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Send us a textSpecial Guests:Kurt Esslinger, International Ecumenical Liaison, PCUSAEunjae Lee, Team Director, Your Voice Christian CenterQuestions of the Week:What happened on Dec. 3rd when President Yoon declared martial law? Why did he do it? How did you experience martial law order?What led up to the martial law declaration? Why did President Yoon try this? What was the response of the Korean ecumenical community to the martial law declaration?What has been Korea's response to martial law, and how is the impeachment process going?What are your hopes for Korea coming out of this current political crisis?What do you think US Americans need to know about the Korean situation going forward?What is the general mood among the youth and young activists in Korea regarding this political crisis?What role do you think the South Korean Church could play in guiding the country through this crisis?National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK) Statement on the impeachment of President YoonHankyoreh News editor's column on the impeachmentFor Listening Guides, click here!Got a question for us? Send them to faithpodcast@pcusa.org! A Matter of Faith website

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In this episode, we will discuss how to expand your Amazon brand with translations using AI & the human touch, cultural insights, global marketplaces, and strategies for crafting high-converting listings. ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos   Join us for an engaging discussion as we sit down with Jana Krekic of YLT Translations, an expert in translations and e-commerce strategies, to explore the transformative role of AI in the world of translation and localization. Recorded live from Milan, Italy, Jana shares her expertise in optimizing Amazon listings, shedding light on the limitations of AI in delivering high-quality, culturally nuanced translations. Through vivid examples, she illustrates the crucial role of human touch in understanding cultural contexts, such as the importance of local references like "nonna" in Italian culture. Discover why relying solely on AI could mean missing out on potential sales and how balancing technology with human expertise is key to successful e-commerce strategies. Explore the nuances of expanding into new markets with insights into evaluating marketplaces for product expansion. The conversation emphasizes not only the importance of assessing sales but also the significance of comparing profits across regions. Uncover strategies for beating competitors through superior content and keyword optimization, especially in areas where local language content is often neglected. Learn about typical expansion routes for US and European brands, and gain insights into emerging markets like Japan and the UAE. We also touch on the growing curiosity among US businesses about platforms like Walmart and TikTok Shop, despite uncertainties in their operational dynamics. Finally, we emphasize the importance of optimizing Amazon listings by focusing on context and customer interaction. Hear about the ever-evolving nature of Amazon's rules and algorithms and the necessity of adhering to local regulations in international marketplaces. With AI playing a significant role in product visibility, an effective keyword strategy is crucial for reaching the right audience. Listen as we highlight successful global brand localization strategies and share tips for enhancing engagement and profits by tailoring content to resonate with local audiences. Plus, don't miss a valuable travel tip on saving money through tax-free shopping while abroad, making this episode a must-listen for anyone involved in the e-commerce world. In episode 620 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Jana discuss: 00:00 - AI Translation and Listing Localization Strategies 01:22 - AI Advancement and the Translation Industry 05:59 - Localization of Images for Amazon Listings 10:33 - New Emerging E-commerce Marketplaces  12:37 - Product Market Research in Germany 17:09 - Optimizing Amazon Listings with AI 20:14 - Understanding International Food Standards 25:42 - Challenges of Brand Localization 26:38 - Global Brand Localization Success Strategies 31:22 - Airport Tax Refund Travel Tips   Transcript: Bradley Sutton: Today we've got Yana back on the show we're recording live from Milan, Italy, and she's going to talk about a wide variety of subjects, such as preparing your listing for Amazon AI translating your listing, other marketplaces and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Sellers have lost thousands of dollars by not knowing that they were hijacked, perhaps on their Amazon listing, or maybe somebody changed their main image or Amazon changed their shipping dimension so they had to pay extra money every order. Helium 10 can actually send you a text message or email if any of these things or other critical events happen to your Amazon account. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash alerts.   Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed, organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And speaking of the e-commerce world, I am on the other side of the world right now. I'm in Milan, Italy. and we are at the Helium 10 Elite and Avask Workshop, and one of the speakers for today is somebody who is no stranger to the show, Jana. Jana, welcome back.   Jana Krekic: Thank you so much.   Bradley Sutton: Now, this is the first time we've seen Yana, because she's been uh, creating life, you know, uh out there, uh, how's that for you? How's that going for you?   Jana Krekic: um, it's a struggle, but it's something that I'm really grateful for, honestly.   Bradley Sutton: I got an early start. You know she were just talking about how my kids are in their 20's already. But then again, you know there's advantages of waiting. You know like you got to, you know you and Lazar got to have a. You know just pretty much, go wherever you whenever you want. You see now that it's a little bit different.   You can't just go up and like, hey, let's go to Ibiza today.   Jana Krekic: huh yeah, well, I mean, I could go to Ibiza, but I have to be uh home by 9 pm, so that's the small difference.   Bradley Sutton: So we're not here to talk about parenting. Where're here to talk about what Yana is an expert at, and that's mainly translations and things. And I think one thing that's been on the mind of many people is wait a minute, with AI do I even need professional translators anymore? I could just go ahead and click a button and now I can have a perfectly optimized listing, thanks to ChatGPT or thanks to AI. Now can you tell us? Is that a true statement?   Jana Krekic: Well, honestly, Bradley, I use AI on daily basis and I think it has changed our lives and made our lives simpler in some ways. But I would disagree with the part where you said to get your listings optimized. I would say it's great to do a summary of your reviews and maybe to help you understand how a product works, maybe to describe what you see on the picture if the image is blurry and you can't tell. But I would stay away from AI when it comes to optimization, keywords and, most importantly, localization, because AI is still it's getting better, definitely, but I still we are years away from this being a fantastic tool that will replace human brain and human touch and human understanding of context.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, so you actually had some examples of what the drawbacks are. Because, yeah, you know, maybe if, if you have zero budget and you want to have something better than just the Amazon auto translates, sure, maybe you know ai is not is going to put you on the right track, but what's an example of kind of like money you're leaving on the table if you just 100 rely on AI for translation?   Jana Krekic: yeah, I would, I would agree. I would say that you can get it translated. It will be probably mediocre at best. A lot of things will be maybe translated very confusingly, will be poorly translated, but you know, if you're on tight budget, yeah, sure, go ahead and you know, see how that works, because probably it will not be as efficient as something else.   But since we're here in Italy, I have a really good example, and this is a pasta machine, whatever clients were selling. So she was selling this in the States and then she was branding is as pasta machine, like in Bella Italia. Now, like for an American like you would probably think that, wow, this is something very authentic, something that will make me help make great posts at home. But what if you want to sell this product in Italy? So what if you tell Italian hey, buy this product because it's in Bella Italia? And you, being an Italian, would be like, what do you mean Bella Italia? I don't understand. We're already in Italia and it is Bella, but I mean I don't get it. So, -like using AI, I tried to play around a little bit with this example and so the first thing I wrote out really nice prompt and I said can you make it sound more localized so that Italians want to buy this machine because it's really top quality and will make amazing pasta. So the AI came up with make pasta in a traditional way, which is better.   It's not a literal translation, but it's still so far away from like. What is like when you say Bella Italia in English and to an American. It doesn't send the same message and it doesn't have the same warmth as like. What you would get is, for instance, if you said make pasta like your Nonna or like your grandma used to make. So when you say Nonna to an Italian, it automatically triggers that childhood memories great pasta, warmth.   It sells emotions and this is what will sell us your product and it will make it closer to your local audience and Italians will be like well, let me try this because I really want to make you know like pasta like my grandma used to make, because this is probably one of the best memories I've had of my grandma and then they will buy this product. But then AI will not come up with this because AI is not uh, doesn't have. This lacks human touch, literally like. That translation is okay, it's decent, but it lacks that something that will connect you with the target audience and sell your product and convey the same message you'll have back in your home marketplace yeah, so that's.   Bradley Sutton: That's a one good example, and almost in any language there's going to be, you know, similar one thing like that, even in English. So maybe somebody who is an Italian person trying to make an American listing, you know might try to translate an American listing. You know might try to translate some words that just you know, like American or English or American slang that you just can't always just translate from an AI. I mean, definitely, I think AI is better than Google translate. You know that's one of the worst things that you could do for your listing, but it still has a little way to go.   Now, um, something interesting we've been seeing lately from Amazon, something that Amazon sellers have been asking for a while is the ability to localize your images easier. You know, in the past sometimes, hey, you have your US ASIN and then you're using the same ASIN in Italy or Spain or wherever, and it would pull in those images and then you try and rewrite the image and then now all of a sudden, your Spanish infographic is showing in US. But now they have this kind of like cool image manager where you can make the images for each marketplace. What are some best practices for how you can quote unquote localize the images. It's not just about the words. Obviously that's a no brainer, you know, don't have Japanese writing in your Amazon USA listing but like even some lifestyle images like would you suggest changing like base to make it more look like you know you don't want, you know, like maybe to have Jap Asian looking models for Japan market or things like that, or what can you talk about? Localization of images?   Jana Krekic: So this is a really good question, but unfortunately, maybe 1% of the brands would actually do that. 90% of the brands would just change the text on images. The images will stay the same, but they will just translate it into different languages, which is fine. It is also one step forward compared to how it used to be. But what is really important depends on the category that you're selling. For instance, if you're selling doorknobs or if you're selling anything that has to do with anything you can find in your bathroom, maybe like a shower organizer or a shower curtain or anything like it.   You have to keep in mind that bathrooms in Europe are quite different than bathrooms in the States, and all the brands selling anything like that like from the States to Europe they leave the American doorknobs, they leave the American shower heads, which is fixed to the ceiling. In Europe we have, like this completely different thing, and also this is something that really catches like my attention every single time, because like then these customers will say, well, well, maybe this works like in the states, but like it doesn't fit really well into my shower cabin. I don't have it. I also have a really big bath which you don't get like in the States and like there are like a lot of things that are very, very different also. For instance, like in in Europe, like I want to have a bidet in my bathroom, which is quite usual to have in your home. Uh was in the States, like I have never seen a bidet except the international chain of hotels   Bradley Sutton: My house has one from living in Japan. I was like I need a bidet in my, so I custom uh, imported one and I'm using one in my house well.   Jana Krekic: You're one of the 1000 people I probably have like that smart uh toilet as well, which is my favorite. Um, yeah, so this is like something that brands don't really pay attention to. So, for all the other things, I think you can get away with. For instance, if you're selling something like a I don't like a office supplements, sports, outdoors, all of that, maybe yes, maybe switched with like different models, but I would say that for most of the cases, you can keep the same models. But when you're selling a home appliance or anything that has to do with something which is in your home, keep in mind that homes are very different and people would not be able to relate with this product, understand where to put it, how it works, because they'll have different things in their home. And then, in these cases, I would recommend changing the images, because I think that this would bring you so much more and this might be a deal breaker for your product.   Bradley Sutton: Good point, good point. Now, going back to your topic of listings and things like that. Now I'm going to miss. I'm not going to be able to see your presentation this afternoon because I'm going to record another podcast and we're not going to go over your whole thing here. But can you give some of the main points of what you're going to talk about this afternoon?   Jana Krekic: Right. So I'm going to try to answer the question like where to sell your product next. So a lot of people ask me this, so I decided to dig a little bit deeper into this topic and try to, um, just do like a short summary of like what you should pay attention to. For instance, like you should check, like, what, how much money is this product making on your marketplace? Then I would compare the profit that, for instance, my competitor is making my home market versus what is making. What are they making on the new marketplace? So this is really important. So not only the sales matter, but also profit. If they're making less profit, then they're making their in your home marketplace and selling more than maybe you should. You know, think again of like if you want to do or not. And then, of course, you want to know if you can beat them on the content level, using keywords, using optimization, using a bunch of different things, strategies. This is really important because, like, if you have 10, 15 different top competitors, from my experience and from all the analysis I've done, you can land in top three, four, even in the top best-selling categories on the content level. So that for me alone is worth going there because you can organically be indexed very easily, because a lot of brands that come from the States that sell in Europe they don't really care about their content because their team does not understand it, so somehow, they think it's irrelevant when it isn't. I mean, if it's relevant in English, why is that relevant in another language, right? So if you ask me, like content is really easy to get positioned, like very well in Europe, and then, of course, very important, which a lot of people don't understand the importance of is actually your audience.   And then asking your audience, will they buy your product? For instance, we had PickFu also build our international polls for us, and so you would want to like test out, let's say, like you want to go to Spain, you think it's a great product. All the numbers add up, it's fantastic. But will your buyers buy it? Will they be excited about it? So you ask, let's say, 100, 150 people you can target them women, age 40 to 50, amazon Prime, whatever high income and then you ask them would you or somebody you know buy this product, yes or no?   Because we had a situation where we had one of the clients wanting to sell something in Germany and everything added up nicely, but the product was just not selling. So I went to my German team and asked them like would you buy this product? It was some sort of like a Mr. and Mrs. thing, like a cup with that. And then I have 12 German team members and every single one of them said no, we're never, never buy this product. And then I'm like why? And they're like because, Jana, it's like such a not a German product to buy. It's like so, not something that we would want to have in our kitchen.   And I was like, wow, this is insane. So I went back to the client and I'm like well, I'm sorry, I think the audience hates this, this product. Like you should come up with something different or maybe try another country. So this is something really important. You know the Vox Populi. It's very, very important. All the other parameters are, but this also adds to like to a really big, important part whether you should expand to this country or not.   Bradley Sutton: Where are you seeing a lot of people from US and then, conversely, from Europe. Where are they expanding to? Like, historically it's always been vice versa. All right if I'm in US, you know, obviously if I was doing Canada and Mexico already, but then now I go to Europe. If I'm in Europe, I'm either already selling in US or that's the next one. Is that still the case? Or are you seeing more people go to newer places, like maybe Japan or Middle East or other places?   Jana Krekic: Right. Well, when we're talking about us brand, it's always going to be first Mexico or Canada, because of course geographically it makes no sense. Then it's Europe and then we've seen people try to go to UAE. I think people are very interested in the marketplace. They don't know what to expect but there're like let me try, because usually like you would not need translations or any like it's not a big of a deal to go to UAE. You can keep your lessons in English, especially if you're targeting expats. That's really important because then they don't do like Arabic keyword research. And then some of the brands they're brave enough they go to Japan.   We've seen a lot of crazy products be really successful in Japan, but not all brands are ready for it because of the alphabet and unknown universe and everything. They're really, really afraid of that. But we've seen brands do Japan, especially in the last year. We've seen the increase in Japan and a little bit of like showing interest for the UAE. I think Saudi Arabia is going to be also really interesting. We've talked about this earlier and yeah, but I would say still Europe number one and then more than like. If I compare it to like three years ago, definitely more Japan and more UAE, but still I would say that they want to go to Europe a lot and I'm not sure if any of them, like from the States, would be interested in Australia. Honestly, I think Australia has grown bigger, but because of the Australian sellers, not because of the brands that actually want to expand there.   Bradley Sutton: Are a lot of your US customers expanding to both Walmart and TikTok shop, or do you see more going to one or the other?   Jana Krekic: Yes, I would say Walmart definitely, especially in the last year, year and a half. And then TikTok shop a lot of people want to but they don't know how it works honestly. And then this is I get a lot of questions like we've heard amazing things about TikTok and they've never sell with, like influencers, ugc. They haven't used it a lot, so they're kind of really afraid to test the waters. But I know that the ones that have already sold on TikTok shop had amazing results and it's like completely different universe and of course, you don't know how long it's gonna last. So I'd say, like you know, hop on that train and, just you know, do it. It's really, it's really yeah. I think it's going to be a good ROI, really.   Bradley Sutton: All right, now, switching gears a little bit. Something that I was talking about in my presentation was for me. You know, I I'm not doing too much differently nowadays, even though there's new AI things like Rufus, but there's a lot of people who maybe weren't doing best practices for listing, but now those people are going to be even farther behind because of what Rufus is. And so what are you know? Like you as a company, when you're making a listing for somebody, I believe you probably have in mind things like Rufus, right, even when you're making the listing, what are those things that you guys have in mind? And how are you you're doing things um to make sure that somebody's listing is ready for, for Amazon's AI things?   Jana Krekic: Right. That's also a really good question. Uh, because, um, as you said, a lot of things that you were doing the right way maybe six, seven years ago. They are still relevant, some of them. So we were also.   Whenever we're doing listing, we always pay attention to context and how it sounds to the target audience. Uh, so it's not only like when you have your bullets. It's not only like when you have your bullets. It's not only about your key features, how this product and that product. It's also like how you would like talk to the customer.   So let's pretend that you have a customer on your page and then you have, like this hello, how we can help you. Like chat box saying, hey, so what do you wanna know about this product? And then maybe let's say this this customer wants to buy something for their daughter, let's say a diaper bag. And then you know, like, maybe ask, like do you travel a lot? Oh, you may be traveling a lot, so maybe put this in the bullet. Or you know, you can go to your reviews and like see what people are talking about, their situations where they use these products, locations where they use this product, because this will make your bullet sound more real and like as if someone wrote the bullet who was your customer.   I would think, from a customer standard customer point of view, write things as if you were using this product but and get ideas from the reviews and actually like you are talking to a real person. I think this is like really important. So not just like random sentences like buy a product because this, this, this and this, because it sounds like you're reading a manual. So you're not buying things from like a manual, buying from a real person that loves and enjoys your product.   So I would have this mindset with writing listings and, of course, not just using keywords in the title, which is really important. So keyword stuffing has all like been dead for a long time, but even now, like today, I don't see a title that reads nicely, that's also filled with just like random words, maybe like random phrases, but definitely not and this can hurt a lot the algorithm and like actually the power of AI to recognize what your product is about and to offer it to customers, because it will not understand the true value of what your product is bringing and solutions it's offering. So I think it's really important to today sit down and optimize your listings as if you were a customer. I think that is really important To make it more human. I think that is the actual approach you should take.   Bradley Sutton: What else is new in your world as far as things like? One thing I mentioned also is that one of the constants in Amazon is change. Rules are changing. Algorithms are changing, best practice changing. You know fees might change the way you have to do things. Things are always changing in Amazon. It's never a dull moment. So in the last you know couple of years, since maybe the last time you've been on this podcast, what are some other things that you're having to do differently for clients or that you've had to adapt due to something that maybe changed on Amazon?   Jana Krekic: Well, definitely, you always have to keep up with the forbidden words, and we do a lot of supplements, so that's always a very big challenge. Every supplement is different. Every country is different, so, more than ever, you have to really pay attention to that. It's really important Now. When you say bio, for instance, like in Germany, it does not have to mean that it is 100% organic. Earlier it was organic, but now it doesn't have to mean. It means that you have a certificate, but it doesn't mean that it's an organic product. So you can't say and use the word organic actually to make this be like a bio product or vice versa. It's really now, it's really like fine print, uh, what you should read really, really carefully. Um, because I think it's getting more refined of what is allowed and what is not. A couple of years ago it was like, okay, you can't have a health claim, sure, let's just, you know, let's just figure it out like just, uh, you know, come up with a different sentence, but now you're gonna have to use it as a health claim, but you have to be really refined about it because you have to have it in a listing. So I would say that even on European marketplaces, there are lighting years behind us market. It is getting more refined and more difficult to get away with things that you could use like three years ago. When it comes to keyword research, it's now pretty much the same as like. If you use long tail keywords, as you've used for the last six years, you'll be good. Helium 10 now covers all the international marketplaces, which is amazing. It's always the best choice for all of the search volumes, relevancy and all of that. And I would also just add that when you choose a keyword do you want to use in your listing, you shouldn't only pay attention to the search volume, because a lot of sellers would be like, oh okay, 70,000 search volumes, this is amazing, but it's not because the relevancy is what matters. So you need to combine those two because sometimes, like the top on the top list of the search volume keyword is not going to be best to describe what your product actually is.   And now more than ever, talking about the AI, it's really important to use relevant keywords and related keywords to your product, because then the AIO will better understand what your product is about and how your customer is typing to get to this product. Maybe sometimes you will think well, maybe this is too broad, but then type it into Amazon and see what is going to be in that search result. Maybe this is where your product should be and this is why you should think of like putting it into your listing. So I think now you should kind of use more of your strategy and brain power like to put it like in your listings than before, when it was like a no-brainer, being like okay, this doesn't describe my product. Next, now, maybe this is something. It's a related search term that people use in order to get to your product because it's like broader but it's still not.   Let's say, if you're selling um fitness, like um yoga mat, maybe you're not gonna put like sports equipment.   Maybe this is too broad search for you, but maybe something narrower, but even like a little bit broader than what you thought put in a listing, will help ai connect the dots and like to put it all together. It it's also I love SEO. It's like my bread and butter and I know a lot of like Google SEO. So when you also have a Google and you have like that knowledge panel of your company on Google and then on your about company page, or if you have like your own page about me. You should have all of the, let's say, LinkedIn, Facebook, everything that helps Google connect the dots and put it in your knowledge panel so that you're relevant for one thing. This is literally what AI on Amazon will do, just more like a niche, because Amazon is a niche, like in Google, is much broader and it will help AI, or anything that is inside of the search engine, connect the dots and make them realize that your product is relevant for x, y, z things.   Bradley Sutton: Are you guys mainly just doing translations or do you also do things from scratch, where somebody just comes with a product, they don't have a listing in a certain marketplace and you're creating it from scratch?   Jana Krekic: Yeah, absolutely. We do copywriting in all the non-English for our non-English marketplaces, uh, and we do this from scratch and this is also the, the strategy that we have thinking as a buyer and then putting the our you know thoughts and experience into words and selling it to the target audience with localization. So I would say that we are I mean saying that we are translation agency is very simple. It means just like translating words by word, but we actually translate it into emotions and, like you know, we're translating into the sales actually of the product. So, basically, localization is much more different than translation, because you need a little bit of copywriting in that as well, because if you have a sentence like in Bella Italia, if I would translate it will be just like the same sentence in Italian with the Bella Italia, but then you might add something or recreate that single sentence to achieve the same effect as you have in English. So it is a little bit of transcreation, as I would say.   Bradley Sutton: Okay. So then when somebody does come with a new project um, you we've mainly today been talking about listings and maybe some images and titles what's your strategy as far as A-plus content or premium A-plus content, brand story, in the case of making something from scratch, or when we're talking about translating like, maybe they've got a brand story, they've got A-plus content in one, are you completely telling them to completely change it in the other marketplaces? Or what are some strategies for these things you can talk about?   Jana Krekic: That is a really difficult one we have with our clients, because every time when a new client comes like we send them our onboarding questionnaire, we ask them a couple of questions. So we are 100% sure that we are on the same page with the brand and the brand voice. But you'll be surprised how many brands are really scared of changing anything and localize, localizing their A plus, content, brand story, storefront, anything. They're just like translate it, but please make sure to have all of the important, important information there. And then you tell them like, yeah, we're gonna have all the important information, but maybe we change the contest a little bit. And they're like God, no, don't change it. And I'm like but this will resonate better with the target audience. They're like well, maybe just like 10%. So brands are actually afraid of localizing, which doesn't mean that their brand is going to get butchered, it's just going to get a little bit adapted to a new marketplace.   And this is what I suggest to all brands to do. You would be surprised of the conversions and everything when someone reads something which is closer to them in German, in French, in Italian, versus a big, gigantic US brand that speaks to Americans in a salesy, fluffy voice. You don't want to sell that type of brand in Europe at all. So that's really really important. Very few listen to what I say, but a lot of them are really, really afraid of doing that. This is a true case study. But those that do really have good results. And we've had one baby brand selling fleece jackets for babies. They had about 60% increase in visits on their webpage because they changed their images and they changed the tone of the voice in their storefront, which was absolutely amazing, and of course, with that followed increase in profit. So don't be afraid to localize your storefronts. Nothing is going to change. The only change we'll see is probably positive change.   Bradley Sutton: For people who want to reach out to you. How can they find you on the interwebs out there?   Jana Krekic: You can find me on LinkedIn. I do a lot of video analysis I really enjoy just like helping brands scale and just pointing out to what they could do better. So LinkedIn, definitely number one. And then definitely you can reach out by email at Jana@ylt-translations.com.   Bradley Sutton: All right, so a few more questions here. Your favorite Helium 10 tool?   Jana Krekic: I think the new Keyword Tracker really I absolutely love it and it's so easy like it's so straightforward, like even I think my seven month I absolutely love it and it's so easy, like it's so straightforward, like even I think my seven month old baby could use it. It's very easy and I love how you can like find out new keywords, you can be ranked for and track all of the competitors like in all different marketplaces. It is really really important for us as from what we do, so I would say that that is like the my probably latest favorite update.   Bradley Sutton: And then something that maybe we don't have, that you're having to get from somewhere else, or some new feature that nobody has, and you've always thought, oh man, this would make my life so much easier If I were to let you be in charge of the Helium 10 product team, what would be your first job for them to make some new tool or some new feature?   Jana Krekic: Yeah, well, first of all, I really have to say big thank you to Helium 10 because they've always listened to what I said. All of the you know, like suggestions, like, for instance, like when you do keyword research, usually it was to put number two as a default for the keywords. And then I went to Boyan, who was then a CEO, and then I told him like look, you need to change this to number one and two because of the big compound words in German that do not come up in the lists. So that was amazing. So I don't have anything like that, like as amazing as that suggestion was, but I'm really happy to see that all international marketplaces are available in Helium 10. And then I would maybe want to see, yeah, like if new marketplaces show up, I would want to like see, like, all the updates for that as well. And then maybe, like you know how you have an opportunity explorer, like for a product.   I think that may be combined into like one thing so you have like a better overview of like, of like the statistics, with like numbers and lines going up, because I think sometimes it's kind of visually difficult to visualize how everything is working together when you want to scale to a new marketplace. You do have all these amazing numbers, but I think that visual graphics would do amazingly well because a lot of people get lost in these numbers and then once you have something visually presented for you, you're like wow, this is actually gonna work versus wow, 1000 numbers, 3000 excel sheets, like I don't even know what I'm doing. So like this will like stimulate people into wanting to expand more by having it visually clear for them that this is going like top sales competitors, you know, following all of that, just like in like visually pleasing display, like screen. I'm a very visual type, so this for me is really important. For instance.   Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome. All right, what's your last 30 second tip or 60 second strategy you have for the audience? Could be about parenting. It could be about travel. It could be about travel. It could be about Amazon. It could be about anything.   Jana Krekic: Oh, I have a tip about travel for all the US citizens out there. So when you travel to Europe and I know that this year and last year has been an insane number of US Americans, I think only because, like Taylor Swift's concerts, like people going to Europe and Paris, I remember that, because, like Taylor Swift's concerts, like people going to Europe and Paris, I remember that. So, like, when you buy, especially luxury goods they're very expensive you can get tax free at the airports. I know a lot of people don't know about this, but if you buy, let's say, something that costs 1000 euros, you get, in Italy, 12% back, cash back. So if you buy that you get a receipt and then you take it to the airport and then before you hop on a plane, you show the item you bought. So don't put it in your checked-in bag, you have to show it and then, on spot, you will get cash back. That there can be a lot of money sometimes.   Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome. All right, a cool travel uh tip. I just recently did something like that. I think I was in Japan or or Korea, uh, and even a couple services I had paid tax, but then there was like a machine in Korea and I was able to get it back.   Jana Krekic: I was surprised because a lot of people that really do travel a lot they didn't know about this. So I'm like you know what I'm going to say. It maybe some of you know, but I'm sure a lot of you don't. So I think, free money, why not?   Bradley Sutton: Awesome, Awesome. Well, Jana, it's good to connect with you again. I look forward to again you know seeing you at conferences, like we always used to in the past, and wish you the most of success.   Jana Krekic: Thank you so much for having me always a pleasure to catch up.    

On the US culture wars, then and now. Historian Andrew Hartman, author of A War for the Soul of America, talks to Alex about how US Americans have been sorted into cultural camps over the past fifty years. We discuss: Who started it? And who perpetuates it? What is the "culture" in the culture war? And is it a war, or a series of skirmishes? Is there something particularly American about culture wars? The culture wars have followed the breakup of liberalism – so, what comes next? Do culture wars necessarily presuppose identity politics? Links: A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars, Andrew Hartman, UC Press The Culture Wars are Dead, Andrew Hartman, The Baffler

Hour 2 | “Voter ID Across the US” “Laws only Apply to Us Americans” “Interview : Senator Josh Kimbrell” “Europe Discourage Workout Videos?” | 09-10-24 | The Charlie James Show full 1919 Tue, 10 Sep 2024 21:12:36 +0000 rHIY7zdkgq24AfsTBcofkuTuRK5jbJi9 news The Charlie James Show Podcast news Hour 2 | “Voter ID Across the US” “Laws only Apply to Us Americans” “Interview : Senator Josh Kimbrell” “Europe Discourage Workout Videos?” | 09-10-24 | The Charlie James Show The Charlie James Show originates from News/Talk 989 WORD, The Upstate's #1 Talk Station, weekdays 3-7pm. Charlie tackles the topics that matter to the Carolina's. He interviews the movers and shakers while letting listeners sound off on the news of the day. 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Have you ever thought about the impact of your clothing on the environment?When Stella Scott told me she was starting a course centered around vintage/second-hand clothing, I was excited!Before this class, I considered myself "fashion-impaired." But really, I was just lost in how to dress and look good without feeling like my mom.(No offense, Mom...you were beautiful...just not me.)The timing was perfect, as I was pondering my new life as a FORMER corporate queen and figuring out what was next in my career.And this program was truly amazing in helping me explore my sense of style.But it was oh so much more!I had never thought about the impact of my "instant gratification/disposable stuff" mentality when it came to clothing.(Oh, we US Americans are the GODS of "stuff.")I am always looking for ways to improve my negative impact on the earth and the environment, and paying attention to what I wear and how I take care of my attire is a great way to do that!Please follow Stella (she also has some amazing content on sleep) and look out for Classy Vintage Mastery if she runs it again. Worth every penny, every minute.Here is Stella's Contact Info:https://www.linkedin.com/in/stellascott-thequeencoach/https://www.instagram.com/cosmic_strategies/Hello, I am Beth Anne Campbell - author of "Where The H*** Is My Bacon?" and "From BLAH to BADA$$" - two books about leadership from a woman who survived corporate madness for 23 years. I also host the Cafe Grit podcast, where I cut through the bs and talk openly and honestly about life and careers.And finally, check out The View From Olympus Podcast...where I reveal my goddess persona and explore what in Hades is going on with humanity these days.Let's follow or connect if you've got a hankering for purpose, a taste for fulfillment, and you're tired of living the rat race!

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/australian-and-new-zealand-studies

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/british-studies

Camelids are vital to the cultures and economies of the Andes. The animals have also been at the heart of ecological and social catastrophe: Europeans overhunted wild vicuña and guanaco and imposed husbandry and breeding practices that decimated llama and alpaca flocks that had been successfully tended by Indigenous peoples for generations. Yet the colonial encounter with these animals was not limited to the New World. Llamas Beyond the Andes: The Untold History of Camelids in the Modern World (University of Texas Press, 2023) by Dr. Marcia Stephenson tells the five-hundred-year history of animals removed from their native habitats and transported overseas. Initially Europeans prized camelids for the bezoar stones found in their guts: boluses of ingested matter that were thought to have curative powers. Then the animals themselves were shipped abroad as exotica. As Europeans and US Americans came to recognize the economic value of camelids, new questions emerged: What would these novel sources of protein and fiber mean for the sheep industry? And how best to cultivate herds? Andeans had the expertise, but knowledge sharing was rarely easy. Marcia Stephenson explores the myriad scientific, commercial, and cultural interests that have attended camelids globally, making these animals a critical meeting point for diverse groups from the North and South. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/animal-studies

On today's episode, Andy & DJ discuss the 8,000 migrants heading towards the US, Americans backing Biden's impeachment with the belief he was involved in Hunter's shady deals, and Chicago Mayor on the increase in violent crimes claiming reparation money will help.

Brent & Dave from the Fourteen Twenty Sports Bar Host us to have discussions about Penn State Vs Michigan. The Wolverines cheating scandal, the NFL Machine & who is better??? Tons of laughs, debates & back & forth in this Ep! Twitter _FourteenTwenty BrutallyHones Youtube fourteentwentypodcast1420 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On the American drug binge.   Forget all the stereotypes – drug use is no longer confined to particular subcultures. US Americans are taking world-historic levels of drugs. Benjamin Fong tells us about his new book, Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, which covers everything from morphine to mushrooms, SSRIs to speed, caffeine to cocaine.    Ultimately, is all this drug-taking about reckless abandon, or about control?   For more, go to patreon.com/bungacast   Subscribe to Damage Magazine   Links: Building Big Things, Damage Magazine, Issue 1 Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, Benjamin Y. Fong, Verso Who Deserves Amphetamines, Benjamin Fong, The Point

If you take a quick browse through travel media, you'll notice a lot of cliches like, "wild", "untouched", and "remote". These descriptions are commonly applied to places that are considered rural, and they might seem harmless. But often, these descriptions can play into misconceptions about places and usually lack the context behind why the places we visit are the way they are. Guest: Kathi Kamleitner is based in Glasgow, Scotland, and runs the travel podcast Wild for Scotland. She also runs a Scotland travel blog (Watch Me See) and plans custom itineraries, mostly for US-Americans and Canadians who come to travel to Scotland. Resources: https://www.wildforscotland.com/  https://watchmesee.com/  https://rootedstorytelling.com/storytelling/bad-travel-writing-words-cliches/  HOW TO SUPPORT US: Alpaca My Bags is the podcast that is creating a platform for discussing travel through a critical lens and responsible travel. If you're a fan of the podcast, don't forget to subscribe, rate and review Alpaca My Bags! SUPPORT US ON PATREON for as little as $5 a month. GIVE US FEEDBACK: We're looking for more info on what you like and dislike about the podcast, and how you found us! If you have one minute today, please fill out this quick survey for us! Read Erin's award-winning blog: https://pinatravels.org/ Follow us on social media @alpacamybagspod Subscribe to Kattie's podcasting newsletter Pod the North, here CREDITS Written and Hosted by: Erin Hynes Producer: Kattie Laur Music from Motion Array Logo by Christopher McCluskey

Welcome back to Expat News by Expat Rebel. In this issue: US Americans will need a 'visa' for Europe next year, El Salvador the next hot expat location, Airbnbs are not great and Global Peace Index map and more Expat News - Expat Rebel Chris

As a well renowned fitness expert, John Lewis has spent over 2 decades in the health and fitness industry and played Division I College basketball. John is highly passionate about not only his own health and fitness, but that of others as well. Today, John has taken his passion for health and is now directing his first feature length documentary focused on food and social justice. John has teamed up with the maker of the award winning “What The Health” to create their joint venture “They're Trying To Kill US”. The film follows co-director John Lewis from his beginnings as an adopted child from a crack-addicted birth mother, growing up as an overweight kid in the violence of Ferguson, Missouri, to becoming a prominent health and wellness advocate promoting compassion.Audiences journey with John as he crosses the country seeking answers to why Americans of Colour suffer from disproportionately higher rates of chronic disease than their European American counterparts, while examining the intersections of food, disease, race, poverty, institutional racism and government corruption. Through interviews with cultural influencers, doctors, researchers, politicians, attorneys, professional athletes, activists and experts in the field of food justice, John begins to unravel a story of collusion that has kept millions of US Americans sick, while the industries responsible make billions of dollars.Today, Nicolette engages in a conversation with John Lewis, delving into his remarkable journey from playing basketball to finding a new path towards wellness and purpose. The journey commenced in 2004 when the passing of a close friend compelled him to seek solutions for his own health issues, including IBS. By adopting a plant-based diet, he experienced a remarkable transformation within a mere two weeks, shedding inflammation and gaining newfound energy. However, the pivotal moment arrived when his mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, sparking his research into the link between lifestyle choices and diseases such as hypertension and heart disease. Through personal experiences and learning from the mistakes of others, he uncovered the ancient roots of veganism in Jainism, realizing that indigenous cultures had long embraced plant-based lifestyles. Along his path, he encountered pre-packaged vegan foods, which prompted him to transition towards whole foods, expanding his palate and understanding of diverse culinary traditions. Embracing his role as a catalyst for change, he founded the Badass Vegan movement, advocating for the planet, social justice, and personal well-being.With a focus on providing answers and promoting inclusivity, John tackles various topics, ranging from the disproportionate impact of food-related issues on Black communities to the manipulative tactics employed by insurance and fast-food companies. Through his film, "They're Trying to Kill Us," and his book, "Badass Vegan," his aim is to empower individuals to fuel their bodies, challenge the system, and live authentically. Join us on this transformative journey as we explore the history of veganism and discover how embracing a plant-based lifestyle can foster healing for ourselves and the world we inhabit. Remember, your "why" will serve as your guiding force on this path of transformation. Get ready to effect positive change and unleash your inner badass. Find John Lewis at:Website: www.badassvegan.comMovie: www.theyretryingtokillus.comFacebook: @BadAssVeganInstagram: @BadAssVegan @TheyreTryingToKillingUsFilmTick tock: @BadAssVeganBook: Bad Ass Vegan - https://bit.ly/3NeKwaeEmail: john@badassvegan.com Ready to launch your career as a certified Metabolic Nutrition & Detox Coach? Learn more about our 6-Month Training Program here: https://nicolette-richer.mykajabi.com/nutrition&detox-minicourse Join Nicolette in person for 4 days at the From Illness to Wellness Retreat from Nov 1-4, 2023 in beautiful Whistler, BC. https://nicolette-richer.mykajabi.com/retreat Watch the trailer for Nicolette's new film Food of Our Ancestors coming out 2025 - https://bit.ly/FoodAncDoc Discussed on the PODCAST:Planted Expo - www.plantedlife.comP90X Workout - https://bit.ly/3oOootWJainism Religion - https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/jainism/DNA Ancestry Test - www.ancestry.ca/dnaThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot – https://bit.ly/3IXaTyNKeegan Kuhn - @FirstSparkMediaWhat the health – www.whatthehealthfilm.comCowspiracy – www.cowspiracy.comRunning For Good – www.runningforgoodfilm.comTara Punzone - @ChefTaraPunzonePura Vita Restaurant, LA – www.puravitalosangeles.comDr Milton Mills Podcast – COMING SOON Learn More: Our 22M Bike tour kicks off July 1, 2024. Find out more about and support our 22 Million Campaign here - https://bit.ly/RH22Mil Find out more about our non-profit society Sea to Sky Thrivers - https://bit.ly/S2STS Want to know more about Nicolette's Green Moustache Café's https://bit.ly/GMCafeW Sign up for the Eat Real to Heal Online Course - https://bit.ly/ERTHolc Buy the Eat Real to Heal Book here: https://amzn.to/3nMgEFG

It's been a busy week in Washington, D.C., with the Supreme Court announcing some of the most highly anticipated rulings of the year. The Court's decision to block President Biden's $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan and end affirmative action in college admissions received mixed feedback across the country — as many Democrats voiced their disapproval of the decisions, while the GOP has shown support of the Court. Also in the headlines is new information on the Hunter Biden case. As IRS whistleblowers make further allegations of politicization and misconduct by the DOJ, many Republicans are calling for a freeze on the younger Biden's plea deal until these claims are investigated. On the Rundown, California Congressman Darrell Issa joins to explain why he supports the Supreme Court's decisions and how their ruling reflects where “liberal California has been for two decades.” He also discusses his thoughts on the Hunter Biden investigation and how he believes the U.S. government must change to restore Americans' faith in the government and the country as a whole. America's Crime Crisis: When crime goes viral, law enforcement across the country has reported difficulties keeping it under control. TikTok has sparked some interesting trends over the years, from viral dances to whipped coffee, but now teens are filming themselves committing crimes like in “The Kia Challenge,” where some are posting tutorials on how to steal a car. The platform claims that it does not promote such content, but thousands of videos surfaced of people participating in “rob mobs,” car theft, and other criminal activities where the perpetrators appeared unafraid of the consequences. Former FBI Special Agent John Iannarelli and Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida Raymond Suarez joins the Rundown to discuss the ways law enforcement tries to prevent such crimes, why teens do not fear the consequences associated with crime, and why users don't understand how their actions online can land them into trouble. Plus, commentary by former Congressman Jason Chaffetz, host of the Jason in the House podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been a busy week in Washington, D.C., with the Supreme Court announcing some of the most highly anticipated rulings of the year. The Court's decision to block President Biden's $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan and end affirmative action in college admissions received mixed feedback across the country — as many Democrats voiced their disapproval of the decisions, while the GOP has shown support of the Court. Also in the headlines is new information on the Hunter Biden case. As IRS whistleblowers make further allegations of politicization and misconduct by the DOJ, many Republicans are calling for a freeze on the younger Biden's plea deal until these claims are investigated. On the Rundown, California Congressman Darrell Issa joins to explain why he supports the Supreme Court's decisions and how their ruling reflects where “liberal California has been for two decades.” He also discusses his thoughts on the Hunter Biden investigation and how he believes the U.S. government must change to restore Americans' faith in the government and the country as a whole. America's Crime Crisis: When crime goes viral, law enforcement across the country has reported difficulties keeping it under control. TikTok has sparked some interesting trends over the years, from viral dances to whipped coffee, but now teens are filming themselves committing crimes like in “The Kia Challenge,” where some are posting tutorials on how to steal a car. The platform claims that it does not promote such content, but thousands of videos surfaced of people participating in “rob mobs,” car theft, and other criminal activities where the perpetrators appeared unafraid of the consequences. Former FBI Special Agent John Iannarelli and Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida Raymond Suarez joins the Rundown to discuss the ways law enforcement tries to prevent such crimes, why teens do not fear the consequences associated with crime, and why users don't understand how their actions online can land them into trouble. Plus, commentary by former Congressman Jason Chaffetz, host of the Jason in the House podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's been a busy week in Washington, D.C., with the Supreme Court announcing some of the most highly anticipated rulings of the year. The Court's decision to block President Biden's $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan and end affirmative action in college admissions received mixed feedback across the country — as many Democrats voiced their disapproval of the decisions, while the GOP has shown support of the Court. Also in the headlines is new information on the Hunter Biden case. As IRS whistleblowers make further allegations of politicization and misconduct by the DOJ, many Republicans are calling for a freeze on the younger Biden's plea deal until these claims are investigated. On the Rundown, California Congressman Darrell Issa joins to explain why he supports the Supreme Court's decisions and how their ruling reflects where “liberal California has been for two decades.” He also discusses his thoughts on the Hunter Biden investigation and how he believes the U.S. government must change to restore Americans' faith in the government and the country as a whole. America's Crime Crisis: When crime goes viral, law enforcement across the country has reported difficulties keeping it under control. TikTok has sparked some interesting trends over the years, from viral dances to whipped coffee, but now teens are filming themselves committing crimes like in “The Kia Challenge,” where some are posting tutorials on how to steal a car. The platform claims that it does not promote such content, but thousands of videos surfaced of people participating in “rob mobs,” car theft, and other criminal activities where the perpetrators appeared unafraid of the consequences. Former FBI Special Agent John Iannarelli and Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida Raymond Suarez joins the Rundown to discuss the ways law enforcement tries to prevent such crimes, why teens do not fear the consequences associated with crime, and why users don't understand how their actions online can land them into trouble. Plus, commentary by former Congressman Jason Chaffetz, host of the Jason in the House podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well it has been a minute since we had a chance to catch up and record a podcast but in this episode Tamara shares her insights and experience from her recent family trip to Japan. Kim and Tamara also share their love for Scottsdale, Arizona and some of the things they did on a girls' trip together. Read more at: Scottsdale girls weekend Reasons to visit Scottsdale in summer Best Scottsdale Arizona resorts for girlfriends trips Scottsdale weekend itinerary Tamara also talked about her time in Paso Robles, California. You can read her Paso Robles itinerary to get inspired to visit this wine region. Kim attended conferences in Walt Disney World (read her tips for using DVC points to save money on a Disney World vacation), Disney Land, and San Antonio. She also took a family cruise to Alaska aboard the Norwegian Bliss, which was different from her Alaska cruise on Holland America last summer. Kim also took a quick press trip to Iceland, where she was able to explore Reykjavik and visit the Sky Lagoon. We really dug into Tamara's 2-week trip to Japan which included: 5 Days in Tokyo 5 Days in Kyoto 3 Days in Osaka If you are planning a trip, be sure to read Tamara's Japan travel tips! When talking about how great Google Maps can be to figure out transportation in Japan, Kim also mentioned her post about using Google Maps to plan a trip. Tamara was also just back from a short press trip to Waterton and Glacier National Parks. We will be traveling a lot over the summer so expect to hear another episode in the late summer. Then you will hear about Tamara's trip to Scotland & Wales, her river and barge cruises in France, and Kim's amazing trip to Kenya. Full Episode Transcript [00:00:00.000] - Kim Today, we're journeying to the land of the rising sun.   [00:00:14.520] - Tamara Welcome to Vacation Mavens a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suicase and Tamara from We Three Travel.   [00:00:29.740] - Tamara Kim, I can't believe the last time I really talked to you was when we were together in Scottsdale in April.   [00:00:34.670] - Kim I know. It's been a crazy travel season for us. Good. I love that travel's back and everything, but it's also crazy because I thought we would be talking more and we've seen each other so much at the beginning of the year. And then all of a sudden it's like, Oh, summer is almost over.   [00:00:47.920] - Tamara Not quite. That was our intent was to have this monthly. We're struggling, guys. So if anyone is still listening and subscribe to us, which I hope that they are, we're going to do a quick little rundown of some of our recent travels. Now you'll see why we haven't been able to connect and record an episode.   [00:01:07.600] - Kim Yeah, exactly. It's been insane. The last time you guys heard from us, we were headed to Scottsdale, which was middle of April, and we both, I think, had an amazing trip there. We both published our articles, so you can always head to Wee 3 Travel and Stuff Suitcase and see the stuff that we covered. But I loved Scottsdale. It was great.   [00:01:25.720] - Tamara Yeah. I think Scottsdale just continues to be a place I want to go back to because there's so many beautiful resorts and hotels, so there's always some place new to check out. There's amazing spas. Then this time, we did a lot of really cool activities.   [00:01:41.370] - Kim I loved how it was really I think Scottsdale is a great destination a combination for being able to do outdoorsy things. We did hot air balloons, horseback riding, a few different things. But we also did wine tasting and shopping and went to some museums. Then, like you said, went to an amazing spot, the Phoenixion. Scottsdale, if you are a spa person, that's where you want to go.   [00:02:03.230] - Tamara I've been watching our friend, Colleen, that lives out in Scottsdale. She seems to be hopping around another spa every day. I'm like, Wow, I want to come be your friend right now.   [00:02:12.830] - Kim I think everyone's been saying that, I want your job.   [00:02:15.790] - Tamara I'm sure. I would definitely say romantic getaway, girlfriend get away. Scottsdale is amazing for that. There's plenty to do with the family as well because of all those outdoor activities. But definitely check out. I know I have an itinerary. You have some great suggestions on things to do in the summer and how to manage the heat out there. D efinitely check those out on our websites to see more.   [00:02:39.620] - Kim So where did you head after Scottsdale?   [00:02:41.800] - Tamara I went right from Scottsdale to T uson to see Hannah for a little bit. And then the following week, I went to Paso Robles, which I'd learned.   [00:02:51.090] - Kim I always said it was Paso Robles. Oh, it's Robles.   [00:02:52.980] - Tamara Yeah. And it's actually Robles. And I'm like, I feel silly saying Robles.   [00:02:57.270] - Kim Yeah, it sounds like Marbles.   [00:02:58.630] - Tamara But that is a wine region in central California near San Louis Biscoe. I just love it. I was there, I think it was nine or eight years ago with the family, and we were checking out some family friendly wineries there. But it has just exploded in terms of the number of wineries, but also really good food now. The downtown has expanded. I stayed in a new boutique hotel that was just I loved it, which was so cool. It has a rooftop bar. It had a wine, actually a champagne vending machine in the lobby. Oh, I saw that. I saw your story on that. Yeah. So I had a great time out there. And I definitely think anyone that's into wine, put that on your radar as a region to visit. You can easily spill a long weekend. I had a couple of really wonderful spots that I went for wine tasting, just those perfect, incredible views, great food, wonderful wine. I think where many, many years ago it was newer to the scene or it was well known for J. L oor, some of the bigger names. There's just so much going on out there.   [00:04:02.940] - Tamara Where did you go next? Because I know you were really busy right after our.   [00:04:06.130] - Kim Scottsdale trip, too. I had three trips back to back. I did go to Disney World for a conference and I got to ride the new Tron ride. I also checked out a new hotel, which was the Contemporary Hotel, which I had never been to. I loved that. I really do love the splurging on those Disney World hotels that have the monorail access and the ones we've been at Revere too with the Skyliner because, man, it's amazing how much easier it is just to get into and not have to deal with the bus system because then whenever I have to wait for a bus to one of the parks and it's like, inevitably I get there and I'm the last one, I've got to wait for 20.   [00:04:39.400] - Tamara Minutes or something. I will say that's what I liked the most about Disneyland because I've never stayed on park at Disney World. I've only stayed at partner hotels and by hotels.   [00:04:50.150] - Kim Yeah, it is a big splurge for sure. I have a great article about that, though, because we splurged and used... We rented DVC points to be able to stay, and it's still not cheap. It was for the graduation trip and stuff, and this one does a conference hotel rate. I'm definitely not saying it's cheap, affordable, but if you do want to splurge, renting DVC points, and I have a link, so if anyone wants it, or you can look up the how I saved $2,000 plus dollars at Disney World. I have how we did that in there. I actually just tried to do it for Disneyland, but they didn't have any availability because Disneyland only has one property, almost two. Anyways, I did that. But then right after that, I also went on another Alaskan cruise, which you and I have talked about a few times. I'll soon have a couple of articles updated, but this was more of just a family cruise, so I didn't actually treat it like a work trip, which was nice to.   [00:05:39.930] - Tamara Just relax. Which cruise were you on this time, though? Because I feel like was it last summer that you did celebrity?   [00:05:44.310] - Kim Holland last August, which I absolutely loved. I loved Holland. I haven't done celebrity in Alaska yet, but Holland America was awesome. This time we did Norwegian because my family has status with there, and so they like to book Norwegian. We did the bliss, which we have been on the bliss before for a little media sailing when they started it.   [00:06:02.560] - Tamara That's the one that we took.   [00:06:03.920] - Kim To Alaska. Yeah, exactly. Family trip. Yeah. Anyway, so that was that. Then I had one other conference, then back to Disneyland. I hit both the parks within about three weeks of each other, but that was a lot of fun and just...   [00:06:17.460] - Tamara You should have really had a Disney.   [00:06:19.000] - Kim Cruise in the middle. I should have. That would have been perfect. Yeah, exactly. But anyways, that was a wrap up for me. My final trip that I did was I went at the end of May and went to San Antonio for another conference. It feels like most of mine were conferences. I was just conference out. But San Antonio is a cool city. It's been a while since I've been there. I went there for one day when I went to school in Texas for a little while. It was fun checking out San Antonio. But I know you've done a lot of other travels that did not involve conferences.   [00:06:51.170] - Tamara Yeah, I'm like, Have I? I guess. You forget by now. Yeah, that's for sure. Well, I went back to T uson a week and a half later to pick up Hannah and bring her back from school. Then we were home for a week. Then we did our two week trip to Japan. Then I was home for, I don't know, two weeks. Then I just did a real quicky trip to Glacier National Park area.   [00:07:14.290] - Kim Right. I forgot you went to glacier and I went to Iceland. I forgot to mention that. Oh, yeah. I'm blanking on June. I forgot June even existed. Sorry, I was just focusing on up to May, but yeah, definitely. I didn't get to experience the Iceland you got to experience because we stuck around Reykjavik and just explored a couple of attractions that were around there. So it was a quick, quick trip. But Mia is quite the little outdoor lover and cultured lover, so I definitely want to go back to Iceland with her because I know she'll just love to do some of the exploration that you've done.   [00:07:48.850] - Tamara I was going to say, I'll meet you there. Yeah, definitely. I'm always ready to go back there. Yeah, well, I'll definitely put all of these links to articles in our show notes so you guys can read more. But I think.   [00:08:00.800] - Kim That's a good way to do it. But I think we should dive into Japan because it is a very hot destination. I'm still so sad because ours was canceled. We were supposed to be going in April 2020, so we switched off and now you got to finally live the vacation that I was dreaming about back then. I think we should give everyone just a really quick rundown because I know that you have done an amazing job of writing a whole bunch of articles that are really going to be useful for people who are planning a trip to Japan. Let's just start off and give you an idea of how many days were you there and how maybe did you break up your itinerary?   [00:08:36.480] - Tamara Yeah, absolutely. We took two weeks because especially coming from the East Coast, it's just such a long trip. Honestly, it's been on the top of our bucket list for so long, but we just haven't had two weeks where we felt comfortable to go that far knowing we're going to deal with jet lag on the way back. And then the flights are just always so expensive. But at least I was able to use points for one of our flights. So we took two weeks. I flew out on a Saturday morning. Yes, I got there on a Sunday, and then we were supposed to come back on Saturday, but we came back on Sunday because of a weather delay. But anyway, so I did five days in Tokyo, five days in Kyoto, and then three nights in Osaka. When I first started planning the trip, a lot of people told me that I would only need two or three days in Tokyo. But as I was looking at everything that we wanted to do, I was like, I really feel like I could easily spend a week here. It's just a fascinating city. There's just the ultra modern, and then there's the more traditional and each neighborhood is so huge.   [00:09:42.570] - Tamara I think what many people don't realize is just how large the cities are. It's funny, I was talking to my mom before I left, and I don't think she's kept up on modern times as much. There's no way she's listening to this podcast, so I can say it. But she was like, Oh, I showed a picture when we went. She's like, Sky scrapers? I wasn't expecting that. I'm like, What do you think? It's rural villages. But this is the biggest city in the world.   [00:10:09.310] - Kim Yeah, for sure.   [00:10:11.080] - Tamara So it's so huge. And I'm used to going to Europe where even though the cities can be really large, we always stay in that historic, more central area where you're mostly walking. You're taking the metro, but you're primarily walking around a lot. And you may pick a neighborhood, I think about Paris. You pick a neighborhood each day. But in Tokyo, to get to a certain neighborhood, it might be 45 minutes on the couple of connections with the subway and stuff. So I'm glad that we did five days. That's crazy. I could end that was within without doing the Disney stuff, which I know many people like to do when they go there.   [00:10:49.630] - Kim I do know that as a Disney person, it would be hard for me to go to Tokyo and not do Disney, at least Disney Sea, because it's considered a really unique park.   [00:11:00.330] - Tamara Yeah, that's what everyone says. It's unlike any of the others. I get it. But we're not as.   [00:11:06.430] - Kim Into the.   [00:11:06.990] - Tamara Theme parks. Glenn was like, I am not going around the world to go to theme parks.   [00:11:11.590] - Kim Exactly. When you have limited, yes, it's totally valid. I mean, it's very hard to figure out. I agree. I get what he's saying, but I also have that side of me that's like, Oh, but how can you be this close and not do it? So it's very hard to balance that. So, yeah, it sounds good. So you were saying, I know you guys... So I'm picturing Tokyo for my own planning. So you guys were in the Northwestern side of where you look at the downtown to the...   [00:11:38.990] - Tamara Right. The Shizuku neighborhood, which some people were like, oh, do you want to stay there? It's like Times Square. And the area right around the train station is lots of neon, lots of crazy, especially at night. But we were honestly within a 10 minute walk to that, but where we were was more like, business, like government buildings, things like that. So it was really quiet, peaceful. It was great. And we stayed at the Hilton, Tokyo, and it was basically on top of... You could go just down an escalator and connect to two different subway stations. Plus they had a free shuttle if you wanted to the Shinkoku train station. So it was really very accessible. It felt very convenient. And there was plenty of restaurants and things around, but it wasn't super expensive. I don't know how expensive, really, but the Ginza area is much more high end. And then the Shiboya would be nice. But it totally.   [00:12:43.620] - Kim Worked for us. We were happy with it. Nice. That's perfect. Yeah. I had looked at staying in the ginza area because of a few... I was also liked that it was closer to the Disney side, so it was a little easier to get out there. For those of you planning Genza area is basically opposite, diagonal across from where tomorrow states. I've heard the same thing from my research. You really have to allow a lot of time to transfer if you're going to different sides of what you consider the downtown center, 45 minutes to get across sometimes. Kind of crazy. Great. Well, what were some of the highlights then that you guys did when you were in Tokyo?   [00:13:17.970] - Tamara We did a sushi making workshop with True Japan, and we really enjoyed it. The ladies were just really friendly and funny and nice. And so it was fun to see what goes into making sushi. And you probably know that I'm not a sushi eater, really. And we can talk about food later because it worked out better than I expected, except for a couple of times. But it was just fun. It's such a huge part of the culture. So I enjoyed that. We didn't do a whole lot of tours and things. We did a lot of exploring on our own. But the one thing that everybody has to do, which was as amazing as you would think, was the team lab planets, which is that immersive art experience where there's water and flowers and reflections. It's just unlike anything else. And it's really cool. And we've done the traveling, like van go immersive experience. But this was turning that up times 10 or more. And Hannah really loved it. It was really cool. The thing about it is you definitely have to book your tickets well in advance because just one of those things you have a timed entry.   [00:14:30.970] - Tamara It's super popular. And honestly, when it comes to planning Japan, you really need to plan really far in advance. I mean, if you want to get restaurant reservations, some of them book up a month in advance. I think because some of them are so small that if they could take reservations, it might be for eight seats. And so they just go really quickly. And we weren't even there during cherry blossom season or golden week in early May when it's extra busy. difficult to do that. It was amazing. But I would say those are definitely highlights. I just loved exploring different areas. We did go, surprisingly, I liked this, but we went to a sumo wrestling tournament. Yeah, I wonder if I saw that. Which sometimes when people are there, they can see a practice. But there was actually a tournament going on while we were there. So that was something that I had figured out ahead of time. And when the tickets went on sale, I was able to book those the day that they were released. And it was a very cool thing. You don't want to spend hours and hours there because you don't know who the guys are.   [00:15:33.160] - Tamara But just like you could see how excited everyone was to cheer for their favorite, the local person or whatever. And it's just such a dramatic theatrical type of sport. It was interesting. Yeah, for sure. Those are some of my highlights.   [00:15:48.770] - Kim That's awesome. Because I know I saw some of the restaurant experiences you had. It seemed like sometimes you guys went simple and basic, but other times you went really over the top. Anything in Tokyo that you think somebody should splurge on or any savings tips for food or eating in Tokyo other than the restaurants making the reservations?   [00:16:08.160] - Tamara Yeah, we did mostly the casual places in Tokyo. What I was trying to do, because I'm not a sushi eater, is have a variety of foods. And in Japan, all the restaurants really specialize in one thing. They do ramen, they do tempura, they do soba noodles, different things like that. So there's so many different styles of food to try within Japanese cuisine that we just booked a different style of food each night. And honestly, in some of them, we had to line up for the first night that we got there, we went to a place where it opened up five, and we got there at 445, and there was already probably 40 people in line for a 10 seat little place. And you basically you would wait till there was enough space in line. There was people sitting at the counter eating and then people standing behind them waiting for the second that they got up to sit in.   [00:16:56.790] - Kim Their seat. Oh, my goodness.   [00:16:57.810] - Tamara Oh, wow. And you had a vending machine, which is typical. Yeah, a vending machine to order from. So it's typical in a lot of ramen shops. So there's pictures and you just hit the button of what you want. You put in the money, you get a ticket and you hand.   [00:17:11.650] - Kim The person the ticket. That's like McDonald's.   [00:17:13.780] - Tamara Yeah. I'm just kidding. Those.   [00:17:16.820] - Kim Screams in the middle. They have one at Tim Horton's as well. So of.   [00:17:20.940] - Tamara Course, I made a mistake the first time because I saw people with a broth, which I thought was a ramen, and then a bowl of noodles. And I'm like, oh, that's so I saw on the machine that they had dipping noodles and they had ramen. And then you could add extra things, but only if you could tell what the picture was because it was otherwise in Japanese. And so I ordered dipping noodles because it looked really good and ramen because I thought that that's what people had. And then when I handed the girl the ticket, she was like, for one person?   [00:17:51.710] - Kim Oh, no. And she was like, you.   [00:17:53.890] - Tamara Want small or large? Because I was like, oh, is that not what they have? And she was like, no, they have. Because the dipping noodles come with a broth, so I thought it was that they had two.   [00:18:02.980] - Kim Different things in front of them. Oh, and bologna.   [00:18:04.650] - Tamara Yeah. Okay, got you. But I'm really glad that I did it because both were delicious. So I'm happy to sample both. But then Glenn ordered on his ramen, Scallions, and it was covered. It was like a mountain of Scallions because I was like extra. But it was like, if you get extra cheese on a pizza, it's like extra.   [00:18:23.110] - Kim Extra extra. Oh, my goodness. Crazy. I mean, I love Scallions, but I don't know if I could handle the mountain of them.   [00:18:27.560] - Tamara It was crazy. So you make those little mistakes. But we did a lot of the more casual things. And the hard thing is that honestly, I kept saying this, but there's very little in between. So there are the places where you... First of all, Japanese people love to line up, which is really hard when you're visiting and you're tired and you want to be able to eat with a certain time. People wait for two hours to get into this little ramen place or whatever. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, because you're like, I'm tired. I've been running all day. We were running like 5 to 9 miles. We were doing a lot of walking every day. So I'm like, I just want to sit down. So that's why we tried to do some reservations. But there were the really casual, inexpensive, really inexpensive places. And then there's the crazy, crazy high end... Some of the Sushi places, I'm like, there's no way. Because some of them charge up to like $500.   [00:19:19.820] - Kim A person. Oh, my goodness.   [00:19:21.930] - Tamara Insane. That's crazy. So there's just not a lot of middle ground is what I found. Okay, good to know. But the low end, not low end, but the inexpensive stuff is really good.   [00:19:31.970] - Kim Yeah, of course. You just have to go on to wait for it.   [00:19:35.440] - Tamara Yeah, exactly. And honestly, one day... So we had a bit of a rough start because Glenn had a stomach bug the day before we left. So the whole flight over and everything, he basically didn't eat for a couple of days. And then I had a really bad cold the day before we left. And for two days, I was so nervous, I'm testing. I'm like, Please.   [00:19:57.490] - Kim Don't let it be.   [00:19:58.350] - Tamara And it was. And it was just a cold, but I was still super congested, so it was just hard. And in Japanese society, you can't blow.   [00:20:06.290] - Kim Your nose.   [00:20:06.970] - Tamara In public. So I'm trying to be so discreet, going outside and blowing my nose and sanitizing and tucking it into my pocket know, like very... Like trying to be really conscious of that and trying to be super sanitary. But Hannah did end up getting a cold also. One day she was just not feeling up to going out and doing a tour and stuff. So we're like, just stay here and sleep. It was going to be the day that we toured one neighborhood and then we went to the sumo wrestling, and she wasn't super into that anyway. So we're just sleep. And then she went out on her own and she found a 7 11 because just like everybody says, 7 11 has amazing convenience food. So you can buy these really good sandwiches and all that stuff. So there's definitely plenty of ways that you can eat cheap there.   [00:20:56.090] - Kim That's good to know. So then from Tokyo, you went to Kyoto? Yes. Kyoto is such a different vibe. Yeah, the bullet train, right?   [00:21:05.570] - Tamara Yeah. So a couple of things to know about the bullet train is that we had gotten the JR pass, which allows you to use all the JR trains. We got the national ones, so you could use bullet trains as well, except the super fast ones weren't included. And we had gotten one that allows us to make seat reservations. And you also, if you're bringing luggage on the train, you now need to make a reservation for the luggage. And this is for more of a checked bag size luggage, not the carry on size. But we were there for two weeks, so we had checked bags. So you can make a reservation for the last row of seats where the luggage can go behind you, or there's a couple of spots on a luggage rack, but they're really cutting down on luggage on trains. Or you can ship your bags ahead, which we ended up actually a couple of times just shipping our bags ahead. And it only costs $20 a bag. It's waiting for you in the hotel when you get there. It takes 24 hours. So you need to have a small bag with all your stuff for.   [00:22:06.140] - Kim Then one day. Yeah.   [00:22:07.320] - Tamara But we took the bullet train and that worked really well. We saw Mount Fuji because it was a nice day out. So and we ended up like, we got to Kyoto and we just put our bags in a locker and then we took a local train out to Nara, which is about a half hour away or so, maybe 45 minutes. And there's a really beautiful, huge temple out there. But also it's known for their deer park, which Glenn, years ago, because we both work for a Japanese company, so he's been to Japan many times, but 25 years ago. And so he would always tell us about the deer in Nara that bow to you to get fed. Oh, right. And the deer have changed a bit in the last few years.   [00:22:53.320] - Kim Yes. I've heard about this stuff. They have this issue at the monkey place, too.   [00:22:57.310] - Tamara They were so aggressive. That's too bad. They were grabbing my shirt and pulling on my shirt. They nipped my butt. I'm like, Whoa. I feel like all these videos of Glenn and I trying to run away from the deer and we're like, Oh, no. Let's just get away from where the food is so that the deer are calmer. But it's funny because later in the trip, we went to the island of Miyajima, and they have wild deer there also. And one of them followed me into the visitor center, went over to the desk, grabbed a brochure, and then ran out.   [00:23:29.250] - Kim Because they like to get the paper.   [00:23:31.240] - Tamara And so the person comes running out behind the desk, yelling at the deer. And then there's three people in the street trying to wrestle the paper away from the deer.   [00:23:39.390] - Kim Oh, my goodness.   [00:23:40.590] - Tamara And I'm like, You think of deer in the headlights, these gentle creatures.   [00:23:45.240] - Kim Yeah, exactly. It's sad when humanity is like, Yeah, I won't get there.   [00:23:51.560] - Tamara No, it's definitely because there's too many tourists now. They're being fed. Definitely not a great situation. But we did enjoy the day trip out there. Yeah, for sure. I love everything about Japan. It's just so clean and orderly and polite and easy to figure out. My type A personality just really appreciates the order of things. I would like that too. The fact that everybody stands in a line and waits and then you get on when you get on. I love that because in a society where everyone's pushing or whatever, I get.   [00:24:27.400] - Kim Super stressed out. Oh, my gosh, I hated it. We were on a cruise, a European cruise, and that attracts a lot of Europeans. I thought, Oh, you wait in line for your turn to go get your food that you want served. But no, people just come up from other directions and just walk right up. There's no line concept. I'm like, Oh, I like lines. What am I supposed to do? So sorry.   [00:24:49.240] - Tamara I get that. You would love Japan. I think it's such a wonderful place to visit. I think there must be challenges if you live there within the culture. I recognize that I used to work for a Japanese company. I'm aware of many of those issues, but as a visitor, it makes it so pleasant. But anyway, I was going to say that they have lockers where you can store things. Everything is just easy. The trains, everything is in Japanese and English.   [00:25:19.260] - Kim I know they did a big push with that before the Olympics were going to be there. They were trying to...   [00:25:25.180] - Tamara And all of the trains have signs that say what the next stop is. Because sometimes you're on a subway and you're trying to look and you're like, Oh, yeah. They might not answer, but you're like, What was that?   [00:25:36.320] - Kim What did they say?   [00:25:37.460] - Tamara That's Charlie Brown's.   [00:25:38.740] - Kim Teacher talking to you. Exactly. I've had that happen so many times.   [00:25:43.040] - Tamara So that part was great. And Kyoto is just very different. So it is more traditional in the architecture. They preserved a lot of the traditional architecture. There's tons of shrines and temple s o that's the thing is that you could get a little shrine and templed out, but the architecture is so beautiful. There is a downtown center city that's more city like, but it's nothing like Tokyo.   [00:26:09.310] - Kim Or Nagasaki. I remember when we were looking to stay in Kyoto, I seem to recall because we were going to go during... We were hoping for cherry blossom season, but I seem to recall there it's still pretty spread out and there's little neighborhoods in Kyoto even. It's like, okay, this one has more of this vibe and this one I can't remember where we were staying, but I was looking at the different things and getting the bamboo forest, like, oh, well, I'd have to leave here and we want to be near a train station.   [00:26:32.970] - Tamara All those plans. Yeah, you do want to be near a train station because the metro system is not as well developed there. So we took a mix of busses, GR trains, private trains that you paid for the same way you'd pay for a subway. But when we stayed at the Hyatt Regency, which was probably about a 10 minute walk to one of the train stations, but there was a bus that stopped right outside that then went to the main Kyoto station, which is where we would get on to go to the bamboo forest. And then, yeah, so it was conveniently located, but you definitely needed to plan your travel because some of those destinations, especially many of them were taking slower local trains, and they could still take 45 minutes to.   [00:27:26.150] - Kim An hour. That was one of the things in my planning that was the hardest is recognizing that there are so many different train lines, like brands, and you might have a pass with one, but it doesn't necessarily mean you can go on every train that's coming in. So it's an interesting thing that I've never... I'm sure maybe it's in other places around the world, but it's not something we think about in the states at all.   [00:27:49.420] - Tamara The nice thing, though, is that we had our JR pass, which, by the way, I don't even know if they're going to be that useful after this fall because the price is almost doubling. It's going up. It's having some. Unless ticket prices are going up a lot also, you might just want to buy individual tickets.   [00:28:04.190] - Kim Individual.   [00:28:04.600] - Tamara Ticket, yeah. But we bought, as soon as we got, we had ordered the JR passes ahead, so we had our voucher that we had to turn in to get the actual pass. Then we went to an ATM because you needed cash for a lot of things. We have to also use cash to get an IC card. So this is the rechargeable card that you would use to get on the metro or the bus or something like that. But the nice thing is that unlike, Oh, I'm going to New York, I need a metro card. I'm going to this place, I need that card for their.   [00:28:32.660] - Kim Subway system. Yeah, like Long Island Railroad and Metro card.   [00:28:35.370] - Tamara Yeah, exactly. This card worked for all of them. And it also works for a lot of vending machines.   [00:28:41.990] - Kim Some convenient stores.   [00:28:42.850] - Tamara Yeah, the vending machine.   [00:28:43.690] - Kim I forgot. And you reload it always with cash, though? You always have to reload it only cash. You can't reload it with cash.   [00:28:48.300] - Tamara Yeah, which is so bizarre. It's like this is a digital payment system and I'm loading it with cash.   [00:28:53.590] - Kim I wonder if it's because they want to make sure that you're actually paying for it. They don't want you to just be able to dispute it and have gotten the ride for free or gotten the food for free. You know what I mean? I wonder if it's a culture thing.   [00:29:04.840] - Tamara I do know that it used to be, before COVID, a very cash based society. Now more and more places will take a credit card. And if you have, there's a lot of... Not many places take Apple Pay, but a lot of them do take a tap payment system, but more one that they have in Asia. I don't know if it's really worth signing up and trying to figure that out. Got you. I just basically used my.   [00:29:28.420] - Kim Chip credit card. The IC card and.   [00:29:30.030] - Tamara The card anytime for that. And the IC card for the metro, the bus, some vending machines, some required cash still. But yeah, it's just super convenient. So even though there are different trains, so yeah, maybe you can't use your free pass, not for you because you.   [00:29:44.710] - Kim Paid a lot for it.   [00:29:45.480] - Tamara But it's still pretty easy to get around.   [00:29:49.930] - Kim Yeah, it's good. That's great. And I do want to quickly, before we jump over to finishing up Kyoto and going to Asaka, I did want to mention something that you did that I think was brilliant because I even had looked into doing it when we were planning our trip. And that was you had someone meet you at the airport, right?   [00:30:05.450] - Tamara Yeah, I did. And don't do it. At least not for the company that I did. Okay, here we go. You and I had talked about it. I think it was about $75 to $100. It was the company that I bought the JR Pass from. I also arranged to rent a mobile hotspot, so that was taken care of ahead of time to pick up at the airport. And I arranged to have a greeter meet us after customs. And then what I was told was that that greeter would then take me to do the things I need to do at the airport, which would be pick up my mobile hotspot, exchange my JR Pass, get my IC card, find where I need to go to get my transfer.   [00:30:45.390] - Kim Get the train.   [00:30:46.220] - Tamara I figured, hey, it's not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things.   [00:30:51.800] - Kim And especially.   [00:30:52.310] - Tamara After traveling.   [00:30:52.820] - Kim For 20 hours.   [00:30:53.250] - Tamara And I want to be jet lived. Yeah, exactly. This will be useful. It was such a waste of money because first I'm trying to talk to the guy, I'm like, okay, we need to go to an ATM, and he's not even understanding what I'm saying. I'm like, You're a greeter. I'm not coming in there with like, everyone should speak English, but his job is.   [00:31:11.680] - Kim To meet people. When you pay people. Yeah, exactly. I know a lot of times they'll have if you want to in English or if you want to in... You can specify a language, but.   [00:31:20.330] - Tamara It seems like it's... Yeah. So one person had my name up and then she called this guy over. So it's like a service they do for multiple people. They had multiple greeters there. I don't know if I just got an inexperienced person, but I went to the counter of the mobile WiFi hotspot place and that person spoke perfect English, no trouble communicating at all.   [00:31:40.320] - Kim And it was easy to find. And you were able to easily find everything.   [00:31:42.690] - Tamara Yeah. I mean, he led me there, but I could have found it on my own, no problem. And then I was trying to explain that I wanted to go to the JR ticket office to get our pass, but also see if he could help us make reservations. Yeah, exactly. Because I wanted to make the reservations as soon as I had my pass because I wanted to try to get the luggage reservations. And he was just like, Oh, no, they don't do reservations here. And I'm like, Oh, well, that's part of why I wanted to pay for this service because I wanted somebody to help me translate what my need was. And meanwhile, we were back and forth, just not understanding each other. So then I get in line at the JR ticket office. I get up there, perfect English from the person that's behind the desk, completely easy to talk to. They didn't make the reservations there. They told me where to go in the Tokyo station or Shinchu station, whatever, which I did the next day. That person also spoke really good English, was able to communicate no problem. And then I was trying to explain that I want to get an IC card.   [00:32:38.620] - Tamara And he was like, Well, you can get the one that requires a deposit or not a deposit. I'm like, I don't care? Can you just tell me where? And he didn't know where to go. Finally, the guy that was behind me in line at the JR ticket office was like, Oh, you want this line right here. And I'm like, Thank you. Then I'm like, What? Then I had arranged for an airport limo bus to take us from the airport directly to our hotel. I just thought first day, and it's really, it's inexpensive. Taxis there are very expensive, but this is inexpensive. And instead of having to drag some bags on multiple trains and subways, I thought it's easy. And so I was like, I thought all that would take us an hour and a half, maybe, from the time we arrived. So I had booked a later bus, but it was really quick to do all of it. So I was like, Oh, maybe we can get an earlier bus. So I was trying to get him to help us with that. No. So I ended up just doing it on my phone. But then he had to come down and he was like, No, I have to wait.   [00:33:42.890] - Tamara Because I was like, Okay, we're all set. Thank you. Bye. And he's like, No, I have to wait till you get on the bus. I'm like, All right, well, can you just stand over there? Because I'm like, I'm done.   [00:33:52.120] - Kim Yeah, exactly. You did not help me. Wow. Okay, well, that's good tip. Good to know.   [00:33:56.970] - Tamara What not to.   [00:33:58.150] - Kim Do, I guess. What not, yeah. No, I mean, it's good because I had considered that too because I was thinking the same thing like, Oh, my gosh, how am I going to get my pass? I was thinking all that same stuff.   [00:34:07.930] - Tamara Cool. I think a lot of things with travel, it feels so overwhelming. But once you're there, you're like, Oh, this is not as bad as I.   [00:34:13.260] - Kim Thought it was going to be. Well, especially in a country that you can't even get around with. It's like, Oh, I speak a little Spanish. I speak a little French. It's just like, None of that's going to help you. You don't want to go in being a ignorant traveler who's just like, Oh, why don't you speak my language in your country? Exactly. I can't stand people like that. But anyways, okay, good to know. Anything else about Kyoto you wanted to mention? I did think it was awesome, your little tip about the bamboo forest. It wasn't really a tip, but I was so happy that you had that experience because I heard the same thing.   [00:34:44.990] - Tamara When I was there, even, I saw some people on Instagram that seem to be there at the same time, but a couple of days before me. And they showed just this mass of people walking through. Because the word is out that for many of these things, you need to get there early. And so even if you show up at 7 AM, there's still this massive crowd of people funneling through this little area. And I don't want to do that. It was an hour away. No one's getting up at 5 AM to get to a place by 7 or whatever just to take a photo. My family doesn't roll like that. They're like, I don't really care about your photo. We just want to see it. And so we decided to sleep in a little bit. We went, we had lunch, then we went to the monkey forest. And I will say the whole Arashima area is, for a touristy area, so much nicer than I expected. It was really lovely. And there's a really pretty river that runs along that on some days you can run boats. It was really nice. Anyway, so we went to the monkey park first because Glenn loves monkeys, although it's such a steep climb up there, he was like, This better be worth it.   [00:35:53.700] - Tamara Actually, there was a fan of it that was like, This better be worth it for your monkeys. But it was cool. We saw a lot of baby monkeys. The monkeys were not aggressive at all. They just hung out as long as you followed the rules. You weren't staring at them in the eyes to challenge them or something. Then we went to a temple, then we went to the forest. So we got to the Grove, not really a forest. It's much smaller than you think it's going to be. We got there maybe like 2.30, 3 o'clock, and it was fine. There was people there, but no crush of crowd and plenty of space to have a photo. Yeah, there's people in the background, but that's fine. Honestly, we just wanted a couple of family photos. I'm not going to win an Instagram competition over it, but it was nice. And it's really beautiful. It's really pretty. But sometimes I think doing the opposite of what everyone says.   [00:36:47.700] - Kim You should do and work out. Especially when it's been around for so long, people are saying do that because it's very much like, oh, the gates open at seven. And so everyone who's built up, it's just like Disneyland. People say, oh, rope drop, rope drop. And you get there. And if you get there late, there's such a long line to get in. And then people come 30 minutes after opening and they walked right up to the turnstiles. There's something about that.   [00:37:10.900] - Tamara Yeah. And I looked at Google Maps is wonderful. It was so helpful for the travel, figuring out the trains because it would say what platform, but also what car to get on if you were transferring. And then when you were leaving the station, what exit to take because those train stations are huge. So you're like, you don't know where you are when you come out. So it was really, really helpful. And it would tell you like eight minutes, 3 stops, here's the name of your stop. This is how much it's going to cost. It was really very helpful. But you can also look for attractions, and it'll show you the busiest times, like a little graph.   [00:37:47.100] - Kim Yes, for sure.   [00:37:47.990] - Tamara I was like, Okay, it looks like 10 to 2 is super busy. Who knows how accurate it is, but let's go.   [00:37:53.690] - Kim After it. I have a good article about how I use Google Maps and you can make a custom and saver on map to help you with your planning to help see stuff for not just road trips, but also when you're planning a city vacation. But that's a good thing. I always forget about how they have that busy season section. I should add that to my post because.   [00:38:11.540] - Tamara That's a.   [00:38:12.160] - Kim Useful thing.   [00:38:13.300] - Tamara When you're trying to figure out, especially for public transportation, many times the night before, I would look like, Oh, how long is it going to take? Because we need to know what time should we be done breakfast? What time do we need to leave? I like that there's a little drop down where you can say when you're departing or when you want to arrive because it changes. Especially public transportation may not have as many trains when you're looking late at night versus when you're going in the morning.   [00:38:42.000] - Kim Totally. That's awesome. I always worry about the train, the car thing, because even in New York, sometimes I've been like... Because I'm not used to using trains often. When I first started going to New York and doing that, the Long Island Rail Railroad and stuff, they have certain cars they don't open the doors to all the time. During different hours of the day. I'm always like, Oh, how do I know what car I'm in? It's definitely one of those Charlie Brown teacher's voices. Sometimes I'm like, I have no idea where I'm at.   [00:39:10.980] - Tamara That's the other great thing. In Japan, it's like, on the avement on the platform, it has numbers. So it's like, you know exactly what car that's going to be. Oh, man. And then everyone lines up single file behind those on either side of the.   [00:39:26.830] - Kim Door for.   [00:39:27.350] - Tamara Everyone to come out and then they go on.   [00:39:29.780] - Kim It's lovely. Lovely. Nice. Okay, so then your last little stop was OSAKA. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that? Because I had planned that we were going to fly into Tokyo and out of OSAKA, but you ended up going back to Tokyo to go home. But what did you do in Osaka?   [00:39:45.130] - Tamara Yeah, flying out of OSAKA would be ideal, but for us, Delta doesn't do that. So we had to go back to Tokyo. So OSAKA is known as the Japan's Kitchen, so it's known for its street food. So I knew I wanted to take a food tour when we were there because it's just that's really one of the things it's well known for. So I ended up... We actually got there, we explored a little bit. We did the... You made a sky building, which actually Glenn did not do. No surprise that when we went up high, especially there's these glass enclosed elevators that go between two towers on the 39th floor. And he was like, Are you kidding me? No way am I doing that. So Hannah and I did that. And then that night we actually went to a baseball game, which was really fun because Japanese culture is really into baseball. And it was like being at a college game in a way because they were playing Hiroshima, so that's not far away. Half the stadium were Buffalo fans and half the stadium were carp fans and they all sat on the right side.   [00:40:49.140] - Tamara So it's like one half was red, one half was white. And they each had a cheering section in a band. And so you felt like you were a little bit at a college game with the marching band thing. It was a lot of fun. But then the next day we took a food tour with Arrogato Travel, and they have food tours in multiple cities. If you want to do a food tour in any of the cities, I would definitely recommend them. The guide was amazing.   [00:41:13.870] - Kim It seemed like you had a really good time.   [00:41:15.920] - Tamara Yeah, she was really wonderful. She had lived in the US for a little bit. I think she went to the University of Wisconsin. She lived somewhere else in the Midwest, too, but it's just such a funky, fun city. We toured this area called Shenzakai. It was built after World War II to attract Westerners and has more of a Coney Island vibe is what they were going for. It has carnival games and all these street food things. It's just so funky and retro. I think anywhere else I would have been like, Oh, this is cheesy. But it was actually really cool. And all throughout that area and the Dontambury area of Osaka, all of the food places, it's like Vegas for food places because they all have these three-dimensional facades with a giant octopus or a giant crab, and they're moving and lit up, and it's just so funky. There was one place where you could fish for your own fish, and then they cook it for you. It's almost hard to describe, but it is just bright lights, really funky, interesting, but lots of street food, lots of fried food on a stick, or like.   [00:42:30.660] - Kim A fair.   [00:42:31.420] - Tamara No, I'm just kidding. And the takeyaki octopus balls is like, that's where that's from. So that's like really huge. Afterwards, we went to the Don Donburi and we had Okonomiyaki. My family always laughs at me because for some reason I could never get this out. And Hannah and Glenn are like, Why can you not say this word? But Okonomiyaki, so it's like the Pancake type of thing with egg and cabbage and other things thrown in that they make on a griddle in front of you. So they have it in Kyoto and other places, but it's really known there. And in Hiroshima also, they have slightly different versions. That was just fun. So to do all the street food stuff, to have the good food tour, we really loved that. And then on our last, what was supposed to be our last day, we went to Hiroshima and we did a tour. I have a whole itinerary where it has a link to the tour company that I booked. Our guide was really sweet. He was wonderful. I highly recommend that. So we did the whole atomic bomb dome and museum, which was really heavy, obviously.   [00:43:36.130] - Tamara And you have very confused feelings.   [00:43:39.080] - Kim About it. Yeah, being.   [00:43:40.620] - Tamara A member. Our role in that. But then we went to Miyajima Island, which is just a short, like, ferry ride. And it is just beautiful. We were there, it was raining. So there was all these mist and clouds on the mountains. And it just had this magical feel to it. But it was such a... I would love to spend a night there. It wasn't overcrowded, but when the people left, have.   [00:44:07.840] - Kim It more to.   [00:44:08.650] - Tamara Yourself type of thing. But there's a really famous Tori Gate that's in the water that looks high tide like it's floating, or when we were there during low tide, so you can walk out to it. And just a shrine. It's just a really pretty lush... That's one thing that really, I don't know why it surprised me, but Japan, outside the cities, it's so lush. You're like, Oh, right. These are islands.   [00:44:34.300] - Kim Yeah.   [00:44:35.380] - Tamara And that's why I liked about Kyoto too, because it's like a city that's nestled in a valley surrounded by these lush mountains. Not like towering.   [00:44:43.150] - Kim Mountains, but these really lush. And it has a nice little river or stream or something through it too.   [00:44:47.450] - Tamara So that was how we finished. I loved that. And then unfortunately, then we got stuck in a delay on a train coming back because there was a lot of rain. And then we found out our train for the next day to get back to Tokyo in time for our plane was canceled and we were hoping it was going to be all fixed by the morning. But Glenn woke up at five and he said it wasn't. And so then we were up for a couple of hours trying to figure out, what are we going to do? Because we were like, oh, we'll fly up to Tokyo. And by then, all the planes were booked until 3 PM. But we had a 625 flight and we would have had to get our luggage, get to another terminal, recheck it. We're like, that's never going to work. If we get there at 415 or I don't know, it was 435 o'clock or something is when we would have arrived. Never would have worked. So we're like, all right, let's see if we can stay an extra night here and let's book stuff for tomorrow. And let's call Delta and see if they can switch us.   [00:45:40.700] - Tamara So then we had such a long travel day home because we flew from Osaka to Tokyo. And then we had to do Tokyo to LAX instead of Tokyo. We were booked on a Tokyo to Atlanta. So then at least the last little leg is short. Then we're in LAX for four hours.   [00:46:00.110] - Kim Then you had a six hour flight.   [00:46:02.380] - Tamara Well, and then it ended up being delayed. So we came out, we were luckily at the lounge and we actually went on the patio. The Delta Lounge in LAX has a patio, so it's loud but it was really good. It was just nice to get fresh air.   [00:46:16.400] - Kim After all.   [00:46:16.980] - Tamara That time. I actually went and I took a shower. I didn't even have any clothes. We had even checked everything, so I didn't even have any clothes to change into. But I'm like, I'm just taking a shower anyway. Yeah, for sure. And so then we came out of the lounge. We're like, Go to the gate. They're like, Oh, we're waiting on a crew member still. We're going to wait to board you. And then they started boarding us. We're like, Okay, I guess everything's all set. And then we're sitting on the plane and an hour later, they're like, Okay, the pilot's now in the parking lot.   [00:46:42.550] - Kim And we're like.   [00:46:43.320] - Tamara Oh, my gosh. Seriously? It was the pilot. They weren't even on premises when you boarded us. So we were delayed a couple hours. So we ended up... We got home at 315 in the morning. We'd been going for 30 hours, I think, or more, like 33 hours maybe.   [00:47:02.380] - Kim That one did you have? Did you have any of the upgraded seating for any of those legs?   [00:47:06.890] - Tamara Luckily, because we had booked our tickets in premium select, which if you know Delta, there's like Delta 1, which is like the nice pod lay flat thing. Then there's premium select, which has like a footrest that comes out and it reclines, but not like all the way, but it reclines some. Then there's comfort plus, which is basically like a regular seat with a little.   [00:47:26.290] - Kim More leg room. Like me coming.   [00:47:28.590] - Tamara So the reason we went through LAX is that's what we could get for premium economy. Oh, good. Okay. I mean, premium select on that, the longest leg from Tokyo to LAX. Then LAX to Boston doesn't have that. So I think we were in, I think, we were in Comfort Plus. I don't even know at that point. I was uncomfortable, that's for sure. But yeah. And then we flew into Boston, which we had flown out of Providence. So my car is still in Providence. So I had to get a car service to pick us up, bring us back. T he next day I'm like, Hannah, can you drive me down to get my car? Whatever. That's a.   [00:48:03.840] - Kim Whole long story. It worked out. It sounds like you guys had an amazing trip and it was awesome. I know, like I said already and mentioned, Tamara has quite a few blog posts and she'll link them in the show notes, but you can also just go to Wee 3 Travel. I'm sure it's pretty easy to find them, but I know she has all of her itineraries that are if you guys know Tamara, they're very in-depth with a lot of detail. So super helpful if you're thinking of planning a trip. I think it was great. I'm glad you guys had a good time and glad I got to hear about it a little more.   [00:48:31.780] - Tamara Yeah, it was definitely a bucket list trip. I think being there and being together as a family was wonderful. I think we all acknowledged, we don't know when we're going to have that opportunity again. Just know Hannah is going to be very busy the next few years. S he's going to be more than happy to take a trip with us when she can. We might just know when that will be.   [00:48:52.240] - Kim Exactly.   [00:48:52.840] - Tamara I'm glad.   [00:48:53.360] - Kim We got to do it. Yeah, that's awesome. Perfect.   [00:48:56.710] - Tamara What's next?   [00:48:58.290] - Kim I don't even know. You're like, What day is it? What month is it? Exactly. The big thing on my agenda, I'm trying to take the summer off a little bit. We do have a trip up to Canada to visit family coming right up for Canada Day. Happy Canada Day to those of you Canadians that might be listening. Then happy fourth of July to the US Americans that are listening. We are doing that. Then I have a fun trip. You'll be moving Hannah back to school, but I am going to be flying to Kenya and doing a Simara J. W. Marriott stay, which I just got a steal on points for. I'm using points to fly some nice flights as well. That's what's coming up for me. My fall is going to be crazy and booked again, but at least I have. It looks like I'm trying to keep my summer a little more calm. Although that Africa trip, I cannot wait. It's during the Wilder Beast migration. That's a pretty big trip to be. I'm really excited. It's going to be during the Wilder Beast migration, too. So hopefully we'll get some amazing pictures. I got to rent a lens, it reminds me.   [00:50:04.360] - Tamara I was telling somebody about the points deal that you got on that. Everyone just can't even believe it. What a lucky straw.   [00:50:11.400] - Kim That was. Oh, my gosh, it was amazing. I don't know if this would work always, but I'm just a little tip for you guys, if you guys are points people. If you know of any future opening hotels that haven't opened yet, that are opening in the future, just maybe keep an eye on their points rates because that's what happened. This hotel hadn't opened yet. It was opening in April, and in February or something, I saw someone mentioned, Oh, my goodness, they've got nights for 20,000, 20 ish thousand points a night. With Marriott, if you book five nights with points, you only pay for four nights. So it's like book five nights, get one free thing. I don't know how to.   [00:50:49.500] - Tamara Explain it, but you get it. And it's an all inclusive property.   [00:50:51.920] - Kim It's all inclusive property. So all the game drives are included, all the meals are included, everything. I'm paying 93,000 points total for five nights for two people.   [00:51:00.640] - Tamara That's like one night at a nice city hotel.   [00:51:04.320] - Kim Yeah, I know. I was looking at a Fairfield Inn in New York in January, and there were like 65,000 points. So it gives you a little idea there. But anyways, so that's what's up for me. But what about you?   [00:51:14.810] - Tamara As you hear this, I will probably either be in Scotland or Wales, depends on how quickly I get this out. So I leave shortly for a week with a couple of other travel writers, a week in Scotland, a week in Wales, and then I'm going to be home for a couple of weeks. And then I'm actually going to have two weeks in France, which I don't think I've even had a chance to tell you about. But I'm going to do... Glenn and I are going to go to France. We're doing the Taste of Bordeaux River cruise on Amman Waterways. Oh, nice. And then something else that came up. I was invited to do a press trip on European Waterways, which does hotel barge cruises. And I was trying to look at dates in the fall, but they didn't have any availability. But they're like, Well, how about this one on August sixth, which would have been the day I was flying back from France. I was like, Well, I will already be in France. It's to an area that I've been to before. So I was hoping to see something new, but I think it just works out for me to do this back to back, a more traditional river cruise versus a hotel barge cruise just to have these new experiences because I'm not a big ship person, but I'm definitely been wanting to try some of these other types of things.   [00:52:28.570] - Tamara And my friend Michelle is going to come join me for that one because Glenn can't stay for the two weeks.   [00:52:33.830] - Kim Take off that whole time.   [00:52:34.800] - Tamara That's awesome. And then as soon as I get back, Hannah will come back and we have one day at home and then we fly her to Arizona.   [00:52:43.570] - Kim Okie dokey. Well, thank you guys for tuning in again. If you're still with us and still listening, as you can see, we have a few trips on the agenda, so we're not quite sure when we'll make another episode. But as always, we always appreciate you guys tuning in and we'll try to share again soon.   [00:52:58.280] - Tamara Yeah, hopefully, maybe the end of the summer.   [00:53:00.250] - Kim Talk to you later.   [00:53:01.640] - Tamara All right, bye bye.

In the wake of yet another tragic mass shooting--and we're averaging two per day this year in the US--Americans are again asking the question what can be done. The response of the GOP: "Nothing." That's their plan and it has worked so far to make the U.S. a very dangerous place. So what can we do to help combat this national gun pathology? On this episode of "Words Matter" Dr. Kavita Patel, Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf discuss. Don't miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of yet another tragic mass shooting--and we're averaging two per day this year in the US--Americans are again asking the question what can be done. The response of the GOP: "Nothing." That's their plan and it has worked so far to make the U.S. a very dangerous place. So what can we do to help combat this national gun pathology? On this episode of "Words Matter" Dr. Kavita Patel, Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf discuss. Don't miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of yet another tragic mass shooting--and we're averaging two per day this year in the US--Americans are again asking the question what can be done. The response of the GOP: "Nothing." That's their plan and it has worked so far to make the U.S. a very dangerous place. So what can we do to help combat this national gun pathology? On this episode of "Words Matter" Dr. Kavita Patel, Norm Ornstein and David Rothkopf discuss. Don't miss it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Vladimir Kozin discusses the Ukraine conflict and explains that Kiev and NATO are the aggressors against the Russian Federation. The U.S. is threatening the use of nuclear weapons on NATO's eastern flank and has abrogated all arms control agreements. There is little no communication between either side. The Pentagon has stated this war of attrition will continue for at least five years. The western and eastern blocs are fast approaching a Third World War. He comments on Western "state terrorism" (e.g. Nord Stream), Color Revolutions, and believes COVID-19 was a U.S. biological weapon. The West seeks a strategic Russian defeat but Dr. Kozin believes Moscow will win. Watch On BitChute / Brighteon / Rokfin / Rumble / PentagonTube Geopolitics & Empire · Vladimir Kozin: Western & Eastern Blocs Fast Approaching Third World War #358 *Support Geopolitics & Empire! Become a Member https://geopoliticsandempire.substack.comDonate https://geopoliticsandempire.com/donationsConsult https://geopoliticsandempire.com/consultation **Visit Our Affiliates & Sponsors! Above Phone https://abovephone.com/?above=geopoliticseasyDNS (use code GEOPOLITICS for 15% off!) https://easydns.comEscape The Technocracy course (15% discount using link) https://escapethetechnocracy.com/geopoliticsPassVult https://passvult.comSociatates Civis (CitizenHR, CitizenIT, CitizenPL) https://societates-civis.comWise Wolf Gold https://www.wolfpack.gold/?ref=geopolitics TRANSCRIPT Geopolitics & Empire: Geopolitics & Empire is joined by Dr. Vladimir Kozin, who's a member of the Russian Academy of Military Sciences, vice president of the Russian National Institute for Global Security Research, winner of the Colonel-General Varfolomei Korobushin Reward from the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, and a leading expert at the Center for Military Political Studies of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. That's a mouthful. Welcome to Geopolitics & Empire, Dr. Kozin. Dr. Vladimir Kozin: Well, thank you very much. Geopolitics & Empire: Well, we met briefly in 2017 in Moscow when you spoke to our group, which toured Russia with Sharon Tennison. I'm not a Russian agent. Us Americans, we're simply engaging in peace diplomacy because we were worried about what's happening now. We were worried about just that happening. Do you recall those days speaking at Sharon Tennison's events? Dr. Vladimir Kozin: Well, unfortunately, when we met that time, you have already specified a long time ago, the situation was totally different. Ukraine attacked Donbas and killed a lot of civilians in that area sometimes previously belonged to the Russian Federation before 1922, but the situation was not so dramatic and dangerous as it is nowadays because at that time, when you and your colleagues from Sharon's organization visited Moscow and talked to me, there was only one aggressor against Donbas, namely Ukraine. But currently, we are confronted with a combination of aggressors, mainly Ukraine, plus NATO alliance. And unlike in the past, when aggressor was launched against two republics inside Donbas, currently it's a direct aggression of Ukraine plus NATO against not Donbas, but against the Russian Federation. I have to explain shortly this phenomena because since last October, two republics in Donbas, namely Donetsk People's Republic, and Luhansk People's Republic, plus Zaporizhzhia region or Oblast in Russian and Kherson region, they joined voluntarily of the Russian Federation. And when we are talking to you, they are 100% accurate subjects of the Russian Federation since 2022 October. The Crimea Republic joined the Russian Federation in 2014. So, that's the gist of the situation in that part of Europe. The second issue, when we met before in Moscow, there was not so dramatic situation with nuclear weapons, threats to use it. Threats to use it came not from the Russian Fe...

TODAY'S SPONSORSYour blood sugar levels significantly impact how your body feels and functions. Nutrisense combines cutting-edge technology and human expertise so you can see how your body responds to different food, exercise, stress and sleep in real time. By pairing a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) with their app and expert dietitian guidance, Nutrisense can help you reach your health goals.Head to nutrisense.io/sugar and use the promo code SUGAR to get $30 off & one month of free dietitian support!TODAY'S GUESTThomas Hemingway MD is a holistic and integrative Medical Doctor whom lives and shares his philosophy of PREVENTION over PRESCRIPTION.  He is passionate about Natural Health and Healing through Simple, yet Powerful Daily Practices which can be LIFE SAVING. His upcoming book, “PREVENTABLE!  5 Powerful Practices to Avoid Disease and Build Unshakeable Health”describes the foundational principles of creating solid lifelong health.    He also loves sharing this message in his top rated health podcast “Modern Medicine Movement” where he is known for distilling down the latest medical knowledge and science into easily digestible and actionable steps which can change our lives in the present AND the future. He has the goal of saving 100 million lives by optimizing health and wellness through natural means.CONNECT WITH DR. HEMINGWAY:WebsiteFREE NEWSLETTERPreventable Book!InstagramFacebookON TODAY'S EPISODELife expectancy is going DOWN for the first time7 out of the 10 leading causes of death are PREVENTABLEPrevention > Prescription approach The staggering number of US Americans that have Metabolic Dysfunction"Food is either the best medicine or the slowest poison"Which foods to focus on for optimal healthThe 3 foods to subtract from your diet Why more people are sensitive to wheat and gluten today than in the pastAvoid the 3B foodsThe importance of timing of your mealsIs snacking healthy or not? 74% of US adults are overweight and 60% are obeseWhat actually IS the metabolism?How do you become metabolically flexible?The best litmus test test for knowing if you're metabolic flexibilityGUT HEALTH - what you feed will breedHow what you eat impacts your gut healthHow to feed your gut to cut cravingsWhat to have for breakfast to reduce cravings and feel more full all dayMovement and exercises to do to improve metabolic health and longevityThe importance of sleep to support the glymphatic systemTips for better sleepDigestive strategies to reduce inflammationWhy you shouldn't stress about your stress!STAY IN TOUCH WITH ME:You can find me:On Instagram @daniellehamiltonhealth On Facebook at Danielle Hamilton Health.My website is daniellehamiltonhealth.com (scroll down to sign up for my Newsletter!)Thank you for subscribing, rating, reviewing, sharing and reposting the show! I appreciate each and every one of you! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This week, Randall connects with Anne-Marije Rook, North American Editor at Cycling Weekly with an exploration of how she got into cycling and from there into cycling journalism, with fun tangents into competitive cycling, exploding e-bikes, and a bit of gear nerdy. Episdoe Sponsor: Athletic Greens  Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the broadcast, I'm handing the microphone off over to my co-host Randall Jacobs. Who's got an Mariah Rook on the broadcast. She's the north American editor at cycling weekly randall will take us on an exploration on how she got into cycling. And from there into cycling journalism, with fun tangents, into competitive cycling. Exploring e-bikes and a bit of the gear nerdery that Randall is famous for. Before we jump in and hand that microphone off to Randall. I do need to thank this week. Sponsor athletic greens. Athletic greens and AIG. One is a comprehensive daily nutrition made from simple, powerful ingredients. It's made up of 75 high quality, whole food sourced ingredients. Carefully curated to nourish all the body's systems holistically. As many of you know, I've been an athletic greens user for many, many years, predating the podcast. So I've been super stoked that athletic greens has been a big partner for what I do The key to ag one is that it replaces key health products in one simple scoop. AIG one combines nine health products working together as one, replacing your multivitamin. Multimineral. Pre and probiotics. Immunity support and more, that means ag one does more for your body and saves you time, money and confusion compared to taking multiple unique products. And that is a hundred percent key for me. I do one scoop in the morning, mixed up with a little bit of ice, and I feel like I've got some of my nutritional basis started before I've even begun the day. If you're interested in learning more about athletic greens, go to www.athleticgreens.com/the gravel ride. For podcast listeners, our friends at athletic greens have given us a free year supply of vitamin D and five free travel packs. If you ordered today. Simply visit athletic greens.com/the gravel ride to get your age. The one on the way today. With that said i'm going to hand over the microphone to my co-host randall jacobs [00:02:35] Randall R. Jacobs: Let's talk about how you got into this particular field. How did you end up as a cycling journalist? [00:02:42] Anne-Marije Rook: Sure. Yeah. So I was actually, uh, a real journalist before, um, not that second journalist aren't real journalists, but, uh, I did a lot heavier topics, um, you know, worked at newspapers, just straight up outta college, became a newspaper journalist, and then, , uh, at some point, I think I was 22, I started racing bikes myself, and when I did, I, I was looking for content and I realized there wasn't a lot of women's seconding content coming out of the us. So I started kind of dabbling with that on the side. And, uh, then started riding for some different publications and eventually seconding tips reached out and were like, Let's do something. So we founded Ella Cycling Tips, which was the, the women's side of Cycling Tips. And then, um, yeah, just stayed in the field. I quit my day job and started doing cycling journalism while still racing, and I've been doing it ever since, going on 10, 11 years now. [00:03:39] Randall R. Jacobs: and was your educational background in writing in journalism specifically? [00:03:44] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I did, uh, journalism, German and French. So interestingly enough I get to use all of that nowadays [00:03:51] Randall R. Jacobs: Are you native in any of those other languages? [00:03:53] Anne-Marije Rook: In Dutch. So I was born and raised in the Nets, the, the biking country, and then, uh, lived in Germany for three years and then ended up in the US uh, when I was almost 16. [00:04:04] Randall R. Jacobs: That's quite a skill to have, and makes me think of a joke about Americans. What do you call someone who's speaks three languages trilingual, two languages bilingual and one language. We have US Americans. [00:04:13] Anne-Marije Rook: I think a lot of people actually do, you know, they dabble in Spanish and some other languages. I think, uh, you shouldn't sell yourself so short. [00:04:22] Randall R. Jacobs: True, maybe I'm projecting a little bit. In my personal case, I studied six years of Spanish in middle school and high school and was able to get by during a month stint in Peru. But, it didn't seem immediately relevant at the time. And so later on in life, I moved to China and learned Mandarin and actually being present and having to use it in day-to-day life just makes such a, a world of difference. And for I think a lot of people who are born in the us and who don't grow up in a household or another, the language is spoken, there's just not. That impetus versus in Europe you have surrounding countries where with different languages or maybe even within one's own country there are different dialects or different languages being spoken. [00:05:04] Anne-Marije Rook: That's really good though. So you're a trilingual. [00:05:06] Randall R. Jacobs: I wouldn't go as far as to say trilingual, other than in the sense of trying , a little bit of Spanish and enough, what I call cab driver Cantonese in order to be able to fool somebody that I speak some Cantonese before switching over to Mandarin. [00:05:21] Anne-Marije Rook: That's, I mean, that's pretty impressive. Those are really difficult languages. I never studied, uh, Cantonese from Mandarin. I, I studied Japanese and just having to learn a whole new way of, of writing, uh, is, is, yeah, it's difficult to do. [00:05:34] Randall R. Jacobs: that's probably the hardest part. I would say that , Mandarin the scripts for sure. It's a very abstracted pictographic script. To be able to read a newspaper, you need, two, 3000 different characters and to have a higher level of sophistication, you need 5,000, 10,000 characters. And, even a native speaker. , especially in this day and age, we'll have difficulty remembering how to write a character. Cuz everything is being tight. [00:06:00] Anne-Marije Rook: Hmm. [00:06:01] Randall R. Jacobs: But on the other hand the grammar is really simple. So in English we say, yesterday I went to the store and we have to go and we conjugate it as went, which actually comes from an entirely different language family than to go. and in Chinese you just say, ah, yesterday, go store. [00:06:20] Anne-Marije Rook: Ah, yeah. [00:06:21] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. English also has way more synonyms because it's such a hodgepodge amalgamation of other languages, whereas Chinese also has external influences, but it's arguably more insular versus English. You have Germanic, you have Latin, you have Greek, you have various forms of cockney and so on that are all in there and the occasional Chinese phrases, very little that comes over for Chinese. Uh, one example being longtime nok, which is a direct translation from the Chinese [00:06:50] Anne-Marije Rook: Really, that's fun. Here's the thing I I discover with my language skills or lack thereof, is that, um, learning all the bike parts, for example, I had, like, I never learned those in my native tongues. So like suddenly I had to learn like, oh shit, what's the railer or what's, what's the railer hanger in Dutch or in German or whatever. And it's been fun learning those terms for the first time, even though, yeah, I grew up with that. [00:07:19] Randall R. Jacobs: that's actually a common phenomenon and one that I definitely resonate in my own experience too. I have friends who were born in China, but largely grew up here or even who came over to go to college. And, they're native speakers. I'm not at that level but I will have terms that I know that they don't because I am in this highly technical context of the bike industry of manufacturing, materials and production processes and so on. Um, and so it's kind of the same, same sort of phenomenon. [00:07:50] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of a fun thing where I was like, wow, I never learned any of these terms in those languages. Yeah, [00:07:55] Randall R. Jacobs: So you've been doing cycling journalism for, you said about 10, 11 years now. [00:08:00] Anne-Marije Rook: yeah, yeah. It's been a minute. [00:08:02] Randall R. Jacobs: I'm curious to hear more about the project at Cycling tips. How'd you get brought into that and, and how did that come about? [00:08:09] Anne-Marije Rook: So they, uh, I think they found me on Twitter. Uh, Twitter was really where. , um, women's cycling was, was living for quite a while cuz there was very little streaming and you can watch any of these races live, so you followed them online and Twitter had a really wonderful community of, of women's cycling fans and it still does to a certain extent, but yeah, that's where it used to. Live and I did a lot of, you know, uh, I would watch races and Life tweet and, you know, uh, was pretty active on, on Twitter and um, was writing for Podium Cafe, which is a nation site at the time, and they were looking to start a women's cycling component. Uh, and so they like reached out to various people and, you know, did a job interview and, you know, got going that way. [00:08:54] Randall R. Jacobs: And this was when? Who was there at the time? Kaylee and James and, [00:08:59] Anne-Marije Rook: No, this was before Kaylee. Um, this was, it was just, uh, Matt dif and, and Wade. [00:09:05] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh, okay. [00:09:06] Anne-Marije Rook: Um, Andy was there already, and then it was Jesse Braverman and myself who came on to do the women's cycling. [00:09:12] Randall R. Jacobs: Let's talk about women's cycling for a little bit. what are the areas in women's cycling that you find most interesting, most compelling, and that also you think that are maybe, under discussed underreported. [00:09:23] Anne-Marije Rook: Oh yeah. The nice thing about women's cycling is that it's been growing so much in the last 10 years or so, so that it's uh, people get to see it a bit more and I think what. , uh, intrigue me about women's second from the get-go is just how aggressive the racing is and how, um, while there was a definite period of like modern force dominating, and then we had and then we have anique. The nice thing about women's acting, I think is because it has grown so much is that you never really know who's gonna win. and it makes a racing very exciting. Cause it, it, like I said, it is so aggressive cuz the races are shorter, so you have fewer opportunities to make, you know, a break stick. So there tends to be more attacking and, uh, you, you don't really experience that unless you're watching it. I think the nice thing about. Where we are now, we can actually watch in the Tour de France Femme showed this, like watching women's cycling is actually very entertaining. And you know, in France alone, like millions of people tuned in every single day. So it is, it's different and I think that's, uh, something we should celebrate. rather than point out like, you know, women's cycling is, is men's cycling, but in shorter distances, and that's not at all true. I think women's cycling is a bit of its own sport in, in terms of tactics and the way the races play out. And, uh, in psycho cross especially, that's been very apparent. You know, people have shorter attention spans. So if you can sit down for a, you know, a 45, 50 minute bike race, you'll see basically what women's cycling is like on. On a heightened level, and it's extremely entertaining. You don't know who's gonna win. There's a lot of good candidates and, uh, it's, yeah, it's aggressive from the gun. [00:11:03] Randall R. Jacobs: At least in the us it seems that women's cyclocross racing was most prominent, most early. Mary McConnellogue is one example I remember from my racing days, I don't remember hearing as much reporting about women's road racing at the time. Maybe that was just what I was tuning into, but cyclocross. I remember getting similar billing to men's cyclocross [00:11:24] Anne-Marije Rook: yeah, I think the, the heyday of women's cycling really was the 1980s, early nineties. You know, we had the course classic and we had some, some really great names. Um, and. That has dwindled down. There were a lot of lack of races. Uh, we've had some great road racers in the US you know, with, with uh, Christian Armstrong and, uh, e Evelyn Stevens, and we've had some really Mara Abod and the Jro, like some really great road racers. You just don't hear about 'em as much . I do remember a particular race where I like looked to my right and it was like Kristen Armstrong and I looked to my left and it was Evelyn Stevens and I was like, ah. This is gonna suck today, It's gonna be a fast one. [00:12:04] Randall R. Jacobs: Let's talk about that, let's talk about you're racing background. So you mentioned that you got into cycling in your early twenties. How did that come about and what was that like for you? [00:12:13] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, so I've, uh, coming from the Netherlands, I've been a bike commuter since I was, I don't know, six. Uh, and so I just like grew up on the bike. It's just how I got around. And in college I just rode everywhere. And there were a couple times where people were like, Hey, you should maybe consider. Racing or, or doing like, you know, grand Fonds or something. And I was like, ah, this is just my vehicle. And then, uh, I moved to Seattle and did the Seattle, the Portland, which is uh, like a 220 mile bike ride between the two cities. And there were some teams that were doing it. And, uh, you know, again, people were like, have you considered racing? You're pretty strong. And I'd be like, no. I mean, it's kind of like, Hey, do you like driving? You should do nascar. You know, like it's, it was just such a foreign concept to me. Um, which is funny cuz I grew up in the Netherlands, but like, uh, and my grandpa was super into bike racing, but it wasn't, uh, ever like, exposed to me or con like, wasn't just like, oh, you like riding bikes, you should become a bike race. It just wasn't a thing. It wasn't really a, a sport I was exposed to, uh, in the northern part of the. . And so I was kind of intrigued and, and I had enjoyed training for the 200 mile event, so I, I went to the, the tryout, so to speak, and start racing and. as a Cat four. And I remember my first race weekend was a double header, so Saturday and Sunday and Saturday I, I think I got eighth and I got, I was like, oh, okay, this is cool. Top 10. And I was like, I wonder if I can get better. And the next day I got fifth. And, you know, that's, that's all it took for me to get super into it and trying to see where, where I could take it. And, uh, I think I was racing UCI like the next season. [00:13:54] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh wow. [00:13:55] Anne-Marije Rook: mostly, uh, or at first in cross and then, uh, road and track as well. But um, yeah, it's, it's an interesting place to be in, in, in the US in that you can be racing as a pro. And I use pro here very loosely because it's called pro level, but no one's actually getting paid to race their bikes. Like I would never consider myself a pro. Uh, I just raced in the UCI one, two levels and it's kind of weird that we throw it all. Um, when really, yeah, very few people are actually getting paid to, to race their bikes. [00:14:29] Randall R. Jacobs: I definitely fall on that boat as well. I think my best season, I didn't quite break even as a, as a Pac fodder Cross Country Pro. Mid pack was pretty good at the national level. And then you have a good regional results here and there. [00:14:42] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a good season for me, like, I loved crits, so that's where the money was at for me. You know, if I walked away with three grand at the end of the summer, I, I was pretty stoked. [00:14:51] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh, I never saw that. That sort of money and crits, crits always terrified me. There's a certain attitude that you have to have going into a crit, like a fearlessness that I, I dunno. Mountain biking always felt safer for me. [00:15:03] Anne-Marije Rook: It is, it is. And I, I quit racing after getting injured too many times. Like you can only hit your head so many times and, you know, if, if I list my, my laundry list of injuries, it's, it's definitely evident that, uh, yeah, quit racing is, is rather dangerous and asphalt is hard. And, you know, trees don't jump out on you. Where's Razor Smith? [00:15:23] Randall R. Jacobs: Yep. And pavement is like sandpaper when you're skidding across it in spandex. [00:15:27] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. There's not a lot of protection there. Um, but it was all, it was all good fun. And you know, I, I wish I'd gotten into it earlier in my life, but I had a, a lot of fun during my twenties and early thirties. [00:15:38] Randall R. Jacobs: what'd you love about it? [00:15:40] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, I liked the, the challenge of like the, the personal level, like how fit can I be? How strong can I get? Um, and then there's the direct correlation between what you put in that, that you get out, um, and then. Especially with crit racing. I liked, uh, the team tactics. I liked the aggressiveness. Like I was definitely that area that went like super hard on the front, on the first lap, just trying to get as many people off the back and then like would go for pre after, pre, pre and then in the last two laps found that I had no legs left and someone else had to finish it up. But, um, Yeah, I, I like the aggressiveness. I liked, I, I'm really a team sports person, and I think road racing, uh, doesn't get enough credit for the team sport that it is. And I think, like, personally, not to get on like a, a whole nother side spiel, but in, in [00:16:27] Randall R. Jacobs: No, let's do it. Let's do it. Go there. [00:16:29] Anne-Marije Rook: In Olympic racing, like why does only one person get a gold medal? Like in soccer? The whole team gets a gold medal. And I think, uh, you know, road racing especially is such a steam sport that everyone should be getting a medal. It's only, you know, six or seven medals versus 11. So, [00:16:47] Randall R. Jacobs: I mean, that's one of the, that's one of the things that's nice about the grand tours. There's lots of ways to win. There's the points, there's the stages, there's the gc, there's the most aggressive rider, so something more subjective. there's all these different ways in which to be acknowledged, but I'm definitely with you. It would quite a feat to show up at an Olympic level road race. Solo and [00:17:09] Anne-Marije Rook: went away. Yeah. [00:17:11] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Yeah. No one to defend you, no one to pull you up. You'd have to be very, very lucky. And also be doing a lot of riding on people's wheels the entire time [00:17:20] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. And I think as a racer I enjoyed that. You know, I enjoyed the team aspect. I enjoyed the, the collective effort it took to, to win the race. Sure, one person was the first across the line, but it took all of us to, to get that person there. And like, there's, to me as a, as a racer, there's a few things as as beautiful as, as a well executed, uh, lead out at the end of the race. You know, like where everyone has a role every. You know, executes it perfectly, like a little team train. Like the, those things don't happen very often on the, on the non, you know, world tour level. And it, it's really, it, it feels amazing as a, as a racer to be part of that. [00:17:56] Randall R. Jacobs: I've had limited crit racing experience and you note about the intensity of it. There are a few things more intense because not only do you have the, the digging really deep, not just at the end, but every single time a gap opens up or every ti single time there's a break and it's such a short, tight circuit, and a short duration of an event that you really can't let anything open up. And people can sustain a lot more over 30 minutes to an hour than they can over the course of a four hour road race or a long gravel race . And there are curbs and there are other people and there are bottles and there are people taking shady lines. And that person who just passed you is on a trajectory where there's no way they're gonna be able to come around the corner without hitting the outside curb on the other side. Especially at the early levels like cat four or cat three, where you have strong riders coming over from other disciplines. and just don't have the chops. [00:18:50] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I did a, I did a, a number of, of races in, in the men's field just to get more, uh, racing my legs. And, you know, the, the groups tend to be bigger but also very varied. You know, I'd be running around the course with like 80 dudes and maybe two women in there and be like, terrified of, of the experience. And at the same time, like that, getting that chariot effect, like having that many people around you, you're kind of just like, Kind of going with the flow and, and being dragged around the course, which was kind of fun too. But I think it's a pure adrenaline rush and I feel like I'm too old for that now. trying to hold those kind of efforts. My heart rate doesn't go up that high anymore. I mean, it used to go up pretty easily over 200 and I think now I'd be on the sidelines vomiting if I had 200, [00:19:33] Randall R. Jacobs: that's almost hummingbird level [00:19:36] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, yeah. You know, young and fit. . Yeah, I miss that. I think I miss being that fit. I do not miss having to put in the kind of effort to be that fit. [00:19:45] Randall R. Jacobs: Well, and more recently you've been doing a lot with gravel. is most of your riding gravel at this point? [00:19:49] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. And I've always done gravel, like back when we just called it road bikes off road, you know, there wasn't any special gear just riding 20 threes over gravel and, uh, I've always liked gravel and adventuring. I've always liked being underbid. Um, so I've been doing gravel for a long time and I think, uh, I've definitely, since quitting, uh, racing, I've done mostly off-road. I think nowadays if I have like two hours to kill, I'll most definitely ride through the forest rather than go on a road ride. [00:20:19] Randall R. Jacobs: You're based currently in Portland [00:20:21] Anne-Marije Rook: portland, [00:20:22] Randall R. Jacobs: yeah. So you have fantastic outdoors right out your door in the Portland area and decent bike infrastructure as well, at least by, by our US standards. [00:20:31] Anne-Marije Rook: yeah. I mean, I chose, so I live in a, in a neighborhood called St. John's and I, I chose that specifically cause I go over across the bridge and I'm in the, in Forest Park, which is a, uh, a really big, and I think the long shill, there's 30 miles or so. So it's like, it's a, a really big forested area with gravel roads. Yeah, I'm, I'm there all the time. Uh, I also really got into mountain biking after I quit racing. So, you know, like all, all Mountain, uh, I used to do mostly XE and definitely been working on my skills and, uh, since quitting. Uh, just it's nice to be away from cars. I think the gist of that. [00:21:07] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, I think that, in addition to the exploratory element of it, is one of the things that led me to transition to primarily gravel riding . And I do think it's a major reason why gravel cycling has taken off in general. Not only are the bikes really versatile, so if you're only gonna have one bike while you can do all these different things, but then also I remember reading a. Some years ago a university study that was looking at the reasons, that people cite for not riding more. And safety is always number one by. I think that study was maybe eight or nine years ago, so in a few places the infrastructure has gotten a little bit better, but still not enough. And the attitudes of drivers. Have gotten better, but , still you get out of a certain zone of safety and you still have people angry at you for being on the road. [00:21:58] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I mean, like as a lifelong commuter, I, I've been hit quite a few times. I got hit twice during the pandemic alone, uh, while riding around town. And so, uh, It is the sa Yeah, I understand. The safety team. The thing a hundred percent, like you don't, uh, wanna take your life in your own hands when you're out riding. And, uh, it, it's, it's a big problem in the US that the infrastructure is still so lacking. And on one hand you're telling people to, you know, go get on your bike and be more sustainable and healthy. And at the same time, they're not offering a lot of, uh, insurances in terms of, you know, uh, infrastructure and whatnot to, to make that. [00:22:34] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Now I'm, I'm curious as a journalist, what have been some of the areas that you've found most interesting to report on or that, you know, you've been able to dive into as a consequence of having that credential? [00:22:46] Anne-Marije Rook: Hmm. Uh, I'm, I always love people. I, I, I like to know what makes them tick. You know, especially those people on, on like the, the very top end of the sport. Like what makes 'em tick? How, how are they able to do this? And at the same time, uh, this year, one of the things I've been really interested in is, um, ebi. in terms of like the, the regulations around, um, lit I and, uh, batteries and, and the, the fact that there's so many fires and then the legislation around it and wish there is none yet, but that's coming. And so, uh, looking into a bit more of where these bags are coming from and, and what it takes. To control these, these devices a bit more has been very interesting. And it's not something that gets a lot of rates or gets clicks and whatnot, but it's something I find very interesting cuz it'll have a lot of, uh, repercussions I think in, in the next couple years as to which eBags are on the market, which products you can and cannot buy. And, uh, hopefully the safety of it all. [00:23:50] Randall R. Jacobs: What are some of the things that you've uncovered in that exploration? [00:23:54] Anne-Marije Rook: Well, the fact that there is absolutely, at the moment no legislation whatsoever, uh, for the consumer. So you can buy whatever you can find on the internet, and there's, there's no guarantee that it's not gonna set your house on fire. There's no safety around it, and that's, that's changing right now. New York City is currently, uh, considering banning the sale of secondhand or, uh, like. Uh, tested products, which would have massive repercussions cuz there's like 65,000 delivery workers in, uh, New York City alone. And these people are mostly relying on e-bikes to do their jobs, right? It's their livelihood. And so the moment you, you control these products, uh, it'll have a financial impact on these people as well. Well, third party testing and safety device. It costs more on the, on the manufacturers and therefore it'll have a higher price tag, price tag for the consumer as well. Um, but at the same time, you know, they ha are also dealing with 200 fires already this year. Um, specifically [00:24:56] Randall R. Jacobs: just the city of New York. [00:24:58] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, just the city of New York relating to um, e mobility devices like E-Bikes, ESCOs, hoverboards, e Unicycles, that kind of stuff, which is a lot, you know, that's a lot for one city, specifically around these mobility devices. [00:25:12] Randall R. Jacobs: Sure, especially when you have such immense density. So a fire in New York City is not a standalone house that's oftentimes a building with dozens of families and a lot of people get displaced. [00:25:24] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Luckily they've, they've only, I should say that in, in quotation marks, they've had six fatalities and, and over 130, uh, injuries related to those fires. So, relatively speaking, that's not a high number, but it's, it's something that could be prevented with proper legislation. So I think for me, what's interesting is just like, The, the, the concept was that you can just import products that don't get tested and, you know, people will buy 'em because it's popular and it's, it's, uh, affordable and, and there's a reason, you know, items cost as much as, as they do and, you know, as, as someone who, uh, creates consumer goods. So, yeah. Anyway, that's, that's a long wind winded way of saying that's been a very interesting, uh, passion project of mine. [00:26:07] Randall R. Jacobs: well, on that particular topic, I know that there's, there's also kind of a cultural backlash against, say, in New York City, these e-bike, service providers out doing deliveries and if you look at who it is that is taking on those jobs, generally immigrant, , generally it's the first opportunity that they have in order to survive and make a living, getting a foundation here. So it's not as easy as simply, we're gonna band all these things , it's some, it's somebody's livelihood. [00:26:35] Anne-Marije Rook: And like as you said, it's a, it's a culture issue. It's a class issue. It's, it's not, not as simple as like, well, these items are unsafe, so we'll just ban them. [00:26:45] Randall R. Jacobs: And that, kind of speaks to, broader issues , that we could talk about in the bike space. Like we have this concept of a sidewalk bicycle, a more pejorative way of saying it would be a, bicycle shaped object. So these are, bikes that are generally built to a very low standard, generally sold through non, specialty retail , poorly assembled, and even if they were well assembled generally of parts that are of questionable quality. So poor breaking things like this, and they aren't required to. Hold up to the same standards as a bicycle that you buy at a bike shop that is designated for commuter use or other sorts of use. And, in the more premium end of the spectrum, which for a lot of people who aren't cyclists, would be any bike that's more than three, $400. There's detailed, is. International standards organization criteria for testing that. But that's another example of the same thing where, well, you could require that all bikes be built to a certain standard, but then new bikes would be inaccessible to lower income demographics. Though frankly, I think another outcome of that would probably be that you see more refurbishing of better quality. older used bikes and so that could be a net positive, especially given that they're likely to hold up a lot better. [00:28:01] Anne-Marije Rook: Mm-hmm. [00:28:01] Randall R. Jacobs: So, so that's another area [00:28:03] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I mean to that, like, I could ask that a lot and, and we've, we're about to enter another recession. Um, it's, it's apparent in another country already and, and we're headed that way as well. And, and so a big topic becomes budget bikes, like how much do you spend on a bike and new bikes that are. of a certain budget , I always tell people, go, go shop for a, a used bike and, and refurbish it. You're, you're better off than a cheap brand new bike. And there, I think for a long time there was this, this rather like attitude towards buying secondhand. , uh, products, especially, you know, around carbon bikes, like people were worried that they were broken or cracked, and I think there's a huge misconception around carbon, specifically in, in terms of the strength and like a carbon bike, if it doesn't, if it's not cracked, will last you an entire lifetime. Like, they don't deteriorate. Like, you know, metals will cor. And the restin in carbon doesn't necessarily break apart. Like if maintained well, a carbon bike will last you a lifetime, the end, right? You sure it breaks and you have to maybe get it checked over by, uh, an expert. But I think, uh, now that we have been in this carbon age for a bit longer, there's, there's nothing wrong with a used carbon bike [00:29:23] Randall R. Jacobs: I think that that is often true. There's a couple of challenges there though, with a metal bike, if there's something wrong with it, you generally see it unless it's cracking. Uh, and, and even a crack, you'd be able to see, but you'd be able to see that with a carbon bike too. But what you wouldn't be able to see is an impact that causes delamination in a tube but doesn't result in visual cracking or damage. The construction has gotten much, much better, so they are vastly more reliable, but there's been this push for, as light as possible, which means there's not a lot of buffer and there's a lot of higher modus carbons that are not as impact resistant. So I agree with you that the concerns are overblown. but at the same time, actually this is something that, was talking to, Kaylee Fretz about when he was on not too long ago. The merits of metal bikes, and I think that. Especially on the more economical end of the spectrum, it would be great to see more, steel bikes. [00:30:19] Anne-Marije Rook: Oh, for sure. I love, I I myself, steel roadie. I, I think I would love to have a titanium bike for sure. Um, I just think that from a sustainability point of view, for the last, I don't know, 10, 15 years, we've been cranking out one carbon bike after another and they're not being recycled, uh, because. Well, you can, but it's very, very cost prohibit, pro prohibitive to, um, try to get around the re resin and recycle that carbon. And so I think I would rather see some of these older frames be picked up and, and reuse in one way or another. Um, you know, slap a new group set on and it's a good bike. I'm also. , um, privilege in that. In Portland, we have a great company called Ruckus Composites, and they for, for fee, but it's not a significant fee. They will scan your carbon frame to make sure there aren't any, uh, cracks or whatever that, that you can't see, um, simply with your eyeballs. [00:31:17] Randall R. Jacobs: That's a great service and one that if anyone has access to, especially if they're buying secondhand or if they've crashed, absolutely worth it., the cost of not doing it is, potentially nothing or potentially catastrophic [00:31:29] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. And I think I'm, I'm more worried about people buying these really cheaply made. Carbon bikes cuz they're like, it's carbon and it'll be good. And I'm like, there is such a thing as bad carbon and uh, budget bikes that just, um, yeah, they, they don't stand the test of time. Whereas good carbon bikes will, like I said, last your lifetime, uh, obviously. You know, metal is, is, this is the safer bet. But, um, yeah, we, we just have so many carbon frames out there right now, and I just don't, don't see them being used, uh, ending up in landfill. I don't know. I think that's one of the things that if I could ask the industry to do anything, it's to be a bit more, uh, sustainable in, in what they crank out and, and looking for the opportunities to recycle some of the products that they create. [00:32:14] Randall R. Jacobs: There is talk about this within the industry. Craig was at the people for Bike Summit and there was a lot of talk around sustainability. It may have been more around packaging and the like, being discussed there. some of this is, the facilities haven't existed. So carbon recycling, for example, you need specialized facilities. fortunately there's new, ways in which recycled carbon can be utilized cuz it is a degraded material, right? So you're not going to get the long pure fibers that you're getting purely homogenous, resin with and so on. So you need to be able to create forged carbon components and the like, and you're starting to see that, um, That whole recycling infrastructure, like all recycling infrastructure, for the most part in this country, is not keeping up with the sheer amount of stuff that we're creating and discarding. [00:33:04] Anne-Marije Rook: No, absolutely not. And uh, I think especially after. You know, uh, right before, um, gravel got real big, I think the industry was just sitting on, on thousands of, of car, like mid-level carbon bikes with, with 10 speed group sets. And luckily in some ways, luckily the, um, pandemic created, um, this, this delay in, in, in the. Um, in, in getting new components. And I think that that forced people to go back and be like, can we use this nine or 10 speed group set? And there's an interesting amount of, of nine and seven speed groups that's on the market right now that just like got picked up cuz they were laying around. And uh, you see those especially in, in, uh, super adventure bikes or e-bikes where they use older group sets. And I think it's great cuz we, we need to use the, the things that we've produced. [00:33:55] Randall R. Jacobs: you've been following some of the supply chain changes. [00:33:59] Anne-Marije Rook: of course. Yeah. I mean, that's been the story for the last few years for the industry and, uh, it, it is a struggle. I, I can't imagine being one of those businesses that, that relies on. Uh, you know, uh, pretty much anything at the moment. But, uh, seeing, see, I think it's, it's really fun to see some innovations happening around, um, using the stuff that we already have. And, uh, there's a lot of, you know, maybe I'm just a super bike nerd, but a lot of different ways you can get more gears out of a you a seven speed trailer or like, you know, using micro shift and, and using all the different. uh, like innovative, uh, little handy tools out there to, to make what's old, new. [00:34:44] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, a hundred percent with you there. And some of the organizations that we've sought to support, as a company have been around taking old bikes and making them new again. [00:34:53] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. And down to sh shifters, I've been seeing a lot of those and, and just like old friction shifters being used again, which I thought was very fun because, uh, it's a cheap way to build an adventure bike. You know, you just go with, with, uh, , straight up brake levers, no shifting in the, in, in your handlebars, which leaves more room for bags and whatever else. And then, um, little bar end shifters or shifters, which never thought I'd see those come back again. [00:35:18] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, also provides a lot more options in terms of what you can spec, because there's really only three major players in that space currently. STR and Shao being the dominant two. [00:35:28] Anne-Marije Rook: What, uh, what's the coolest thing you've seen done with a, with a thesis? [00:35:32] Randall R. Jacobs: We did have a rider do this really stunning, metallic flake paint job With a painter out of the Boulder, Denver area. So those sorts of customizations have been neat otherwise. we have a lot of people who've done extended bike packing trips. We have a channel in an online community that we help to set up which is dedicated to bike packing. So there've been whole reports on people's setups, and that's been really cool to see. One. Has become normal at this point. But I think that we were relatively early with was dropper posts. So had a dropper post in second wheel sets. So had a hypothesis early on, that people would have a single bike for a lot of things and about 50% of people got two wheel sets and pushing 90% of our riders have gotten dropper posts. [00:36:22] Anne-Marije Rook: Really? That's, that's a, surprises me. That's a, a large percentage of people. Um, do they actually use 'em? Like, do they get shredding enough to where you need a, a drop or post? [00:36:33] Randall R. Jacobs: I've seen several examples of folks that have either discarded the dropper or who were really concerned about weight, and so you're trying to figure out how to swap it easily. But in general, like the typical response was, yeah, game changer. And, from, me personally, especially living in the Bay Area where there's so much fast and steep road descending, I'd used it all the time. The argument that I make is it adds say three quarters of a. [00:37:00] Anne-Marije Rook: Mm-hmm. [00:37:02] Randall R. Jacobs: one, you're, you're faster and more confident, less likely to crash in all of those technical or high speed sorts of situations. But then also, to be able to scoot your butt off the back of the saddle, you need to often compromise your satellite a little bit. . And so that means that you're no longer setting up your bike for pure comfort, pure efficiency, pure performance. And so that three quarters of a pound, I'm 165, so I'm probably pushing, let's say, round up to 200 pounds with gear and so on. Three quarters of a pound is as a percentage, less than half a percent. So am I getting half a percent more efficient, on a climb because I'm in the right position? I think that that's pretty plausible. Never. The rest of the time. So that, that's my pitch for droppers. I know that not everyone is sold on them, but I, I think that it's, uh, it is the thing that makes a bike that is otherwise really good on flat and smooth train, something that you can get really rowdy with. [00:38:00] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, I mean, I like to get rowdy on, on gravel bikes very much. It's, it's kind of like my, my favorite thing to do is see how far I can take it, uh, to the end I will say, uh, you know, I've, I've come around, I mentioned this to you in email, but I've come around on six 50 bees finally. That took me a long time, uh, to get, but having that actual rubber does, does allow me to get, uh, a little bit more rowdy than, than on 700. [00:38:27] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. And I, I had shared some thinking about why that might have been, but I'm curious, what did you find different and hard to adjust to switching from 700 to six 50? [00:38:36] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, I think initially it was like, oh, this feels slow, and, um, You know, given my background, I, I, I liked really quick and, and fast responses and lively rides, and it felt like it did the opposite. Like it became a bit more, more twitchy, which makes for a bit more engaging. Right? But it just felt a little slower. Um, and it just, the handling was different than what I was used to on 700 seats, which also had to do with the, the tire width that was running, you know, going from, uh, 700 by. F maybe 40 to, you know, six 50 to 47. That's a huge difference in terms of like your, your rolling surface that you have and, and how that feels around the corners. Um, but then it got real rainy and muddy and I was riding the, this, this rather, uh, you know, Rudy Mound, bikey terrain. And that's when I noticed the difference of like, oh yeah, this really allows me to stay planted a bit better and, and, uh, maneuver these roots. . Um, I also like it, it started off like, oh, I understand this form, like a technical point of view. And then for comfort, it is really darn comfortable to just like crank out the miles on on more rubber. And it just, yeah, it's cushy and uh, I can see now why, you know, randomers and such opt for that, that tire size. But it took me a while. I, I will say maybe I'm just old school, but um, I finally got around to it. [00:40:01] Randall R. Jacobs: I can definitely relate to , at least the sensation of it, potentially feeling a little bit slower rolling. And there's definitely circumstances and this is, , Casing dependent as well, where, you know it very well may be, but at the same time, remember the first time you gave up 20 threes and put on 20 fives or 20 eights or thirties and how different that felt. And it's like, I'm not getting all of that, that road. It just feels slow all of a sudden. But, , data said otherwise, but I mean, six 50 s have their place. There's a reason why a lot of racers in certain types of events run 700 by, I mean, in the case of Belgian waffle Ride in San Diego, I think people are running like 32 slicks, [00:40:44] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense, right? Like it's if when you have that much, uh, ground to cover and, uh, a fair bit of road in that as well, I believe, um, you would opt for that. But yeah, I've, I've come around. I'm a hundred percent a six 50 B believer. Now I do think you need two wheel sets. Um, for different, different occasions. But yeah, it was, it was a fun experiment for me. This, uh, this fall. [00:41:10] Randall R. Jacobs: When you say two wheel sets, you mean 2 6 50 wheel sets or, or one seven hundred and one six fifty. [00:41:15] Anne-Marije Rook: The latter. Yeah. 1 700, 1 6 50. Yeah. There's definitely days that, you know, if I know I'm gonna go long, I, I just feel like I'm. covering more ground then, then I'll do that on a, a 700. But yeah, for my, my most, like my lunch rides, that's up in, in, in the trails, that's definitely six 50 now. [00:41:34] Randall R. Jacobs: So what else have you found surprising or delightful in terms of products or insight into the sport or, experiences you've had of late. [00:41:43] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, well, sticking with gravel, I think we're starting to see a, a really broad spectrum. of bikes that are either super capable, have suspension, you know, there's an increasing amount of bikes and suspension. And then on the other side, the ones that are, are really going for speed. , um, where you basically have a road bike, um, that's, that's slightly more capable, you know, so like if you wanna go with specialized, you've got the, the new s C r with the sus, the rear end suspension and front end suspension versus the crux, which is, uh, you know, a very capable cyros bike basically, and feathery light. And I think we're seeing more of that divide happening, which is pretty quick given that gravel as a category hasn't been around for all that long. Um, and it's, it. I think it's a very interesting development just to see what people are gonna go for and how much we're we're differentiating between gravel racing and gravel adventuring and bike packing. And like the difference now, like you can't just say gravel anymore. You have to specify whether you're talking about gravel racing or, or adventuring. Cuz those are two very different. Sides of the industry now, which is, it's interesting and it's really fun to watch. Um, and I, I think personally, I like the adventure side from a tech nerdiness a bit more because we know what a fast road bike look like and what it can do, but like, how capable can you make, um, a drop bar bike and how, like watching people bring back rigid mountain bikes and, and just like drawing on, on, uh, old technology and, and, and seeing things. Redshift and connect with their suspension posts that, you know, remind me of Soft Ride and like it is just from a tech point of view, it's, it's, it's an interesting development and really fun to watch. [00:43:27] Randall R. Jacobs: It's kind of like, um fashion in, in a way, like what's old is new. I mean, it's definitely radically better with, composites and wide and tubeless and disc brakes, in particular. But in a lot of ways we're riding the original mountain bikes again. [00:43:42] Anne-Marije Rook: We totally are, we're just writing, you know, those, those spring loaded , what were they? Canadas the ones with the, the head tube springs. [00:43:51] Randall R. Jacobs: Oh, the head shock. [00:43:52] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. , which I mean future shock is that, you know, connect and Redshift is basically a soft ride. It's just everything is, is new again. And it's really fun to watch. And I think what I geek out a lot more is just seeing what people are coming up with in their own shops and how people perhaps are learning for the first time to be a bit more hands-on and, and, uh, mechanical and. Exploring with their own setups. I mean, how many people don't know how to fix their own tire? Uh, and I think nowadays watching them experiment and building super machines, it's, it's just really fun. [00:44:27] Randall R. Jacobs: So given that we're kind of coming to the end of the., favorite products of 2022 and then in a general sense, products, racing. Otherwise. What are you most excited about in the new year? [00:44:39] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, so my favorite products, uh, some of 'em are things that I bought myself or own, like, uh, my Brompton was one I found on Craigslist, which is super random, but I. I wanted something to travel with, um, that's compact and wouldn't require me having an extra bag or anything like that. And, uh, my Bronson and I have been to the Tour de France fem together. We've been to the Netherlands, to London, to the Sac Cross World Championships. So that bike goes with me everywhere, which was a really fun, uh, crux purchase that I didn't need, but has given me a lot of joy. [00:45:13] Randall R. Jacobs: Are you doing a lot of long rides on that, or is it more getting around and being able to get that 20 miler in? [00:45:18] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah. Yeah. Getting around the, it's not , it's not very comfortable. Talk about like slow rolling, tiny. Like try, try 16 inch wheels, like no. Uh, but [00:45:28] Randall R. Jacobs: seen dispatches from people doing extended tours on a Bronson, which I've always found super impressive. [00:45:34] Anne-Marije Rook: I mean, good on them. I like, I, I, I applaud them. I, I don't, I don't enjoy that very much. Um, but it's been a great bike to travel with and, and it's just a really silly, really fun purchase. Um, I also got a ultra cleaner for the first. Which is great for, uh, you know, the position northwest is really wet, really muddy. Um, our, our gear gets just absolutely destroyed and so keeping it clean, uh, extends the, the lifetime of, of your components. And uh, that's really been a fun way to, um, get like that super shiny clean drive train. [00:46:14] Randall R. Jacobs: mm-hmm. [00:46:15] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, and that was just a birthday present, so it's not something that was sent to me to review. Um, and then the best shoes I had were to live, uh, much shoes. Um, they are bright purple. Uh, they look great. Everyone is always asking me about 'em, and I keep asking them to make 'em into a gravel shoe because I don't spend enough time on my road back anymore to wear them. Um, go ahead. [00:46:42] Randall R. Jacobs: Do you love them for their styling or some other [00:46:44] Anne-Marije Rook: No, they're, they're, they're a pure race shoe, like you're locked in. They're some of the stiffest shoes I've ever worn, but they also are an absolute head turner. [00:46:52] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. [00:46:53] Anne-Marije Rook: so it's a two for one package. Um, and, and the gravel side of things, uh, the SW RS tires were super impressive. Um, they're so fast and, uh, I've yet to flat them, which is pretty incredible given a, my, my history and B uh, just how much I've written. [00:47:11] Randall R. Jacobs: What size are you running them in? [00:47:13] Anne-Marije Rook: I have, uh, 40 twos, I think is when I was running last, and I, I mean, I took 'em with me traveling. Like I, I did the, uh, Finland gravel and I did not know what I was getting myself into. And, and so getting a file, like bringing a file thread, Racy Tire is a bit of a risk. Um, but they did really well and, uh, they're probably the best tires I've had in no while. And I'd say in general, the market, it has gotten so much better. Like the, it's so easy to set up two plus tires now, whereas like even two years ago I, it was quite struggle sometimes getting those seated in your, in your garage. Yeah. [00:47:52] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah, absolutely. Though I, I will say, um, and this is a hobby horse I often jump on, um, you know, road, road, tubeless hook, less road tubeless scares me, [00:48:04] Anne-Marije Rook: I tried to, I, I got a few to review this year and I, I tried to see if I could make them explode, but I think I reached my, like, comfort level far before, or the end of my comfort level far before the tires did. So there's that. [00:48:18] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, and then going into 2023 and this doesn't have to be gear, it can be events, it can be, personal adventures. What are you excited about coming into the new year? [00:48:29] Anne-Marije Rook: Uh, yeah, I'm gonna go even more into gravel and attending some more gravel events. So I'm very excited to return to Unbound and to do s p d Gravel. There's talk about, uh, me and a colleague of mine setting an F K T. So there's some really fun challenges and, um, since stepping away from racing and, uh, you know, getting married, buying a house, I've definitely spent less time on. On the bike as I would like. So getting something to train for, for me personally, is, is uh, it's kind of exciting to get back to it. [00:49:01] Randall R. Jacobs: By the way, congratulations on those milestones. [00:49:04] Anne-Marije Rook: thanks. It was an exciting two years of the pandemic. Yeah. [00:49:07] Randall R. Jacobs: Yeah. Um, well, alright, um, so where can people find you on Twitter? Uh, you're at cycling weekly. How do, how do people get ahold of you or see what you're, what you're writing about? [00:49:18] Anne-Marije Rook: Yeah, definitely on second weekly.com and then on social media Am Rook is my handle across every platform, including the ones that are popping up now that Twitter is taking a t. [00:49:29] Randall R. Jacobs: All right. Well, Anne-Marie, it's a pleasure to finally sit down and properly chat and very much looking forward to seeing you at Sea Otter and other industry events now that that's a thing again, and we can be out in the wild seeing each other. [00:49:41] Anne-Marije Rook: That's right. [00:49:42] Randall R. Jacobs: All right. [00:49:43] Anne-Marije Rook: for having me. [00:49:44] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big, thanks to Anne Mariah. For having that conversation with Randall, I hope you guys learned a lot and I hope you do follow her on Twitter and follow her work as north American editor at cycling weekly. Huge. Thanks to our friends at athletic greens. Remember head on over to athletic greens.com/the gravel ride to check out ag one. One today. If you're interested in connecting with me or Randall, I encourage you to join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. If you're able to support the podcast, you can visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Or ratings and reviews are hugely important. In us connecting with other gravel athletes from around the world. Until next time. I hope you're well. And here's to finding some dirt under your wheels.    

Thomas Dolby is a legit artist that unfortunately got pinned as a gimmick in the USA for his "...Science!" persona on MTV, when he had a lot more depth to offer. He is much more than “She Blinded Me With Science”. If you like this record THE GOLDEN AGE OF WIRELESS, and by that I mean the original version from the UK we reviewed that DOES NOT contain “She Blinded Me with Science”, I suggest listening to his follow up album 1984's “The Flat Earth” for more examples of depth as his work is quirky and original and simple quite ahead of it's time. It's a shame USA as usual couldn't wrap its head around artists like Thomas Dolby as over here he's known as a One-Hit Wonder. Over in the UK he's a little more appreciated. Us Americans are simply just stupid people. Forgive me for being apologetic on that.

Vestas and TPI agree to blade manufacturing contracts. Will OEM's subcontract manufacturing of blades to lower risk and costs? Australia is planning for 100% renewable grids. What hurdles remain and what lessons can be learned? Tesla installs grid battery onshore near Dogger Bank offshore wind farm - Rosemary has questions...and an employee was terminated in France for not being "fun". Joel, Rosemary and Allen discuss the details. Visit Pardalote Consulting at https://www.pardaloteconsulting.com Wind Power Lab - https://windpowerlab.com Weather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.com Intelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!  Uptime 142 Allen Hall: It's almost holiday season. Well, I guess it is a holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving, Joel. I guess we both had Thanksgiving. I, I saw some pictures on, on slack of, of a Turkey slash cranberry. Oh yeah. Delicious Rosemary, you you did see the, you did see that big plate. Joel, Joel was not cutting back at than time. Joel Saxum: You can't see, you can't see my belly underneath the camera here, but it's still big Allen Hall: Yeah, so US Americans are pretty full from the, the Thanksgiving holiday. It, it was actually a really nice holiday. We, we had decent weather in America and there was really no travel hiccups. Thank goodness everybody got home safe. This week for the podcast, we have a lot going on, and again, it's one of these crazy news weeks. Where there's just so much renewable news happening. Vestus is, is working with TPI on manufacturing blades and maybe making some off offshore blades, it sounds like, which would be great for TPI and for Vestus. And then Siemens is gonna be closing a plant in Morocco, a blade plant in Morocco. And it looks like OEMs are starting to get outta the blade business and transfer some of the load onto independent operators and  Rosemary Barnes: more good news for investors with a big order in Australia. And then a couple of other Australian stories. There's one gigawatt wind farm plant in Queensland that's now been announced over double in size to two gigawatts. And also looking forward, Australia's energy market operator has mapped out a route to a hundred percent instantaneous renewables, which they expect to happen in 2025. So we'll talk about some of the engineering things they have to take care of before that can happen.  Joel Saxum: So then we're jumping back over to the UK and we'll talk about Tesla building a, a, what, what would be Europe's largest battery into the grid. And it's right near where the dog or bank Wind Farm is off or coming ashore. So really cool to see the, those additions to the grid in the UK and see what it can happen in the future. And last but not least, a French man wins the right not to be fun at work. So, we'll, we'll dive into that and have a little bit of a prelude to our holiday season around the world, and have a little  Allen Hall: fun with it. I'm Allen Hall, president of Weather Garden Lightning Tech. And I'm here with Australian Renewables guru Rosemary Barnes. and my good friend from Wind Power Lab, Joel Saxon, and this is the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. All right. Rosemary Vestus has signed a multi-year agreement with one of your former competitors, TPI Composites. And this gets into the future of who's gonna make blades, particularly in the United States, but I, I think this is gonna move worldwide. TPI is already making blades for Vestus, has made them for a little while,

On August 8, 2022, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash, citing allegations it helped North Korea's Lazarus hacker group launder millions of dollars worth of crypto proceeds stolen from various crypto projects over the past few years. Coin Center believe that OFAC has overstepped its legal authority by adding certain Tornado Cash smart contract addresses to the Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons (SDN) List, potentially violating US Americans' constitutional rights to due process and free speech.Peter Van Valkenburgh, Director of Research at Coin Center, joined us for an in-depth look at how OFAC operates, why he believes this sanctioning represents an overreach, what's next for Tornado Cash, and what this means for the rest of the blockchain ecosystem.Topics covered in this episode:An overview of the Tornado Cash caseWhat is the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)?How is it determined who gets on the OFAC list? What happens to you if you're on the list?Does this only apply to US Americans?How does one get removed from the list?What did Tornado Cash do wrong, and what should they have done?Is there an acceptable level of maliciousness within the system?Comparison to PGPWhy Tornado Cash was targeted over other privacy enhancing toolsThe reaction from the crypto ecosystemEpisode links:OFAC - The Office of Foreign Assets ControlCoin CenterTornado Cash on TwitterCoin Center on TwitterPeter on TwitterJoin the Epicenter team!Sponsors:Tally Ho: Tally Ho is a new wallet for Web3 and DeFi that sees the wallet as a public good. Think of it like a community-owned alternative to MetaMask. - https://epicenter.rocks/tallycashThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/458

This is a segment of episode 327 of Last Born In The Wilderness, “Hijacking Pharma: Open Access Medicine For The Betterment Of All w/ Micheal Laufer.” Listen to the full episode: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com/episodes/michael-laufer-2 Learn more about Four Thieves Vinegar Collective: https://fourthievesvinegar.org Michael Laufer of the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective returns to the podcast to reiterate the aims of the group, and update us on the collective's recent and soon to be launched projects.  As a founding member of this project, Dr. Laufer's objective has been to communicate the philosophical and material objectives of the organization, which has been described as "an anarchist biohacking group." Since its founding in 2015, the collective has worked to provide the information needed to produce DIY pharmaceutical drugs safely and equitably, particularly for a population, like those that live within the borders of the United States, that do not have easy and affordable access to them. The absolute inaccessibility of the healthcare system for most US Americans is a violation of one of the most fundamental indicators of a healthy, equal, and stable society, which is access to care. Four Thieves Vinegar Collective is a response to that, giving us an inspiring alternative to the for-profit healthcare system that is impoverishing us more and more every day. Dr. Michael Laufer is Chief Spokesperson and founding member of Four Thieves Vinegar Collective, a volunteer network of anarchists and hackers developing DIY medical technologies outside the dominant for-profit medical establishment. WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast / https://venmo.com/LastBornPodcast BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast EPISODE 300: https://lastborninthewilderness.bandcamp.com BOOK: http://bit.ly/ORBITgr ATTACK & DETHRONE: https://anchor.fm/adgodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop

Michael Laufer of the Four Thieves Vinegar Collective returns to the podcast to reiterate the aims of the group, and update us on the collective's recent and soon to be launched projects.  As a founding member of this project, Dr. Laufer's objective has been to communicate the philosophical and material objectives of the organization, which has been described as "an anarchist biohacking group." Since its founding in 2015, the collective has worked to provide the information needed to produce DIY pharmaceutical drugs safely and equitably, particularly for a population, like those that live within the borders of the United States, that do not have easy and affordable access to them. This is especially relevant when we discuss, in this interview, the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe and Casey, leaving a sizable portion of the US population without access to pregnancy terminating procedures and abortifacient drugs. Dr. Laufer and the collective's response to this has been to provide, in an open and accessible manner, information on how to potentially attain and prepare the materials needed to have a safe DIY abortion, regardless of what a wholly illegitimate political and legal system may prohibit or discourage. But, this is only one facet of the broader conversation Dr. Laufer and I have in this episode. The absolute inaccessibility of the healthcare system for most US Americans is a violation of one of the most fundamental indicators of a healthy, equal, and stable society, which is access to care. Four Thieves Vinegar Collective is a response to that, giving us an inspiring alternative to the for-profit healthcare system that is impoverishing us more and more every day.  Dr. Michael Laufer is Chief Spokesperson and founding member of Four Thieves Vinegar Collective, a volunteer network of anarchists and hackers developing DIY medical technologies outside the dominant for-profit medical establishment. Episode Notes: - Learn more about Four Thieves Vinegar Collective: https://fourthievesvinegar.org - Follow Dr. Laufer and Four Thieves on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelSLaufer / https://twitter.com/4ThievesVinegar - Learn more about the Open Insulin Foundation: https://openinsulin.org - The article referenced in this interview is ‘Anarchist Collective Shares Instructions to Make DIY Abortion Pills' published at Vice: https://bit.ly/3aHs3Tr - The song featured is “Deneb” by Nick Vander from the album Kodama (Nowaki's Selection), used with permission by the artist. Listen and purchase at: https://nickvander.bandcamp.com WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast / https://venmo.com/LastBornPodcast BOOK LIST: https://bookshop.org/shop/lastbornpodcast EPISODE 300: https://lastborninthewilderness.bandcamp.com BOOK: http://bit.ly/ORBITgr ATTACK & DETHRONE: https://anchor.fm/adgodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior

IN THIS MESSAGE, WE WILL FIND OUT WHAT CAUSES US TO BE A LUKEWARM CHRISTIAN AND HOW THE PROPER USE OF THE LAW IN OUR LIVES CAN HELP PUT US BACK ON TRACK TO BECOME A FERVENT CHRISTIAN. WE CANNOT HAVE AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS IF WE ARE USING THE LAW IMPROPERLY. OUR FASTFOOD FREEWILL THEOLOGIANS REALLY BEGIN TO SIDESTEP, AND RESORT TO THEIR ALTAR MODE, ETC. FOR IF THEY ANSWER DIRECTLY THE QUESTION, WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE LAW IN A BELIEVERS LIFE IT DESTROYS THEIR FREEWILL DOCTRINE, FOR IMPROPER USE OF THE LAW IN A BELIEVER'S LIFE MAKES FAITH VOID AND THE PROMISES OF NONE EFFECT.

Nicole is popping by about halfway through a longer podcast break to update you on some news!   First, some life updates about travel, visits from home, and thoughts from abroad about the recent loss of the constitutional right to abortion in the US.   Then, a heads-up for fellow US Americans living abroad - The Expat Cast is collaborating with Horbach Expats to host another 4th of July special event about financial planing! Register now.   Finally, listeners in Berlin should head over to Podfest July 16 and 17 to see podfriends Idan from Unmatch Me Now and Shaun from The Germany Experience.   LINKS Register: July 4th Event with Horbach Expats, 7 pm, online Financial Planning for US Americans in Germany Podfest Berlin Episodes with Zoe about Solo Female Travel and about American Pride   REVIEW On Apple Podcasts On Podchaser On my website   CONNECT theexpatcast.com Instagram @theexpatcast  Twitter @theexpatcast 

Eric chats with Michael Kraus, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Yale School of Management. Michael's lab studies what behaviors and emotions maintain and perpetuate economic and social inequality in society. Michael's research has appeared in Psychological Review, Perspectives on Psychological Science, and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.In this episode, Michael talks about his recent work on how much US-Americans overestimate how equal their country is. For example, why are some people motivated to deny the vast wealth inequality between Whites and African Americans? Michael then shares how he has successfully intervened to make people's estimates somewhat more accurate. Finally, Eric asks Michael about advice for young researchers and how he comes up with interesting research ideas. If that is not exciting enough, Michael even performs a power analysis live on the podcast! But not of the statistical kind…Paper: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2108875118 

HAVE WE CROSSED GOD'S IMAGINARY LINE AS AMERICAN'S FOR ENDORSING SEXUAL DEVIANCY? IF NOT, HOW DO WE ESCAPE GOD'S INEVITABLE WRATH UPON US? GOD IS THE OWNER OF THE LANDS OF THIS EARTH AND HE PAYS CLOSE ATTENTION, TO ESPECIALLY US AMERICANS, WHO WERE MADE BY HIM A GREAT PEOPLE BECAUSE OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE PRINCIPLES OF TRUE CHRISTIANITY TO WORK IN OUR PULPITS, SCHOOLS, AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: BUT WHY AT THE PRESENT TIME, HAVE OUR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, AS WELL AS OUR SCHOOLS BECOME SECULAR? ANSWER: OUR PULPITS HAVE EMBRACED THE FICTION OF THE FREEWILL DOCTRINE, AS OPPOSED TO THE BONDAGE OF THE WILL DOCTRINE OUR FOUNDING FATHERS EMBRACED. GOD IS NOT PLEASED WITH A FAKE JESUS BEING DOMINANT FOR BY THE TRICKLE DOWN EFFECT IT PRODUCES AN IMMORAL PEOPLE AND GIVES THE NECESSARY FOOT IN THE DOOR FOR TYRANNY TO FIND A FOOTHOLD. “ It IS IN the INTEREST of TYRANTS to REDUCE the PEOPLE to IGNORANCE and VICE: For THEY(TYRANTS) CANNOT LIVE in any COUNTRY where VIRTUE and KNOWLEDGE PREVAIL." Samuel Adams AND ANOTHER EXHORTATION BY SAMUEL ADAMS: “If VIRTUE & KNOWLEDGE are diffused among the people, they will never be enslav'd. THIS(VIRTUE & KNOWLEDGE) will be their GREAT SECURITY. “This constitution is written for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” John Adams. PSALM 24: [1] The EARTH is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. [8] Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. [9] Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. [10] Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts(JESUS) he is the King of glory. Selah. PSALM 50: [10] For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. [11] I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. [12] If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the WORLD is MINE, and the fulness thereof. [18] When thou sawest a THIEF, then thou CONSENTEDEST with him, and hast been PARTAKERS with ADULTERERS. [19] Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. [20] Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son. [21] These things hast thou DONE, and I KEPT SILENCE; thou THOUGHTEST that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will REPROVE THEE, and set them in order before thine eyes. [22] Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I TEAR you in PIECES, and there be none to deliver. [23] Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

Us Americans over here have been having a really good time talking about the nuances of learning the French language, navigating culture differences and finding love and work. But, I think it's high time we added another layer to this season. In this episode I'm happy to introduce to you a French business owner with a very interesting concept aimed at Anglophones in Paris and an American restaurant owner with French parents and a deep passion and love for French wines. What are their views regarding French food & drink culture? What is it like to not even think about that because whatever you do, its ‘the French way' because you are? Take a listen and see how their thoughts line up with what you've been hearing about all season.Special thanks to our guests Estelle Hirren @Gourmet_Cinema and Yannick Benjamin @yannickbenjamin of restaurant @contentonyc on IG.Thank you for listening to Wine School Dropout. This podcast was produced by Studio Ochenta. Hosted by me, Tanisha Townsend. Our executive producer is Lory Martinez. Edited by our sound designers Luis Lopez and Chiara Santella. Production coordination by Catalina Hoyos. Our theme was done by Gabriel Dalmasso. Music is by Makaih beats. Our art is by Tiffanie Delune.Follow us @wineschooldropout on IG. If you like the show, tell a friend about it and leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time, sit back, relax and have a glass. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/wine-school-dropout. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For our last episode of our first season, the whole family pitches in—Yvette, Josh, and our son— to share three things that each of us likes and dislikes about living in Portugal. We open up about our experiences as US Americans abroad and how that influences the things we are enjoying and the parts of life abroad that we are not a fan of. If you're curious about what it's like living in Portugal, then you won't want to miss this episode. This is also the last episode of our first season so if you liked what you heard, please rate our podcast and subscribe so that you are the first to find out when we release our second season with more updates and tips this summer/fall.

Your grouch phone calls, Mike Lindell's ‘pillows for truckers' convoy detained at Canadian border and deported back to US: Americans vs Canadians pillow fight! and more of your calls!

This is an article published December 12, 2021, in off-guardian.org entitled, RFK Jr's Heroic Resistance to the CIA's Continuing Covid Coup D'état. The author is Edward Curtin. I read it into this podcast after slightly abridging it.Robert F. Kennedy Junior is a Great Man (these capital letters are deserved), and I have been following him around virtually like fans followed the Grateful Dead.This material is not easy to swallow whole if you had no prior exposure to it, but there are exhaustive references in Robert F. Kennedy Junior's latest book. I also recommend Peter and Ginger Breggin's book, COVID-19 and the Global Predators: We Are the Prey. These are each on sale for only $3.00 on Kindle.Edward Curtin's website is edwardcurtin.com and his new book is Seeking Truth in a Country of Lies.OffGuardian was launched in February 2015. Its founders had all been censored on and/or banned from the Guardian's ‘Comment is Free' sections. They are NOT funded by Bill & Melinda Gates, or any other NGO or government.RFK Jr.'s book is The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.For anyone who doubts that the Covid-19 crisis is an intelligence-run operation controlled by spooks working with medical technocrats like Anthony Fauci, billionaires such as Bill Gates, the military, media, Big Pharma, the World Economic Forum, etc., a close reading of this book – with its 2,194 references – will make it all clear.The CIA has long been deeply involved with vaccines, viruses, drugs, weaponizing cancer, biological weapons, and of course massive mind-control operations – in plain English, deadly propaganda–for use in controlling US Americans and foreigners alike.Kennedy writes,There is nothing in the CIA's history, in its charter, in its composition, or in its institutional culture that betrays an interest in promoting either public health or democracy. The CIA's historical preoccupations have been power and control. The CIA has been involved in at least seventy-two attempted and successful coup d'état between 1947 and 1989, involving about a third of the world's governments. Many of these were functioning democracies. The CIA does not do public health. It does not do democracy. The CIA does coups d'état.Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has had his character assassinated by the CIA for years. This has become more and more blatant as they have realized the great growing danger he poses to their agenda.Continue reading HERE.Support the show (https://paypal.me/dryohoauthor?locale.x=en_US)

According to the Washington Post, the Biden Administration is expected tomorrow to force ALL travelers to the US - Americans and foreigners alike - to take a Covid test within a day of travel AND to self-quarantine for seven days after arrival. Vaxxed and unvaxxed alike! Government internment of all arrivals? Are we becoming Australia? Also today, the Biden vax mandates continue to take severe body blows in the courts, with the government contractor mandate being overturned yesterday. Also...Cramer's mad rant - what's he on?

Beyond COVID fears and family drama, many US Americans wonder: how can you square the Thanksgiving extravaganza and the reality of Indigenous experience — including genocide and land theft? In today's readings Jesus stands before Pilate to testify to the truth. His faithful witness leads us through our doubts and dilemmas to a highly nuanced grasp of truth. We can't deny history, but we can construct a more just future and witness to a complex truth. We can extend our tables and expand our minds, to celebrate Thanksgiving, as well as Native American Heritage Day.

Trevor Johnson has been a missionary in Indonesia since 2007.  We talk about the people of Papua, US Americans, his work, and the death and resurrection of Jesus. Trevor's website: http://trevorjohnsonministries.org/ Trevor Johnson

Martha McDevitt-Pugh and her partner moved to the Netherlands over 20 years ago for 2 reasons: 1) For love, and 2) A negative reason, at the time same-sex marriage was illegal in the United States. Around that time, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Over the last 20 years, Martha and her wife have started the Love Exiles initiative (originally a series of Thanksgiving dinners that later became a foundation and activist effort to change US law), and Martha has been involved in Democrats Abroad, which aims to help all US citizens abroad practice their right to vote, navigate filing taxes, and other civil responsibilities. In this final episode of Season 2, we explore what it means to be both a citizen of the country represented on your passport, and a citizen beyond that passport.

In this episode Maksu and Celi are reviewing the classic Kdrama "The Heirs" or "Inheritors". They discuss the asymmetric power dynamics between the lead couple and the impact and importance of classism and privilege on the the working class hero female lead. Also they discuss the portrayal of US-Americans in this drama and the USA as a place of exile and longing at the same time. Furthermore, hairstyles are (very) critically assessed and the co-hosts wonder why almonds feature so prominently in this drama... Enjoy everyone!TW: SuicideShows mentioned: SkycastleDescendants of the SunCity HunterLegend of the Blue SeaHwarang

According to old studies and official guidelines is red meat bad, vegetable oil good and cholesterol harmful. Today, research is proving the opposite. But how and why has it been wrong? Is science corrupt? And what kind of health information can we actually rely on? Dr. Stephen Hussey has some answers to those questions with his fast knowledge in nutritional science. He is a Chiropractor and Functional Medicine practitioner, whole foods supporter and type 1 diabetic. He is also the author of two books on health called “The Health Evolution: Why Understanding Evolution is the Key to Vibrant Health” and “The Heart: Our Most Medically Misunderstood Organ”. Fact is, that about 90% of US Americans have already some aspect of poor metabolic health. So we are getting something, somewhere wrong. Let's explore together how to be a smarter consumer of health information and live a healthier life with food that prevents heart disease and diabetes, rather than causing it. ✨✨FREE: Keto bread & cookies✨✨ Exclusive for all of my listeners! Get free keto bread and cookies with your order made at the Keto Ready Meal Delivery UK https://www.ketowaylondon.com/ Simply send them an email mentioning “JULIA” to get your freebies! Get your freebie today! For key take-aways of this episode and more biohacks visit my blogcast https://thehappytypeone.com/season6/ There you can also find additional FREE downloads and many other free resources including blood glucose friendly recipes! Want more support on your health journey? Want to improve your energy levels, mental clarity, weight management or as a diabetic run flatter blood glucose lines, reduce your HbA1c, have less hypos and more time in target range? Then book a free call via my website: https://thehappytypeone.com/lets-connect/
insta: https://www.instagram.com/thehappytypeone/ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Discover the most common communication styles among people from the United States and learn how to communicate with them more effectively with these verbal and non-verbal communication tips.Visit Talaera: http://talaera.com/Read our blog: http://blog.talaera.com/Join a free webinar: https://offers.talaera.com/free-webinars

Season 5, Episode 25. Cheers to 3 years of The Expat Cast, 125 episodes, 5 seasons! This season finale, we're marking the occasion by diving into a touchy topic: I collected your stories of times German people of authority have made you cry. It happened at the foreigner's office, in banks, in doctor's offices, at the customs office, on the train. It happened, surprisingly, far more in bigger cities and towns than smaller towns and villages. It happened even to people who speak fluent German. We hear your stories, try to identify some patterns, and above all, provide tips and coping mechanisms. This episode is a conversation starter, a window into our experience, and a set of ideas and tools for fellow foreigners preparing to experience upsetting moments like this themselves. This episode is a continuation of the theme presented in the earlier episode Times German Authority Figures Have Made Us Cry.   This episode is sponsored by Horbach Expats. Join Horbach Expats and The Expat Cast for an event on Thursday, July 1 at 19 CET all about financial planning for US Americans living in Germany! Register here. This episode is sponsored by Lingoda. Read more about them on the blog or sign up for the sprint with the code EXPATCAST1 for 20€ off!   CONTRIBUTORS Andrea of @Living.Deliberately.Today Claudio of @zerowastestoriesofficial Patrick of Learnezee Madalina of Relosophy Lawin of @PopYourCulturalCherry Shaun of The Germany Experience   REVIEW On Apple Podcasts On Podchaser On my website   CONNECT theexpatcast.com Instagram @theexpatcast  Twitter @theexpatcast 

Season 5, Episode 24. Steph is a fellow expat podcaster, host of the great show Transcontinental Overload. She was born and raised in Germany, but her love for and comfort with the English language made her certain she'd one day move to London. She did, and the classic thing happened: one year abroad turned into a lifetime. After years in England, Steph moved to Silicon Valley in California, USA. She was ready to return to her heart's home of England, but life had other plans, and it was off to Austin, Texas. Steph struggled to accept that move, and after a couple years of trying, she relocated her family to England - only to discover that it wasn't the place she'd left, and she wasn't the person she was when she last lived there. So it was back to Austin, for now. As she looks forward to the empty nest stage of life, Steph finds herself at peace with it all - with her multinational family, with her multicultural self-identity, with the uncertainty of where she'll end up next. Because one thing she learned from a cheesy embroidered pillow has proven to be true. The grass is greenest where you water it.   Submit your stories of times German authority figures have made you cry by this Saturday, July 19! Send a voice note via theexpatcast.com including your name, location, your story, and any tips or coping strategies you have for moments like this. You'll be included in next week's season finale.   This episode is sponsored by Horbach Expats. Join Horbach Expats and The Expat Cast for an event on Thursday, July 1 at 19 CET all about financial planning for US Americans living in Germany! Register here. This episode is sponsored by Lingoda. Read more about them on the blog or sign up for the sprint with the code EXPATCAST1 for 20€ off!   FIND STEPH Her Blog TranscontinentalOverload Her Podcast Transcontinental Overload The episode of Transcontinental Overload where I was a guest   REVIEW On Apple Podcasts On Podchaser On my website   CONNECT theexpatcast.com Instagram @theexpatcast  Twitter @theexpatcast 

In today's episode we talk about the typical teen's path to career, some statistics, and an alternative. 70% of US Americans study at a 4-year college 30% of college enrollees drop out after their first year 56% never graduate 27%, graduates who actually work in their degree field $28,950, Average student loan debt (2019) $25,2950, average cost of college per YEAR (tuition, book, transportation, meals, room & board, etc) This translates to a LOT of people with massive amounts of debt for a degree they'll never use which they'll takes years and years to pay off. What would it look like if you could design your career path BEFORE going to college. If you could discover what your gifts and talents are, know what you enjoy doing, and how you love to create value for others?? What would that mean for your future?Check out the Teen Catalyst program https://www.teencatalyst.com (here).

Season 5, Episode 21. Just about every expat in Germany can tell you a story of a time an interaction with a person of authority made them cry. While many if not most interactions go good or even well, there are unfortunately times when relating across cultures and languages goes awry and leaves you feeling disempowered, helpless, and demeaned. At worst, this might mean you don't get the medical help or the visa you need. At best, it's a negative experience that leaves you afraid of future interactions. Martina, an expat in Munich from Uruguay, has her own experiences with this, which actually inspired her to relocate her power in the situation and change her career path to make a better future for other expats. We talk about these moments that we've experienced, and we give ideas and tips on how to make situations like that go better.   This episode is sponsored by Horbach Expats. Join Horbach Expats and The Expat Cast for an event on July 1 all about financial planning for US Americans living in Germany! To suggest topics for the event, send a message via theexpatcast.com/contact.   FIND MARTINA On LinkedIn @MartinaChalarHorbachExpats   REVIEW On Apple Podcasts On Podchaser On my website   CONNECT theexpatcast.com Instagram @theexpatcast  Twitter @theexpatcast 

Us Americans in particular are getting more and more interested in the newest sh!t out there and even though most of that stuff is really cool, do we NEED it? I've realized over the years, in order to help our way of life and mindset, I needed to stop wasting things. This episode I briefly rant on how I made an effort to eliminate wasting three things specifically - time, food and money. By not wasting these things as much, I found myself having a better day, week and year than I normally do. Take a listen and share with a friends who needs to hear this. Check out the full YouTube podcast below or listen on all platforms. https://youtu.be/y8FcNHCyUjw

"A Lifetime Seeking Peace" feat. Kathy Kelly Kathy Kelly is a lifelong pacifist and peace activist. In her efforts to stop the US military machine, she has traveled to war zones around the world, engaged in countless acts of non-violent civil disobedience, and been arrested dozens of times. With her own eyes, she has witnessed the brutal costs of US aggression. Her reality has focused on things that most US citizens don't even know are happening because the mainstream media and the political establishment studiously avoid them. She knows about the children who are killed or maimed and she speaks up for them. Despite being witness to so much horror, she is not full of despair and does not believe that humans are intrinsically evil. She is clearly guided by love. I was so grateful for the chance to talk to her, as I have admired people like her my whole life. To me, such people are heroic -- not sports stars or politicians or soldiers -- but the rebels with causes: the justice seekers, truth-tellers, and rabble rousers. In our conversation, we talked about International Women's Day (which happened to be the date of the interview); women's rights and the politics of peace; the brutality of war; how most US Americans are ignorant of the consequences of US militarism; the effects of using drones and special forces; her visits to Afghanistan; the 30th anniversary of Desert Storm, the original US military attack against Iraq; what she learned on a visit to the Russian Federation; how militarism has become "the main religion in the United States right now;" the connection between US imperialism abroad and the repression of Native Americans domestically; her experiences in prison; the subject of prison abolition; and what keeps her inspired as an activist. Kathy Kelly's columns, as posted to Counterpunch: https://www.counterpunch.org/author/kathy-kelly/ Voices for Creative Nonviolence website http://vcnv.org/ World Beyond War: https://worldbeyondwar.org/ A School for Social and Cultural Change (SSCC) https://sscc.teachable.com/ Maine Natural Guard link that Kathy refers to: https://sites.google.com/site/mainenaturalguard/resources Music in episode introduction is "Glass bass" by Frankum & Frankumjay https://freesound.org/people/frankum/sounds/442285/ RADIO FREE SUNROOT: Podcasting by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume https://radiofreesunroot.com KOLLIBRI'S BLOG & BOOKSHOP: https://macskamoksha.com/ ONE-TIME DONATION: http://paypal.me/kollibri https://venmo.com/Kollibri KOLLIBRI'S PATREON: Get access to members-only content https://www.patreon.com/kollibri Support Voices for Nature & Peace by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/voices-for-nature-and-peace This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-a50345 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Voices for Nature & Peace.

DAILY DEVOTION - ECCLESIASTES 1 - THE ELUSIVE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESSAs a nation, we (US) Americans thrive on what's new. It seems to be the engine of our economy, and the goal of our pursuit of happiness. Businesses and social networks are dedicated to helping us pursue the elusive pursuit of happiness.With all we have, shouldn’t we be happy?And yet, more people than ever are medicated for depression and anxiety, while suicide rates soar. Our collective pursuit of happiness is an elusive, never-ending effort, which leaves most people empty-handed.And yet, all of this is nothing new. Ancient wisdom tells us this.Could it be we are looking for the wrong kind of happiness, in the wrong places, and in the wrong way?This is the point, more or less, of the book of Ecclesiastes.King Solomon amassed great wealth, hundreds of wives and concubines, was well-learned, and yet he viewed all of it as pointless. What would bring him to that view of life? Well, that's a long story but it leads to the wisdom found in Ecclesiastes.Solomon speaks to the redundancy of life itself. All we do in life no matter how new or special it may seem has been done before. And he drives home this cynical and pessimistic view of life by returning to various generations of people that come and go and are forgotten.Our worldview—how we view the world and our place in it all—is a very personal and subjective issue. What makes it complicated is our individuality—how we are distinct and unique from others.And yet, the basis for how we view the world simplifies it all.Our worldview impacts our sense of meaning and purpose in life.This is the crux of the book of Ecclesiastes. When our worldview is earthbound and based on human nature, it’s easy to develop a cynical or pessimistic worldview.However, if we believe God is the Creator and Lord of all, we are more likely to see an order and purpose to our life that rises above the cynical and pessimistic view so often presented by those who don’t believe or trust in God.What is your worldview based on?Do you see life on earth as boring and pointless or having meaning and purpose?How you answer these questions is important.Read the full devotion at https://devotableapp.com/daily-devotion-ecclesiastes-1-the-elusive-pursuit-of-happiness

It's Friday! Live Q&A today: 2:00 Questions on retirement account contribution for US Americans living abroad. 19:48 Should I dump my whole life insurance policy? 35:21 What are the rules on the disposition of stuff for my rental property? 45:21 Should I make big year-end contributions to my retirement accounts? 51:00 I just got laid off. What do I need to do now? 1:08:00 Should I enhance my charitable giving by giving appreciated assets? 1:14:44 How do I figure out the tax rules on my cryptocurrency? 1:21:15 Should I keep my home base in the USA or dump it and move? Enjoy! To join next weeks Q&A show, go here: https://patreon.com/RadicalPersonalFinance   

Luis Gonzales is a master facilitator and a global communications expert. We have some fierce hacks from Luis today which include: How his multicultural upbringing shaped his corporate career positively Why cultures play a significant part in your communication Paying attention to one conversation at a time enriches relationships Why noticing how your intuition informs conversations is critical Plus lots more hacks Join our Tribe at https://leadership-hacker.com Music: " Upbeat Party " by Scott Holmes courtesy of the Free Music Archive FMA Transcript: Thanks to Jermaine Pinto at JRP Transcribing for being our Partner. Contact Jermaine via LinkedIn or via his site JRP Transcribing Services Find out more about Luis: Fierce Inc. Website: https://fierceinc.com Luis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisgonzales/    Full Transcript Below:   ----more----   Steve Rush: Some call me Steve, dad, husband or friend. Others might call me boss, coach or mentor. Today you can call me The Leadership Hacker.   Thanks for listening in. I really appreciate it. My job as the leadership hacker is to hack into the minds, experiences, habits and learning of great leaders, C-Suite executives, authors and development experts so that I can assist you developing your understanding and awareness of leadership. I am Steve Rush and I am your host today. I am the author of Leadership Cake. I am a transformation consultant and leadership coach. I cannot wait to start sharing all things leadership with you.   We're joined on the show today by Louis Gonzales. He's a master facilitator and a global communications expert. But before we get into conversation with Luis, it's The Leadership Hacker News.   The Leadership Hacker News   Steve Rush: Did you know that in every language, there are more negative words than there are positive ones. It seems we need lots of words to describe my negative feelings, but we're content with a handful of ones to describe positive feelings. Researchers have found that most cultures have words that describe seven basic emotions. They are joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame, and guilt. So that's one positive emotion and six negative emotions. It's no wonder so many of us have a hard time keeping our negative comments in check. Over the last 10 years, I've been working with language and communication, and I've noticed a bunch of words in our vocabulary that are unhelpful and could adversely impact on you and your team's outcomes. In the news today, I've called out five that I think are most limiting negative words, and really could be avoided so that we don't hurt, belittle and intimidate those around us. Let's get into them. The first word is can't. When you tell somebody they can't do something, oftentimes they'll end up in believing you, whether you are right or wrong. This is particularly true if the person has come to trust you and to respect you and can often then limit people's behaviours. No, the word no is a mother and father all negative words and no can impact us down to our very core. In fact, research tells us that we rap more slowly to the word no than we do to the word yes. And that our brains respond differently when we're told no. This is a great reminder for us to use this word sparingly and to be thoughtful when we do use it. Failure as in you're a failure, is that ever really a reason to use this word in relation to another person? Until a few years ago, I actually used this on my website and I used the phrase failure isn't an option. Now I put success is your only option. And lo and behold, when people read it, they stay on the page longer. They recognize this as more of a positive enabler. It also stimulates better thinking. Positive beats negative, of course, in every situation. Wrong, the word wrong has its place. And sometimes there's no doubt that something is wrong. However, constantly telling someone they're doing something wrong or that their opinions are wrong are likely to drive a wedge between the two of you. Using this word assumes that only, you know, best. You have the monopoly on what's classed as a truth. So, reserve this word for when there is absolutely no doubt that it is wrong and it's accurate. And finally, the word never. Using generalizations, like always never. Often indicates that you feel very strongly something. However, it may not be an accurate analysis of the situation at all. If you want to intimidate or hurt someone, i.e. You failed everything you try then using generalizations is a great technique, but of course, if that's not your intention, it's probably best to take a different approach and get more specific. That's been The Leadership Hacker News. We'd love to hear your stories and insights, so please get in touch.   Start of Podcast Steve Rush: Luis Gonzales is a special guest on today's show. He is a master facilitator. He's an expert in workplace performance, productivity and communications. Luis welcome to the Leadership Hacker Podcast. Luis Gonzales: Thank you, Steve. It's great to be here. Steve Rush: So, you've got really fascinating backstory. Having now worked as a master facilitator at Fierce, you didn't start out life that way and a very multicultural upbringing in the city of Compton, South of LA. Tell us a little bit about the journey to Compton to where you are now? Luis Gonzales: Well many of your listeners may have heard of the city of Compton. Right now It's known for rap music and extreme gang violence, but I'll say that it was quite not like that back in the sixties and seventies, when I was growing up there, it was a very diverse community. So, I'm very fortunate to have grown up in such a diverse community as Compton. People of different colours and shades, et cetera. It also provided some challenges that I needed to work through as a young person, which made me who I am today, made me a much stronger person who I am today. It's a very working-class community. And I think what sparked me to get into what I'm into now, which is, you know, all about communication, effective communication, or as we say, fierce communication, I used to observe as a child, the different styles of communication that people from different backgrounds and races had all in the same community of Compton. And I used to kind of study that from a very I guess, immature way, you know, why do they talk like that? How is it they're communicating? And what's the actual message they're trying to deliver? How is it being received, et cetera? And again, this is in a multicultural environment. So, you could say it could be between Latin Americans, Mexican Americans, and the way they communicate and communicating with African-Americans perhaps. So, there's two different communication styles there. So, I'm really grateful that I grew up in a diverse world, a diverse neighbourhood with lots of support. Were there challenges? Absolutely. But that has also caused me to become a better communicator today. And I would say a better person overall as well in terms of my outlook on diversity, being more accepting of differences in people, et cetera. So that's a little bit about Compton, my background and how that kind of propelled me into what I'm doing now. Steve Rush: And I wonder if that time that you were growing up, Luis, you had an awareness of the different types of communication because you would have not only had the multicultural language communication was physical, but I suspect that there were a number of different nonverbal communication styles and attitudes that were playing out. It's almost like a communications apprenticeship, right?   Luis Gonzales: Absolutely. Absolutely. I'll give you a perfect example of that Steve. When I was very young, probably second grade, maybe I was seven or eight years old, one of the kids in school who was a Mexican American kid, like myself, was being scolded by the teacher, by the way, I went to Catholic School, but that's neither here nor there, but in those days there were some scolding when you misbehaved or were not behaving as you should. And the teacher was scolding this young Mexican American kid, my classmate. And I remember him looking down and looking down while he was being scolded. And the teacher kept saying, look at me, stop looking down, look at me. And he was getting in trouble because he refused to look at the teacher. And I remember telling my parents that when I went home and it was probably not at that time, I may have been too young, but later I came to understand, and my father helped me understand that's a cultural difference. That's a cultural communication style. That's nonverbal, as you said. So, I'll say in our culture and what I mean by that is, I identify as a Mexican American. So, in my Mexican background, my Mexican family culture when someone is scolded, you don't look that person in the eye, you remain humble and you tilt your head downward. In a US American context, however, that might be seen as disrespectful. And you need to look the person in the eye, who's scolding you, the older person, the elder, whoever it is. So that's one example right there of different communication style, all in English, all in the same country, all within the same overarching culture if you will. Here in Southern California. And yet there's a miscommunication that caused a breakdown in a relationship, and nobody really understood why. Steve Rush: And it's the subtle nuances and those cultural communication styles that you become successful at adapting and learning about, and indeed sharing those lessons. And we'll get onto that in a little bit more detail in a moment. Luis Gonzales: Sure. Steve Rush: When it comes to your corporate career, though, you have a great kind of story of evolution and transformation, your corporate career in the hospitality business. Just tell us a little bit about that? Luis Gonzales: Sure, I started with the Ritz Carlton Hotel, proud to say that. At the ripe age of, I think it was 20 or 21, and it was based here in the Los Angeles area, that hotel property at the time. And so, we receive a lot of high-profile guests, a lot of celebrities, princes and royalty from all over the world. You can imagine that this five-star hotel, the Ritz Carlton in the Los Angeles area, all the people that came through there, I was exposed again to all kinds of cultures and communication styles. And of course, with the Ritz Carlton, they set a very high standard for guest satisfaction, wowing the guests and all of that. And so, in order to exceed the expectations of a guest. That requires communication, that requires effective communication. And so, I was in the school, if you will, while working for the Ritz Carlton, I was in my own school of learning how to communicate across cultures, even within the Ritz Carlton, across departmental cultures, what to speak of. The various cultures that pass-through hotel that I had to interact with. And please, if you will, or, you know, exceed their expectations as we used to say. So, I learned very quickly, not a lot of people were very interested in that. But for me, I took a deep interest in that. And so, for example, one example of an aha moment, if you will, that I had. Was when I was welcoming a wedding party, I had been with the Ritz probably about eight years, by that time and a big Indian wedding party, or what I thought was an Indian wedding party was coming in, everyone dressed to the hilt, all the beautiful clothing they were wearing and all that. And when the bride and her family entered the main doors of the Ritz Carlton, and I was standing there to greet them, I folded my hands in a Namaste fashion and greeted them with Namaste. And, oh my gosh, that was one of the most embarrassing moments. And one of the best learning moments I've ever had, don't assume, they were not Indian, they were Pakistani. Steve Rush: Alright, yeah. Luis Gonzales: They were not Hindu. They were Muslim. And what an aha moment that was for me. Now anybody else, any of my colleagues at that time, might've just said, oh, sorry about that. And then moved on, but I ruminated on it. Like, what's the difference? And what made me assume that they were Indian and how can I now clue into the differences before I put my foot in my mouth and embarrass myself. So that's an example of just one example of some of the learning, the intercultural communication style, intercultural communication learning that I had just by my exposure working at the Ritz-Carlton, exposure to so many cultures. Steve Rush: And I guess, you almost have a conveyor belt of different cultures and different languages that on top of your diverse upbringing, it was just another layer of learning all the way through your career, right? Luis Gonzales: That's right, absolutely. And then not to mention on top of that communication style of the Ritz Carlton itself, they have such a genteel way, I guess this is the best way I can describe it, of communicating, whether it be hard messages to deliver, or, you know, celebratory messages or just your basic memos, just that communication style that is so smooth and gracious and concise. And I learned from that as well, in terms of, you know, another way to communicate in a business setting. Steve Rush: I'm sure you won't mind me mentioning you started out as a bus boy with the Ritz Carlton and ended up as a senior leader for the organization. Luis Gonzales: I did. Steve Rush: And at what point did you make the transition from the hospitality business to being a master facilitator? Luis Gonzales: Yeah, that's a great question. I'm glad you asked that. I was with the Ritz Carlton for a total of about 18 years. I had worked my way through the ranks, as you mentioned, starting as a bus boy slash therapist banquets, waiter, parked cars, did all kinds of things and ended up as a guest services manager, meaning in charge of all the valets and the bell persons, et cetera, and the front of the house as we used to call it. And I had reached a point where I wanted to dive more deeply into this whole idea of intercultural cross-cultural communication, global communication, something peaked my interest at that moment. And I thought to myself, okay, I've put in 18 years in the hotel industry, where is this career going? And is this what my passion is? And I think it just boiled down to that was no longer my passion. I had developed another passion and that was effective communication across borders, across cultures. Within a year, I decided to go back to grad school or go to grad school and complete my education, which I had not done. So, I quit the Ritz, and I remember when I gave my notice, they were dumbfounded. They meaning my managers at the time, my leaders, who I respected at that time, their jaws dropped like you're going to ditch a career, this awesome career that you built for yourself. Okay, good luck. I proceeded to go to the Monterey Institute of International Studies. I got my bachelor's degree in International Studies. I got my master's degree in International Relations with a focus on culture and area studies. And so, I just spearheaded into this whole world of intercultural cross-cultural communication. And that's how I got into that. One of my mentors was my professor. He owned a consultancy company, still does. Called Aperian Global. They do cross-cultural consulting. They did, at that time, I got under his wing. Long story short, that's how I got here to where I am today. I began to start training effective communication. And in particular global cross border cross-cultural communication. I eventually ended up at Microsoft in India, where I worked for two years, coaching and training, the software engineers that were at the customer help desk, if you will, when the cloud has gone down and companies need quick help with that, they would reach my team in India. And I trained them and coach them on their communication styles with US Americans and Canadians. And from there long story short, connected, a few more dots after that and got me to where I am today with Fierce Conversations. Been with them for five years. Love what I do, because it's all about effective communication in so many aspects. In so many different angles, if you will, but that's the short story, Steve. Steve Rush: That's a great story. And I love the fact that all the while through your growing up in your corporate career, and I guess it may have even been completely unconscious. You already had the foundations for a bachelor's and a master's degree right there. Luis Gonzales: Yeah, I did. But I didn't realize. It is now I'm realizing it, but yes, you're right at the time, you don't realize what you know, I guess. Steve Rush: And it's a great story. Thank you for sharing that. Luis Gonzales: Absolutely. Steve Rush: So, tell us a little bit about the work that you do with Fierce, so Fierce Conversations as you called it. Luis Gonzales: Yeah, Fierce Conversations. Let me just start with our starting point. This is a firm belief that we have, and I believe this to be true. I've witnessed and experienced this in my own life. Our careers, our companies, our relationships, heck even our lives, they either succeed or fail and it happens gradually then suddenly. And it happens one conversation at a time. So, conversations are the linchpin, the key to achieving the results that we want, achieving the relationships that we want, the goals that we want or whatever it is we say we want, it starts with a conversation and highly effective people like us. I'll include you there, Steve and I do my best to be a highly effective individual. We track the trends of our lives and we look, and we can adjust. Who do we need to have conversations with to help us achieve our goals? Where are conversations missing that need to happen to avoid any kind of mistakes or perhaps disasters? Where am I not being as candid or as forthright as I could be, or as I should be in a particular situation to help me achieve whatever goals I want. So, at the core we are all about at Fierce paying attention to our individual conversations. Because as I mentioned already, one conversation at a time, we're either moving towards the results we say we want or away from those results. We're either enriching relationships or flat-lining them, or hopefully not, but sometimes damaging them. All happening one conversation at a time. So that's our foundational belief. And from there, we take that idea and we branch out into confrontational conversations, all kinds of leadership conversations, how to have delegation conversations, how to confront when behaviour needs to change now. We talk about the idea of building emotional capital and why relationships, why strong relationships are so important to achieving our organizational goals and results. And so, we branch off in so many different directions, and now we are getting involved with effective conversations, effective communication, as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion, because those are now topics that have bubbled up to the surface of the public discourse here in the United States, at least. Steve Rush: Great stuff, there's one thing that I'd love to dive into with you. And it's this whole principle of candid and why we struggle with having candid conversations, giving your experience in the corporate world as leaders can play out. What's the reason you find that most leaders struggle with that candid? Luis Gonzales: Most leaders in my experience, and I'm speaking from personal experience as well. In addition to my 30 plus years of just work experience, it boils down to fear-based. If I'm candid, I fear that I may be wrong. I fear that I may damage some relationships. I fear that I might be wrong and look incompetent. So many fears, if you will hold us back from being candid. From saying what we really feel and want to say. Now oftentimes, again. I'll speak for myself. Many of us, we say what we feel is expected of us, to say what we should say. What people want us to say. If you're a people-pleaser like me, you will definitely say what you think people want you to say, but that may not be the real truth. So, where that gets us into trouble is if I'm not having a candid conversation with use Steve, for example, and there are pieces missing because I'm not taking the conversation to a deeper level where it needs to go, and there are pieces missing. In other words, there are pieces of the conversation that I'm not sharing with you as I'm not being so candid with you, that leads you to perhaps start assuming. You start filling in the blanks in your own mind with your assumptions and those assumptions are often wrong. And so that leads us to more in an organization that leads us to mistakes, rework, loss of clients, duplication of efforts, and all of those have a dollar sign cost to them. So back to your question, it's fear, fear of something that holds us back from being candid. Steve Rush: It's also, sometimes, not even intentional, isn't it? Some people will, most of the time, we'll try to land some things so that they don't choose somebody else. They don't upset somebody, but in doing so run a massive risk of that kind of whole waterfall effect of other things playing out as a result of it. Luis Gonzales: Yeah, I like to say by trying to avoid, you know, whatever the issue it is that you're trying to avoid and not being candid about it, you're actually exacerbating it because it's going to explode later. I've never had an experience of not addressing an issue or a problem, and it got better on its own. So, by ignoring that, and by not being candid by withholding what we really think we should say or feel that we need to say, we're actually accelerating that undesired result that we're trying to avoid. Does that make sense? Steve Rush: Right, yeah, definitely so. there's a little part of our brain that kind of gives a little bit of a wobble when we sense somebody not being as honest as they could be with us, there is a little shift in dopamine. And that's triggered in our, what often is referred to as gut feel is its intuition, isn't it? Luis Gonzales: Yeah. Steve Rush: How do you encourage your clients and colleagues to pay attention to that intuition and to challenge where they recognize somebody is not being as candid as they should? Luis Gonzales: By getting curious. That's where I always go to. So, if you're having a conversation with someone and your intuition, your sense is telling you there's more to the story here. I feel that there's some things being withheld here. I don't feel this person is being completely honest or what have you, ask questions, do not be satisfied on the surface. And when I say ask questions, it could sound something like, tell me more about that. Help me understand how you're seeing that. I'm not sure I'm clear what I'm hearing you say, is that right? I'd like to know more about that so that you can get a more complete picture of how they're seeing things. If they're withholding being candid from you. So, you can learn more, you can provoke learning by what I call interrogating reality, interrogating their reality, not interrogating the person, but by really staying with asking questions to find out more. And I always say with leaders, I've trained, don't be satisfied on the surface. Don't be satisfied with the first response you and I will say across the board, even if someone is being candid with you and they are being forthright and you know, on the surface with you, levelling with you. Still get curious, ask questions because there are details that may come out that they may not have thought of or purposely withholding from you. So, it's always good to just start with curiosity. Steve Rush: Defiantly, I suspect also at the same time in asking more questions, you get less assumptions, right? Luis Gonzales: That's exactly right. I love that you said that because again, like I mentioned before, we, human beings tend to fill in the blanks. We make up stories and most of the time, those stories are not accurate. But we do that. It's human nature. And so, when I ask the questions, it alleviates those assumptions because now I have clarity on what's actually really going on here. I'm not making it, so you're absolutely right. Steve Rush: So, if I'm a leader and I'm communicating across a global business. How can I get more aware of how to adapt and change and modify my communication approach across a wider business? Luis Gonzales: The first thing I would recommend is if you have the opportunity to observe how different people from different cultures are communicating, that's the first step. And that's how I learned is just to sit back and watch and observe and observe how the communication is going back and forth. And then I would say, I don't know if this holds true today. And I say this because we're in a pandemic, we're all working remotely now. And I have a feeling I don't have data to back this up, but I have a feeling, our communication styles are all shifting. Even our global and cultural communication styles may be shifting as a result of us all working remotely and all being connected now on Zoom calls, et cetera. But prior to COVID I would say the second thing that I would start with is just by exploring at a very high level, what are some of the general ways or themes that cultures generally use in their communication? Are they high context? Are they low context? How do they view time? And when I say low context or high context you know, are there a lot of explanations? Do they give a lot of context? And you have to ask questions to help them get to the point or like us, US Americans, are we direct? We just get right to the point. So, it's helpful to understand that because from my experience, for example, working with Indians in India, very high context culture very averse to telling a client, a customer or a boss, no. And so you have to find out ways again, getting curious. Tell me more about that. Ask more questions to get the real answer. For example, I learned the hard way that when I was communicating with some of the Indian members of my team back in India, at Microsoft. If I would ask a question such as, will you have that ready by Friday end of day? Some of the answers I might get would be something like, we'll do our best, sir. Well, as a US American, I take that as a positive. We'll do our best. Sounds good. It sounds like they're going to pull this off, but I know I had to learn this, that's actually a no. Steve Rush: Yeah, right. Luis Gonzales: That's a subtle way of saying no. And so back to your question, first of all, observe how these conversations are going on. Anyone has an opportunity to join in that kind of a conversation via conference call or what have you to observe it, and then just do a little research on your own on the internet. There's plenty of resources out there to just see on a very high general level, what are those different communication styles that different cultures have? And especially if any of your listeners who are hearing this know that they're going to be working with or interfacing with people in a particular culture, then of course, zero in on how that culture communicates. And I will say, I don't paint a wide brush, generally speaking. That's the culture communication style, but not everybody in that culture may follow that style. So, you know, we don't want to stereotype, but those are my two suggestions. First of all, see if you can observe and see the dynamics of the conversation between people from different cultures and start doing a little exploration and research on your own into those different communication styles. Last thing I'll say is most importantly, and I almost forgot to say it Steve. It's important for us to look at our own selves. What's our communication style personally, and what's our own cultural communication style. In other words, where were we born? I was born here in the United States. I'm a very direct communicator, but I also have my own personal way of communicating. So, it's important for us to know our own communication styles and our own values that back up those communication styles, and then take a look at the other ones. Steve Rush: Whilst I suspect stereotypes on the whole people feel a little bit uncomfortable with, there are pockets of behaviours that aren't quite consistent culturally and internationally, and it's a good starting point if nothing else, right? Luis Gonzales: I agree, and you know, I think this kind of reminds me of what I mentioned a minute ago where cultural communication styles may be shifting and maybe kind of unifying. I remember it was just 10 years ago, 9 years ago at Microsoft in India, there was this term Global English. There was a thought that at some point we would all in business be speaking the standardized what they called Global English. And it was almost forced in a way, I guess you could say, you know, we're going to you know, there was a strong push for everyone across cultures, especially within Microsoft and the teams that I was working with to use this, you know, model of the Global English. Now, as I mentioned with COVID and all of us kind of communicating even more. Now, frequently, more frequently across cultures, cross borders, et cetera. I suspect again, and I don't have research to back it up, but I suspect it's accelerated that. I don't know if I'd call it Global English, but we're all settling into some norm, I guess you could say in how we gain more of, it's more of an internet communication style, I guess you could say. Steve Rush: Yeah, I observed that too. One of the things that's quite interesting that I'd love your view on right now is that we're often speaking to folk around the world now via Zoom or WebEx or MS Teams and through our laptops and devices. Do you see that being a barrier to communication? Or do you see that as an enabler? Luis Gonzales: Well, I think it's a little bit of both. At first, it's kind of a barrier and I still see the barrier, it's just a technology thing. People are still trying to understand how the technology works, what are all the buttons they need to push and the video, getting comfortable with video on all of that. So, I see it as initially a little bit of resistance perhaps, a little bit of a hindrance, and there are some challenges, but I see this as a wonderful opportunity for the world at large, for humanity to be able to now increase our understanding our cross-cultural understanding and a humanness and communication. So, I see it in the bigger picture as a plus, as a definite boon to us on the planet. But right now, I think we're still in the transition period. I did a webinar yesterday where I'm still helping people understand where the raise hand icon is, and please put your phones on mute and where the camera button is and all that. So, I think once this becomes more normal in however long of time that takes, I think we're going to see a lot more benefits than challenges. Steve Rush: I wonder also if this could be a crutch to enable some of those more candid conversations, because I'm not having to worry about the physical environment, I'm in now, I can just rely on my communication and I'm safe. Luis Gonzales: Yeah, and that's the tricky part. And I'm glad you mentioned that. I'm noticing that in the webinars that I deliver, et cetera, that some people, for whatever reason, maybe they have valid reasons for it, but see this as an opportunity to sit back, be quiet, do my work, not really engaged and just deliver what I need to deliver. I noticed that on my webinars, when people, you know, don't turn on their cameras and they don't participate. And I sense that some people may feel that this is great. This is an easy way for them to just stay below the radar, do the need full and get on with it. But I don't see that as a benefit because I know that we, as human beings are hard wired emotionally. There's research, there's Nobel prizes that have been awarded to those researchers that prove that at the core were emotional beings. We need to connect with one another and with COVID happening and us working remotely and being physically separated and being physically distance, I suspect that it's even more important for us now to really communicate, to really turn on our cameras, to really ask questions and to try our best, to give eye contact and communicate with people in as much, a way as possible that we used to when we weren't separated physically like this. Steve Rush: Yeah, and I think it's a really great observation by the way, too. It starts of course, and ends with what we've started to talk about a little earlier on, which is just conversations and the more conversations you have as you call it, your linchpin unlocks the rest of communication. Luis Gonzales: Yes. Steve Rush: So, the next part of the show, Luis, we get to turn the lens on you now and we get to hack into your leadership mind. So, first thing I'd like to ask of you is what would you say your top three leadership hacks are? Luis Gonzales: Oh, the first leadership that I have that works for me that I want to share with anybody else. We just talked about it. Connect with others, your team members, your colleagues, The people who report to you, the people who don't report to you, your leader. Connect with them on a human level. And what do I mean by connect? What do you mean by connect Luis? Just what I was saying a few minutes ago, if you're on a Zoom call, if you're on a conference call, when you have the opportunity to do so, when the kids aren't running around in the background, when your spouse is not asleep on the couch or whatever reasons you have for not turning on your camera, when you have the opportunity to do so, turn on your camera, give eye contact and connect with others around you in the organization, on your team, and get curious as I've said earlier, but not the business as usual. Get curious, not the agenda. Here's what we're here to talk about today. It's an investment in time. I know we're all busy, but spend some time at the beginning of your calls to just check in personally, just as we used to do in the office, in the coffee room, how was your weekend? How are things going with everything on your plate? What's keeping you up at night? How are the kids, all that stuff, right? Well, that's been missing. Now that we're kind of new reality. So, I encourage people to do that, connect on a human level. And we all know what that connect means with the individuals that we're connecting with. Remember the conversation is of equal value to the relationship. So, what I mean by that is. if I withhold something from the conversation, if I withhold cantor from the conversation, if I withhold curiosity from the conversation, if I will withhold going deep in our conversations, if I keep my conversations surface at a surface level, my relationship will also be surface. My relationship will not be very candid. If I'm having unreal conversations with people around me, fake conversations around me, saying what I don't really feel. Saying what I don't really think. Well, then my relationship will also be unreal. So that's my first leadership hack, connect with people. Number two, model accountability, model vulnerability. As leaders we all want our people to be accountable. We want people to take responsibility for what they're supposed to take responsibility for, but it's been my firm belief and my experience over these many years, accountability, this idea of accountability cannot be trained and it cannot be mandated. It's a personal choice that we have that we make. If it's to be it's up to me, given the current unfortunate situation, I find myself in. Given the current situation, whatever it is I find myself in, what can I do to move this in a positive direction, that is accountability, that can't be trained. It can't be mandated. It can be observed and people can see leaders model it and follow through with it. So, leaders and everybody for that matter. Model accountability, own up to where you make mistakes, jump in where you know, something needs to be done. And don't ask whose job was this? Who's accountable for this, oh, this isn't my job. This isn't my lane, stay in your lane. None of that, go for it. Do the needful, do what needs to be done. And when you model it, people will observe it. And most people will follow along with that. Third is give ownership and accountability to your people. When I say your people, this is for leaders, of course. Give ownership and accountability. And I learned that way back at the Ritz-Carlton. For example, when we were at the Ritz, if we had a dissatisfied, yes, we would call that a guest opportunity. Even when I was a bus boy, or even when I was a waiter, if a guest came up to me complaining about something, they were unhappy. I could take care of that situation and turn that guest around right then and there, it didn't matter my rank, it didn't matter my title. It didn't matter my role. That's ownership and accountability. And we were able to turn those guests around on our own without having to call a manager, going through any necessary unneeded steps, I should say. So, in the corporate world, we all have teams. We're all part of teams. If you're leader of a team, give ownership to your people, let them shine, let them rise. And sometimes even let them fall on their knees. Sometimes my leaders let me do that, but I learned that way. But celebrate the successes, give ownership, give accountability to your people, allow them to have accountability and celebrate the successes. That builds trust, that strengthens the relationship. And that is an investment in returns later on down the road. Steve Rush: Some super learning in there Luis, particularly that whole one around accountability and ownership because it doesn't cost anything, does it? Luis Gonzales: No. Steve Rush: To take on that responsibility, to get things fixed and all too often organizations handed off to somebody else. And that's where you lose impact and you lose customer relationships. Luis Gonzales: That's right, absolutely right. Steve Rush: So, the next part of this show, we call it Hack to Attack. You affectionately just referred to it as maybe fallen on your knee. So, a time in your life or your career or your work where something hasn't gone well, it's maybe not gone to plan, but as a result of the experience, we know use that as a lesson in our life that serves as well. What's your Hack to Attack? Luis Gonzales: Well, my Hack to Attack, not too long ago, I worked for an organization. It was in the last 10 years. I had a very large shoes to fill, large boots to fill, a lot of responsibilities. I was in charge of learning and development for North America and South America. Living in India, my team in the United States. So, I was reluctant to delegate. I was taking everything on my own and I was not managing my time wisely. And consequently, my health suffered after about a year and a half of that, I reached, you know, I had been burning the candle at both ends. It was awful in terms of the stress that I went through, the headaches I got, the weight that I gained, the bad skin problems that I got through all of that. But now, as I reflect on that, what have I learned from that? And what do I do differently now to avoid that? Especially with the role I have with Fierce is I delegate. There are two reasons why I delegate. Number one, obviously, to free my plate up so that I can, you know, add, you know, different types of projects or more important things onto my plate, making time for those things. But also, the flip side of that is I'm developing the people around me by delegating, giving them more responsibility. So, it's not just taking it off my plate, but it's actually with an interest to develop others. And so now I delegate a lot more than I used to. I used to be afraid to delegate. Didn't like it, but now I know how to have that conversation with people around me, they're willingly, hopefully will you know, accept what I'm offering to them as it, you know, will help them in their career. And then of course the time management falls into that as well. And that was a big challenge for me. I would say for up until about five years ago, when I joined Fierce, learn how to have a delegation conversation. Steve Rush: And sometimes it's getting into that burnout zone. That is the learnings, the real learning to make you realize that there are things that are still within your control that you can fix. Luis Gonzales: Yeah, and if I can just say this really quickly, we have so many justifications for not delegating. Some of them are valid. Like I can just do it quicker myself. It'll take time to train them to do it. So, I might as well just do it myself. They may make mistakes and I'm responsible for it. So, I might as well just do it myself and more. Steve Rush: And that not sustainable though, isn't it? That's the thing. Luis Gonzales: Nope, absolutely not. I found that out the hard way. Steve Rush: The last thing that we're going to do with you today, Luis is we're going to give you an opportunity to do some time travel and you get to go back to bump into Luis at 21 and give them some advice. What's your advice to him? Luis Gonzales: Wow, you know, I often do this, a very reflective person. So, my advice to my 21-year-old self, imagine I'm applying for a job at the Ritz Carlton man, and I'm just a young chap and I'm a little nervous about this. Here's what I would tell myself. Number one, follow your heart. Well, you know what? I always follow my heart, Steve, but I'm going to add to that. Follow your heart and don't forget, use your logic. You have logic there for a reason. So why I'm giving myself advice? My 21 self-advice on this is because I've been like a Peter pan all my life, you know, flitting about the planet and that's been great. I've had some awesome experiences. I got a great career, but I often made decisions solely based on my emotions and I didn't use logic wisely. So there has to be a balance there, at least for me. So, number one, follow your heart. But remember use your head too, heart and head are your best friends. They go together. Steve Rush: They do. Luis Gonzales: Two, stop thinking and caring about what others might think. I've always been a people pleaser and people wouldn't even think that would be advice that I would give myself because people see me as just someone who always does what he wants to do. But deep down inside myself, I know, you know, I'm always concerned about what other people might think about my decisions, my actions, et cetera. So, stop that. Just follow your passions, use your logic and go for it. The third one is you can't please everyone. So be okay with that. Steve Rush: Yeah, exactly.   Luis Gonzales: Not every everyone's going to like your decision, not everyone's going to back you up. Not everyone's going to agree with you. It's part of life. Get over it. Steve Rush: Great advice, Luis. So, I would love for our conversation to last longer and carry on. And we've had a number of conversations over the last few months and then have enjoyed immensely speaking with you. The folk, listening to us today who want to carry that conversation on with you. Where's the best place we can send them? Luis Gonzales: Please, first go to our Fierce website to the podcast tab. That's where this podcast will be hosted and others there. That's a good place to start. So, the website is www.fierceinc.com F.I.E.R.C.E.I.N.C.com from there, you'll see the resort resources tab. We have tons of resources that are free, where you can take a deeper dive into everything we've been talking about today. The second way is I'd love to connect and expand my network. Our network on LinkedIn, you can find me on LinkedIn, linkedin.com/in/Luis Gonzalez, all one word, L.U.I.S G.O.N.Z.A.L.E.S Those are the ways to connect and continue the conversation. Steve Rush: We'll make sure they're in the show notes too Luis, so that people can head straight over. Luis Gonzales: Awesome, thank you, Steve. Steve Rush: I just wanted to say, thank you ever so much, Luis for taking some time out of what is a busy time for you to join us today on the podcast. So, thanks for being on The Leadership Hacker. Luis Gonzales: Thank you for having me, Steve. It was a real pleasure. I enjoyed it. Thank you. Steve Rush: Thanks Luis.   Closing Steve Rush: I genuinely want to say heartfelt thanks for taking time out of your day to listen in too. We do this in the service of helping others, and spreading the word of leadership. Without you listening in, there would be no show. So please subscribe now if you have not done so already. Share this podcast with your communities, network, and help us develop a community and a tribe of leadership hackers.   Finally, if you would like me to work with your senior team, your leadership community, keynote an event, or you would like to sponsor an episode. Please connect with us, by our social media. And you can do that by following and liking our pages on Twitter and Facebook our handler their @leadershiphacker. Instagram you can find us there @the_leadership_hacker and at YouTube, we are just Leadership Hacker, so that is me signing off. I am Steve Rush and I have been the leadership hacker.    

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In 2019, 35 million US Americans experienced food insecurity. Half again as many may go hungry because of the pandemic. We talk with Betti Wiggins, a school nutrition officer in Houston, about changes that can increase food access during (and after) COVID-19. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/brokeinamerica/support

What does it mean for a Christian to be a patriot? How should the Church relate to the nation state, especially one as powerful as the United States? In this episode, Jon Huckins shares two ways Christians often approach politics and then offers a third way he calls ‘a conflicted allegiance.’ At this critical moment in our nation’s history, we as the people of Jesus must pledge our allegiance first and foremost to the Kingdom of God. The only proper allegiance as US Americans is a conflicted one, allowing the values of the Kingdom to guide us and, at times, put us in opposition with our government as we vote, debate, and find a way forward together.

That's it folks!  This abbreviated Grand Slam Season is ovah and we've got two French Open Champions to show for it!  Félicitations go to Polish phenom Iga Swiatek for trouncing the competition this past fortnight and Rafael Nadal for pummeling his way through the draw (Novak Djokovic, we feel for you girl) and winning his 7 billionth French Open title.  (That is obvi a clear exaggeration but come on, 13 Roland Garros titles on one of the most difficult surfaces to win a Slam on?  As John McEnroe put it: "That's out of this world!) Jay and Aldwin give you the full post tourney analysis and dig a little into the controversy of players using medical timeouts to shift the momentum in matches (we see you Sofia Kenin!).  After the two conclude their analysis of the tournament by doling out a few honourable mentions (Jannik Sinner, we live for you!), the duo then look to the tail end of the tennis season.  While the men's tour is alive and kicking in France and Russia, the women's tour has one more stop as they head to a place that neither Jay nor Aldwin can find on a map (even though US Americans have maps and everything such as the Iraq...) ...please tell us you got that iconic Miss Teen USA reference. And wait?  Did you hear?  Looks like the duo are welcoming an extremely special guest on the pod soon!  But you'll have to tune in, listen, like, share, and subscribe to see who that amazing person may be!  

In this episode, the guys talk about what makes makes you an American. You might be surprised how this conversation goes, jump in and check out the conversation. Eric & Matt are both former US Army combat veterans who served together while deployed to Iraq during OIF III. Eric is most known for his YouTube channel IraqVeteran8888 which has over 2.4 million subscribers currently as well as his outspoken and no compromise stance regarding the 2nd amendment. Matt runs Ballistic Ink which is a branding and merchandising company serving 2A content creators and the firearms industry. He is also very passionate about the 2nd amendment and freedom.APPAREL AND OTHER MERCH:https://ballisticink.com/http://www.iraqveteran8888.com/CHECK OUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNELS:https://www.youtube.com/c/iraqveteran8888https://www.youtube.com/c/Guitarsenal© 2020 Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit

The finishing episode of Henry and Eileen discussing Covid perspectives as Latin Americans growing up in USA as citizens. The Red States are turning Blue due to the young Gen Z's activism. We need you! Young people need to vote.

Season 4, Episode 23. If you are a US citizen, even if you live abroad, you ARE eligible to vote. And you SHOULD vote. Candice works with Democrats Abroad Germany and Vote from Abroad. She's here to tell us how to vote from abroad, why to vote from abroad, and what deadlines to keep in mind. The important information she shares in the episode can be found here.   FIND DEMOCRATS ABROAD On their website On Instagram @demsabroadgermany On Twitter @DemsAbroadDE Facebook @DAGermany On Email info-germany@democratsabroad.org   CONNECT theexpatcast.com Instagram @theexpatcast  Twitter @theexpatcast 

Coronavirus coronaavirussss shit is real shit is getting real. We gotta talk about why US Americans can't follow simple rules and how this is all affecting our already fragile mental health.As always, let's support BIPOC in getting the healing we deserve. Here are some mental health resources to donate to or to utilize if you are a BIPOC :)DRK Beauty Healing - Free therapy for women of colorTherapy for Black Girls - Directory of Black women therapistsReal - Individual & group therapy sessions led by women therapistsOn the Mend - Mental health healing courses for POC and LGBTQ+Indigenous Circle of Wellness - Culturally inclusive & holistic counseling servicesTalkspace & BetterHelp - Virtual therapy apps See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Old ways of thinking about patriotism are out of tune!  Dr. David Farmer talks about taking the old tune, modulating it, and ending up with a new key for how we live out our patriotism as twenty-first century US Americans.  Some thoughts and acts just can't be patriotic, no matter who thinks them or puts them into practice.  Healthy patriotism, which is in very short supply and rarely seen, may be all that can save this nation.  Old so-called patriotism is killing us, literally.  I'm a white guy who keeps saying:   Black Lives Matter, and that's one part of the new key.

"The Necessity of Creating a Political Crisis" feat. Margaret Kimberley Margaret Kimberley is an Editor and Senior Columnist at the Black Agenda Report, which publishes news, commentary and analysis from the black left. She is author of the book, “Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents,” which is an eye-opening and very well researched volume published by Steerforth Press in February 2020. (Read my review.) She contributed to the anthology, “In Defense of Julian Assange,” which includes essays by over three dozen other well-known figures including Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg and Matt Taibbi. Margaret is also on the coordinating committee of the Black Alliance for Peace, which seeks to recapture and redevelop the historic anti-war, anti-imperialist, and pro-peace positions of the radical black movement. Margaret and I spoke on July 2nd, 2020 and covered a lot of topics: the George Floyed protests; the "ground-breaking" movement that seems to be emerging from it; the need for organizatin and leadership to push it forward; the importance of community control of the police; the importance of removing monuments and statues, including Mt. Rushmore; how COVID has increased the intensity of Black Lives Matters protests; the COVID disaster in general; the cultural resistance to wearing masks; the indulgence of the Left in COVID conspiracy theories; the inability of US Americans to come together in solidarity; the hope provided by young people; living in a time of collapse; the unfortunate selection of Biden; the lack of free and fair elections in the US; the Green Party; how third parties DON'T "spoil" elections; how the Black Alliance for Peace connects domestic and foreign policy; and the need for radical, revolutionary change. Margaret's book: "Prejudential: Black America & the Presidents" http://steerforth.com/titles/prejudential/written+by-margaret+kimberley?feature=cover Margaret's weekly column at the Black Agenda Report: https://blackagendareport.com/author/Margaret%20Kimberley,%20BAR%20senior%20columnist RADIO FREE SUNROOT: Podcasting by Kollibri terre Sonnenblume https://radiofreesunroot.com KOLLIBRI'S BLOG & BOOKSHOP: https://macskamoksha.com/ KOLLIBRI'S PATREON: Get access to members-only content https://www.patreon.com/kollibri Support Voices for Nature & Peace by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/voices-for-nature-and-peace This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no credit card required. If you decide to upgrade, use coupon code r-a50345 for 40% off for 4 months, and support Voices for Nature & Peace.

Emotions are an increasingly important part of contemporary politics. Strategies based on fear, nostalgia or hope are used by political leaders all over Europe to mobilize populations. Sociologist Karolina Wigura explored the role of emotions in times of corona in the latest episode of our ECFRQUARANTIMES series. In this week's podcast, this topic will be analysed further with a strong focus on the situation in Poland, the US and France. What are the dominant emotions in these countries? Which people and parties are trying to take advantage of this crisis and transform emotions into policies? What kind of impact covid-19 had and will have on elections? Our Host Mark Leonard is joined by ECFR experts Jeremy Shapiro, Piotr Buras, and Tara Varma. They share their feelings and tell us about the emotional experiences of their countries: how do Poles, the French and US-Americans experiences fear, suspicion and uncertainty in times of corona? Watch: ECFR Quarantimes episode with Karolina Wigura: https://www.ecfr.eu/article/ecfr_quarantimes_5_with_karolina_wigura This podcast was recorded on 14 May 2020. Bookshelf: - “We Have Been Harmonised: Life in China’s Surveillance State” by Kai Strittmatter - “The meaning of systemic rivalry: Europe and China beyond the pandemic” by Andrew Small on ecfr.eu - “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles - “Is it tomorrow yet?” (working title) by Ivan Krastev based on some of the arguments, he laid out in his article “Seven early lessons from the coronavirus” on ecfr.eu - “Baron Noir”, TV Series

China donates drones to US police departments; TikTok is collecting data - and gathering dirt - on our future generation of leaders. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/SQY-7d_NeHs Is War Between the US and China Inevitable? Graham Allison discusses "Thucydides Trap." https://youtu.be/XewnyUJgyA4 "Chinese Company Suspected of Spying on U.S. Citizens Donates Police Drones to 22 States." National Review: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/chinese-company-suspected-of-spying-on-u-s-citizens-donates-police-drones-to-22-states/ Email: theliberalconservativereport@gmail.com Support: patreon.com/zachsacher --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rule8politics/support

Welcome to Recap, a brief overview of recent coffee developments every two weeks from the Specialty Coffee Association. Today, we'd like to begin by remembering the life and work of Piero Bambi, La Marzocco's Honorary President and designer of its Linea espresso machine. Working first as a technician and then as a designer and engineer within his father's company, first established in 1927, Piero oversaw the creation and management of La Marzocco's 1960 factory hub in Florence before shepherding the company into its 1990s international expansion. Widely recognized as a culture-bearer of the movement to professionalize baristas, Piero will be commemorated by his wife, Giovanna, and the Marzocco family once the COVID-19 crisis has passed. The C market price of coffee has risen in sharp contrast to similar agricultural products. As governments continue to impose restrictions on movement, expectations of future delays and difficulties in managing shipments of coffee are driving the C market price increase. Freight capacity is expected to plummet due to port shutdowns and quarantines, with supply chains backing up as companies struggle to find available transport for their goods. In anticipation of extended supply disruption, some large roasting companies are “stocking up” by requesting earlier shipments of coffee. Reports that the virus could cause labor shortages during harvest in Central and South America are also of great concern.Specialty coffee companies around the world continue to innovate new products and ways to work as the pandemic continues. Cropster, a roasting software company, has launched shipsbeans.com, a free webshop platform its customers can use to sell roasted coffee online. In the US, several roasters have launched blends to benefit out-of-work baristas. And, in Taiwan, HWC Roasters has launched a ground coffee bag series reminding users to wash their hands frequently, use hand sanitizer, and wear facemasks to prevent the spread of the virus. Originally designed as a thank-you to front-line medical workers, HWC Roasters has made 20,000 of the packs available to medical staff and the greater public at no cost. A recent survey conducted by the National Coffee Association in the USA has found that US Americans drink more coffee than ever. The National Coffee Data Trends 2020 report reflects data gathered before the COVID-19 pandemic, which will have an as-yet-unknown but significant impact on the coffee industry. The report also supports the National Coffee Association's argument that coffee businesses should be classed as “essential,” finding that 62% of US Americans drink coffee daily, a 5% increase since 2015, and that the consumption of espresso-based beverages continues to increase. And, finally, the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture published the second academic paper related to the SCA's Brewing Fundamentals research project, supported by Breville. “Sensory and Monosaccharide Analysis of Drip Brew Coffee Fractions Versus Brewing Time” outlines the surprising results of “fractionation” experiments at UC Davis exploring the natural sweetness of black drip brew coffee. The article is Mackenzie Batalli's first-ever academic publication, a rare occurrence for PhD researchers before taking their qualifying exams. As lead researcher, Mackenzie distilled these findings for specialty coffee professionals at events around the world and in a feature she recently penned for the SCA's quarterly publication, 25. If you want to dive deeper into anything you heard today, check out the links in the description of this episode. Recap will be back in two weeks' time. Thanks for listening. Relevant Links:  1934-2020 | grazie piero (La Marzocco)  La Marzocco Visionary Piero Bambi, 1934-2020 (Barista Magazine) La Marzocco's Piero Bambi (1934-2020) (Sprudge) La Marzocco Mourns Piero Bambi While Charting a Course Through Dark Days (Daily Coffee News) Coffee Importers are Stockpiling on Fears Over Coronavirus Lockdowns (Reuters)  Coffee companies around the world continue to innovate in the face of COVID-19 Free Online Shops for Roasteries, Coffee Shops and More - A COVID Update (Cropster) Coffee Roasters Are Creating Blends to Benefit Laid-Off Staffers (Daily Coffee News) HWC Roasters Releases 20,000 “Epidemic Prevention Coffee” Bags National Coffee Association USA Releases the 2020 National Coffee Data Trends Report “Sensory Monosaccharide Analysis of Drip Brew Coffee Fractions Versus Brewing Time,” Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Wiley Online Library (paywall)“Less Strong, More Sweet,” 25, Issue 11

There's an eery similarity between how many US Christians think about the cross and how US Americans tend to think about our relation to the rest of the world. Why does American Christianity and the United States act like the world is indebted to them? ~ SUBSCRIBE to the Working Class Christianity substack: https://workingclasschristianity.substack.com/ ~ SUPPORT Faith And Capital at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/faithandcapital ~ Twitter: https://twitter.com/FaithAndCapital ~ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithandcapital/ ~ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/faithandcapital/ ~ Email: faithandcapital@gmail.com ~ Music by Cotter KoopmanSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/faithandcapital)

US Americans. New "dumb comment" winner. How to cope with being tired. Toilet paper stories. Cricket study. An update with the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley. The history of Barbie. Wearable technology. What to drink before and after your workout.

US Americans. New "dumb comment" winner. How to cope with being tired. Toilet paper stories. Cricket study. An update with the Arts Council of the Brazos Valley. The history of Barbie. Wearable technology. What to drink before and after your workout.

I share a lot about my multicultural marriage, how and where I met my husband, Adam,  about our long distance relationship, language barrier, courthouse wedding. But this time I wanted to sit down with Adam and have him talk about his side of our story. How he experienced our first time meeting, our intercultural relationship struggles that we had when I moved to America, and about our separation and why we almost got a divorce. WHEN I SAY “MILAN, ITALY” WHAT’S THE FIRST THING THAT COMES IN YOUR MIND ABOUT THE TWO OF US?  Edit: If somebody asks ‘Where did you guys meet?’, and you say ‘Milan.’… What’s the picture that comes to mind? Adam: I usually don’t say Milan, because it wouldn’t be a quick answer. I just say we went to college together. And if they genuinely want to know where we went to school, I’ll share our story. Edit: For me it’s the opposite. I start with ‘we met in Milan’, and if they ask what where we doing there (vacation, school or work), than I would say ‘we went to school together’. And everybody finds our story so romantic.  Adam: So I think that’s the answer to your question. When I think about us and Milan, I think about the time that I spent in SPD. We didn’t have much time together in the city. We are making more memories on this trip right now, then we did in 2008. CAN YOU SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE AND VIEWPOINT ABOUT HOW WE MET? Edit: How was it to meet a foreign girl in a county were you where a foreigner too? Adam: I don’t think how I handled things was the perfect way to do it, but I also don’t have any regrets either. So our story and how we met was because my friend, Mark, knew that I was interested in you. He sort of forced that interaction, and made sure we met. When I asked about you, he said, “I think she is from Serbia”. So I went home that night and did a lot of research on Serbia. I didn’t want to look stupid, and I wanted to have something to talk about. But when I saw you the next day, and found out that you are from Hungary, I was like “Well, damit Mark! I spent the whole night researching the wrong country!” Edit: So you knew that I’m not Italian. But did you ever think that because you are in Italy, there is a chance for you to meet an Italian girl? Or because you where in an international school, meeting people (not just romantically) from different countries was pretty normal. Adam: Yeah, it was normal, but I think you and I have a little bit different mindset when moving here. I didn’t have a dream about moving to Italy. My dream was to become a car designer, and this is where you go when you want to design beautiful cars. I mean, it was great, and I wasn’t against the idea of making friends and building relationships, but that wasn’t my goar or priority. I noticed you around the hallways, but at no point did I try to make contact with you, because that’s not what I was here to do. I was here to study, and to do the best I can to get a job coming out of this. So that’s why you and I didn’t really meet, or had the opportunity to interact with each other until the school was over. At that point I was able to relax and enjoy my last two weeks.  DO YOU THINK YOU WOULD HAVE CAME TO ME IF YOUR FRIEND, MARK DIDN’T BRING ME UPSTAIRS TO CHECK OUT YOUR CAR? Adam: I honestly have no idea! I’d like to think yes, because I was really interested in you. The timing of all of it was really weird thought. Shortly after we got introduced, my friend Jonathan came to visit, and after that my parents came to visit, so I was preoccupied with them. A lot of things were happening toward the end of my time here.  So I don’t know if I would have. — I mean, I would like to think that I wouldn’t have missed out on what has become of us. Edit: Beside all of the circumstances, it was also -in some way- good timing, because I was mentally in a really happy and relaxed place. After school ended I was so open minded, and ready to meet new people. Adam: We just got really lucky with that moment! There was a one or two day period where we could have met, and things could have gone the way they did. And we nailed it! Because any later I probably wouldn’t have been available mentally and emotionally. I had too many other things going on. And any earlier I wouldn’t have initiated anything, because I was too focused on finishing school. Coming here was hard on many levels. It was a very difficult program, graduating was really hard, so I was not going to sacrifice or compromised that for anything. PEOPLE OFTEN THINK HOW COOL (AND ‘EASY’) IT IS TO MEET YOUR HUSBAND OR WIFE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, BUT IT’S ACTUALLY REALLY HARD! Adam: I don’t know if I would say really hard, but I’m trying to keep everything in perspective. Us Americans are very privileged. Going on vacation in a foreign country for us is incredibly easy. But moving to another country, there are a little bit more legistics to it. I had to do a lot of paperwork to be here legally. I don’t know if I would call it hard work, it’s just tedious. But I know that for some people in other countries- especially traveling to America- for school or for work can be extremely difficult and expensive.  AMERICANS ALSO HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING A LANGUAGE THAT’S COMMON IN A LOT OF COUNTRIES. Edit: Others have to learn English to communicate with each other. So you probably noticed a lot of differences when meeting with international students… But I for example did not speak any English. Adam: But at any point while you were living in Italy did you feel like you were pressured to speak English? Edit: Not pressured, but when they heard that I’m not Italian they would switch to English. So I would have to tell them; “I don’t speak English, let’s keep talking in Italian”. Adam: Learning a new language for me was made easier because our school had a no tolerance policy. You had to speak Italian, and that was it!  Both of us are still speaking Italian, -granted it’s somewhat broken- but whoever we are speaking to on this trip, switches to English. Now that’s fine, but as an immigrant they expect you to be able to speak their language, and I appreciate that. All of these societal pressures made me do it, and I’m super grateful for it! That’s the difference between being a tourist and living here.  Edit: If I remember well, we mostly used Italian in the beginning. And then slowly switched to English. Especially after you moved back to the US. Do you think if we would have stayed and lived in Milan, we would use Italian in our household? Adam: Maybe initially, for the first little while. Because it was not our common language, but we spoke it better. I think if everything had gone the exact same that it has (getting married, having kids), but in Italy, we probably would have ended up speaking English in the house. FOR ME, MOVING TO AMERICA WAS A MUCH MORE DIVERSE CULTURAL EXPERIENCE, THAN MOVING TO ITALY. Edit: In Italy I knew what I was getting myself into. I learned the language, I understood the culture, and I was closer to my home. But I didn’t know much about America, and the only reason I came was so we can be together. I struggled with the language barrier and being isolated. I was home alone for months, and got pregnant really fast… So we had a lot of challenges in our relationship that initially we didn’t think could happen. Both of us wish we would have had more time to slowly graduate our relationship up to marriage. How did you experience all of this? You went to work in the morning and knew that Edit is at home alone, she doesn’t have her family and friends here. You were probably worried a lot about how I’m doing. Adam: I don’t think this is going to be as long conversation as you are hoping, because the truth is I didn’t think about any of that. And I really should have. Edit: I didn’t think about it either! We just had our everyday life, but with lots of fights that we didn’t know why they were happening.  Now the world is so much more international. There is so much more information out there, and we notice other multicultural couples going through these issues as well. I learned that it was  totally normal how I felt. Let’s say there is somebody in the same situation -like you were 10-8 years ago-, and is asking for your opinion or advice. What would you say to them? Adam: I think this is an advice to anybody: ‘Don’t assume that somebody is ok with their situation, just because they are not complaining about it.’ That was the mistake I made. If you were upset about being home alone, or if you were lonely, you weren’t complaining about it. I just assumed that it wasn’t a problem. USUALLY PEOPLE WHO MOVE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY WOULD SAY: ‘I LEFT EVERYTHING BEHIND JUST TO BE WITH YOU, SO YOU SHOULD APPRECIATE THAT.‘ Edit: But I think there is no point in going back and forth on this argument.  Adam: You can’t use anything as a weapon against the other person. Leaving everything behind is a choice you made! So don’t use it as a threat. But also the person on the receiving end of this,– you should be mindful of the sacrifices that your partner made. Edit: But like you said, we weren’t aware of it!… Adam: Nope! We where the model example of how to meet and not stay together. The honeymoon was amazing, but after that we did everything in the wrong way.  Edit: Yeah! It’s a miracle that we are still together!… Adam: …And a lot of really hard work too! Edit: But if you don’t feel like working for something, it may not be worth it, right? A lot of people would have given up after our struggles. Adam: Initially when we first split up, and I had that feeling of ‘we-are-not-giving-up’, you where really resistant to that, so I don’t think that’s what brought us back together. You didn’t come to me until I was forced to accept that it was over. And that was through going to a therapist. He was very honest with me, and I’m very grateful for him doing that. He told me that you made the decision to leave, and I’d be better off to accept that. Took me a long time, but the only way I could handle that and survive was to just focus on self improvement. So that’s when I stopped this unhealthy spiral, and focused on myself. Improving all the things that were wrong with me, that got us to this point, and after that was when you came back. Edit: Many times couples would try to promise each other that they are going to change, but they don’t. And they end up back to the same problems. FOR US, IT’S BEEN OVER 5 YEARS THAT WE FIXED OUR MARRIAGE AND STARTED EVERYTHING OVER. IT’S LIKE A NEW RELATIONSHIP WE ARE HAVING. Adam: Change is hard! We had to go through the struggles and we had to change.  Edit: Our issues where never based on culture, or being from a different country, or having a language barrier. But I still believe some of those conflicts came from it. Adam: Every relationship has a culture. It’s a culture amongst two people. And I don’t think that’s a direct result. It’s a symptom, not a cause. We technically had a hard time communicating, and that become our ‘culture’. Even after you learned English. It was just part of who we were; a couple who doesn’t communicate really well.  Edit: You assume that we can’t have a serious conversation, because she/he won’t understand.  Adam: Or resistant to a serious conversation, because we’d have to spend half of our time having to look up in the dictionary what each word means. It’s exhausting, so “We just won’t have this conversation!”. Edit: We also had some conflicts around our cultural differences. For example; me wanting to ‘go home’ once a year, spending all of our money on airplane tickets, or why am I talking to my family daily. It was hard to understand these differences, but you didn’t think that I like to talk to my family, because I’m Hungarian.  Adam: That wasn’t necessarily a cultural thing. There are Americans who talk to their parents every single day. That’s just not me. That’s not my family. And if you want to dig really deep, it may be a jealousy thing. PEOPLE LIKE TO GENERALIZE AND STEREOTYPE CERTAIN BEHAVIORS. Edit: Or follow traditions just because that’s how their family, and culture have done it. And the hardest part is when you are coming from a different country, trying to feel like you matter just as much as the other one. For example, we always try to mix our Christmas traditions together. But the truth is, it could never be equal, simply because we live in America. Adam: I think in our example that’s a bit easier, because I don’t have a lot of strong Christmas traditions. But if one of us had a really strong familial tradition, (or religion), it would be hard to pry me away from that. American traditions are slightly different. We’re going to celebrate the 4th of July or Thanksgiving no matter what. Even if we would live in another country.  Shortly after chatting about holiday traditions we’ve ended our conversation. I’m so grateful for Adam for letting me interview him. I’m pretty sure this is the first time in my life when I’ve interviewed somebody, and I think it ended up being more like a conversation between us. Which I didn’t mind at all! Anyway, I really enjoyed it, and can’t wait for round two sometime in the future! *** SHOW NOTES:http://editvasadi.com/in-milan-with-adam/ GMM COMMUNITY: https://www.gettingmarriedmulticulturally.com/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/editvasadi/    

Will Cooling and Dr Luke Middup return to discuss growing tensions with Iran, the fallout of Donald Trump being accused of being inept and insecure by the British Ambassador to America and the latest from the Tory leadership race

Patting ourselves on the back with our giving. Us Americans love to do that. But what is true giving? In this episode, I present the idea that you cannot call it giving unless it actually costs you something of value. Unless it actually stings a bit. I also share the story of how I met Bethsaika in Haiti.

What do Americans think of Indians? & What do Indian people think of Americans? Well we are going to find out with my guest David C. Sanford. He is the author of a book called Spilling the Beans:A Guide for Indians to Understand and Communicate Successfully with U.S. Americans. David Sanford is an intercultural training specialist with more than 25 years of experience in helping with big organisations. So today you will learn how Americans, and Indians should communicate successfully with each other. You will also learn about the similarities and differences in Indian & American values, motivations, behaviours and expectations. in this conversation we also talk about: Passport culture When in Rome do as the romans do!- Is this still good advice? Hard handshakes v soft handshakes How to work across different cultures. What makes an American tick. Love of Masala Chai Working in virtual teams American psyche V Indian psyche (freedom v family) Mistakes U.S american companies make when dealing with indian employees and much more! links https://whenculturesmix.com/spilling-the-beans P.S I am looking for feedback on the show. So If you could fill out the audience survey. It talks 2mins https://forms.gle/iNkXMauT7azY81sK8 P.P.S Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes in design, business, tech, and more. Anyone can join the millions of members in our community to learn cutting-edge skills, network with peers and discover new opportunities. Try Premium free for 2 months and access all my classes! https://www.skillshare.com/r/user/neilpatel

Jackie Nourse is the host of the international hit podcast JUMP with Traveling Jackie, and she is the founder of The Budget-Minded Traveler, an award-winning blog and community designed to encourage and equip US-Americans to travel overseas. She also hosts adventure trips and retreats for her audience, leads mentorship programs for women, and blogs about adventure travel and lifestyle at TravelingJackie.com. She is a four-time study abroad alum, a linguist (with five languages and counting), and a serial expat. Her work has been featured by Self, Business Insider, Forbes, and more.

Rosetta Stone attorney Ryan Brown returns to talk about navigating requests for US Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations, including engaging in the interactive process and determining which accommodations are required.

www.CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com With the legalization of marijuana in Canada on October 17, 2018, there continues to exist tremendous confusion on how this will impact Canadian marijuana users travelling to the US and American's coming to Canada for a little "marijuana tourism". The issue is complex for individuals, but down right maddening for multinational companies sending employees back and forth across the Canada/US border on a daily basis. In this episode, I was joined by Canadian and US Immigration Attorney Henry Chang who shared some great advice on the real dangers that exist for users of marijuana seeking to travel cross border between Canada and the US and some great tips for employees of Canadian marijuana companies travelling to the US. [smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/canadianimmigrationpodcast/CIP_S3E9.mp3" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" ] Henry Chang, a partner with the law firm of Blaney McMurtry in Toronto, Ontario, has always been a great resource for anything related to cross border immigration. As an immigration lawyer/attorney licensed to practice immigration law on both sides of the border, he was the perfect choice to join me on this Episode to explore the hidden dangers and pitfalls that the legalization of pot in Canada has created for Canadians and Americans crossing the Canada/US border. Henry is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the State Bar of California. He is consistently ranked as one of Canada's top lawyers by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Who's Who Legal, and Best Lawyers. He also holds an AV (Preeminent) rating, the highest possible rating, from Martindale-Hubbell. Henry is the chair of the firm's Immigration Law Group. As a recognized authority in the field of United States and Canadian business immigration law, his style of legal representation is often referred to as the “gold standard” for cross-border mobility law. With limited exceptions, Henry personally supervises the preparation of such cases, in order to ensure the highest probability of a successful outcome. Henry lectures extensively in Canada, the United States, and overseas. His work has been published in numerous nationally- and internationally- recognized publications, including LexisNexis' Immigration Law & Procedure, which has been cited in over 300 Federal Court decisions in cases from across the U.S. circuit courts of appeals, federal district courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Two of Henry's more recent articles have propelled him forward as one of the go-to lawyers on this topic and landed him many interviews with media seeking to demystify some of the lesser known dangers that are lurking in the shadows for marijuana users crossing the border. How the Legalization of Marijuana Will Affect Your Ability to Travel to the United States Canadian Companies Should Educate Their Employees Prior to Marijuana Legalization In this episode Henry and I covered the following topics: Canadians travelling to the US after legalization Employees of Canadian companies travelling to the US Americans coming to Canada for "marijuana tourism" Bringing marijuana across the border (into Canada or the US) [Tweet "What you must know about Pot and cross border travel"] Additional Resources: How to Contact Henry Chang: https://www.blaney.com/contact-us Website: https://www.blaney.com/ Listen to Mark Holthe's Canadian Immigration Podcast [smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/canadianimmigrationpodcast/CIP_S3E9.mp3" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" ] Topics for our Next Podcast [reminder]If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn[/reminder] Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

www.CanadianImmigrationPodcast.com With the legalization of marijuana in Canada on October 17, 2018, there continues to exist tremendous confusion on how this will impact Canadian marijuana users travelling to the US and American's coming to Canada for a little "marijuana tourism". The issue is complex for individuals, but down right maddening for multinational companies sending employees back and forth across the Canada/US border on a daily basis. In this episode, I was joined by Canadian and US Immigration Attorney Henry Chang who shared some great advice on the real dangers that exist for users of marijuana seeking to travel cross border between Canada and the US and some great tips for employees of Canadian marijuana companies travelling to the US. [smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/canadianimmigrationpodcast/CIP_S3E9.mp3" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" ] Henry Chang, a partner with the law firm of Blaney McMurtry in Toronto, Ontario, has always been a great resource for anything related to cross border immigration. As an immigration lawyer/attorney licensed to practice immigration law on both sides of the border, he was the perfect choice to join me on this Episode to explore the hidden dangers and pitfalls that the legalization of pot in Canada has created for Canadians and Americans crossing the Canada/US border. Henry is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the State Bar of California. He is consistently ranked as one of Canada’s top lawyers by The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, Who’s Who Legal, and Best Lawyers. He also holds an AV (Preeminent) rating, the highest possible rating, from Martindale-Hubbell. Henry is the chair of the firm’s Immigration Law Group. As a recognized authority in the field of United States and Canadian business immigration law, his style of legal representation is often referred to as the “gold standard” for cross-border mobility law. With limited exceptions, Henry personally supervises the preparation of such cases, in order to ensure the highest probability of a successful outcome. Henry lectures extensively in Canada, the United States, and overseas. His work has been published in numerous nationally- and internationally- recognized publications, including LexisNexis’ Immigration Law & Procedure, which has been cited in over 300 Federal Court decisions in cases from across the U.S. circuit courts of appeals, federal district courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Two of Henry's more recent articles have propelled him forward as one of the go-to lawyers on this topic and landed him many interviews with media seeking to demystify some of the lesser known dangers that are lurking in the shadows for marijuana users crossing the border. How the Legalization of Marijuana Will Affect Your Ability to Travel to the United States Canadian Companies Should Educate Their Employees Prior to Marijuana Legalization In this episode Henry and I covered the following topics: Canadians travelling to the US after legalization Employees of Canadian companies travelling to the US Americans coming to Canada for "marijuana tourism" Bringing marijuana across the border (into Canada or the US) [Tweet "What you must know about Pot and cross border travel"] Additional Resources: How to Contact Henry Chang: https://www.blaney.com/contact-us Website: https://www.blaney.com/ Listen to Mark Holthe's Canadian Immigration Podcast [smart_track_player url="http://traffic.libsyn.com/canadianimmigrationpodcast/CIP_S3E9.mp3" social="true" social_twitter="true" social_facebook="true" social_gplus="true" social_linkedin="true" ] Topics for our Next Podcast [reminder]If you have a suggestion for topics we could cover in the Podcast, please drop me a line. If you know of anyone that would be interested in coming on the Podcast as a guest, please send them my way. share on facebook, share on twitter, share on LinkedIn[/reminder] Binge on all of our Canadian Immigration Podcast Episodes! If you want to listen to more episodes, you will find all the episodes here. Subscribe to the Canadian Immigration Podcast If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. If you enjoyed the show, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. That would help tremendously in getting the word out and raising the visibility of the show. Share the Love

Today on Radical Personal Finance, we celebrate Tax Day in the United States (April 17, 2018). As we all reflect on the actions of the government we US Americans have just supported with our tax money, I thought it would be a good day to read to you a very helpful essay called, The Law. The Law was written in 1850 by Frédéric Bastiat, a French economist. If you haven't previously read this essay, be fo rewarned that the first third is fast-moving and the last third is fast-moving, but the middle drags a little.Hear it through, though. You'll be glad you did. Joshua Please support RPF on Patreon: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron Written version of The Law: http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html

(Episode 8) Davenport, Iowa. After listening to a podcast Sophomore year in college, Brendan caught the travel bug. Little did he know, that his travel adventures would take him all over the globe including, and I’m not kidding, North Korea. Us Americans have many preconceived notions about North Korea, but Brendan's trip to the north side gives a first hand account on which notions are right, which are wrong, and some things I would never expect.SUPPORT THE SHOW ON PATREONFollow me on InstagramSubscribe to the ShowWrite us a ReviewMore about our Trip!Music by Charlie Millikin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On Fridays, I do a Q&A call-in show which is open to Patrons of the show. Today we cover: Can US Americans Be Transformed Back Into Savers Should I Pay Off My Mortgage Early Should I Rent Out My Backyard as a Lot for a Tiny House The Prospect of Creating Radical Personal Finance in Spanish If you'd like to participate in a Q&A call like this, please become a Patron of the show here: www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron 

1 - Fox News shows hot chicks discussing current events; Gizoogle.net. 2 - Washington Examiner's Sarah Westwood talks Hillary's latest email fiasco with us. 3 - The News with Marshall Phillips. 4 - Americans are eating less; Questions for Growley; Final Thoughts.