Podcasts about technically

Further reading: A possible home for a bizarre Carboniferous animal: is Typhloesus a pelagic gastropod? Typhloesus An artist’s rendition of what Typhloesus might have looked like [pic taken from the Nix Illustration link above]: Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. I recently discovered the excellent Nix Illustration blog, which is about scientific illustration and palaeontology. I'm finding so many fun topics that I keep going back to it, so I hope you don't mind another invertebrate mystery I learned about from the site. There are links in the show notes if you want to read the original blog posts. This month's mystery is Typhloesus wellsi, sometimes referred to as the “alien goldfish” because of its shape and its peculiar anatomy. It definitely wasn't a fish. It lived around 324 million years ago and was first discovered in the early 1970s in Montana, in the middle of North America. It grew up to four inches long, or 10 cm, and was shaped not like a real goldfish but kind of like a goldfish cracker. Its body was roughly cylinder-shaped, and it had a vertical tail fin and a pair of fin-like lobes on its sides that are referred to as keels. But it didn't have eyes or, as far as scientists can determine, an anus. It did have a mouth and gut cavity–but it also had something truly unexpected and mysterious in its body, a pair of disc-shaped organs that contained a lot of iron but whose function is completely unknown and unlike anything scientists have ever seen. Those initial specimens also contained lots of conodont teeth, which led scientists to hope they'd finally discovered the conodont animal. We've talked about conodont teeth before, but it's been quite a while ago. Conodont animals were incredibly common for around 300 million years, and their teeth are found throughout the world. Technically they're not teeth but tooth-like structures called conodont elements, some of them microscopic, some of them almost an inch long, or 2 cm. Each animal had three types of conodont elements, and they interacted in a way that we don't fully understand since they were completely different from modern animal mouthparts. Until the 1980s, no one knew what the conodont animal looked like. The only fossils we had were the tiny teeth. Then some body impressions of the conodont animal were discovered. Now we know it was shaped like an eel and grew up to 20 inches long, or 50 cm. We also know it had large eyes, a notochord (or primitive spine), and fins on the tail end. It was probably related to hagfish and lampreys and may have looked similar, although not everyone agrees with this classification. Whatever the conodont animal was related to, Typhloesus definitely wasn't one. It turns out that the conodont teeth associated with Typhloesus fossils were actually in its gut, after the alien goldfish ate a conodont animal. So scientists were back to square one. What was Typhloesus? In 2022, a study of several specimens revealed a clue. Typhloesus had a radula. That's a mouthpart that resembles a tooth-studded tongue. Snails, for instance, use tiny radulas to scrape algae and other food off of rocks. True radulas are a trait of mollusks, which means Typhloesus was most likely an early mollusk, maybe even a gastropod like snails and slugs. That's a start to classifying Typhloesus, but it doesn't explain the pair of weird disc-shaped organs. It's called a ferrodiscus and we still don't know what it was for. Because of its placement just under the midgut and its high concentration of iron, which would have made it quite hard in comparison to most of the rest of its body, the ferrodiscus might have had something to do with digestion. Then again, it might have had something to do with chemoreception, which is probably how Typhloesus found its food. Some modern mollusks have a chemoreceptor organ under the radula, but it's mainly a bundle of nerve cells and not any kind of weird iron discs. We just don't know what the ferrodiscus was. Typhloesus probably swam around until it encountered a small animal like a conodont, and then it would stick its radula out like a spiky tongue and use it to grab the animal. Typhloesus had no anus, so after it digested its meal it just spat out the indigestible parts. It might also have been a scavenger that used its radula to pull pieces off of a dead animal to eat. Not every scientist agrees that Typhloesus was a mollusk. Only mollusks have true radulas, although not all mollusks have them, but other animals have evolved similar structures. Typhloesus is so different from known mollusks, living and extinct, that scientists can't definitively determine what it was related to. It had no gills and no notochord, so we know it had to be an invertebrate. Some cnidarians, which include jellyfish and sea anemones, have no anus, but Typhloesus has even less in common with that phylum of animals than it has with mollusks. Some flatworms have no anus, but again, Typhloesus doesn't seem to have a lot of other traits in common with flatworms. Until we learn more about it from studying well-preserved fossils, we can only speculate about where Typhloesus fits in the tree of life and what the ferrodiscus actually was. Mysteries like this are part of the challenge of science, and part of the fun too. Thanks for your support, and thanks for listening!

It's one of the oldest problems to have, and one of the hardest to untangle: feeling like you're not good enough. Technically, you know that you "should" feel like you're enough, yet there are times when our internal criticisms and feelings of unworthiness can be overwhelming. This is a core fear that I work on with myself as well as with my coaching clients, and it's an ongoing one. We can feel good enough about ourselves in one domain, and then feel like everything is all wrong in another, or we can feel good enough until life throws us an overwhelming challenge that causes us to question everything.Let's get into the practical, evidence-based strategies for how to face the fear of not being good enough -- and I promise, no "just recite affirmations and hope for the best" with this one.

HE'S ALIVE!Sort of!Technically??? Says Who is made possible by you, through your support of our Patreon at patreon.com/sayswho

Send Audrey a Text to get your question answered on the showYour horse finished Lyme treatment and still is not right. Technically cleared by the vet, but you know something is still obviously not right. Your vet did her job. The medication is finished. And your horse still is not the horse you had last spring.Flat topline. No stamina. Sticky behind. Grouchy about the girth. Nothing you can point to on a vet exam, and nothing that has improved since the last dose went in.Here is the piece that gets missed: treatment addresses the disease process. Recovery rebuilds the horse. Those are two separate jobs, and the second one has an order.In this episode, Audrey McLaughlin, Functional Equine Nutritionist, lays out the six step recovery order of operations she uses with horses after veterinary Lyme treatment, and explains why the sequence matters as much as the inputs. Two plus three times four gives you twenty or fourteen depending entirely on what order you work it in. Same math applies to your feed room.You will learn:Why treatment and recovery are two different phases, and what is actually sitting in front of you after the medication is doneThe six step order of operations: bind and remove toxins, protect and optimize the liver, reduce oxidative stress, lower inflammation, support normal acid base balance, restore fluid and mineral balanceWhy step one is almost always subtraction, not a binder purchaseHow to support the liver through the diet instead of an aggressive detoxThe hidden oxidative load sitting in processed oils and high concentrate dietsWhat is actually true about acidity and alkalinity in horses, and what no supplement can doWhy sodium is the most underfed nutrient in the American horse industry, and why a salt block is not a feeding programWhy mineral relationships matter more than mineral amountsThe honest amino acid conversation: they will not cover a bad diet, and a topline is not rebuilt out of a bucketWhy targeted immune support belongs last, not firstThis episode picks up after veterinary assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. It is supportive nutrition education, not a replacement for veterinary care.Mentioned in this episode: Minerals and Metals Mane Test (MMMT), nutrition consultations, the anti-inflammatory forage diet. Minerals and Metals Mane Test: https://equine-energy-medicine.myshopify.com/products/minerals-and-metals-mane-test?variant=66748496150832Find all the resources listed here: linktr.ee/equineenergymedAudrey is not an MD or DVM and has never implied or claimed to be either. Audrey holds a Doctoral Degree in Traditional Naturopathy and a Master's Degree in Science. She created an evidence-based anti-inflammatory nutrition program for equines and has successfully helped over 10k horses with a balanced anti-inflammatory forage diet. This information is non-medical in nature and is not meant to diagnose, prescribe for, treat, or cure, and is not a replacement for your veterinarian.  These are my personal interpretations based on my education, skills, and experience. Equine Energy Medicine refers to non-invasive, supportive modalities focused on energetic balance, nutrition, and overall well-being, and does not replace veterinary care.

Nothing brings a morning show together quite like football, competition and immediately arguing over whether one member of the team's score should even count.Episode 101 kicks off with the crew sorting through their Seahawks picks and realizing Devon's presence has created a strategic probem in the season-long competition against The Fast Lane. If one team has an extra player, does Devon's score count? Do they add somebody to the other side? Take the best five scores? Pretend nobody thought about this until the season had already started?All excellent questions. Very few useful answers.What we do know is that Rizz is technically sitting in first place, Moon is second, Lern is third, Rafe is behind them, and Devon's zero becomes the center of a debate that feels significantly more serious than the actual stakes deserve. In other words, exactly how a funny podcast should handle sports.Then it's time for Take Five, sponsored by Universal Windows Direct, with listeners trying to match answers with members of the show for a chance at tickets to Candlebox, Violent Femmes, Toadies with Local H, Babymetal with Halestorm and Rush.The concept is simple: one member of the crew goes into isolation while a caller answers three category questions. When the crew member comes back, they get five guesses to match the caller.Simple game. Deeply complicated people.Lern goes first with Tom, who needs her to match an NFL team with an animal mascot, a South American country and a Will Ferrell movie. “Jaguars” takes Lern all the way to her fifth guess, but she gets there. Anchorman proves much easier, and Tom walks away a winner.Then Moon gets paired with Ray, and things immediately begin deteriorating.Ray picks “I Want to Hold Your Hand” for a Beatles song, Big Daddy for an Adam Sandler movie and Deep Purple for a band with a color in its name. Moon responds to the Beatles category by initially offering “Let It Go,” which would have been revolutionary news for both John Lennon and the Walt Disney Company.He recovers with actual Beatles songs, but never finds Ray's answer.Then comes Adam Sandler. Happy Gilmore. Billy Madison. The Wedding Singer. Grown Ups. Punch-Drunk Love. Moon circles practically the entire Sandler cinematic universe without landing on Big Daddy.Deep Purple becomes even more painful. Moon rattles through Blue October, Green Day, Blue Öyster Cult and The White Stripes, at one point getting tantalizingly close with “deep blue something.” Deep Purple was sitting right there, waving at him from across the room.Ray and Moon lose together. Friendship through mutual disappointment.Next up, Victoria is paired with Devon for categories including a famous person named Mike, a microwave food brand and something with a handle. Victoria chooses Mike Tyson, Banquet and a pitcher.Devon immediately says Mike Myers…and then discovers that apparently every other famous Mike has been temporarily deleted from her brain.Fortunately, “TV dinner” is close enough to Banquet for the crew to show mercy, and Devon somehow lands on coffee cup for something with a handle — remarkably close to Victoria's pitcher and enough to prove once again that Devon can be sneakily dangerous in these games even while claiming she knows only one Mike.Finally, Rizz enters isolation for the last round.His caller chooses Dr. Strange for a famous fictional doctor, Frosted Flakes for a breakfast cereal and Lex Luthor for a famous bald person.Rizz tears through Dr. Dolittle, Dr. Seuss, Dr. Feelgood, Dr. Frank-N-Furter and Doctor Octopus without finding Doctor Strange. Then he absolutely crushes Frosted Flakes on his first try, setting up one final category for the win.Name a famous bald person.Vin Diesel.The Rock.Bruce Willis.Howie Mandel.Jason Statham.All extremely bald. All extremely famous. All completely wrong.The answer was Lex Luthor.That leads to the perfectly reasonable postgame argument over whether “famous bald person” should cause a human being to think of an actual celebrity or a fictional supervillain. Technically Lex Luthor is famous. Technically the caller followed the rules. Technically none of this makes Rizz feel any better.Episode 101 is a funny podcast built around exactly the kind of low-stakes chaos The Rizzuto Show somehow turns into a major competitive event: Seahawks strategy, questionable team math, listeners trying to crawl inside the crew's brains, Moon confusing Frozen with The Beatles, Devon forgetting famous Mikes exist and Rizz losing to the most famous bald supervillain on Earth.It's Take Five, except everybody's dignity gets fewer than five chances.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → 1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Rizzuto Show starts innocently enough with football picks and somehow ends up asking whether artificial intelligence will wipe out humanity — with stops along the way for NASCAR drivers, a $34 million brothel empire, terrible celebrity guesses, folding phones, wedding-band disasters and the very real possibility that Rizz could someday be killed by a meatball.So, pretty standard week around here.The Seahawks kick off a strategic scoring controversy as the crew tries to figure out how Devon fits into their competition against The Fast Lane. Does her score count? Does the other team need another player? Should they take the best five scores? Why did nobody figure this out before the season started? These are questions normally reserved for leagues with commissioners and bylaws. Instead, we have Rizz.Then Take Five takes over, as listeners try to match answers with Lern, Moon, Devon and Rizz for concert tickets. Lern survives the dreaded “NFL team with an animal mascot” category by landing on Jaguars with her fifth and final guess. Moon, meanwhile, is asked to name a Beatles song and confidently begins with “Let It Go,” briefly creating the greatest Beatles/Frozen crossover nobody requested.Moon then proceeds to tour the entire Adam Sandler filmography without finding Big Daddy and gets painfully close to Deep Purple by wandering around “deep blue something.” Devon temporarily forgets that famous people named Mike exist, while Rizz correctly identifies Frosted Flakes on his first try before losing the entire game because his caller named fictional supervillain Lex Luthor as a “famous bald person.” Technically correct. Emotionally devastating.Today's show somehow raises the stakes by presenting the crew with the investment opportunity of a lifetime: the Bunny Ranch legacy portfolio in Nevada for roughly $34 million.Suddenly Rizz and the gang are analyzing brothel real estate, acreage, branding, financials and whether the oldest profession might be recession-proof. Lern reminisces about HBO's Cathouse, Moon wants to see the P&Ls, and everyone briefly becomes an investment expert in an industry where absolutely nobody should trust their advice.Then a Nebraska musician accused of taking deposits, double- and triple-booking events and sending multiple clients the same last-minute car-accident excuse gets Lern and Moon talking about the realities of working musicians and why ruining somebody's wedding is generally considered poor customer service.Technology gets its turn when the crew debates an expensive foldable iPhone, whether anyone should ever buy the first generation of a new gadget, planned obsolescence and the eternal Apple-versus-Android battle. Rizz's Meta glasses also spark the important distinction that not everyone wearing them is a creep…but apparently every creep might own a pair.There's also Nirvana, Billy Joel, Soundgarden, streaming-password confusion and NASCAR drivers Jordan Anderson, Blaine Perkins and Jeb Burton joining the day's lineup ahead of racing at World Wide Technology Raceway. Because why have one coherent theme when you can have seventeen?So far things have been far too normal.Lern nearly sleeps through three alarms, launching a full investigation into how everyone wakes up. Some people prefer peaceful gradual sounds. Rizz and Rafe apparently prefer alarms that simulate catastrophic submarine emergencies. Moon explains why using birds as an alarm eventually trained his brain to associate actual birds with going to work, which feels like an unnecessary punishment for both Moon and nature.From there, Rizz introduces the cheerful morning topic of whether AI could eventually pose an existential threat to humanity.The crew dives into warnings surrounding increasingly powerful artificial intelligence, self-improving systems, oversight, regulation, infrastructure and the difference between AI actively hating humans and simply not caring about us at all. Terminator gets mentioned, obviously, but the scarier discussion is whether something vastly more intelligent than humans could eventually treat us the way humans treat an anthill sitting where we want to build a highway.You know. Light morning entertainment.That leads naturally — somehow — into questions about death. Would you want to know the exact date you die? Would you want to know how? Who attends your funeral? What was your biggest missed opportunity?And most importantly: what happens if Rizz learns he dies by meatball?Suddenly every plate of spaghetti becomes a potential crime scene. A rogue meatball could come from anywhere. A restaurant. A waiter. Across the room. Knowing your fate doesn't necessarily help when your fate is apparently covered in marinara.The crew also gets nostalgic over TV dinners, Hungry Man meals, Salisbury steak, dangerously hot desserts and the random corn kernel that somehow migrated into every compartment. The upcoming Cheesecake Factory leads to a discussion about its famously over-the-top decor, which then inspires an even better — and substantially worse — restaurant concept: Stepfather's Pizza.Picture the divorced-dad dining experience perfected. Old televisions playing MAS*H, Cheers, Weather Channel and World War II documentaries. Dim lighting. Half-folded laundry. A smoke detector chirping somewhere in the distance. Finally, a restaurant where the atmosphere says, “Your mother will pick you up Sunday at six.”Across these three episodes, The Rizzuto Show delivers exactly what a comedy podcast should: sports arguments nobody prepared for, games nobody can successfully play, celebrity and music chaos, questionable investment opportunities, technology nobody needs, existential dread nobody requested and enough bizarre hypotheticals to make you reconsider answering questions around these people.Come for the Seahawks, NASCAR and celebrity news. Stay for Moon rewriting Beatles history, Rizz shopping for brothels, Lern fighting her alarm clock, Devon forgetting every Mike on Earth, AI potentially destroying civilization and one meatball patiently waiting to fulfill its destiny.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → 1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.‘Gambling with our lives': Another AI employee quits over safety concernsThe Greatest TV Dinners From Recent HistoryWest County Mall Cheesecake Factory set to open in NovemberApple joins foldable phone race with $1999 passport-shaped iPhone DuoSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Stijn Schmitz welcomes back Francis Hunt “The Market Sniper” to the show. Francis opens by declaring that a major reset is underway, urging listeners to aggressively accumulate gold and silver while nations like South Korea and Norway dump US treasuries and increase gold holdings. He sees this as part of a broader loss of faith in American assets and the dollar, driven by unsustainable debt, eroding rule of law, and diminishing global trust. Hunt believes the US is in the final injury time of its economic dominance, with a major crisis likely within three years, leading to a severe contraction in asset values, credit, and living standards. Technically, Hunt identifies a re-engagement of precious metals, noting that gold and silver have broken out of falling wedge continuation patterns and are resuming their uptrends. He points to silver showing relative strength and expects both metals to trade higher into year-end, though not yet reaching extreme targets. His macro technical structure for silver targets $330 and eventually four-digit prices, while gold is also set for substantial gains. He views the current correction as a healthy pause before the next major leg up. Hunt frames gold as the “king” of anti-fiat assets, with silver and miners following. He warns that the coming economic collapse will be global but centered on the West, triggering a parabolic rise in precious metals as fiat currencies debase. He advises heavy allocation to physical metals, far beyond typical portfolio percentages, as protection against systemic risks including potential capital controls, digital currency mandates, and wealth confiscation through unrealized capital gains taxes. Hunt also sees opportunity in precious metals miners and emphasizes the importance of geographic diversification away from Western epicenters. He concludes that building and preserving wealth through this period is not greed but a necessity for survival and maintaining quality of life. Timestamps: 00:00:00 – Introduction 00:01:10 – Current Market Trends Radar 00:03:30 – Precious Metals Charts Analysis 00:09:50 – Gold Silver Ratio Discussion 00:14:50 – Macro Empire Collapse Themes 00:24:02 – Financial Crisis Timeline 00:34:20 – Gold Remonetization Possibilities 00:38:27 – Precious Metals Miners Outlook 00:42:07 – Rerating of Precious Metals 00:44:46 – Global Economic Contagion 00:47:28 – Wealth Preservation Strategies 00:53:53 – The Market Sniper Guest Links: X: https://x.com/themarketsniper X: https://x.com/thecryptosniper Website: https://themarketsniper.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMarketSniper Francis is a trader, first and foremost. Unlike most educators in the trading space, Francis walks the walk and talks the talk, with 30 years of experience trading his personal capital on various markets and instruments. Through this passion for trading and his relentless study of markets and economic theory, he uses the Hunt Volatility Funnel trading methodology, a systemized approach, to answer the critical question: What is the next most profitable trade? He believes the actual price of an asset is the most accurate reflection of all the factors that influence it. Practical technical analysis, the study of price action over time, is needed to formulate profitable trade ideas. Indeed, with all the market manipulation and high-frequency trading operations currently in play, technical analysis is all that can be relied upon when it comes to formulating future price trends. A trained eye can often spot such manipulative practices, as is the case with HVF traders. Therefore, the HVF methodology is based purely on technical analysis. Francis is passionate about sharing his knowledge and understanding of markets by utilizing his HVF trading methodology. With entertaining anecdotes and the careful guidance of his students, he has already trained a large community of hundreds of traders and helped them transform from complete newbies to seasoned trading professionals. He genuinely loves sharing his knowledge and strategies with others who are committed to finding freedom through trading. Plus, teaching strengthens his trading abilities while helping to build a vibrant community of successful traders.

Any true Mustang fan knows about Ford's long-running “Mustang Alley” gathering every year during Detroit's massive Woodward Dream Cruise. Technically on a street and not in an actual alley, Mustang Alley stretches a few blocks down East Nine Mile Road where it intersects Woodward Avenue at the very spot the Dream Cruise begins in the suburb of Ferndale, Michigan. While it's sweet to see 700-900 Mustangs angle-parked on both sides of the “alley,” what's even sweeter is to experience the Mustang-loving vibe that this popular event gives off each and every year. It doesn't just come from the cars – but from the owners and fans you'll find there from all corners of the globe. As John and Mike always say, “Everyone has a Mustang Story,” so for this episode, walk along Mustang Alley 2026 with them as they get you the stories behind some of the Ford insiders, known players in the hobby and dedicated owners that they found there on that warm August day. Sit back and follow along to see if you recognize some of the people and the cars that made Mustang Alley 2026 so much fun!

【欢迎订阅】 每天早上5:30，准时更新。 【阅读原文】 标题：Would you buy a Chinese supercar?The Denza Z is BYD's take on an electric sportscar. Technically it's excellent, but does it have the romance to lure buyers from marques like Porsche and Ferrari?正文：If there was any doubt that Chinese manufacturers were serious about their world domination of the car market, the Denza Z will mark a new chapter from a UK perspective. When thinking of Chinese cars in the UK, the immediate image is of keenly priced family cars that challenge established brands in terms of value for money. But brands from China are now increasingly looking to disrupt sectors that are normally the preserve of high-end European manufacturers. One such car is the Denza Z, an ambitious four-seat coupé or cabriolet from BYD's premium brand, with power figures to rival not only Porsche and Ferrari but even Bugatti's hypercars.知识点：keenly adv. /ˈkiːnli/• 英文释义：in a way that shows a strong competitive edge or intensity• 中文释义：激烈地，极具竞争力地（指价格上具有强烈吸引力）• 文中意：定价极具竞争力地（指中国车以性价比作为核心竞争优势）• 例句一：The new smartphone is keenly priced to compete with established brands. 这款新智能手机定价极具竞争力，以与传统品牌抗衡。• 例句二：The airline offers keenly priced tickets to attract budget travelers. 这家航空公司提供价格极具竞争力的机票以吸引穷游旅客。【节目介绍】 《早安英文-每日外刊精读》，带你精读最新外刊，了解国际最热事件：分析语法结构，拆解长难句，最接地气的翻译，还有重点词汇讲解。 所有选题均来自于《经济学人》《纽约时报》《华尔街日报》《华盛顿邮报》《大西洋月刊》《科学杂志》《国家地理》等国际一线外刊。 【适合谁听】 1、关注时事热点新闻，想要学习最新最潮流英文表达的英文学习者 2、任何想通过地道英文提高听、说、读、写能力的英文学习者 3、想快速掌握表达，有出国学习和旅游计划的英语爱好者 4、参加各类英语考试的应试者（如大学英语四六级、托福雅思、考研等） 【你将获得】 1、超过1000篇外刊精读课程，拓展丰富语言表达和文化背景 2、逐词、逐句精确讲解，系统掌握英语词汇、听力、阅读和语法 3、每期内附学习笔记，包含全文注释、长难句解析、疑难语法点等，帮助扫除阅读障碍。

The one that nearly broke Shameful Steve! Technically as well as financially!As ever, John 'Tiberius' Kirk - the Blu-Ray Bloodhound - tries to chivvy cash from Shameful Steve's reluctant wallet! Will he 'Leigh'n into Nuts In May? (and what's NIM's closest modern analogy?) What *is* the secret of Soylent Green? Can anything be done to improve Plan 9? And can Steve refrain from making the obvious joke about Eyes Wide Sh*t? Plus a brilliant movie music trivia question and the latest on Hammer's thrilling (Horror Of) Dracula 4K!Boutique releases reviewed and ranked AND Steve and John tell you what they will be watching - and doing - next!All that's new in Blu and on its way in 4K! #Hammer! #Arrowvideo #Indicator #Powerhouse #88films #BFI #Criterion #TreasuredFilms #RadianceFilms #TransmissionVideo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special guest and familiar face, Charles Oswald joins the Suite Spot in his return to the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. As CEO & President of Aperture Hotels, Charles shares his insights on AI & technology in hospitality, capital investment challenges, and his vision for the Aperture Hotels brand.  Tune in now to the full conversation. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here for another edition of our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers. Technically, a look back on a few years back when we visited with this particular individual and company trailblazing and paving the way forward in hospitality. That is Charles Oswald, president and CEO of Aperture Hotels. Charles, thank you so much for being back here on The Suite Spot. Charles Oswald: Oh, it’s good to be back. Thank you. Ryan Embree: Yeah. You’ve been busy. It’s been a long time. I had to look back and see the last time we visited here on The Suite Spot. We did our original hospitality trailblazers, really in the infancy of Aperture Hotels back in December 2023. A lot’s changed on that since then, right? So catch us up a little bit. What have you been working on? There’s been some incredible growth that we’ve seen with your company. Congratulations on that. But catch us up since we last visited. Charles Oswald: First off, so at that time when we had launched Aperture Hotels, we were coming out in the, in the wake of the pandemic. So if you kind of think back where we were three and four years ago versus today, there were a lot of properties that had gone through this economic shock, and there were owners who were reeling from that experience, especially those that had corporate business travel hotels as opposed to those leisure destinations that benefited from the pandemic. And so during that time, Aperture actually went on and took on almost 30 different properties that we added to the portfolio, that were, driven by those owners who needed a new management company to come and take a look at their, their with fresh eyes and take a look at their top line strategies, their expense controls. And so we had a lot of properties, and they were 100% of those properties were not through acquisitions, but were actually just performance turnaround assignments where they were switching management companies, to somebody to take a fresh look. So, with all that said, we found ourselves, walking into properties that were on, like, the sixth or seventh year of a five-year hold strategy for private equity firms or high net worth individuals and so on. And that quickly turned into turnarounds, which the story from us lately has actually been sales, a lot of sales, 20 plus sales over the course of this last year. And so today, as we stand here, I’m actually more rebuilding the pipeline with a mix of more management change assignments, plus a few pipeline of new developments. And those new developments are mostly, like, 100 or 300 room soft brand properties across the country. So yeah a lot’s changed for sure. Really rapid growth, really rapid sales, and now more sort of measured one at a time growth. Ryan Embree: Yeah, and I wanna talk about that, because I’ve had the privilege to talk to some management company owners and leaders, and they’ve kind of echoed that same sentiment of not just growth, but strategic growth. And that seems to be where you are right now, too. So when you kind of take a look at. I know you mentioned that particular segment, but when you take a look at the hospitality landscape right now, what makes the right strategic partner for Aperture Hotels right now as you kind of enter this cycle where you’re trying to build back up a little bit? Charles Oswald: You’re right. The right partner, it’s about fit. And when you look at the experience of our leadership team, we’re really engineered towards compact, full service hotels, lifestyle, premium select service brands. They can be brand or independent. We’d like to partner with owners that have some portfolio stable scalability. Preferably they own by that, I mean, they own more than one hotel, and there might be more than one opportunity there. You know, we wanna work with those owners that know what they’re doing, right? They’ve got some, some governance, sophistication, some decision speed. Hopefully, they’ve not just made bad investments when they’re turning over these properties, but really, they’re looking for some performance turnaround in a good investment. And preferably those are longer term holds. As you can tell, we did a lot of hard work for some turnarounds and watched them sell. And they sold largely to owners who had their own management. So that’s tricky for us, right? That leads us looking for more opportunities. So in terms of us in aperture and how we see ourselves in competitive points of difference is we’ve got a group that has hundreds of hotels of experiments. Myself, I’ve managed about 300 hotels now over the years, and they’ve ranged from little 60-room properties up to a thousand plus room convention hotels and resorts. And so what we bring is, we’ve got big experience in our leadership team, but we’re in a small package, right? A boutique-sized company that can give more corporate support to property ratio. And we’re very data-driven in how we use our decision-making tools to uncover those hidden business opportunities and the potential to drive market share and outperform GOP. Big experience, I’d say that corporate support, the data-driven decision-making process and tools, I think is really what sets us aside. And by the way, I’ll just mention that our average RGI that we’ve achieved in the first 18 months when you put us in place after another management company, the average RGI growth or repar index gains is actually just over 10%. So we’ve had, like, incredible turnarounds at the top line, which leads them to great bottom line improvements as well. Ryan Embree: Which makes it so much more impressive, too, with the climate right now. And these events that we go to would talk about operating and margins right now, and trying to be just efficient as possible, because costs are, are rising right now. It is certainly difficult to navigate, and I’m sure that experience that you’ve had has certainly lended itself to some great stories that you can then share to help grow that portfolio. And the other part of the experience that you were talking about is you have the data and the insights. And one of the places you find that data and insights is obviously hospitality events that are going on. I’ve had the pleasure of running into you at quite a number of these. If I’m not running into you, Charles, I’m seeing you up on stage conducting interviews or, or sharing some of your takeaways on LinkedIn after the event. You got a busy second half of the year. I wanna talk about these events, though, and how you kind of leverage them, right? So, why do you think these events, especially now, are so important? And then, how do you measure success of an event once it’s completed, whether that be a lodging conference, an investment conference, or whether it be, just an educational data event? Charles Oswald: Look, that’s a really good question. When you consider the time, travel budget, and the opportunity costs on an executive’s busy calendar to get out to these conferences and spend three, four days between the travel and the time out there, we’ve gotta be, we’ve gotta be very intentional, right, about how we approach it. So, I see value in going to these conferences because of deal sourcing and the relationship capital that we pick up. Also, I think there’s that market intelligence and the pricing signals that we get from those from this conference. There’s the access to capital markets. That was particularly important for me here recently as I was looking to as I’m in the process of acquiring a property right now in Phoenix, and when we needed to raise LP capital and we had those relationships these are people, again, we met at conferences. I think talent reputation, right, it’s important to get out there and continue to manage that. So those, those are a number of the reasons why we wanna get out to these conferences and why we think they’re important. But the measure of success, you’re right, for a data-driven guy, I wish I could put a specific number to it. Like, here’s the ROI from each of these conferences. It’s really difficult to. It’s really difficult to do, but I can tell you that, I do look back and, and aggregate those. I look at the management contracts we picked up, and I think of, “Okay, well, where did I meet these folks? And so what’s the average return?” And I can put a number to that. And I would tell you that in terms of the immediate return, what I’m looking for is if I can have three to five specific follow-up conversations, a result of that conference, then the trip was worth the cost. Ryan Embree: That’s great advice for young hospitality professionals out there. I mean, we have a great industry, and one of the coolest parts of it is you get to rub shoulders sometimes with those executives. So even those younger hospitality professionals that might be tuning in here, it’s a great piece of advice to when you can, obviously, try to get that exposure of networking and get out there because hospitality is certainly a big world, but it’s also a very small world, and you run into a lot of the same people. And again, this, just like you said, Charles, a lot of the stories, success stories, whether it be business relationships, some of those transactions could stem from sitting next to somebody at breakfast – Absolutely. On day two of a conference. Love to hear that advice, love to hear that those stay beneficial, because we love those. We’re hospitality people, right? We’re in that industry. Now, another thing you become kinda famous for your takeaways articles on LinkedIn. My advice would be to encourage anyone, definitely give Charles if you’re not already a follow, because you have some great insights and takeaways from some of the events that he goes to. So I’m gonna kind of put you on the spot here. If you had to do a takeaways article for the first half of 2026, maybe give us a couple points, and then if you could, maybe share some predictions. We’re hospitality people. We love to kind of predict, try to predict the future a little bit, so. Charles Oswald: Yeah. Well, maybe, maybe the biggest takeaway from the first half is that we’re not great in hospitality about predicting future. Ryan Embree: That’s a good one. Charles Oswald: So, as we rolled into 2026, there were a lot of folks that were saying it was gonna be, like, Groundhog Day, that we’re looking at flat, very modest, RevPar growth and expenses that, outpace, the top line. And I think what nobody saw coming was US demand growth in the first half of the year. Now part of this, I will tell you, if we look back in some panels, a year ago, I called part of this, which is I asked why is no one talking about the impact of the $30 billion increase in tax refunds that we’ll see, plus the real wage growth that’s happening, and what impact that could have on our industry? And, and a lot of people kind of poo-pooed and they said, “Well, you know, we don’t really know that the tax refunds are gonna be there. We don’t really know how those are gonna hit.” Okay. But we do. There was some, some mirroring it kinda like during the pandemic when you put money in people’s pockets, there were a lot of people that just went out and spent it. And so I did, I think that had a real impact on the, on the first half of the year. And then the other part that none of us saw coming, and I didn’t, was certainly there’d be a war in Iran and how the general global conflict can would affect the outbound travel case for the American traveler. So, that outbound travel, international outbound decelerated, right, while domestic leisure demand, stayed strong. So, that helped prop up the first half of the year. So there are some trends from the first half that I think will carry out to the second half. So for not getting in looking forward, I’d say that second half of the year, there’ll be more bifurcation. You know, we’re gonna see a continuing challenge to new supply growth, and we’re gonna continue to see labor costs rising, but at a bit of a decelerating rate. So if I were to expand a little bit on that, on the bifurcation, we’ve heard a lot of talk about the K-shaped economy. And really in that bifurcation, there’s some people talking about this hollowing in the middle class, and, and, and I think that’s actually very, very misrepresented. What’s actually happened is we’ve seen a growth generational wealth, over the course of the last 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And this is a long-term macro trend, okay? The fact is that there are fewer poor today, about a third less than there were, you know, 40, 50 years ago. There are few, fewer lower middle class, and no longer is the core middle class the largest classification of income in America. But according to the BLS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is actually now the upper middle class is the largest class, right? So people are moving up on this continuum, and they’re more wealthy. So when you start thinking about that, what does that affect on our industry? That’s why we’re seeing this interest in, towards experiential travel, towards the soft brands, towards luxury, and why upper upscale and luxury tiers have been outperforming. So I think we’ll continue to see that as we go through the end of the year. And the other story I think we’ll continue to see is that new supply, right? Man, the plan, I mean, there’s, like, you know, 10% supply growth planned. But what actually happens, is just a, you know, a fraction of a percent. And so, in there, the challenge, you know, debt isn’t the problem anymore. It’s more about equity and construction cost relative to the commercial real estate valuations,in interest rate market environment that we’re in today. Ryan Embree: Yeah, so you have a little bit tampered demand, or tampered, building construction because of those construction costs. And do not underestimate, again, the willingness and ability for people and wanting to travel and have experiences. I still think they even the younger generation, they’re getting some more money in their pockets, and the first thing that they’re wanting to do is plan a nice trip, right, before they go out and, and buy those expensive things that, which was, was typically would happen. Charles Oswald: Yeah, and I wanna just comment one thing though is we’ve talked a lot about economic resilience, and that resiliency definitely exists in the US, and it’s more resilient than a lot of folks probably though it was when you look back in time. However, some of that does seem to be breaking here, right? You know, you are seeing rise of credit card debt. You are seeing some increases in folks, particularly at the mid-scale and, and, and lower income classes defaulting on car payments and things like that. And so if you start to make a decision about, you know, do I travel or do I pay my, my car, that is going to affect the industry, you know, as we go forward. And, and that’s gonna play a little bit in that bifurcation that we were talking about. Those who are on the upper end have watched unreal growth for the last few years in their stock market portfolios. You know, they, they feel a little bit more free and, and open travel. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s interesting. You’re right. You know, we always talk about still prioritizing travel, but travel over things. But when tho- those things become, like you said, payments or car payments, then all of a sudden the priorities start to shift a little bit. So it’d be interesting to see how that continues in the second half of this year. Now, another topic we that you’re gonna hear at every single hospitality show, it’s a bingo card, is AI and technology. And you, and you actually speak a lot. I’ve seen you on panels speak a lot to it in, in your interviews. Where do you think the hospitality industry, which we’ve said typically is one to slowly adopt technology? Where do you think we are in this cycle of AI adoption? And then maybe you could zoom in a little bit into your organization and, and where you’ve prioritized that, or maybe stayed away from it. Charles Oswald: Maybe we kind of break that down into sounds like three or four areas, right? I think, yeah, it’s what’s the biggest impact today? What’s kinda happening now? And maybe where’s it going? Sure. And, uh, and how do we play into that as a management company, right? Yeah. So I guess there’s four ways. In terms of the biggest impact today, it’s for sure it’s been, it, it, it’s been in distribution, right? Uh, GEO and AEO are the new SEO. And so, um, uh, maybe what’s accelerated hospitality is entrance into AI because the customer was using it to search for hospitality, and then all of a sudden we woke up and said what – Ryan Embree: Great point. Charles Oswald: It’s not just about keywords, but how, how do we become the answer to the question they’re asking? And so that’s, uh, that’s certainly the biggest impact today is on the distribution side. I think what’s happening in progress, we’re starting to see more in the areas of revenue optimization and design, right? Like on, you know, when it comes to new hotel renovations and they and developments. And then the future, where’s it going? I think we’re gonna see AI more in our, more closely integrated into our business analytics, like and that’s gonna extend into labor scheduling and productivity. I think we’ll see it help us in energy management and procurement. Things like F&B menu engineering both from the creative standpoint and kinda marrying that with the math, right? Like, what the cost of plate is and what the customer’s actually buying. And and that’s really important. IAnd by the way, that’s a weak spot, I think in the industry. There are an awful lot of management companies that are not very good on food and beverage side. So at Aperture, what are we doing? First off, I would say we lean really heavily on our tech partners to adapt, adopt AI for their analytics or reporting insights. And today insights has become the real opportunity, right? I mean, if you ask your BI system, you know, it’s one thing for them to be able to pull a report or show you some side-by-side comparisons, but the insights, like, why is this happening? You know, you can tell me, me what my flow-through is, it’s great, but, like, what should it be if we had run according to all the budget metrics that, like, that we put out there? They’re, they’re weak on that side, at least to date. So I think that’s gonna be the next step is that is conveying those analytics and reports to insights. And so, we’re keenly working with technology solutions that they can implement in those ways, and digital marketing efforts that help us improve the distribution that we were talking about earlier, GEO and AEO. And from a practical day-to-day standpoint, you know, we’ve incorporated, cloud enterprise solutions in our daily work and our applications, like, you know, Excel and SharePoint, et cetera, like a lot of other companies have. But we got plenty of room, plenty of runway there when it comes to AI. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Yeah, 100%. So, uh, every day, yeah. every hour, it feels like sometimes with these announcements. Um, but yeah, you, you mentioned something really, really fascinating at the top of that, the answer of, you know, I think the adoption cycle sometimes with technology and hospitality has been slow because we’ve tried to, sometime, “Hey, download our app,” right? We’re, we’re trying to get the customer to move with the technology that we want them to move into, and the ecosystem that, that, “Hey, you know, do this.” And now, what’s happening is we’re seeing the consumer move into these LLMs and, and AI search, and now hospitality’s kind of been like, “We have to catch up because this is where our customer is,” right? So maybe that does cause a little bit of, uh, acceleration. So, because that is the biggest thing that we’ve been hearing as well, is just AI visibility. There is just this, this fear of a couple years ago, it was the fear of doing anything and being like, “I’m not doing anything with AI and technology. Now it’s like, now I have. My biggest fear is keeping me up, is I’m not being found on AI, uh, search engines and LLMs.” Charles Oswald: Yeah, let me tell you, like, just a great example, I was traveling not long ago, to Chicago, and I had a trip to Nashville, and I was just curious. I just, I went to Google – Yeah. And said, “Hey, what are the, what’s the best hotel in Chicago?” And it gave me a list of sponsored results. So it was like, I don’t know, half a dozen or so hotels there. And it gave me a list of, like, you know, here’s what says, and there’s like 20 properties there, and there is, AAA and Forbes, and there was the map and so all this stuff, and I’m like, “Wow, there, there’s, like, you know, 60 best hotels in Chicago.” And so then I moved over, just out of curiosity, I asked, uh, Claude, “What’s the best hotel in Chicago?” Gave me one answer, named one hotel, this is the best. And it gave me a little honorable mention list of three properties underneath it. I thought, oh, my gosh. And then I did the same thing with Nashville. I get one answer – Yeah. And it’s honorable mentions. And it really started making me think, oh my gosh, like, like, if, if only one hotel is gonna come up with that, how do I make that money? And, uh, and who is this, who is this, um, generative AI trusting? And so, so, so we began to dive really deeply in that conversation about, like, when, where are these trusted resort returns coming from, and how do we influence that, right? How do we make sure we appear there? Ryan Embree: 100%. Yeah, that’s the, the next race right now is to try to figure that out. And that’s difficult. Charles Oswald: Kind of back up and just elaborate, just one more comment – Yeah. Is just that, that, like, in Google, I mean, it’s, sure, it’s trusted. I don’t think anybody says that you don’t, you don’t trust Google on those returns and the 60 properties that it’s sent, but – Right. It’s returning the results that it wants you to see, the search engine. Whereas Claude, ChatGPT, Grock, others, they’re returning the results that, as the consumer, I wanted to see. Ryan Embree: And that’s, and that’s the, I think that’s the difficult because it almost changes into a little bit 40 chess, because I might ask the same question, and based on my search experience, it could look at a different best hotel in Chicago than could be your best hotel in Chicago. Once you go down that. Yeah. Charles Oswald: Are you Going there for business, or is it a wedding, or is the soccer team? Yeah, right. And it, it might know the purpose. It might know lis – a little something about you. You’re exactly right. Ryan Embree: Well, uh, uh, listen, I’m gonna take us back before we get to, into that to rabbit hole and, and lose everybody there, because one of my, uh, one of the favorite parts of the conversation, and we’ve done, you know, now this, I think we’re, we’re over 200 episodes here, but one of the, one of my favorite parts, uh, places of our conversation, Charles, back when we first spoke, was hearing the origin story of aperture hotels and, and the name for it. And so, uh, I wanted just to revisit that for those who may have missed that episode. Can you share that story again and why this whole shift your perspective, which you can find on your LinkedIn, your website, everywhere, that mindset has really resonated, uh, with, so well with, um, hotel owners, investors, and has, has been an important part of your s – your company’s success. Charles Oswald: Oh, wow. Um, you know, thank you for, uh, for asking that question, uh, and, uh, and it’s a reminder and the flashback. You know, so, uh, so what is an aperture, first off, right? It’s, it, it’s, it’s in that, you know, that, that, that camera lens that allows light, right, to, to, to pass through, right? So, so it creates a clear, well-composed image. And so I think from a hospitality brand, um, that maps into some of our values. Um, you know, we talk about transparency and accountability. We talk about clarity and vision, right? Like, an owner sees a, a hotel’s position, um, uh, potential, and we can help capture it, right? We help focus, bring focus. Precision and control, you know, I, I think that helps, uh, convey into our views on process orientation across the enterprise and, you know, and consistent execution. One of our core values is about being actively curious, right? Like, how do you scratch beneath the, the surface and shine a light on, on what that is, right? And, you know, what can we do to, to make, you know, to reveal those, those, the, the hidden business potential? We think about, you know, when we’re walking into the hotel and, and, and we’re touring our, our properties and, and, and looking for those, um, those guest experience improvements, it’s like, how do we make this, uh, picture perfect for the customer who arrives, right? What that arrival experience, what are the first moments of truth? And so I think all of those things, that, that transparency of clarity, vision, precision control, uh, you know, picture perfect, uh, all these things, um, sort of play into that aperture name. But I’ll be honest, there was another part of this, uh, which is that, you know, there’s, like, 400 hotel management companies out there, uh, and there’s hundreds more that used to be. Finding an original name is admittedly difficult. Every name you can think of has been, uh, used. Sure. Uh, we, we were fortunate, uh, to be able to find something that was original that didn’t, you know, pigeonhole us into something like, you know, calling ourselves, uh, Sunbelt Management or something like that. So, so, so that did work out well for us. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Well, I love it because, you know, you, you mentioned at the top that this was, you know, Aperture Hotels was really their origin story started during and during that COVID time, right? During and after that COVID time. And I think it was in those conversations, the companies and organizations that I spoke to that had a very clear North Star, a very clear direction of who they are and their culture during that time, because it was such a difficult time. So to have such a strong kind of name and you have all of those things, I’m sure that is, has been so beneficial for you as you continue to grow and scale, because you need that, right? You need something to kind of lean back onto and be kind of your Compass North, your North Star, however you wanna to phrase it. But I love to hear that. And like I said, it, it stuck with me all these years afterwards, so I wanted to touch on it again. And, um, I saw recently on LinkedIn that, uh, you and your team wrapped up a leadership conference in, uh, New Orleans. Tell us a little bit about that event and how, how instrumental the team has been, and also your, your success over at Aperture Hotels. Charles Oswald: Oh, that is. Well, yeah, that, that, that was a fun time. Uh, first off, getting together, getting our team together – Yeah. For that annual conference is my favorite part of the year really energizes me. Um, you know, I’m so grateful for, for, for, for the team that’s doing this work on the ground and, and the leadersh – uh, we have out there in the field. You know, I think often we talk about performance. We send around our balanced scorecard. We measure and we rank people and, and, uh, you know, we talk about process and so on. And that, and that’s, that’s an important part of the, uh, uh, of what we cover in the, uh, in, in our annual leadership co – uh, conference as well. But, um, but I think when you’re rubbing elbows, uh, you know, you’re in the same room with everybody. Uh, there’s, there’s a different level of, you know, preparation, focus, and curiosity, you know, team member bonding and relationship that happens. And, you know, and I love how in the aftermath of these conferences, we, you know, we hear about how, you know, the general manager, you know, in, you know, in the US West, it’s called the general manager in the US East, and they’re – Sure. They’re getting together and collaborating now on, on, on best practices and, and how they dealt with certain challenges maybe that are shared experiences that they’re having. So that’s where it happens, right? I mean, you get out there in a conference together like this where I think i- ideas get sharpened, uh, perspectives broadened. People learn, you know, here’s some insights, and they, uh, you know, share in their experiences. They challenge each other. And, uh, we, and, and we come out of it just, uh, winning together. And by the way, I should mention also, there’s some really great food, uh, so – Oh, I know. Yeah, yeah. Sorry. New Orleans. Uh, I’m a big eater. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that, that helps too. Uh, Charles Oswald: A few extra, but I’ve never missed one. And, uh, New Orleans is a great place for someone to like me, that’s for sure. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We, well, we talked about how quickly things are moving right now in hospitality, and it’s so important to kinda get everybody together in one place. And we’ve seen how you prioritize, obviously, the, the bigger hospitality events across hospitality. So sometimes to get that dialed in with your team, just so important. And great to hear that that continues to be. ‘Cause if you remember back in the day, we were hearing that that was gonna be the end of this, by the way. Everybody was gonna have these leadership conferences on Zoom, and everyone was gonna love it, and nobody was going anywhere. So, uh, love to see that that, that prediction didn’t come to pass. Now, you’re – Charles Oswald: Yeah, you know, the funny thing about that, Ryan, is – Sure. Is that we’re out there in hospitality on the sales front. We were telling our companies, our clients, why they all need to get together. And hospitality companies are like, “Well, but, but we’re gonna do it on Zoom.” Ryan Embree: Right. Right, exactly. Right? We gotta practice what we preach a little bit Charles Oswald: Both Sides of our mouth, right? Yeah. Yeah. And, and enjoying some of the hospitality, uh, that we provide every single day, right? So, so you’re headquartered in Atlanta, Charles, you’ve got. But the portfolio spans across the country, you mentioned it. Are there any particular markets that you’re seeing strong opportunities and maybe some that you’re cautiously maybe staying away from for a bit right now? Charles Oswald: Well, uh, first off, the Atlanta part. Um, right? I mean, we’re, we’re the transportation hub of the Southeast, but, uh, arguably the country and the world with the world’s biggest and busiest airport. So when we talk about, like, w- where we’re willing to go, we’ve got a competitive advantage from here in the, uh, in that we have more direct flights to more cities across the country and the globe than any other, an- anybody. Else, right? Uh, coming out of, uh, the world’s biggest and busiest airport. So, so that’s, uh, that’s, that’s really nice and not to mention there’s a, there’s certainly a lot of drive markets, uh, that are within four, four hours of, uh, of Atlanta. So, um, so yeah, that makes us pretty opportunistic when it comes to, uh, uh, hotel management assignments. You know, ideally, uh, you know, we’re looking, ideally we’re, we’re looking at, you know, those top 100 or so cities. Ideally, you know, we, we, we certainly have better presence in the eastern half of the US, but we do span from Florida beaches to coastal California. In terms of the type of markets that are, that are more ideal and better fit for us, you know, generally speaking, they’re, you know, a lot of the, the southern markets are, uh, you know, certainly performing well. They’re business friendly. We avoid union hostility, uh, where, whenever possible, right? Sure. And, um, you know, th- those are the type of markets where we’d wanna go. And in terms of, of the type of hotels, you know, again, I think leaning towards the bifurcation that we know exists in, uh, in the industry that kinda says, you know, you gotta be great at, uh, soft branding experiential properties, right? And some lifestyle assets. And, and so that we’re, we’re, we’re leaning that direction. And you see it in our pipeline. You know, so, so our pipeline includes, you know, includes today, uh, multiple Marriott, Hilton, soft branded assets, like, like Tribute and, you know, and Tapestry Autographs. We also have, uh, some brands like Compass by Margaritaville sitting in the pipeline, right? And, and independent. Um, so, so really cool, exciting places where we get to create our own brand, really, our own store – Yeah. Based off of the building that’s there. And all of those new development projects that we’re talking about have, um, they have a lot of credit. I mean, that’s the only way you can pull these off today is if you’re, if you’ve got historic tax credits, you know, so we’ve got that in multiple places and hundred plus year old buildings. It’s, you know, great stories to tell. Uh, we’ve got, uh, you know, tax increment financing, PIDs, we’ve got enterprise zone, we got the CIPLA, you know, many other different factors that have played into making a capital stat that actually works. Uh, and that’s the way to, you know, that’s, that’s the way we’re getting it done and, uh, on the new development side. Ryan Embree: Well, those are fun projects, let me tell you. Um, I, I, I’m sure to work on, because it’s like you said, I mean, you get to tell a story there. Um, sometimes there’s a story already ingrained with these historic buildings that then become a, a key foundational component of, uh, you know, what you’re building on, um, so to speak, and, you know, uh, literally and figuratively when, when it comes to your maybe digital story. So, yeah, very, very cool to see. We’ll, we’ll, we’ll be excited to watch, watch those come to, to life. I want to. We’re, we’re wrapping up here, Charles, but I always feel like it’s always my duty, you know, having the privilege to talk to leaders like you, try to just get as much inside advice as I can out of you during this time. Obviously, as a business owner, you know, starting a business never easy, so much vision, resilience, incredible amount of commitment, especially doing one where you started it during a historic time and around COVID, right? But looking back on your journey building Aperture, you know, what advice would you give maybe to the next generation of hospitality leaders? It doesn’t necessarily have to be about if someone’s wanting to build their own, uh, management company, but e- even just a hospitality professional just now today in 2026? Charles Oswald: That’s a good question. You know, some things that come to mind is, uh, it’s a one in whatever business you’re, you’re doing, if, if you’re trying to be entrepreneurial and you wanna be an owner, I’d say, you know, choose your partners carefully, right? If you’re coming up in the business, I’d say, um, master the numbers, you know, not just your gut. If you’re, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re in the hiring seat, uh, uh, as a, as a team leader, I would tell them to, um, make sure they treat people decisions as serious as the capital decisions, right? Very, very important. I think from a business development standpoint, uh, I say those guys that are trying to, you know, build a, a portfolio need to y – learn to, to read the deal and not just as an operation. I think young or old, we should embrace the tech shift. I couldn’t believe I, I have some college professor friends, I do some advisory work at several universities, and I listen to, uh, college professors and some students out there, uh, who are very, being very resilient, r- resistant to AI, talking bad about it, they view it as a threat. And, uh, I’m like, “Hey, guys, y’all need to know that we do employ people, employers are looking for those young folks to come out with some experience and exposure and learning, uh, you know, and, and, and to have some insights in how to, how, you know, we cannot adopt AI at our companies.” And, and, uh, you know, you’re doing an injustice if, uh, if you’re resisting tech shift. Uh, so, and lastly, I would say think about your reputation management, right? Like, like, protect your credibility with your owners, with your franchisors, like it’s capital, because it is. Ryan Embree: Great advice. Sound, sound about. We got. That was comprehensive. Thank you for, thank you for sharing that. No, really appreciate it. Like I said, you know, uh, try to glean as much as I can out of these conversations and share it. Um, all great advice. Um, you know, hopefully we don’t have to wait three years next time to have you back on the podcast. Would, would love to catch up with you then, but who knows where, where you’ll be and, and the growth, uh, of Aperture Hotels. But what’s next? Like, as we wrap up today’s final question, kinda what’s your vision for the future as you look into the, this latter part of the half of the 2020s, right, for Aperture Hotels? Charles Oswald: Yeah, I think, um, being involved in a few developments is, is, you know, the one side. I’d say there’s just ongoing organic growth of, uh, taking on, on, uh, new management contracts, and they’ll probably mostly still be through, management company transitions as opposed to actual ownership transitions. And then, look, M&A is on the table, right? We, we’ve studied, uh, a few other small management companies that we can maybe, uh, acquire or merge in with. And I think that’s, yeah, I, I’m continuing to be open to that, uh, that conversation and, and, uh, uh, I hope to probably do just one. Uh, I don’t think multiple, but, but, but probably just one that’s really the right fit and the right strategic play. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, we’re excited. It’s been cool to watch your journey and aperture hotels from when we first spoke with you to here we are now and wish you nothing but success. So thank you so much, um, for taking the time to, to spend some time with my, myself as well as our sweet spot listeners, Charles. Charles Oswald: Yeah. Thank you. It’s great chatting. I appreciate it, Ryan. Ryan Embree: alright. Thanks, everyone. We’ll talk to you next time on The SuiteSpot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with cover art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.  

The AMA specifically states that the risk element concerns patient-management decisions made by the physician/QHP reporting the E/M service. It also emphasizes that surgical risk depends on the particular patient’s circumstances and risk factors as assessed by that physician. Terry discusses “pre-op clearance” visits today and their level of risk, along with the billing of 76937 controversy. Subscribe and Listen Find all of Terry’s official links in one place: https://www.terryfletcher.net/links The post Technically correct and pre-ops appeared first on Terry Fletcher Consulting, Inc..

Today's guest came to my attention through a friend. Welcome guitarist Darren Michael Boyd. Technically, he's a multi-instrumentalist but let's keep things simple for the introduction. He first came to my attention through Astrid Young and her cover of Hell Hole for the Teen Cancer America Spinal Tap Tribute. He released a new album last year but that's just the latest in a string of solo albums in addition to the other bands he plays in and contributions he makes. He talks about his early days, touring as a teen (one stop turned out to be the scene of a murder). Darren talks about shifting from bands to a guitarist-for-hire role. He also talks about why he started writing and releasing solo albums and the difficulties of being an independent artist. He's got a great live band but Darren is still getting used to being out front. He talks about the Spinal Tap project and how he got involved. He also tells me how he got started in the reptile business. Be sure to pick up his music at darrenboyd.com and follow him on socials @darrenmichaelboyd. Follow us @PerformanceAnx and grab merch at performanceanx.threadless.com. You can also send money to ko-fi.com/performanceanxiety. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Darren Michael Boyd on Performance Anxiety on the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Technically a podcast episode...ArcTanGenthttps://arctangent.co.ukSans Froidhttps://sansfroid.bandcamp.com/https://www.instagram.com/sansfroid.band/Fandomentals PodcastAll Links - https://linktr.ee/FandomentalsPodcastPodomedy - https://podomedy.com/ Artwork Designed by Alex JenkinsWebsite - www.hexdesigns.orgInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hexshadowSpecial Thanks to Good As Gold GroupGive £5, £10 or £20 now and help CALM in their fight against suicide: https://www.justgiving.com/page/podomedy-stay-tunedCALM Tools & Resources: https://www.thecalmzone.net/tools-mental-health-support Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Technically, the finder of valuables in GA is supposed to make efforts to find the true owner - but some wonder if the police shouldn't have better things to do. https://www.lehtoslaw.com

Questions That Aren't TECHNICALLY Rude, But Feel Rude full 503 Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:03:51 +0000 eHUbnG6yDNQIYYBPfTDY3byJ0GpFQ34R rude,uncomfortable,rude questions,uncomfortable questions,music,society & culture,news Kramer & Jess On Demand Podcast rude,uncomfortable,rude questions,uncomfortable questions,music,society & culture,news Questions That Aren't TECHNICALLY Rude, But Feel Rude Highlights from the Kramer & Jess Show. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Music Society & Culture News https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?fe

Cam Ward and the Titans once again won a preseason game. But once again the starters struggled against back-ups in the first half. Did Ward show improvement? Did the offensive line regress? Did the receiving corp help their QB at all? What about the Titans defense? Drew Lock and the Seattle back-ups made multiple explosive plays against the starters. What does this all mean? Braden Gall and Paul Kuharsky talk Titans football.

Technically, blog categories and tags can help your SEO, but most people are using them in a way that actively hurts it.The question to ask is: Do your blog categories actually help people find what they're looking for, or are they just clutter?Why keyword-stuffed categories and tags get flagged as spamThe retail store analogy for structuring categories and tags correctlyHow to fix an existing blog with too many categoriesUsing Google Search Console to avoid losing visibility during a cleanupGet this right and your blog categories start working the way they should, guiding real visibility instead of quietly working against it.Timestamps [0:00] Introduction [0:30] The real problem with blog categories and tags [1:43] Why keyword-stuffed categories are a spam signal to Google [2:23] User frustration and how it hurts rankings [3:37] The retail store analogy for categories and tags [5:11] What tags are for versus what categories are for [6:38] What to do if you already have too many categories [7:08] Using Search Console before you prune anything [8:38] The rip the band-aid off approach [9:08] How to rebuild categories and tags the right way --Send me your AI/SEO questions!https://www.meredithshusband.com/podcast

I Never Move My Stop to Break Even… Here’s Why  Podcast: Find out more about Blueberry Markets – Click Here Find out more about my Online Video Forex Course Book a Call with Andrew or one of his team now Click Here to Attend my Free Masterclass #647: I Never Move My Stop to Break Even… Here’s Why In this video: 00:30 – Should you move your stop loss to breakeven. 01:05 – No relevance to the price you entered. 01:40 – Alternative ways to manage a trade. 02:38 – Take the full profit not a partial profit. 04:00 – Check out my new Masterclass. 04:12 – Blueberry Markets as a Forex Broker. 04:27 – Forget moving your stop to breakeven. Do you realize that the market doesn’t care why you entered the trade or where you entered the trade? So why do people have this massive obsession with moving their stops to break even all the time? Let’s talk about that and more right now. Hi there, traders! It’s Andrew here at The Forex Trading Coach with video and podcast number 647. Should you move your stop loss to breakeven. Outside on another stunning winter’s day here in Nelson, New Zealand. So today I want to talk about moving your stops to break even. Why do so many people do it? I’ve had so many discussions with people. It’s got me into a bit of trouble in the past at certain trading conferences that I’ve been to because of my opinion. Now, I’m not saying don’t move your stop to break even. If you have a strategy and it works, go for it. I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it. But my question to you is, why do you do it? And what’s the point in doing it? You see, so many people just think moving their stop to break even is a safe way of trading, and it protects losses, which in some ways it can do. But there are so many better things you could do. No relevance to the price you entered. You see, for me, moving a stop to break even has no relevance. The market doesn’t care when you entered the trade, why you entered it, or what the price was. So you’ve just entered the trade at some random price. You’re in the trade now. Simply putting your stop loss at that entry price, what does it mean? It means nothing. Technically, it means nothing. If you’re a news trader, it means nothing. What is the point in doing it? And for me, it’s just a bit of a fluffy, feel-good thing. You know, pretty brutally honest, but I think it’s true that people just feel okay about not losing on the trade. Alternative ways to manage a trade. Now, the issue I have with that—well, there are many. Moving your stop loss to that price point has no relevance. So what you could do instead is maybe close part of your trade. You could move your stop loss, if you really want to, but to a technical level. Don’t just put it simply at the price that you got filled at in the market. You could, on a buy trade, let’s say, put it below the last swing high, or you could put it below a round number and stagger the trade up as it gets into profit. That’s 1 thing you could do. Of course, if you wanted to do those types of things or partially close a trade, I would do it for a reason. I don’t just do it because, you know, you feel like it. Do it for an absolute reason. And I think that’s the important thing here. We’ve got to try and get our emotions out of trading and manage our trades for a reason, not simply because it feels good. Take the full profit not a partial profit. The other problem I have with moving stops and messing around with your trades is when you close a trade early, what you’re doing is limiting your potential gains. Now think of it this way. For most people, if they take a loss, they take a full loss. If they move their stop loss to break even, they basically get nothing from the trade on the entire position, let’s say. But what happens if you’ve already partially closed some of your trade and it gets to the full profit? Well, you’re not gaining the full lot size of your original trade when you hit profit. So when you say you made a 2-to-1 trade or a 3-to-1, whatever it might be, you might only be making that on part of your original lot size. So your actual overall gain is nowhere near the amount it should be. So for me, it’s quite important that you enter a trade for a reason. You put your stop loss at a safe level for a reason. You know your risk, your complete risk, if the trade goes completely against you, and you put your profit target at a level for a reason. So therefore, if you’re risking, let’s say, 0.5% and you make a 3-to-1 trade, you make the full 1.5% gain. I think it’s really important that you do that because, like I said, if you take losses, then generally you’re taking the whole loss anyway. So you want to make sure that when you hit a profitable trade, you get the full gain on that. Check out my new Masterclass. A few additional things for you. Have a look at our masterclass. You’ll find it really useful if you’re new to trading. It’s about 20 minutes long. I’ll put some details under this video and podcast. Blueberry Markets as a Forex Broker. And if you’re out there looking for a really good broker, I can highly recommend Blueberry Markets. They’re a really good bunch of people, with very quick withdrawals as well, very tight spreads on their trades, and lots and lots of markets on their MT5 platform. Forget moving your stop to breakeven. So that’s it for this week. Just consider breaking even. Consider not doing it. Consider better ways of doing it, and try not just to feel fluffy, nice feelings about your trade simply because you’ve made $0. Episode Title: #647: I Never Move My Stop to Break Even… Here’s Why Find out more about Blueberry Markets – Click Here Find out more about my Online Video Forex Course Book a Call with Andrew or one of his team now Click Here to Attend my Free Masterclass

Joey Logano is on a hot streak, but Short Tracks...not so much. We talk about another lackluster track-position race, discuss how many cars should REALLY be in the Chase, and debate Conor Zilisch signing over a year in advance with Hendrick. Plus - the Paint Scheme Preview and Picks for New Hampshire.The Rundown:- Richmond - aka Iowa, part 2. Track position is the most important thing- A Sell out crowd? Technically. Kinda. - Richmond Ratings - up...but from what?- The Chase - are the top-16 already set?- There should only be 10 teams in the Chase- NASCAR News:- Conor Zilisch signs over a year in advance with Hendrick - we talk about the positives and negatives- 2027 Schedule Announcements - no Chicago Street Course, Homestead keeps the finale- Auto Club Speedway not sold. Yet. Give it a chance.- Kurt Busch on the Today show- Sponsor News- New Hampshire - our Paint Scheme Preview and PicksFind the latest episodes at InTheDraftShow.com, follow on Bluesky and Instagram @InTheDraftShow – and like the show on Facebook at facebook.com/InTheDraftShowThanks for listening!

Daniel Cormier IS BACK after UFC 329 made headlines with Paddy Pimblett, Max Holloway, and Gable Stevenson all facing potential money withheld because of jumping on the cage after their victories. Technically speaking, rules do not allow fighters to exit the cage after a victory, but DC argues that the emotion of a massive victory and given the stakes of all three of their fights, the rule NEEDS TO CHANGE. Paddy Pimblett had a nasty first-round submission of Benoit Saint-Denis, Max avenged a loss vs. Conor McGregor, and Gable made his UFC debut with an incredible knockout victory. Cormier talks about when he did that against Stipe Miocic after his KO win at UFC 226, and why speaking from experience, these fighters should be allowed to show their emotion in those big wins. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What had you accomplished by 17? Not what dreams did you have, but what dreams had you already made come true? One thing I know for sure: You weren't the youngest person ever to complete the Bikepacking Triple Crown…unless your name is Cruz Blue. When I was 17, I spent most of my time skateboarding, avoiding homework, and chasing girls. Not exactly my finest years, but I'd argue my experience was probably more closely aligned with that of the average teenage boy than Cruz's was. Over the past year, Cruz has quietly been making a lot of noise in the bikepacking world. He has no social media, no blog, and no YouTube channel. He seems motivated almost entirely by a sense of adventure and what he calls youthful ignorance. So, unless you've been paying close attention, you may not have realized that a star was rising in Flagstaff, Arizona. Cruz comes from an adventurous family and grew up inspired to seek out adventures of his own. For him, racing is simply another form of adventure. He isn't particularly concerned with times, watts, records, or results—but he does place a premium on finishing. His only DNF came in 2025, when he attempted the Arizona Trail Race 800 as an individual time trial at just 16 years old. But let's back up a little. Cruz entered his first bikepacking race in 2024 at age 15. Just two short years later, he finds himself among an elite group of athletes credited with completing the Bikepacking Triple Crown. A brief history of his racing career: Age 15 Pinyons and Pines — 2d 15h 53m — 14th overall Age 16 AZTR 800 ITT — DNF Pinyons and Pines — 2d 7h 23m — 10th overall AZTR 800 ITT — 17d 7h 42m — Youngest solo AZTR 800 finisher Age 17 Pinyons and Pines — 3d 5h 19m — 17th overall Tour Divide — 19d 11h 6m Colorado Trail Race — 6d 17h 49m — Youngest-ever CTR finisher In less than 10 months, Cruz completed the Arizona Trail Race 800, Tour Divide, and Colorado Trail Race, becoming the youngest person ever credited with completing what we call the Bikepacking Triple Crown. Technically, the formal Triple Crown Challenge requires completing all three races within the same calendar year. Cruz completed his within a rolling one-year period. But the keepers of the records at Bikepacking.net officially list him as the youngest Triple Crown finisher, and who am I to argue!  The results, however, are only a small part of Cruz's story. The real story is Cruz himself – and it's his to tell. On today's episode, I have the privilege of getting to know one of our sport's youngest athletes, who has quietly been making a whole lot of noise. EPISODE SPONSORS Old Man Mountain & Robert Axel Project = use code mountainsordeath for 15% off  Central Texas Showdown = code ctsordeath for 15% off West Texas Showdown = code wtsordeath for 15% off NEW PATRONS

What Most People Get Wrong About Dopamine But you’d be wrong. Well, hey there. Welcome back. I hope you brought a considerable amount of dopamine, because you’re going to need it. You hear that word a lot, don’t you? And when you hear dopamine, you think of reward, right? You think, “Oh, I got a dopamine hit.” You think of gambling and shiny things and all the reward circuits that your brain has for things in your life. You think of exercising and all the positive, healthy things that you do for dopamine. And then you think of the negative things that you do: the overeating and the eating the bad stuff and the sweets, and the other behaviors that perhaps you shouldn’t be engaging in at all or as much. But you’d be wrong. Most people are wrong about dopamine. I’m one of those people until recently. See, I just basically took a broad brush and went, “Oh, you get a dopamine hit, your brain squirts dopamine, and you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s the stuff.'” But no, oh, that’s not the stuff at all. How Brain Neurochemicals Drive Seeking So let’s talk about the four neurochemicals that are involved. Technically, three of them are neurotransmitters while one is a neuropeptide, but let’s go with neurochemicals. So here’s what you might be misunderstanding and why it’s so hard to sort of break out of certain loops of things, like doomscrolling and so forth. See, you’re focused on thinking, “Well, I’m just going to scroll until I hit something. It’s that reward and then I stop or whatever.” But it’s the… it’s the journey, not the destination. That’s your problem. That’s the problem with this stuff. So, in other words, you are getting these little microbursts of dopamine. But here’s what dopamine does: It actually keeps you seeking. It says, “Keep looking.” We’re in a state of of almost anxiousness and seeking. And that’s really what its function is. We need a healthy amount of dopamine because that keeps… it can put us in the zone, and it can keep us looking when we shouldn’t be looking. And that’s what happens when you’re scrolling. You get little tiny microbursts of dopamine that says, “Keep looking, keep looking, it’s here, it’s here, keep looking, keep looking.” The norepinephrine gets released when you think you’ve found something. It provides the clarity and focus. When you do find the thing that you’re like, “Oh yeah, that’s the stuff,” that’s when you get the endorphins and the serotonin. The endorphins are the reward. They’re actually a a painkiller, but they make us feel like we’re relieved. And then the serotonin gives us that that feeling of everything’s okay, like, “This is good. This is the good stuff.” The Dopamine Cycle and the Empty Room The problem with that is when you continue to get microbursts for an extended period of time, your brain sort of messes with the receptors and says, “Well, we need to we need to back off from this. This is… we’re getting flooded here.” So then, you start feeling it less, so you start doing it more. Do you see how that might be a problem? It would be analogous to you being put in a completely empty room. The dopamine says, “There’s something here, there’s something here.” So you’re looking and looking in the room and you see that it’s empty, but you’re like, “Well, maybe I haven’t checked every corner.” And you keep looking and looking and looking. And then you see something. So the norepinephrine kicks in and goes, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s let’s focus on that. I think that’s the thing you wanted.” And you look at it and you’re like, “No, this isn’t… this is a ball of yarn! I don’t want this.” But now you’re really looking. So you keep looking and keep looking with your friend dopamine and epinephrine… And then you find it. You finally find the treasure in there. It’s that thing, that thing you really wanted. Look at it! Just go get it. You go and you pick it up, and that’s when you get the endorphin, and then the serotonin kicks in. Ah, I’m so rewarded and I have so much calmness and satisfaction that I found this thing. But wait! “Maybe there are more things in this room,” says dopamine. “We should keep looking!” And that is the cycle that you’re basically repeating, whether you are doing the doomscrolling on Instagram or you are putzing around with something that has no real end or purpose. Okay, I’ve raised your awareness, now what? Why Long-Term Effort Doesn’t Cause Neurochemical Burnout Well, you might say, “Well, these are just biochemicals in your brain. These are these are not like foreign substances, so there’s got to be a real purpose for these, right? So how does that work?” Well, let’s compare this to doing something constructive. So if you really like your job, and since there are a gazillion jobs, let’s… let’s say writing a book, right? You sit down and you write a book, those chemicals are involved as well. Well, why doesn’t that burn out your brain? This is something I wanted to know, because as soon as I found this, I thought, “Well, wait a second. I have been able to sit down and repeatedly focus for months at a time to complete a novel or a book or research or what have you.” And I’ve told people that when I look at The Sword and the Sunflower and I look at how big and thick it is, I think, “My God, if somebody handed that to me and said, ‘I need you to write one of these,’ I’d say, ‘No, no, you don’t. I’m not doing that. That’s impossible.'” So why didn’t my neurotransmitters go, “Whoa, hold your horses here, uh-uh, I’m I’m burnt out”? And the difference is speed. So while the dopamine kept me seeking, it was a slow burn of effort. So if I stop the effort, everything else stopped. When you’re scrolling, you’re just flicking your thumb going, “Nope, nope, nope, maybe, I don’t know, nope, nope, nope, maybe, I don’t know.” And in fact, it’s so low effort that you could be watching TV or talking to someone and scrolling at the same time, and you probably shouldn’t do that. But you really have to focus if you’re looking at plot and characters and overarching things and and looking at the story as a whole and the outline and all that other great stuff. Harnessing Dopamine and Focus for Healthy Productivity And again, you’re probably coming up with analogies of what you do for a living and think, “Well, yeah, I have a lot of long-term, hard-focused things I have to do. I get lost in my spreadsheet, I get lost in my database, I get lost in my software, I get lost in discussions with clients.” So the dopamine is keeping you in that seeking state of wanting to talk to them, of wanting to write, of wanting to do. The norepinephrine keeps you alert and says, “Yeah, this is the thing that we wanted to focus on. Yeah.” In my case, it’s, “Yeah, this is the character development. Oh my God, this is what this person would definitely say here. Yes!” When you make those connections on your spreadsheet, when you make those connections with people in real life, and they say the things that you would ideally want them to say because they’re getting what you’re saying and you’re making the sale, or you’re making the connection, or you’re teaching something, that’s when you’re getting your endorphins and your serotonin. And that’s when you go, “Wow, what a rewarding job. This is what I like to do. I helped someone. I made a whole bunch of money. I taught someone something. This is good. I like this.” Same four neurochemicals applied in a way that’s healthy. Earned Rewards vs. the Cheap Thrill of Doomscrolling So moving forward, I think the most important thing to learn here is that it’s not about getting squirted with endorphins, it’s the constant squirt of dopamine. Dopamine is the real thing that we have to worry about. If you complete a difficult level, and then at the very end you’re rewarded with some sort of reward screen, a a spinny coin, or or a total goes up, or it plays an animation, you go, “Oh, yeah.” But if all you had to do is hit a button on your keyboard and that exact thing would play, you’d say, “Well, well that’s no fun. There’s no challenge there. I didn’t earn it. I didn’t work for it.” So when you are writing a book and you look back on it, or you are completing your job, or focusing on a client and so on and so forth, you feel that effort. You look back on what you did. You played the level! You played the level and you risked your guy dying, and you only have two more quarters left. You risked possibly not making as large of a sale, or not getting the client, or not really getting through to the person with what you’re attempting to teach them. You risk all that, and then you get the reward, and you think, “I want to do that again. I want to go through that challenge with my buddy dopamine and norepinephrine when I’m really focused in on the target.” And that’s why when you are doomscrolling and you look at the clock and you go, “Oh, it’s an hour and a half later,” that’s when you feel like, “What have I done?” Because you don’t look back and feel the effort. There is no effort to feel because no effort was made. Practical Strategies to Stop Doomscrolling and Reclaim Focus Okay, then how do you break out of doomscrolling and things? Well, let’s… let’s take a step back. First of all, it’s perfectly fine to be doing activities that that don’t necessarily have an endpoint, right? It’s okay to twiddle your thumbs, or to doodle, or to watch some silly reel once in a while. There’s nothing wrong with having downtime. It’s when the downtime is hours and you are filled with delightful regret at the end. So one of the things you can do is set a time limit. “I’m just going to mess around for 10 minutes.” Like literally set an alarm. We have all these assistants around us, you… just with your voice, you can set a 10-minute alarm. Or, actually give yourself a legitimate reward. Say you’re going to do something in search of something. Then you’ve brought it forward. Then it moves from your first voice up to your third voice, in which you say, “Hey, I am drawing a line here and I am saying out loud, I’m going to do this.” Now, if that sounds really silly and a waste of time, boom, you just realized that you’re probably not going to do that. Do you have ways of breaking out of your doomscrolling? Do you have a schedule for doing nonsense? Ultimately, I think it’s just the balance you feel is really the balance you are. So, thank you again as always for listening. I will have links in the article to the definitions of these four neurochemicals so that you can look them up and study them yourself. Take care. Thank you for listening as always. Go to markbradford.org to see all my author-related things. Go to Alchemy for Life to see coaching, speaking, writing, and this podcast. Alchemy for Life theme by Mark Bradford and Alchemy for Life. All background music is by Audionautix and Jason Shaw. Links to authoritative sources: Dopamine: National Institutes of Health (NIH) – Dopamine in Health and Disease or Mental Health America / Mayo Clinic – What Is Dopamine? Norepinephrine: Harvard Health Publishing – Brain Chemicals and Communication Endorphins: National Institutes of Health (PubMed) – Neurotransmitters and Peptides Serotonin: Cleveland Clinic – Serotonin Function & Levels

Bob Evans speaks with Chad Wahlquist, an Architect at Palantir, about what is driving the company's extraordinary growth and, more importantly, what customers are getting from its technology. Wahlquist argues that Palantir's momentum comes from helping enterprises solve difficult operational problems rather than simply deploying AI or chasing model benchmarks. Their conversation explores AI sovereignty, business outcomes, Palantir's Ontology, LLM complexity, customer operating leverage, and the importance of retaining control over enterprise decision-making. Outcomes Over AI Hype   The Big Themes: Outcomes Drive Palantir's Growth: Wahlquist connects Palantir's growth to the tangible returns customers see after adopting its technology. Rather than treating AI as a standalone investment or another piece of enterprise software, customers increasingly expand their Palantir relationships because successful initial projects create opportunities for broader deployment. He points to strong net dollar retention as evidence that existing customers are spending more after experiencing ROI. The underlying philosophy is straightforward: when an investment generates meaningful business value, executives are willing to repeat and expand it. Production LLMs Create New Problems: Getting an LLM working is only the beginning. Wahlquist discusses the stochastic and probabilistic nature of models, changing provider guardrails, security requirements, model deprecations, and unpredictable behavior across edge cases. Technically switching from one model to another might appear simple, but ensuring that a replacement works reliably across production workflows is significantly harder. This creates a fundamental enterprise question: how do businesses build durable operations on technology whose behavior and availability can change? Protect the Enterprise Decision Loop: One of the conversation's most important ideas is that a business can be understood as a collection of decisions. Companies continually observe data, apply logic, take actions, measure outcomes, and adjust future decisions. Wahlquist calls that feedback loop a source of business “alpha” — the proprietary knowledge that helps one organization outperform another. As AI agents become participants in enterprise decision-making, ownership of that loop becomes increasingly important. Companies should understand who controls the data, logic, actions, outcomes, and learning generated through those processes. The Big Quote: “LLMs don't just magically fix everything. They also create new problems that you have to go solve.” Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Count Binface, Nigel Farage, the Clacton by-election, UK politics, protest voting and the strange state of British democracy are under discussion in this episode of Mark and Pete. Because something rather extraordinary has happened in Clacton. Count Binface, a man wearing a silver costume with what appears to be a bin on his head, came second.And not just “came second” in the sense of receiving 87 votes, including his mum and somebody who misunderstood the ballot paper. He received nearly 9,500 votes, around 27 per cent of those cast.Nigel Farage comfortably won the Clacton by-election, taking more than 22,000 votes and around 63 per cent of the total. But with Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats not fielding candidates, thousands of voters faced an unusual choice. And an awful lot of them apparently looked at Count Binface and thought: yes. That'll do nicely.So why did people vote for him?We look at the long and rather glorious British tradition of satirical election candidates, from the Monster Raving Loony Party onwards, and ask whether voting for a comedy candidate is merely a joke or actually quite a serious form of political protest.Because there is something going on here.British voters are increasingly dissatisfied with mainstream politics, political parties and politicians themselves. A vote for Count Binface can be funny, certainly, but it can also mean: none of you represents me. It is rather more emphatic than spoiling the ballot paper and considerably more entertaining.We also examine who Count Binface actually is, where the character came from, his previous election campaigns and some of his splendidly ridiculous manifesto promises. Then comes the obvious constitutional question.Could Count Binface become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?Technically, Britain doesn't directly elect a Prime Minister at all. The Prime Minister must be able to command the confidence of the House of Commons. There is, as far as we can establish, no constitutional prohibition on having a waste-paper basket for a head. Westminster has somehow neglected to legislate for this contingency.But underneath the jokes is a serious question about British democracy, protest votes, Nigel Farage, Reform UK and public trust in politics.When more than a quarter of voters choose the man dressed as an intergalactic space warrior, perhaps the interesting question isn't why they voted for the joke candidate.Perhaps it's who the joke is on.Mark and Pete: faith, life, current affairs and the occasional bin-headed parliamentary candidate.zz

It's another AGROBAR episode, and we're taking this beloved classic international! Sort of! Technically! Our first sort-of-technically international GGROBAR version is by celebrated Canadian band The Irish Rovers, followed by a not-really-international-but-at-least-multilingual rendition performed by Juan Carlos Guerrero and Dr. Elmo himself! This week's ranking music is, of course, "Everything Sucks" by Reel Big Fish. Matthew's AGROBAR gift to us can be read in full here!

Scott Rizzuto has apparently reached the stage of adulthood where there's a 75% chance that if you contact him between 4 and 5 p.m., he's peeling garlic. Not relaxing. Not enjoying a hobby. Peeling garlic. Meanwhile, Lern accidentally ordered enough garlic to make her house legally inaccessible to vampires, which sends the crew into garlic oil, home remedies and other advice nobody should blindly follow just because five people with microphones said it confidently.And somehow, that's one of the more normal conversations in this comedy podcast.King Scott's baby is getting CLOSE, which means it's time to dig up the official baby pool and see who predicted the date, time and weight correctly. Scott says he's about 60% ready, the go-bag exists somewhere, and the car seat installation is still hanging out on the to-do list. So basically, fatherhood is proceeding exactly according to plan.That turns into kid birthday party etiquette, whether “NO GIFTS” actually means no gifts, and the worst possible present you could give a five-year-old if your real goal is making sure the parents never invite you anywhere again. Drum set? Puppy? Gold bars? The Rizz Show remains committed to providing absolutely terrible parenting resources free of charge.Then school season arrives and brings back memories of first-day outfits, high school parking spaces, Scott spray-painting his initials onto school property like a criminal mastermind who also signed the evidence, college costs, and the crew trying to understand why Illinois keeps catching strays.But eventually we arrive at the question that could divide America:Can you drink a non-alcoholic beer at work?More specifically, what happens if your SURGEON walks into the room before your operation holding one?Technically, it's non-alcoholic. Emotionally? Your brain has already requested another doctor.The crew runs the experiment through surgeons, pilots, school bus drivers, air traffic controllers and other professions where “don't worry, it's an NA” probably isn't the comforting sentence you were hoping to hear. Then Rafe introduces an equally troubling alternative: your heart surgeon walking in with a Capri Sun and struggling to get the straw into the pouch.Choose your fighter.From there, today's comedy podcast tackles low-key addictions, Rafe's mint supply, bad-breath paranoia, online shopping, Amazon delivery drivers asking customers to stop ordering cases of bottled water, and whether water baking in a brutally hot delivery truck makes that expensive alkaline stuff slightly less impressive.Then we get into homeowner association insanity, because apparently owning your house doesn't necessarily mean you're allowed to sit wherever the hell you want on it. One homeowner gets accused of doing “porch-type activity” while sitting in his garage — yes, that's apparently a category now — while another woman deals with HOA fines over a dead bush by simply spray-painting the thing green.Problem solved. Botanists hate this one simple trick.It's another comedy podcast packed with daily humor, weird news, St. Louis stories, ridiculous arguments, parenting panic and the sort of pop culture commentary that starts with a reasonable question and ends with five adults debating whether they'd trust a surgeon holding a Capri Sun.So, another productive morning at The Rizzuto Show.Follow The Rizzuto Show → linktr.ee/rizzshow for more from your favorite daily comedy show.Connect with The Rizzuto Show Comedy Podcast online → 1057thepoint.com/RizzShow.Hear The Rizz Show daily on the radio at 105.7 The Point | Hubbard Radio in St. Louis, MO.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hosted by Rob Leonard and Tim Leonard "From the Pressbox" airs every Monday 9am - 10am on 90.3FM WHPC Gadren City, New York and streaming at www.nccradio.org.  This week Rob and Tim talk about the sale of 15% of the Yankees and the fact that the Mets are technocally in the wild card chase.

Most of us never chose the life we're living. We absorbed it.Season 4 of How Do You Divine? opens with the word DESIGNED. Not designed as in planned, mapped out, rigid. Designed as in responsive. Intention and flexibility at the same time.In this episode I get honest about my own drift. Season 3 grew. My interviewing got sharper. The systems got better. More stories went out into the world. And somewhere in that growth I lost the heart of the show. Technically better. Soulfully thin. That was the drift.So we look at how drifting actually happens. Not as a dramatic wrong turn. The slow kind. In work. In motherhood. In the relationships where we stay present physically and quietly moonwalk out emotionally.This week's Divine Assignment: find one area where you've been drifting. Write it down. Pen to paper, not your phone. Then review it before you design what that version should look like.Send us Fan MailThank you for listening and for adding new dimensions to your definitions. Keep growing, keep exploring, and keep defining life on your terms.Explore the website: howdoyoudivine.comFollow the showInstagram: instagram.com/howdoyoudivineYouTube: youtube.com/@howdoyoudivineFacebook: facebook.com/howdoyoudivineMeet the founder and hostSanika is a founder, inventor, and strategist building at the intersection of culture, media, and technology. How Do You Divine?® is the anchor of HDV Media, a company built on one idea. The words we inherit quietly design the lives we lead.Every episode takes one word and examines it through culture, intellect, emotion, and lived experience. Definitions that were handed to you. Definitions you adopted. Definitions you assumed were just normal.New episode every Sunday.

Here in chapter 3, Paul uses the word “mystery” again and again, so be gracious and allow me to reveal and clarify what the word mystery means in this sense. We often to refer to that which is unknown to be a mystery, but that's only a partial definition. Technically, a mystery is something that was once hidden but is now revealed. In this case, the mystery is that God's plan was to redeem both Israel and the rest of the world through the Messiah, a plan that was once hidden but has now been revealed. Paul has been given the task of preaching the incalculable riches of Christ to the Gentiles, so that God's wisdom and power might be displayed through the church. :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Media Referenced in this Episode: Bee Movie. Dir. Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner. 2007. “A Complete History of Bee Movie's Many, Many Memes" by Paris Martineau. New York Magazine. November 2nd, 2017. “Bee Movie: A Seinfeldian Society” by Joe Strike. Animation World. November 2nd, 2007. “How Bee Movie Won 2016” by Laura Bradley. Vanity Fair. December 30th, 2016. TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com Interstitial: “A Series of Voicemails Left on Jerry Seinfeld's Answering Machine by one Stephen Sondheim, Composer of Musical Theater and Lover of Bees” // Written by A.J. Ditty and Brian Alford // feat. David Armstrong as “Stephen Sondheim” and Brian Alford as “Jerry” Episode edited by Brian Alford. Interstitial edited by A.J. Ditty. Produced by Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford. This podcast was recorded under a SAG-AFTRA Agreement. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Ooh, black and yellow! Let's shake it up a little. Barry! Breakfast is ready! Coming! Hang on a second. Hello? - Barry? - Adam? - Can you believe this is happening? - I can't. I'll pick you up. Looking sharp. Use the stairs. Your father paid good money for those. Sorry. I'm excited. Here's the graduate. We're very proud of you, son. A perfect report card, all B's. Very proud. Ma! I got a thing going here. - You got lint on your fuzz. - Ow! That's me! - Wave to us! We'll be in row 118,000. - Bye! Barry, I told you, stop flying in the house! - Hey, Adam. - Hey, Barry. - Is that fuzz gel? - A little. Special day, graduation. Never thought I'd make it. Three days grade school, three days high school. Those were awkward. Three days college. I'm glad I took a day and hitchhiked around the hive. You did come back different. - Hi, Barry. - Artie, growing a mustache? Looks good. - Hear about Frankie? - Yeah. - You going to the funeral? - No, I'm not going. Everybody knows, sting someone, you die. Don't waste it on a squirrel. Such a hothead. I guess he could have just gotten out of the way. I love this incorporating an amusement park into our day. That's why we don't need vacations. Boy, quite a bit of pomp… under the circumstances. - Well, Adam, today we are men. - We are! - Bee-men. - Amen! Hallelujah! Students, faculty, distinguished bees, please welcome Dean Buzzwell. Welcome, New Hive City graduating class of… …9:15. That concludes our ceremonies. And begins your career at Honex Industries! Will we pick our job today? I heard it's just orientation. Heads up! Here we go. Keep your hands and antennas inside the tram at all times. - Wonder what it'll be like? - A little scary. Welcome to Honex, a division of Honesco and a part of the Hexagon Group. This is it! Wow. Wow. We know that you, as a bee, have worked your whole life to get to the point where you can work for your whole life. Honey begins when our valiant Pollen Jocks bring the nectar to the hive. Our top-secret formula is automatically color-corrected, scent-adjusted and bubble-contoured into this soothing sweet syrup with its distinctive golden glow you know as… Honey! - That girl was hot. - She's my cousin! - She is? - Yes, we're all cousins. - Right. You're right. - At Honex, we constantly strive to improve every aspect of bee existence. These bees are stress-testing a new helmet technology. - What do you think he makes? - Not enough. Here we have our latest advancement, the Krelman. - What does that do? - Oatches that little strand of honey that hangs after you pour it. Saves us millions. Oan anyone work on the Krelman? Of course. Most bee jobs are small ones. But bees know that every small job, if it's done well, means a lot. But choose carefully because you'll stay in the job you pick for the rest of your life. The same job the rest of your life? I didn't know that. What's the difference? You'll be happy to know that bees, as a species, haven't had one day off in 27 million years. So you'll just work us to death? We'll sure try. Wow! That blew my mind! “What's the difference?” How can you say that? One job forever? That's an insane choice to have to make. I'm relieved. Now we only have to make one decision in life. But, Adam, how could they never have told us that? Why would you question anything? We're bees. We're the most perfectly functioning society on Earth. You ever think maybe things work a little too well here? Like what? Give me one example. I don't know. But you know what I'm talking about. Please clear the gate. Royal Nectar Force on approach. Wait a second. Oheck it out. - Hey, those are Pollen Jocks! - Wow. I've never seen them this close. They know what it's like outside the hive. Yeah, but some don't come back. - Hey, Jocks! - Hi, Jocks! You guys did great! You're monsters! You're sky freaks! I love it! I love it! - I wonder where they were. - I don't know. Their day's not planned. Outside the hive, flying who knows where, doing who knows what. You can'tjust decide to be a Pollen Jock. You have to be bred for that. Right. Look. That's more pollen than you and I will see in a lifetime. It's just a status symbol. Bees make too much of it. Perhaps. Unless you're wearing it and the ladies see you wearing it. Those ladies? Aren't they our cousins too? Distant. Distant. Look at these two. - Oouple of Hive Harrys. - Let's have fun with them. It must be dangerous being a Pollen Jock. Yeah. Once a bear pinned me against a mushroom! He had a paw on my throat, and with the other, he was slapping me! - Oh, my! - I never thought I'd knock him out. What were you doing during this? Trying to alert the authorities. I can autograph that. A little gusty out there today, wasn't it, comrades? Yeah. Gusty. We're hitting a sunflower patch six miles from here tomorrow. - Six miles, huh? - Barry! A puddle jump for us, but maybe you're not up for it. - Maybe I am. - You are not! We're going 0900 at J-Gate. What do you think, buzzy-boy? Are you bee enough? I might be. It all depends on what 0900 means. Hey, Honex! Dad, you surprised me. You decide what you're interested in? - Well, there's a lot of choices. - But you only get one. Do you ever get bored doing the same job every day? Son, let me tell you about stirring. You grab that stick, and you just move it around, and you stir it around. You get yourself into a rhythm. It's a beautiful thing. You know, Dad, the more I think about it, maybe the honey field just isn't right for me. You were thinking of what, making balloon animals? That's a bad job for a guy with a stinger. Janet, your son's not sure he wants to go into honey! - Barry, you are so funny sometimes. - I'm not trying to be funny. You're not funny! You're going into honey. Our son, the stirrer! - You're gonna be a stirrer? - No one's listening to me! Wait till you see the sticks I have. I could say anything right now. I'm gonna get an ant tattoo! Let's open some honey and celebrate! Maybe I'll pierce my thorax. Shave my antennae. Shack up with a grasshopper. Get a gold tooth and call everybody “dawg”! I'm so proud. - We're starting work today! - Today's the day. Oome on! All the good jobs will be gone. Yeah, right. Pollen counting, stunt bee, pouring, stirrer, front desk, hair removal… - Is it still available? - Hang on. Two left! One of them's yours! Oongratulations! Step to the side. - What'd you get? - Picking crud out. Stellar! Wow! Oouple of newbies? Yes, sir! Our first day! We are ready! Make your choice. - You want to go first? - No, you go. Oh, my. What's available? Restroom attendant's open, not for the reason you think. - Any chance of getting the Krelman? - Sure, you're on. I'm sorry, the Krelman just closed out. Wax monkey's always open. The Krelman opened up again. What happened? A bee died. Makes an opening. See? He's dead. Another dead one. Deady. Deadified. Two more dead. Dead from the neck up. Dead from the neck down. That's life! Oh, this is so hard! Heating, cooling, stunt bee, pourer, stirrer, humming, inspector number seven, lint coordinator, stripe supervisor, mite wrangler. Barry, what do you think I should… Barry? Barry! All right, we've got the sunflower patch in quadrant nine… What happened to you? Where are you? - I'm going out. - Out? Out where? - Out there. - Oh, no! I have to, before I go to work for the rest of my life. You're gonna die! You're crazy! Hello? Another call coming in. If anyone's feeling brave, there's a Korean deli on 83rd that gets their roses today. Hey, guys. - Look at that. - Isn't that the kid we saw yesterday? Hold it, son, flight deck's restricted. It's OK, Lou. We're gonna take him up. Really? Feeling lucky, are you? Sign here, here. Just initial that. - Thank you. - OK. You got a rain advisory today, and as you all know, bees cannot fly in rain. So be careful. As always, watch your brooms, hockey sticks, dogs, birds, bears and bats. Also, I got a couple of reports of root beer being poured on us. Murphy's in a home because of it, babbling like a cicada! - That's awful. - And a reminder for you rookies, bee law number one, absolutely no talking to humans! All right, launch positions! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz! Black and yellow! Hello! You ready for this, hot shot? Yeah. Yeah, bring it on. Wind, check. - Antennae, check. - Nectar pack, check. - Wings, check. - Stinger, check. Scared out of my shorts, check. OK, ladies, let's move it out! Pound those petunias, you striped stem-suckers! All of you, drain those flowers! Wow! I'm out! I can't believe I'm out! So blue. I feel so fast and free! Box kite! Wow! Flowers! This is Blue Leader. We have roses visual. Bring it around 30 degrees and hold. Roses! 30 degrees, roger. Bringing it around. Stand to the side, kid. It's got a bit of a kick. That is one nectar collector! - Ever see pollination up close? - No, sir. I pick up some pollen here, sprinkle it over here. Maybe a dash over there, a pinch on that one. See that? It's a little bit of magic. That's amazing. Why do we do that? That's pollen power. More pollen, more flowers, more nectar, more honey for us. Cool. I'm picking up a lot of bright yellow. Oould be daisies. Don't we need those? Oopy that visual. Wait. One of these flowers seems to be on the move. Say again? You're reporting a moving flower? Affirmative. That was on the line! This is the coolest. What is it? I don't know, but I'm loving this color. It smells good. Not like a flower, but I like it. Yeah, fuzzy. Ohemical-y. Oareful, guys. It's a little grabby. My sweet lord of bees! Oandy-brain, get off there! Problem! - Guys! - This could be bad. Affirmative. Very close. Gonna hurt. Mama's little boy. You are way out of position, rookie! Ooming in at you like a missile! Help me! I don't think these are flowers. - Should we tell him? - I think he knows. What is this?! Match point! You can start packing up, honey, because you're about to eat it! Yowser! Gross. There's a bee in the car! - Do something! - I'm driving! - Hi, bee. - He's back here! He's going to sting me! Nobody move. If you don't move, he won't sting you. Freeze! He blinked! Spray him, Granny! What are you doing?! Wow… the tension level out here is unbelievable. I gotta get home. Oan't fly in rain. Oan't fly in rain. Oan't fly in rain. Mayday! Mayday! Bee going down! Ken, could you close the window please? Ken, could you close the window please? Oheck out my new resume. I made it into a fold-out brochure. You see? Folds out. Oh, no. More humans. I don't need this. What was that? Maybe this time. This time. This time. This time! This time! This… Drapes! That is diabolical. It's fantastic. It's got all my special skills, even my top-ten favorite movies. What's number one? Star Wars? Nah, I don't go for that… …kind of stuff. No wonder we shouldn't talk to them. They're out of their minds. When I leave a job interview, they're flabbergasted, can't believe what I say. There's the sun. Maybe that's a way out. I don't remember the sun having a big 75 on it. I predicted global warming. I could feel it getting hotter. At first I thought it was just me. Wait! Stop! Bee! Stand back. These are winter boots. Wait! Don't kill him! You know I'm allergic to them! This thing could kill me! Why does his life have less value than yours? Why does his life have any less value than mine? Is that your statement? I'm just saying all life has value. You don't know what he's capable of feeling. My brochure! There you go, little guy. I'm not scared of him. It's an allergic thing. Put that on your resume brochure. My whole face could puff up. Make it one of your special skills. Knocking someone out is also a special skill. Right. Bye, Vanessa. Thanks. - Vanessa, next week? Yogurt night? - Sure, Ken. You know, whatever. - You could put carob chips on there. - Bye. - Supposed to be less calories. - Bye. I gotta say something. She saved my life. I gotta say something. All right, here it goes. Nah. What would I say? I could really get in trouble. It's a bee law. You're not supposed to talk to a human. I can't believe I'm doing this. I've got to. Oh, I can't do it. Oome on! No. Yes. No. Do it. I can't. How should I start it? “You like jazz?” No, that's no good. Here she comes! Speak, you fool! Hi! I'm sorry. - You're talking. - Yes, I know. You're talking! I'm so sorry. No, it's OK. It's fine. I know I'm dreaming. But I don't recall going to bed. Well, I'm sure this is very disconcerting. This is a bit of a surprise to me. I mean, you're a bee! I am. And I'm not supposed to be doing this, but they were all trying to kill me. And if it wasn't for you… I had to thank you. It's just how I was raised. That was a little weird. - I'm talking with a bee. - Yeah. I'm talking to a bee. And the bee is talking to me! I just want to say I'm grateful. I'll leave now. - Wait! How did you learn to do that? - What? The talking thing. Same way you did, I guess. “Mama, Dada, honey.” You pick it up. - That's very funny. - Yeah. Bees are funny. If we didn't laugh, we'd cry with what we have to deal with. Anyway… Oan I… …get you something? - Like what? I don't know. I mean… I don't know. Ooffee? I don't want to put you out. It's no trouble. It takes two minutes. - It's just coffee. - I hate to impose. - Don't be ridiculous! - Actually, I would love a cup. Hey, you want rum cake? - I shouldn't. - Have some. - No, I can't. - Oome on! I'm trying to lose a couple micrograms. - Where? - These stripes don't help. You look great! I don't know if you know anything about fashion. Are you all right? No. He's making the tie in the cab as they're flying up Madison. He finally gets there. He runs up the steps into the church. The wedding is on. And he says, “Watermelon? I thought you said Guatemalan. Why would I marry a watermelon?” Is that a bee joke? That's the kind of stuff we do. Yeah, different. So, what are you gonna do, Barry? About work? I don't know. I want to do my part for the hive, but I can't do it the way they want. I know how you feel. - You do? - Sure. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor, but I wanted to be a florist. - Really? - My only interest is flowers. Our new queen was just elected with that same campaign slogan. Anyway, if you look… There's my hive right there. See it? You're in Sheep Meadow! Yes! I'm right off the Turtle Pond! No way! I know that area. I lost a toe ring there once. - Why do girls put rings on their toes? - Why not? - It's like putting a hat on your knee. - Maybe I'll try that. - You all right, ma'am? - Oh, yeah. Fine. Just having two cups of coffee! Anyway, this has been great. Thanks for the coffee. Yeah, it's no trouble. Sorry I couldn't finish it. If I did, I'd be up the rest of my life. Are you…? Oan I take a piece of this with me? Sure! Here, have a crumb. - Thanks! - Yeah. All right. Well, then… I guess I'll see you around. Or not. OK, Barry. And thank you so much again… for before. Oh, that? That was nothing. Well, not nothing, but… Anyway… This can't possibly work. He's all set to go. We may as well try it. OK, Dave, pull the chute. - Sounds amazing. - It was amazing! It was the scariest, happiest moment of my life. Humans! I can't believe you were with humans! Giant, scary humans! What were they like? Huge and crazy. They talk crazy. They eat crazy giant things. They drive crazy. - Do they try and kill you, like on TV? - Some of them. But some of them don't. - How'd you get back? - Poodle. You did it, and I'm glad. You saw whatever you wanted to see. You had your “experience.” Now you can pick out yourjob and be normal. - Well… - Well? Well, I met someone. You did? Was she Bee-ish? - A wasp?! Your parents will kill you! - No, no, no, not a wasp. - Spider? - I'm not attracted to spiders. I know it's the hottest thing, with the eight legs and all. I can't get by that face. So who is she? She's… human. No, no. That's a bee law. You wouldn't break a bee law. - Her name's Vanessa. - Oh, boy. She's so nice. And she's a florist! Oh, no! You're dating a human florist! We're not dating. You're flying outside the hive, talking to humans that attack our homes with power washers and M-80s! One-eighth a stick of dynamite! She saved my life! And she understands me. This is over! Eat this. This is not over! What was that? - They call it a crumb. - It was so stingin' stripey! And that's not what they eat. That's what falls off what they eat! - You know what a Oinnabon is? - No. It's bread and cinnamon and frosting. They heat it up… Sit down! …really hot! - Listen to me! We are not them! We're us. There's us and there's them! Yes, but who can deny the heart that is yearning? There's no yearning. Stop yearning. Listen to me! You have got to start thinking bee, my friend. Thinking bee! - Thinking bee. - Thinking bee. Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! There he is. He's in the pool. You know what your problem is, Barry? I gotta start thinking bee? How much longer will this go on? It's been three days! Why aren't you working? I've got a lot of big life decisions to think about. What life? You have no life! You have no job. You're barely a bee! Would it kill you to make a little honey? Barry, come out. Your father's talking to you. Martin, would you talk to him? Barry, I'm talking to you! You coming? Got everything? All set! Go ahead. I'll catch up. Don't be too long. Watch this! Vanessa! - We're still here. - I told you not to yell at him. He doesn't respond to yelling! - Then why yell at me? - Because you don't listen! I'm not listening to this. Sorry, I've gotta go. - Where are you going? - I'm meeting a friend. A girl? Is this why you can't decide? Bye. I just hope she's Bee-ish. They have a huge parade of flowers every year in Pasadena? To be in the Tournament of Roses, that's every florist's dream! Up on a float, surrounded by flowers, crowds cheering. A tournament. Do the roses compete in athletic events? No. All right, I've got one. How come you don't fly everywhere? It's exhausting. Why don't you run everywhere? It's faster. Yeah, OK, I see, I see. All right, your turn. TiVo. You can just freeze live TV? That's insane! You don't have that? We have Hivo, but it's a disease. It's a horrible, horrible disease. Oh, my. Dumb bees! You must want to sting all those jerks. We try not to sting. It's usually fatal for us. So you have to watch your temper. Very carefully. You kick a wall, take a walk, write an angry letter and throw it out. Work through it like any emotion: Anger, jealousy, lust. Oh, my goodness! Are you OK? Yeah. - What is wrong with you?! - It's a bug. He's not bothering anybody. Get out of here, you creep! What was that? A Pic ‘N' Save circular? Yeah, it was. How did you know? It felt like about 10 pages. Seventy-five is pretty much our limit. You've really got that down to a science. - I lost a cousin to Italian Vogue. - I'll bet. What in the name of Mighty Hercules is this? How did this get here? Oute Bee, Golden Blossom, Ray Liotta Private Select? - Is he that actor? - I never heard of him. - Why is this here? - For people. We eat it. You don't have enough food of your own? - Well, yes. - How do you get it? - Bees make it. - I know who makes it! And it's hard to make it! There's heating, cooling, stirring. You need a whole Krelman thing! - It's organic. - It's our-ganic! It's just honey, Barry. Just what?! Bees don't know about this! This is stealing! A lot of stealing! You've taken our homes, schools, hospitals! This is all we have! And it's on sale?! I'm getting to the bottom of this. I'm getting to the bottom of all of this! Hey, Hector. - You almost done? - Almost. He is here. I sense it. Well, I guess I'll go home now and just leave this nice honey out, with no one around. You're busted, box boy! I knew I heard something. So you can talk! I can talk. And now you'll start talking! Where you getting the sweet stuff? Who's your supplier? I don't understand. I thought we were friends. The last thing we want to do is upset bees! You're too late! It's ours now! You, sir, have crossed the wrong sword! You, sir, will be lunch for my iguana, Ignacio! Where is the honey coming from? Tell me where! Honey Farms! It comes from Honey Farms! Orazy person! What horrible thing has happened here? These faces, they never knew what hit them. And now they're on the road to nowhere! Just keep still. What? You're not dead? Do I look dead? They will wipe anything that moves. Where you headed? To Honey Farms. I am onto something huge here. I'm going to Alaska. Moose blood, crazy stuff. Blows your head off! I'm going to Tacoma. - And you? - He really is dead. All right. Uh-oh! - What is that?! - Oh, no! - A wiper! Triple blade! - Triple blade? Jump on! It's your only chance, bee! Why does everything have to be so doggone clean?! How much do you people need to see?! Open your eyes! Stick your head out the window! From NPR News in Washington, I'm Carl Kasell. But don't kill no more bugs! - Bee! - Moose blood guy!! - You hear something? - Like what? Like tiny screaming. Turn off the radio. Whassup, bee boy? Hey, Blood. Just a row of honey jars, as far as the eye could see. Wow! I assume wherever this truck goes is where they're getting it. I mean, that honey's ours. - Bees hang tight. - We're all jammed in. It's a close community. Not us, man. We on our own. Every mosquito on his own. - What if you get in trouble? - You a mosquito, you in trouble. Nobody likes us. They just smack. See a mosquito, smack, smack! At least you're out in the world. You must meet girls. Mosquito girls try to trade up, get with a moth, dragonfly. Mosquito girl don't want no mosquito. You got to be kidding me! Mooseblood's about to leave the building! So long, bee! - Hey, guys! - Mooseblood! I knew I'd catch y'all down here. Did you bring your crazy straw? We throw it in jars, slap a label on it, and it's pretty much pure profit. What is this place? A bee's got a brain the size of a pinhead. They are pinheads! Pinhead. - Oheck out the new smoker. - Oh, sweet. That's the one you want. The Thomas 3000! Smoker? Ninety puffs a minute, semi-automatic. Twice the nicotine, all the tar. A couple breaths of this knocks them right out. They make the honey, and we make the money. “They make the honey, and we make the money”? Oh, my! What's going on? Are you OK? Yeah. It doesn't last too long. Do you know you're in a fake hive with fake walls? Our queen was moved here. We had no choice. This is your queen? That's a man in women's clothes! That's a drag queen! What is this? Oh, no! There's hundreds of them! Bee honey. Our honey is being brazenly stolen on a massive scale! This is worse than anything bears have done! I intend to do something. Oh, Barry, stop. Who told you humans are taking our honey? That's a rumor. Do these look like rumors? That's a conspiracy theory. These are obviously doctored photos. How did you get mixed up in this? He's been talking to humans. - What? - Talking to humans?! He has a human girlfriend. And they make out! Make out? Barry! We do not. - You wish you could. - Whose side are you on? The bees! I dated a cricket once in San Antonio. Those crazy legs kept me up all night. Barry, this is what you want to do with your life? I want to do it for all our lives. Nobody works harder than bees! Dad, I remember you coming home so overworked your hands were still stirring. You couldn't stop. I remember that. What right do they have to our honey? We live on two cups a year. They put it in lip balm for no reason whatsoever! Even if it's true, what can one bee do? Sting them where it really hurts. In the face! The eye! - That would hurt. - No. Up the nose? That's a killer. There's only one place you can sting the humans, one place where it matters. Hive at Five, the hive's only full-hour action news source. No more bee beards! With Bob Bumble at the anchor desk. Weather with Storm Stinger. Sports with Buzz Larvi. And Jeanette Chung. - Good evening. I'm Bob Bumble. - And I'm Jeanette Chung. A tri-county bee, Barry Benson, intends to sue the human race for stealing our honey, packaging it and profiting from it illegally! Tomorrow night on Bee Larry King, we'll have three former queens here in our studio, discussing their new book, Classy Ladies, out this week on Hexagon. Tonight we're talking to Barry Benson. Did you ever think, “I'm a kid from the hive. I can't do this”? Bees have never been afraid to change the world. What about Bee Columbus? Bee Gandhi? Bee Jesus? Where I'm from, we'd never sue humans. We were thinking of stickball or candy stores. How old are you? The bee community is supporting you in this case, which will be the trial of the bee century. You know, they have a Larry King in the human world too. It's a common name. Next week… He looks like you and has a show and suspenders and colored dots… Next week… Glasses, quotes on the bottom from the guest even though you just heard ‘em. Bear Week next week! They're scary, hairy and here live. Always leans forward, pointy shoulders, squinty eyes, very Jewish. In tennis, you attack at the point of weakness! It was my grandmother, Ken. She's 81. Honey, her backhand's a joke! I'm not gonna take advantage of that? Quiet, please. Actual work going on here. - Is that that same bee? - Yes, it is! I'm helping him sue the human race. - Hello. - Hello, bee. This is Ken. Yeah, I remember you. Timberland, size ten and a half. Vibram sole, I believe. Why does he talk again? Listen, you better go ‘cause we're really busy working. But it's our yogurt night! Bye-bye. Why is yogurt night so difficult?! You poor thing. You two have been at this for hours! Yes, and Adam here has been a huge help. - Frosting… - How many sugars? Just one. I try not to use the competition. So why are you helping me? Bees have good qualities. And it takes my mind off the shop. Instead of flowers, people are giving balloon bouquets now. Those are great, if you're three. And artificial flowers. - Oh, those just get me psychotic! - Yeah, me too. Bent stingers, pointless pollination. Bees must hate those fake things! Nothing worse than a daffodil that's had work done. Maybe this could make up for it a little bit. - This lawsuit's a pretty big deal. - I guess. You sure you want to go through with it? Am I sure? When I'm done with the humans, they won't be able to say, “Honey, I'm home,” without paying a royalty! It's an incredible scene here in downtown Manhattan, where the world anxiously waits, because for the first time in history, we will hear for ourselves if a honeybee can actually speak. What have we gotten into here, Barry? It's pretty big, isn't it? I can't believe how many humans don't work during the day. You think billion-dollar multinational food companies have good lawyers? Everybody needs to stay behind the barricade. - What's the matter? - I don't know, I just got a chill. Well, if it isn't the bee team. You boys work on this? All rise! The Honorable Judge Bumbleton presiding. All right. Case number 4475, Superior Court of New York, Barry Bee Benson v. The Honey Industry is now in session. Mr. Montgomery, you're representing the five food companies collectively? A privilege. Mr. Benson… you're representing all the bees of the world? I'm kidding. Yes, Your Honor, we're ready to proceed. Mr. Montgomery, your opening statement, please. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, my grandmother was a simple woman. Born on a farm, she believed it was man's divine right to benefit from the bounty of nature God put before us. If we lived in the topsy-turvy world Mr. Benson imagines, just think of what would it mean. I would have to negotiate with the silkworm for the elastic in my britches! Talking bee! How do we know this isn't some sort of holographic motion-picture-capture Hollywood wizardry? They could be using laser beams! Robotics! Ventriloquism! Oloning! For all we know, he could be on steroids! Mr. Benson? Ladies and gentlemen, there's no trickery here. I'm just an ordinary bee. Honey's pretty important to me. It's important to all bees. We invented it! We make it. And we protect it with our lives. Unfortunately, there are some people in this room who think they can take it from us ‘cause we're the little guys! I'm hoping that, after this is all over, you'll see how, by taking our honey, you not only take everything we have but everything we are! I wish he'd dress like that all the time. So nice! Oall your first witness. So, Mr. Klauss Vanderhayden of Honey Farms, big company you have. I suppose so. I see you also own Honeyburton and Honron! Yes, they provide beekeepers for our farms. Beekeeper. I find that to be a very disturbing term. I don't imagine you employ any bee-free-ers, do you? - No. - I couldn't hear you. - No. - No. Because you don't free bees. You keep bees. Not only that, it seems you thought a bear would be an appropriate image for a jar of honey. They're very lovable creatures. Yogi Bear, Fozzie Bear, Build-A-Bear. You mean like this? Bears kill bees! How'd you like his head crashing through your living room?! Biting into your couch! Spitting out your throw pillows! OK, that's enough. Take him away. So, Mr. Sting, thank you for being here. Your name intrigues me. - Where have I heard it before? - I was with a band called The Police. But you've never been a police officer, have you? No, I haven't. No, you haven't. And so here we have yet another example of bee culture casually stolen by a human for nothing more than a prance-about stage name. Oh, please. Have you ever been stung, Mr. Sting? Because I'm feeling a little stung, Sting. Or should I say… Mr. Gordon M. Sumner! That's not his real name?! You idiots! Mr. Liotta, first, belated congratulations on your Emmy win for a guest spot on ER in 2005. Thank you. Thank you. I see from your resume that you're devilishly handsome with a churning inner turmoil that's ready to blow. I enjoy what I do. Is that a crime? Not yet it isn't. But is this what it's come to for you? Exploiting tiny, helpless bees so you don't have to rehearse your part and learn your lines, sir? Watch it, Benson! I could blow right now! This isn't a goodfella. This is a badfella! Why doesn't someone just step on this creep, and we can all go home?! - Order in this court! - You're all thinking it! Order! Order, I say! - Say it! - Mr. Liotta, please sit down! I think it was awfully nice of that bear to pitch in like that. I think the jury's on our side. Are we doing everything right, legally? I'm a florist. Right. Well, here's to a great team. To a great team! Well, hello. - Ken! - Hello. I didn't think you were coming. No, I was just late. I tried to call, but… the battery. I didn't want all this to go to waste, so I called Barry. Luckily, he was free. Oh, that was lucky. There's a little left. I could heat it up. Yeah, heat it up, sure, whatever. So I hear you're quite a tennis player. I'm not much for the game myself. The ball's a little grabby. That's where I usually sit. Right… there. Ken, Barry was looking at your resume, and he agreed with me that eating with chopsticks isn't really a special skill. You think I don't see what you're doing? I know how hard it is to find the rightjob. We have that in common. Do we? Bees have 100 percent employment, but we do jobs like taking the crud out. That's just what I was thinking about doing. Ken, I let Barry borrow your razor for his fuzz. I hope that was all right. I'm going to drain the old stinger. Yeah, you do that. Look at that. You know, I've just about had it with your little mind games. - What's that? - Italian Vogue. Mamma mia, that's a lot of pages. A lot of ads. Remember what Van said, why is your life more valuable than mine? Funny, I just can't seem to recall that! I think something stinks in here! I love the smell of flowers. How do you like the smell of flames?! Not as much. Water bug! Not taking sides! Ken, I'm wearing a Ohapstick hat! This is pathetic! I've got issues! Well, well, well, a royal flush! - You're bluffing. - Am I? Surf's up, dude! Poo water! That bowl is gnarly. Except for those dirty yellow rings! Kenneth! What are you doing?! You know, I don't even like honey! I don't eat it! We need to talk! He's just a little bee! And he happens to be the nicest bee I've met in a long time! Long time? What are you talking about?! Are there other bugs in your life? No, but there are other things bugging me in life. And you're one of them! Fine! Talking bees, no yogurt night… My nerves are fried from riding on this emotional roller coaster! Goodbye, Ken. And for your information, I prefer sugar-free, artificial sweeteners made by man! I'm sorry about all that. I know it's got an aftertaste! I like it! I always felt there was some kind of barrier between Ken and me. I couldn't overcome it. Oh, well. Are you OK for the trial? I believe Mr. Montgomery is about out of ideas. We would like to call Mr. Barry Benson Bee to the stand. Good idea! You can really see why he's considered one of the best lawyers… Yeah. Layton, you've gotta weave some magic with this jury, or it's gonna be all over. Don't worry. The only thing I have to do to turn this jury around is to remind them of what they don't like about bees. - You got the tweezers? - Are you allergic? Only to losing, son. Only to losing. Mr. Benson Bee, I'll ask you what I think we'd all like to know. What exactly is your relationship to that woman? We're friends. - Good friends? - Yes. How good? Do you live together? Wait a minute… Are you her little… …bedbug? I've seen a bee documentary or two. From what I understand, doesn't your queen give birth to all the bee children? - Yeah, but… - So those aren't your real parents! - Oh, Barry… - Yes, they are! Hold me back! You're an illegitimate bee, aren't you, Benson? He's denouncing bees! Don't y'all date your cousins? - Objection! - I'm going to pincushion this guy! Adam, don't! It's what he wants! Oh, I'm hit!! Oh, lordy, I am hit! Order! Order! The venom! The venom is coursing through my veins! I have been felled by a winged beast of destruction! You see? You can't treat them like equals! They're striped savages! Stinging's the only thing they know! It's their way! - Adam, stay with me. - I can't feel my legs. What angel of mercy will come forward to suck the poison from my heaving buttocks? I will have order in this court. Order! Order, please! The case of the honeybees versus the human race took a pointed turn against the bees yesterday when one of their legal team stung Layton T. Montgomery. - Hey, buddy. - Hey. - Is there much pain? - Yeah. I… I blew the whole case, didn't I? It doesn't matter. What matters is you're alive. You could have died. I'd be better off dead. Look at me. They got it from the cafeteria downstairs, in a tuna sandwich. Look, there's a little celery still on it. What was it like to sting someone? I can't explain it. It was all… All adrenaline and then… and then ecstasy! All right. You think it was all a trap? Of course. I'm sorry. I flew us right into this. What were we thinking? Look at us. We're just a couple of bugs in this world. What will the humans do to us if they win? I don't know. I hear they put the roaches in motels. That doesn't sound so bad. Adam, they check in, but they don't check out! Oh, my. Oould you get a nurse to close that window? - Why? - The smoke. Bees don't smoke. Right. Bees don't smoke. Bees don't smoke! But some bees are smoking. That's it! That's our case! It is? It's not over? Get dressed. I've gotta go somewhere. Get back to the court and stall. Stall any way you can. And assuming you've done step correctly, you're ready for the tub. Mr. Flayman. Yes? Yes, Your Honor! Where is the rest of your team? Well, Your Honor, it's interesting. Bees are trained to fly haphazardly, and as a result, we don't make very good time. I actually heard a funny story about… Your Honor, haven't these ridiculous bugs taken up enough of this court's valuable time? How much longer will we allow these absurd shenanigans to go on? They have presented no compelling evidence to support their charges against my clients, who run legitimate businesses. I move for a complete dismissal of this entire case! Mr. Flayman, I'm afraid I'm going to have to consider Mr. Montgomery's motion. But you can't! We have a terrific case. Where is your proof? Where is the evidence? Show me the smoking gun! Hold it, Your Honor! You want a smoking gun? Here is your smoking gun. What is that? It's a bee smoker! What, this? This harmless little contraption? This couldn't hurt a fly, let alone a bee. Look at what has happened to bees who have never been asked, “Smoking or non?” Is this what nature intended for us? To be forcibly addicted to smoke machines and man-made wooden slat work camps? Living out our lives as honey slaves to the white man? - What are we gonna do? - He's playing the species card. Ladies and gentlemen, please, free these bees! Free the bees! Free the bees! Free the bees! Free the bees! Free the bees! The court finds in favor of the bees! Vanessa, we won! I knew you could do it! High-five! Sorry. I'm OK! You know what this means? All the honey will finally belong to the bees. Now we won't have to work so hard all the time. This is an unholy perversion of the balance of nature, Benson. You'll regret this. Barry, how much honey is out there? All right. One at a time. Barry, who are you wearing? My sweater is Ralph Lauren, and I have no pants. - What if Montgomery's right? - What do you mean? We've been living the bee way a long time, 27 million years. Oongratulations on your victory. What will you demand as a settlement? First, we'll demand a complete shutdown of all bee work camps. Then we want back the honey that was ours to begin with, every last drop. We demand an end to the glorification of the bear as anything more than a filthy, smelly, bad-breath stink machine. We're all aware of what they do in the woods. Wait for my signal. Take him out. He'll have nauseous for a few hours, then he'll be fine. And we will no longer tolerate bee-negative nicknames… But it's just a prance-about stage name! …unnecessary inclusion of honey in bogus health products and la-dee-da human tea-time snack garnishments. Oan't breathe. Bring it in, boys! Hold it right there! Good. Tap it. Mr. Buzzwell, we just passed three cups, and there's gallons more coming! - I think we need to shut down! - Shut down? We've never shut down. Shut down honey production! Stop making honey! Turn your key, sir! What do we do now? Oannonball! We're shutting honey production! Mission abort. Aborting pollination and nectar detail. Returning to base. Adam, you wouldn't believe how much honey was out there. Oh, yeah? What's going on? Where is everybody? - Are they out celebrating? - They're home. They don't know what to do. Laying out, sleeping in. I heard your Uncle Oarl was on his way to San Antonio with a cricket. At least we got our honey back. Sometimes I think, so what if humans liked our honey? Who wouldn't? It's the greatest thing in the world! I was excited to be part of making it. This was my new desk. This was my new job. I wanted to do it really well. And now… Now I can't. I don't understand why they're not happy. I thought their lives would be better! They're doing nothing. It's amazing. Honey really changes people. You don't have any idea what's going on, do you? - What did you want to show me? - This. What happened here? That is not the half of it. Oh, no. Oh, my. They're all wilting. Doesn't look very good, does it? No. And whose fault do you think that is? You know, I'm gonna guess bees. Bees? Specifically, me. I didn't think bees not needing to make honey would affect all these things. It's notjust flowers. Fruits, vegetables, they all need bees. That's our whole SAT test right there. Take away produce, that affects the entire animal kingdom. And then, of course… The human species? So if there's no more pollination, it could all just go south here, couldn't it? I know this is also partly my fault. How about a suicide pact? How do we do it? - I'll sting you, you step on me. - That just kills you twice. Right, right. Listen, Barry… sorry, but I gotta get going. I had to open my mouth and talk. Vanessa? Vanessa? Why are you leaving? Where are you going? To the final Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena. They've moved it to this weekend because all the flowers are dying. It's the last chance I'll ever have to see it. Vanessa, I just wanna say I'm sorry. I never meant it to turn out like this. I know. Me neither. Tournament of Roses. Roses can't do sports. Wait a minute. Roses. Roses? Roses! Vanessa! Roses?! Barry? - Roses are flowers! - Yes, they are. Flowers, bees, pollen! I know. That's why this is the last parade. Maybe not. Oould you ask him to slow down? Oould you slow down? Barry! OK, I made a huge mistake. This is a total disaster, all my fault. Yes, it kind of is. I've ruined the planet. I wanted to help you with the flower shop. I've made it worse. Actually, it's completely closed down. I thought maybe you were remodeling. But I have another idea, and it's greater than my previous ideas combined. I don't want to hear it! All right, they have the roses, the roses have the pollen. I know every bee, plant and flower bud in this park. All we gotta do is get what they've got back here with what we've got. - Bees. - Park. - Pollen! - Flowers. - Repollination! - Across the nation! Tournament of Roses, Pasadena, Oalifornia. They've got nothing but flowers, floats and cotton candy. Security will be tight. I have an idea. Vanessa Bloome, FTD. Official floral business. It's real. Sorry, ma'am. Nice brooch. Thank you. It was a gift. Once inside, we just pick the right float. How about The Princess and the Pea? I could be the princess, and you could be the pea! Yes, I got it. - Where should I sit? - What are you? - I believe I'm the pea. - The pea? It goes under the mattresses. - Not in this fairy tale, sweetheart. - I'm getting the marshal. You do that! This whole parade is a fiasco! Let's see what this baby'll do. Hey, what are you doing?! Then all we do is blend in with traffic… …without arousing suspicion. Once at the airport, there's no stopping us. Stop! Security. - You and your insect pack your float? - Yes. Has it been in your possession the entire time? Would you remove your shoes? - Remove your stinger. - It's part of me. I know. Just having some fun. Enjoy your flight. Then if we're lucky, we'll have just enough pollen to do the job. Oan you believe how lucky we are? We have just enough pollen to do the job! I think this is gonna work. It's got to work. Attention, passengers, this is Oaptain Scott. We have a bit of bad weather in New York. It looks like we'll experience a couple hours delay. Barry, these are cut flowers with no water. They'll never make it. I gotta get up there and talk to them. Be careful. Oan I get help with the Sky Mall magazine? I'd like to order the talking inflatable nose and ear hair trimmer. Oaptain, I'm in a real situation. - What'd you say, Hal? - Nothing. Bee! Don't freak out! My entire species… What are you doing? - Wait a minute! I'm an attorney! - Who's an attorney? Don't move. Oh, Barry. Good afternoon, passengers. This is your captain. Would a Miss Vanessa Bloome in 24B please report to the cockpit? And please hurry! What happened here? There was a DustBuster, a toupee, a life raft exploded. One's bald, one's in a boat, they're both unconscious! - Is that another bee joke? - No! No one's flying the plane! This is JFK control tower, Flight 356. What's your status? This is Vanessa Bloome. I'm a florist from New York. Where's the pilot? He's unconscious, and so is the copilot. Not good. Does anyone onboard have flight experience? As a matter of fact, there is. - Who's that? - Barry Benson. From the honey trial?! Oh, great. Vanessa, this is nothing more than a big metal bee. It's got giant wings, huge engines. I can't fly a plane. - Why not? Isn't John Travolta a pilot? - Yes. How hard could it be? Wait, Barry! We're headed into some lightning. This is Bob Bumble. We have some late-breaking news from JFK Airport, where a suspenseful scene is developing. Barry Benson, fresh from his legal victory… That's Barry! …is attempting to land a plane, loaded with people, flowers and an incapacitated flight crew. Flowers?! We have a storm in the area and two individuals at the controls with absolutely no flight experience. Just a minute. There's a bee on that plane. I'm quite familiar with Mr. Benson and his no-account compadres. They've done enough damage. But isn't he your only hope? Technically, a bee shouldn't be able to fly at all. Their wings are too small… Haven't we heard this a million times? “The surface area of the wings and body mass make no sense.” - Get this on the air! - Got it. - Stand by. - We're going live. The way we work may be a mystery to you. Making honey takes a lot of bees doing a lot of small jobs. But let me tell you about a small job. If you do it well, it makes a big difference. More than we realized. To us, to everyone. That's why I want to get bees back to working together. That's the bee way! We're not made of Jell-O. We get behind a fellow. - Black and yellow! - Hello! Left, right, down, hover. - Hover? - Forget hover. This isn't so hard. Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Barry, what happened?! Wait, I think we were on autopilot the whole time. - That may have been helping me. - And now we're not! So it turns out I cannot fly a plane. All of you, let's get behind this fellow! Move it out! Move out! Our only chance is if I do what I'd do, you copy me with the wings of the plane! Don't have to yell. I'm not yelling! We're in a lot of trouble. It's very hard to concentrate with that panicky tone in your voice! It's not a tone. I'm panicking! I can't do this! Vanessa, pull yourself together. You have to snap out of it! You snap out of it. You snap out of it. - You snap out of it! - You snap out of it! - You snap out of it! - You snap out of it! - You snap out of it! - You snap out of it! - Hold it! - Why? Oome on, it's my turn. How is the plane flying? I don't know. Hello? Benson, got any flowers for a happy occasion in there? The Pollen Jocks! They do get behind a fellow. - Black and yellow. - Hello. All right, let's drop this tin can on the blacktop. Where? I can't see anything. Oan you? No, nothing. It's all cloudy. Oome on. You got to think bee, Barry. - Thinking bee. - Thinking bee. Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Wait a minute. I think I'm feeling something. - What? - I don't know. It's strong, pulling me. Like a 27-million-year-old instinct. Bring the nose down. Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! - What in the world is on the tarmac? - Get some lights on that! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! Thinking bee! - Vanessa, aim for the flower. - OK. Out the engines. We're going in on bee power. Ready, boys? Affirmative! Good. Good. Easy, now. That's it. Land on that flower! Ready? Full reverse! Spin it around! - Not that flower! The other one! - Which one? - That flower. - I'm aiming at the flower! That's a fat guy in a flowered shirt. I mean the giant pulsating flower made of millions of bees! Pull forward. Nose down. Tail up. Rotate around it. - This is insane, Barry! - This's the only way I know how to fly. Am I koo-koo-kachoo, or is this plane flying in an insect-like pattern? Get your nose in there. Don't be afraid. Smell it. Full reverse! Just drop it. Be a part of it. Aim for the center! Now drop it in! Drop it in, woman! Oome on, already. Barry, we did it! You taught me how to fly! - Yes. No high-five! - Right. Barry, it worked! Did you see the giant flower? What giant flower? Where? Of course I saw the flower! That was genius! - Thank you. - But we're not done yet. Listen, everyone! This runway is covered with the last pollen from the last flowers available anywhere on Earth. That means this is our last chance. We're the only ones who make honey, pollinate flowers and dress like this. If we're gonna survive as a species, this is our moment! What do you say? Are we going to be bees, orjust Museum of Natural History keychains? We're bees! Keychain! Then follow me! Except Keychain. Hold on, Barry. Here. You've earned this. Yeah! I'm a Pollen Jock! And it's a perfect fit. All I gotta do are the sleeves. Oh, yeah. That's our Barry. Mom! The bees are back! If anybody needs to make a call, now's the time. I got a feeling we'll be working late tonight! Here's your change. Have a great afternoon! Oan I help who's next? Would you like some honey with that? It is bee-approved. Don't forget these. Milk, cream, cheese, it's all me. And I don't see a nickel! Sometimes I just feel like a piece of meat! I had no idea. Barry, I'm sorry. Have you got a moment? Would you excuse me? My mosquito associate will help you. Sorry I'm late. He's a lawyer too? I was already a blood-sucking parasite. All I needed was a briefcase. Have a great afternoon! Barry, I just got this huge tulip order, and I can't get them anywhere. No problem, Vannie. Just leave it to me. You're a lifesaver, Barry. Oan I help who's next? All right, scramble, jocks! It's time to fly. Thank you, Barry! That bee is living my life! Let it go, Kenny. - When will this nightmare end?! - Let it all go. - Beautiful day to fly. - Sure is. Between you and me, I was dying to get out of that office. You have got to start thinking bee, my friend. - Thinking bee! - Me? Hold it. Let's just stop for a second. Hold it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, everyone. Can we stop here? I'm not making a major life decision during a production number! All right. Take ten, everybody. Wrap it up, guys. I had virtually no rehearsal for that.

Former CIA Chief Wellbeing Officer Jennifer Posa discussed why workforce wellbeing is a strategic driver of mission success. She drew on her experience building the CIA's first agency-wide wellbeing strategy to explain why leaders should focus on creating "readiness," not just resilience, to help employees perform in high-pressure, unpredictable environments.  She outlined the four pillars of readiness, purpose, security, strength and culture, and shared practical strategies organizations can use to improve performance, strengthen leadership and build healthier, more resilient teams in an era of constant change.

This week, we bounce from questionable kindergarten teaching techniques and a tour through old movies to a pile of upcoming sci-fi and superhero projects. Then, in Future or Now, AI gives hurricane forecasters a potentially huge advantage, NASA pulls off another bit of engineering wizardry to keep Voyager 2 alive, and the cast of The Pitt boldly goes where plenty of actors have gone before. Real Life Steven is officially over summer. Heat, summer schedules, summer in general—it's time to move on. Meanwhile, Ben has been watching OLD MOVIES, including Kindergarten Cop. Ben calls it an "exceptional film," but watching Arnold Schwarzenegger take control of a classroom in 2026 raises some questions. How would Detective John Kimble's teaching methods stack up against modern school employee safety training? How many policies would he violate before lunch? And perhaps most unsettling: just how old are all those kindergarteners today? That sends us down the inevitable road of examining an old movie through the lens of people who now have entirely too much experience with how schools actually operate. Steven also has a pile of upcoming genre television and movie news to talk about. Neuromancer is headed to Apple TV, while Blade Runner 2099 is coming as a limited series on Prime Video. San Diego Comic-Con also brought news about Ghost Rider and Black Panther 3, along with more X-Men casting news involving Cyclops, Emma Frost, Beast, and Professor X. Trailer Links: Neuromancer: Watch on YouTube Blade Runner 2099: Watch on YouTube Devon has been doing some family movie watching, working through the Jumanji movies and eventually arriving at Zathura. Technically part of the larger Jumanji family, Zathura doesn't quite live up to its predecessor. It doesn't help that Dax Shepard's character has to exist in the shadow of Robin Williams, which leads to the assessment that Shepard comes across as "a block of wood" by comparison. Things get considerably darker with The Long Walk, based on Stephen King's novel originally published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. Devon found the adaptation interesting and well done—but extremely bleak. That conversation somehow takes a detour through Time Runner before eventually landing on Hokum and its supernatural layer. Future or Now AI Gets Better at Predicting Hurricanes Ben brings us a potentially enormous development in weather forecasting. Google DeepMind's WeatherNext AI system has demonstrated an ability to improve hurricane forecasts, potentially giving forecasters and emergency planners an additional day of warning. The system predicts both storm tracks and intensity and can rapidly generate thousands of possible scenarios. During Hurricane Melissa, it reportedly identified major intensification earlier than conventional forecasting models. That's potentially life-saving extra time for communities preparing for a major storm. But there's an interesting wrinkle: like many sophisticated AI systems, exactly how the model reaches some of its conclusions isn't always clear to the scientists using it. That makes WeatherNext another fascinating example of AI producing useful results while simultaneously raising questions about how much we need to understand a system before we're comfortable relying on it. And despite the improvement in modeling, humans aren't leaving the process. Meteorologists still have to interpret the information, communicate uncertainty, and turn forecasts into useful warnings for the public. Read the Ars Technica report on DeepMind's hurricane forecasting breakthrough This Week in Space: Voyager's "Big Bang" Nearly half a century after leaving Earth, Voyager 2 is still going, and NASA engineers are once again finding creative ways to keep it alive. In an operation nicknamed the "Big Bang," engineers simultaneously shut down power-hungry hardware and transitioned to lower-power alternatives while carefully keeping the spacecraft warm enough to survive. Voyager's dwindling power supply has forced NASA to make increasingly difficult decisions about which systems can remain operational, making every additional bit of usable energy precious. It's another remarkable chapter in a mission launched in 1977 that is still returning scientific data from interstellar space. Read more about the Voyager 2 operation at ScienceDaily Explore NASA's Voyager mission And while we're talking about space, we check back in on New Asgard and ask the important question: is Devon still going to space? The Pitt Goes to Star Trek Finally, there's an unusual crossover coming for fans of The Pitt and Star Trek. Noah Wyle and members of The Pitt cast are participating in a Star Trek table read benefiting the Writers Guild Foundation. It's not a new Trek series and it's not some bizarre medical-drama crossover episode—but it is an opportunity to hear a completely different cast tackle Star Trek material while supporting the foundation's programs. Read more about The Pitt cast's Star Trek table read at TrekMovie   From aging action comedies to AI-powered hurricane forecasts and a spacecraft that refuses to die, this week is a reminder that the future has a funny way of colliding with the past. Join us next time for more science, sci-fi, and whatever unexpected detours we stumble into along the way.

I gave a lecture about "Blending the Elements of Experiential Design" on Saturday, June 6, 2026 at Seattle XR in Seattle, Washington. (PDF of Slides]. At the end, I run through some examples of the types of interdisciplinary fusion that I see within the context of immersive storytelling and immersive art. This lecture also digs into the process-relational philosophical foundations, as well as how I'm gaining additional inspiration from Empedocles, Aristotle, and the Classical Quadrivium (Four Arts) of Math, Music, Geometry, and Astronomy. For my 30+ hours of coverage of Venice Immersive, then I apply this archetypal framework to help describe the context, quality, character, and story of each of these projects. You can see an overview of how I've been using this framework in this PDF on "Venice Immersive 2025 Archetypal Categorizations" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01M5NcOYzx0 One of goals of this talk was to further define the archetypal nature of the elements, and how I'm conceiving of them as a possibility space of design tradeoffs (C.S. Peirce's "Firstness"), but also as the concrete decisions that an experiential designer makes ("Secondness"), and then finally how these decisions are experienced more from a phenomenological experience as the audience as we feel, sense, act, and make sense of these experiences, and what they might mean ("Thirdness"). I do not actually dive into Peirce's concepts of Firstness, Secondness, or Thirdness in this specific talk, but I wanted to elaborate on these concepts in this write-up as these have been crucial concepts to help translate the overall abstract Firstness quality of my talk, and ground it into the Secondness of something that is a bit more practical and pragmatic. For Peirce, his semiology is grounded into a triune theory of actualization that goes from a non-Boolean possibility space as Firstness, and then grounds into a Boolean actualization of secondness, and then an interpretant mediates from the concreteness of the Secondness object back to the Firstness of the fundamental archetypal qualities or meaning. I find speculative philosopher James Bradley's summary of the Peirce's triune semiology to be the most easy to digest in his essay titled, "Beyond Hermeneutics: Peirce's Semiology as a Trinitarian Metaphysics of Communication." I can also recommend this article on "Peirce's Theory of Signs" from the The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy for a comprehensive recap, and there's also this excellent YouTube series primer by Philosign's Markus Raninen titled The Basics of Semiotics. But here's Bradley's description of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness, which I find myself coming back to again and again. "Within the fundamental speculative triunity of activity, difference and order, or firstness, secondness and thirdness, semiology is an analysis of order or thirdness… Thirdness is analyzed as idea or sign, as the exchange of information between individual entities, and as interpretation; in other words, thirdness is itself a threefold of sign, object and interpretant. Here, sign occupies the position of firstness because it is the potentiality for interpretation; object occupies that of secondness because it is determinate; and the interpretant occupies that of thirdness because the interpretant has the sign-interpreting or sign-ordering role, and so has the status of a third. [24] Thus for Peirce semiology is the analysis of the triune relation of sign, object and interpretant." It's still a bit obtuse, and one way that I like to think about it is through the experience of communication. You have a possibility space of meaning you want to convey (Firstness of the sign/potential), then you choose specific words that convey that meaning (Secondness of the object), then someone listens to those words and phrases, and then connects those words back to a meaning space (Thirdness of the interpretant mediating between the two). For Peirce, each of the Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness can also refer to themselves, like you can have a Firstness of Thirdness or Secondness of Firstness. It gets a little bit confusing, but I found the following graphic from Collected Essays in Speculative Philosophy (2021) by James Bradley and edited by Sean McGrath to be very useful. Within the context of immersive storytelling, then it's a semiotic process of communication of meaning where you're able to use all sorts of affordances from game design, literature, social dynamics and relations, music, film, lighting, architecture, dance, theme park design, sensory design, and embodiment. My Elemental Theory of Presence attempts to simplify this into the following: Fire Element of Active Presence: Interactivity, Agency, Game Design Air Element of Mental & Social Presence: Meaning, Semiotics, Language, Possibility, Form, Relationality Water Element of Emotional Presence: Experiential Processes, Story, Film, Music, Cycles, Time Earth Element of Environmental & Embodied Presence: Sensory, Immersive, Worldbuilding, Space I elaborate on the various philosophical frameworks that I'm leaning up within this talk that I gave on June 6, 2026, but since then I've been diving more into Peirce and his Triune Metaphysics and Semiology of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness, which has been a helpful framework as I've been applying the elements to my Venice Immersive Coverage and categorizing the elemental center of gravity for each of the nearly 40 projects that I covered. Again see this framework in this PDF on "Venice Immersive 2025 Archetypal Categorizations" to see how I have been thinking about each of these projects. I used this approach in the introductions for each of my podcast episodes from Venice (see the links down below). Firstness of Fire: Creativity, Novelty, Intention, Purpose, Goals, & Aristotle's Final Cause Secondness of Fire: Interactivity & Core Gameplay Loops Thirdness of Fire: Agency & Will For Active Presence Examples of Fire: Game Design, Locomotion Options: No Movement, Automatic movement, Teleportation, or free roaming. The LIVENESS of the Live, To what degree does the experience encourage the expression of will and agency? And to what degree does that alter how the narrative unfolds (narrative agency vs participatory interactive moments that customize and flavor the experience)? Adventure, Exploration, Creativity, Novelty, Freedom, Will, and Collective Action. System Dynamics, & iterative feedback loops Firstness of Air: Peirce's "Sign," Intended Meaning, Pattern & Form, Archetypal Possibility Spaces, Relationality, & Aristotle's Formal Cause Secondness of Air: Peirce's "Object" Within A Triadic Semiotic Process (i.e. a specific action, word, harmonic, or action that points to a larger meaning.) Thirdness of Air: Peirce's "Interpretant," Sensemaking Thoughts, Expectations, & Social Dynamics For Mental & Social Presence Examples of Air: Literature, Language, Semiotics, Communication, Symbols, Abstractions. Single Player vs Multi-Player, Suspension of Disbelief and Plausibility, Social Dynamics, Anticipation of the Future, Possibility Spaces, Types of Choices. Realms of Speculative Imagination, How is meaning communicated? Dialogue amongst characters, voice-over narration, environmental storytelling, non-verbal associative dream logic. Mental friction from puzzles. Rules & Mechanics. Use of certain types of AI and Conversational Interfaces with Virtual Beings Firstness of Water: Time, Cycles, Harmonics, Value, & Aristotle's "Material Cause" (in Whitehead's event ontology, then base reality is processes, relationships, and possibilities of value & not Substance) Secondness of Water: Experiential Processes That Provide Contrasts Thirdness of Water: Feelings for Emotional Presence Examples of Water: Cinematic Film Tradition, Music, Harmonics, Rhythm, Pacing, Editing, Contrasts, Emotion, Memory, Dreams, Images, Soul, Psyche, Symbols, Lighting, Mood, Collective Unconscious Firstness of Earth: Space, World, Context, & Aristotle's Efficient Cause Secondness of Earth: Environment & Worldbuilding With Situated Perspectives in that Context Thirdness of Earth: Sensory Perception & Sense of Place for Embodied & Environmental Presence Examples of Earth: Worldbuilding of a spatial context & culture. Architecture, Theater, Theme Park Design, Dance, Are you a ghost or an embodied character? Sensory Experience: Touch/Haptics, Hearing/Spatial Sound, Smells, Vision. Relation of Immersive Tech to Environment as either VR, MR, or AR. Virtual CGI vs Cinematic 180/360 Video, Again, check out this PDF on "Venice Immersive 2025 Archetypal Categorizations" to see how I've ranked nearly 40 projects from Venice Immersive 2025 on the relative elemental center of gravity. Some projects feel more like a cinematic immersive film, which would be a bit more biased towards the Water Element. Some projects are more focused on the experience of a world that was build, and more focused on the Earth Element. Some projects are asking you to Read a book together with other people, which is more focused on the Air Element. And then other more game-like experiences are focused on using interactions as their primary mode of engagement, and so they're more focused on the fire element. There are 64 total combinations of the elements in terms of the first, second, third, or four centers of gravity, and you can see the comprehensive visualization here: Technically, all four elements are always happening all at once all at the same time. However, in experiential design, then creators can emphasize and blend elements together. So I find that ranking the elements can be helpful in determining an overall center of gravity, and that looking at the first two centers of gravity can achieve a sufficient job of creating some ad hoc, immersive and "elemental genres....

We Like Shooting We Like Shooting - Ep 675 August 10, 2026 Presented by This episode of We Like Shooting is brought to you by: Foxtrot Mike (Code: WLSISLIFE) Medical Gear Outfitters (Code: WLSISLIFE) Night Fision (Code: WLSISLIFE) Rost Martin (Code: WLSISLIFE) Bowers Group (Code: WLS) Flatline Fiber Co (Code: WLS15) Otis Technology (Code: WELIKESHOOTING15) Guests: One Horse, @onehorseusa – https://theonehorse.com Giveaways!! GAW   Text Dear WLS or Reviews +1 743 500 2171 Public   Show Titles   Gear Chat One Horse One Horse Express Rifle and Pistol with Atrius FRS At One Horse, we believe the rifle on your shoulder should be as dependable as the hands that carry it…. TheOneHorse is an American firearms manufacturer based in Brownstown, Indiana, producing the One Horse Express series of rifles and pistols in .22LR and 5.56/.223 calibers. All models integrate the Atrius FRS system and are offered in various barrel lengths with M-LOK or quad rail configurations. Products are sold directly via the company website alongside parts and suppressors, with an emphasis on American-made reliability and no-compromise construction. Availability: Available for direct purchase on theonehorse.com with current pricing and dealer applications; waitlist option for select items Cost: $999.99–$1,299.99 (current listed prices; e.g. 16″ 5.56 rifle $999.99, 12″ .22LR pistol $1,299.99) Special: Integrated Atrius FRS system on all Express models combined with American-made construction in .22LR or 5.56/.223 with M-LOK or quad-rail handguards (Savage) Savage1r's Experience in the Spokane Complex Fires Savage1r's experience in the Spokane Complex Fires. Supplementary Research: Savage1r shared firsthand observations from the Spokane Complex Fires while discussing technical gear during a segment focused on equipment performance in active wildfire conditions. The Spokane Complex Fires burned over 44,000 acres in eastern Washington in 2024, involving multiple lightning-caused ignitions managed under unified command with significant use of aerial resources and ground crews. Gear topics in similar wildfire incidents often center on respiratory protection, thermal imaging, durable fabrics, and communication reliability under extreme heat and smoke. Theoutdoorwire One Horse To Launch Express 22 Rifle And Express 22 Pistol At Goals 2026 One Horse announced the Express 22 Rifle and Express 22 Pistol, two dedicated .22 LR AR-pattern firearms debuting at GOALS 2026. The rifle uses a 16.1-inch barrel and THRiL CCS stock, while the pistol uses a 12.1-inch barrel and stabilizing brace; both use serialized One Horse lowers, dedicated rimfire operating systems, THRiL RTG grips, and Atrius Development Group's three-position Forced Reset Selector. The platforms are intended for training, recreational shooting, and high-volume range use. Initial production will be sold directly to consumers, with pricing, ordering details, and shipping dates to be announced. Gun Fights Play the best Price Is Right-style GunBroker game on the internet. Gun Fights Live DisplayFollow the game, prices, and reveals as they happen.Open the live display BangRank A live cast ranking segment for anything and everything in the gun world, powered by questionable certainty, strong opinions, and audience voting. BangRank Live VotingScan or open the link to rank along with the show.https://welikeshooting.com/rank   Going Ballistic The Truth About Guns (Savage) Jensen v. ATF & Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF – N.D. Texas Strikes Down NFA Registration Requirements for Suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, AOWs Gun-rights groups are celebrating a federal ruling striking down NFA registration requirements for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs and AOWs. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix (Northern District of Texas) ruled in *Jensen v. ATF* and *Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF* that NFA registration, application, approval, and enforcement provisions for suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and any other weapons (AOWs) exceed Congress's powers once the associated tax was effectively zeroed out. Multiple gun-rights organizations hailed the decision as a major Second Amendment victory and a step toward dismantling the National Firearms Act. A seven-day stay expires August 12, 2026, with appeals likely to the Fifth Circuit; parallel SAF-backed cases remain pending. The Gist: Scope (who/what states are affected): Nationwide implications for owners and manufacturers of suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs; ruling applies to enforcement of NFA registration requirements by ATF across the United States, though limited to the specific plaintiffs and likely to face immediate appeal. Impact: Decision holds that the NFA registration regime lacks constitutional basis without a tax, potentially invalidating core regulatory provisions; groups including FPC, GOA, and CCRKBA describe it as affirming the NFA's unconstitutionality and a historic win, with possible broader effect if upheld on appeal to the Fifth Circuit. – Bullet 3: Bottom Line: NFA registration and approval requirements for the listed items are struck down in this district-court ruling as exceeding congressional authority post-tax elimination; a short stay allows time for appeal, leaving the ultimate fate of the NFA provisions pending further litigation. Reviews Review: Alex W from California Review from Alex W Reviewing the cast as singers/bands. Shawn: Taylor Swift. Technically very good at what he does. But we hear so much of him that we all find ourselves wishing he would just go away once in a while. Nick: Nickelback. Honestly, we all thought he'd be dead by now. Nobody fully understands what keeps him going. But, somehow we all end up nodding along every time he comes on. Jeremy: Five Finger Death Punch. I really gotta explain this one? It's in the name. Savage: *insert random mumble rapper because I dont care enough to look one up* Nobody knows what he's saying. And wait, that's supposed to be music? Aaron: Kurt Cobain. Because, we can only hope. Review: Wes Sconsen from Wisconsin Blessings to all of you. Jeremy, go full stache. It's not creepy and you would make that shit look damn good. Sincerely, Wes Sconsen Review: Richard "Big Dick" Smoker from NJ Wrote by AI, with specific criteria by me. We Like Shooting is the podcast equivalent of discovering the group chat should've never been given microphones. Jeremy rocks a mustache that looks like it escaped a 1970s cop show and refuses to return to its natural habitat. Shawn somehow manages to host an entire podcast while carrying the weight of… well, let's just say gravity is doing him no favors. Nick has turned “I think I just trusted a fart” into a recurring personality trait. And Savage continues broadcasting from a state that seems determined to ban fun one regulation at a time. Despite all of that—or maybe because of it—the show is hilarious. You'll get firearms talk, gear reviews, industry news, and enough insults directed at each other to make you wonder why they're still friends. Nobody is safe, especially the hosts. If you want a squeaky-clean, HR-approved podcast, this ain't it. If you enjoy guns, sarcasm, and listening to grown men professionally bully each other for your entertainment, subscribe already. Richard “Big Dick” Smoker Before we let you go – Join Gun Owners of America We'd love if you supported the show, join Agency 171 at agency171.com. Lot's of prizes, rewards and kick ass swag. No matter how tough your battle is today, we want you here fight with us tomorrow. Don't struggle in silence, you can contact the suicide prevention line by dialing 988 from your phone. Remember – Always prefer Dangerous Freedom over peaceful slavery. We'll see you next time! Nick – @busbuiltsystems | Bus Built Systems Jeremy – @ret_actual | Rivers Edge Tactical Aaron – @machinegun_moses Savage – @savage1r Shawn – @dangerousfreedomyt | @camorado.cam | Camorado

This week on The Back of the Pack Podcast, we are celebrating a major milestone: 300 episodes of race reviews, community stories, road trips, charity conversations, bad decisions, emotional moments, and back-of-the-pack chaos. Technically, this is Episode 299, but with Episode 300 dropping Friday, we are taking this Monday episode to pause, look around, and talk about what this podcast has become since it started as a simple “I make the mistakes so you don't have to” running show. We look back at the race reviews that became the bread and butter of the show, the community organizations and race directors who gave us a chance, and the local running family that turned this podcast into something much bigger than one guy talking into an old microphone. From Rexy Run and Fighting Fentanyl to Run Liberty, Garmin Kansas City Marathon, Chasing Rabbits Run Club, Second Wind, and the growing cast of podcast mascots, this episode is a reminder that the stories around the miles often matter just as much as the miles themselves. We also dig into the numbers, including 201 race entries, more than 1,500 race miles, nearly 319 hours on course, 87 5Ks, 38 10Ks, 54 half marathons, 8 full marathons, and one wonderfully ridiculous Death by 5K. Along the way, we talk about the World Marathon Majors completed during the life of the podcast, the repeat races that have become recurring characters, the fastest times on the spreadsheet, the longest gaps between races, and why consistency matters in both podcasting and running. More than anything, this episode is a thank-you to the listeners, Patreon supporters, race directors, guests, volunteers, running friends, run club members, and everyone who has shared, watched, downloaded, commented, or told someone else about the show. Episode 300 is not the finish line, it is an aid station, and after we take inventory, refill the bottle, and eat something questionable, we are getting right back on the road toward Sydney, Rexy Run, race number 400, fall marathon season, and whatever comes next.

Over 10 million swings have now been captured on the Swing Coach app and one pattern dominates: the club sucked inside on the takeaway, then thrown steep and over the top coming down. Walk any driving range and you'll see this "sledgehammer" move everywhere. In this video we break down why it's so hard to play good golf from there, and exactly how to fix it — starting where it actually begins: the takeaway.We cover why we're "backswing teachers" (organize the backswing and the downswing largely fixes itself), why the pros' simpler moves — arms in front, a decent pivot, nothing too sideways — are the reason they can rely on them, and why chasing outliers like Jim Furyk is a losing bet. Then we walk through the real fix using Swing Coach's instant feedback: why your first true on-plane takeaway will feel like a "10 outside," why you have to push way past what feels right, how to get through the bad shots as your release pattern catches up, and the "parlor trick" of fixing a steep downswing without ever talking about the downswing.You can't afford a tour coach standing next to you every swing — but the app gives you that instant "too much / not enough" feedback so you can finally train your feel on your own.

Erin tried to become a "better" speaker. She got the coach. Did the reps. Rehearsed the lines. Followed the advice. And then realized she may have accidentally polished the magic right out of herself. In this solo episode, Erin shares what happened when a huge speaking opportunity pushed her into full preparation mode, why over-rehearsing made her feel less connected on stage, and the old coaching advice that came back swinging: Trust your creative process. This one is for anyone who has ever tried to improve themselves and accidentally started sanding down the exact thing that made them stand out. In this episode you'll hear: -Why "best practices" are only useful if they actually work for you -How over-preparing can make you technically better but less you -Why Erin had to 50% Rule her own speaking proces -The difference between memorizing words and connecting to the message -Why your weird little way of doing things might be the whole damn point Book Erin to speak Ready to modernize your culture, liberate your leadership, and differentiate your business without sounding like every other company on LinkedIn? Bring Erin Hatzikostas in to show your team how authenticity can become an actual strategic advantage, not just another corporate buzzword. Book Erin to Speak If you'd like quick tangible tips and practical corporate career advice to level up your authentic leadership, download the 10 simple "plays" to stop selling out and start standing out at https://bauthenticinc.mykajabi.com/freebie If you like jammin' with us on the podcast, b sure to join us for more fun and inspiration! Follow Erin on LinkedIn or Instagram Take our simple, fun and insightful "What's your workplace superhero name?" quiz Unleash your Authentic Superpower with Erin's book, You Do You-ish Throw out half the playbook and start competing in a league of your own. Check out Erin's book, The 50% Rule. Work with Us Or just buy some fun, authentic, kick-ars merch here To connect with Erin and/or Nicole, email: hello@bauthenticinc.com DISCLAIMER: This episode is not explicit, though contains mild swearing that may be unsuitable for younger audiences. Tweetable Comments "Trust your creative process." "I spent more time searching for the words than searching for the feeling and the passion." "What's worked for you in the past actually might work in the future." "Constantly look for ways to improve without throwing away what makes you you." Trust Your Creative Process Editor's note: This transcript has been edited for clarity, length, and readability. In this solo episode, Erin Hatzikostas shares what happened when she followed traditional public speaking advice so closely that she lost some of the authenticity that made her effective. She explores over-preparation, creative confidence, the 50% Rule, and how to improve your work without abandoning the process that makes you uniquely good at it. When "Leveling Up" Starts to Change You Erin: Over the last nine months, I've gone through a journey that feels full circle, ironic, and maybe even a little hypocritical. Erin: I preach authenticity. In my second book, I talk about the 50% Rule: whenever you're doing something, keep some of what works, introduce something new, and throw out the pieces that feel inauthentic or simply do not fit you. Erin: I'm also a professional speaker. That's my main occupation, and last summer my speaking career was really starting to pick up steam. Then I was selected to speak at the International Association of Speaking Bureaus conference. These are the people who often help organizations find speakers for major events, so getting the chance to speak in front of them felt like a very big deal. Erin: There were almost 100 applicants, and only six of us were selected. Speaking can be a roller coaster. You are constantly trying to earn the next opportunity, even after you've had success. But this felt like one of those moments where I thought, "Okay, Erin. This is your chance. Get your act together." The Pressure to Rehearse Perfectly Erin: Around that same time, I had started working with a true speech and vocal coach, Darcy Webb. She was wonderful because she did not try to turn me into somebody else. She understood what made me, me, and helped bring more of that out. Erin: She helped me embrace the facial expressions I naturally make. She also told me to stop whispering. I insisted I was not whispering, but then I watched the recordings and realized, "Oh. That is a little weird." Erin: One of the biggest things she taught me was that I needed to rehearse. I needed to put in the hours, record myself, repeat the material, and get the words into my body. Erin: I resisted that advice for a long time. Then this huge speaking opportunity came along, and I only had 20 minutes. In the speaking world, shorter is often harder. You have to be more concise, make stronger choices, and communicate the point in less time. Erin: So I decided it was time to become the polished, mega-professional speaker I thought I was supposed to be. I rehearsed and rehearsed. Why Perfect Preparation Did Not Create a Perfect Performance Erin: I already had some baggage around over-rehearsing. When I did my TEDx talk in 2020, I practiced it so much that the delivery stopped feeling like me. I still love the content, but the performance felt too controlled. My passion did not fully come through. Erin: Still, I prepared heavily for the speakers bureau conference. I used some of my best material, knew what I wanted to say, and felt ready. Erin: Then the event came. I did not flop, but I did not knock it out of the park either. Erin: I am always trying to knock it out of the park, not because I think I work harder than everyone else or because I need people to tell me I'm great. I want to connect. I want people to feel something. That connection is what authenticity can create. Erin: At first, I found other things to blame. Someone after me absolutely crushed it. My necklace was jangling against the microphone. There were all these little details I could point to. Erin: But the deeper truth was that I had over-prepared. I was not fully in the moment with the people in front of me. I was delivering something polished, but I was not drawing from that conviction and energy that usually comes from deep inside me and pours into the audience. When Rehearsal Became the New Habit Erin: The confusing part was that I had also learned how to rehearse. So for the next several months, I kept doing it. Erin: I practiced for events in January, February, and March. I crafted catchy lines. I added new language. I made sure I could nail the material. Erin: The talks went well. I did not bomb. I created customized moments and found creative ways to make each speech feel specific to the audience. Erin: But something was missing. Erin: Usually, I can feel the connection in the room. You can see it in people's faces. You know when the audience does not want the experience to end. These events were successful on paper, but they did not feel the same. Erin: Then I spoke at an event in Chicago. I said everything I meant to say. I did not forget the important parts. Technically, I nailed it. But that thing I care about most still was not there. Words Versus Intent Erin: That was when I realized what over-preparing had taken away from me. Erin: My talks have structure. They are mapped into sections, and I know the points I want to make. I may have specific phrases or stories I want to land, but I have never needed every word written out. Erin: Before I became so focused on rehearsal, I spent more time thinking about the intent of each section. I would ask, "What am I really trying to get across here? What do I need these people to understand or feel?" Erin: Then I allowed myself the freedom to communicate that idea in the moment. Erin: That freedom gave me space to bring in something I heard earlier in the day, respond to the audience, interact more naturally, or follow a thought that came to me while I was speaking. Erin: When I over-rehearsed, I spent more time searching for the exact words than searching for the feeling, the purpose, and the passion behind them. Erin: I cannot do both equally well. Some people can. Actors can deliver rehearsed lines with incredible emotional depth. Some speakers can memorize every beat and still make it feel spontaneous. God bless them. That is a real skill. Erin: But it is not my skill. It is not where I bring the most value. "Why Don't You Trust Your Creative Process?" Erin: This brought me back to something my first executive coach taught me years ago when I was still in corporate. Erin: I was preparing a speech for a leadership event. I had planned the whole talk, but I had not figured out the ending. In my notes, I had essentially written, "And then some bada boom, bada bing ending." Erin: I went into our coaching session and confessed that I thought I had a major flaw. I told her, "I'm a great starter, but I'm not a great finisher. I worked on this talk for hours, and I still could not complete it." Erin: I expected her to give me techniques, hacks, or some process that would fix what I believed was broken. Erin: Instead, she stopped and asked, "Erin, are you typically successful?" Erin: I told her that I was not successful at everything, but yes, especially when it came to public speaking, I was usually better than average. Erin: Then she said, "Why don't you trust your creative process?" Erin: That question has stayed with me for more than eight years. Advice Is Not an Absolute Erin: People love to give advice in absolutes. Never start a conversation this way. Always prepare for an interview that way. Follow this formula to find your career path. Use these exact steps to become successful. Erin: My rule is this: be very cautious about advice that begins with "always" or "never." Erin: There is more information available than ever, and many people make money by selling certainty. They tell you they have the formula. But even excellent advice may not work exactly as prescribed for you. Erin: If you talked to 100 successful speakers, probably 99 of them would tell you that you have to do the reps, practice constantly, and rehearse until the material is locked in. Erin: That may work beautifully for those 99 people. It does not work that way for me. Erin: My mistake was not the rehearsal itself. My mistake was failing to apply my own 50% Rule. I accepted the advice as a total system instead of asking which parts would help me and which parts would erase something important. Improve Without Erasing What Makes You Good Erin: The answer is not to reject coaching, training, or preparation. I have learned so much from all of it. Erin: I am a stronger speaker now. I understand my voice better. I am more aware of my physical presence. I have new ways to customize talks and prepare meaningful openings. I am continuing to evolve. Erin: But I am no longer willing to give up the creative process that works for me. Erin: Now I prepare in my own way. I spend hours thinking, organizing stories, and deciding what each section needs to accomplish. I rehearse important pieces, but I do not force myself to say every sentence exactly the same way every time. Erin: I focus on the intent. I focus on the passion. I focus on the point I want to make and the people I want to reach. Erin: When I returned to that process for events in June and July, I could feel the difference. I felt like myself again. Trust the Evidence From Your Own Life Erin: I want the same for you. Erin: People will tell you how to run a meeting, answer interview questions, build a career, lead a team, create content, or prepare for a major opportunity. Learn from them. Borrow what makes you better. Stay open to coaching and improvement. Erin: But also trust the data from your own life. Erin: What has worked for you in the past may still work in the future. Your process may need to evolve, but evolution does not require you to throw away the qualities that made you effective in the first place. Erin: Use the 50% Rule. Keep some of what works. Add new tools. Throw the pieces that do not fit into the trash. Erin: Constantly look for ways to improve without abandoning what makes you, you. Erin: Trust your creative process.

Chris Hand joins Dan, Joan, and Sam as Dan tries to figure his computer out | aired on Tuesday, August 4th, 2026 on Nashville's Morning News with Dan Mandis Produced by Samuel RutherfordSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before he was a two-time World Series champion and four-time All-Star, Pepper Martin was jumping freight trains to spring training to save a dime. After he retired, he was choking out an umpire in Havana. In between: smoke bombs disguised as a fire emergency, a painting crew that wasn't hired to paint, a hospital room cowboy band concert nobody asked for, a stint running an Oklahoma City hockey team, and a batting line across two World Series that's still a Major League record today. Jeff traces the full career of Johnny Leonard Roosevelt "Pepper" Martin — the Wild Horse of the Osage — from a cotton farm in Temple, Oklahoma to a fistfight in Cuba, with stops at Comiskey Park, the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel (twice), and Branch Rickey's office.   Also in this episode: Jeff and Mark remember Blue Jays closer Duane Ward, who passed away at 62 during a reunion for Toronto's back-to-back championship teams. A position player picks up a two-RBI single off a catcher making his first career pitching appearance. Mets utility man Jose Iglesias/Canelita heads to Broadway for the Buena Vista Social Club musical. And Wax Pack Heroes returns with a batch of 1972 Topps cards sent in by a listener.   Topics: Pepper Martin, Wild Horse of the Osage, St. Louis Cardinals, Gas House Gang, 1931 World Series, 1934 World Series, Philadelphia Athletics, Connie Mack, Branch Rickey, Dizzy Dean, Leo Durocher, Frankie Frisch, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Mississippi Mudcats, Oklahoma City Warriors, Miami Sun Sox, Florida International League, Havana baseball history, Vallie Eaves, Duane Ward, Jose Iglesias, Buena Vista Social Club, 1972 Topps, Wax Pack Heroes   00:00 Cold Open Banter 01:31 Remembering Duane Ward 03:14 Pitcher Gets a Hit 05:41 Jose Iglesias Hits Broadway 08:32 Time Machine to Havana 11:17 Pepper Martin Revealed 12:28 From Oklahoma to the Cards 15:39 1931 Breakout World Series 16:46 Vaudeville and Sophomore Slump 21:07 Pranks and Gas House Gang 25:56 Barnstorming and Hospital Hijinks 27:50 Branch Rickey Lays Down Law 30:30 Final All Star and Mud Cats Band 32:23 Minor League Manager and 1944 Return 33:27 Pepper Martin Later Years 34:55 Freight Train To Spring 36:04 Clubhouse Legend Wrap 36:42 Wax Pack Heroes Begins 56:02 Scoreboard And Fan Poll 57:32 Outro And Socials   Connect With Us: YouTube: www.youtube.com/@twostrikenoise Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/twostrikenoise BlueSky: @twostrikenoise.bsky.social Email: twostrikenoise@gmail.com   Support a Great Cause: Don't let your common cards collect dust! Donate them to help spark a child's interest in the game at http://commons4kids.org/.   #baseballhistory #mlb #baseball #BaseballCards #TwoStrikeNoise #popculture

We continue to look at the life and times of Uno no Sarara, aka Jito Tenno, female sovereign ruling in her own right.  We look at some of the places she traveled to as sovereign and, ultimately, what she did to ensure that her grandson would succeed her. For more, check our podcast blog page:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-154 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 154: Queen Uno no Sarara, Part II   Light drifted in from outside the grand audience hall.  It filtered through barred windows and screens, and glinted off of bright gold and bronze accents, as well as the polished stone floor.  Upon a raised dais, surrounded by curtains, sat the tennou, arrayed in all of his youthful majesty.  Before him were princes and high ranking nobles, dressed in their finest court clothing.  Rich brocades of silk and black gauze hats only added to the pomp and circumstance of the moment. The nobles bowed and brought out a small tray.  Upon it were seventeen scrolls, freshly made, representing the latest updates to the laws and punishments of the land.  The nobles presented the work they had overseen, the culmination of a year's effort to further bring into line the organization of the state.  Off to the side, behind a screen of her own, Uno no Sarara watched the proceedings.  She thought back on all that had happened to bring them to this point.  This glittering hall was a far cry from the plain wooden structures of the old Kiyomihara palace.  And while she had never visited them, she could only imagine that this must rival the courts on the continent.  Everything that she and her husband had worked and fought for—all of the battles  they had fought, and all of the friends and children they had lost—she watched as it all came to fruition. The court was never going to be entirely peaceful—there would always be those striving for wealth and power, however they could attain it—but at this moment she no doubt felt as confident as she ever had that her efforts hadn't been for naught.  No matter what happened from here, the State, and her line, would continue.   So let's recap: We started with Part I of Uno no Sarara's reign back in episode 152, and then last episode we took a bit of a detour to go more in depth on the history of Ise and of the worship of Amaterasu more generally.  We talked about how there is good reason to believe that Ise shrine's prominence—and even many of the stories about Amaterasu and her importance in the story of the royal family—were either created or at least emphasized during the reigns of Ohoama and Uno no Sarara.  We ended with a discussion of the Jingikan, the newly created government organization developed to deal with so-called "Kami Matters", formally bringing the administration various shrines under the administration of the State.  Specifically it seems to have focused on State sponsored rituals.  I have no doubt that they took charge of the rituals at court itself, and they were likely involved in the worship at Ise Shrine, as well as the shrines of Tatsuta and Hirose.  On the other hand, as with the spread of Buddhist temples, direct State control was likely limited, at least at this stage, likely focused on the most influential institutions. This episode I want to continue with Uno no Sarara's reign.  She continued to make her mark on the court, tweaking how things worked, especially around the concept of rank.  And then there were her various travels.  These were mostly to her palace in Yoshino, but several other journeys, including a tour of the land of Kii—modern Wakayama prefecture—as well as a visit to her half-sister, Royal Princess Asuka. For all of that, however, the entry in the Nihon Shoki ends with what was perhaps one of the most direct and unique things she did:  Ensuring a smooth transition of power to her grandchild, Prince Karu. And while in this episode we'll (spoiler alert) cover both this power transition and Uno no Sarara's eventual death, we won't be done with her reign and its impact after this episode.  After all, there is still a lot going on around this time, and multiple different threads to pull on.  I expect several more episodes to cover things, such as the creation of hunting and fishing preserves, Buddhist merit-making, crime and punishment, and more.  There are also a few more people to talk about, such as Kakinomoto no Hitormaro, the court poet, and Fujiwara no Fubito and the establishment of the Fujiwara family as we know it.    So let's take a look at Uno no Sarara and what she was up to. She was still very much putting her stamp on things, tweaking the codes and making edicts.  One of the more impactful edicts would seem to be one where she had the government officials and people of the Home provinces all divided into nine classes.  This seems to be introducing yet another rank system, though this one is a bit more technical than the ones that came before. For one thing, it divided everyone up into nine ranks.  To do this, the court were going to take a look at a period of up to 6 years for those who already had rank and up to 7 years for those who did not.  The court—presumably court appointed judges—would use that period to evaluate individuals and slot them into a new system of nine classes.  Those in the first four classes would be given cap-rank based on their individual merits, the services that they had performed, and the importance of their house.  There isn't really a mention about the other five classes, but as they were theoretically the lower classes of society, it may not have been quite so pertinent.  BTW, of the three things that they were using to determine cap-rank, that last one, the importance of the individual's house, strikes me as the nod to the fact that the Japanese had not yet gotten away from the idea of "kabane" type hierarchy.  Granted, it isn't like family was unimportant in the Tang court, the Japanese were just being much more blatant and direct about it. Once everyone was properly sorted into the appropriate cap-rank, new edicts were issued on the official court clothing, which we discussed in Episode 150, and if you check out the blogpost you should be able to see what that looked like. I would note that the cap-rank system would eventually go away and be replaced by a rank system also based on 9 ranks, which then were broken up into upper and lower and junior and senior, so very similar to what we see with cap-rank, with some slight changes.  Uno no Sarara continued to make tweaks to the system, while working on the various large scale projects of the reign.  She wasn't exactly a homebody, however.  As she did all of this, she was regularly taking trips away from the capital. For example, between 689 and 697 she took at least 30 trips to visit Yoshino, sometimes taking as many as five trips in a year.  These were often short—a couple of days and then back to the grind of the court.  However, that's all that we get.  Based on the dates, we can at least make a few inferences.  For one, she was going down in all seasons, so she really must have enjoyed it, and it doesn't seem like it was attached to any particular official date or ritual.  Perhaps it just got her away from the pressure of official life. Some of her travel appear to have been work trips.  Her travel to Ise, which we talked about in the previous episodes, as well as things like traveling to visit the Castle of Takayasu and also to inspect horses at the embankment of Wani-no-kami.  Those appear to have been both trips where she was keeping an eye on things. Other trips, however, provide fewer details.  Mostly we know where she went.  This included trips to Hatsuse, Kii, Takamiya, and Yonabari, in Uda.  We are also told she ascended the Peak of Tou no Mine and later that she made another journey out to the Futatsuki Palace—presumably at the same place.  And we also have a trip out to the country-house of Royal Princess Asuka. Now Hatsuse, Kii, and Uda are all places we've previously talked about.  They are all on the Kii peninsula.  Hatsuse—or Hase—and Yonabari, in Uda, are both due east of modern Sakurai, following the Yamato upriver and then branching off to the aptly named Yonabari river.  These areas are well-referenced in the rest of the Nihon Shoki.  "Kii" is a bit more ambiguous.  Kii refers to the entire land of Kii, or Kii no Kuni—by the way, if you are familiar with the Japanese bookseller "Ki-no-kuni-ya", that name directly references the land of Kii as the family who started it were from Wakayama in Kii, where they served under the Kishu—or Kii—branch of the Tokugawa family during the Edo period.  That said, there were others who also used the name "Kinokuni" as a locative name as well, and you will occasionally see it here or there, even outside of the famous bookstore. The land of Kii is basically all of the southern Kii peninsula.  On the west side, it starts at roughly Wakayama, and includes the mountainous regions south of the Nara basin, wrapping around to the east side of the peninsula, to just south of Ise.  Today it is split between Wakayama prefecture and parts of Mie prefecture, including the towns of Kihoku—literally "Northern Kii"—and Taiki—"Big Kii".  Today, "Taiki" is part of the Watarai district, Watarai being the name of the location where Ise shrine was located.  So you can see that Kii basically included everything from one side of the peninsula to the other. Most of the time, though, I would generally assume that travel to Kii is a reference to the nearby area of Wakayama, especially as there are other references to that area in the form of hunting and fishing restrictions, which we'll discuss more fully in a later episode. This particular trip to Kii sounds like it was a bit of a longer trip, incorporating several locations.  We know that it took roughly eleven days—about a week and a half.  That's enough time to do quite a bit of sightseeing.  In fact, shortly before leaving, Uno no Sarara says that she is going on a "tour" of the land of Kii, and as such the land-tax and poll-tax for Kii would not be collected for a year, since, instead, they were expected to support her visit so that she could travel in appropriate style and so that temporary palaces could be made available for her use.  Kii is an interesting place for Uno no Sarara to visit.  It is mentioned occasionally throughout the chronicles, and its position puts it squarely in Yamato's sphere of influence.  At the same time, its mountainous nature means that it was never quite as populated as regions like the Nara basin or the Kawachi plains, where the large, flat areas were better suited to wet rice paddy agriculture.  In Kii, there are only a few areas really suitable for supporting large populations through agriculture alone, and even today the mountains make travel and construction in the area more difficult, so you don't have the highly concentrated population centers as in other regions.  The area around modern Wakayama city provides some of the best land for agriculture, with some other coastal regions as well. But it is mountains that Kii is known for, and the mountains often have spiritual significance.  Mt. Koya, or Koyasan, would be found in 805 as the center of Shingon Buddhism, but well before that you have the Kumano shrines, also known as the Kumano Sanzan—the three mountains of Kumano. There is a lot of evidence that worship at the three mountains of Kumano was heavily influenced by Buddhism and Buddhist traditions, but that this was a later influence on areas that were already important spiritual sites well before Buddhism arrived in the archipelago.  The exact nature of worship is debated, but the area was important, with "Kumano" once treated as its own land, overseen by the Kumano Kuni no Miyatsuko.  The deities of Kumano and the area more generally features in the Nihon Shoki in the legendary stories of Iware Biko, aka Jimmu Tenno. The Kumano shrines are, ultimately, a series of shrines in the Kumano region, roughly 20-40 kilometers from each other.  There are three main shrines—Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Hayatama Taisha, and Kumano Nachi Taisha—known as the three mountains.  There are numerous other shrines as well.  There are three main deities worshipped, but then also another nine that are considered important as well, for at least twelve kami.  The three main kami – Kumano Musubi no Ohokami, Hayatama no Ohokami, and Ketsumi Mikoto Ohokami – are also considered to be manifestations of Izanami, Izanagi, and Susano'o.  Izanami and Izanagi are famously the progenitor kami of the archipelago, while Susano'o is the storm and ocean deity said to be the rambunctious and troublesome brother to Amaterasu Ohokami.   It is quite likely that the connection with these other kami—who feature prominently in the later stories, was actually a later addition.  Similarly, around the 9th century, the Kumano shrines were heavily influenced by Buddhism, which often co-opted indigenous kami worship by associating the native kami with incarnations of Buddhist figures.  In this case:  Thousand-armed Kannon, Yakushi—or the Medicine—Buddha, and Amithabha.  I must say that associating Amithaba—or Amida—with Susano'o seems like a bold move.  The deity who tossed a backwards flayed colt into Amaterasu's weaving hut is also the Buddha who made the promise that all who call on his name would find their way to the western pure land? I guess. Together, the kami of Kumano are known as the Kumano Gongen, and there is a pilgrimage trail, even today, that leads between the various shrines and peaks, as well as various temple complexes in the area. There is one other interesting connection with Kumano shrines, and that is the fact that there is a Kumano Taisha up in the Izumo region.  Today, they claim that despite the names being identical, there are no actual ties between Kumano Taisha and the Kumano Sanzan.  The Kumano Taisha of Izumo is actually considered the Ichinomiya, or most important shrine, of Izumo—even more important than the famous Izumo shrine, itself.  It lies 30 minutes south of modern Matsue, and enshrines a kami known as Kushi-mikenu-no-Mikoto, said to be another name for none other than the famous Susano'o. Kumano Taisha claims to have been first mentioned in the Nihon Shoki back in the time of Takara Hime, aka Saimei Tennou, in an entry from 659, though that entry simply states that the Izumo no Miyatsuko was to repair the shrine of the "Itsuki" kami, and doesn't specifically mention Kumano Taisha by name.  There is an entry attributed to the Izumo fudoki, which claims a shrine was located on Mt. Kumano, identified with modern day Tenguyama.  And then, Kumano Taisha appears in the Engi Shiki in the 10th century.  Suffice it to say, there are many different ways that this can be interpreted. Scholars have attempted to look into the potential connections between Kumano Taisha in Izumo and the Kumano Gongen of Wakayama, but it does not appear that there is a fully formed consensus.  I would note that we certainly see various important worship centers branching out throughout the archipelago, setting up branches elsewhere, and we also see the association of various local kami with other, more famous kami, making the claim that they are simply another name for the same entity.  This would appear to be one way to bring different groups into communion with each other, as it were, and helping to gloss over the potential difficulties found in diverse belief and worship practices. As a side note, there is at least one other Kumano Taisha of note, found up in the Tohoku region.  It claims to be the "Ise of Tohoku", with a focus on Izanami and Izanagi.  It seems to claim a founding around the early 9th century at the Tenno's request.  Given that, I think we can ignore it for our current discussion. To bring this all back around, it is unclear if Uno no Sarara's tour of Wakayama included the Kumano shrines at this time.  Certainly Kumano would play an important role in the legends and stories that the court was putting together, but what structures were in place at this point in the story are unclear.  Her tour may have focused much more on the area around modern Wakayama.  Her tour of the area took a total of eleven days, which is more than enough time to have seen a fair bit of the area, and certainly would have been enough time to get down to the Kumano region, but we don't have any clear details that I see to say exactly what happened. Still, I do find it interesting to look at the juxtaposition of the Kumano shrine story with that of Ise.  Both took on some aspects of the official stories of the founding of Japan and appear to have been important shrines for the court to some extent, and both the trip to Ise and the trip to Kumano were events such that local taxes were commuted for a time to help pay for the royal visit. But whereas Ise would go on to reject the merging of Buddhism with local kami worship, Kumano appears to have embraced it.  Kumano worship took on a highly syncretic character, with Buddhism and Kami worship becoming inextricably intertwined, maintaining that character even today, despite numerous historical attempts to extricate the two from each other. Ultimately, Ise shrine would take pride of place as the national shrine of the royal family, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Kumano had been more ascendant. Getting back to our discussion of Uno no Sarara's various peregrinations:  we also have what appear to be two trips up to Tou-no-mine—the modern pronunciation for the name which Aston transliterates as "Tamu no Mine".  This is the peak where, about forty years earlier, Takara Hime is said to have built a circular enclosure and called "Futa-tsuki" or two "Tsuki" trees palace.  It was also known as "Ama-tsu-miya", the Heavenly Palace.  The modern Tou-no-mine is a mountain to the southeast of Asuka, however, there is also a theory that the Tou-no-mine and Futa-tsuki palace were actually on a small hill just due east of the Kiyomihara palace site.  This is where we find walls, the Sakafune-ishi stone, and other examples of work from the time when the Futa-tsuki palace would have been built. That said, to get to Tou-no-mine, we are told it was a two day trip—one day out and one day back.  That said, it wouldn't have all been spent traveling.  In fact, Tou-no-mine, today, is under two hours walking distance.  The site by the palace is much closer, and the entry for going to the Futatsuski is only mentioned on a single day.  So none of that is particularly helpful, in my opinion.  Ultimately, we know that it was a location near Asuka and that it was associated with Takara Hime, the last female sovereign in her own right—even though her reign was arguably run largely by her son, Crown Prince Naka no Oe. Speaking of whom, Naka no Oe was not only the father of Uno no Sarara, but also of Royal Princess Asuka.  So when Uno no Sarara went to Asuka's country house, also known as the Denso or Tadokoro, she was actually going to pay a visit on her own half-sister.  By the way, "country-house" is the Aston translation.  A more direct translation might be something like "Field Place".  It was a private estate belonging to powerful families, such as the local elites—or in this case the royal family.  It is a rare glimpse into the living conditions of those royal princes and princesses who were not resident in the palace itself.  I do find it interesting that it specifically identifies the royal princess and not some male relative or husband—and Uno no Sarara isn't really noted as visiting a lot of family members all over the place.  I've seen a suggestion that Asuka may have been married to Prince Osakabe, one of Temmu's sons, but if so it is interesting that Uno no Sarara goes to visit *her* house and not *his* house. Princess Asuka is not mentioned much, but given this and a few other things—including being mentioned in the Man'yoshu in connection with a poem by the famous Kakinomoto no Hitomaro—she seemed to be someone important, even though we don't have a lot of information on what that looked like at the time. And with that, we've covered most of Uno no Sarara's travels.  We discussed her near-constant trips to Yoshino, then there were official visits to inspect the fortifications and horses.  Granted, that latter duty was also done just at the palace, in Asuka, so it wasn't necessarily terribly special.  There was her expedition to Ise, which we discussed in a previous episode, and then down to tour the land of Kii.  There were short jaunts out to Hatsuse and Yonabari.  And the largely unexplained visits to Tou-no-mine and the enigmatic Futa-tsuki palace.  Finally, there was a note about her calling on her half-sister, Princess Asuka. So that was what Uno no Sarara was doing when she wasn't at the court.  Otherwise, whether it was in the Asuka Kiyomihara palace or in the new Fujiwara Palace, she was dealing with the business of the state.  Much of what is recorded are fairly common things—banquets, archery competitions, and similar events that are interesting in aggregate, perhaps, but maybe not so helpful in figuring out the larger trends that were occurring at the time.  There were edicts and changes, but we can talk about those separately.  There were natural disasters, as well. Overall, she spent eleven years on the throne, from 686 to 697.  In that time, she finished much of the work started by her husband, put her own stamp on the new government, and, perhaps most importantly, she set up her grandson for success.  It is worth nothing that Uno no Sarara's posthumous regnal name is Jitou Tennou, and while that was probably not something she chose for herself, it may give us some insight into how the Chroniclers viewed her.  Remember that the brothers, Naka no Oe and Ohoama, were given the names "Tenji" and "Temmu", respectively.  Tenji is "Heavenly Wisdom", and he is counted as the brains behind the Great Change, the Taika reforms, and much of the shape that the state took from 645 onwards.  Temmu is something like "Heavenly Warrior".  The victor of the Jinshin no Ran was remembered for his military strategy, even though that was really only a small part of his overall reign.  The characters of Jitou's posthumous title are two characters.  The first, "Ji", means "to hold" or "to have".  The other character is "tou" and generally means "relationship" or "to control".  It can also refer to unification. This is often considered to mean that her role was seen as continuing to hold the throne and continue the work of her husband and his line, his progeny.  In this case, that means strengthening the state that Ohoama had built, following through on his national projects, and ultimately ensuring that the throne passed seamlessly to Ohoama's grandson, ensuring that his line would continue.  Of course, it probably should be noted that of course it was also her own bloodline that she was continuing as well, something that would become important in later years. And it is easy for us to look at this as simply editorializing by the Chroniclers, who were, after all, trying to craft a national narrative as well as record the history.  In many ways the use of these posthumous titles allowed them to do that—to summarize an entire reign into something that could be easily remembered.  And yet, based on the actions that she has taken, there certainly seems to be something to this description of Uno no Sarara and her motivations. We saw, early on, how she cleared the way for her own son, Crown Prince Kusakabe, getting rid of his potential rival for the throne, Prince Ohotsu, and thus potentially averting another conflict at the start of the reign.  But then Kusakabe died, leaving her with his young son, and while placing a young infant on the throne might have become a thing in later centuries, that precedent had not quite been set just yet.  Even as it was, Uno no Sarara likely had some concept that she could not know how many years she would get.  A decade on the throne was nothing to sneeze at, and many sovereigns had much less.  And so, beyond setting up the structure of government that her grandson would inherit, she also had a few more things to ensure.  She would want him to be old enough to be taken seriously, and she would need to make sure that there were no other claimants that could complicate matters.  There was only one other serious candidate that fit that description, and that was Prince Takechi. Remember, Prince Takechi was Ohoama's eldest son.  He was also a maternal descendant of the Munakata, meaning that he didn't have the double-royal imprimatur that was presumably required to take the throne as the sovereign.  And yet, Uno no Sarara was no doubt savvy enough to understand that those kinds of traditions changed quickly and easily in the past, as long as one had the right political backing. At the same time, Uno no Sarara appears to have leaned heavily on Prince Takechi's support.  It was a risk, but his support for her efforts would help her do what she needed to do.  Not only that, but if anything did happen to the young Prince Karu, Prince Takechi was the next in line.  He was also the Dajou Daijin—the most powerful court position short of Uno no Sarara herself.  For many reasons, it would have been difficult if the Queen felt she needed to take him out of the picture. Perhaps then it was fortuitous that in 696 the issue resolved itself, when Royal Prince Takechi passed away. This was no doubt a sad event, and yet it also may have set things in motion.  Prince Karu had been born in 683, so he was fourteen years old—still quite young, but old enough.  He was also surrounded by supporters, including his own mother, widow to the late Prince Kusakabe, Royal Princess Abe. While it isn't mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, we get a glimpse of how all this was planned in the Kaifuso, published in 751.  There, in an entry for Prince Kadono, a son of Prince Ohotomo, we are told that after Prince Takechi's death, Prince Kadono met with Uno no Sarara and others and suggested a course of action.  He encourage Uno no Sarara to pass on the kingdom to Prince Karu, despite his youth.  If true, this is quite the statement from someone whose own father was killed in the Jinshin no Ran, which brought Ohoama and Uno no Sarara to power in the first place.  It appears as though she heeded his advice, setting up what would come next over the following year. And so it is from the year after Prince Takechi's death that we start to really see entries focused on Prince Karu.  In the second month of 697, for instance, we see that Tahema no Mabito no Kunimi was appointed to be Prince Karu's tutor.  Likewise we see Michi no Mabito no Atomi and Kose no Ason no Ahamochi appointed as director and assistant director of the Spring Palace—the palace for the Crown Prince, the Heir Apparent.  Interestingly, Aston notes that the Nihon Shoki never actually gives an entry for when Prince Karu was named Heir Apparent—it just seems to be assumed. Ten days after the new directors were appointed, a public great-congregation was held at the Crown Prince's palace—here called the Eastern Palace, and I'll admit I'm not sure if "Eastern Palace" and "Spring Palace" were different names for the same place or what.  I assume these were all part of the newly built Fujiwara Palace, though the most important part is the implications for Prince Karu.  He was being introduced to the court, it seems, with a large congregation at his residence where the court would be expected to acknowledge his position as the crown prince and heir apparent. Three months later, we are told that Uno no Sarara grew ill.  The Ministers and various government officials made votive images of the Buddha in an attempt to make merit and help her to recover.  While she would recover from whatever illness she experienced, I suspect that this was something of a wake-up call.  Uno no Sarara was in her early 50s, and she wasn't getting any younger.  She also lived at a time where she had to realize that many others hadn't made it as far, and perhaps her illness made her realize that if she was going to do something, she had better do it sooner, rather than later.  And so, just a little more than a month later, on the first day of the 8th month, Uno no Sarara abdicated the throne in favor of her grandchild, Prince Karu, soon to become the next Tennou. This isn't the first time we've seen an abdication in the history of Yamato, but it is perhaps the first time we've seen it quite like this.  When Takara Hime abdicated, I think we can agree that it was largely under duress.  She had just seen her son lead a bloody coup against the most powerful court nobles, and that really does seem to have shaken her.  No such bloody struggle was happening here, however.  In fact, there is plenty to suggest that avoiding a bloody struggle was exactly Uno no Sarara's point.  By overseeing Prince Karu's ascension while she was still around, Queen Uno no Sarara maintained significant control over the process. Part of this rested on the fact that when she retired from the position of Tennou she didn't just become some commoner or retreat to the position of Queen Mother or Dowager Queen or something similar.  Instead, she took on a new titled:  Retired Sovereign, or Dajou-Tennou.  Technically this means that her own title was something like "Greater Sovereign", compared to Karu's "sovereign".  This position was new, and may not have even been fully formed at the time of the initial abdication.  Unlike when Takara Hime abdicated, effectively acknowledging that she wasn't actually in charge, Uno no Sarara was planning to remain an active force in government.  Her grandson would be set up as the formal sovereign, or Tennou.  He would be responsible for the rituals and ensuring everything was properly carried out, but his mother, the Dajou-Tennou, would have a tremendous amount of clout and control. By all accounts, this abdication and creation of the "Dajou-Tennou" position really does seem to have been specifically set up for this occasion, to ensure the smooth transition of power.  This way, when Uno no Sarara eventually did pass away, there would be no question about who was seated on the throne.  Given everything she had witnessed—from stories about her how her own father had come to power as well as the events of the Jinshin no Ran and then everything that happened in the aftermath of her own husband's death—I can understand why Uno no Sarara would have been pre-occupied with the idea of ensuring a smooth transition to the next sovereign.  She likely could not foresee how this new position would be used in the future, and yet it would become something of a staple in the politics of the Japanese court. Initially, retired sovereigns were typically doing so for reasons similar to Uno no Sarara—to ensure a smooth transition of power from one to the other and to ensure that the next tennou could be established to avoid instability.  However, it would become something even more.  After all, why wait until your heir is actually ready?  If you are going to be running things, anyway, why not remove yourself from the tedium of ritual while retaining your authority?  And in later centuries we see the tennou retiring younger, leaving younger and younger heirs to hold the actual throne.  There would also be a certain Buddhist aspect to it as well, allowing the retired tennou to be seen as a kind of Golden Wheel Turning Sovereign who was theoretically beyond the material cares of the day to day.  The retired sovereigns would be referred to as "In", which is likely a reference to the suffix given to their compounds, rather than the common "Miya" or "Gu".  And so the government under these retired sovereigns would become known as the Insei, or government by cloistered sovereigns, but that system was still in the future.  For now, we are just seeing the seeds of what was to come, eventually. To understand this later phase of Uno no Sarara's life, we need to take our first few steps into a new source:  The Shoku Nihongi.  The Nihon Shoki ceases to describe anything after Uno no Sarara's abdication, and the official history of Prince Karu's reign—known to us as Monmu Tennou—is taken up by the Shoku Nihongi.  This is literally the continued Japanese history, and we'll talk about it in depth at some point.  For now, I would note that it was compiled in 797 – so literally a century after the last entry in the Nihon Shoki.  That said, it likely had much better records to go off of compared to the Nihon Shoki, though it was still likely compiled with a view that was still quite friendly towards the royal family and the position of the Tennou. And so, when Uno no Sarara largely disappears from the narrative, I don't know that we should assume that she had truly gone completely hands off.  After all, with everything we've seen, do we think that this is a woman who would just hand the reins over to a fourteen or fifteen year old boy?  And yet the first time she appears is in 701, when she is making a trip to her favorite vacation spot:  the Palace at Yoshino.  That said, there were some pretty big events that happened during this period, after her abdication and assumption of the title of Dajou-Tennou.  The biggest was the creation of the Taihou Code.  Once again, this will need a fuller treatment, but the Taihou Code was an update to the Kiyomihara code.  The Asuka-Kiyomihara code was 22 volumes, and focused on  the laws, the "ryou", but not necessarily the punishments, or "ritsu".  In contrast the Taihou code was 6 volumes of "ritsu" and 11 volumes of "ryou", for 17 volumes in total.  Unfortunately, we mostly have scraps of indications here and there, and the codes that came afterwards, which were each based on what came before.  For instance, we do know that they completely overhauled the rank system yet again.  Unlike the Kiyomihara  code, which took years to develop, the compilation of the Taiho code is ordered in 700 and completed by 701—likely because it was really more of an update and a compilation of what was already on the books. This was perhaps the most significant thing that happened while Uno no Sarara was still available to exert her influence.  Karu was still only about 19 years old at this point.  He would turn 20 the following year, 702.  That same year, Uno no Sarara would travel all the way out to Mikawa no Kuni, which is the eastern half of the modern prefecture of Aichi.  The royal procession, which started in the 10th month of 702, then made its way back through Owari a month later, and from there up to Mino, and then down to Ise and back through Iga.  The royal procession is first recorded on the 10th day of the 10th month and returned on the 25th day of the 11th month—a round-trip time of roughly 45 days.  Throughout we are told that various ranks and awards were given out to important individuals at each stop. Unfortunately, that trip may have taken a toll.  A few weeks later, on the 13th day of the 12th month, Uno no Sarara grew ill.  There was a great amnesty pronounced throughout the realm, and one hundred men took Buddhist vows on her behalf.  They even read the Sutra of Golden Light in the Home Provinces.  Alas, it was all to no avail.  Uno no Sarara passed away on the 22nd day of the 12th month—or January 13th in 703.  It was roughly six years from her abdication.  She would have died with at least some knowledge that the realm was largely in order.  Her grandson was on the  throne and had been ruling for the past six years.  He had attained the age of majority, and things seemed relatively stable.  There was even a new, grand, permanent capital city, just like on the continent. But that closes out the life of Uno no Sarara.  She lived in interesting times, experienced tremendous fortune and misfortune, and she put her indelible stamp on the state of Yamato and thus the future of Japan.  There is still more to go over in this period—we have interactions with the Emishi, updates to society, and various impacts to Buddhism.  We'll also take a look at some more important people from this period, including Kakinomoto no Hitomaru, the famous poet, and the poems of the Man'yoshu, and Fujiwara no Fubito, the son of Nakatomi no Kamatari and the one largely responsible for making the Fujiwara house the most influential house in the entire court. Until then if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

Remember when we talked about the lumber exchange building selling for a dollar? Technically, that's not entirely accurate. Not that the truth is any better, really. And speaking of the truth, you probably also remember us talking about stand-up comedy being the last bastion of free speech. After podcasts, of course. We're a much newer genre, but we still feel like we deserve the bulk of the credit.Topics:Crowd work taking over comedy setsThe lumber exchange building is worthlessTim's Dr. Fauci controversy

2026 Show Notes Addendum   Our last chance to share this particular rerun on the anniversary of its release, we present to you - Chandlerfest: our only rerun ever to be so completely retooled. If we're being honest, this broadcast was so heavily amended that it should never have been categorized as a "rerun" episode, but as a Ch F "F-isode" - a thought that's been weighing on me since working on the Channel F finale and not having it appear, the rerun itself only comprises about 45 minutes of the nearly 2.5hr broadcast celebrating the life and music of St. Jodee and I's dear friend Chris on the occasion of what would've been his then 40th [now 47th] birthday. I felt it appropriate to share this one today. If you've already heard it, I hope you will enjoy this trip through the music of this singular individual. And if it's your first time hearing it, then I hope you will explore the man's back catalog even further. Lastly, the original show notes below reference a companion blogspot post with expanded content. Here's the link: https://nerdnoiseradio.blogspot.com/2019/07/nerd-noise-radio-reruns-presents.html   ----------------------   Original Show Notes:   ----------------------   Buried somewhere around the middle of this 2hr, 22min long, profoundly bittersweet, and deeply emotional tribute to my dear friend Chris Chandler on the occasion of what would've been his 40th birthday is a complete, and unmodified rerun of Nerd Noise Radio C1E10 (originally broadcast 05/22/2017) - which itself was originally intended as a tribute to Chris. The music block portion of C1E10 was produced on the day of his passing, 12/28/2016.   Technically, today's production is categorized as a rerun. But only 47 minutes of this 2hrs, 22mins are actually the rerun itself. The rest is a fresh production, brand new, and all dedicated to Chris. Come, hear his music, hear his story, and hear our hearts. Get acquainted with the man who meant so much to all of us, and whose passing still reverberates through our lives these more than 2 1/2 years later. Welcome one and all…..to Chandlerfest!   Greeting (Mark Chandler) - 00:00:00   Opener   Song - Artist - Album   Still Your Fool - Chris Chandler - Manifesto - 00:00:11   Chris Story pt. 1 - 00:03:26   Early Music Block 1   Song – Composer - Album   Waltz - Chris Chandler - Chris Chandler: 1979-2009 - 00:08:55 For the Moment - Chris Chandler - Ephemera - 00:13:19 Drag Me Down - Chris Chandler - Chris Chandler: 1979-2009 - 00:16:27   Chris Story pt. 2 / Mark Story -  00:19:51   (Mark Story - 00:27:14)   Early Music Block 2   Song – Composer - Album   The Ache - Chris Chandler - Under the Weather - 00:34:31 Effigy - Chris Chandler - Quod Sum Eris - 00:38:12 Eagle + Serpent - Chris Chandler - Ephemera - 00:41:37   Preface to Rerun - 00:45:34   C1E10 complete episode Rerun   C1E10 Tracklist   01: Intro - 00:56:21 02: Shinobi 3 - Genesis - Japonesque - Hirofumi Murasaki, Masayuki Nagao, Morihiko Akiyama - 00:58:16 03: Final Fantasy XIII - PS3 - The Vile Peaks - Masashi Hamauzu - 01:00:32 04: Trip World - Game Boy - Stage 2-2 - “Phase Out” - 01:03:19 05: Ninja Warriors - SNES - City - Hiroyuki Iwatsuki - 01:05:03 06: Quake 2 - PC - Quad Machine - Sonic Mayhem - 01:07:10 07: X-Men - Arcade - Ethnic Cave and Flame - The Konami Kukeiha Club - 01:10:42 08: Jumping Flash 2 - PS1 - Stage 1-2 - Takeo Miratsu - 01:13:16 09: Fushigi no Umi no Nadia - PCE - HES 12 - Shiro Sagisu - 01:14:54 10: Sim City - SNES - Capital - Soyo Oka - 01:16:52 11: Castlevania III - NES - Riddle - Konami Kukeiha Club - 01:19:14 12: Ai Chou Aniki - PC Engine - Stage 4-3 - Iwasaki Taku - 01:20:15 13: Star Wars: SOTE - N64 - Menu - Joel McNeely - 01:21:53 14: Super Meat Boy - PC/360 - Forest Funk - Danny Baronowsky - 01:22:54 15: Metroid Prime - GameCube - Metroid Prime Battle - Kenji Yamamoto and/or Kouichi Kyuma -  01:25:42 16: James Bond 007 - Genesis - Space Hop - Matt Furniss -  01:28:18 17: Tiny Toon Adventures: BBL - SNES - Space Opera -  Kazuhiko Uehara and/or Yukie Morimoto -  01:30:23 18: Chester Cheetah: TCTF - Genesis - To the Exit - Kaneko Sound Team - 01:33:06 19: Salamander - PC Engine - Crystal Forever - Konami Kukeiha Club - 01:36:02 20: Outro - 01:36:29   Debrief (St. John) - 01:42:57   Post Rerun Music Block   Song - Artist - Album   Etude Blanc - Chris Chandler - Ephemera - 01:45:44 Instrumental - Chris Chandler - Ephemera - 01:49:02 The Gathering Dark - Chris Chandler - Quod Sum Eris - 01:51:12 Nuns of Steel - Chris Chandler - Quod Sum Eris - 01:53:49 Cloud to Ground - Chris Chandler - Ephemera - 01:59:25 Ineffectual - Chris Chandler - Chris Chandler: 1979-2009 - 02:04:15   Gag Tracks Primer - 02:09:26   Song - Artist - Album   Hidden Track - Chris Chandler - Monochrome Dream - 02:10:25   Wrap-up - 02:12:48   Closer / Sign-off   End Credits - Ai Chou Aniki - PC Engine - Iwasaki Taku - 02:17:49   Mark Sign-off - 02:21:31   Incidental Music for Chris Story 1 - Sadness - Unlimited Saga - PS2 - Masashi Hamauzu - 00:03:26 Incidental Music for Chris Story 2 / Mark's Story - Zora's Domain: Day - LoZ: BotW - WiiU / Switch - c: Koji Kondo a: Yasuaki Iwata - 00:19:51 Incidental Music for Preface to Rerun - Build 4 - The Sims - PC - Jerry Martin and/or Marc Russo - 00:45:34 Incidental Music for Debrief - Perils of the Coral Reef - Ecco The Dolphin: Defender of the Future - Dreamcast - Tim Follin - 01:42:57 Incidental Music for Wrap Up - Whisper and Mantra - Secret of Mana - SNES - Hiroki Kikuta - 02:09:26 Incidental Music for Closer / Sign-off - To the Stars - Prune - iOS/Android/Windows - Kyle Preston - 02:12:48   See the corresponding Blogspot post at nerdnoiseradio.blogspot.com for expanded show notes.

When someone is committed to fidelity and their partner absolutely does not want sex—is there any hope? Technically, sexless is considered less than 10x a year—but for some people, there is no sex. Sometimes each partner still has desire but they don't know how to talk about it. They may even masturbate on their own but feel it's too complicated to share with their partner. Sometimes the sexual pursuer just gives up and becomes a sexual withdrawer. The danger of a sexless marriage is that the couple may not feel the love of or for their partner and become subject to the temptation of others. They may long for the sexual connection they shared in the beginning; George and Laurie share some ideas about how taking their clothes off again can be safer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's a part of the interview process almost nobody thinks about.  The emails you send after the interview. Or throughout the hiring process. Or when you get an offer. Most job candidates assume email is the safest way to communicate. Technically, it's the riskiest. I've seen candidates try to rewrite an interview in a thank you note, send multiple follow-up emails, ask important questions over email, and even negotiate compensation. Oy! Here's the problem.  Email strips away nearly everything that makes communication effective. Your tone. Not to mention your charming personality. You can't explain what you mean. Or why you're asking what you're asking.  When you need to communicate something important, email is the worst tool. Today, let's identify the traps, avoid the mistakes, and make sure your emails help your candidacy instead of hurting it.  If you'd like to build a great career and lead a rewarding life, check out some of these other places where I share my teachings: 1. Check out the milewalk Academy, my coaching and training site, for freemiums and premiums. 2. I have hundreds of educational and inspirational videos on my YouTube Channel. 3. Grab any of my four books related to career development, interviewing, hiring, and goal setting. All can be found on my Amazon Author Page. 4. Follow me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter (X), TikTok, Threads, and Facebook. 5. Stay in touch with me in your email inbox by joining my newsletter here! --Andy

The show also highlighted Teyana Taylor’s response to criticism following her appearance with Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium, where she revealed that faulty in-ear monitors prevented her from hearing properly during her performance. Despite the technical difficulties, Taylor expressed gratitude for sharing the stage with one of hip-hop’s biggest icons in front of more than 40,000 fans. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rickey Smiley Morning Show covered a wide range of headline-making stories, from global politics to celebrity buzz. The biggest news centered on President Trump’s warning that U.S. military strikes against Iran will continue until he decides “enough is enough,” with reports that U.S. forces have carried out multiple rounds of strikes targeting Iran’s military capabilities near the Strait of Hormuz while maintaining a naval blockade. The show also discussed growing rumors that Megan Thee Stallion and NBA star Klay Thompson may be finding their way back to each other after their highly publicized breakup, with reports suggesting Thompson has been working to rebuild trust through heartfelt gestures and apologies. In entertainment news, the cast dove into the viral conversation surrounding Beyoncé appearing to shave Jay-Z’s hair during his Yankee Stadium residency celebrating the anniversaries of Reasonable Doubt and The Blueprint. While some fans questioned whether the moment was symbolic or staged, reports indicate the haircut was part of a larger creative presentation tied to Jay-Z’s recent hair transformation and anniversary concerts. The show also highlighted Teyana Taylor’s response to criticism following her appearance with Jay-Z at Yankee Stadium, where she revealed that faulty in-ear monitors prevented her from hearing properly during her performance. Despite the technical difficulties, Taylor expressed gratitude for sharing the stage with one of hip-hop’s biggest icons in front of more than 40,000 fans. Website: https://www.urban1podcasts.com/rickey-smiley-morning-show See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's the difference between a bundle, a box set, an anthology, and a collection? How can being part of an anthology be creatively interesting and useful for marketing? With Jamie Ferguson In the intro, Amazon Kindle increases the 70% royalty share; audiobook marketing tips (Voices by InAudio); The Builder's Creed [Seth Godin]; Future Vision XPrize; Researching the dark side of travel [Anna Sayburn Lane]; Photos from Bruges @jfpennauthor; Bones of the Deep: A Thriller – J.F. Penn. Today's show is sponsored by Bookfunnel, the essential tool for your author business. Whether it's delivering your reader magnet, sending out advanced copies of your book, handing out ebooks at a conference, or fulfilling your digital sales to readers, BookFunnel does it all. Check it out at bookfunnel.com/thecreativepenn This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Jamie Ferguson is a fiction and short story author, editor, and publisher, with over 20 anthologies and multiple ebook bundles through her own press. Her latest book for authors is Bundle Up! A Practical Guide to Anthologies and Box Sets That Sell. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes The difference between bundles, box sets, anthologies, and collections Why a multi-author project means lots of people promoting the same book, not just you How to find and pitch for anthology opportunities, and what editors look for in a contributor Contracts, rights, and royalty splits explained for short fiction Why Kickstarter and special print editions are changing the anthology game Inkwren, the publishing management tool Jamie built for backlists and anthologies You can find Jamie at JamieFerguson.com. Transcript of the interview ith Jamie Ferguson Jo: Jamie Ferguson is a fiction and short story author, editor, and publisher, with over 20 anthologies and multiple ebook bundles through her own press. Her latest book for authors is Bundle Up! A Practical Guide to Anthologies and Box Sets That Sell. Just for context too, one of my short stories, “The Dark Queen”, is in the Amazing Monster Tales: Into the Briny Deep anthology. So I'm excited to talk about this today. Welcome to the show, Jamie. Jamie: Thanks for having me, Jo. Jo: Lots to talk about. But first up— Tell us a bit more about you and how you got into writing and self-publishing. Jamie: Well, I wanted to be a writer since I was at least six, maybe before then. So it was just something I always wanted to do, but I always did it on the side. I had a year, many years ago, where I was really busy with work, and I just felt like I didn't write anything the entire year, and I thought, “I'm going to give it up.” Then the next year—that was 2011—I started seeing more about self-publishing, and that really invigorated me and made me feel like, “No, why am I giving up something I've wanted to do since before I went to school?” So I got back into a novel I had worked on years before. I went to a writing workshop with Dean Wesley Smith up in Oregon, back in the day, and then I had my energy back. I've been writing ever since. Still on the side, unfortunately, but someday. Jo: Hopefully! Tell us a bit more about what kind of genres you write. Because balancing your own books with also doing these anthologies and things is quite difficult. Jamie: Yes, it definitely is. I'd say I primarily write contemporary fantasy, but I'll write anything in any genre if I'm really excited about it. I also have a soft spot for Westerns. They take a little more time because I like to research all the facts, but those are really fun to write. Creating anthologies on your own is actually quite a bit of work. One of the things I also do is work with two other authors, DeAnna Knippling and Tami Veldura, and create more anthologies with them. That's really fun because then we can each take a different piece. There's also always somebody to talk to, as opposed to doing it on your own. Jo: Let's start with the terminology, because I definitely struggled with this, and I think people still do. We've got bundles, we've got box sets, we've got anthologies, we've got collections—and are these in ebook, audiobook, or print? Can you start by explaining what all of these words actually mean? Jamie: Yes. In my book I actually use the term “multi-author collection” or “multi-author project”, because there are so many different permutations and it does get confusing. From my perspective, I think of a bundle as a collection. It could be a collection of ebooks. Technically it could be a collection of print books, although people generally use “box set” for that—but then a box set can also be a box set that's all ebooks. An anthology, I usually use for something that's a collection of short stories where there's an editor who's actually edited all the stories. I have had stories in anthologies where somebody didn't edit them, and they would technically be called a curator. So it is definitely confusing. I have not done anything with audio collections, but that certainly is another area that I actually think is pretty interesting. Jo: I also think that a single author… so I've done a short story collection, but an anthology is multiple authors. Is that right? Jamie: Yes. Jo: I think when I came into the indie space, there were a lot more multi-author… we all called them box sets back in the day, when it was just ebooks, right? And now we can actually do boxed sets with boxes through things like BookVault. So it feels like the term “box set” has also gone out of fashion. So if people listening are thinking of doing any of this, you do have to figure out what is the thing you might be signing up for. So let's talk about the multi-author projects, as that's where you specialise. What are the benefits for an author to be involved in a multi-author anthology project? Jamie: The biggest benefit is that you are one of multiple people promoting the same project, whether it's print or ebook or whatever. If I put out a short story collection on my own, I'm the one promoting it, and maybe I can get a couple of other people to write about it, but it's really just me. If I'm part of an anthology with 15 other authors, that's 15 other people who are promoting the same project. That's more newsletters, more Facebook posts, maybe something on their Patreons, whatever it is. You get more synergy, and you get more touch points with potential readers. Then hopefully that translates into sales as well. So that's definitely the biggest part of it—the promotion. Then I also personally really enjoy these types of collections because it's just fun to work with other people. There's a nice energy when everybody's like, “Oh, I put this in my newsletter, and I put this here, and I put this here,” and you feel like you're part of something bigger than just your own piece. Jo: What about the creative benefits? Especially with short stories, often people will write them for a collection or for an anthology project. Jamie: Yes. I've definitely written some stories that I never would have thought I'd write, because somebody I knew asked if I would be interested in being in their collection—whether it's an ebook bundle or a print anthology. So at least for me, that's been really fun. One of the ones that stands out is that I was asked to be in a dinosaur collection once, and I was like, “I don't write dinosaur stories.” And then I did. I set a dinosaur story in London, and it was really fun to write, and I never would have come up with that in a million years. Jo: Let's say we've got 12 authors. They've all written short stories, and now it's in this anthology. But what is the market for these kinds of things? Have you found that there is a readership for short story anthologies that carries over to the author's longer work? Jamie: There is. I like to think of it as: if I have a story in a collection or an anthology—whether it's one I'm editing or somebody else is editing—that's one more place for people to find me. A lot of times anthologies will take reprints as well, like your story. “The Dark Queen”—that was a reprint. We asked if you'd be interested in participating in the Amazing Monster Tales series. And I actually really like printing stories again that have already been published, because there are a lot of stories out there that can be hard to find. Or if it's an older book. I have one author I've known for, like, 30 years. I reprinted one of her stories that was originally published in, I think, 1999, and the anthology it was in was out of print. You couldn't find it, and it was a fantastic story. So it's fun to be able to give new life to those stories and give them more opportunities, and also just have more ways for people to find you. Jo: Yes, I definitely think it's a long game. I don't think appearing in a short story anthology in one particular month is going to mean that your whole back collection just sells, right? Jamie: No, definitely not. It's more about avenues to be found. I know there have been some anthologies that have made quite a bit of money, but in general you're probably not going to make as much money, but you will have those extra places for people to find you. Jo: I always feel like yes, there is maybe a small amount of money, but it is more about almost a marketing thing in itself. So let's say an author is listening and they're like, “Do you know, this sounds like a great idea.” How can they pitch for things like this? How do they find out about opportunities, or get noticed to be asked? And what are the expectations for them? Jamie: The biggest thing is networking. There used to be a couple of opportunities where you could make people aware that you had stories that you were interested in potentially having picked up for something. I'm not aware of anything like that now. When I create a collection, I have a mailing list that I send out, and it includes authors I've published before. It includes a couple of extra people who somehow found my mailing list. And I'll publish, like, “Here's what I'm doing.” There are also authors I've met at writing workshops. I've been able to read some of their work, I'll approach them and say, “Hey, I really liked such and such a story. Would you be interested in writing for this?” Then there are a couple of other websites, like Duotrope, and places that advertise markets and calls for submissions. Jo: Yes, I've found them also on small presses that do these kinds of projects. They often put up one call for submission a month or something, and you can write for their particular thing. In general, the short story markets are the places to keep an eye on. Jamie: Yes, definitely. Jo: If an author wants to pitch to have their story as part of an anthology, do you want to know things like platform, or is it just the story itself? Jamie: I personally look at the author's platform. I do make exceptions—there are actually two authors I've worked with a couple of times who don't have websites. They are people I know personally and they are very, very good writers, so I'll make an exception for things like that. But otherwise, if somebody submitted a story to me and I didn't know that person, I would check out their website, I would check out their social media, I would see what else they had done. Part of what you're doing when you're creating a collection is thinking not just about how you, as the person organising this, will promote the collection, but how the authors who are participating will help promote it as well. If it's somebody who has a lot of fans, even if they're not very active on social media, that can help a lot too. There are a lot of different factors, though. Jo: So then talk us through the project timeline. How long do things take, and what sort of involvement do the authors have along the way? Because it's a lot to juggle. Jamie: Yes, it is a lot to juggle. I can give you an example with the Monster Tales series. We'll come up with an idea, and we also like to try to get the artwork done early on in the process. We don't need it that soon, but it's really great to have that taken care of. We'll contact authors. I think for this one we used my mailing list, but we've also contacted a number of people individually that we know who write the style of stories we like. Then, as the submissions come in, we usually wait until we have a nice chunk of them to start going through, and then we'll pick some right away. Sometimes it'll be like, “Oh my gosh, of course we want this story,” and we'll wait to fill out the other slots. Then we'll negotiate sometimes. Sometimes it's like, “I want this story.” “Well, I want this other story.” And we have to figure out how the word count works. Once we finalise the stories, then usually what happens with that anthology is that DeAnna—who is a very, very good editor—will make the first editing pass, and then I'll make the second. And now Tami's involved, so Tami will make the third, and then we'll iterate. Once all three of us have gone through the first time, then we'll send the story back to the author for edits. So the most the author has to do for most of the process is just wait for us to edit their story, and then work on their edits and get them back. Then, once we get closer to launch, we'll give them information about what we're going to do. For example, we're going to launch the next issue with a Kickstarter. So our authors know that we have a Kickstarter coming, and we'll give them more information as we get closer to the actual launch date. Jo: So how long might an author expect before their work is out there? Jamie: It really varies. I've had some collections published very quickly—let's say a couple of months. Some have taken longer just because somebody ends up having some life issue and things get delayed. So I'd say ideally it would be more like three to nine months. Jo: Yes, I think… depending on the— Jamie: —collection and the complexity. Jo: Yes, exactly. Jo: And you did mention word count there. Just give us a range of what word count you like to get. Jamie: So these days I'm shooting for between 75,000 and 80,000 for the total word count for a collection. That includes the stories, but it also includes the opening, the introduction. For one we're working on now, we're going to have some interstitials, where we have little bits of things we're going to write in between each story. So that's the overall size of the collection. I'll keep track of the word count as the stories come in, and then as we edit the stories, sometimes they grow, sometimes they shrink. Sometimes that's a big enough difference where we're like, “Okay, we need one more story to fill it in.” But that's the target. Jo: And how much for each individual story? Jamie: That varies. I've done a bunch of different things. These days, what I'm advertising is between 3,000 and 8,000 words. I also always tell people: if you're outside this range on either side, just check with me, and if it's something that's really an excellent fit for the book, I'll make an exception. The one that's coming out, I think we have a 1,500- or 2,000-word story that was just amazingly perfect for what we wanted. There was another story, actually I think it was the issue that you were in, that was at least 12,000 words, but it also was a perfect fit for the theme. So I will make exceptions, but within reason. I wouldn't put a novella inside an anthology, because then you'd have a 22,000-word story next to a 3,000-word story, and I personally feel like that's really jarring for the reader. You don't want to go from something super short to something super long. It just doesn't feel like it flows well to me. Jo: No, absolutely. Jo: We'll come back to the making of it because you mentioned some really interesting things there. But just on the contractual side—a lot of indie authors don't necessarily do any publishing contracts for their work, unless it's signing the terms and conditions when uploading on Amazon or Kobo. So tell us a bit about the contract side. What rights are we talking about here? Any red lines in contracts around this kind of thing? Jamie: For contracts, I would recommend people read Kristine Kathryn Rusch's posts on this. She is way more informed about this than I ever will be, so when I have questions, I'll look at her posts. I've asked her a couple of questions. What we're doing for the Amazing Monster Tales… this is the first time that I've actually had authors sign contracts. Prior to this, I've used PubShare, which handles royalty splits and all of that, and that was really great. We want to do direct sales and Kickstarters and have lots of other options. So we did put together a contract this time. I'd have to pull it up, but I think we asked for first worldwide rights in English—I'm getting the terminology wrong here—but that was basically it. Jo: Or, I guess, reprint rights if the story's already been licensed. Jamie: Correct. We have two contract templates, one for original stories and one for reprints. We made sure to make that distinction, because it is definitely a distinction. In the book by Kristine Kathryn Rusch—it's called Closing the Deal… on Your Terms—I highly recommend that for anybody interested in learning more about contracts. Jo: Yes, that's great. And just for people listening: when you said you didn't have contracts before, you just used PubShare. So in that way, the author still retained the rights and you just split the royalties—it was more of a co-writing thing. Jamie: Correct. When you publish stories through PubShare, the author signs an agreement with PubShare, and then I, as the editor or organiser, would also sign a separate agreement. So each of us has an agreement with PubShare. We don't have agreements with each other, if that makes sense. Jo: Yes, so it's very different to move into Kickstarter. So tell us about what you're now moving into. Jamie: Well, Kickstarters are a new world for me personally. I have many friends who have had Kickstarters. I've supported Kickstarters. I watch them. But it's something where I'm very happy to have two partners who have done Kickstarters before. I'm not sure how many Tami's done—I think Tami's done the most at this point. So this is all new to me. But it's very exciting. At this point we have a backlist, so part of the plan, for the Monster series, is to offer issues one through four as part of the rewards when we launch issue number five. That's really exciting, because I never had a backlist like that before. Jo: Yes, and in fact the money is in the backlist, as ever, and those add-ons or bundles as part of Kickstarter are great. So are you going to do special print editions, or is it digital only? Jamie: We are talking about special print editions. You mentioned BookVault earlier—we've been looking at BookVault. Our other anthology series that hasn't come out yet will also launch with a Kickstarter. It's dragon-themed, and Tami actually did the cover work, which is beautiful. BookVault just gives you so many options that we never had before, so I'm very excited about that. Jo: Yes, I think it's a really good idea. I did gorgeous hardbacks for my solo author collection, so I think it's a great idea. So from the publisher side, let's come back to that. You've mentioned you have to write things like an introduction and interstitials, and you're trying to balance the stories. What are some of the other things that people might think about if they want to organise their own anthologies? Jamie: Oh gosh, where to start? There's the basic setting up of the anthology, so you have to define the table of contents. You might get a bunch of stories that are really awesome, and you might have to tell somebody who has a wonderful story—and maybe even who's a good friend of yours—that you're going to pass on it because their story doesn't fit with all the other stories. Every time I have to do that, I feel kind of bad. But being on this side, it's really interesting to see how you can tell which stories fit together and which don't. There's also the editing process, which can be a lot of work. Part of what I like about working with Tami and DeAnna is that DeAnna really loves editing. I feel like I'm a good editor, and I can do it, but for me it's more of a job. For DeAnna, she loves it, so she does the bulk of the editing, which is great. When I do it on my own, I feel like it's a task I have to do. There's lots of cat-herding. Sometimes people take a while to get their edits back. Sometimes they have life events, and you have to delay things because you're waiting on them. There are all the little tiny pieces of organising things—like, if you're reprinting stories, you need to make sure you get the copyright attribution correct. A lot of times I'll have to go and look up where something was originally published. An author might say, “Oh, it was published in this year,” and I'm like, “Okay, actually it was published in this other year, by this other publication first.” So I'm trying to be organised there. henT one of the things that very infrequently—I think it's only happened to me twice—every once in a while, you're in the middle of editing a story and you have to pass on it, even though you've already accepted it, because the editorial vision and the author vision for the story are not the same, and you can't reconcile that. Jo: I think that's really interesting, because so much of what you're talking about there—you mentioned vision—it's almost taste. You're saying which stories fit. It's not just a case of, I don't know, a pirate anthology and then picking 10 stories about pirates, right? You seem to be thinking about this in a more artistic way. So can you talk a bit more about that? How do you decide on a theme, and then how do you know that a story doesn't fit? Jamie: In the beginning, I was not this selective. In the beginning I'd say, for example, “Hey, I'm putting out a collection about fairies. Give me a fairy story,” and that was it. As I've edited the stories, it's become easier to see how things fit. So, for example, if I have 10 stories in an anthology and I have an 11th story, and they have different tones—let's say the 11th story is really funny and all the other stories are very serious—then that would be a fit thing. That's not necessarily taste; it's just that you don't want one funny story if everything else is really dark and scary or serious. As far as picking a theme, the theme could be very broad. With this dragon anthology we're working on, we decided we wanted it to be called A Hoard of Books. So the theme was: has to have dragons, has to have books, and that's pretty much it. And then we were like, “Let's just see what we get.” We were very surprised at what we got. We thought we'd have more serious stories, and it turned out most of them were very light-hearted and really fun. And we're like, “You know what? That actually changes the way we're looking at the whole series,” because we did not expect that. With the monster series, we'll pick a theme. So, for example, the next issue is Monsters in Love, and for those it's more like, let's just see what happens. Sometimes I'll have a more specific theme. The next anthology I'm publishing on my own is called Fairy Bargains, and I wanted people to obviously have fairies, but I wanted there to be something related to the mythology and lore of having a bargain with a fairy—and there's a lot of stuff about that. So for some things like that, when I put out a call, I'll provide information. I might say, “Here's a link to a Wikipedia article. Here's some mythology that might be helpful for you,” just because I want things to stick a little bit more to the theme itself. Whereas with Monsters in Love, there's a very wide range of stories, and that was very fun to work through. Jo: Oh, yes. There's a lot of monster, on the spicy side as well. But were you doing a clean Monsters in Love, as opposed to in lust? Jamie: Yes, this is a clean one. That's pretty funny. But boy, when you give authors the room for these types of things, you get all kinds of stories, and it is super fun to work with those collections. Jo: As you're talking, I definitely want to do more short stories. It's really interesting, because you can actually generally get paid more for a first print—first print rights on a short story—but I often want to just publish it myself. Then I was really happy to be in yours, because it was a reprint anyway. So I was like, well, there's absolutely nothing to lose if it goes in as a reprint. So these things can be really interesting. Talking of the finance from your side of things: you have a small press and you're doing this publishing yourself, but you're paying all these authors and doing a lot of work. So how does it work as the publisher, in terms of these anthologies, financially? Jamie: With the ones we've published so far, because we've gone through PubShare, it's been a royalty split. As the editors, we would take a percentage, and then we pay for the artwork, and of course all of our time. I think what we were doing there was saying 70% of the royalties would be split equally between all of the authors and the stories. So, for example, if I had a story as well, I would get part of the author split—the same percentage as everybody else in the collection—in addition to the editor split. For what we're doing now, we've changed this a little bit, and I believe we said 60% goes to the authors, and then we're going to keep a share of the proceeds for the business because we want to be able to pay for the artwork out of the business account. We want to pay for advertising, whatever we need to do—like setting up our store, or if we wanted to invest in anything, we want to be able to do that as the business, as opposed to it just being us doing this on our own. We're just trying to treat it a little bit differently. Jo: And I know it's so much work—a crazy amount of work. How many anthologies and books do you have to do in a year to make it worthwhile financially? Jamie: Oh, I don't know. I would say, unless you get an opportunity—like, for example, to have an anthology in a story bundle or something like that—you may not break even. But if you're going to do this, do it more for the marketing, do it more because you enjoy it. Now, going forward, I think that will change, because we are looking at Kickstarters, we are looking at direct sales. We're very motivated to try to make this more of a business thing than a fun side project. So, ask me in a year. Jo: Yes, hopefully more. I do think Kickstarter is great for short stories. I actually buy quite a few collections on Kickstarter. I think they're actually really hard to discover through, say, Amazon—it's a place that is quite hard to identify short stories. Whereas I've found I've bought collections on Kickstarter because there's so much more of a sales page—there's so much more rich media that tells me how I'm going to feel about the stuff. I've bought short story anthologies and collections from people I don't know. So I think it's a really good thing to do. There is an audience there. Jamie: Yes, definitely. And it does feel like the anthologies on Amazon don't sell as well—you don't make as much as you used to. I've been doing this for, well, gosh, 10 years now, and I feel like the sales numbers on Amazon in the past year were noticeably lower than they would have been six or eight years ago. So I am very excited about Kickstarter. Plus, Kickstarter just feels really fun. You're not just throwing your book up; you also have all the extra stuff with the page, you have the rewards, and it just feels really exciting. Jo: No, I agree. I really love it. I didn't do it for a long time, and now I just love it. Jo: So, staying with the publisher side of things— Any practical formatting and production tips? Because in these types of projects, all kinds of people just send you different stuff. Jamie: I have a style guide. So whether it's me or it's the group project, once all the edits are complete, I'll do a formatting pass, and I'll make sure I use curly quotes and the same em dash format and everything, just so everything in the book is formatted the same way. Every once in a while there's an author who has something particular that they want, and I can work around that, and that's fine. I also work with a lot of Canadian authors, and I'll let them keep their Canadian spellings. I don't think everybody does that, but I feel like that's their voice in a way, so I don't correct those. I might check some things there. I think the formatting is important—it makes things look better if everything has the same style. Then I use Vellum, which makes things really easy. I love Vellum. Because I publish so many authors at this point, I have a Vellum file where I store their biographies and their links, so when I publish a new anthology I'll just go grab, say, Jo's “about the author” page from that collection and put it into the new file. Then I also track when the last time was that I checked with the author about their biography. If it's been more than a year, I'll check in with them and say, “Hey, do you have an updated biography you want me to use? Here are your links—do you have any different links now?” So that makes it a lot easier from the formatting standpoint. Jo: And you mentioned Vellum—having done box sets on Vellum, you can just drag a whole book in there if you want to do a three-book box set, or three short stories, whatever. It's much easier to just drag things in, and it makes it easier to format. So I would say to people: you don't need to worry too much about that. There are lots of things that can help you. But even with doing the print stuff for the Kickstarter—people have opinions, don't they? So in terms of authors' opinions and managing—you mentioned herding cats—how do you manage all of that side of things? Jamie: I haven't actually had a lot of trouble with that. The authors I've worked with seem to feel like they gave me their story, and then once the edits are out of the way… I haven't had anybody have any issues with the covers. Usually they love the covers, especially for the Monster series. So, no problems there. Jo: Oh, that's good. Well, I would say a tip would be to make sure you're communicating, if you're somebody who's organising. So talk a bit about communication. Jamie: Communication is very important. What I try to do is send regular updates, especially if I'm in the middle of edits or working on something and I'm not ready to launch. I'll send an update email out to the authors and just say, “Here's what's going on, here's what the plan is.” Or if the plan has to change, if the launch date has to change for some reason, I'll let the authors know about that. Actually, with the upcoming Monsters in Love issue, we were originally not going to do a Kickstarter. That was a late decision, so I contacted all the authors and said, “We've changed our plans. We're going to launch this with a Kickstarter. Please confirm that you're okay with this.” One author was not comfortable with the Kickstarter idea, so he pulled his story, and then we found a replacement story for that. But I just feel like the communication piece is really essential. It's really important for the authors to know what's going on. Jo: Yes, absolutely. So, we've talked about how marketing is a good thing, in terms of there being lots of people marketing. How are you effectively marketing these kinds of books, as the premise is quite different to a single author project? Jamie: Right. There's the usual—write a release post, write posts on social. I do additional things, so I'll publish what I call a story spotlight for each story in the anthology. That's just where I talk a little bit about the story, I provide an excerpt, and then I provide the author's bio and links to find them. Those are really great, because they're very quick to put together. The hardest part is getting a short excerpt that shows enough about the story to be engaging. But that really isn't that much time, either. Then those are also nicely evergreen. I've actually searched for authors before, when I'm trying to research them for an interview, and I've found my own spotlight posts and my own interview posts with authors come up at the top of the list, which is kind of funny. I also do interviews with as many of the authors in a collection as are willing to participate. Sometimes people just don't have the time—I don't make this required—but I usually get 80 to 90% of the authors participating. So, for example, this year I'm in a couple of bundles on StoryBundle, and I'm doing interviews for people there. It's also really fun, and you're not paying for advertising—you're just creating something that the authors are excited about and they want to share. So it promotes the collection, but it also promotes the author, which I find really nice. It's a nice networking thing too, and I'm happy if someone wants to interview me. It's like free publicity for each person, in addition to the collection. Jo: I love that you've used the word “fun” quite a lot, which I find amazing. You're obviously a super collaborative person. I've co-written a number of books— I've been part of some collections, and I really think that there are two personalities. One is like me, where we really love the creation stuff and the publishing stuff, but we're hyper-controlling. And then someone like you—you're very collaborative, and you're doing such a great job. To people listening, I would say: if you're more like me, don't organise an anthology. What you want is Jamie, or somebody who actually finds it fun to organise a big group of authors. Jamie: Yes. It is definitely interesting working with other partners in this, because when I publish an anthology on my own, I make all the decisions. I pick the artwork, I pick the theme, I do everything, I decide the table of contents. But when you're working with other people, you do need to negotiate. So we've had a couple of times where it's like, “I want this story.” “Well, I want this other story, I don't like the story that you want.” And so we have to barter, in a way. Aside from that, it is nice, because you get to split up the tasks. I could focus on things like the organising—I do the Vellum files, I do the final cover and everything. For the Kickstarters, actually, Tami's got more expertise, so Tami's going to be working on the Kickstarters for our collections together. If I had to do all this on my own, it's a ton of work. It's a ton of work. So it is nice to split it up. Jo: And of course, one of the things is managing so many moving parts—and you've actually built a tool to manage all this. So tell us a bit about that tool, and how it might be useful for people with big backlists as well as anthologies. Jamie: I built what I think of as a publishing management application. The original idea is that, for years and years, I wanted a software tool that would do catalogue management, because I was managing my own catalogue, and I was also managing—at this point I've published at least 20 anthologies, so that's a lot of authors. Then last summer, I had an author who I'd published a number of times, who was going to, I think, WorldCon, and she asked if I could give her covers for five anthologies she'd been in, so that she could make some promotional material. I was like, “Oh, sure, I can do that.” And then I was like, “Well, wait a second—is this in Notion?”—because I started trying to use Notion last year—”or is it in a spreadsheet?” It turned out her information was in, like, three different places, and I had to work to pull it together. And then I was like, “You know what? That's it. I'm just going to finally write this application.” So Inkwren manages your stories. As an author, I can manage my stories—I can track which are published, which are drafts, which are just ideas. I can track my publications. From the publisher standpoint, it's really helpful, because I can track each anthology I've published and what I'm working on. I can track the edits, I can track the contracts. I can upload contract templates—so we talked earlier about the original and reprint contract templates that I use. I upload those, and they have placeholders in them. When I generate the actual contract, the author's name will replace the placeholder—I'll have the text “author name” in the contract template, and it'll get replaced by, like, “Joanna Penn” or whatever. So that saves a lot of time. Then I also added in task tracking, because I started to feel like, well, now all my stuff is in one place, but my tasks are somewhere else. So now I can associate tasks with a publication. For example, for the book I'm working on right now, I know which tasks I need to do for the cover, and which for the interior, and everything. I have a template of tasks. Then I can also track tasks related to promotions. For example, the story bundle I'm promoting right now, I have a task for each interview I'm doing with the authors, and I have a calendar view. I can see when I'm going to publish them and know that they're all spread out. It saves me so much time, and it's so much easier. Jo: I do think building tools when you actually need the tool yourself is very useful. Just say the name again, and spell it out for people. Jamie: It's Inkwren. My own personal publishing company is Blackbird Publishing, and I wanted something related to birds and writing. So I came up with Inkwren, which is I-N-K-W-R-E-N, and it's just inkwren.com. Jo: And it is available for other people to potentially buy and use? Jamie: Yes, it is. Jo: Well, I think that's super useful, because it's very hard when people are starting out and they think, “Oh, I've only got one book—why would I need any kind of tool to manage it?” But over the years, your backlist grows, especially with short stories. So I love that you've built this, and there's probably more that you can add over time as you expand the business yourself. So much potential. So we are at the end. Where can people find you and your books and everything you do online? Jamie: My author website is JamieFerguson.com. And then, obviously, I mentioned Inkwren earlier. My publishing company is BlackbirdPublishing.com. And then the projects I'm doing with Tami and DeAnna—we have a couple of websites, but the easiest way to find us is our press, which is BorogrovePress.com. Jo: Fantastic. Well, thanks so much for your time, Jamie. That was great. Jamie: Thanks, Joanna.The post Bundles, Box Sets and Anthologies With Jamie Ferguson first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Technically illegal, but....See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.