Podcast appearances and mentions of Terrance Smith

Join Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith on The Great Debate Show, as they dive into the latest in wrestling. With WrestleMania just around the corner, the build-up feels lackluster compared to last year's excitement. Is The Rock's absence a factor? Speculations rise about potential matches, surprise appearances, and changes in storyline dynamics. Featuring a comprehensive review of Monday Night Raw, the hosts discuss the outcomes and predictions for the upcoming Elimination Chamber. With names like Seth Rollins, John Cena, and CM Punk in the mix, who stands out as the likely winner? And what surprises might be in store as we inch closer to the grandest stage of them all? Tune in for all this and more, as they unravel the current wrestling storylines and offer insights into what fans can expect in the coming weeks. Don't miss it!

The latest episode of the podcast kicks off with hosts Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith, lovingly referred to as 'the good guys,' diving into a well-rounded discussion covering WWE Smackdown, the NBA trade deadline aftermath, and their picks for Super Bowl 59. They start with a lively recap of WWE Smackdown, sharing their firsthand experiences from attending the live event in Memphis, Tennessee, their hometown. Next, the hosts delve into the NBA trade deadline, discussing the surprises and shake-ups from recent trades, including Luka Doncic's move to the Lakers and other significant changes across teams. They also express their opinions on the potential impact these trades could have on the league. The episode wraps up with their predictions for Super Bowl 59, including who they think will come out on top and their analysis of the teams' performances leading up to the big game. Throughout the episode, the hosts engage with their live audience, welcoming comments and interactions that add a dynamic layer to the show.

Welcome to another exciting episode of The Great Debate Show! Join hosts Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith as they dive deep into the sports world, starting with predictions for Saturday Night's WWE main event, including Jey Uso's face-off with Gunther. They also lay down bold predictions for Championship Sunday, analyzing the high-stakes NFC Championship match between the Commanders and the Eagles. Can Jayden Daniels continue his epic rookie season with another playoff victory? Moving to the AFC, the hosts explore the pressure cooker matchup of Bills at Chiefs and discuss what it means for the legacies of quarterbacks Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. Can Allen finally overcome the Mahomes obstruction in the playoffs, or will the Chiefs continue their reign as contenders? Shifting gears, the duo breaks down the drama in the wrestling world as potential changes loom in AEW amid controversies surrounding Britt Baker. Plus, get the inside scoop on Ricky Starks' ongoing battle to leave AEW and the impact of Cody Rhodes' departure. Finally, tune in for a heated discussion on the NBA as they tackle Jimmy Butler's disenchantment with the Miami Heat and possible landing spots for trades, except for Memphis. The episode wraps up with thoughts on the upcoming WWE events and the intriguing narratives forming as Super Bowl 59 approaches. Don't miss the engaging debates and insights from Jarvis and Terrance!

Welcome to another thrilling episode of The Great Debate Show, where your hosts Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith dive headfirst into an action-packed NFL Week 15. This week, we dissect the crucial games, outstanding performances, and surprising outcomes that have everyone talking! Did Patrick Mahomes and T.J. Watt's injuries shake up the playoff landscape? Join us as we analyze the Philadelphia Eagles' impressive win over the Steelers and question if they're truly the best in the league right now. With gripping insight, we explore the Denver Broncos' unexpected rise and what this could mean for the AFC wildcard race. Are the Chargers ready to step up, or are they simply pretenders? As the playoff race intensifies, we discuss key players like Lamar Jackson's sensational five-touchdown performance, and Nick Chubb's unfortunate injury. Will this be Chubb's last game as a Cleveland Brown? Additionally, we delve into the shaking standings with the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans seizing crucial victories that reshuffle the playoff picture. Finally, we celebrate the outstanding achievements in college football, highlighting Travis Hunter's Heisman victory and what lies ahead for this promising talent. Stay tuned for all this and more in an episode filled with debate, controversy, and expert analysis that keeps you at the edge of your seat! Subscribe now to never miss an episode of The Great Debate Show!

In this episode of The Great Debate Show, hosts Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith dive into the review of WWE's Saturday Night Main Event, marking its return for the first time since 2008. The hosts dissect the predictability of the event, noting how it felt more like a house show with lots of lighting but little substance. The event featured five matches, including standout performances by Drew McIntyre and Sami Zayn, with a clean victory for McIntyre. They also discuss the historic crowning of Chelsea Green as the first-ever United States Women's Champion, highlighting her social media prowess and perseverance. The hosts express their disappointment with the main event between Cody Rhodes and Kevin Owens, criticizing the overly predictable outcomes and lack of any exciting surprises, like the appearance of Randy Orton. With post-event actions happening off-air, the social media strategy of WWE is discussed. Throughout the episode, wrestling nostalgia and perspective from legendary figures like Jesse Ventura are brought to the forefront, alongside comments on necessary heel tactics and the current state of women's wrestling in WWE.

Welcome to another electrifying episode of The Great Debate Show, where hosts Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith dive into the latest happenings in the wrestling universe. This week, they cover the dramatic events on SmackDown and Monday Night Raw, including the shocking heel turn of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods and Big E's unexpected role as their manager. The hosts also discuss Kevin Owens's comedic yet biting interview and the implications of his upcoming match with Cody Rhodes at Saturday Night Main Event. With a detailed analysis, they speculate on potential outcomes and the looming threat of injuries post-War Games. The episode further explores the mysterious attack on Jade Cargill, weighing in on potential suspects and the future dynamics within the women's division. WrestleMania 41 rumors and the possible appearances of legends like The Rock stir excitement, along with the anticipated showdown between CM Punk and Seth Rollins. Tag team wrestling's revival, the reshuffling of stars across brands, and the status of the much-debated Raw TV rating on Netflix also take center stage. All this and more on this week's jam-packed Great Debate Show.

Join hosts Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith in an exhilarating wrestling episode of The Great Debate Show, diving deep into the latest storylines and developments in WWE and AEW. As they broadcast live on YouTube, get ready for the thrilling discussion on the forthcoming WWE World Heavyweight Championship, War Games, and AEW Full Gear events. The hosts explore the new WWE Netflix deal and its implications, contemplating a potential shift to a TV-14 rating come January, and speculate on Roman Reigns possibly moving to Monday Night Raw as WWE requires a prominent star for its new venture. The dynamic duo also ponder Paul Heyman's prospective heel turn and the potential conclusion of the PG era. Prepare for exciting predictions and debates as they break down the original Bloodline vs. the new Bloodline in Survivor Series, argue over the potential fifth man in the WWE War Games, and question what the future holds for CM Punk and Randy Orton. Wrestling fans won't want to miss the bold insights and lively predictions shared on The Great Debate Show.

Welcome to the Great Debate Show with your host, Jarvis Jeffries, alongside Terrance Smith and Nick Eley. In this episode, we dive into the excitement of NFL Week 11 and discuss the outcomes of Thursday Night Football with the Eagles vs. Commanders. We also preview the weekend's most anticipated NFL games, including the Ravens vs. Steelers and Bengals vs. Chargers, while debating the potential for upsets and standout performances. In addition to football, we shift gears to Fight Weekend, discussing the much-talked-about boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul on Netflix, as well as the UFC showdown between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic. Join us as we analyze the stakes, potential outcomes, and what these bouts mean for the fighters involved. To wrap up, we shine a spotlight on the Cleveland Cavaliers' impressive 13-0 start in the NBA, questioning whether they are genuine contenders this season. Tune in for lively discussions and expert opinions on all the latest in sports!

Welcome to the Great Debate Show with your host, Jarvis Jeffries, and guest Terrance Smith. Dive into the latest episode as we navigate through the thrilling Week 9 of the NFL season. With Nick Eley absent, we break down key matchups, unexpected outcomes, and the season's ongoing narratives. The episode kicks off with a discussion on the Detroit Lions' nail-biting victory over the Houston Texans, securing their spot as a dominant force in the NFC. The Lions' win, powered by a game-winning field goal, positions them as a formidable contender, despite the Texans' early control of the game. Transitioning to the AFC, we explore the Indianapolis Colts' struggles, particularly the quarterback controversy involving Joe Flacco and Anthony Richardson. The conversation shifts to the Pittsburgh Steelers' impressive performance against the Washington Commanders, highlighting their defensive prowess and potential as an AFC threat. Attention turns to Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears, addressing the rookie's struggles and the team's overall performance. The episode also examines the New York Jets' disappointing loss to the Arizona Cardinals, questioning Aaron Rodgers' current form and the team's future direction. The Dallas Cowboys' recent struggles and potential tanking strategy are debated, along with speculation on Dak Prescott's future. The show concludes with a critique of the San Francisco 49ers' narrow victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, questioning Kyle Shanahan's coaching decisions and the team's current form. Join us as we dissect these stories and more, providing insights and opinions on the NFL's ongoing drama and excitement.

Welcome to The Great Debate Show with your hosts, Jarvis Jeffries, Terrance Smith, and Nick Eley, where they dive into the hottest topics in sports. This episode covers the action-packed NFL Week 8, including the much-anticipated matchup between the 49ers and Cowboys. The hosts also explore the return of key NBA players as the season kicks off, discussing the legacy of Kawhi Leonard and the impact of DeAndre Hopkins joining the Kansas City Chiefs. The trio debates the necessity of Devante Adams' leadership speech to the Jets, evaluates the Ravens' status as the NFL's top team, and analyzes the current state of the 49ers. As the World Series unfolds, they share insights and predictions on the Dodgers vs. Yankees classic showdown. Join the conversation as they provide unique perspectives, predictions, and insights across the NFL, NBA, and MLB landscapes, and don't miss their bold NBA Finals predictions featuring Milwaukee and Dallas.

Welcome to another episode of The Great Debate Show! This time, our main host, Jarvis Jeffries, has a lot on his mind, and he's not holding back. Jarvis dives deep into the recent struggles of his beloved San Francisco 49ers, predicting a Super Bowl hangover that seems all too real. He also takes aim at Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson, demanding they show up and prove their worth. Jarvis doesn't stop there, as he critiques the coaching decisions of Kyle Shanahan and questions the future of the 49ers if changes aren't made. He also shares his thoughts on the recent performances of other teams and players, including Jayden Daniels, who shined brightly on Monday Night Football, and the impressive start of the Buffalo Bills. Join Jarvis, along with co-hosts Terrance Smith and Nick Eley, as they dissect the week's games, make bold predictions, and debate the hottest topics in the NFL. It's a passionate and insightful episode you won't want to miss!

Welcome to The Great Debate Show with your host, Jarvis Jeffries. In this special episode, Jarvis goes live to reveal his top 10 NFL teams after the first two weeks of the season. With co-hosts Terrance Smith and Nick Eley having the night off, Jarvis takes center stage to provide an in-depth analysis of each team's performance and potential. Starting from the bottom, Jarvis discusses why the Atlanta Falcons, Pittsburgh Steelers, and San Francisco 49ers made it to the list. He highlights key moments and players that have stood out so far, including the impressive drive by the Falcons to beat the Philadelphia Eagles and the Steelers' undefeated start. As the countdown continues, Jarvis covers the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, and New Orleans Saints, emphasizing the standout performances of players like Geno Smith, Justin Jefferson, and Alvin Kamara. He also touches on the strategic brilliance of coaches like Kevin O'Connell and Clint Kubiak. Moving into the top tier, Jarvis ranks the Buffalo Bills at number four, praising Josh Allen's resilience and the team's balanced offensive approach. At number three, he places the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by a revitalized Baker Mayfield and a strong supporting cast including Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The Houston Texans secure the second spot, thanks to the impressive play of rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud and a solid all-around team performance. Finally, Jarvis crowns the Kansas City Chiefs as the number one team, citing their knack for finding ways to win and the leadership of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid. Tune in to hear Jarvis's complete analysis and see if your favorite team made the cut. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow The Great Debate Show on Facebook, Podbean, and wherever you get your podcasts!

Welcome to Season 5, Episode 5 of "The Great Debate Show" with your hosts Jarvis Jeffries, Terrance Smith, and Nick Eley. In this episode, we provide a thorough recap of the exciting Thursday and Friday night football games in Brazil. The Philadelphia Eagles faced off against the Green Bay Packers, and we delve into the details of their intense matchup. We also analyze the Ravens vs. Chiefs game, discussing Lamar Jackson's performance and the outcome's implications for both teams. We then move on to preview some of the most anticipated games for the upcoming Sunday, including the Dallas Cowboys vs. Cleveland Browns, the Rams vs. Lions, and the Jets vs. 49ers on Monday night. With insightful commentary and bold predictions, we cover all the action and excitement that Week 1 of the NFL season has to offer. Tune in to hear our takes, and don't forget to rate, review, and follow us on Podbean, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Stay notified each time a new episode drops. Enjoy the show and happy football watching!

Welcome to Episode 3 of Season 5 of "The Great Debate Show" with your host Jarvis Jeffries, joined by Terrance Smith and Nick Ely. In this exciting episode, the crew dives into their NFC predictions for the 2024 NFL season. If you missed the Labor Day special recap of college football week one, don't worry, you can catch up on all the action from Brian Kelly's struggles at LSU to Lamar Jackson's recent criticism. The episode kicks off with a discussion on the NFC South, where Terrance makes a bold prediction by picking the Carolina Panthers to win the division. Meanwhile, Jarvis and Nick agree that the Atlanta Falcons, led by a revitalized Kirk Cousins, will take the crown. Next, the conversation shifts to the NFC West, where Nick and Jarvis both favor the Los Angeles Rams, while Terrence believes the Seattle Seahawks will come out on top. The debate heats up as they discuss the potential pitfalls for the San Francisco 49ers and the impact of key players returning to action. Moving on to the NFC East, Nick confidently picks his Philadelphia Eagles to win the division, but Jarvis throws a curveball by selecting the Washington Commanders as his surprise pick. The discussion highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each team, including the potential diva behavior of A.J. Brown and the impact of key retirements on the Eagles' roster. Finally, the crew tackles the NFC North, a division they all agree is one of the most competitive in the league. While Nick and Jarvis have the Vikings at the bottom and the Lions at the top, Terrance places the Bears last and predicts a strong showing from the Packers. The episode wraps up with a thought-provoking question about the biggest challenge to the Kansas City Chiefs' quest for a three-peat, with Terrance picking the Baltimore Ravens and Nick suggesting the Chiefs themselves are their biggest threat. Tune in for a lively debate filled with bold predictions, insightful analysis, and plenty of NFL excitement. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow "The Great Debate Show" wherever you get your podcasts!

Welcome back to the Great Debate Show! This episode dives deep into the world of wrestling with your hosts Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith. We kick off with a week in review covering Dynamite, SmackDown, and Monday Night Raw. From Rhea Ripley's impactful return to the evolving storyline involving Dominic Mysterio, Liv Morgan, and Damian Priest, there's a lot to unpack. We delve into the Judgment Day storyline and speculate about the group's future dynamics. Terrence shares his thoughts on Seth Rollins potentially turning heel and how this could impact upcoming matches and storylines leading into SummerSlam. We also touch on the heated rivalry between Sami Zayn and Braun Breaker, exploring the potential outcomes of their SummerSlam rematch. The Wyatt Seeks' storyline and their connection to Chad Gable are analyzed, highlighting the intriguing direction WWE might take with these characters. In AEW, we focus on the Mariah Mae and Toni Storm feud, discussing its potential to become one of the best storylines in AEW. We also talk about the implications of Swerve Strickland's promo and his future as AEW World Champion. Finally, we cover Friday Night SmackDown, including Tiffany Stratton's rise, Nia Jax's dominance, and the evolving Bloodline saga. We speculate on Randy Orton's return and the potential impact on Cody Rhodes' title defense against Solo Sikoa at SummerSlam. Join us for an in-depth discussion on the latest in wrestling, filled with expert insights, bold predictions, and plenty of excitement!

Welcome to The Great Debate Show! Join host Jarvis Jeffries and co-hosts Terrance Smith and Nick Eley as they dive into a jam-packed episode covering all the latest in NBA free agency, NFL training camp updates, and the future of Bronny James in the NBA. In this episode, the hosts discuss Jalen Brunson's contract extension with the New York Knicks and its implications for the team's future. They analyze the potential impact of Paul George joining the Philadelphia 76ers and debate whether the Sixers can become real contenders in the East. The conversation shifts to NFL training camps, where the hosts speculate on key wide receivers like CeeDee Lamb and Brandon Aiyuk getting their well-deserved paydays. They also touch on the quarterback situation in Chicago and the potential of rookie Caleb Williams. Jarvis, Terrence, and Nick delve into the intriguing dynamics of LeBron James and his son Bronny, questioning the legitimacy of Bronny's NBA prospects and the influence of LeBron's legacy. Don't miss out on this engaging episode filled with insightful analysis and passionate debates. Tune in now on YouTube, Podbean, or wherever you get your podcasts!

Welcome to The Great Debate Show! In this episode, Jarvis Jeffries and Terrance Smith dive into the hot topics of the week. They kick things off with a lively discussion about the WNBA's increasing popularity, thanks to standout players like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. Is Caitlin being overhyped, or are her peers just hating? Tune in to hear different perspectives on this heated debate. Next, the hosts preview the much-anticipated NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics. With insights on key players like Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving, and Jayson Tatum, they analyze the strengths and weaknesses of both teams. Will Boston finally clinch the title, or is Dallas poised for an upset? Don't miss the engaging and thought-provoking discussions on The Great Debate Show, available wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Facebook for more debates and updates!

Trent Condon is joined by Brian Smith for some Iowa football and recruiting talk. First, a look at the transfer portal and the lack of options for the Iowa football program at the quarterback position. Then some thoughts on the first commit in 2026 with Carson Nielsen. Then thoughts on 2025's including Mason Woods, Terrance Smith, Nick Brooks and Iose Epenesa and incoming punter Rhys Dakin. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Monopoly GO!Get in the game and join your friends. Click HERE to Download MONOPOLY GO! now free on The App Store or Google Play. LinkedInThese days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. That's why LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team, faster and for free. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/lockedoncollege. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America's Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That's A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET!Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. eBay MotorsFrom brakes to exhaust kits and beyond, eBay Motors has over 122 million parts to keep your ride-or-die alive. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to bring home that big win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

On this episode of the Perspective Shift series, host JK talks to his friend Terrance Smith about his shift from being a personal trainer and business owner in the fitness industry to working in the financial industry. Terrance shares his perspective shift on saving money and the importance of financial planning. He discusses the parallel paths of transitioning into fitness and transitioning into finance, highlighting the transferable skills from the fitness industry to the financial industry. Terrence emphasizes that it's never too late to start saving and investing and encourages listeners to take action and make the jump to a new career if they feel compelled to do so. --- Connect with Terrance on IG: @teethetrainer Connect with JK on IG: @coachjkmcleod Connect with JK via email: jk@themusclefeed.com --- Chapters 00:00 Introduction to the Perspective Shift series 01:13 Introducing the guest, Terrance Smith 02:24 Terrance's background as a personal trainer and business owner 03:36 The shift from personal training to the financial industry 04:15 Terrance's perspective shift on saving money 05:05 The influence of Terrence's girlfriend and the lack of financial planning in the fitness industry 06:18 Transitioning to working in the financial industry 08:23 The parallel paths of transitioning into fitness and transitioning into finance 09:20 The realization of the potential of compounding money 10:23 The disconnect in financial education and the importance of starting early 13:12 The impact of seeing large sums of money in financial planning 14:05 The transferable skills from the fitness industry to the financial industry 17:18 It's never too late to start saving and investing 20:33 The importance of taking action and making the jump to a new career 25:49 Final thoughts and advice for those considering a career change --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jk-mcleod7/message

The Orlando Guardians have started 0-3 and lost a competitive matchup late in the game in Arlington and Linebacker Terrance Smith joined us to discuss how to get over the hump, his thoughts on the defense, and playing for the game next to him.

We breakdown the games from Championship Sunday, pick who wins SB 57, discuss who'll be the Niners starting QB in 2023 (Purdy, Lance, or Brady), Purdy's 6 month injury, teams in need of an OC, and Terrance Smith has a hot take on Andy Reid & the L.A. Lakers. Tune in to The Great Debate Show and hit that Follow button.

At election time, Dr. Carol François and her niece Kourtney Square want you to know systemic racism is on the ballot, too. In this episode, you'll hear about the Ocoee Massacre and how voter suppression in the past was violent and murderous. Today, voters are still being intimidated and their rights trampled. Listen to hear what's being done to keep voters out of the voting booth and how folks are fighting back. Look for all episodes and social media at www.podpage.com.whyaretheysoangry Citations “Are States Purging Or Cleaning Voter Registration Rolls?,” All things Considered, NPR,December 20, 2019. “Black voters continue to face voter suppression 155 years after Juneteenth, PR Watch Editors, PR Watch, June 19, 2020. League of Women Voters, https://www.lwv.org/ “19th-century political parties kidnapped reluctant voters and printed their own ballots – and that's why we've got laws regulating behavior at polling places,” Kristin Kanthak, The Conversation, October 21, 2020 8.21am EDT Updated October 22, 2020 8.59am E Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs “The vote that failed,” S.J. Ackerman, The Smithsonian Magazine, November 1998. “The voting rights act of 1965,”This Day in History, The History Channel, original Nov. 2009, Updated Aug. 25, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act “Timeline: Voter suppression in the US from the civil war to today,” Terrance Smith, ABC News, August 20, 2020. The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow . Jim Crow Stories . Enforcement Acts | PBS. The 1873 Colfax Massacre Crippled the Reconstruction Era | Smart News The Colfax Massacre (1873) • Apr. 1, 1807 | Ohio Prohibits Any Black Person from Testifying Against a White Person --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support

Terrance DeShaun Smith's path to the City of Mobile's Innovation Team started at the University of South Alabama. He grew up in a housing project in Prichard, Ala., and always had big dreams. Smith earned a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies and master's degree in instructional design and development, both fully online programs at South. He was promoted to the director of Strategic Initiatives and serves as a liaison for ongoing city efforts in Africatown. Smith was appointed to the Leadership Alabama Commission on Race and Equity, and Bloomberg CityLab named him one of "Six Innovators to Watch."

A mob of Sodomites demands to have their way with a man's angelic house guests. Featuring Lizzie Calogero, John Flanagan, Jason Harris, John Mercer, Joe Paulino, Nican Robinson, and Terrance Smith. Music by Sam Bivins. An Apocrypha Media production.

In this episode of The Active Texan we chat with BCS local Terrance Smith. Terrance is a coach and co-owner at Sawed-Off CrossFit in College Station. We learn more about the sports, activities and life experience that has made Terrance the person he is today. As an entrepreneur and someone who was born and raised in Bryan/College Station, he brings a heart for the community that is felt when you walk into the gym. Brian and Terrance discuss fitness in youth sports, mobility and of course, soccer.

A camping trip gets awkward when a father tries to sacrifice his teenage son. Featuring Sally Dana, John Mercer, Joe Paulino, and Terrance Smith. Music by Sam Bivins. An Apocrypha Media production.

This is a reprise of a popular Why Are They So Angry? episode. When it's election time, Dr. Carol Francois and her niece Kourtney Square want you to know systemic racism is on the ballot, too. In this episode, you'll hear how voter suppression in the past was violent and murderous. Today, voters are still being intimidated and their rights trampled. Listen to hear what's being done to keep voters out of the voting booth and how folks are fighting back. Want more, take our course Systemic Racism: See it, Say it, Confront it at www.whyaretheysoangry.com and find us anywhere at www.podpage.com.whyaretheysoangry Citations “Are States Purging Or Cleaning Voter Registration Rolls?,” All things Considered, NPR,December 20, 2019. “Black voters continue to face voter suppression 155 years after Juneteenth, PR Watch Editors, PR Watch, June 19, 2020. League of Women Voters, https://www.lwv.org/ “19th-century political parties kidnapped reluctant voters and printed their own ballots – and that's why we've got laws regulating behavior at polling places,” Kristin Kanthak, The Conversation, October 21, 2020 8.21am EDT Updated October 22, 2020 8.59am E Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs “The vote that failed,” S.J. Ackerman, The Smithsonian Magazine, November 1998. “The voting rights act of 1965,”This Day in History, The History Channel, original Nov. 2009, Updated Aug. 25, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act “Timeline: Voter suppression in the US from the civil war to today,” Terrance Smith, ABC News, August 20, 2020. The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow . Jim Crow Stories . Enforcement Acts | PBS. The 1873 Colfax Massacre Crippled the Reconstruction Era | Smart News The Colfax Massacre (1873) • Apr. 1, 1807 | Ohio Prohibits Any Black Person from Testifying Against a White Person --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support

Strapped for cash and fleeing a famine, a patriarch pimps out his wife to the Pharaoh. Featuring Sally Dana, John Mercer, Joe Paulino, and Terrance Smith. Music by Sam Bivins. An Apocrypha Media production. Follow Pulp Scripture wherever you get your podcasts.

For this Chats With Be-Wise , Terrance Smith, a Black Male TV News Photographer at WMC Action News 5 joined me. During our discussion Terrance talked about his experience being a black news photographer in Memphis TN. Terrance also have a podcast called The Great Debate Show, which is sports related. You can check it out through this link https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XA1jvqFuA12CoMYgCU4ln?si=Jo7HdM3rRkK-wKeE-yqClg --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/brendan-ward/support

We sit down with Terrance Smith, co-owner of Sawed-Off Crossfit to talk about his business. From the startup to the challenges through 2020, hear Terrance's take on running their Crossfit gym here in the BCS area.

When it's election time, Dr. Carol Francois and her niece Kourtney Square want you to know systemic racism is on the ballot, too. In this episode, you'll hear how voter suppression in the past was violent and murderous. Today, voters are still being intimidated and their rights trampled. Listen to hear what's being done to keep voters out of the voting booth and how folks are fighting back. Look for us everywhere a this link https://linktr.ee/WATSA #election2020 #politics #antiracism #votersuppression #diversity #bidenharris #whyaretheysoangry #blackvotesmatter #resist #democracy Citations “Are States Purging Or Cleaning Voter Registration Rolls?,” All things Considered, NPR,December 20, 2019. “Black voters continue to face voter suppression 155 years after Juneteenth, PR Watch Editors, PR Watch, June 19, 2020. League of Women Voters, https://www.lwv.org/ “19th-century political parties kidnapped reluctant voters and printed their own ballots – and that's why we've got laws regulating behavior at polling places,” Kristin Kanthak, The Conversation, October 21, 2020 8.21am EDT Updated October 22, 2020 8.59am E Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs “The vote that failed,” S.J. Ackerman, The Smithsonian Magazine, November 1998. “The voting rights act of 1965,”This Day in History, The History Channel, original Nov. 2009, Updated Aug. 25, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act “Timeline: Voter suppression in the US from the civil war to today,” Terrance Smith, ABC News, August 20, 2020. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support

On this episode of Greyhound Time, we sit down with varsity football stars Ozzie Keil and Terrance Smith. We discuss how football translates to the real world, the brotherhood of football, pregame meals, and much more. Hosted by Adam Jaffe and Sam Siwak

Was it a riot or a massacre? Colfax, Louisiana was the scene of a bloody, Reconstruction era incident aimed at suppressing Black/African American votes. Today, some call it a riot, others a massacre. Join Dr. Carol and her indefatigable niece Kourtney as they ferret out the truth while illuminating how voter suppression is part and parcel of systemic racism in America. Want more, take our course Systemic Racism: See it, Say it, Confront it at www.whyaretheysoangry.com and find us anywhere at https://linktr.ee/WATSA Citations “Black voters continue to face voter suppression 155 years after Juneteenth," PR Watch Editors, PR Watch, June 19, 2020. Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/what-we-do/civil-rights-memorial/civil-rights-martyrs “The voting rights act of 1965,” This Day in History, The History Channel, original Nov. 2009, Updated Aug. 25, 2020. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/voting-rights-act “Timeline: voter suppression in the US from the civil war to today,” Terrance Smith, ABC News, August 20, 2020. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/carol-francois/support

In this episode of the Help Me Understand Podcast, JK chats with Terrance Smith, Co-Owner of Sawed Off CrossFit (College Station, TX). This conversation goes into Terrance's health & fitness journey from client to coach to now CF affiliate owner. The guys have an in-depth discussion around the actions of (now former) CF CEO Greg Glassman, and the decision to remain affiliated with CF. They also discuss the larger topics of community, discrimination, and so much more. As the son of a police officer, Terrance offers a unique perspective on many things that are relevant to today's times. This is an episode that you will thoroughly enjoy. To connect with Terrance, you can find him on IG: @teethetrainer To connect with us, find on us IG: @helpmeunderstand_podcast or @coachjk_themusclefeed

The year in review. Four of the regular GovLove hosts teamed up to hand out awards and recap the fourth year of a podcast about local government. Kirsten, Alyssa, Javon, and Ben all selected five of their favorite episodes to honor with the most prestigious award in local government podcasting, a GovieLovie. The hosts also shared their favorite holiday desserts and what they are looking forward to in 2020. Hosts: Kirsten Wyatt, Ben Kittelson, Alyssa Dinberg, & Javon Davis The Picks Kirsten Leadership & Scenario Planning with Matt Finch Near the Top Report with Leisha Dehart-Davis & Kimberly Nelson Civic Innovation & Tech in Toronto with Paula Kwan Family Ties in Charleston, SC with Former Mayor Joe Riley & Citibot's Bratton Riley Open Government & Innovation at Guilford County, NC with Jason Jones Ben Chief Innovators Studio at CityLab DC Tackling Blight & Innovation with Terrance Smith, Mobile, AL Rethinking the Library in Hillsboro, OR with Stephanie Chase & Hillary Ostlund Starting as a City Manager & Unique Local Governments with Martha Bennett Communicator to Candidate in Appleton, WI with Chad Doran Javon CivicPride with Pam Davis, Boulder, CO Politics & Administration Career Paths with Sarah Moss Legal Challenges to Parking Enforcement with Shawnte Raines & Matthew Dicianni Policing & Drones with Chief Gary Jenkins, Pullman, WA Community Healing with Melissa Glaser Alyssa A Taste of Tennessee: Hot Chicken & Local Government Operationalizing Racial Equity in Austin, TX with Brion Oaks Life Coaching with Meredith Hauck, Merriam, KS Childcare for Public Meetings with Politisit Priority Based Budgeting with Chris Fabian, ResourceX

In this episode some of our best friends in the world come to visit us: Tyler Washington, Jordan Pinckney, Terrance Smith and Malik Chrisitan. We discuss so much in this hour and twenty minute long video from the current state of the NFL to Bro Code to Absent Father and other pop culture topics. Enjoy! If you would like to get in contact with us please feel free to follow our instagram page @themanifesteffect and our twitter page @manifesteffect or email us at manifestjtc@gmail.com Please feel free to share out podcast with anybody that you think would enjoy it! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

On today's show we talk about the Miami Dolphins release of defensive end Jonathan Woodard in a bit of a surprising move. They made the move to sign linebacker Terrance Smith. We also talk about the Dolphins signing of Robert Nkemdiche last week. Tom gives his thoughts on the first preseason game as well. And we end the show with the big story from last week of Kenny Stills calling out Dolphins owner Stephen Ross on his political leanings. We save the political stuff for the end of the show so if you don't want o hear it, we get it, and you are warned when its about to start.

TheNFLGirl talks about Duke Johnson, Morris Claiborne, Robert Quinn, Jermaine Kearse, Antonio Callaway, Chandler Catanzaro, Benny Cunningham, Sam Acho, Theo Riddick, Kaare Vedvik, Rico Gathers, Nate Wozniak, Ron Minegar, Shon Coleman, Terrance Smith, Derrick Jones, Shelton Gibson, Kevin McDermott, Darryl Drake and Antonio Brown.

Today we’re joined by Terrance Smith, the Director of The Mobile Innovation Team. If you don’t know what an iTeam is, be sure to listen to this episode! Terrance and his team are working to bring YOUR voice into governmental processes and decisions by listening to your issues and bringing innovative solutions to to the decision-makers. Resources: Terrance Smith - Facebook |  Twitter  |  LinkedIn  |  Instagram The Mobile Innovation Team  -   Website  |  Facebook  | Twitter Dennis Sherrin Twitter LinkedIn Allen Cave Twitter LinkedIn Want to know more about Dennis and Allen?  Visit our website, www.hbkcpas.net Thanks for listening and please subscribe & rate Playing Above The Line on iTunes.

Solving problems. Terrance Smith, the Director of the Innovation Team in the City of Mobile, Alabama, joined the podcast to talk about innovation, working with departments and taking on blight. Terrance shared the process the i-Team went through to get a handle on the problem of blight and then how to address it, which eventually led to a change in state law. He also talked about how they communicate about their work and how they bring in other city staff to explain their process. Host: Ben Kittelson

We would like to welcome the owners of College Station's Sawed-Off CrossFit; Brian Healy and Terrance Smith! The pair join their dear friend, Ben Wiggins, to talk about the business model of a CrossFit gym, how they came to know CrossFit, as well as their priorities as businessmen and coaches. Some highlights to listen for is the origin of Sawed-Off CrossFit, the sport at large and the generous contributions by the special community Brian and Terrance created. If you would like to learn more, please visit www.sawedoffcrossfit.com. You can also listen to their podcast Sawed-off #ToTheMax on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3EMNO4w1zTE3nXPMxMqR6hEnjoy! 

On this episode of the Yay, Norman and I welcome Terrance Smith – a young actor who is now in Brooklyn Bridge, playing at the Town Hall Theatre. Terrance and I acted in Civil War Christmas two years ago and he'll be playing Rev. Ralph Abernathy in All The Way (at the Contra County Civic Theatre). You can hit up Terrance Smith on Facebook or on Instagram (@youngtsmith23) SHOUTOUTS: Brooklyn Bridge (Town Hall Theatre) Feb 28 – Mar 23nd www.townhalltheatre.com Tom Reilly (Episode 40) and Terrance Smith is in the show Olivia's Kitchen (Or What The Cook Saw At the Twelfth Night) (Southside Theatre) Last shows – March 16 & 17 Deborah Murphy (Episode 98) is in the play www.generationtheatre.com La Ronde (Cutting Ball Theatre) Mar 14 – Apr 14 www.cuttingball.com Jeunee Simon – good friend of mine – is in the play The Mystery of Irma Vep (Role Players Ensemble) Apr 12 – Apr 28 https://www.roleplayersensemble.com Alicia Von Kugelgen (Episode 48 & 101) and Dana Lewenthal is in the play

On this week's podcast, Marcus sits down with Terrance Smith. Terrance is the director of the Innovation Team in Mobile Alabama. Listen to this week's podcast to hear about his story of work ethic and how he and his team are impacting the lives of Mobile's residents by looking at old problems in new ways. Terrance: Hey, my name is Terrance DeShaun Smith, city of Mobile Innovation Team. Marcus: Awesome, Terrance. Well, man, it is good to finally have you on the podcast. Terrance: Thanks for having me. Marcus: Yeah, so full disclosure, I usually, in the beginning of this, let you know whether, you know, we have a relationship with the person, and this is a man that I've known for a while now. For probably about a year or so, year or two. And I consider him a friend, so he's gonna get all the easy questions today, is basically what it boils down to. But no, and I think what you and the I-team are doing, and represent, is a worthy story to tell, especially for business owners here in Mobile, and so I'm glad that you're here to kinda share some of that, but also just talk about who you are. Terrance: Yes, thanks. Marcus: Yeah. Well, to get started, why don't you tell us the backstory of Terrance. Where are you from, where'd you go to high school, where'd you go to college, are you married, that kind of stuff. Terrance: All right, so my name ... I grew up in Bessemer House, in projects in Prichard, Alabama. When, you know, like most families in the housing project, bunch of cousins, a grandmother, you know, aunts and uncles all near the area. My mom, a single parent, you know, worked every day, became a registered nurse. It's the only job she ever held in her whole life was a registered nurse. She worked for Providence for 30 years, until the day she passed. Marcus: Wow. Terrance: And so having her as a major influence in my life, and showing me how to talk to people, how to behave, how to operate but also how to care for other people, even when it seems like they don't care for you, has been a tremendous part of my upbringing. I attended Vigor High School, mighty marching wolves, I was in the band. I am- Marcus: What instrument did you play? Terrance: All the percussion instruments. Marcus: Okay, very- Terrance: So a funny story, prior to me attending Vigor High School, I was bused to Atlas Middle School in Saraland. And so I wanted to play the snare drum in the band, but my band director said that I had to play the timpanis first. So I learned how to play the timpanis, then he said I had to play the xylophone, so I learned how to play the xylophone. Then he said I had to learn how to play the bells, so I learned to play the bells, and then he put me on the triangle. So I had to play the triangle- Marcus: The most boring ... ding! Terrance: I had one beat at the beginning and one beat at the end, right. Marcus: Yeah. Terrance: I think one concert I missed one beat. And so that experience with him teaching me all those instruments, I only played the snare drum, I wanted to play the snare drum all my life, I played the snare drum one year, 'cause I had to mess with the other instruments. I thought I was gonna go crazy. When I made it to high school, though ... Because of that experience, that experience took me to Carnegie Hall, to play in a symphonic band, and so that experience, like ... If I had started on that snare drum, I'd have been locked into one drum. But because of his guidance, and his belief in me that I could learn how to master all those drums in a couple of years, I became a percussionist, rather than just a drummer. And so that instrument took through college, paid for some of my college, introduced me to some great friends, took me around the world, and I think that, you know, band has been a huge part of my life. And that's a huge part of my story. Marcus: No, that's very cool. So, now you mentioned Vigor. Where ... I know you have multiple degrees, so why don't you tell people your education beyond high school? Terrance: All right, so I was in school forever. I just- Marcus: You think? I think you're still in school, if I was in- Terrance: I just love that, I couldn't leave it alone. But I, you know, I was never a great student, first of all. And so when I made it to college and realized that I was ... that college was much easier than high school, I just wanted to stay there forever. So I majored in anthropology, sociology, communications, and then my Master's degree was in instructional design and development. Marcus: Wait, did you graduate with a triple major? Terrance: Yep. So I blocked 'em all in. That's all, I was there forever. That's why I was there forever. I had so many credits. Marcus: Is it the eight year plan, or something like that? Terrance: I had so many ... Listen, I took every class they had in anthropology. Every class they had in sociology, and then I wanted, I realized that I needed to be able to communicate this stuff, so I took every class they had in communications. And so then it was time for me to graduate, 'cause my mom said, "It's enough. You gotta declare," so I declared, and I had enough credits in all of 'em. So I moved on, and I said I'm never coming back to college again. Then I realized I was making $11.00 an hour with those bachelor degrees. So I went back to school for instructional design and development, where I learned how to design programs, and design and develop schools. You know, we helped design and develop the first Charter School here in the state. And so all of that came from my experience in being a lifelong student. Marcus: Wow. Now where did you get your bachelors' from? Terrance: South Alabama. Marcus: And master's as well? Terrance: Yep. Stayed there forever. Marcus: And did you get your doctorate? Terrance: No, not yet. No, and I'm not ... I'm not- Marcus: Not yet? Terrance: I say not yet, and that's where I stop. But what I realized though is that I love school so much, and before that, you know, school ... You had to go to campus to learn, well, upon me graduating with my master's degree, they start putting all these classes online. And so now you can do classes on your phone, you can learn everything they learn at Harvard by Ed-ex, you know, so now you don't have to go to those campuses. Also what I realized sometime is, I hate to say this, but sometimes what you learn on campus is far behind where they are in real life. And so now I have this unique opportunity to learn through the Bloomberg network, and through all these other great resources, that up to date information that's right now. So I do feel like I'm still in school. Marcus: Yeah, I mean the ... you know, so our jobs are not so different in the sense that things are so constantly changing. And you on the I-Team are kind of at the forefront of what it is that you're trying to do. And so oftentimes there's not, you know, there's not a set curriculum that you can go back to, historically, and look to. You're having to kind of create what it is that you're wanting to do, pulling from different disciplines and executing on that. So design thinking, and you know, some of the other things that I know you guys utilize come to mind with that. So ... Terrance: Yep. Marcus: But ... married? Terrance: Yep. Nine years. My wife will tell you ten years, 'cause she counts the time we were dating, but it's nine. It's nine, February 27th. Marcus: It's like she's putting in time or something. Terrance: Yeah, it's like hey, I was around there nine years, Terrance. Ten years. Marcus: So let's go back, what was your first job? Terrance: My first job? Actually, my first job was at PetSmart, on Airport Boulevard. Marcus: And were there any lessons that you remember from that first job? Terrance: Oh yeah. Tons of lessons, right. So I learned a lot of leadership lessons at PetSmart. Marcus: Okay. Terrance: Not from good examples, from bad examples. My first ... my job was to make sure all the dog food was zoned properly, and that we were taking the food from the bottom and placing it on top, make sure we get it all in the shelf life. But the other half of my job that was super interesting was taking the dog hair from the pet groomer in the bags, and putting it in these shopping carts, and taking it out to the dumpster. So you would have like, 10 to 18 baskets full of dog hair, that I would have to go and take out the back. And so the manager ... managers. At a store the size of PetSmart, they have four managers. Four managers, it's amazing. It's like a ... don't get me started on that. But what I've learned from them was how to treat your people, and how to lead by example. They would unlock the door, and roll the door up- Marcus: And walk away. Terrance: No, they wouldn't walk away. They would all stand on the ramp and smoke cigarettes for their smoke break, and watch me take 18 baskets of dog hair down the ramp and throw it in the dumpster. At times have to crawl in the dumpster and push the dog hair down, while they all sat there and talked and watched. And me ... and I swore to myself from that experience that I would never do that to anyone that works with me, or under me. And so from that experience, I just took that to say, you know, I am always gonna be the person to lead by example, I'm never gonna ask anybody to do something that I'm not willing to do myself. And I am going to do it first, and then let them know that I am willing to do it, before I even ask 'em to do it. And so that stuff I keep to this day, even now it makes me angry, just thinking about it. Marcus: He's getting a little hot under the collar over there, I assume. Now you ... we're gonna take a little bit of a different tack because you're not necessarily a business owner, but the stuff that you all do really do impact business owners in Mobile. So why don't you ... because I don't think a lot of people understand what it is that the I-Team does. I always describe you all as the virus that is supposed to help inoculate the government here in Mobile, but why don't you give us your explanation of what the I-Team is? Terrance: I'm sure some of the people in the government also think of us as a virus. Marcus: That needs to be eradicated itself? Terrance: Yeah, at times, you know. So the I-Team, we're a team of ... an interdisciplinary team of individuals who have come together inside the city to look at old problems in new ways. So, the government itself, you know, it's made up sometime of lifers, and it's really traditional. Traditional means of operating that people don't really get a chance to look outside of what they have normally done every day, to look at different ways of doing things. So it's all about the process, and the process has been the process since the day they walked in, which they believe it should be the process 'til the day they walk out the door. However, in taking a different approach, and taking a customer-centric approach, you realize that that process is well outdated, and that we need to change it up in order to help the business owners and the citizens receive the services that they need in a timely manner. Which is the only way you build trust as a public official. So the mayor, who was elected by the people, can only build trust with the people if he delivers on the most basic services at optimal level. Now, the mayor himself cannot deliver services, because he is the guy who sets the vision, and the direction, and the tone. He is the drum beat, he keeps the beat, he's the metronome for the city. However, you have to have someone else who can deliver those services, right, and that is the people. So the mayor delivers his services through the people. And so, and those services can only be delivered through the people if the system itself is efficient. Because on the other side of the delivering the services to people, are the people on the recipient end, and so they want to receive services in a timely manner. The mayor is elected to deliver those services in a timely manner. The people in the middle, they believe that they're also delivering services in a timely manner, but they're not being directly impacted by those services being delayed, so they have no idea of the efficiency issue, and sometimes, you know, it's hard for a group of people to come through here. Like for your listeners right now, your young guy come in with dreadlocks down his back, you know, bright colored clothes on, and he's telling you, you know, that you are having some issues in this area, which I am not an expert in that area, all the people that work with me are not experts in that area, and here's someone that's been doing it for 25 years. What you have been doing it for 25 years, but that does not necessarily mean that it's been working for 25 years. It may have worked for 15 years, and the last 10 years it's been horrible, but you don't get a chance to see that, because your job has been to check this, sign this paper, hand it over, without getting a chance to hear the clear frustrations, or how it is impacting that person, their timeline, their resources. And so that is why we, that's how we're able to come and look at things a different way. You don't learn this in school, so I don't ... I wish that there was ... There are programs now in design thinking, that teach you how to employ some of these practices. Marcus: Yeah, before we get too far, 'cause I've mentioned it and now you're mentioning it again, give kind of a brief ... what design thinking is. Terrance: So design thinking is a iterative process, so it is art of identifying a problem, and iterating over and over until you can deliver it to efficiency. So for us, it is for, if we have an hour to deliver a solution, we spend 55 minutes figuring out all the areas of the problem, all the entry points, all the issues, and then five minutes with a solution. Marcus: Right. Terrance: 'Cause realize, when you rush to a solution without iterating ... most people are impatient, and we live in this microwave society where people think that, I want a answer, I want it now, I want it quick, I want it fast. Well, design thinking does not give you answers really quick, really fast. It gives you answers in the way that you need it to happen ... the time that you need to have it solved in. So if you give us three hours to solve a problem, we're gonna first identify the issue, then we're gonna start tackling it, we're gonna start iterating. We're gonna come up with a first solution, then we're gonna take that solution and gonna do it again, then we're gonna take it out to you and prototype, to see if this is what you thought it would be. Sometimes, people say "Yeah, it's exactly what I want." Most of the time, people say, "No, that's horrible, that couldn't be further from where I am," so then you go back out, and you reiterate again. But all this time you're talking to the people on all side of the issue. So I'm talking to the customers, we're talking to the workers, we're talking to the people from the first level, primary level, the secondary and tertiary levels. And most people don't get that far down into solving a problem, 'cause they believe they should come up with a answer really quick. So that's what design thinking does for us. Marcus: Yeah. Now you mentioned that it may not fit, you know, the current needs, and I think one of the things that I just am, I keep going back to, is that the speed of business has changed quite drastically in the last, you know, 10 years. And you know, I know oftentimes ... 'cause I, you know, I have a decade of experience working for the federal government, not local government, but federal government, and you know, I left because it was, you know, extremely frustrating and there was some other reasons. Like I didn't wanna spend time in traffic, and commuting, and you know, stuff like that. But I mean, but the truth is, like, working with government can be one of the most frustrating things on the planet, because they're completely satisfied to keep things the way that they are. So how does an organization of five people effect change in an organization that is happy to stay stagnant? Terrance: So, lot of patience, right? So, when people ... So I'm happy to be here talking to you today, because it gives me a chance to like, to tell exactly how this thing works. So, when people think about innovation they think about, it's really pretty, really nice and neat and it's- Marcus: Sexy. Terrance: Yeah, sexy, right. But it's not, it's just not that at all. It's brow beating, it's your brain, it's angry emails. It's tons of meetings, it's lots of sticky notes, it's lots of going back to the drawing board. It is a lot of arguing, there's a lot of social engineering, because it's easy for us to stand on the outside and look at the people doing the job and say, "You guys are totally satisfied doing this the way you've always been doing it." On the other hand, they just had no idea that there was another way to do it, because they have eight to five to do this thing, and they just do it the way they know to do it, and nobody's ever questioned the way they do it. Nobody's ever came to them and said, "Well, you know, well back then we were doing a carbon copy. And now we have this thing called the internet, and all these tools available to us that could help us achieve our goals much faster. How could we implement some of these tools to move faster?" And so, what you also have to realize that, if you're going into a department, and you're talking to people who have been there 30 plus years, 25 plus years, they're gonna be 50, 60, 70 years old, and now you're coming in, doing what they automatically assume young people would do. Come in with technology, and people always believe that technology removes the human element, right, but in our world, technology doesn't remove the human element, it actually takes the ... It also takes the process, all the parts of the process that would have you touching this one paper a hundred times, to get it to this end. Can we automate that process where, you're touching this paper over, and over, and over again, and then give you back the power of empathy for the customer. And so now, you understand when this person's having a problem, and there's less time for issues with this paperwork, because now it's now me taking it over to Marcus' office, Marcus taking it over to Jarod and so- Marcus: It's all automated so you can actually focus on building a relationship with the ... Terrance: And so for us, we have to be super careful. So for us, it is a lot of social engineering on the front end, it's a lot of thinking about the department, and the people in that department. What are their feelings towards their job itself, what are their feelings towards the customer, what is their understanding? What do they think they need to get their job done? And ofttimes, people don't think about that. They go in and say, "Here's a solution," they drop it on the people without fully understanding the landscape. And so for us, what we do is, it takes us a while to get in there, and to understand the problem. So we would go in there and we would eat lunch with the people, hang out with 'em, do their job with them, every day, step by step. But also, from the customer end, we would take our badges off to get us out of government place and to see the issues we get inside of that building, the frustrations. How do we read the signage? When we get up to the front do we sit down, do we ring the bell? Is there a bell? And so all of those things. And so now, when I'm coming back to the office, and we start to draw this thing out, I'm not drawing it out from Terrance's perspective, or Peyton's perspective, or Jason's, or Johnny's, I'm writing it out based it on your perspective, the customer perspective. But I'm also looking at it from this side, and then I can go to the other side of the table and I'm looking at it from the front line staff member, from the immediate level manager, from the executive. And then how are they mailed in well? Are they mailed in well at all, if they're not, then there are some issues within the process, because the people don't quite understand how it gets from the executive to the front line, and then that creates frustration from the customer itself. Because the customer does not care about anything that's going on. The only thing, the value for that customer is getting that thing done, so he can move on with his life. And that's very hard to explain to a government worker, that they have this process that's the most important process in their life, that that process is not valuable at all to that customer. That customer wants to ... And the end all is not even getting that paper. The end all for them is getting that paper so they can do the thing that they need to do. Marcus: Well, and it's also ... and I mean just because I've been through this ... it's also there's a fear that if you don't go through, and do those things, that you're gonna be punished. And you're almost ... you're acting to get away from, you know, the punishment. And so that makes it even worse, because then when you get held up, and you're wanting to execute this thing even quicker, you're like, "The only reason why I'm doing this is so that you can't come and shut me down," or, "You can't come and do this to me, or ..." 'cause the government has ultimate power over some of those things, but ... Terrance: So the other thing ... but the other thing are stories that, then they're saying, "Hey, and the only reason why we're doing this is to ensure that you don't hurt yourself or other people by building things and doing things that you shouldn't be doing." And so, it's that argument that they don't get a chance to display fully to both sides, and I think that's kind of what the I-Team does. It breaks it all the way down, and it places it out on the table for everyone to see what everyone parts is. And sometime it takes a while, like you're not gonna do it on the first time. We've been doing this, our current project, for two years. Marcus: Yeah. Terrance: People will look at that and say, "You guys have been doing this way too long," and I'm thinking, if you're trying to solve a 40, 50 year problem, you wanna get that solved in six months? Or do you want somebody to take the time to diagnose and realize what the real issue is. 'Cause this is not ... these issues that affect government are much bigger than the 20, 30 year employee that people look at, and they point their finger at that person. That person also walked into a broken process, and became a broken worker because of that broken process. But they don't understand they're a broken worker, and this process is broken, because they only saw they were trained to do it that way. And so now you have these people from the outside coming in and saying, well we can do it a different way, and so that is the magic of the I team. So, our superpower would be patience. Marcus: Wow. I love how you just kinda bring that down to a point. Our superpower is patience. Now I just, I've had a real appreciation for the task that you've taken on, and I think it's interesting also, because I think that while your application is for the government here in Mobile, the truth is that the things that you go through could be applied to just about any kind of organization. And you know, like I've worked for ... I mean I've worked for large companies that have, you know, tens of thousands of employees, and I've worked for, you know, I've worked for myself, and not had any employees, you know? And so, you know, it's very interesting when you start looking at organizations that are large, because oftentimes they get bogged down in their size and their history, and their way of just doing things. And I think, you know, there's some lessons to be learned in what you all are trying to do, and you know, how large organizations would apply those same methods of thinking, so, anyway. Going along that same that, do you ... I mean you haven't always wanted to work for ... and I'm going off, this is all on a whim, so if this goes nowhere, folks, we'll delete it. But you haven't always wanted to work for the government, or as part of government? Terrance: I never wanted to work for the government. Marcus: Yeah, okay. Terrance: And then- Marcus: So. It's interesting that you kind of find yourself in this position, but- Terrance: I tell you what, I have no ... I have had no plans for my life, from the very beginning. I've just been winging it. Marcus: Is that a mentality of someone who grows up in the projects? Terrance: You know what, so, no, that's ... I think that's a Terrance mentality, I think some of my, some of the people that I grew up with, they had plans. They had clear cut plans. I've also learned that when you create these plans for yourself, that you open yourself up for major disappointment, and I've never wanted ... I heard a quote one time, somebody said, "You know, when you get something, you should hold it with your hand open, never with a tight clenched fist. Because you should never believe in something so much that you're afraid to let it go in lieu of something better." And so for me, I don't know what that is, and I don't know ... I feel like my purpose here on Earth is to help people, so I started in social services. All my ... my whole life, I spent in social services and education. And so, because I just wanted to help people. That's all I want to do, I was told that you're never gonna make any money helping people, so I said, well, you know, let's figure that out. Let's see. Let's see if I can prove you wrong. Marcus: Right. Terrance: And that has not been the case, but I met the mayor, as a matter of fact not far from here. Across from one Broad, right there in that triangle? We were ... I was doing a pop-up shop, and I had passed by that building, with the ... now with the wrought iron gate around it? Marcus: Yeah. Terrance: I had passed by- Marcus: The Red Cross building? Terrance: No, not the Red Cross building- Marcus: I'm sorry, yeah, the one across the street from the Red Cross building. Terrance: Yep. I had passed by that building for years and years, and it had been vacant for so long. And I saw it, and I said, you know, somebody should do something about that. And I'm an only child, so I grew up with that only child mentality, and it's like, who is the somebody? Gotta be me. I've been passing by here all this time, nobody's done anything, so I'm just gonna do this thing. So I met some people, and you know, I'm always meeting people, but I never know why I'm meeting these people, I'm just connecting. I'm collecting. You cannot connect the dots that you don't first collect, so I'm collecting all these dots, right. Marcus: Truly a connector, from the Malcolm Gladwell sense of the word. Terrance: Yes. So we're collecting all these dots, and I'm meeting all these people. So then one day, this guy named [Tay Lactreson] said ... so, I met someone else who introduced me to Tay Lactreson, I said, "Hey, I wanna do a pop-up shop in this building, and I wanna open it up, I wanna clean it out, I wanna put vendors in there. I just wanna do it for one day." He said, "One day? You gonna do all that work for one day?" And I said, "Yeah, just one day." So I started, I had nobody to help me, I didn't have a group of people with me, it was me. So I called one of my friends, he said, "Yeah, I'll be down to help." I called another one of my friends, he said, "I'll be down to help." So we go to this building, just us few. At the time they had this One Mobile organization, right, where you put all your stuff online and then people decide to help. So we got the materials we needed, so we painted that building, cleaned it out, swept it out, three people. Funny story though, we was talking about collecting dots? Some three homeless people walked by and said, "What are you guys doing?" We said, "We're restoring vibrancy to Mobile, you wanna help?" And they said, "Yeah! How can we help?" Grab a paintbrush, grab a broom. So they grab paintbrush, broom. They start sweeping, and all paint. Then we get this affluent couple from Old Dolphin Way. They walk down. "What are you guys doing in this building?" Said, "We're restoring vibrancy to Mobile, you wanna help?" They said, "Yeah!" Shocking, right? They said, "Yeah!" So they jump in. Now, they walked into this building, and there's a young black guy with dreadlocks, there's a Salvadoran guy, there's another guy, and there's three homeless people in this room, one clearly with a mental illness. And then we had ... so then these two affluent people. So then the news camera pull up, right? They said, "What's going on in this building? Is it gonna be something new? How can we help?" So everybody, this time everybody said, "We're restoring vibrancy to Mobile." I said, "You wanna help?" She said, "Well, I can't sweep, but I can video." So then she started video, she was talking about, asking us questions about what we were gonna be doing. So we told her that we were having the pop-up shop, right. She was so excited about this, so she put it on the news. And so now, here we go, full fledged until we're gonna have this pop-up shop. The day of the event we had about four hundred people show up, but we were kind of smart about it, right. And I take no full credit for being this smart. Somebody said we should hire two police officers for our, for security, to help divert the traffic. So these guys show up, they're helping with the traffic. So, you know, of course you know, I had no permits, I had no knowledge of this. Guess you needed permits. But I had two police officers, they were gonna stop you with the police, so all this stuff was on, the Mayor walk down there, he said, "Oh my god, this is great! What are you guys doing down here!" And so he was pumped up. So he got the word earlier, so he came down, and he saw everything, he and his wife Jean, and they saw what we were doing. And he was impressed with it. Long story short, about three, four months after that I got a call from the mayor's office, and those guys wanted to recruit me to come work for the city. And so, you know, at first I was kinda skeptical, but I was like, oh, you guys are the government, I don't know, you guys got a lot of problems. I don't even know why you wanna be the mayor. Why you wanna take all these problems on? He was like, I believe ... he told me his message, he believed in the city. Now I will tell you, prior to that I had met him before, in a community service project, he said, "Terrance, you're gonna move to Mobile." At that time I was living in Sams. He said, "You're gonna move to Mobile." And I said, "That's not gonna happen at all," I said, "I can sleep with my windows open, great, I got sidewalks. This is a great neighborhood, I'm never gonna move to Mobile." He saw me, he said, "It's you again! Have you moved to Mobile yet?" I said, "Yes, sir." He said, "How long you been here?" I said, "About six hours. They're unloading the truck at my house right now." And from that point we've developed a relationship, and he persuaded me to come work for ... he and another guy persuaded me to come work for the Innovation Team, and it's been a great ride since then. So that's how I made it to the government. Marcus: That's funny, dude. Well, I know that you all look to the business world for a lot of your ideas on how to implement process and stuff like that. Is there one person that motivates you from the business world? Terrance: From the business world. So, a few people man. I have great business influences, and so Scott Tindal, first of all, I know you guys are probably tired of hearing about Scott Tindal. Marcus: Who? Terrance: Scott Tindal, you know who that is. Marcus: Who's that? Terrance: But Scott Tindal, the Harpers, all of the Harpers, you know, they've been a great influence on my life, and they have been part of the group that has helped me see things from the business perspective, which helped me build my empathy for the work that we're currently doing. Even over to people like Jim Walker, I know Jim Walker caused a lot of people a lot of problems, but that guy really cares about this city, and sometimes it comes off in weird ways, but he really- Marcus: No, he just looks at it from a different perspective. Terrance: He fully cares, right, and so he is one guy. Another person would be Andy Newton. His story's amazing. I just think he's a great influence. And then even what you guys have been doing, I'm impressed to see where you went from, you know, I think when I met you, you were a super small shop, and now you've ... Got your own space. Marcus: Yeah. Yeah. Terrance: But you're also not just a business owner, so like I told you back from the beginning, I got into this 'cause I cared about people. No matter what realm I'm working in, I want to help people. And so I see you guys in that same vein, like you have your new employees, but you're helping them develop into their own people, and when it's time for them to go somewhere else, I'm sure you'll be happy to see them on, like same thing with the Harpers, same thing with Jim. Same with Andy Newton. So those are the people that I'm inspired by most in the business world. And there are people outside of Mobile, but I'm a Mobilian through and through. And so, I draw my influences from Mobile. Marcus: That's really cool, man, I appreciate you saying that, so. Are there any books, podcasts, people, or organizations that have been helpful in moving you forward? Terrance: Oh yeah, I got an entire list. Marcus: He came with notes, folks. Terrance: So, my podcast list would be, How I Built This- Marcus: Yeah, I love it. Terrance: Mogul. Self Go There's Start-up School. Startup Podcast from Gimlet. And so then my audiobooks, would be Get Into Yes, the 50 of Law by 50 cent, it's based on 48 Laws of Power. And then my favorite books as it relates to business, and just life in general, are Invisible Capital, What Got You Here Won't Get You There, All Bets On Me: The Risks and Rewards of Becoming an Entrepreneur, by Larry Morrow. And then All You Need To Know About The Music Business, the 9th edition. Sometimes you gotta throw in a horseshoe. Marcus: There you go. No, that's good stuff. And how do you like to unwind? Terrance: Me, you know, Marcus I'll tell you, I think it's been about since I have unwound. I spend all my time thinking about the work that I'm doing now, and thinking about the future. I spend a lot of time, you know, thinking about those that are less fortunate than me, and how can I help. So, I think I unwind by taking a break away from my normal work, but only to do work in other areas helping people that I know that could benefit from help. Marcus: Yeah. Well I would just like to say that, as somebody who has gotten to know you over the course of the last couple years, that I know your heart. And I know that there are bigger things, you know, in store for you, and it's very apparent that you care for people. So I wanna say, thank you for accepting what I would view as almost a calling, to come and help Mobile become a better version of itself, because it's people like you, it's people like the Mayor, it's people like Ricardo, it's people like ... you know, all of these folks that we know, that are, you know, they're hopeful at what Mobile can become. And we're the ones ... and I hope I'm not putting myself too much, you know I don't like to put myself on a pedestal and all these people on a pedestal, but ... people are looking to us to set the tone. To set the direction of what Mobile is going to become. And it's not a responsibility to be taken lightly, and I think, you know, with people like you, you know, on that, you know, trip, on that journey, that we'll end up in a good spot. So I'd just like to say thank you for what you're doing for the city. Terrance: And also I'd like to say this, too, without people like my mother, and Commissioner Lovegood, and Dr. Joel Lewis Billingsley now, I would not be here where I am, so I would not have been in a position for the Mayor to look at me and see that this guy may be valuable to the team, had it not been for those people believing in me early on. And for people Scott Tindal, who like, lot of people, they talk about Scott and what he's done for Mobile, but I'm talking about Scott for what he's done for me personally. Like, I was not the kind of person who would just start a conversation and be out here networking. Scott got me into that mode of thinking that I could do things differently, and I could take things into my own hands and run with them. And so because of that though, I like to see ... Like, we work for the government, but it's almost like entrepreneur mode, because no one knows ... We're a startup inside of the city. No one knows what we are, and what we do, and so heading out, I just have to give credit to those people and to my wife. You know, like my wife met me as a guy who was a student. A lifelong student. She took a chance. Marcus: An overeducated, dreadlock wearing, white pants wearing ... Terrance: I could ... That could've went really bad for her. I could have never left school, but it worked out for her, and so she has a major influence on my life and on helping people. Marcus: And let's not downplay the role of like, coming from where you come from, I mean it's not ... you know, it's not an easy thing to pull yourself out of the projects and you know, become something. Terrance: Yeah. Marcus: You know. Terrance: But there was so many people, so many of those people cared for me, and like when people think about housing projects now, they have this view, but that was a community. People cared about me. They wanted me to do better from the guys that sold drugs, they didn't want me to sell drugs, they wanted me to go to school and do my homework. From the guy, I met this guy named Jay, who was an architect and a lawyer, who I spent time in his beach house a weekend, and this guy told me ... He was an architect and a lawyer, and I didn't know you could be two things. And he said, "Yeah." But he also had a house on the beach, and I said, "I didn't know you could live on the beach," I had only been to the public side of the beach. He said, "No, this is not my house, this is my beach house. I live in Mobile." And so I said, "You think I could own a house on the beach?" He said, "Yeah, I tell you what. Do your homework every day, and you're gonna get that." And so I did my homework every day on that porch, every day overlooking that interstate, and I looked at those people on the interstate, and I wondered if they were doctors, if they were lawyers, if they were architects. If they were rich, if they were thinking about me the way that I was thinking about them. If they were Jay. Could Jay see me from that porch? And later on in life, you know, I was thinking, this guy totally duped me. He told me if I did my homework everyday on the porch, I could own the beach house. So now that 35 ... took me to 35 and I was telling this story to a group of elementary school kids, and this kid said, "So you prepared every day." And I said, "That is what my preparation came from. My feeling for preparing came from that guy telling me, do my homework on the porch every day." So she said, "Well actually, did you get the beach house?" Marcus: Still working on it. Terrance: I said, "Still working on it." I said, "But when I got the money to get the beach house, I realized that it wasn't important. I needed tot ake that money and do something else to help other people," and so I said, "But the beach house is like the pinnacle. If I ever buy the beach house, I'm done." Marcus: Yeah. Terrance: I worked my whole life to get that beach house, so I'm not gonna ... If I buy I today, you're not gonna see me in the morning. Marcus: Yeah. Talk to him in 10 years, folks, he may have that beach house. Terrance: Instead of having that beach house in Grove Shores, I'm gonna move that beach house to Turks and Caicos. Marcus: There you go. Terrance: And never gonna come back again. I already got the hair for it, so. Marcus: That's awesome. Well I wanna thank you again for coming on the podcast. To wrap up, any final thoughts or comments? Terrance: You know what, just you know, I like to tell people, you know, me, my personal motto is make mistakes, make improvements, never make excuses. And start ... just start where you are, and use what you have, to get what you want. This is, and become accustomed to the slow grinding process of success. I see so many young people, they want the titles now, they want the money now, they want everything now, but you can't appreciate it without the slow, grinding process of getting there. You don't build muscle overnight, you know, it's the grind, and it's the doing it over and over consistently, and to show people that, you know, you are worthy of doing this thing. And so the next thing, the last thing I have, too, is be totally aware of your performance capital, and your relationship capital. Everyone loves a star, so if your performance is great, people love a star, and people want to look towards you. And you don't have to go out there and tell people over and over what you're doing, you show them what you're doing. But also, be totally mindful about how you invest in the people that operate in your environment, because that is the greatest investment that you could ever put into anyone. Time, and energy. You may not get that back from that person, but it comes back full speed, and that's just kind of where we are in life. Marcus: That's awesome stuff man. Yeah. I'm just gonna leave it at that, 'cause we could talk for another 30 minutes about this stuff. But Terrance man, I appreciate your willingness to sit with me, and share your journey. Not necessarily as a business owner, but I know you care about us business owners, it's been great talking with you. Terrance: Thank you for all you do, man.   Produced by Blue Fish in Mobile, Alabama

Terrance Smith and Brian Healy Talk about how they started the gym and some info as to what they are all about! Enjoy

From Soccer to golf to music We dove into life and adventures! Enjoy ! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

JSJ 274 Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith On today’s episode of JavaScript Jabber, we have panelists Joe Eames, Aimee Knight, Charles Max Wood, and we have special guest Terrance Smith. He’s here today to talk about the Amazon Alexa platform. So tune in and learn more about Amazon Voice Services! [01:00] – Introduction to Terrance Smith Terrance is from Hacker Ferrer Software. They hack love into software. [01:30] – Amazon Voice Service What I’m working on is called My CareTaker named probably pending change. What it will do and what it is doing will be to help you be there as a caretaker’s aid for the person in your life. If you have to take care an older parent, My CareTaker will be there in your place if you have to work that day. It will be your liaison to that person. Your mom and dad can talk to My CareTaker and My CareTaker could signal you via SMS or email message or tweet, anything on your usage dashboard, and you would be able to respond. It’s there when you’re not. [04:35] – Capabilities Getting started with it, there are different layers. The first layer is the Skills Kit for generally getting into the Amazon IoT. It has a limited subset of the functionality. You can give commands. The device parses them, sends them to Amazon’s endpoint, Amazon sends a call back to your API endpoint, and you can do whatever you want. That is the first level. You can make it do things like turn on your light switch, start your car, change your thermostat, or make an API call to some website somewhere to do anything. [05:50] – Skills Kit Skills Kit is different with AVS. Skills Kit, you can install it on any device. You’re spinning up a web service and register it on Amazon’s website. As long as you have an endpoint, you can register, say, the Amazon Web Services Lambda. Start that up and do something. The Skills Kit is literally the web endpoint response. Amazon Voice Services is a bit more in-depth. [07:00] – Steps for programming With the Skills Kit, you register what would be your utterance, your skill name, and you would give it a couple of sets of phrases to accept. Say, you have a skill that can start a car, your skill is “Car Starter.” “Alexa tell Car Starter to start the car.” At which point, your web service will be notified that that is the utterance. It literally has a case statement. You can have any number of individual conditional branches outside of that. The limitation for the Skills Kit is you have to have the “tell” or “ask” and the name of the skill to do whatever. It’s also going to be publicly accessible. For the most part, it’s literally a web service. [10:55] – Boilerplates for AWS Lambda Boilerplates can be used if you want to develop for production. If you publish a skill, you get free AVS instance time. You can host your skill for free for some amount of time. There are GUI tools to make it easier but if you’re a developer, you’re probably going to do the spin up a web service and deal it that way. [11:45] – Do you have to have an Amazon Echo? At one point, you have to have the Echo but now there is this called Echoism, which allows you to run it in your browser. In addition to that, you can potentially install it on a device like a Raspberry Pi and run Amazon Voice Services. The actual engine is on your PC, Mac, or Linux box. You have different options. [12:35] – Machine learning There are certain things that Amazon Alexa understand now that it did last year or time before that like understanding utterances and phrases better. A lot of the machine learning is definitely under the covers. The other portion of it Alexa Voice Service, which is a whole engine that you have untethered access to other portions like how to handle responses. That’s where you can build a custom device and take it apart. So the API that we’re working with here is just using JSON and HTTP. [16:40] – Amazon Echo Show You have that full real-time back and forth communication ability but there is no video streaming or video processing ability yet. You can utilize the engine in such a way that Amazon Voice Services can work with your existing tool language. If you have a Raspberry Pi and you have a camera to it, you can potentially work within that. But again, the official API’s and docs for that are not available yet. [27:20] – Challenges There’s an appliance in this house that listens to everything I say. There’s that natural inclination to not trust it, especially with the older generations. Giving past that is getting people to use the device. Some of the programming sides of it are getting the communication to work, doing something that Alexa isn’t pre-programmed to do. There isn’t a lot of documentation out there, just a couple of examples. The original examples are written in Java and trying to convert it to Node or JavaScript would be some of the technical challenges. In addition, getting it installed and setup takes at least an hour at the beginning. There’s also a learning curve involved. [29:35] – Is your product layered in an Echo or is your product a separate device? Terrance’s product is a completely separate device. One of the functionality of his program is medicine reminders. It can only respond to whatever the API calls from Amazon tells you to respond to but it can’t do anything like send something back. It can do an immediate audio response with a picture or turn on and off a light switch. But it can’t send a message back in like two hours from now. You do want your Alexa device to have (verbally) a list of notifications like on your phone. TLDR, Terrance can go a little further with just the Skills Kit. [32:00] – Could you set it up through a web server? Yes. There are examples out there. There’s Alexa in the browser. You can open up a browser and communicate with that. There are examples of it being installed like an app. You can deploy it to your existing iPhone app or Android app and have it interact that way. Or you can have it interact independently on a completely different device like a Raspberry Pi. But not a lot of folks are using it that way. [33:10] – Monetization Amazon isn’t changing anything in terms of monetization. They make discovery a lot easier though. If you knew the name of the app, you could just say, “Alexa, [tell the name of the app].” It will do a lazy load of the actual skill and it will add it to your available skill’s list. However, there is something called the Alexa Fund, which is kind of a startup fund that they have, which you can apply for. If you’re doing something interesting, there is a number of things you have to do. Ideally, you can get funding for whatever your product is. It is an available avenue for you. [36:25] – More information, documentation, walkthroughs The number one place to go to as far as getting started is the Amazon websites. They have the Conexant 4-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit. It has 4 mics and it has already a lot of what you need. You have to boot it up and/or SSH into it or plug it up and code it. They have a couple of these kits for $300 to $400. It’s one of the safe and simpler options. There are also directions for the AVS sites which is under Alexa Voice Services, where you can go to the Github from there. There will give you directions using the Raspberry Pi.  If not that, there’s also the Slack chatroom. It is alexaslack.com. Travis Teague is the guy in charge in there. Picks Joe Eames Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak Aimee Knight Conference: React Rally Pancakes Charles Max Wood Conference: Angular Dev Summit Conference: React Dev Summit JavaScript Jabber Slack Terrance Smith Language: Elm Youtube channel: The School of Life Game: Night in the Woods Hacker Ferret Software Hackerferret.com

JSJ 274 Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith On today’s episode of JavaScript Jabber, we have panelists Joe Eames, Aimee Knight, Charles Max Wood, and we have special guest Terrance Smith. He’s here today to talk about the Amazon Alexa platform. So tune in and learn more about Amazon Voice Services! [01:00] – Introduction to Terrance Smith Terrance is from Hacker Ferrer Software. They hack love into software. [01:30] – Amazon Voice Service What I’m working on is called My CareTaker named probably pending change. What it will do and what it is doing will be to help you be there as a caretaker’s aid for the person in your life. If you have to take care an older parent, My CareTaker will be there in your place if you have to work that day. It will be your liaison to that person. Your mom and dad can talk to My CareTaker and My CareTaker could signal you via SMS or email message or tweet, anything on your usage dashboard, and you would be able to respond. It’s there when you’re not. [04:35] – Capabilities Getting started with it, there are different layers. The first layer is the Skills Kit for generally getting into the Amazon IoT. It has a limited subset of the functionality. You can give commands. The device parses them, sends them to Amazon’s endpoint, Amazon sends a call back to your API endpoint, and you can do whatever you want. That is the first level. You can make it do things like turn on your light switch, start your car, change your thermostat, or make an API call to some website somewhere to do anything. [05:50] – Skills Kit Skills Kit is different with AVS. Skills Kit, you can install it on any device. You’re spinning up a web service and register it on Amazon’s website. As long as you have an endpoint, you can register, say, the Amazon Web Services Lambda. Start that up and do something. The Skills Kit is literally the web endpoint response. Amazon Voice Services is a bit more in-depth. [07:00] – Steps for programming With the Skills Kit, you register what would be your utterance, your skill name, and you would give it a couple of sets of phrases to accept. Say, you have a skill that can start a car, your skill is “Car Starter.” “Alexa tell Car Starter to start the car.” At which point, your web service will be notified that that is the utterance. It literally has a case statement. You can have any number of individual conditional branches outside of that. The limitation for the Skills Kit is you have to have the “tell” or “ask” and the name of the skill to do whatever. It’s also going to be publicly accessible. For the most part, it’s literally a web service. [10:55] – Boilerplates for AWS Lambda Boilerplates can be used if you want to develop for production. If you publish a skill, you get free AVS instance time. You can host your skill for free for some amount of time. There are GUI tools to make it easier but if you’re a developer, you’re probably going to do the spin up a web service and deal it that way. [11:45] – Do you have to have an Amazon Echo? At one point, you have to have the Echo but now there is this called Echoism, which allows you to run it in your browser. In addition to that, you can potentially install it on a device like a Raspberry Pi and run Amazon Voice Services. The actual engine is on your PC, Mac, or Linux box. You have different options. [12:35] – Machine learning There are certain things that Amazon Alexa understand now that it did last year or time before that like understanding utterances and phrases better. A lot of the machine learning is definitely under the covers. The other portion of it Alexa Voice Service, which is a whole engine that you have untethered access to other portions like how to handle responses. That’s where you can build a custom device and take it apart. So the API that we’re working with here is just using JSON and HTTP. [16:40] – Amazon Echo Show You have that full real-time back and forth communication ability but there is no video streaming or video processing ability yet. You can utilize the engine in such a way that Amazon Voice Services can work with your existing tool language. If you have a Raspberry Pi and you have a camera to it, you can potentially work within that. But again, the official API’s and docs for that are not available yet. [27:20] – Challenges There’s an appliance in this house that listens to everything I say. There’s that natural inclination to not trust it, especially with the older generations. Giving past that is getting people to use the device. Some of the programming sides of it are getting the communication to work, doing something that Alexa isn’t pre-programmed to do. There isn’t a lot of documentation out there, just a couple of examples. The original examples are written in Java and trying to convert it to Node or JavaScript would be some of the technical challenges. In addition, getting it installed and setup takes at least an hour at the beginning. There’s also a learning curve involved. [29:35] – Is your product layered in an Echo or is your product a separate device? Terrance’s product is a completely separate device. One of the functionality of his program is medicine reminders. It can only respond to whatever the API calls from Amazon tells you to respond to but it can’t do anything like send something back. It can do an immediate audio response with a picture or turn on and off a light switch. But it can’t send a message back in like two hours from now. You do want your Alexa device to have (verbally) a list of notifications like on your phone. TLDR, Terrance can go a little further with just the Skills Kit. [32:00] – Could you set it up through a web server? Yes. There are examples out there. There’s Alexa in the browser. You can open up a browser and communicate with that. There are examples of it being installed like an app. You can deploy it to your existing iPhone app or Android app and have it interact that way. Or you can have it interact independently on a completely different device like a Raspberry Pi. But not a lot of folks are using it that way. [33:10] – Monetization Amazon isn’t changing anything in terms of monetization. They make discovery a lot easier though. If you knew the name of the app, you could just say, “Alexa, [tell the name of the app].” It will do a lazy load of the actual skill and it will add it to your available skill’s list. However, there is something called the Alexa Fund, which is kind of a startup fund that they have, which you can apply for. If you’re doing something interesting, there is a number of things you have to do. Ideally, you can get funding for whatever your product is. It is an available avenue for you. [36:25] – More information, documentation, walkthroughs The number one place to go to as far as getting started is the Amazon websites. They have the Conexant 4-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit. It has 4 mics and it has already a lot of what you need. You have to boot it up and/or SSH into it or plug it up and code it. They have a couple of these kits for $300 to $400. It’s one of the safe and simpler options. There are also directions for the AVS sites which is under Alexa Voice Services, where you can go to the Github from there. There will give you directions using the Raspberry Pi.  If not that, there’s also the Slack chatroom. It is alexaslack.com. Travis Teague is the guy in charge in there. Picks Joe Eames Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak Aimee Knight Conference: React Rally Pancakes Charles Max Wood Conference: Angular Dev Summit Conference: React Dev Summit JavaScript Jabber Slack Terrance Smith Language: Elm Youtube channel: The School of Life Game: Night in the Woods Hacker Ferret Software Hackerferret.com

JSJ 274 Amazon Voice Services and Echo Skills with Terrance Smith On today’s episode of JavaScript Jabber, we have panelists Joe Eames, Aimee Knight, Charles Max Wood, and we have special guest Terrance Smith. He’s here today to talk about the Amazon Alexa platform. So tune in and learn more about Amazon Voice Services! [01:00] – Introduction to Terrance Smith Terrance is from Hacker Ferrer Software. They hack love into software. [01:30] – Amazon Voice Service What I’m working on is called My CareTaker named probably pending change. What it will do and what it is doing will be to help you be there as a caretaker’s aid for the person in your life. If you have to take care an older parent, My CareTaker will be there in your place if you have to work that day. It will be your liaison to that person. Your mom and dad can talk to My CareTaker and My CareTaker could signal you via SMS or email message or tweet, anything on your usage dashboard, and you would be able to respond. It’s there when you’re not. [04:35] – Capabilities Getting started with it, there are different layers. The first layer is the Skills Kit for generally getting into the Amazon IoT. It has a limited subset of the functionality. You can give commands. The device parses them, sends them to Amazon’s endpoint, Amazon sends a call back to your API endpoint, and you can do whatever you want. That is the first level. You can make it do things like turn on your light switch, start your car, change your thermostat, or make an API call to some website somewhere to do anything. [05:50] – Skills Kit Skills Kit is different with AVS. Skills Kit, you can install it on any device. You’re spinning up a web service and register it on Amazon’s website. As long as you have an endpoint, you can register, say, the Amazon Web Services Lambda. Start that up and do something. The Skills Kit is literally the web endpoint response. Amazon Voice Services is a bit more in-depth. [07:00] – Steps for programming With the Skills Kit, you register what would be your utterance, your skill name, and you would give it a couple of sets of phrases to accept. Say, you have a skill that can start a car, your skill is “Car Starter.” “Alexa tell Car Starter to start the car.” At which point, your web service will be notified that that is the utterance. It literally has a case statement. You can have any number of individual conditional branches outside of that. The limitation for the Skills Kit is you have to have the “tell” or “ask” and the name of the skill to do whatever. It’s also going to be publicly accessible. For the most part, it’s literally a web service. [10:55] – Boilerplates for AWS Lambda Boilerplates can be used if you want to develop for production. If you publish a skill, you get free AVS instance time. You can host your skill for free for some amount of time. There are GUI tools to make it easier but if you’re a developer, you’re probably going to do the spin up a web service and deal it that way. [11:45] – Do you have to have an Amazon Echo? At one point, you have to have the Echo but now there is this called Echoism, which allows you to run it in your browser. In addition to that, you can potentially install it on a device like a Raspberry Pi and run Amazon Voice Services. The actual engine is on your PC, Mac, or Linux box. You have different options. [12:35] – Machine learning There are certain things that Amazon Alexa understand now that it did last year or time before that like understanding utterances and phrases better. A lot of the machine learning is definitely under the covers. The other portion of it Alexa Voice Service, which is a whole engine that you have untethered access to other portions like how to handle responses. That’s where you can build a custom device and take it apart. So the API that we’re working with here is just using JSON and HTTP. [16:40] – Amazon Echo Show You have that full real-time back and forth communication ability but there is no video streaming or video processing ability yet. You can utilize the engine in such a way that Amazon Voice Services can work with your existing tool language. If you have a Raspberry Pi and you have a camera to it, you can potentially work within that. But again, the official API’s and docs for that are not available yet. [27:20] – Challenges There’s an appliance in this house that listens to everything I say. There’s that natural inclination to not trust it, especially with the older generations. Giving past that is getting people to use the device. Some of the programming sides of it are getting the communication to work, doing something that Alexa isn’t pre-programmed to do. There isn’t a lot of documentation out there, just a couple of examples. The original examples are written in Java and trying to convert it to Node or JavaScript would be some of the technical challenges. In addition, getting it installed and setup takes at least an hour at the beginning. There’s also a learning curve involved. [29:35] – Is your product layered in an Echo or is your product a separate device? Terrance’s product is a completely separate device. One of the functionality of his program is medicine reminders. It can only respond to whatever the API calls from Amazon tells you to respond to but it can’t do anything like send something back. It can do an immediate audio response with a picture or turn on and off a light switch. But it can’t send a message back in like two hours from now. You do want your Alexa device to have (verbally) a list of notifications like on your phone. TLDR, Terrance can go a little further with just the Skills Kit. [32:00] – Could you set it up through a web server? Yes. There are examples out there. There’s Alexa in the browser. You can open up a browser and communicate with that. There are examples of it being installed like an app. You can deploy it to your existing iPhone app or Android app and have it interact that way. Or you can have it interact independently on a completely different device like a Raspberry Pi. But not a lot of folks are using it that way. [33:10] – Monetization Amazon isn’t changing anything in terms of monetization. They make discovery a lot easier though. If you knew the name of the app, you could just say, “Alexa, [tell the name of the app].” It will do a lazy load of the actual skill and it will add it to your available skill’s list. However, there is something called the Alexa Fund, which is kind of a startup fund that they have, which you can apply for. If you’re doing something interesting, there is a number of things you have to do. Ideally, you can get funding for whatever your product is. It is an available avenue for you. [36:25] – More information, documentation, walkthroughs The number one place to go to as far as getting started is the Amazon websites. They have the Conexant 4-Mic Far-Field Dev Kit. It has 4 mics and it has already a lot of what you need. You have to boot it up and/or SSH into it or plug it up and code it. They have a couple of these kits for $300 to $400. It’s one of the safe and simpler options. There are also directions for the AVS sites which is under Alexa Voice Services, where you can go to the Github from there. There will give you directions using the Raspberry Pi.  If not that, there’s also the Slack chatroom. It is alexaslack.com. Travis Teague is the guy in charge in there. Picks Joe Eames Cosmic Engineers by Clifford D. Simak Aimee Knight Conference: React Rally Pancakes Charles Max Wood Conference: Angular Dev Summit Conference: React Dev Summit JavaScript Jabber Slack Terrance Smith Language: Elm Youtube channel: The School of Life Game: Night in the Woods Hacker Ferret Software Hackerferret.com

In Episode 4, we spend a little time trying to decipher exactly what Tamba Hali's recent Twitter rampage was all about. We then go in-depth and talk about inside linebacker, specifically how Justin March, Ramik Wilson, Terrance Smith and D.J. Alexander stacked up on film. Also, what is Josh Mauga's role in all this? The deepest dive into film yet for the MNchiefsfan Podcast. 2:42- Seriously, what in the world is going on with Tamba Hali? 13:12- Discussion on the inside linebacker position, it's importance, the difference between WILB and SILB, and what I'm looking for when I review film on linebackers. 22:03- D.J. Alexander's film review. 25:55- Terrance Smith's film review. 30:17- Ramik Wilson's film review. 37:17- Justin March's film review. 48:25- Mailbag questions.  

1) Do the Noles have a chance to beat Clemson? 2) Jeff's Redemption Thursday Picks 3) Will Dalvin Cook and Terrance Smith play against Clemson this weekend? 4) Discussion about Bama vs LSU

1) Can FSU rest Dalvin Cook and Terrance Smith and still beat Syracuse? 2) Ryan Mallett cut by Texans for missing Teams Chartered Flight 3) Lee Diekemper joins the show to discuss Buccaneers Football after tough loss 4) MLB World Series: Mets vs Royals