger entitled "Cut Off From The Future"! This week we're joined by our good bud and future MLMpod co-host Sean Marciniak (GooseVonKaiser on Twitch)! Join us as we discuss dweefing, daddy's member, James' work trip, cash apps, Socks as a witch, dad ghosts, hentai, "A Goofy Movie", digitize extras, bathing with buds, Tac, gifting our dads, Mac vs PC, "The Happiest Season", wrestling slip ups, sports entertainment, & more! Want to hear more from your favorite Marsh Land Media hosts? Hear exclusive shows, podcasts, and content by heading to Patreon.com/MLMpod! Have fan mail, fan art, projects you want us to review, or whatever you want to send us? You can ship directly to us using "James McCollum, PO Box 180036, 2011 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL 60618"! Please, learn about Black Lives Matter, the protests, and find ways to donate at https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/. Follow the podcast on Facebook & Twitter @MSSPod, on Instagram @MSSPodcast! Watch James' at Twitch.tv/MostlySpeakinSentai! Listen to his rap music under Marsh Land Monster on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, & more by clicking HERE. Send us a voice mail to be played on the show at (224) 900-7644! Nicole's Patreon is live! Check out www.Patreon.com/DarlingHombody for more details! Plus, head over to www.DarlingHomebody.com for all her art, the web comic Crumb Bums we make together, buy her merchandise, & watch her draw Gorma creations from the podcast! You can also buy her artwork on shirts and more on threadless.com/@darlinghomebody! Find her @DarlingHomebody on Instagram, Tumblr and Etsy! Buy her wares! Go purchase some of our original Sentai monster designs on RedBubble then post a pic on social media of you wearing the threads! www.redbubble.com/people/MSSPod/portfolio Find out more about James' other podcasts "What The Hellmouth?!" @WTHMPod on Twitter," I'll Get There", "Hit It & Crit It", and "This Movie's Gay" @ThisMoviesGay on Twitter, on our website, www.MLMPod.com!!! Plus, download James' new album "King Keizer X"!

The Treatment Action Campaign or TAC, says it is deeply concerned about the level of services offered at Gauteng public hospitals and clinics. However, the group has been unable to secure a meeting with premier David Makhura and the MEC for Health, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi to discuss their concerns. The TAC has now marched twice to Makhura's office in an attempt to discuss its concerns about the Gauteng health system. Radio Islam discussed this issue with TAC's Sibongile Tshabalala

Guess what? A chunk of ice bigger than New York City recently broke off the ice shelf in Antarctica. The continent has been recording some of its warmest days ever and that ice seems to be breaking off at an alarming rate. Before you ask, yes, we are talking about net loss.  If you are thinking about the potential effects of that if the trend should continue - good. There is so much ice on the massive continent that if all of it melted, it would raise sea level by 180ft. Not quite the way the world looks in Waterworld, but certainly there would be a lot less land. Of course, all of that ice is highly unlikely to melt and certainly won't do so overnight. That doesn't mean there aren't some immediate effects that we should concern ourselves with. One aspect is all of the freshwater that is getting added into the ocean. As that melts, the ocean's salt and minerals are diluted, potentially disrupting sensitive ecosystems.  It actually reminds me of another movie, The Day After Tomorrow. While the scenario in the film is outlandish, its premise is founded in a grain of truth. There has been a concern in the past that melting ice at the North Pole would disrupt the Trans-Atlantic Current (TAC). All the freshwater, being lighter than salt water, would in effect submerge the current, interrupting the flow of warm water the TAC brings up from the Caribbean. Some scientists believe that may be what caused the Little Ice Age from roughly 1300 – 1850 AD. This makes sense as immediately preceding that time frame was the equally well-known Medieval Warming Period.  The water from melting Antarctic ice is not terribly likely to directly affect the TAC, yet it could have an effect on weather in Australia by disrupting local water currents. The warmer water, in general, could also weaken the polar vortex at the South Pole. The vortex is created because of the difference in temperature between the water immediately around the frozen continent and the warmer water that comes down from the equatorial region. Less temperature difference equals a weaker vortex, which could lead to warmer and drier weather in Australia. If you remember the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, large swaths of Australia were a blazing hell-scape that at one point even rained fire. I'm sure they would like less of that, not more.  That begs the question, how does one make that happen? Most of us lack the resources to have any significant impact all by ourselves, positive or negative. However, when a large number of people all take action in a particular direction, the results can be astonishing, even though the action taken by one person seems insignificant. For those who fly, maybe the business can have their meetings on Zoom instead. Yes, the Davos crowd would do well to put their money where their mouths are on this one. Don't fly? Maybe one less steak a week. How does that affect anything? Cows take up a lot of land. A whole lot. That usually leads to the cutting down of lots of CO2 processing trees to make room for the bovine methane generators. A little less consumption on the part of everyone can save acres of rainforest. You most likely drive. Make your next car something more fuel efficient. In the meantime, getting all of your shopping done in one shot and cutting down on those trips to town wouldn't hurt.  Yes, these are all individually insignificant. But if a billion people around the world did it, it would add up to a big gain. You could then share the changes you've made via TARTLE, making it possible to track the effects, and determine what had the biggest net gain so people can actually see the results and use them to determine their own course of action. And maybe, that ice will melt just a little bit slower. What's your data worth? www.tartle.co   Tcast is brought to you by TARTLE. A global personal data marketplace that allows users to sell their personal information anonymously when they want to, while allowing buyers to access clean ready to analyze data sets on digital identities from all across the globe.   The show is hosted by Co-Founder and Source Data Pioneer Alexander McCaig and Head of Conscious Marketing Jason Rigby.   What's your data worth?   Find out at: https://tartle.co/   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TARTLE   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TARTLEofficial/   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tartle_official/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/TARTLEofficial   Spread the word!

Romans 3:23 says, "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (ESV) [1] How do most addiction counselors explain addiction and "insanity"? Do "good people" become insane? 3:13 Mark quotes Step 1 and Step 2 from The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous [2] and the goal of restoration to sanity. 4:32 Recovery world's goal is restoration to sanity because they have accepted the message of "insanity." 6:20 Colloquial definition of insanity 6:40 Definition of insanity [3] 7:55 Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith changed the original supposed Christian roots of the Twelve Step Program 10:20 "came to believe..." from Step 2 [2] 11:13 Dr. Shaw quotes from the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions,[4] 14:30 Is the problem insanity or is the problem sin? Is the solution any power greater than ourselves? 16:15 What is the remedy? 17:13 Ecclesiastes 9:3 "This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead." (ESV) [1] 18:40 What does the Holy Spirit accomplish in believers in Christ Jesus? 19:40 Why do words matter? Restoring to sanity or reconciling to God? Mark E. Shaw, D.Min., is the Founder of The Addiction Connection, and leads a network of Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselors with TAC. Find addiction residential programs at https://www.theaddictionconnection.org/residential-programs/ [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible. [2] From the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, which can be found at https://www.alcohol.org/alcoholics-anonymous/ [3] Google's English Dictionary provided by Oxford Languages. Definition found at https://www.google.com/search?q=insane&oq=insane&aqs=chrome..69i57j46i433j46j0i433j0i131i433j46i433j0i433l2j0i131i433j0i433.1288j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 [4] Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Thirty-eighth printing, June 1988, Alcoholics Anonymous World Services: New York, NY. Alcoholics Anonymous (R) is a registered trademark of A.A. World Services, Inc.

En este episodio de la serie P'urhépechas en la Diáspora, platicamos con Marlene Aguilar, Xicana de descendencia P'urhépecha, originaria de Copitero y La Soledad, en el municipio de Tacámbaro. Marlene nos comparte cómo fue crecer en el Este de Los Ángeles, y de su relación con su familia en su comunidad de origen. Asimismo, conversamos sobre su proyecto Irekuarhikua, que entrelaza la justicia alimentaria, los conocimientos culinarios tradicionales del pueblo p'urhepecha, y la jardinería urbana, ofreciendo un espacio para el reforzamiento de la cultura e identidad a través de la comida. La entrada P'urhépechas en la Diáspora, Episodio 5 se publicó primero en Radio Uekorheni.

Esse podcast traz diariamente o que de mais importante acontece no mundo das telecomunicações e da conectividade na curadoria e análise da TELETIME, a publicação que acompanha o mercado de telecomunicações há 23 anos.Se você ainda não se inscreveu, o podcast está disponível nas principais plataformas: Spotify, Apple e Google Podcasts.Se você ainda não acompanha a newsletter TELETIME, inscreva-se aqui gratuitamente e fique ligado no dia a dia do mercado de telecom. É simples e é gratuito.Você ainda pode acompanhar TELETIME pelo Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, Google News, ou em nosso canal no Telegram.---------------------------------------------BALANÇO FINANCEIROTelefónica multiplica lucro apesar de impacto do real e revisa guidance para 2021quinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 22h48Operadora registrou crescimento orgânico nas receitas e projetou cenário otimista para principais mercado no segundo trimestreMERCADOPela primeira vez, autorizadas passam concessionárias em acessos de telefonia fixaquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 22h45A operadora Oi continua sendo a maior fornecedora do serviço, com 9,1 milhões de linhas ativas, seguida pela Claro, com 8,9 clientesMERCADOMhnet conclui três aquisições e quer ser próxima operadora regional a fazer IPOquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 18h44Operadora de Santa Catarina compra provedores no Paraná e em São Paulo; abertura de capital está nos planosANÁLISECom provável subnotificação, base de celulares cai em junhoquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 18h42Seria a primeira queda em 12 meses, segundo dados da Anatel. Porém, a súbita interrupção da tendência de crescimento dos pequenos provedores indica que os dados podem não estar atualizadosCOMPETIÇÃOOi Móvel: conselheiro da Anatel sinaliza que argumentos da Algar poderão entrar no processoquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 17h25Moisés Moreira diz que há jurisprudência para que Algar não entre como parte do processo, mas indica que argumentos serão incorporados. Decisão é suspensa por vistasREGULAÇÃOAdiada apreciação da proposta de resolução conjunta Anatel/Aneel de uso de postesquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 16h57A pedido do conselheiro Moisés Moreira, item teve análise prorrogada por mais 120 diasTV POR ASSINATURATV paga segue a trajetória de perda de base em junhoquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 16h55Perda foi de 125 mil assinantes no mês, mantendo a média elevada em 2021REGULAMENTAÇÃOConselheiros da Anatel mostram interesse em análise rápida do TAC da Vivoquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 16h02Emmanoel Campelo pede mais prazo para finalizar seu relatório, mas demais conselheiros demonstram interesse em acelerar a análiseAGRONEGÓCIOEricsson e Vivo utilizam 5G para conectividade na Usina São Martinhoquinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 14h28Aplicação da empresa utiliza a faixa de 3,5 GHz, além do 4G em 700 MHz para promover a conectividade de maior cobertura na regiãoMERCADOBrisanet estreia na B3 com planos de ampliar atuação para todo o Nordestequinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 13h50Operadora cearense conclui IPO com mais de R$ 1,2 bilhão projetado para investimentos em expansão de rede e modelo de franquiasBALANÇO FINANCEIROApós reestruturação operacional, Nokia triplica lucro no segundo trimestrequinta-feira, 29 de julho de 2021 , 11h34Companhia atribui resultados ao projeto de turnaround implantado em março. Com isso, previsão de desempenho da empresa para 2021 foi revisada para cima See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Andrew Ehard is a diehard, passionate midwestern bowhunter and member of the Nock On Nation, but there's also another side to him. I say he leads a double life since at one moment of the day he can be in the courtroom as a highly respected attorney then two hours later in the woods chasing critters and flinging arrows. He's served in the military and returned home making his way through law school all while working up through the ranks of being a better bowhunter. He's one of those guys when you meet him at a TAC event or in a hunting camp you would never guess what he does on his day to day at the office.

Ephesians 4:11-15 says, "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ..." (ESV) [1] Our message at The Addiction Connection is this: Go to the local church first when you need help for your addiction. Find a pastor who can help you. If they cannot, go to TheAddictionConnection.org and look for programs and counselors who can help you. Find out about our Regional addictions counseling training event happening in Bothell, Washington at Canyon Hills Community Church this fall - September 23-25, 2021 here. https://www.theaddictionconnection.org/seattle/ Our emcee at this event is CJ McMurry, the Program Director at The Refuge in Winterset, Iowa - a men's residential addiction program with a genuinely biblical foundation and approach. CJ is also a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection and serves on the Board of TAC as well. 13:00 What makes TAC events unique? And what will the day-to-day schedule look like at this event in Bothell? 16:55 Ephesians 4:14-16 "...so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." [1] [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

BRAND YOUR PASSION Alok Rakyan is a loyal friend whose unwavering support through my years in the TAC leadership will always be cherished. He runs a jewelry business, carrying on a 400-year family legacy in India. Alok came to Japan 30 years ago to work for his uncle who was entrusted by his grandfather to expand the diamond business out of India. Eight years of tutelage later Alok goes independent specializing in diamond and precious stones. His company has since remodeled to producing custom-designed jewelry and Alok's brand is making its mark in the industry. He gave a special shout-out to my son Lewis - “Let your passion drive you!”

Psalm 51:17 says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." [1] How to discern someone's readiness and willingness to participate in addiction ministry? Dr. Mark E. Shaw and CJ McMurry discuss Psalm 51:17 in its own biblical context, and also apply these truths to wisely assessing someone's readiness to enter addiction programming -- whether that is residential or non-residential. Mark is the President and Founder of The Addiction Connection, and also serves as the Director of Counseling at Grace Fellowship Church in Florence, KY. Guest CJ McMurry is the Program Director at one of TAC's listed residential programs called The Refuge in Winterset, Iowa. He is also a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection. Find out more about The Refuge here. Find more addiction residential programs at https://www.theaddictionconnection.org/residential-programs/ How can program leaders assess someone's readiness (godly vs. worldly sorrow) How did CJ see this in his own heart when he was looking for help for his own addictive struggles? Right motivations vs. wrong motivations for seeking help. Primary vs. Secondary reasons to seek help. In what ways are people sometimes blinded to their own reasons that are motivating them? Why are the people of the local Body of Christ vital in our growth as a Christian? What is the importance of residential programs emphasizing that they are only meant to be temporary places of protection? What makes Mark Shaw recommend The Refuge in Winteset, Iowa, as a program for residential help for addiction? How can we be realistic in how we observe behavior and continue to serve those who are caught in addiction? Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands is a book by Paul David Tripp that CJ mentions as he explains how to be faithful in ministering to those with sin struggles. Mark closes with John 9:35-41, which says, "Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,' your guilt remains." (ESV) [1] [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

Caleb Ewan, Max Gawn, Alex Clements and Campbell Flakemore check in on this year's Tour de France, talk about sprinting, discuss what makes athletes successful, and much much more. Sign up the TAC's bike light trial here: https://bit.ly/3rdYnku   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adriana y Paula conversan con Sonia del Cisne sobre teatro, arte, cultura y cómo los viajes nos ayudan a estallar en creatividad, empatía y autenticidad. ¿Cómo es viajar a través del teatro?, ¿Por qué el teatro y los viajes tienen un trasfondo similar?, ¿A qué lugares volvería siempre Sonia? _______________ Sonia del Cisne es actriz, productora, directora de teatro, presidente de Uniarte y amante absoluta de los viajes. Ha recorrido varios rincones del mundo y festivales internacionales con el teatro, y actualmente lidera la Sociedad de gestión de autores y artistas del Ecuador, también es fundadora de la productora teatral Tacón Aguja. _______________ Queremos agradecer al Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador y a librería Mr. Books, que han sido grandes aliados en esta segunda temporada. También, a los Swing Original Monks por los derechos de uno de sus temas como intro de Mapadentro. _______________ Síguenos en nuestras redes sociales, en Spotify y Apple Podcasts: Instagram: http://instagram.com/mapadentro Facebook: http://facebook.com/mapadentro Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3c0mU3X Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2XLCbkI Suscríbete para no perderte ningún episodio, y viaja siempre con nosotras. ¡L@s esperamos aquí cada miércoles!

Check out my latest podcast episode.  I am joined by fellow outdoorsman Daniel Guillette who participated in the 2021 Total Archery Challenge (AKA “TAC”) in San Antonio.  This is an event I've always wanted to go to but haven't had the chance.  Basically, TAC is a multi-state extreme 3d Archery shooting event that draws archers from all over.  Join me as I ask Daniel about his setup, how he prepared, and a general overview and experience of TAC Texas. Check out Daniel's content on YouTube and Instagram https://www.youtube.com/user/dannorocks84  Instagram @daniel.guillette For more info about TAC: https://totalarcherychallenge.com/ Follow us on Facebook Page @SoTXoutdoors or on Instagram @Thats_soTXoutdoors Or contact me via email at SoTXoutdoors@gmail.com

Esse podcast traz diariamente o que de mais importante acontece no mundo das telecomunicações e da conectividade na curadoria e análise da TELETIME, a publicação que acompanha o mercado de telecomunicações há 23 anos.Se você ainda não se inscreveu, o podcast está disponível nas principais plataformas: Spotify, Apple e Google Podcasts.Se você ainda não acompanha a newsletter TELETIME, inscreva-se aqui gratuitamente e fique ligado no dia a dia do mercado de telecom. É simples e é gratuito.Você ainda pode acompanhar TELETIME pelo Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Facebook, Google News, ou em nosso canal no Telegram._________________________________REFORMA TRIBUTÁRIAPartidos acusam governo de boicotar proposta de reforma tributária em debate no Congressoquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 21h51Na carta, os presidentes do MDB, PSL, DEM, PSDB, Solidariedade, Podemos, Novo, Cidadania e PV dizem que são contra a proposta apresentada pelo governo de reajustar o Imposto de RendaANPDANPD adia audiência pública sobre normas de fiscalização e aplicação de sanções da LGPDquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 21h49A minuta que será debatida estabelece o mecanismo de fiscalização que a Autoridade pretende adotar, com previsão de ações de monitoramento, orientação, prevenção e aplicação de sanção, seguindo a lógica da regulação responsiva.FAKE NEWSPesquisa mostra que preocupação com fake news mudou uso do WhatsApp pelos brasileirosquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 21h46Dos mais 3.100 participantes da pesquisa, metade afirmou ter notado mudanças nas regras de convivência de grupos, sobre o que poderia ou não ser compartilhado neles. Isso é fruto polarização política evidenciada de 2018BANDA LARGAAlgar Telecom lança banda larga de 1 Gbps com fibra ópticaquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 19h36Serviços será comercializados por R$ 289,90 na área de concessão da operadora mineiraESTRATÉGIATelefónica firma parceria com TikTok na América Latina e Europaquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 19h13Acordo envolve ações de marketing, de distribuição e geração de novas receitas na América Latina e EuropaAGÊNCIAS REGULADORASPlenário do Senado aprova novos diretores da Ancinequinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 19h01Três novos diretores foram aprovados para mandatos de cinco anosPIRATARIAOperação bloqueia 334 sites de pirataria digitalquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 18h32Ao todo, foram cumpridos, 11 mandados judiciais de busca e apreensão, bloqueio e/ou suspensão de 94 aplicativos de streaming ilegal de conteúdo, desindexação de conteúdo em mecanismos de busca e remoção de perfis e páginas em redes sociaisAJUSTAMENTO DE CONDUTATIM vai adiantar obrigação de cobertura 4G em TAC, afirma Anatelquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 16h36Cidades com cobertura 4G prevista para fim de 2022 terão serviço um ano antes; confira lista de completa de compromissos da operadora com a AnatelTV POR ASSINATURAPDT questiona no Supremo obrigações introduzidas pela MP do Fistelquinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 16h26Questionamento se dá especificamente na obrigação das operadoras de TV por assinatura serem obrigadas a distribuir sinais das retransmissoras de TVFINANÇASOi corrige balanço financeiro e reduz prejuízo no primeiro trimestrequinta-feira, 08 de julho de 2021 , 14h28Revisão da depreciação de ativos mantidos para venda reduziu prejuízo de R$ 3,5 bilhões para R$ 3 bilhões See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

QUIET FLAME Joining me today is Chuck Johnson, a Taekwondo national champion, who teaches classes at TAC and also runs two businesses, Strong Body Japan and Quiet Flame Productions. Our time was limited, but we covered various topics - his family and childhood, coming to Japan, his thoughts on effective human communication, and what he sees for himself in 10 years.

Alright...don't laugh at me, but I really think this song is absolutely foundational for learning guitar. And, even though everyone treats it like a punching bag, it's one of the best vehicles for learning chords, improvising, and phrasing. Yep, we're talking about Darius Rucker and his hit classic "Wagon Wheel." Whether you're a beginner guitar player or experienced, you need to learn this song. There's so much to unpack in this simple, 4-chord song. The sky's the limit on this one, and it provides a solid framework for so many other songs.  Additionally, you'll get a chance to see what's going on inside the TAC community and hear from one of our members.  Last but not least, I'm dishing the latest acoustic guitar news you can use. There's plenty to cover this week, and I hope you enjoy!

The Addiction Connection's Founder, Dr. Mark E. Shaw, and Freedom Farm Ministries' Executive Director, Jim Quigley, preview and discuss the upcoming TAC Summit 2021. In addition to serving at Freedom Farm, Jim is a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection and serves on TAC's Board. Find more addiction residential programs at https://www.theaddictionconnection.org/residential-programs/ Beginning Thursday Evening, Nov 4, 2021, The Addiction Connection Summit is the place to connect with like-minded Addictions Biblical Counselors. The Summit will continue through that Friday (11/5/2021) and Saturday (11/6/2021). Find out more info here... https://www.theaddictionconnection.org/summit2021/ Having "enthusiasm" in addiction ministry will be a theme for the time together at the Summit. Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (ESV) [1] What was Jim's first Summit experience like? How are ministries in TAC's network highlighted at the Summit? What are the small group rooms like at the Summit? How many states in the US are represented at the Summit? What is the correlations between losing enthusiasm for addiction ministry and losing our focus on God? Who will be speaking and attending TAC Summit? [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

ART and TAC shifted focus to theatre works adapted into digital mediums, and co-produced a new audio drama starring 2nd-Year Conservatory students. This 70-minute audio drama was written specifically for seven students by acclaimed playwright Diana Burbano, and directed by ART Executive Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez. Award-winning sound designer Rodolfo Ortega (ART's Magellanica) has created a cinematic soundscape and original score for the piece. The Vertical City audio drama is a character study set in a future-Portland built to survive the effects of climate change, and imagines how technology might evolve society at the end of the 21st century, both for better and worse.  Visit https://artistsrep.org/performance/vertical-city/ to purchase the Premium access and listen to  the complete BONUS episode.

The Addiction Connection's Founder, Dr. Mark E. Shaw, and Freedom Farm Ministries' Executive Director, Jim Quigley, continue their in-studio discussion of terminology and stigma based upon the Drug Education Council, Inc.'s list of suggestions. In addition to serving at Freedom Farm, Jim is a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection and serves on TAC's Board. Find more addiction residential programs at https://www.theaddictionconnection.org/residential-programs/ Mark and Jim talk about the phrase, "resistant to treatment," which is said to have negative connotations. 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 "And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." (ESV) [1] Jim speaks frankly about those who come to him wanting to leave the addictions program earlier than they originally committed to. They also discuss the common observation of someone who cannot see their own sin and self-deception, which the world would call denial. The presuppositions of the Drug Education Council's worldview must be discerned in order to understand the deceptions of these messages even as subtle as, "You can self-correct. You just need our help to self-correct." [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

Reserve your spot to the Managing Madrid Podcast LIVE IN LOS ANGELES Reserve your spot to the Managing Madrid Podcast LIVE IN TORONTO Reserve your spot to the Managing Madrid Podcast LIVE IN DALLAS This episode of the Managing Madrid Podcast comes in two parts. Part One: Kiyan Sobhani and Matt Wiltse review Euro action Thibaut Courtois's one completed dribble Eden Hazard's performance vs Portugal His synergy with Thorgan Hazard and Romelu Lukaku Renato Sanches Fernando Santos's decisions Hazard's injury Gareth Bale vs Denmark Spinazzola and tactical trends David Alaba vs Italy Good and bad use of stats Our favourite nostalgic games How we became Madridista And more. Part Two (1:06:38 ish): Grant Little and Om Arvind on Las Blancas The starting lineup Samara Ortíz's quality off the bench Real Madrid's easy control in the first half The chemistry that has been built over the season Sofia Jakobsson's final game for Las Blancas? Updates on Kosovare Asllani's contract situation Teresa Abelleira's golazo Assessing Jakobsson's performance Comparing the Sofia of last season with the one we saw this season Madrid completely switching off in the second half Cristina Martin-Prieto's bully-ball and shades of Mayra Ramírez The irony of David Aznar's subs The hilarious image of Marta Cardona Misa's Zamora award The massive defensive improvement from the Tacón days Why the next few seasons will be more about holding our position rather than catching Barcelona Future podcast plans We can hear the UWCL anthem already Did you enjoy this podcast? Please consider supporting us through Patreon for more bonus content: Patreon.com/ManagingMadrid Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Mosh Zone Episode #167.  This week we chat with Daniel of Die Young, Tooth And Claw about the influences that shaped his path into music, being straight edge, being vegan, the beautiful chaos that Die Young created, the legacy the band left, reason for the band ending and then subsequently reforming, the current status of the band, how TAC came about, the reaction to their recent album, his literacy career and much more!!

[Weekly Show #1119 2021-06-26] We've got some really cool news that some people have interpreted as bad news. And this has to do with general motors and their hydrogen fuel cell. This is a very interesting story. [00:00:13] I've always been fascinated with the Hindenburg and what happened there. And I did a lot of investigations. And of course the, there was the initial investigation that happened back in 1937. When the Hindenburg actually crash, I found online, you can buy pieces of the Hindenburg online. [00:00:35] There's this kind of an auction house. You can get a small square of the fab. Of the Hindenburgs outer shell for 99 bucks. I found them online. I didn't buy any, although I was thinking, that might actually be cool, but what am I going to do with it? Rights to get on a wall then what w what was interesting about it and about the fabric was what the German engineers had. [00:01:01] Now we know that you can use helium and helium is a great little gas it's inert. It's not going to catch fire. It is also lighter than air. There's a lunch, a lot of others, great properties that has, you can use it for super cooling things that you can't with. Most other gases, helium is much better for super cooling than oxygen is. [00:01:23] And hydrogen is Excel. Helium is getting hard to find the United States had a strategic reserve of helium. Now, to me, that makes sense because we did at one point need helium. We had dirge bubbles. We still do. We still use helium to send weather balloon. Been various other things, but then the federal government decided ELA. [00:01:48] We don't need to keep this reserve anymore. So they sold it off. As of next year, there won't be anything left in that strategic reserve. So where do we get helium? We get it from regular old oil mine. So they drill a hole it's created by the breakdown of various elements in the soil, primarily some of the hard rocks. [00:02:14] And as they break down and decay, they produce helium as one of the byproducts. Now what's been happening in the reason we are in. A helium shortage. Number three in fact, is that we are now fracking. Fracking Lutz is extract a lot more natural gas and a lot more , which is what we're really trying to do and keep some of those costs down. [00:02:44] But it also does not create as much helium and that's. And it's a really big problem when you get right down to it and you're trying to figure out if we're going to fill up a balloon, that's going to go up. What are we going to do now? Approximately a quarter of all of the helium that's news out there goes into these birthday balloons. [00:03:09] Okay. So yeah, it's it's kinda cool, but it's not an absolutely necessary thing, frankly, but it is used in all kinds of other things, including experiments. You remember? I said that helium is used to super cool thing. Think of these massive hydraulic colliders, some of the other experiments that are going on, where we have a magnet. [00:03:37] Now, one of the biggest, most important things we're doing with magnets right now is trying to create a container for nuclear fusion. Now nuclear fusion doesn't have the byproducts of nuclear fusion. Although we've solved most of those vision problems, you don't have this highly radioactive stuff anymore that we used to have in the old reactors. [00:04:01] Although we haven't been building new ones for what, 40 years now. But those particular types of containers, if you will, are built by these big magnets. So these magnets hold it in place. And in order to get the amount of power we need to, to these magnet, we have to super cool them. We have to super cool, the power supplies, and that is typically using helium. [00:04:27] So we've had to shut down some of these experiments. Because we don't have enough helium so much for the strategic reserve, that is almost completely depleted. And by the way, the federal government in its infinite wisdom sold that helium off at a fraction of fair market value. That's a problem because it just went crazy. [00:04:52] People were using it for things that just weren't that important. And now many of our experiments are getting shut down, but in the world war two era and pre-World war II era Germany had a problem trying to get helium itself. Germany doesn't have a whole lot of oil reserves and it had to buy everything. [00:05:12] And the United States really didn't want to sell here. To Germany. So what Germany did and you guys probably all know this from your history lessons, cause you are the best and brightest hydrogen was used. And because hydrogen was used it was a flammable gas. And when there was a spark, when it was trying to land. [00:05:36] It went up, it caught fire. Now what's really interesting is if you look at the pictures that were taken of it burning, there were obviously elements other than hydrogen, because hydrogen burns beautifully pure. You can't really even see it. And what would normally happen is you wouldn't have. Poof. [00:05:58] And the whole thing just burns up. You'd have a hole and that hole be shooting a flame out as it was ignited, right as the hydrogen was ignited and the whole, my discontinue to get a a little bigger until there's no pressurized hydrogen anymore. And the fire's over, but that's not what happened with the Hindenburg. [00:06:18] She caught fire. Because of that spark and it had that spark because of the weather conditions at the time, they just weren't being cautious enough. In fact, that was the very last large dirigible Airship. Ever made, frankly it's crazy, yeah. We got the Goodyear blimp, we got some of these others and they need the helium to fill them up. [00:06:43] And then over time it was kinda like a swimming pool. You filled it up and you, all you have to do is just add a little bit more now, and then you don't have to, because of leakage, you don't have to completely refill it all of the time. So what ended up happening is they had hydrogen on board. [00:07:02] Had the spark started a flame and then the cloth material that coated this massive container holding all of the hydrogen caught fire, but it didn't just catch fire. What happened was it caught fire and. It burned very quickly because effectively the entire outside surface of the Hindenburg was coated with rocket fuel. [00:07:30] Some of the same components that go into gunpowder aluminum powder, which gave it that kind of silver shine. They really messed up. So people are looking at what is happening now with general motors. Tech fuel cell technology and other a little bit worried because this technology was developed for cars. [00:07:51] It is being used in some parts of the world, in some parts of the country. I know California has some hydrogen cars on the road with a fuel cell. Now they're not burning hydrogen. In order to transport the car, they're actually allowing a chemical process to occur. So the hydrogen atom is attracted to the oxygen atom and they use a membrane so that they're trying to get together. [00:08:18] And that's what produces electricity. And then what is the result when you have two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom and they combine H two O so the only. Final end product here coming out of that car is pure. Which is cool. So GM says wait a minute. Now we have this technology, why don't we try and make airplanes a little bit more efficient? [00:08:45] And so they're saying you don't, you're taking off with two tons of water on board. How about we put a hydrogen fuel cell in there. You will be well to generate electricity. Now that's a very big deal because now that electricity doesn't have to be generated by the turbines of the gas engine. And on top of it all, you don't have to take off with two tons of water on board because we can generate water as your. [00:09:16] And of course, they're not going to coat it with a rocket fuel. They are going to put it in one of these really cool containers that is considered to be very safe. So it's very cool. So the litmus test, according to our friends over at general motors, he this is a GM executive. Director Charlie frees. [00:09:36] He says our technology can address customer needs in a wide range of uses on land, sea, air, or rail. And this collaboration we could open up new possibilities for aircraft transitioning to alternative energy, power sources. Now I don't expect a plane to be actually flying on this any time soon. [00:09:58]Hydrogen is a great little fuel, but it doesn't provide enough energy to get that jet off the ground at all, but it does provide enough energy to supplement it so good for them. I think this is a good use frankly, of the hydrogen fuel cells, as long as we can avoid it leaking and causing other major problems. [00:10:21] But I think that can be solved. Look at what we've been able to do now. These containers for the pretty much everything that can be hit by a train at full speed and not. So I think we got this covered. All right, everybody stick around. We'll be right back. And we're going to talk about it. A new type of vigilante that you may not have heard of before. [00:10:46] Of course, you're listening to Craig Peterson. Check me out online. CraigPeterson.com. [00:10:52]Well, you probably know again here, because you're the best and brightest, what a vigilante is. Well, I bet you haven't really heard about this type of vigilante before, and it is causing havoc for as many as 40% of computers. [00:11:10]Well, vigilantes have throughout history decided that they were going to take the launch of their own hands. [00:11:16] Now, way back when there wasn't law enforcement, et cetera, that's just what you did. And then we ended up with the tribes and our tribes would decide, okay, what's going to happen to this person. And you know, one of the worst things that could possibly happen way back. Caveman days. And after frankly, the worst thing that could happen to you is getting banished because having a group of people who are living together, cooperating together, working together makes all of the difference when it comes to survive. [00:11:53] And being kicked out of that tribe out of that group meant you had a very low chance of long-term survival. And if you went into another group, they'd really be suspicious about you because where did you come from? Did somebody kick you out because you did something really, really bad? You know, I kind of wonder if that's not deeply ingrained inside of us from all of those. [00:12:19] Centuries millennia with that whole type of process in place where we see someone that's different than us. And we kind of wonder, right. If you think that's where that might've come from. Interesting thought. I don't know that I've ever seen any studies about that. So vigilantes, nowadays are people who they're not going to the chieftain. [00:12:40] They're not going to the local police department or the prosecutor who a, whoever it might be. They are taking the law as it were into their own hands. Now it's not necessarily even the law, they just decide that they want something to happen in a particular way. And by having that happen in that particular way, they now have control. [00:13:06] Right. They're making the law as it were not just enforcing it. We have a lot of malware out there and there's a lot of different types. You might remember what Sony did, Sony. Decided they didn't like people ripping their CDs. And so they went ahead and installed an automatic installer for windows computers. [00:13:29] So if you tried to play your favorite Sony CD, right. Audio CD, listen to some music, it would automatically install some what. You and I would call malware on your computer and it would look at everything you were doing on your computer. To try and make sure that you were not trying to make a copy of the desk, not just a copy, but what we call ripping it. [00:14:00] In other words, you have a CD and you have an MP3 player. How do you get the CD on the MP3 player? Cause you can't just stick it into an MP3 player, so you have to rip it and that converts it from the CD format into an MP3 format. So it's all digital. You can take it away. And I have really griped about the music industry before, because they make way more money off of CDs than they ever did off of records. [00:14:28] Just because of how cheap it is. It costs them like 10 cents, not even to make a CD. And it costs them a couple of bucks to make a record back in the. So they decided they would do digital without thinking twice about while digital means you can a perfect copy, perfect coffee copy of that desk. And so it's only, he said, I'll go, well, here's what we're going to do. [00:14:53] We're going to make this. And so it installed itself. Way down deep inside the operating system. It watched as you loaded up desks and watched what you did that is malware. And that was Sony being frankly, a vigilant. Yeah. They said, Hey, it's for copyright protection, but there was no encryption on CDs. [00:15:16] There still isn't on compact discs. When we're talking about music desks, there is encryption on DVDs and that's what they did in order to say, well, you can't rip it because it's an encryption. Past the digital communications millennial act. And then from that act, they were able to now have controls. Hey, listen, if it's something's encrypted, you can't even try to dig. [00:15:40] Okay. Pretty, pretty big deal. So there's a whole lot to this whole vigilante thing. And someone is added again, in this case, we found a researcher who has found something you just don't really see very often, you know, outside that sone thing, but it's booby trapped file. Yeah, there's these files that are out there on the internet on a bunch of torrent sites and others that are pirated software and they have a booby trap inside. [00:16:18] Now the pirated software is typically things like a Microsoft windows or all of their different software, right word. And you name it all the way across the line. They also, by the way, have put some of this malware into games because there's a lot of people that run games and they grabbed these cracked games from the inside. [00:16:45] So we're talking about boob bootleg talk. And so what this person or people, or whoever it is, is doing according to Sofos labs, principal researcher, his name is Andrew Brandt is get getting these people to install this software that has. A booby trap and that what it does is you think you're just installing the game or whatever it might be. [00:17:15] But in reality, you're installing software that sends. The file name that was executed to an attacker controlled server. So it knows, oh, you're trying to run Microsoft word and it sends along your IP address of your computers. And then what it does is this vigilante software. It tries to modify the victim's computers so they can no longer. [00:17:43] Access some, 1000 other pirate sites, like the pirate bay.com, which is a very popular site out. Oh, out there. So this is obviously not your typical malware, not at all. And they are doing this same type of thing. That's so needed way back in the day, modifying your computer so that you can not do something that may be illegal. [00:18:11] It may be mostly, most of the time, he illegal, hard to say, but in reality, they're modifying it without you knowing. It's a very, very big deal. So people are using software, kind of like this vigilante software to steal stuff. Usually it's passwords, or maybe your keystrokes or cookies or your intellectual property access Eve, the people are even using ad networks, advertising networks to deliver software. [00:18:44] But that will mind cryptocurrency for them. Okay. But those are all theft. That's what the motive is, but not in this case. These samples really only did a few things and none of them follow the motive for malware criminals. It's fascinating. He had a thing that he posted over there on Twitter, kind of talking about it, but once the victims executed this Trojan file, it gets sent out to a server and I'm sure the FBI is tracking down this server. [00:19:16]It's one flourish. She drew.com in pronounceable. And it's it's not the one fee share, which is the name of a Cod storage provider, but it's pretty close to it. And it sends it out. I'm looking at the list of all of these websites that it tries to block by going into your hosts file. But it's an interesting way to approach it. [00:19:41] Isn't it, frankly, by mapping the domains for all of these torrent sites and pirate site. To your local host, the malware is making sure that your computer, I can't access those websites. Okay. Anyways, if it happens to you just go in and edit the host file. It's really quite that simple. All right. Stick around everybody. [00:20:03] But while you're waiting, go ahead, go online, go to CraigPeterson.com. Once you're there. You can easily subscribe to my newsletter and keep up-to-date on everything. CraigPeterson.com. [00:20:18]We've been worrying about what is happening with ransomware with a cyber attacks and where is it coming from? We've got a new study out, did showing that one in five manufacturing companies are not only targeted by cyber attacks, but are getting nailed and getting nailed back. [00:20:38]This is a bigger problem, and I think most of us realize, and I have a few manufacturing clients who have been nailed badly by cyber attacks. Very badly. There is a new study out that looked at this it's called the manufacturing cybersecurity. Index. And this is a report that has the results of surveys of 567 manufacturing employees. [00:21:08] Now that is quite a few and most of these people were in fact, in the it side of things, some of them were specifically in the cyber securities. That one was most interesting about this. Isn't the fact that just that one out of five manufacturing companies is targeted by cyber attacks, but what the response, what the thoughts of these people that run the companies are. [00:21:37] And I say that because I am just constantly amazed at how businesses just are not paying attention to this, and this is proof again, and here's what it is. Information stealing malware makes up about a third of attacks, but companies are worried about what ransomware, the worried about ransomware shutting down production. [00:22:05] That is a very big deal because of course it does, but what is going to hurt you more? And that's what you got to figure out. That's what companies have to really look. These numbers that we're looking at are according to this article I'm reading at a dark reading, which is a great site. If you haven't been there before, and you'd like to follow some of these things in the cybersecurity world, definitely check it out. [00:22:34] Dark reading, very easy to very easy to look at lots of good stuff. But Robert limos is a contributing writer over there. And he's the guy that wrote that. And so he is saying that more than one third of all manufacturing firms are attacked every month. That's absolutely amazing. Now, of course not all manufacturing employees really know when a company is being attacked, but ransomware attacks that they know, because usually that means much of the company is shut down when it happens. [00:23:12]Because ransomware attacks have this major impact on the business and the other types of attacks.  information most of the time companies never find out unless it's too late again, it's usually ransom or extortion. They're two sides of the same coin. So an extortion attack might be where they get onto a network. [00:23:37] Exfiltrate data. And then they say, Hey, listen, we've got all of this data. Do you want us to post your bank, account numbers, customer information, your intellectual property, your plans, whatever it is, you want us to post them online? Huh? And if not pay out. Okay. So this is, I think a very big problem. [00:23:58] There are major blocks between it information technology and security teams. And I also have to point out that most it decisions nowadays most what would normally be an information technology decision is actually being handled by a line of business matters. Who chose the software you're using to track your customers? [00:24:25] It was probably the sales guy, right? There's the, it's not, the CEO is not the it director. It's the director of sales or marketing or the accounting people who decided to use QuickBooks online as opposed to using something else. All of these types of decisions are out of the hands of it and are way out of the hands of the cybersecurity. [00:24:52] That's because of this massive changing landscape out there. It's absolutely huge. Now there's a survey also of 250 information technology workers, and they found that 61% of the companies experienced a cybersecurity incident affecting their factories. 61%. Of manufacturers had a cybersecurity incident that affected the factories and three quarters of those incidences took production offline. [00:25:26] That's according to another report that came out in March, just mindblowing. Isn't it. So ransomware accounts for only 13% of these attempted attacks on devices. But the information thieves account for 31% of the attacks and file us attacks account for 28%. So here's a quote from morphous sec. These are the guys that produced the first report. [00:25:56] I mentioned, although these sobering threats are certainly not limited to the manufacturing industry, cyber attackers are acutely aware of the data manufacturing facilities have on hand, right? Think about all of that data, think about all of the intellectual property. So it goes on. In fact, some cyber crime groups have even been using ransomware as a smoke screen for cyber attacks, designed to steal intellectual property, increasing the damage they can inflict in the long run as they bully victims. [00:26:31] By threatening to leak data if they don't pay. Now, I've warned about that before. If you've got something that looks like a ransomware attack happening, pops up on your screen, it's got that classic red screen ransomware page. That may just be a smoke screen. You may not have ransomware. [00:26:49] Your files may not be encrypted because what most of these guys nowadays are doing is making additional money offers, stealing your files solid. It depends on the group and this isn't what dark side does, but some other groups do and they can really socket. Ever since the authorities disrupted the emo tech network in January, we've seen attacks split into and smaller groups are increasingly working together in new ways. [00:27:19] And these highly targeted groups are very dangerous because they can execute multi-faceted attacks, giving the collective expertise. Again, it's just like business. If you're trying to sell something, you need to narrow down and you need to get as narrow as possible. And that means the cyber groups are specializing in a specific industry and they're specializing in a specific way. [00:27:48] To attack. This is really fascinating. And there's a few reports that come out every year. Verizon has a very good one on cyber attacks. Statistics. IBM has one gardener of course always does their little thing on the side. Those tend to be, and more narrowly focused, but this is the first time we've seen this report. [00:28:09] So we don't have any sort of comparative data from prior years. But what the, what these guys are saying is that in that the pandemic has shifted attack trends and ransomware has grown from single digit percentages to 13%. As I mentioned already, almost two thirds of surveyed employees believe that the chance of a breach increased because of remote work. [00:28:37] And we know that's true. BI has been warning about that. We've seen it again and again. So be very careful. Okay. Most of these manufacturing companies have had people working from home during the lockdown, nearly two thirds said that it has increased the risk of a breach. And let me tell you, it really has. [00:28:58] And so keep all of that in mind, if you are in manufacturing or if you're concerned about our manufacturing base here in the us man, is there something to be worried about? And that's a shame. How do we conduct business? How do we keep our economy going? If our manufacturers are getting knocked down or getting knocked out of the game, Hey, visit me online. [00:29:23] CraigPeterson.com. You'll find all of this all on my podcast and much more. [00:29:28]We've had some good news this year about the bad guys and law enforcement. That's why it's good news because we've been shutting a bunch of them down. They're still out there and there's more and more, and it's getting more expensive, but I'm going to share some other good news. [00:29:45] Ukraine has had a lot of cybersecurity problems. [00:29:49] You might remember this tax program. That was the number one program used in the Ukraine, or I guess they just say Ukraine now. And it had a major piece of malware. And near, as we can tell, it was designed to attack the Ukrainian users of this tax software. Now, not just because, why would someone outside of Ukraine use the tax software? [00:30:19]No. What happened was the software gets onto a computer and so much Maltz in the militia software game. It goes and tries to infect other computers and then other computers, it goes on and on. So what happened here was it looked like the we're trying to really wreck havoc with Ukraine and with the government's money supply coming from TAC. [00:30:47] Remember this whole thing where you crane was invaded and we didn't do anything right. And Russia took it over that portion of trying to get down to some more, again, see access using Ukraine. So it an X part of Ukraine on it was, Hey, it isn't does it. It is nothing yet. It was Russian special forces. You had that airplane that went. [00:31:11] Down apparently also by Russian special forces. So Ukraine has had. Enough and the Ukrainian police now have arrested members of this noon Torrijos ransomware gang that also has targeted American universities and other businesses here in the United States. This is a very big deal because it's bigger than it might appear. [00:31:37] At first. This was the last Wednesday. The Ukrainian national police made an announcement that they were working with Interpol and the U S and south Korean authorities. Now why all of those different places? Obviously they might want to use a little bit of expertise, maybe. BI, maybe from some of these others, but as it turned out, the most of the damages were in the us and South Korea and the bad guys were there as well. [00:32:13] This is also because they're having trouble, these ransomware people and people that are trying to spread other types of malware, their hands. Trouble finding the right employees. Yeah. Yeah. Employees sometimes their gig. And they'll hire people to launder money, unbeknownst to them many times, it says, Hey, I don't have a PayPal account. [00:32:37] Can you I'll transfer some money to you on PayPal and I'll let you keep 50 bucks or whatever it is. And if you could just wire it into this bank account. So those are called mules and they're part of the money laundering. If you've done that you might've been involved in something illegal, some of those people were here in the U S cause that's again, they're trying to get the money out nowadays. [00:33:01] They are also courts using Bitcoin primarily, but other cryptocurrencies as well. But these guys were, it was called Klopp. They had, or  depending how we went. They had stolen a half a billion dollars. Basically half a billion dollars in damages. So everybody really wanted them. But this is the first time that a national law enforcement agency has carried out mass arrest of a ransomware game. [00:33:34] That is a very big deal. So Ukraine is now doing more basically than Russia has. Russia is a hub for ransomware gangs. We know that right? Whether Putin has control over them as directed them or not, that is up to debate, but there are a lot of ransomware gangs over and run. And you think about Russia and how big it is you realize its economy is about the same as New York state. [00:34:02]Yeah, it's a decent sized economy, but it's nothing compared to the other major economies in the world. They have Russia been blamed for harboring cyber criminals because they have not been prosecuting them and they don't extradite them. Remember president Biden was going to ask for extraditions and they're trying to figure out a deal and. [00:34:28] President Putin said sure. We'll extradite them. If you extradite people, we want to, which of course isn't going to happen. So who have they been going after and what have they been doing? This group is one of several ransomware. Cartels is what the call-in on. Now that sees the target state. And then encrypted and demand a ransom to release it. [00:34:55] And then they also do the double extortion where they say, Hey, if you don't pay the ransom to decrypt your files, we are going to leak sensitive information on it. So the targets they've included shell oil company, the international law firm Jones day. You might've heard of that one as well as several us universities, including Stanford in the university of California. [00:35:25] Think of how big that is. I'd be shocked if university of California, wasn't the biggest. In the country. So in most cases, these hackers used a vulnerability in this file transfer product by company called a . So if you're using that's ACC E L I O N S  in your business or to connect to your business or file transfers, double check it and make sure it's up to date because that's how they compromise their Vixen. [00:35:55] But they're a victim. Obviously ransomware is in the spotlight right now. There've been a lot of these huge attacks hitting our critical infrastructure. We've got the colonial pipeline. We've also got a course them, big meat processing plant. We've seen them hit some of these water filtration, plant electric grid. [00:36:19] All over the place. So governments, not just the us, but worldwide now are under a lot of pressure to try and stop these cyber criminals. So we'll see what happens, a small country like Ukraine. It is it's just amazing to me that they are taking the lead. It's a, it's just incredible. So let's look them up right now. [00:36:46]Ukraine size financial see what it has to say here on duck. Duck go their economy. So they rank per capita GDP, gross domestic product, a hundred and 19th, not so good. And their GDP rank is 56. So in other words, most of their people are on the very poor side. And a number one looks like sector is agriculture. [00:37:13] So they are a head of Russia. They are ahead of most countries except really Eastern European and the United States. So congratulations to Ukraine on that one. Very big. I'm trying to find out here how many people there were. Okay. So part of this take down Ukrainian police on Wednesday, and this is an article from ARS. [00:37:38] Technica said that it had conducted 21 searches in the. Kiev, I guess it's pronounced region of homes and cars of those arrested seasoning equipment, 5 million Ukrainian here, Venus, which is around 200 grand and property video footage shared by the police shot officers ready in homes and what appeared to be wealthy neighborhoods and towing luxury cars, including Tesla. [00:38:06] The police said, had managed to shut down some of the group's digital infrastructure. And it's unclear whether those arrested were core members of the group or affiliates. And the defendants here face eight years in Ukrainian prison does not sound like a fun time for you. That's for sure. I want to encourage everybody to take a few minutes if you haven't already and get my newsletter. [00:38:31] Now, when you sign up for it, I'm going to send you a few special report talking about some of the things you can do. Right now in order to secure your computer, whether it's a home computer just one office, computer, or a whole office, I go through some of the most important things. Also you'll find on my home page, a video on how. [00:38:57] To thwart most of the Russian ransomware. And it's really simple. So it's like a five minute, not even video shows you exactly what to do, and you are going to be ahead of those Russian hackers. So how's that for really good news. Now you can get my newsletter, which comes out every week and I try and keep you up to date on the goings on by going to Craig Peter sohn.com/subscribe. [00:39:25] Now that's where you're going to find links to my podcast, which you can also find right there on my website. You can find all of the interviews or people are interviewing me. You can find this radio show, all two hours worth of my weekly podcast. You can find it all or right there on the homepage@craigpeterson.com. [00:39:46] Now, if I could ask a favor. The way to get a podcast out into more and more hand is to get the subscription numbers up, not just the downloads, those are important, but the subscription numbers and to have people obviously listening to it or watching it did, by the way I post this up on YouTube as well. [00:40:10] So you can watch it there. Listen, really. I am not posting much video right now. Do post some. But I, if I could encourage you to go to the 800 pound gorilla or even your favorite podcasting platform, go to Craig peterson.com/itunes. That will then take you directly to my iTunes podcast. Page Craig Peterson, that's Craig Peterson, P E T E R S O n.com. [00:40:40] And. Put a slash and then I tuned ITU NES, and that. Get you to my iTunes podcast page. I hope I've earned five star review from you. So if you would leave a review and give me the five stars, hopefully, as I said, I've earned it. I'm also on a whole bunch of others. You can go to Craig peterson.com/spotify and many others. [00:41:07] So check it out. Please do subscribe to the podcast, whatever your favorite podcast app is, and that will help. The word out, we can get a few more listeners here. I really do want to help these people out, help you out. Particularly Craig peterson.com. You'll find everything you need to get started right on the homepage. [00:41:31] All right, everybody take care. [00:41:32]Apple and Google are changing the way they are delivering privacy in a very big way. Have you ever spoken to your device and giving it a command? Yeah, the smartphones, et cetera. That's all changing for the better. [00:41:48]Apple and Google have for very long time now been trying to do something that just fascinates me way back when in college, in the seventies, I was working on some software that did handwriting recognition and. [00:42:05]It was just beyond, incredibly hard to do back then. And so we narrowed it down the scope down and just signature recognition. Is this the same person signature? And, we got somewhere, but it wasn't like very good, frankly. Today we have come a very long way. I am still amazed at how well computers can speak to us, but it isn't just them speaking. [00:42:31] Now, of course our computers, our smartphones, or our watches can go ahead and listen. To what you're saying. Absolutely. Listen and listen closely and understand it. But the big question is how, what are they understanding? And from a privacy standpoint, where are they doing the understand? No. I wrote some software that takes meetings or other things like my radio shows and sends it on abit, packages it up and it sends it on up to Google are not Google. [00:43:10] I should say Amazon. And has Amazon transcribe it for me. Now that software didn't take me very long to write because Amazon has these services that you can use using what are called API APIs, application programming interfaces. So I was able to write some software. That transcribed radio shows and transcribed meetings in the matter of Wembley, less than an hour, including all of the debugging and testing and everything else, to make sure everything was going to work and it wasn't going to fail. And it didn't keep stuff up in Amazon longer than it needed to and tied into my right accounts, everything. And. And our, I remember in the early eighties, trying to come up with a system that could take a phone call inbound and walk people through a menu and let them hit a button. [00:44:03] So they, press one for this two for that, et cetera. And this was on an apple too. I was writing it in assembler and in basic, oh my gosh, bringing back all kinds of memories. We now have these great, incredibly smart devices. And since the Dawn of the iPhone, a decade plus ago, many of the smarts in our smartphone in our computers have come from somewhere else. [00:44:28] Just like I have transcriptions done by Amazon. That's up in the cloud. They have all of their data centers in some amazing software that can trend transcribe almost anything even with kind of batteries. So the mobile apps and our phones, or sending our user data in this case, our voices that were recorded up to the cloud, and that would transcribe speech, or maybe giving you some ideas of what the next word is, you're trying to type. [00:45:01] So you only have to hit one. Where it's changing now is where it's being processed. Apple has for quite a while done processing as much as possible in the local phone set the handset. So you wake it up. That processing is done locally. Same. Thing's true for Amazon. Google has been doing much the same thing and apple has added to its devices machine learning. [00:45:28] That's designed to be able to do this more and more so that your question. So you might say, Hey Siri, what time is it can be processed locally in the device. That's exactly what Google is doing as well, because these smart phones, even the ones without machine learning, like a lot of these Android phones are smart enough. [00:45:52] To do some real crucial and frankly sensitive machine learning tasks, like asking very simple questions or even doing the speech transcription. So at Apple's big event this month, apple said that its virtual assistant is going to be able to transcribe speech without using any cloud resources. Ella depends on the language. [00:46:19] Obviously English is where they're probably are going to focus. And maybe a few other European languages. Future iPhones and iPads are going to be doing all of that locally. And if you pay close attention to the releases of Mac OOS, you'll see that future, like the next release of Mac iOS, that's already embedded. [00:46:42] Is using special processing. That's only available using the apple chips because apple again is embedding machine learning into some of these. It's just amazing what they're doing. And Google is following suit. Google said the latest version of Android has a feature dedicated to secure on device processing of sensitive data. [00:47:09] So they're calling that the private compute core that's Google's name for it. And initially it's going to be used to keep the smart reply feature. The Android has built into its mobile keyboard that can suggest responses to incoming messages, keep it local on the phone. So that's a good thing, right? [00:47:30] This wizardry is going to give you more privacy because even though apple and anonymize. Anything that's going up to the cloud. Anything. If it is being, if your voice, for instance has been sent up so that it can be processed and it happens, like fad, it's just amazing how quickly it all happened. [00:47:50]Google is doing much the same thing. They're just going to say we're just going to process it locally. So you might not notice a difference because of how fast both companies are able to process your voice, but on-device machine learning offers more privacy and even faster apps. Just really, again, using the old snap trick here a much snappier than they ever were before. [00:48:20] And by not transmitting your personal data, it's cutting the risk of exposure. It's also saving time, because right now, again, it has to record it. It's often streaming it live so listens for its wake up word, which might be, Hey Siri or hello, Google or whatever you've got to set up to be. And my phone just woke up and it sends started streaming it up to the cloud. [00:48:49] So you have to wait for the data to be sent then processed and then sent back. But it's amazing how fast it is. So this is very. Apple has always had your privacy and your security is one of their main focuses. But when it comes to our friends over at Google prying on your spine, on you, Brian eyes is really the name of their game. [00:49:15] They want to know everything about everyone. My mom, one of my sons was over at his girlfriends and she has these face book. Devices, which I've always argued against people getting, cause there's nobody worse than Facebook. Even Google isn't as bad as Facebook and they were talking, he and his girlfriend about a hammer. [00:49:41] And then within minutes they started getting advertisements for hammocks. Now they weren't talking through this Facebook portal, which is kinda like an the Alexa or the Google home with the camera and a screen on it. They weren't talking through it. They were just talking. Around it and they weren't looking it up on Facebook or anything. [00:50:03] So they have their strong suspicions. They were being spied on. And frankly, I do too. Cause my son, this particular son knows tech extremely well. Okay. So Google started gathering data on the Chrome browser. And how much are we using it? What you're using it for through a technique, they call differential privacy, which adds what's called noise to harvest the data. [00:50:28] Now you can get plugins for your browser, that issues randomly. Queries searches. So Google thinks, okay, so you just searched for size 13 socks, but you didn't, your browser did that in the background on purpose to basically poison Google's harvesting of your data, because they can't really tell the difference. [00:50:52] So that Google has started doing this themselves in 2014 a little bit. So that the information about you. Really wasn't that accurate? Google's now trying to put you into a box. So rather than gathering all the information they can about you specifically about you just long-tailed about you, what they're doing. [00:51:16] Is putting you in a box. So you are a 40 year old, white guy from new England who likes cars, right? So you'll be in that box as opposed to specifics about you. And that part of the reason for that is because they keep getting nailed by all kinds of lawsuits. Apple has a technical. On data gathered from phone phones to inform them well, what emojis people are using and type in predictions and apple completely. [00:51:43] Anonymizes it. So it's interesting to see. I am glad to see both apple and Google out there in the forefront. Now, trying to anonymize stuff, trying to keep the processing on your device, which is going to save you a lot of time. And. Provide a little bit of privacy. So there you go. Major update to privacy coming first from apple, and then it looks like Google is going to follow suit. [00:52:14] Hey, have you visited me online? You can get my newsletter for free. I have a free one. Go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe. [00:52:26]I came across this article in Fox businesses week that I knew I had to talk about. And this is about ransomware and how a ransomware attack can really begin in some pretty simple ways. So we're going to talk about that, right now. [00:52:43]You I'm sure heard of the colonial hack. You guys really are the best and brightest. If you're listening to this show and you are a regular, you are among the top 5%. Let me tell you, so you know about the colonial hack and colonial pipeline, of course. Down. We didn't really get nailed by up here in the Northeast, because the way of the way the pipeline works to see the pipeline sends fuel and stuff, sends all kinds of things. For all the way from down in the Gulf coast, the basically all the way up through new England and they ship different types of fuel and they can't ship them all at once and they don't ship to all areas at once. So let's say new England need some home heating oil. They will schedule a time and they'll say, okay. [00:53:35] So from 8:00 AM on Monday until five, a 5:00 PM on Thursday. The pipelines are going to be full of home heating oil, headed up to noon. And all of those big oil tanks that you see, particularly in like north Western or Northeastern New Jersey, those our holding tank. So our friends at colonial pipeline will ship at op we'll, hold it. [00:54:00] And then from there, it gets distributed by a trucks, to our homes and et cetera, et cetera. So they do the same thing for jet fuel, car fuel, gasoline, diesel, et cetera. Here in the Northeast, we had just been delivered a whole load of fuel and then the ransomware attack hit and colonial pipeline decided to. [00:54:26] Down the whole pipeline. Now there's people who say they shut it down because they didn't want to lose money because their billing systems were offline and they didn't know who was getting, which fuel, et cetera. That might be part of it. But it's not a bad idea at all. If you're getting ransomware to shut the machine off. [00:54:47] Just shut it off. So it doesn't spread to other machines and shut off the other machines as well. So they don't pick it up. Now we have some automated systems. So we had a client who they, one of their employees. In fact, it was one of the C level people, which of course they always demand exceptions to their security protocols. [00:55:07]They managed to pull in some ransomware, bring it in. And we're looking at it, they're on their computer and it started to install itself and immediately our systems cut them off from the rest of the night. So they weren't able to the bad guys who are able to spread it all. It was on that one machine and we stopped it before it started doing anything really bad. [00:55:33] Even on my max, I'm running some software. No, I should do a training on this, some free software that keeps an eye out for apps that are opening a lot of files and doing something that might be encrypting them. Sometimes it's hard to tell if your program, if something's being encrypted or not. [00:55:50] So it tracks all of that and tries to, stop it. And it does a good job. Sometimes it stops legitimate software too. But when it stops at a pop has a little pop up, Hey, us, this program, it gives you the names doing this. Tells you the folders. And he said, okay that's fine. Just let it go. And in the, in Microsoft are not Microsoft in the Mac world, just like in the Unix world, you can suspend a process that's running. [00:56:15] So it just sends a suspend signal to it until such time, as you either say, no, it's bad, kill it or let it continue. So they did the right things by shutting it all down and then trying to figure out, okay, so what's happened, where is it? What do we have to do? And they ended up paying the ransom. Do you remember that as well? [00:56:35]We also had this problem with JBS and JBS of course, was that massive meat processor. It's actually a foreign company, but it had a huge. Us meat plant. And we've got a wonder, is this a real war? Is this a war we're starting to fight online? We're not at a kinetic war right now, but is China behind? [00:57:00] This is Russia behind us. And I got to say it sometimes. It's really hard to tell they might be using. Russian tools, but it could be Chinese hackers. There are so many questions here. It's just hard to know. So how do these guys get it in? With my client, they brought it in thinking, oh, okay I'm going to put this on my thumb drive. [00:57:21] I'll bring it in to look at it in the morning. And it was an email and it was supposedly from the better business bureau and they needed to do some follow-ups. So he brought it. That is referred to as social engineering. It is a kind of a phishing attack where they know, okay this company is obviously going to be concerned about a better business bureau thing and complaint, and they're going to want to respond because they want to keep the reputation up. [00:57:47] Cause they were a retail operation. Makes sense. That's what social engineering is all about. Just looking for cracks in the human shielded organizations is the human shield, really doing what they should be doing. Have they been trained and it's so easy to get tricked. I don't like some of these companies that go ahead and send out emails that are phishing emails, seeing if they can get an one of their own employees to click on it. [00:58:23] And then what they do is they reprimand. No initially might be okay. We got to go through another training and you, so you sit through the training. Okay, great. Great. Okay. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. Bad boy. Slap on the wrist. All so it might be that it might be something much more critical, much nastier where some of these businesses are in fact firing. [00:58:47] You do it two times you're fired. Okay. Or three times that I've seen that more in Europe than in the us, but some of the companies are doing that. I could totally disagree with it. And anybody can be fooled, which is why you've got to have a multi-layer set of protection. Okay. But what this is doing is letting the attackers in the door. [00:59:12] Once they're in the door, they try and get higher privileges, which is basically more security access so that they can start going into various files and machines and start spreading. We call it east west, right? Spreading laterally within your neck. And that's a key to carry out a ransomware attack. He can be that simple. [00:59:36] Now most cyber attacks about 70% are related to email phishing. So phishing emails, which appear to come from a trusted source are very simple but effective. For them to conduct social engineering, ransomware virus attacks on a computer. They are all tied together and we're not going to get into a lot of depth here. [01:00:00] I certainly do some webinars and some other trainings on this. In fact, my thinking of releasing my improving windows security training again, for people that want it where. Through. Okay. Here are the main configuration things you need to do on your windows, computer or did to help secure it. There's no perfect security, but improving it. So I've got that course out there. A lot of you guys have already taken. And I appreciate you and your support. Let me tell you because it helps to cover some of my costs, but I think I might do that again. Send a little thing to everybody letting them know about the improving windows security, the course. [01:00:39] All right. So I want to invite you again, go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe. Now you may not know. So I'm going to explain right now what my newsletter is. Every week, I find six to 10 articles that I think are very important and I'm reviewing literally thousands of articles every week. Some of it's automated review and the rest is me sitting there looking at them, trying to find what are the ones I think you'll be interested in. [01:01:12] Those from me every weekend, ish. I emailed this, go to Craig peterson.com/subscribe. CraigPeterson.com/subscribe. Stick around. [01:01:25]A lot of us have been complaining about cookies and tracking for a long time and Google who has finally heard us. I'm I'm not sure I heard about this, but we're going to talk about third party cookies right now. [01:01:40] Third party cookies are where you go to a website and that web browser kind of squeals on you. Shall we say. And what happens is Google, for instance, is trying to track you. Would you go online as you go between websites, they're calling this kind of an advertising surveillance industry on the web. [01:02:07] And frankly, this third party cookie has really been an important part. Of this whole surveillance industry. What it does now is it allows a website to have a look at where you have been online. And when I say it allows a website, it's really Google, that's doing the tracking. Obviously you're going to a website, Google doesn't own every website out there. [01:02:36] And in fact it barely owns any. When you look at the number of websites that are out there, Internet. So Google has this whole concept of if you're visiting this site and you have visited this site and this other site, I know something about them. And so it sells that information. So because it's seen the pattern, right? [01:03:03] That's the whole idea behind the advertising. Phasing out these tracking cookies and these other persistent third party identifiers has been something people have been trying to get rid of for a very long time in the electronic frontier. The foundation you'll find them online@eff.org has been jumping up and down, trying to get everybody to pull up their socks. [01:03:28] If you will. One of the first players to really jump into this as apple and apple has pretty much told the whole industry. Got to stop doing some of this tracking, some of the tracking is okay. Again, how many times have I said, if I'm looking for a Ford F-150 then I don't mind seeing ads for the Ford F. [01:03:53] D, but why would I want to see ads for a motor scooter when I'm looking for a pickup truck and frankly, if I'm looking for an F-150, I expect to see ads maybe for a Chevy Silverado or a Dodge truck. Does that make sense to you? Because I'm looking for something and that's what I'm interested in seeing. [01:04:17] While Google is now jumping onto this bandwagon, because apple has said we are going to be doing a couple of things. We are going to be forcing you app developers to tell everybody exactly what you are doing with their information, what you're tracking, who you're selling it to, what it's being used for. [01:04:40] That's a very big deal. And it's got the whole advertising industry. Very. Worried and Google is coming along saying, okay, apple will do you a little bit of one better. And of course the biggest complaint, or, from Facebook who ironically has been buying newspaper ads, if you can believe that, google has been destroying the newspaper industry. Now it's going to newspapers to try and get people to stop apple from destroying Facebook's industry, right by blocking some of the advertising tracking that Facebook has been doing. Now, what they are doing is what Google is doing is looking to replace these third party cookies. [01:05:30] And how were they going to do that? They are already doing a few rather sneaky things. For instance, they fingerprint your brow. Now your browser has a fingerprint because you have certain extensions on your browser that you've added. You have your computer, that which has an operating system that has a certain version. [01:05:54] It has a certain amount of memory. It has a certain amount of disc storage, a lot of the private information, the personal information about, so your computer can be gleaned by a website. So one of the things they've been doing this, you okay, you're blocking cookies. No problem. I can still figure out who you are and they do now. [01:06:17] They don't necessarily know exactly who you are, but they have a very good idea. One of the proposals the Google has come out with is called the federated learning of cohorts, which is very ambitious. Could be the replacement. If you will, for these third party cookies, that could be the most harmful. And what it is a way to make your browser do the profile. [01:06:49] Itself. So historically they've been able to track your browser as you go around and then they have to pull all of that information together. They pull it together and they come up with a picture of you and who you are. Yeah. You're interested in buying a pickup truck, particularly a man. Okay. Is an example that picture gets a cat gets a detailed about you, but it's something that the advertisers have to put together. [01:07:20] What this flock or federated learning of cohorts is doing is it's boiling down your recent browsing activity into a category. They're calling this a behavioral and behavioral label, and then they're sharing it with websites and advertisers. So the idea is basically your web browser. It self is going to put you in one or more buckets and the websites that you're visiting and the advertisers that are advertising on those websites will be able to get that label that your browser has put on. [01:08:06] You. Yeah, you like that. So what eff is saying is that this could exacerbate many of the worst non privacy problems with behavioral ads, including discrimination and predatory targeting. You can guess what those things mean. So they're calling this a privacy sandbox, right? It's always the opposite. If Congress is passing a bill, that is a COVID relief bill, you can bet that there's very little to do with COVID relief in the bill. Wait a minute, actually. That's true. There's only 9% of the money in this almost $2 trillion spending plan. The night last 9%. That actually goes to COVID relief, instant COVID relief bill. [01:08:53] Same thing here with Google. Privacy sandbox and it's going to be better. So Google says in the world we have today where data brokers and ad tech giant track and profile everybody with complete impunity, just like Equifax has just like cat. Kofax lost our personal identity. Bio level information, our social security numbers, or addresses or names or date of birth, et cetera, et cetera. [01:09:20] Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We pay a small fine. Yet. We go on, I, are they out of business? Have they lost business? In fact, they gained business because people have been paying that Kofax too. Monitor their credit. Oh my gosh. But that framing and the Google is talking about is based on a false premise that you have to choose between old tracking and new tracking. [01:09:45] Does that sound familiar? Yeah. So it's not an either or. We really should be rejecting this whole new federated learning of cohorts proposal. The Google has come out with, you can bet that apple is going to reject this outright because it's really rather terrible. If you care about your privacy on the other hand again, I look at it and say, I want an F-150. [01:10:14] I don't mind ads for pickup trucks, so what's wrong with that? Okay. There's two sides to this. I just don't like them calling me by name. When I walked past a billboard. [01:10:25]We really, aren't going to talk about Bitcoin in this segment. So stick around. I had to talk about Russia this last time around, but Bitcoin, the prices are surging. People are mining. What does that mean? And why are they using more electricity than the country of Argentina? Bitcoin has been around for a while. And I don't think anybody out there has not heard about Bitcoin. It is a power in and of itself. We don't know who actually came up with this whole concept. There's a concept behind Bitcoin called blockchain technology and blockchain technology is based on. The concept of ledgers, where you have ledgers, just like a bank ledger that keeps track of every transaction. [01:11:16] And there are hundreds of thousands. There's just so many ledgers in the world. And in order to verify transactions, half of those ledger entries have to agree. Pretty basic on that level, but what is the Bitcoin itself, which sits on top of this blockchain technology? If you want to look at it, simply take a look at prime numbers. [01:11:42] Hopefully you can name the first five prime numbers, right? 1 3, 5, 7 11. There you go. Ta-da those are the first five of I think I got those right prime numbers and applying numbers and number that is only divisible by itself. And why. Which is why one is a prime number and we use prime numbers a lot. [01:12:06] Nowadays, most of the encryption that you're using is based on prime numbers. If you go to a secure website, you're using something called SSL, which is the secure socket layer. And that's what shows up in your browser, in that URL line as a little lock, if you see that lock, that you have. [01:12:27] Effectively a VPN, a virtual private network between your browser and that remote server. Yeah. Guess what? You already have a VPN, right? Why use one of these VPNs that spies on you? So that is encrypted data and it's very difficult to encrypt in between. How does it do that? It's using something known as public key technology, the RSA algorithm. [01:12:55] We're not going to go any further down that, but basically it's a allows someone to have a public. And use that public key to encrypt a message. And then you, the person who's receiving the message whose private key was used to do the encryption can decrypt it using their private key. So the public key side, the private keys side, it allows the encryption from end to end. [01:13:24] That's what the SSL is. Okay. When we're talking about Bitcoin, we are talking about something that goes and uses some of the similar technology, because what it's doing is using the. Prime numbers. That's what the RSA algorithm is using this encryption algorithm, using these very large, very complicated prime numbers because you get past 11 and see 12. [01:13:50] That's not a prime, right? Because it's divisible by two and six and three and four, and then let's see 13. Okay. That's a prime 14, no 15, no 16. No. Okay. It gets more difficult. I remember way back when writing a little program that just found prime numbers and it looked for prime numbers and the easiest way to do it was I would start. [01:14:22] First of all, you take a number. Divide it into, there's no reason to go any higher than that when you're trying to figure out if it's prime or not. And then I would start looking at some of the base numbers to try and figure it out. And then of course, real mathematicians were able to figure out better ways to find primes. [01:14:39]When we're talking about Bitcoin and some of these other cryptocurrencies, they are also using these very large prime numbers, just like you're being used for this public key encryption. And they also have some other parameters around some of these prime numbers. So to have a Bitcoin is to have this digital number that represents a unique prime number. [01:15:06] If you want to mind what you're doing is you are trying to find a prime number that no one has ever found before, just to oversimplify things a little bit. So you find that pine number and Tonna. Now you have a Bitcoin sounds easy enough sounds quick enough. It is not easy and it is not quick. And it's not just the based on the prime number algorithm, but we're keeping this simple here. [01:15:33]We have found millions now of these Bitcoins. I should look that up and find out exactly how many, but there are many Bitcoins. The whole algorithm, the whole system is set. To do some restrictions here. There's only a certain number of these Bitcoins that will ever be mined. It's estimated that something like 20% of the Bitcoins that were found have been lost because the encryption was Jews to keep the keys. [01:16:08]People forgot it. You probably heard about this guy that has. A quarter of a billion dollars in Bitcoin in this wallet. And he only gets eight tries before it auto destructs, and he hasn't found them yet. So there's a quarter of a billion dollars that's unreachable, but that's what we're talking about here. [01:16:27] Bitcoin. In this day and age, Bitcoin mining is so hard and it takes so much computing power that it is using up a couple of things. First of all, the thing that bothers me the most is it's using up these GPU's these graphical processing units, because GPU's, which we typically use for graphics processing are set up so that we have are hundreds, thousands. [01:16:58] Processes that can be happening on that card simultaneously, various small little tiny processes that can be set up to somewhat be optimized for Bitcoin mining or mining, any of these other cryptocurrencies. And then the people who really want to make money on money. And these cryptocurrencies have machines that are special machines. [01:17:22] They are designed specifically to mine, one type of coin, one of these crypto coins. So we're talking about Bitcoin. So there are machines that are designed to mine. Bitcoins, go to eBay and look for Bitcoin miner. They used to have all my on Amazon. I haven't checked in a while, but you'll find them in both places. [01:17:45] At least you used to be able to, you can certainly still find the money. And you'll find some that are old, that are used and some brand new ones. It is expensive to mine them. One of my sons and I, we decided years ago to try and do a little mining. We probably should have tried harder. But we gave up because it was a, who knows what's going to happen with Bitcoin. [01:18:08] There are so many cryptocurrencies. Then today, there are people introducing new cryptocurrencies all of the time. And I avoid those like the plague, because you never know what's going to happen. Bitcoin is definitely the 800 pound gorilla out there. We were able to mine, I guess my son, he mind a couple of other little currencies, they're worth a penny or two, not a very big. [01:18:33] We have now so many people in China, for instance, that were doing Bitcoin mining, the China could not produce enough electricity to mine, the Bitcoins. So China went around and shut down anybody that was mining Bitcoin, and we have something called the Cambridg

Last week I headed up to Boyne MT to meet IG @XCbowhunter for a weekend of fun filled shooting at the Total Archery Challenge myself and Shawn knocked/Nocked out 4 of the 5 course between Friday & Saturday here is what learned liked and thoughts on how to make your next TAC a better experience! Huntstand is doing a awesome with some great Leupold products visit the Huntstand IG account hit the link in the bio to enter. 

Last week I headed up to Boyne MT to meet IG @XCbowhunter for a weekend of fun filled shooting at the Total Archery Challenge myself and Shawn knocked/Nocked out 4 of the 5 course between Friday & Saturday here is what learned liked and thoughts on how to make your next TAC a better experience! Huntstand is doing a awesome with some great Leupold products visit the Huntstand IG account hit the link in the bio to enter. 

Natural Rights and Liberty - as we approach the TAC's 15-year anniversary, discussing the essential foundation behind our work. Highlighting timeless insight from the founders and old revolutionaries - including Otis, Adams, Dickinson, Jefferson, Mason, Warren - and more. The post Liberty is the Primary Object first appeared on Tenth Amendment Center.

Dr. Mark E. Shaw and Jim Quigley continue the discussion on Drug Education Terminology and the world's efforts to decrease stigmatizing those who struggle with addiction. Jim serves at Freedom Farm Ministries in Boone, North Carolina, and is a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection while also serving on TAC's board. Find other CABC's and addiction ministries with a genuinely biblical approach on TAC's website at https://www.theaddictionconnection.org/addiction-help/ Proverbs 26:24-26 says, "Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; 25 when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; 26 though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly." [1] Awareness of sin in the Christian walk Are we much more sinful than we realize? Peter as a biblical reminder for us to be aware of our sin and our need for Christ. Are Christians self-loathing people? What does manipulative really mean? [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

In this week's Sonic Campfire, our Guest Host is friend of the Pod, Gabrielle Shaker, from Shaker Outdoors.  Gabby joins the crew around the table to recap the TAC shoot she attended recently in Seven Springs, PA.  Our own Will & Brian were there as well.  Listen in as they recount the adventure.  Check it out!! Instagram: shaker_outdoors For more Sonic Campfires go to https://rutandriverpursuits.com/

In this week's episode, Hannah and Claire welcome Hawzien Gebremedhin to the podcast to discuss community. In our conversation, we dive into what community means, how we've come to experience it, and the privilege of choosing to walk away from communities that don't allow us to be our authentic selves. Hawzien is the Co-Founder of Tigray Action Committee, a nonprofit created to build awareness on the ongoing genocide in Tigray. And since the original recording of this episode in March 2021, Hawzien has accepted and transitioned to a new position in which she leads diversity and inclusion at a large accounting firm. To learn more about Tigray Action Committee visit: www.tigrayactioncommittee.com or follow TAC on Instagram at @tigrayact Follow Meet the Moment on Instagram at @meetthemomentpodcast. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

1 Corinthians 2:13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. [1] Mark talks with Jim Quigley in studio about common phrases in the addiction world, and the world's attempts to counter what they see as "stigma." Jim leads Freedom Farm Ministries in Boone, NC, is a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection and serves on TAC's board. Jim begins the discussion with teaching a biblical opposition to the world's view that biology is causative in their addiction. This world believes that each person is a "good person" who wants to self-correct if given the opportunity. But the Gospel says otherwise. Read TAC's blogpost for more on what Jesus has to say about addiction and alcoholism. It has been estimated that over 80,000 people have died with overdoses since 2020. The victim mentality is being taught in over 90% of the programs in the world. Jim warns all listeners who are genuinely biblical in their approach to addiction to beware not to mis-characterize those who are trying to help in the secular system as not being compassionate or genuine in their desire to help people. Our message is different because we point people to the transformational heart change done by Jesus Christ working by the power of the Holy Spirit. The best debunking of the 12-step treatment industry done by a secularist is Dr. Lance Dodes on an NPR interview here. https://www.npr.org/2014/03/23/291405829/with-sobering-science-doctor-debunks-12-step-recovery [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

We are live and we are heading off to Total Archery Challenge Tomorrow Thursday June 10th. I looked at TAC as a reason to challenge myself with some new gear a new sight and arrows and bino-harness and some new hiking boots as a way to work though some new gear now as to nearly the start of hunting season. We will be doing some Semi-live updates from TAC after each shoot.  Huntstand upgrade today to the Pro version today use the code TakeAim10 to save off your yearly membership. 

We are live and we are heading off to Total Archery Challenge Tomorrow Thursday June 10th. I looked at TAC as a reason to challenge myself with some new gear a new sight and arrows and bino-harness and some new hiking boots as a way to work though some new gear now as to nearly the start of hunting season. We will be doing some Semi-live updates from TAC after each shoot.  Huntstand upgrade today to the Pro version today use the code TakeAim10 to save off your yearly membership. 

Revelation 19:11-13 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. [1] How has the Pandemic affected the census at Freedom Farm, and other Residential Addiction Programs? Dr. Mark E. Shaw and Jim Quigley discuss current events. Jim is a Commissioned Addictions Biblical Counselor with The Addiction Connection and serves on the Board of TAC. Why have the number of admissions gone down significantly for residential programs lately? It's not because people have been getting sober and using drugs less! Jim speaks anecdotally to a trend he is seeing currently with choices people who struggle with addiction are making. He also discusses the unintended consequences of giving people access to quick money in the form of government support. Jim referee to 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. [1] [1] Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.

Stop fearing the metronome and start having fun when you practice guitar with it! Seriously, if rhythm and timing is what you need to work on, you gotta learn how to play with a metronome. ★ Learn more about starting your Guitar Journey: https://tonypolecastro.com/ ★ FOLLOW on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tac.guitar/ In this video, you'll see five steps to help you understand timing and how to easily play with a metronome. Learning how to play with a metronome is key to learning rhythm and timing. Neglect it, and you'll be fighting an uphill battle — trust me! For each of these lessons, you'll see I play with a metronome and the different practicing techniques I use to have fun while working on my timing. One of my favorite exercises, "Boil the Frog," will have you increasing the beats per minute (bpm) by tiny increments, so that you barely notice that the tempo is increasing. Don't miss this exercise! After we cover how to play with a metronome without wanting to smash your guitar, you'll get to hear from TAC Family member Sarah and how she uses TAC to see consistent fun, focus, and progress. Last but not least, we'll cover acoustic guitar news you can use. This includes a heartfelt announcement, a new building to be on the lookout for courtesy of Eddie's Guitars.

TAC is back, with the whole crew talking about some GM drama before breaking down all the changes that landed last week in Standard and Battlegrounds as a result of Patch 20.2.2!

Worried that you can't use effects pedals on acoustic guitar? Or that you're going to use the wrong ones? This video will have 6 side-by-side comparisons of effects pedals, how they work, and how they sound on an acoustic guitar! ★ Learn more about starting your Guitar Journey: https://tonypolecastro.com/ ★ FOLLOW on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tac.guitar/ The land of effects pedals is typically ruled by electric guitar players. But, it's time that you start to feel comfortable with using effects on the acoustic guitar! Using effects pedals can unlock TONS of creative potential on your acoustic guitar. To help you understand this, the video will have side-by-side comparisons of what an acoustic guitar sounds like with 6 different effects pedals. The last thing I want you to do is by a pedal you'll never use. The demos on this video will give you a wide brush-stroke of what these pedals can do for your guitar and your sound. As always, you'll also hear about Tony's Acoustic Challenge Members and how they TAC, as well as the latest acoustic guitar news you can use! Highlights this week include Watchhouse , The North American Guitar and their new digital magazine, and plenty more!

Kelley Vlahos joins Tim to talk about how big tech companies are starting to use your data to grade you in ways that may surprise and shock you. The focus of our discussion is your Social Credit Score and how China may be illustrating just how alarming its applications can be. Kelley is a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute and editorial director at Responsible Statecraft. She’s written about this population monitoring tool that before now was unthinkable in America. That’s the focus of this episode. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Social_Credit_Score_auphonic.mp3 Anyone who buys a car or a house or wants a new credit card is familiar with the financial credit process. You have to build up a track record of paying off your debts in order to obtain good financial credit. Financial credit enables you to borrow money. A bad financial credit rating can be used by banks and lenders to deny you a loan, which means you can’t buy that house, that car, or get that credit card. Until now, that was the only credit rating you needed to worry about. But in subtle ways, another credit rating may be creeping into your daily life you may not be so aware of. It’s called a Social Credit Score. It’s essentially a profile that rates people for better or worse based on everything they do. Every place they go, every rideshare they take, every destination they travel to, every book they buy, every membership, every donation, everything they post online, and, of course, their Internet search history. Here are a couple simple examples. Every time you take an Uber rideshare, your driver rates you according to a star system. If the driver likes you, you get more stars. If the driver doesn’t like you, you get fewer stars. What you have to do to be liked is up to the driver, not you. On social media, you learn what information you’re allowed to share and that information – even if it’s legal and non-offensive - that will get you suspended or banned. Links Kelley Beaucar Vlahos (website) George Orwell's Dystopian Nightmare in China, by Kelley Vlahos, American Conservative The Invisible Shackles of America's Social Credit System, Human Events Social Credit Scores are Already Here, The Last American (blog) China has Started Ranking Citizens with a Creepy 'Social Credit' System, Business Insider About this Episode’s Guest Kelley Vlahos Kelley Beaucar Vlahos comes to QI from The American Conservative, where for the last three years she served as the magazine’s executive editor and co-host of the Empire Has No Clothes podcast. Before joining TAC in 2017,  Vlahos served as a contributing editor to the magazine, reporting and publishing regular articles on U.S. war policy, civil liberties, foreign policy, veterans, and Washington politics since 2007. She also organized the magazine’s major annual foreign policy conference for the last three years. Prior to that, Vlahos was director of social media and a digital editor at WTOP News in Washington, D.C. from 2013 to 2017. She spent 15 years as an online political reporter for FOX News at the channel’s Washington D.C. bureau, as well as Washington correspondent for Homeland Security Today magazine. She is on the board of PublicSquare.net, a non-profit media project promoting informed Left-Right debate. Her recent media appearances include C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, Tucker Carlson Tonight, NPR’s 1A, POTUS on Sirius XM, and Al Jazeera.  Before moving to the nation’s capital, Vlahos earned her degree in Journalism-Mass Media at Central Connecticut State University and worked her way through local and regional newspapers in her home state of Connecticut, including The New Britain Herald and The Torrington Register Citizen.

Kelley Vlahos joins Tim to talk about how big tech companies are starting to use your data to grade you in ways that may surprise and shock you. The focus of our discussion is your Social Credit Score and how China may be illustrating just how alarming its applications can be. Kelley is a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute and editorial director at Responsible Statecraft. She's written about this population monitoring tool that before now was unthinkable in America. That's the focus of this episode. https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/shapingopinion/Social_Credit_Score_auphonic.mp3 Anyone who buys a car or a house or wants a new credit card is familiar with the financial credit process. You have to build up a track record of paying off your debts in order to obtain good financial credit. Financial credit enables you to borrow money. A bad financial credit rating can be used by banks and lenders to deny you a loan, which means you can't buy that house, that car, or get that credit card. Until now, that was the only credit rating you needed to worry about. But in subtle ways, another credit rating may be creeping into your daily life you may not be so aware of. It's called a Social Credit Score. It's essentially a profile that rates people for better or worse based on everything they do. Every place they go, every rideshare they take, every destination they travel to, every book they buy, every membership, every donation, everything they post online, and, of course, their Internet search history. Here are a couple simple examples. Every time you take an Uber rideshare, your driver rates you according to a star system. If the driver likes you, you get more stars. If the driver doesn't like you, you get fewer stars. What you have to do to be liked is up to the driver, not you. On social media, you learn what information you're allowed to share and that information – even if it's legal and non-offensive - that will get you suspended or banned. Links Kelley Beaucar Vlahos (website) George Orwell's Dystopian Nightmare in China, by Kelley Vlahos, American Conservative The Invisible Shackles of America's Social Credit System, Human Events Social Credit Scores are Already Here, The Last American (blog) China has Started Ranking Citizens with a Creepy 'Social Credit' System, Business Insider About this Episode's Guest Kelley Vlahos Kelley Beaucar Vlahos comes to QI from The American Conservative, where for the last three years she served as the magazine's executive editor and co-host of the Empire Has No Clothes podcast. Before joining TAC in 2017,  Vlahos served as a contributing editor to the magazine, reporting and publishing regular articles on U.S. war policy, civil liberties, foreign policy, veterans, and Washington politics since 2007. She also organized the magazine's major annual foreign policy conference for the last three years. Prior to that, Vlahos was director of social media and a digital editor at WTOP News in Washington, D.C. from 2013 to 2017. She spent 15 years as an online political reporter for FOX News at the channel's Washington D.C. bureau, as well as Washington correspondent for Homeland Security Today magazine. She is on the board of PublicSquare.net, a non-profit media project promoting informed Left-Right debate. Her recent media appearances include C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Tucker Carlson Tonight, NPR's 1A, POTUS on Sirius XM, and Al Jazeera.  Before moving to the nation's capital, Vlahos earned her degree in Journalism-Mass Media at Central Connecticut State University and worked her way through local and regional newspapers in her home state of Connecticut, including The New Britain Herald and The Torrington Register Citizen.

Early week TAC = nerfs are hitting Hearthstone eminently! Join Garrett and RidiculousHat for a full break down of the patch 20.0.2 nerfs to Deck of Lunacy, Sword of the Fallen, Jandice, Pen Flinger, and Watch Posts. The duo also take a look at Battlegrounds changes hitting the game alongside the constructed card changes.