Podcasts about USS Midway

Ever wonder why Bob Hope still lands with new audiences today? I sit down with Bill Johnson, a gifted Bob Hope tribute artist who grew up in Wichita and found his way from dinner theater to USO stages around the world. We talk about radio roots, World War II entertainment, and how “history with humor” keeps veterans' stories alive. You'll hear how Bill built a respectful tribute, the line between tribute and impersonation, and why audience connection—timing, tone, and true care—matters more than perfect mimicry. I believe you'll enjoy this one; it's funny, warm, and full of the kind of details that make memories stick.   Highlights: 00:10 - Hear how a Bob Hope tribute artist frames humor to build instant rapport. 01:41 - Learn how Wichita roots, a theater scholarship, and early TV/radio love shaped a performer. 10:37 - See why acting in Los Angeles led to dinner theater, directing, and meeting his future wife. 15:39 - Discover the Vegas break that sparked a Bob Hope character and a first World War II reunion show. 18:27 - Catch how a custom character (the Stradivarius) evolved into a Hope-style stage persona. 21:16 - Understand the “retirement home test” and how honest rooms sharpen a tribute act. 25:42 - Learn how younger audiences still laugh at classic material when context is set well. 30:18 - Hear the “history with humor” method and why dates, places, and accuracy earn trust. 31:59 - Explore Hope's USO tradition and how Bill carries it forward for veterans and families. 36:27 - Get the difference between a tribute and an impersonation and what makes audiences accept it. 41:40 - Pick up joke-craft insights on setup, economy of words, and fast recoveries when lines miss. 46:53 - Hear travel stories from Tokyo to Fort Hood and why small moments backstage matter. 50:01 - Learn the basics of using Hope's material within IP and public domain boundaries. 51:28 - See the ethical close: making sure a “reasonable person” knows they saw a tribute.   About the Guest:   With a career spanning over thirty years, Bill has forged his niche on stage, screen, and television as a dependable character actor.   Bill's tribute to the late, great Bob Hope was showcased in New Orleans, LA at Experience the Victory, the grand opening of the National WWII Museum's first expansion project. In the ceremony, Bill introduced broadcaster Tom Brokaw, and performed a brief moment of comedy with Academy Award winning actor, Tom Hanks. Bill continues to appear regularly at the WWII Museum, most recently in On the Road with Bob Hope and Friends, which was under-written by the Bob & Dolores Hope Foundation.   Highlights from over the years has included the 70th Anniversary of the End of WWII Celebration aboard the USS Midway in San Diego, and the Welcome Home Vietnam Parade in Tennessee. Additionally, Bill has been honored to appear around the world as Mr. Hope for the USO in locations such as the Bob Hope USO centers in Southern California, the USO Cincinnati Tribute to Veterans (appearing with Miss America 2016-Betty Cantrell),  USO Ft. Hood (appearing with the legendary Wayne Newton), USO of Central and Southern Ohio, USO Puget Sound Area in Seattle, USO Guam, USO Tokyo, USO Holiday Shows in Virginia Beach for US Tours, and a Tribute to the USO on the island of  Maui with country music superstar Lee Greenwood.   Other notable appearances include Tribute Shows for Honor Flight chapters in Alabama, South Carolina, and Ohio, the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, the US Army Ball, the annual 1940's Ball in Boulder, CO, “USO Cuties Show” at the Tropicana in Atlantic City, the Les Brown Jazz Festival in Tower City, PA, and Hosting “So Many Laughs: A Night of Comedy” at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, OH.   Through the years, Bill has been “murdered” on CSI, portrayed Michael Imperioli's banker in High Roller: The Stu Unger Story, as well as, roles in films such as Ocean's 11, Three Days to Vegas, TV's Scare Tactics, Trick Shot, an award winning short film for Canon cameras, and the series finale of Dice, where Bill appeared as John Quincy Adams opposite Andrew Dice Clay.     Bill is currently based out of Las Vegas, NV where he lives with his wife, author Rosemary Willhide, and rescue dog, Brownie.   Ways to connect with Bill:   http://www.billjohnsonentertainment.com http://www.GigSalad.com/williampatrickjohnson     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:23 This is your host, Mike hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. You know, we have a saying here, unstoppable mindset, where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet, and we're going to definitely have unexpected today. This is also going to be a very fun episode. By the time you hear this, you will have heard a couple of conversations that I had with Walden Hughes, who is the president of the radio enthusiast of Puget Sound. And he's also on the on other boards dealing with old radio show. And he introduced me to Bill Johnson, who is a person that is well known for taking on the role of Bob Hope, and I'm sure that we're going to hear a bunch about that as we go forward here. But Bill is our guest today, and I just played a little segment of something for Bill with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, two characters by any standard. Well, anyway, we'll get to all that. Bill, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset, and I'm really honored that you're here with us today.   Bill Johnson ** 02:31 Oh, thanks a million. Michael, it's such a pleasure to be here. Well, this is going to be a fun discussion.   Michael Hingson ** 02:38 Oh, I think so. I think absolutely by any standard, it'll be fun. Well, why don't we start before it gets too fun with some of the early stories about Bill growing up and all that. Tell us about the early bill.   Bill Johnson ** 02:52 Okay, well, I was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, of all places. And I used to say, I used to Marvel watching Hope's Christmas specials with my family that sort of spurred my interest. But grew up in Midwest, went to Wichita State University, and then after graduation, I had a job with an independent film company and a move to Los Angeles seeking my fortune. Well, the film company pulled it in three months, as those things do, and so I was left with my, I guess, my pursuit of the entertainment career from there.   Michael Hingson ** 03:42 So did you what you went to school and high school and all that stuff?   Bill Johnson ** 03:46 Yes, oh yes, I went to Wichita East High I didn't graduate with honors, but I graduated with a B,   Michael Hingson ** 03:56 that's fair B for Bob Hope, right? Yeah.   Bill Johnson ** 04:01 And then I actually went to college under a theater scholarship, wow. And so that, in those days, that would pay for everything, books, class, which delighted my parents, because we were a family of simple means. So that was the only way I was going to go to college was having a scholarship and but as it turns out, it was for the best years of my humble life, because I got a lot of hands on experience in a Wichita State medium sized College, yeah, but back then it was Much smaller, so I had a lot of opportunity.   Michael Hingson ** 04:43 I've actually been to Wichita State. I've been to Wichita and, oh, great, did some speaking back there. And we're probably going to be doing more in the future. But it's an it's a nice town. It's a great town to to be a part of. I think,   Bill Johnson ** 04:56 yes, people are so nice there. And what I. I've noticed living in other places and then going home to visit Wichitas are cleaned. Just something you noticed, the streets are usually pretty clean and foliage is well manicured. So hats off to the city for keeping the place up to date or keeping it clean   Michael Hingson ** 05:22 anyway. Well, yeah, you got to do what you got to do, and that's amazing. And in the winter, everything gets covered up by the snow.   Bill Johnson ** 05:30 Yes, you do get all four seasons in Wichita, whether you like it or not. See there, yeah, it's one of those places where they have that saying, If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes and it'll change.   Michael Hingson ** 05:43 Yeah. So, so, so there. So you majored in theater in college?   Bill Johnson ** 05:49 Yes, I did. Actually, the official designation at Wichita State was speech communication, ah, so that's what I got my Bachelor of Arts   Michael Hingson ** 06:02 degree in so what years? What years were you there?   Bill Johnson ** 06:05 I was there in the fall of 75 and graduated a semester late. So I graduated in December of 79 Okay,   Michael Hingson ** 06:17 yeah, but that was after basically the traditional golden days and golden age of radio, wasn't   Bill Johnson ** 06:24 it? Yes, it was still in the days of black and white television.   Michael Hingson ** 06:29 But yeah, there was a lot of black and white television, and there were some resurgence of radio, radio mystery theater CBS was on, and I think that was before, well, no, maybe later in 7879 I don't know when it was, but NPR did Star Wars. And so there were some radio, radio things, which was pretty good.   Bill Johnson ** 06:53 And I think our friends in Lake will be gone began.   Michael Hingson ** 06:56 Oh yeah, they were in, I think 71 garrison. Keillor, okay, it'll be quiet week in Lake will be gone my hometown. I know I listened every week. Oh, I   Bill Johnson ** 07:06 did too. So my interest in radio was, I think, started back then.   Michael Hingson ** 07:12 Yeah, I enjoyed him every week. As I love to describe him, he clearly was the modern Mark Twain of the United States and radio for that matter. Is that right?   Bill Johnson ** 07:26 Oh, gosh, well, I, I'm, I'm, I'm glad to agree with you. And a lot of that wasn't it improvised to his weekly monolog. He'd have, oh, sure, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 07:39 he, had ideas. He may have had a couple notes, but primarily it was improvised. He just did it. He just did it.   Bill Johnson ** 07:47 I let some of the episodes you take a lot of find a lot of humor in the fact he's kind of pleased with himself. And he goes, Well, look what we just said, or something. He'll do.   Michael Hingson ** 07:57 Yeah, it was, it was fun. So what did you do after college? Well,   Bill Johnson ** 08:03 after college, when I had moved to Los Angeles, after that, did not work out. I pursued my living as a as an actor, which didn't last long. So I of course, had to get a secondary job, I guess. Let me back up. It did last long, although I didn't have enough to pay my bills. Oh, well, there you go. I had a secondary job as whatever I could find, bartending. Usually, I did a lot of work as a bartender and but you get at least doing something like that. You get the people watch, yeah, oh.   Michael Hingson ** 08:47 And, that's always entertaining, isn't   Bill Johnson ** 08:49 it? Well, it can be, yeah, that's true. Back in my that's where I kind of develop your little stick you do for customers to get them to laugh and maybe tip you. My big thing was that you'd always see a couple, say, making out at the bar because it was kind of dark in there. And I would always say, Hey fellas, you want to meet my wife, Carol? Oh, that's her boss. Don't worry about it. They're having a good time or something like that, just to try to get a few laughs.   Michael Hingson ** 09:23 I've done similar things at airports. I know that the TSA agents have a such a thankless job. And one of the things I decided fairly early on, after September 11, and you know, we got out, and most people, and most of the TSA people don't know it. But anyway, whenever I go through the airport, I love to try to make them laugh. So, you know, they'll say things like, oh, I need to see your ID, please. And, and I'll say things like, Well, why did you lose yours? Or, you know, or you why? I didn't want to see it. It's just a piece of paper, right? You know? But, and I get them to laugh. Mostly, there are few that don't, but mostly they they do. And then the other thing is, of course, going through with my guide dog. And we go through the portal. They have to search the dog because he's got the metal harness on that always sets off the detector. Oh my, yeah. And, and so they say, Well, we're going to have to pet your dog. I said, Well, just wait a minute. There's something you need to know. And I really sound very serious when I do this. You got to understand this before you do that. They go, oh yeah. And they back up, and I go, he only likes long searches. If you don't take a half hour, he's not happy because his tail is going 500 miles a second, you know? Oh, great coming. But it is fun, and we get him to laugh, which is, I think, important to do. We don't laugh at enough in life anyway.   Bill Johnson ** 10:57 Amen to that. It's That's my philosophy as well, my friend. And there's not a lot to laugh about these days. And hopefully we can find the humor, even if we create it ourselves.   Michael Hingson ** 11:11 Yeah, I think there's a lot to laugh at if we find it. You know, there are a lot of things that are not going very well right now, and there are way too many things that make it hard to laugh, but we can find things if we work at it. I wish more people would do that than than some of the things that they do. But what do you do?   Bill Johnson ** 11:31 Yes, yeah, from from your mouth to God's ears, that's a great plan for the future.   Michael Hingson ** 11:39 Well, we try so you you did some acting, and you had all sorts of other jobs. And then what happened?   Bill Johnson ** 11:47 Well, I finally got fed up with the whole bartending thing and the rat race of trying to make it in Los Angeles. I did some commercials. I had a couple of small roles in some independent movies, as they say. But on my first love being theater, I hit the road again doing some regional theater shows to where I finally ended up back in Kansas, once again, that the there was a dinner theater in my hometown of Wichita, and I got hired to do shows there. Oh, so eventually becoming a resident director so and my my family was going through some challenges at the time, so it was good to be home, so I hadn't really abandoned the dream. I just refocused it, and I got a lot of great experience in directing plays, appearing in plays, and I met my white wife there. So so that was a win win on all counts.   Michael Hingson ** 13:00 I first got exposed to dinner theater after college. I was in Iowa, in Des Moines, and the person who was reading the national magazine for the National Federation of the Blind, the magazine called the Braille monitor guy was Larry McKeever was, I think, owner of and very involved in a dinner theater called Charlie's show place, and I don't remember the history, but I went to several of the performances. And then he actually tried to create a serial to go on radio. And it didn't get very far, but it would have been fun if he had been able to do more with it, but he, he did do and there were people there who did the dinner theater, and that was a lot of fun.   Bill Johnson ** 13:45 Oh, gosh, yeah, although I must say that I was sort of the black sheep of the family being in the arts. My My mom and dad came from rural communities, and so they didn't really understand this entertainment business, so that was always a challenge. But there's one footnote that I'm kind of proud of. My grandfather, who was a farmer all his life. He lived on a farm. He was raised on a farm. Every year at the Fourth of July Co Op picnic. The Co Op was a place where they would take the crops and get paid and get supplies and so forth. They would have a picnic for all the people that were their customers every year he would supposedly play the unscrupulous egg buyer or the egg salesman. And so he'd go to the routine, was an old vaudeville routine. He'd go to this poor farmer and say, Here, let me pay you for those eggs. That's here. There's one two. Say, how many kids do you guys have now? For the No, five. 678, say, How long have you and your wife been married? What is it? Seven years, eight, they get the guy go, no, 1011, 12, so that was the bit, and he would do it every year, because I guess he did it   Michael Hingson ** 15:15 really well. Drove the farmers crazy.   Bill Johnson ** 15:18 Yeah, so, so humble beginnings in the lineage,   Michael Hingson ** 15:23 but on the other hand, once you started doing that, at least being in the theater was enough to pay the bills. Yes.   Bill Johnson ** 15:30 So my parents really couldn't complain about that.   Michael Hingson ** 15:34 Well, see, it worked   Bill Johnson ** 15:36 out, yes indeed. And I met my wife, so I'm not complaining   Michael Hingson ** 15:41 about any of it. Now, was she in the theater? Yes, she was a performer.   Bill Johnson ** 15:46 We met in a show called lend me a tenor, and she was the lead, and I was at this point doing my stage management duties. But suffice to say we have gone on and done many shows together since then, and even had been able to play opposite each other a couple of times. So that cool, yeah, that's, that's a you can't ask for better memories than   Michael Hingson ** 16:13 that. No, and you guys certainly knew each other and know each other well. So that works out really well.   Bill Johnson ** 16:20 Yeah, that works out pretty good, except, you know, you sometimes you have to have a conversation and say, Okay, we're just going to leave the theater on the stage and at home. We're at home. Yeah?   Michael Hingson ** 16:32 Well, yeah, there is that, but it's okay. So how did you get into the whole process of of portraying Bob Hope, for example, and did you do anything before Bob of the same sort of thing?   Bill Johnson ** 16:51 Well, interestingly enough, to complete the whole circle of my experience, when I was performing in Wichita, I got a job opportunity here in Lacher. I'm living in Las Vegas now, to move out here and audition, or come out and audition for a new dinner show that was opening at Caesar's Palace. It was called Caesar's magical Empire, and it was, it was in 1996 and during that time, there was this big magic craze in Las Vegas. Everybody was doing magic   Michael Hingson ** 17:27 shows. You had Siegfried and Roy and yeah.   Bill Johnson ** 17:30 So I came out, I auditioned and got hired. And so then it was like, Well, now you got to move. So we moved on a just on hope and a prayer. And luckily, they eventually hired my wife, and so we got to work together there, and I eventually went on to become the, what they called the show director. I didn't do the original show direction, but it was my job to maintain the integrity of the attraction. So during those years it was that was kind of difficult, because you have to listen to being on the administrative team. You've got to listen to all the conflict that's going on, as well as and try to keep the waters calm, keep peace. Yes. So anyway, doing my show and being interactive, you talk back and forth to the audience, and after it was over, you take them out to a next the next experience in their night, when they would go see magic in a big showroom. And a lady came up to me and and she said, say, I've got this world war two reunion coming up next month. I'd like you to come and be, pretend to be Bob Hope. Do you know who that is? And I was like, yes, he's one of my heroes. And so that was the first opportunity, suffice to say, I guess I did. Should have prefaced it by saying, when the magical Empire first opened, we were all playing these mystical wizards and dark characters. Well, that didn't fly. That wasn't any fun. So then the directors, the producers said, well, everybody, come up with your own character, and we'll go from there. And so I created this character named the Stradivarius, because I like to fiddle the room. I get it and   Michael Hingson ** 19:37 but I played it like Bobby and you like to stream people along. But anyway, hey, I wish I would have   Bill Johnson ** 19:42 thought of that. My approach was like Bob Hope in one of the road pictures. So the show would be sort of a fish out of water type thing. Come on, folks. You know, I laughed when you came in that type of thing. Yeah. So when this lady saw the show that. How she got that inspiration?   Michael Hingson ** 20:04 Well, your voice is close enough to his that I could, I could see that anyway.   Bill Johnson ** 20:09 Oh, well, thank you. Sometimes I'd say it drives my wife nuts, because I'll come across an old archival material and say, Hey, honey, how about this one? So she's got to be the first audience, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 20:23 Well, I'm prejudiced, so you could tell her, I said, so okay,   Bill Johnson ** 20:27 that you would, you'd love to hear it, right? Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 20:31 Well, absolutely. Well, so you went off and you did the the World War Two event.   Bill Johnson ** 20:38 Did the World War Two event shortly after that, the met this, well, I should tell you another story, that shortly after that, a young man came to my show, and during the show, he stopped me and said, say, You remind me of someone very dear to me. Have you ever heard of Bob Hope? And I said, yeah, he's again. I said, one of my heroes. The guy said, Well, you kind of remind me of him. Went on his merry way, and I didn't think much of it. Well, it just so happens. The next day, I was watching the biography documentary of Bob Hope, and all of a sudden this talking head comes up, and it's the same guy I was just talking to in my show the day, the day before, it turns out that was, that was Bob's adopted son, Tony Tony hope. So I took that as a positive sign that maybe I was doing something similar to Mr. Hope, anyway. But then, as I said, The show closed very soon after that, sadly, Mr. Hope passed away. And 2003 right, and so there was, there was no real demand for anything like that. But I didn't let the idea go. I wanted something to do creatively. I continued to work for the same company, but I went over and ran the 3d movie at Eminem's world in Las Vegas 20 years. So I had plenty of time to think about doing   Michael Hingson ** 22:26 something creative, and you got some Eminem's along the way.   Bill Johnson ** 22:30 They keep them in the break room for the employees. So it's like, here's all the different brand I mean, here's all the different flavors and styles. So to have a way and you can tell guests, oh yeah, that's delicious. It tastes like, just like almonds or   22:45 something. Yeah.   Bill Johnson ** 22:47 So based on that, I decided to pursue this, this tribute, and it, I'll tell you, it's difficult getting started at first, you got to practically pay people to let you come and do a show. I'd go to retirement homes and say, Hey, you want to show today. Sometimes they'd let me, sometimes they wouldn't. But the thing about doing a show at a retirement community is they will be very honest with you. If you ain't any good, they'll say, man, no, thanks. Oh, nice try. So know where my trouble spots were,   Michael Hingson ** 23:29 but, but audiences don't treat you as the enemy, and I know that one of the things I hear regularly is, well, how do you speak so much and so well. You know the one of the greatest fears that we all have as a public speaking, and one of the things that I constantly tell people is, think about the audiences. They want you to succeed. They came because they want to hear you succeed, and you need to learn how to relate to them. But they're not out to get you. They want you to be successful and and they love it when you are and I learned that very early on and speaking has never been something that I've been afraid of. And I think it's so important that people recognize that the audiences want you to succeed anyway.   Bill Johnson ** 24:17 That's so true. And you kind of touched on a quote I remember one of the books from Bob hopes. He said how he approaches it. He said, I consider the audience as my best friends, and who doesn't want to spend time with your best friend, right?   Michael Hingson ** 24:34 And I and I believe that when I speak, I don't talk to an audience. I talk with the audience, and I will try to do some things to get them to react, and a lot of it is when I'm telling a story. I've learned to know how well I'm connecting by how the audience reacts, whether there's intakes of breath or or they're just very silent or whatever. And I think that's so important, but he's. Absolutely right. Who wouldn't want to spend time with your best friend? Yes, amen. Did you ever get to meet Bob? Hope   Bill Johnson ** 25:07 you know I never did, although I at one point in my when I was living in Los Angeles, a friend of mine and I, we were in the over the San Fernando Valley, and they said, Hey, I think there's some stars homes near here. Let's see if we can find them. And we said, I think Bob Hope lives on this street. So we went down Moor Park Avenue in Toluca Lake, and we finally saw this home with a giant H on the gate. And it's like, Oh, I wonder. This has got to be it. Well, all of a sudden these gates began to open. And we, kind of, my friend and I were like, and here, here, Hope came driving home. He was, he arrived home in a very nicely appointed Chrysler Cordoba, remember those? And he had one, he just was just scowling at us, like, what are you doing in my life? You know, and they drove it. So that's as close as I got to the real guy. But I wish I could have had the pleasure of seeing him in person, but never, never was fortunate enough.   Michael Hingson ** 26:18 Well, one of the things that's interesting is like with the World Trade Center, and I've realized over the past few years, we're in a world with a whole generation that has absolutely no direct Memory of the World Trade Center because they weren't born or they were too young to remember. And that goes even further back for Bob Hope. How does that work? Do you find that you're able to connect with younger audiences? Do they talk with you know? Do they do they react? Do they love it? How   Bill Johnson ** 26:52 does that go? Well, interestingly enough, a lot of times, if there are younger people at shows, they're usually dragged there by their parents and I have found that they will start chuckling and giggling and laughing in spite of themselves, because that old humor of hopes that, granted, it is corny, but there's some great material there, if presented in the proper context. Yeah. I was funny story. I was doing a show at the National World War Two Museum in New Orleans. They were dedicating a new theater or something, and the color guard was a group of local leaf Marines that were serving in a local base, and they were standing there right before they went on, and this young man kept looking at me, and finally he said, very respectfully, says, I'm sorry, sir, but who are you? So I said, luckily, there was a picture of Bob Hope on the wall. And I said, Well, I'm trying to be that guy. And I said, Hang around a little bit. You'll hear some of the material so, but that's the thing I that you did bring up. An interesting point is how to keep your audience, I guess, interested, even though the humor is 4056, 70 years old, I call it like all my approach history with humor. The first time I did the Bob Hope, as in the national natural progression of things, I went to an open call, eventually here in Vegas to do they were looking for impersonators for an afternoon show at the Riviera in a place called Penny town. It was just a place for Penny slots. And they had, and they hired me. They said you can do your Bob Hope impression there. And so they had a stage that was on a one foot riser. You had a microphone and a speaker and a sound man, and you had to do a 10 Minute monolog six times a day every Yeah, do 10 minutes. You'd have about a 40 minute break. Do 10 more. And I didn't do it every day, but you would be scheduled. Maybe they'd have, you know, have a Reba McEntire one day. They'd have an Elvis one day. Well, so I would it was a great place to try your ad, because, and that's what turned me on to the whole idea of history with humor. Because when I started, I was just doing some of his material I'd found in a hope joke book that I thought were funny. Well, once in a while, people would be playing the slots. Granted, they were looking at the machines. Nobody was looking at me. And once, when I'd have somebody who. Ah, you know, crank the arm, one arm banded against and then, or I make the sound man laugh. And that was my goal. Well, there was a snack bar right in front of us with a rail that people. They weren't tables, but you could go, lean against the rail and eat your I think it was called Moon doggies hot dog stand so you could eat your hot dog and watch Bob. Hope so if I could make the moon doggy people hot dog folks choke on their hot dog while they were laughing. That was like a home run. Yeah. But to keep them interested, tell them something that they will know. For instance, Hope's first show for the troops was May 6, 1941 down in March field in Riverside California. And you start giving dates and specifics that i i can see the people in the audience go, oh yeah, in their mind's eye, they if they were around, then they will go back to that day. What was I doing then? Okay, and so you kind of make the world relevant for them. So that's how I approach World War Two, Korea and Vietnam. Is give dates and places, which you got to be accurate, because the veterans   Michael Hingson ** 31:27 will set you straight. Oh yeah, because they do remember. Oh yes, they were there.   Bill Johnson ** 31:33 So some of them and but it's, it's amazing, as you say, you can tell if the audience is engaged by if they inhale or if they make some complimentary noises during the show. Sometimes I'll get fellas who will sit there and ponder just looking at me, and then they'll come up afterwards and say, Man, I hadn't thought about that in years.   Michael Hingson ** 32:04 Yeah, thank you. And you know you're connecting, yeah, yeah.   Bill Johnson ** 32:09 And because hope represented, I think, a good memory in a kind of a rough time for a   Michael Hingson ** 32:16 lot of folks. Well, he did. He did so much for the troops with the military. And as you said, May 6, 1941, and it went from there. And of course, during the whole war, he was all over and entertaining people and and he was also very active in radio as part of all that.   Bill Johnson ** 32:38 Oh my goodness, I don't know how the man found time to sleep, because if he were alive today, he would love social media and podcasts and things, because he was always trying to get his name in the paper or get some publicity, but he never forgot about his audience. He would want to do a show for the troops, no matter where they were stationed or he said I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I didn't try.   Michael Hingson ** 33:10 Yeah, well, you do a lot with veterans and so on. So you've kind of kept up that tradition, haven't you?   Bill Johnson ** 33:19 Yes, I have been fortunate enough to play a lot of reunions and some, maybe some uso themed shows, because that first show he did, hope did, in May of 1941 was they just was a radio show that his, one of his writers had a brother stationed it in Riverside, California, and the war hadn't started, so they had nothing to do, right? These guys were bored, and so he said, Let's take our show down there and hope. So hope didn't want to leave the comfort of his NBC studio. It's like, you know, what's the idea? And they said, how big is the crowd? And they said, Well, I don't know, maybe 1000 and of course, you know 1000 people. And you know, in Hope's mind, he says, I'd give my arm and a leg to hear 10 people laugh. 100 people is like a symphony, but 1000 people, yeah, sheer fantasy. So he said, Oh, wait a minute, are you 1000 people? Are you sure? And this guy, Al capstaff, said, Well, maybe two. So that was it. And they went down. And when the audience, of course, they were just hungry for anything, the response was just so great that hope said, well, where has this been? And he said, shortly after that, we teamed up with the USO and been going steady. Ever since, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 35:02 and that's so cool. And again, you've, you've kept a lot of that going to now, we've talked on this show with Walden about reps and the showcase and so on. Are you going to be up at the recreation in Washington in September?   Bill Johnson ** 35:18 Yes, I am. I'll be there, and we're, I believe we're doing a one of the cavalcade of America shows that sort of incorporates a lot of his initial, well, one of his initial tours over in World War Two. But it's because a cavalcade is a recreation. A lot of it's drama, dramatized, but it's, it's and it's encapsulated you go bang, bang, bang across a big section of World War Two and Hope's experience in Europe. But it's, to me, as a fan of that genre, it's fascinating, so I just looking forward to it. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.   Michael Hingson ** 36:04 Well, we ought to, one of these days, we need to just do a Bob Hope radio show or something like that, and get you to come on and get an audience and and, and just do a show.   Bill Johnson ** 36:15 Oh, that would be great. I would love. That would be fun. That would be great, you know. And if there's any naysayers, you just say they said, Why do you want to do radio? Say, well, as hope would say, radio is just TV without the eye strain,   Michael Hingson ** 36:30 yeah, and the reality, you know, I'm one of my favorite characters, and one of my favorite shows is Richard diamond private detective, and I was originally going to actually be at the showcase doing Richard diamond, but I've got a speaking engagement, so I won't be able to be there this time, so we'll do it another time. But I remember, you know, at the beginning of every show, the first thing that would happen is that the phone would ring and he would answer it and say something cute, and it was usually his girlfriend, Helen Asher, who is played by Virginia, or who is, yeah, played by Virginia. Greg and one of his shows started. The phone rang. He picked it up. Diamond detective agency, we can solve any crime except television. That's great. I love that one. I love to use that.   Bill Johnson ** 37:20 I gotta remember that that's a great line, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 37:24 but it's really fun. Well, so you classify yourself as a tribute artist. How do you really get started in doing that, and how do you keep that going?   Bill Johnson ** 37:38 Well, that's, that's a, that's the million dollar question. Basically, I I found all the archival material I could find, and there's a ton of information on Bob Hope on YouTube nowadays, and you need to decide, are you a tribute, or are you an impersonator? Because there is a slight difference.   Michael Hingson ** 38:04 What difference a tribute?   Bill Johnson ** 38:08 Well, first off, an impersonator is someone who resembles someone famous and dresses up in a manner as to portray them, and that can include a tribute artist who may not look identical to the person, but can capture a mannerism or a vocal vocal rhythm to suggest enough that the audience will accept it. I I do it. I am, I feel like I can capture a little bit of his face with some, you know, some of the expressions people have told me my eyes resemble his, as well as wear a hat or something from try to copy a costume from a picture that is very you feel like is iconic of this character. So if you can come out and present that, that's the battle hope would always he began his radio shows, as you recall, by saying where he was and like, how do you do ladies and gentlemen, this is Bob live from Santa Ana Air Base, hope and and then do a two, two line rhyme about his sponsor, usually Pepsodent, just to get on to start the show with a laugh like Pepsodent on your brush and use plenty of traction and none of Your teeth. They'll be missing in action.   39:39 Yeah.   Bill Johnson ** 39:42 Huge, but, but you to to pursue it. As I said, you've just got to, you've got to kind of forage out in the real world and see if see somebody's looking for a show, and hopefully get someone to take a chance. Okay? Give you an opportunity. That's why I went to that open call to do that show at the Riviera. It is difficult to tell jokes at people that are chewing at you, but it's a good learning ground, plus doing the shows at the retirement homes made you prepared for anything because, but I found that I got the strongest response from veteran mentioned some of those history moments, historical moments. And so I thought maybe I'll just focus on this, not to put together the other comedy. And the other experiences are very important too. But the things I have found people remember the most were those shows for the troops. Yeah, and basically, in a nutshell, and they don't remember what did he What did he say? Do you remember a joke? Sometimes they'll tell me a joke, but most, most times, they don't remember what he said, but they remember how he made them feel,   Michael Hingson ** 41:06 yeah, and the fact that he said it, yes, yeah,   Bill Johnson ** 41:10 there's a there's a common joke I'd heard for years, and a friend of mine told me he was a 10 year old kid at Fort Levin fort, Leonard Wood, Missouri. And hope came out and told the joke. The guy goes into a bar. Oh, no, excuse me. Let me back up. A grasshopper goes into a bar. The bartender says, Hey, we got a drink named after you. The grasshopper says, you got a drink named Irving cute. And I'd heard that. Yeah, I guess hope told it and so you never know what what inspires your comedy, but there's a lot of common things I heard growing up that I will find hope said. Hope said it at one point or another in his either his radio show or on one of his specials. So   Michael Hingson ** 41:58 do you think that a lot of what he did was ad lib, or do you think that it was mostly all written, and he just went from a script?   Bill Johnson ** 42:07 That's a good point. He was one of the first performers to use cue cards, okay? And a lot of it was was written, but from what I've read is that he was also very fast on his feet. That's what I thought. Because if something happened, he would come in with a bang, with with another line to top it, yeah. Well, you know, like we were talking about that command performance, where with Lana Turner that he said, she said, Well, they've been looking at ham all night, and you're still here. Ah, big laugh. Haha, yeah. And he said, Now I'm bacon with the double entendre, you know, like, yeah, you burn me, whatever. But that was, I thought that was   Michael Hingson ** 42:51 cute, yeah, and he, and he is, clearly there had to be a whole lot more to him than than writing. And so I absolutely am convinced that there was a lot of bad living. And there was just, he was fast, he was good at it and them, and the more he got comfortable, because of those big crowds that they got him started, the better he became   Bill Johnson ** 43:16 absolutely you can there's a great book by, I know, do you know Bob mills? He was one, was one of Bob Hope's writers wrote a right and he explains the formula behind a lot of their jokes situation, and then it would have a payoff, you know, like, I don't know what happened, but now that you know this is set up in a setup and then the joke. Hope supposedly liked an economy of dialog. He didn't like a lot of language going from point A to point B to tell his joke. That's why the rapid fire delivery. And he had a lot of jokes in his shows. The radio shows had, at least, was it something like 10 jokes a minute?   Michael Hingson ** 44:08 Well, they were, they were very fast. And there were, we've got a few rehearsals of Bob Hope shows. And clearly some of the things that he did, because at first he wasn't getting the reaction that he thought he was going to get, but he pulled it out. And again, it's all because he was fast. He was good.   Bill Johnson ** 44:29 Yeah, I've got some blooper reels from some of the Christmas specials, and he'll try and try and try. And then finally, he'll say, take that card and tear it up, throw it away. And that's funnier than the joke itself.   Michael Hingson ** 44:44 Yeah, than the joke itself. It's really cute. So you obviously like performing. Does that run in your family?   Bill Johnson ** 44:55 Well, not necessarily, as I said, I'm kind of the black sheep of the. Family, because I was in the arts, they would rather have a more what do I want to say? A more safe career, a career choice as a you know, because entertaining, you're always wondering, well, where's my next job? Yeah, as opposed to something else, where you might have a better idea of what are your next paychecks coming? But I do have always had a day job, and this is sort of like my way to flex those creative muscles.   Michael Hingson ** 45:33 So what's your day job today? My   Bill Johnson ** 45:35 day job is I still do technical support for the good folks at Eminem's world on the script. Only they after covid happened, they closed the 3d movie that I was overseeing. And another fellow, when I do tech support, we just basically make sure the lights come on. And as well as I have a job at the College of Southern Nevada, on the support staff, trying to help folks who have English as a Second Language get a job. So I find those are both rewarding challenges.   Michael Hingson ** 46:15 It's a good thing I don't go to Eminem's world because I don't really care if the lights are on or not.   Bill Johnson ** 46:20 Oh, well, there you go. We need somebody here doing rim shots.   Michael Hingson ** 46:26 Yeah, you like dependent people are all alike. You know, you got to have all those lights. Yes, I don't know that I've been to Eminem's world. I've been to the Eminem store in New York City, but I don't think I've been to the one in Las Vegas.   Bill Johnson ** 46:40 I was actually at the opening of that Eminem store in New York City. Funny story, they know they have people that put on the character suits, right? And when I was there to help them kind of get their get acclimated to wearing those suits and then peering in front of people. Well, the kids were doing around, say, two in the afternoon. Well, the New York Times showed up at noon, one pick they wanted a picture of and so I had to put on the I was yellow, the peanut, and this other person that was there put on the red suit, and we walked down on 46th Street and started walking on the street, wave and and carrying on. I thought, Here I am. I finally made it to Broadway. Yeah, and I'm and I'm dressed as a nut so,   Michael Hingson ** 47:30 and you had Hershey right across the street,   Bill Johnson ** 47:32 right across the street, so I don't know. I imagine her, she's still there, probably still going head to head, to this   Michael Hingson ** 47:40 day, the last time I heard they were so well, I don't know, I don't know whether anything really changed with covid, but the last I heard they were   Bill Johnson ** 47:49 well, more powerful, Yeah, funny story.   Michael Hingson ** 47:56 Well, so you will, you travel basically anywhere to do a show? Are there any limits?   Bill Johnson ** 48:03 Or no, I'll go anywhere. My this tribute has taken me as far as Tokyo, Japan for the USO there. I've done shows in the Pacific and Guam I'm not too sure I want to travel internationally these days, but if somebody has an opportunity, I'll think about it. Funny thing happened at that, that show I did in Tokyo, I was, it was, it was a gala for the local uso honor the the troops who were serving in that area. So they had that representative from each branch that was serving our Navy, Marines and the Japan, nation of Japan now has what they call, this, the Civil Defense Group. I believe that's what they call because after World War Two, they signed that document saying they would not have an organized military. But right, they have their civil defense, and so we were honoring them, that there was a group, an Andrew sisters trio, performing, singing and dancing and and I was standing off off stage, just waiting to go on and finish the show. And this, this has been 20 years ago. Let me preface that this older Japanese gentleman came up to me, and he said, I would like to make a toast. And there was a lady in charge who, you know this was. There was some, some admirals there, and leaders of the Seventh Fleet were, were there. So everything had to be approved. Everything went according to schedule. The military events are just boom, boom, boom. And so I said, Well, okay, I need to ask Judy, when this Judy was in charge, when we can do this? And he just said, I want to make a tow. Toast. And I said, okay, but I have to clear it with Judy. Well, I finally got Judy and said that older Japanese man would like to make a toast. And she said, Yes, let him do whatever he wants. Turns out, he was an admiral in the Japanese Navy during during World War Two, and he was attending the event here, although these many years later, just as you know, everyone else was sure. So to bail myself out of it, I went back on said stage and said, And now, ladies and gentlemen, our honored guest would like to make a toast. And he, of course, I can't remember the toast, but as I at the time, I thought that was very sweet and very eloquent. So it's just these incredible little snippets of life you you go through. It's like, how could I ever know, when I was a five year old kid in Kansas, that Monday I'd be chatting with a world war two Admiral from the Japanese Navy, right? Just, it's just mind boggling.   Michael Hingson ** 51:06 So I'm curious. Bob Hope copyrighted a lot of his jokes. Are you able to still use them? Well, that's a   Bill Johnson ** 51:13 good question. Yes, he did. He copyrighted his jokes and everything, however, and I have spoken to the lawyer for the hope estate. There are the, what do you call that? It just flew out of my head that the the laws surrounding   Michael Hingson ** 51:32 intellectual property, copyright laws and intellectual property and public domain, yeah, yeah.   Bill Johnson ** 51:38 The song, thanks for the memory is in public domain, and hope would always change the lyrics to where he went because he hated the song. Supposedly he had, how did I get hung with that old dog of a song?   Michael Hingson ** 51:52 Yeah, well, he kept using it every week, so I can't believe it was too anti song. Yeah,   Bill Johnson ** 51:57 that's true, but the hope is they did copyright his jokes, but as long as I don't write a book and try to sell them as my jokes, I should be fine as well as I am. Allow you the those laws allow you to present impersonate someone, no matter who it is. You could impersonate your next door neighbor, even though he's not famous, as long as you do not do something to harm them, yeah, or represent it in an unflattering way   Michael Hingson ** 52:28 well, and clearly, what you're doing is pretty obvious to anyone who knows at all that it's Bob Hope and that you're trying to do a tribute to him. So I would think it would make sense that that would work   Bill Johnson ** 52:39 well it should and but the final caveat is that a reasonable person must come away from the show knowing full well they did not see the original. You must tell them. And Bob Hope's been gone for   Michael Hingson ** 52:55 many years. Yeah, 22 years now.   Bill Johnson ** 52:59 So that's usually not a problem, but that's how I finished my tribute as vice is, I usually wear a hat to complete the illusion, with the bill flecked up. I'll take the hat off and say, now if I could break character and tell about how hope was named an honorary veteran, and at the age of 94 it was an amendment passed by Congress designated him as an honorary veteran, and it was received unanimous bipartisan support   Michael Hingson ** 53:30 as it should yes and   Bill Johnson ** 53:33 Hope went on to say, sort of all the awards I've received in my lifetime being now being listed among the men and women I admire the most. This is my greatest honor, so that's a good way for me to wrap up my tributes whenever possible.   Michael Hingson ** 53:54 Do you have, oh, go ahead, no,   Bill Johnson ** 53:56 I was gonna say there's another funny story. You know, hope lived to be 100 Yeah, and George Burns.   Michael Hingson ** 54:03 George Burns, lived to be 100   Bill Johnson ** 54:05 lived to be 100 Supposedly, the two of them had a bet as to who would live the longest. Now, the thing is, what were the stakes and how do you collect? Yeah, because some guy, you're not going to be there. But in any event, George Burns was born in the 1890s and so he was older than hope. Hope was born in 1903 George Burns lived to be 100 years and 10 days old. Bob Hope lived to be 100 years and 59 days   54:41 Oh,   Bill Johnson ** 54:42 so hope. Well, the story goes that in his final, final months, he was just he was pretty much bedridden and slept and slept a lot. His wife, Dolores went to his bedside. He had that 100 years 10 day mark, and she said. Well, Bob, you won the bet. You have now lived longer than George Burns. And supposedly, even though he was fat, he was like they thought he was asleep, this huge smile just curled up his lips so he heard, that's great.   Michael Hingson ** 55:18 That's great. Well, if, if you have, do you have something that you could do for us, or do you have something that you could play or something that would give us just a little flavor?   Bill Johnson ** 55:28 Um, yeah, I Well, if you, I would tell your listeners that they want to catch a little bit more. They can go to my website, Bill Johnson entertainment.com, and there's some video clips there, but I like to do is that hope would always, he would always joke about traveling to the event, and that's how I like to begin my shows with him arriving. Since I just flew in on a wing of prayer. I was on the wing because as a soldier, I wouldn't have a prayer nicely. My flight was very nice, but the plane was rather old. In fact, the pilot sat behind me wearing goggles and a scarf. This plane was so old that Lindbergh's lunch was still on the seat. The fasten seat belt sign was in Latin. To get to the washroom, you had to crawl out on the wing. But I come on, folks, I said, to get to the washroom, you had to crawl out of the wing. But hey, I don't know about you, but I have a fear of flying that dates back to my childhood. See, when I was a baby being delivered by the stork, that blasted bird dropped me from 400 feet. Yeah, he did that to stay out of the range my father's shotgun. See, Dad already had my brothers, Eenie, Meenie and Miney. When I came along, he didn't want   56:55 no moat. I get it just   Bill Johnson ** 57:00 it goes along in those words. Well, we are,   Michael Hingson ** 57:05 we are definitely going to have to just work out doing a radio show and getting you to to do a whole show, and we'll have to get some other people to go along with it. We'll figure it out. Oh, that sounds great. I would buy a lot of fun to do. Count me in. Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely wonderful to be able to talk about Bob Hope and to talk about you. Even more important, I'm sure that Bob Hope is monitoring from somewhere, but by the same token, you're here and we're here, so we do get to talk about you, which is important to do as   Bill Johnson ** 57:41 well. Well, that's very kind, Michael. I was hopeful that you would be at the rips.   Michael Hingson ** 57:47 I was planning on it because I wanted to, I want to really do the Richard diamond show. I'll, I told you I'd send you the command performance that we talked about Dick Tracy and B flat, or, for goodness sakes, is he ever going to marry Tess true heart? Oh yes. And I'll also send you the Richard diamond that we're going to do the next time I'm able to be at the rep show. It's, it's   Bill Johnson ** 58:06 really hilarious. Oh, that sounds great.   Michael Hingson ** 58:09 But I want to thank you for being here once again. Tell us your website.   Bill Johnson ** 58:14 My website is, it's my name and followed by entertain Bill Johnson, entertainment.com there's there's some video clips there, and some great pictures of some of the folks I've had the pleasure of meeting and performing with. I don't want to name drop, but just to give the the act a little more credence, pictures with Les Brown Jr. Rest his soul. I did it floored. I was able to do a show with Lee Greenwood on the island of Maui Wow, as well as perform with Wayne Newton at Fort Hood, Texas. Wayne Newton actually took over for Bob Hope with the USO when Bob just got too old to travel. Yeah, so, so that's just for a humble, humble guy. It's some incredible stories   Michael Hingson ** 59:19 well, and you're keeping some wonderful memories alive, and we'll definitely have to do something with that. But I want to thank you for for being here and again. Bill Johnson, entertainment.com, so go check it out, folks and and there's a lot of old radio out there online. We've talked about yesterday usa.com or yesterday usa.net they're the same. You can listen. You can go to reps online, R, E, P, S online, and listen to a lot of radio programs there. There are a number of people we've had Carl Amari on who several years ago, did come. Complete redos of all of the Twilight zones, and he made them scripts for radio, which was a lot of fun. Have you ever heard any of those?   Bill Johnson ** 1:00:07 I've never heard. I was a big fan of the show when it was on TV, but I never heard any of the   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:12 radio. Stacy Keach Jr is is the Rod Serling character, but, oh yeah, Twilight radio,   Bill Johnson ** 1:00:19 that's great. I will check it out,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:22 or we'll send you some that's even better. But I want to thank you for being here, and thank you all for being here with us. I hope you had fun today. It's a little bit different than some of the things that we've done on the podcast, but I think it makes it all the more fun. So thanks for being here. Please let us know what you think. Email me. I'd love to hear from you. Michael, H, I m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, love to get your thoughts wherever you're listening. Please give us a five star review. We appreciate those a lot. Tell other people about the podcast. We really would like to get as many people listening as we can, and we want to be sure to do the kinds of things you want on the podcast. So if you know anyone else who ought to be on the podcast, Bill, that goes for you as well, please introduce us. We're always looking for more people to come on unstoppable mindset that we get a chance to chat with. So hope that you'll all do that and again. Bill, I want to thank you one more time for being here. This has been fun.   Bill Johnson ** 1:01:21 This has been a blast. Michael, thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:32 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

Bestselling Author Scott McGaugh, Co-Founder and Founding Marketing Director of the USS Midway Museum, discusses the origins of the one of the nation's most popular museums; the museum's Freedom Park fundraising status; and the Navy SEAL Museum opening, slated for October 4. McGaugh chats about his transition into one of the country's most prolific nonfiction military history book authors, including his 12th book, Sitting Ducks, which will debut in June 2026.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media  "Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 19 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local.   For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us. Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.   About Mission Fed Credit Union  A community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/

Send us a textThe IMAPS International Symposium returns to the Town & Country Resort in San Diego from September 29-October 2, 2024, featuring restructured technical tracks, new Monday panel discussions, and exciting networking events including a special reception aboard the USS Midway aircraft carrier. General Chair Benson Chan and outgoing IMAPS President Erica Folk share what attendees can expect at this premier microelectronics packaging event.• Expanded program with six focused technical tracks for better attendee experience• New Monday afternoon panels on thermal challenges, HIR roadmap, and co-packaged optics• Co-location with the new Thermal Management Conference (Wednesday-Friday)• Special reception on the USS Midway aircraft carrier (requires RSVP during registration)• Student engagement through high school tours, university booths, and the Posters & Pizza session• Leadership transition as Erica Folk hands the presidency to Dan Kruger• Multiple networking opportunities throughout the week including the Exhibitor Happy Hour• Volunteer opportunities that provide valuable professional development and career connectionsRegister now at imaps.org to secure your spot at the symposium and don't forget to RSVP for the special Midway reception.Support the showBecome a sustaining member! Like what you hear? Follow us on LinkedIn and TwitterInterested in reaching a qualified audience of microelectronics industry decision-makers? Invest in host-read advertisements, and promote your company in upcoming episodes. Contact Françoise von Trapp to learn more. Interested in becoming a sponsor of the 3D InCites Podcast? Check out our 2024 Media Kit. Learn more about the 3D InCites Community and how you can become more involved.

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors will finally be whole today for the first time since Nora Vargas stepped down suddenly from her post just weeks after winning reelection. Sheriffs investigators have obtained a number of videos helping them piece together what happened Friday in a crash on Highway 67 between Poway and Ramona which killed 5 people. Harbor Police have arrested 40-year-old Frank D'Anna and booked him on charges of boating under the influence and hit and run after his 65-foot sportfishing boat collided with the port side hull of USS Midway.   What You Need To Know To Start Your Tuesday. 

Show SummaryOn today's episode, feature a conversation with Rear Admiral Terry Kraft, US Navy, Retired. Terry is the President and CEO of the USS Midway Museum, the longest-serving aircraft carrier int eh 20th Century that is now a museum in San Diego. Terry also serves on the board of directors for PsychArmor, and we talk about both of those roles in our conversation.  Provide FeedbackAs a dedicated member of the audience, we would like to hear from you about the show. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts about the show in this short feedback survey. By doing so, you will be entered to receive a signed copy of one of our host's three books on military and veteran mental health. About Today's GuestRetired RADM Terry B. Kraft's military service spanned a remarkable 34-year Navy career highlighted by unparalleled leadership across diverse domains. As the son of a Navy captain, he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1981 and earned his designation as a Naval Flight Officer in 1982. His academic achievements include a master's degree in political science from Auburn University, a fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and graduation from the Navy Nuclear Power Program. Throughout his military service, RADM Kraft excelled in operational and strategic roles. He commanded aviation squadrons, ships, and a carrier strike group. As Executive Officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, he contributed to major operations including Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom. His pivotal shore assignments included roles with VA-128, the Air Command and Staff College, U.S. Pacific Command, and the Chief of Naval Operations staff. His leadership in Maritime Aviation, Unmanned Aerial Systems, and Intelligence and Surveillance capabilities reflects his strategic vision and innovative approach. Additionally, he commanded the Navy Warfare Development Command and U.S. Naval Forces Japan, where he spearheaded critical initiatives to advance naval operations.After retiring from the Navy, Terry continued to demonstrate exceptional leadership in the private sector. From 2015 to 2023, he held senior management roles at General Atomics, driving technological and strategic advancements. Now, as President and CEO of the USS Midway Museum, he combines a commitment to preserving naval history with a passion for public education—values closely aligned with PsychArmor's mission. Terry and his wife, a fellow Navy veteran, reside in San Diego, where they enjoy attending music concerts and spending time with their children sailing around San Diego Bay. Links Mentioned During the EpisodeUSS Midway Museum WebsiteTerry's Bio on PsychArmorPsychArmor Resource of the WeekThis week's PsychArmor Resource of the Week is the PsychArmor Course, the Basics of Military Culture. Understand key values, customs, and experiences unique to service members and veterans through stories from six American service members. Perfect for employers, healthcare providers, and anyone working with military-connected individuals. You can find the resource here:  https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/military-culture-series Episode Partner: Are you an organization that engages with or supports the military affiliated community? Would you like to partner with an engaged and dynamic audience of like-minded professionals? Reach out to Inquire about Partnership Opportunities Contact Us and Join Us on Social Media Email PsychArmorPsychArmor on TwitterPsychArmor on FacebookPsychArmor on YouTubePsychArmor on LinkedInPsychArmor on InstagramTheme MusicOur theme music Don't Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families.  You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com  

RADM (Ret.) Terry Kraft, President of the USS Midway Museum, gives an update on the status of the Freedom Park build-out, while shouting out the opening of the Museum's new Carrier Intelligence Center Exhibit, slated for June 27.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media "Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 19 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local.  For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us. Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.   About Mission Fed Credit Union A community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/

Jack Gale, Director of the USS Midway Museum Docent Program, chats about the more than 800 volunteers of the USS Midway Museum, many of them in the role of docent.  The 800 volunteers contribute more than 21,000 hours each month to the operation of the nationally recognized museum.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media "Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 19 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local.  For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us. Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.   About Mission Fed Credit Union A community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/

Drew Schlossberg and Charles Parisi reflect on nearly two decades of podcasting with purpose, spotlighting the impact of San Diego's community and military. With new shows like SheEO Military and a relaunch featuring Rear Admiral David Boone, Cloudcast Media is leading the charge in local storytelling.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media "Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 19 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local.  For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us. Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.   About Mission Fed Credit Union A community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/

Host: Don Helin Guest: Bill Bastian Description: This episode features an interview with Bill Bastian, a veteran who shares his experiences as a jet engine mechanic and plane captain in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, specifically working on F-8 Crusaders. He recounts details of training, serving on aircraft carriers like the USS Kittyhawk and USS Midway, and the dangers and losses faced by pilots and crew. The discussion also touches upon his post-military career in pipeline construction and crane mechanics, and his retirement at Willow Valley.

This episode I am hosted by Charlie Williams (77) who has me discuss my USAF childhood, cadet days, and decision to join the Navy upon graduation. I also get to share some of my sea stories on the USS Saratoga in the Med and most importantly my time aboard the USS Midway home ported in Japan, there are times in this recording where it might be tough to hear everything so please let me know if it needs some cleanup, which I don't know how to do… Near the end I ask for anyone who wants to participate to reach out. But hang on to the end for some of my fun flying stories.

The City of San Diego released a response to the NTSB's findings on the safety systems at the Montgomery Gibbs airport. There are several Memorial Day ceremonies going on throughout the county, including one at USS Midway and the Miramar National Cemetery. 

Het Nederlandse bedrijf Guide ID kun je echt overal ter wereld tegenkomen. Het bedrijf van Frits Polman levert namelijk audiotours aan musea. Van het Paleis op de Dam tot het Irish Whisky Museum, en van het Stedelijk Museum tot de USS Midway. Ze zijn actief in 27 landen, waaronder Oekraïne.

In the first installment of a three-part series, we explore the chaotic final days of April 1975, when thousands of South Vietnamese citizens desperately sought escape as North Vietnamese forces closed in on Saigon. You'll hear firsthand accounts from both sides of this massive evacuation, and from those who were part of the waves of exodus that followed.

Sonnig, entspannt und voller Überraschungen – in der neuen Folge geht es nach San Diego! ☀️

On Legal Docket, parental rights in education; on Moneybeat, President Trump's mid-term economic score; and on History Book, a heroic rescue at sea evacuating South Vietnam. Plus, the Monday morning newsSupport The World and Everything in It today at wng.org/donateAdditional support comes from the Crossway Podcast. Thoughtful interviews with authors on topics related to the Bible, theology, and the Christian life. crossway.org/podcastFrom Dordt University. Offering fast-track Ag degrees to help graduates make an impact in agriculture sooner. Dordt.eduAnd from I Witness, an immersive audio drama exploring stories of faith and transformation. On podcast apps or at iwitnesspod.com

This week, John is joined by David Koontz, the Marketing Director for the USS Midway Museum. They discuss the history of the USS Midway, its transition from active duty to decommissioned/museum life, the updates coming to Navy Pier, and much more! Tune in to hear about what sets the USS Midway Museum apart as a floating maritime museum50th Anniversary of Operation Frequent WindApril 27th from 10am to 3pmEvent DetailsTo learn more,USS Midway Museum ExhibitsFreedom Park Development & Legacy BricksVolunteer OpportunitiesTo contact John Olsen,619-855-1151John@TheSanteeGuy.comJohnOlsen.comJohn Olsen RE Facebook Santee Update Facebook 

Finding what you love doing beats chasing money every time. Today on the IC-DISC Show, we're talking with John Sacco, owner of Sierra International Machinery, a trailblazer in the recycling industry. Starting as an agri-packaging business, John transformed the company into a recycling equipment powerhouse, moving from marketing Italian made machines, to designing their own balers and conveyors, and now offering a comprehensive range of recycling equipment with renowned service quality. He's been a lifelong industry advocate. Serving as past ISRI chairman and creating the "Repurposed" docuseries on Prime Video, a series showcasing how 75% of new American steel comes from recycled materials. Activities that help companies recruit talent by highlighting the environmental benefits of an industry often misunderstood by policymakers and the public. It's a great conversation revealing how critical recycling is for disaster recovery, processing debris, and supplying rebuilding materials. Listen in to hear why John believes finding your passion, as he did at age 59, brings more satisfaction than any bank account.     SHOW HIGHLIGHTS We explore Sierra's transformation from a leader in agri-packaging during the 60s and 70s to a pioneer in recycling machinery, sparked by the introduction of an Italian machine in the 1980s. John discusses the significance of Sierra's involvement with trade associations like ISRI, now REMA, emphasizing the role of advocacy in correcting industry misconceptions and celebrating milestones such as serving as chairman. John and I delve into Sierra's innovative marketing approach, highlighting their docuseries on steel recycling that unexpectedly gained popularity on Prime Video, enhancing the industry's image. He addresses the broader industry challenge of attracting and retaining talent, drawing parallels to Mike Rowe's advocacy for essential yet undervalued jobs. We highlight the environmental advancements in the U.S. steel industry, including its leadership in recycling and the significant role of recycled aluminum in the automotive sector. John shares advice on prioritizing passion over profit, emphasizing personal growth and the rewarding aspects of the journey, including attending industry conferences and personal milestones. He reflects on Sierra's collaborative team effort in expanding product offerings, driven by customer needs and market opportunities, while maintaining a strong reputation and high-quality service.   Contact Details LinkedIn - John Sacco (https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-sacco-8a8a1b10/) LINKSShow Notes Be a Guest About IC-DISC Alliance About Sierra International Machinery GUEST John SaccoAbout John TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) John: And there's a lot of misconceptions about our industry. So staying involved is, you know, I've done it and that's kind of why I've also done a lot in regards to the docuseries on our industry and stuff like that. Dave: Good morning John. How are you today? John: Doing good. Doing good, that's awesome, not bad. Dave: How are you today Doing good? John: Doing good. That's awesome, not bad. How are? Dave: you doing Dave. That's good, I'm doing great Now are you a? Native of California. John: Yeah, I was born and raised in Bakersfield, California. Dave: Oh, wow, Okay. So did you grow up around the scrap business? John: Well, actually I grew up more in the agri-packaging side of Sierra. We used to have a company called Sierra Bag and we used to supply agri-packaging products. We were at one point the leader in selling bagging and ties to the cotton industry. Years ago in the 60s and 70s, there used to be over 2.2 million bales a year of cotton grown in the San Joaquin Valley and we used to sell the bagging and use bags and make potato bags and onion bags. We had the recycled materials facility but I really wasn't involved with that. I was more involved during the summers as a kid working in the bag plant. Dave: Okay, so how did the transformation then go on your end to where you get more involved in the recycling space. John: Well, it started when my dad had found a machine out of Europe, out of Italy, and he thought that the market in America could use these machines. Which he was right. And at 19, by late 1985, his partner, 42 years, a buddy of his, who he met during World War II, was, he was ready to retire, he had some health issues and he was just ready to call it quits. And so, in early 1986, what he did was sold the Jagger packaging, bought his partner out and had me start marketing the machines. So, not knowing a whole lot about Ferris and non-Ferris, quite frankly, I was forced to learn it kind of on the fly and getting involved with selling the equipment. Dave: Okay, and did you get involved with the company right after you graduated from USC? John: I did. For two years I was on the agri-packaging side, traveling around to potato sheds, onion sheds, selling the products that we had, and then in 85, started going to the cotton gins. Also, we held a at the time a patent on the cotton module which when they harvested cotton in the field they'd make these big well, for lack of a better word a big log of cotton before they sent it into the cotton gin and we had a tarp for it into the cotton gin and we had a tarp for it. So when it if it rained because the harvesting of cotton was late September, early October and so if it rained it could ruin the grade so we had this cotton module cover and we had a patent. So we sold a lot of those throughout America to the cotton industry. Dave: Okay, and then it was shortly after that that you got more involved in the recycling machinery. John: That's correct. Yeah, when my dad sold all the agri-packaging in 86, all of that went away. So that was when he wanted me to market the machines, because I had taken marketing at USC. So I just basically said, hey, market these machines. Dave: That's what I've been doing ever since and there's a little more to it than that because at some point you all started developing your own machinery. Is that correct, that's? John: correct. We you know our clientele base also was in need of two-ram balers for the processing of non-ferrous materials, you know, aluminum, copper, and also in the fiber industry for paper. And so we decided to start building two-ram balers and hired an engineer who was at the time unemployed and got involved and built a plant down in southern Georgia and expanded today. So we finished, we opened up in October of 2008 and building two ram balers and conveyors for the metal side and also the waste sector. So that's grown nicely over the years. Dave: That is great. And then you guys have expanded your product offering. Then beyond that to other aspects, right? John: That's correct. Yeah, so you know, for recycled materials facilities we offer a wide variety of products from 2-ram balers, conveyors, shears, shear balers, portable balers, grapples and material handlers, so it's a wide variety of equipment that can go into a lot of different aspects of the waste sector and the recycled material sector. Dave: Okay, and then at some point, you became involved in the Trade Association. Was it ISRI then, or was that? John: Yeah, it was ISRI back. It was in the late 1990s that I got involved and you know I got involved, I enjoyed and it was fun for me on a personal level and then in two I was elected to be secretary-treasurer of at the time it was ISRI. It's now REMA, the Recycled Materials Association. So I did that stint, you know, as secretary-treasurer and you move up to chair, and I was chairman in 2011, 2012,. But have stayed involved with the Trade Association because I believe in having a strong voice for an industry in the states and in, you know, in the nation's capital. You know policymakers don't really know what we do and there's a lot of misconceptions about our industry. So staying involved is you know there's a lot of misconceptions about our industry. So staying involved is, you know, I've done it and that's kind of why I've also done a lot in regards to the docu-series on our industry and stuff like that. Dave: Okay, I can't believe that it's been 12 years ago. 13 years ago I guess that you were the chair. I think that's when I first met you in San Diego, I think on the aircraft carrier at a social function. John: Yeah, when we met on the aircraft carrier, that was 2010. Excuse me, that was 2000. Yes, it was 2010. And that was the final night party of ISRI at the time on the USS Midway, and at that party I was officially at that moment, the chairman of ISRI. So yeah, as long as it was, it does seem just like yesterday, david, and it was a great party. But yeah, it just seems like yesterday. Yeah, the sound of it is a long time ago. Dave: Wow, yeah, the time does go by. Now I'm curious, as your product line expanded, I'm curious was that more of a case of you just saw an opportunity and that's kind of what drove it, or was it more your customers coming to you saying, hey, we really need help in this area. Would you guys develop something? Or is it a mix of the two? John: Well, it's a little bit of everything. I have a great team here and the people at the time who was on the team, you know, said well, we should get involved with this type of equipment because we have a need for it. You know our customer base asked for it and you know I won't take the credit for it and you know it's I won't take the credit for it because in the end it's a team here at Sierra and you know I have a brother involved who's my partner now, his son, my nephew's involved and so over the years it's just it's about discussing what we can do, how we grow. How do we you know you got to grow your revenue. How do we grow it? And by adding different products into the mix. And then the manufacturer out of Italy, the Tabarelli family, they have a wide, they had the material handler. So we just started just a couple years ago starting to really, you know, push into that market and you know we'll gain our traction. It takes a little time but it's a team effort here and it's just a lot of people have. You know my general sales manager has been with us since 1988. And you know he has a lot of great ideas as well. So, as a team, we've worked together to develop the products we needed to come into the market. And what's really unique is when you deal with our company. There's, like I say, a wide variety of equipment that you can handle or you can purchase from Sierra and that we service. So we have the ability to sell a lot of different machines, yet we have the ability to service each and every one of those machines with the same intensity. So it's been good. Dave: No, that's excellent. With the same intensity, so it's been good. No, that's excellent. Do you? Is it that aspect of that ability to you know service, all that equipment? Is that one of the main reasons your clients choose you? What's the feedback you receive from your customers, as far as you know why they end up choosing you? John: Well, there's a lot of reasons. We have built, you know, a really good reputation and we work on it every day to improve. In our service department we carry the parts and we have the technicians, but we also have a very high quality piece of equipment. Series repurposed season one, season two really tells the story of our industry and, as the former chairman of israel, now rima, I keep advocating for the industry with what I do with our social media and you know, when you have two seasons on prime video, people notice that. So there's a lot of things involved. We have good people, we try to do the right thing at all times and that's our motto the Sierra way is the right way. It's not fancy. So I think there's a lot of things that we do that enhance our image and you know people like to do business with us because of all the above. You know, is it just one thing? You know, one customer may like the service, one customer may like our advocacy, which I've heard. A lot of people like our equipment per se, and there's just a lot of things that go into it. So I think it's multifaceted, dave, and it's just not one item. We try to just try to build everything we do, improve our marketing, our brand, improve our service. You know that's our motto is to try to get better every day. We don't want to be the best, we just want to be better, because being better is a journey that every day, if you come in the office and you say how can we be better, you don't rest on what you did yesterday. So it's, you know, we got a good culture, we got great people. You know our technicians also are a great face to the company, our salespeople as well. So I think it's just a multitude of things. Dave: Well, that's an insightful answer. I appreciate that. As far as that docuseries, I've always been curious what's the story behind that? Did you just wake up one day and say you know what I want to be on TV, or was it a little different than that? John: Oh, it's a lot different than that. Interesting how it all came about. A gentleman I've worked with Darren Doan for over a decade on creating content and stuff we've done together. We had this idea back I don't know 22, early 22, to do a thing called the Sierra Summit. We were going to bring in Mike Rowe and the top 100 metal processors in America have this big event and the Ukraine war broke out and what happened with that is a lot of processed steel out of Europe was handled through in Ukraine and our supplier of the Shears, portable balers, had a supply chain issue plus a pricing increase. That was dramatic. And so we decided well, we better keep our powder dry and not spend this money for the summit. And so about a month later things you know, the steel market for europe started settling, and I don't know. I just had this idea of doing this docuseries on steel making being made from recycled steel and start changing the narrative, because I got tired of hearing the word junk, waste, trash. And I think that was one of the biggest obstacles to our industry. And I don't know, I've been in front of the camera with my social media posts, so being in front of a camera didn't bother me. But telling the story of a steel mill using recycled steel as the raw materials coming from out facilities like our own here at Sierra was a fun thing. So I thought, well, you know, we could put our equipment in this, we can tell the story. We're going to advocate for the industry, we can get this out there. I never had any intention of getting it out to Prime Video. My whole intention was to tell a fun story in a cinematic way that people would like and find entertaining and educational. And it turned out to be just that. And so we did season two, where we actually what we learned from season one. So then we weren't focused on the output of rebar at cmc and the construction projects needing rebar, so we showed a lot of projects that had rebar. And where did the rebar come from? So you backtrack it all into the recycled materials and so, uh, it just kind of grew from that. I don't mind being in front of a camera, you know, wanting to be in front of a camera or not minding it, or I think are two different things, but the fact is that I enjoy creating the content. It's fun for me to get into a steel mill. It's fun to tell the story, to talk to people and you, you know, when I released the series, there's so many people who've used it to show their families what they do. You know there's so many people who don't understand what our industry is about. And then you got schools and you know companies using it, even like SAB they were season one. They used it for recruiting and safety and telling their story and CMC is the same as well as telling their story of how their steel mill is really the foundation of infrastructure, because you have to start with rebar and any hospital and school and manufacturing plant. You've got to start with rebar in any hospital and school and manufacturing plant and you know you got to start with rebar and rebar comes from recycled metal, so it's a good story and they've been able to educate people to draw, you know, to attract and retain talent. Our industry isn't the sexiest, so it's shed a light on our industry that our industry actually is doing more to reduce CO2 emissions than any other industry in the world today and it attracts people who want to do something good for the mother earth and have a good paying job at the same time. Dave: That's awesome. Did that surprise you when, like CMC and some other companies, use that as like a recruiting and education of themselves? John: No, that was part of my sales pitch to them. Dave: Okay, okay. John: I knew, for whatever reason, why I knew that our industry has we have an image problem this I know, and it was still there. And attracting and retaining talent is a struggle, and it's not just our industry. If you talk to any facility, any company in America today, they all have the same issues. You know, I've just finished filming at the Toyota Motor Plant in Troy, missouri, where they make cylinder heads and their number one issue is attracting talent in the mechanics. They can't find them. And steel mills same thing. Every industry in America is struggling to find talent, and so I know that if you don't tell your story, if you don't make your company look cool, who wants to come to work for you? Dave: Yeah yeah, it seems like Mike Rowe is kind of on a similar mission from a little different perspective, really trying to encourage, you know, more people to come into the trades. John: Well, mike Rowe, yes, and you know, look, mike Rowe is an incredibly successful human being and you know, he has to show. You know, dirty jobs and I think kind of that's what we are. We're dirty jobs but we're networked. You know, I don't say we're essential. Essential is a COVID word that the government used to pick winners and losers. You know, you go to the hospital, david. Do they take your essential science or do they take your vital science? Sure, they take your vital science, right. So our industry is vital for the health of the nation. You don't build a hospital with us, right? You know, if you build a hospital, expand a hospital, you got to start where, on the ground floor, you have to start with the foundation, and that starts with rebar that starts. That comes from our industry. You want to build a school? Same thing. You want to build a highway. You know the steel used in the highway. You know, when you think this, 75% of all new steel in America is made from recycled steel Three quarters, that is a monstrous percentage and it's only growing. And you know another thing that is vital to national security is a vibrant steel industry. Okay, you don't build Navy ships with plastic. You don't build a military without steel, right? So you better have a very vibrant and strong steel industry, at the same time saying that America's steel industry is the cleanest steel industry in all the world. Over 75% of our steel mills are EAS electric arc furnace steel mills that use recycled steel to make new steel. Well, why is that important One? We're producing the steel a country needs for our infrastructure, for our military, healthcare, education and our farming and food industry. We also do it in the cleanest way, because recycled steel at EAF reduces CO2 emissions in the 60 percentile. And now that there's more micro mills coming online, more straight line casting of products and steel mills, with the new mills coming online, which reduce the energy consumption and reheating and continuous casting, so you're actually starting to see the numbers improve versus the BOF furnaces that you see that are heavy in China and India and Russia and Europe, south America yes, there are new EAFs going to those parts of the world, but their main steel production comes from the integrated steel mill that uses coking coal and iron ore, which is far greater pollutant, gives us far greater CO2 emissions. So not only is our steel industry vibrant in the United States, we are the cleanest in all the world. So we really are leading the way and I think people. That's kind of why I want to tell the story because people don't. You know we did man on the streets. You know you get me started on this, but you know people don't know steel's the most recycled item in America today. People don't even know what a steel mill is. They don't even know where new steel comes from. You drive a car. You don't have any idea. The majority of the metal in that car comes from recycled steel or recycled aluminum, for that matter. So people don't know this. So it's been kind of fun telling the story with Repurpose and we're getting ready to. We just finished filming everything we need for season three of repurpose. It's going to be on aluminum recycled aluminum and our focus will be on driving the auto industry okay, because you know this, david, that you cannot build an aluminum motor block transmission housing or casings differential casings with virgin aluminum I did not know that. Dave: And it has to be made from recycled aluminum. John: So see this. People don't know this and why is that? because of the alloys, the strength of the material. To take virgin aluminum and then make all, put in all the additives to make the motor block the strength, you, um, you can't do it. So they use recycled aluminum, and you know toyota is a big user. And also recycled aluminum, you know it goes into the light weighting of um automobiles, which gives you much greater miles per gallon and you know produces co2. So again, people don't know this and so I'm enjoying telling the story and getting it out there. Dave: I can tell you have a real passion for the education and helping change or improve the image of the whole industry. John: Well, I think that our policymakers, like in California, we have a real problem in the state of California the automobile shredder they want to deem it hazardous waste facilities and that's just not fair. It's not accurate to recycle for recycling in its own right, but it's hugely detrimental to the raw material supply chain for our industry here in america. That makes all these products that we need. You know we talk about when you take it in the life of an automobile, what do you do with it? And the end of life of an automobile. When you shred it, you gain the, the steel, the aluminum, the copper, stainless and plastics. And what do you do with that? You recycle it and that gets repurposed into new steel, new aluminum, new copper products, new stainless, and it's so. You know. It's just detrimental because our image, because I'll guarantee you, if you walk the halls in Sacramento and you told people, do you know the car you drive that has aluminum transmission housing, that has the aluminum motor block can't be made with virgin aluminum, they wouldn't know that. And this is part of the education process and I think once people know more about what our industry is, they'll realize how vital we are and that's really been a lot of fun for me and you know season three, as we're getting ready to do it gonna use. You know our facility here in bakersville is. You know where we process aluminum? We bail it in the bailers we make. And it's a lot of fun to be able to say the bailers we sell, that process that bail aluminum, are made from steel that comes from recycled steel from ssab. That we did in season one. So it really shows the circularity of our industry and what real sustainability really is. You know it's a buzzword and people, quite frankly, just have no clue what it really means. So I'm trying to bring out the real identity of our industry and try to really change the narrative because it needs to be changed. Once we were heroes during world war ii by supplying the mills with all the metals they needed to fight tyranny, and now we're the bad guys. Dave: Um, that's, we got to get back to being the good guys again I agree, could I mean I, you know just general building anything in California has become more challenging and regulatorily limited. Do you think somebody could even put in like a new shredder operation today, or would it just take? Them Wouldn't even be able to do it Because it's considered hazardous waste Is this considered hazardous waste? John: Yeah well, it's just the process. Nobody, you know, it's just a really crazy process, but you know you reminded me of something. So we have these just absolutely horrific, devastating fires in LA right, and we saw the whole Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the Pasadena area just devastated. What industry is going to rebuild those neighborhoods? Dave: Yeah, the steel industry. John: Well, so when you clean up these neighborhoods and we have a new piece of equipment down there processing the metals and sending it down to a company at Long Beach to process, it's our industry that's going to rebuild these neighborhoods. We're cleaning it up because what's what is left after the fires? Metal products, and all these metal products are being processed and going to be repurposed and sent to mills, steel mills, aluminum copper foundries, and all this new material that they're making from that raw material is what's going to go into rebuilding these neighborhoods. And you can't rebuild a neighborhood without us because we're the raw material suppliers for all that stuff that goes into the housing from the rebar, from the foundation, steel stuff. Now you're going to see a lot more steel being used in the manual in the building of houses in this area because of the fire. What about appliances? You don't build appliances with plastic. Easy-bake ovens aren't how you build refrigerators and ovens and toasters and coffee pots. And all the copper that's going to go into the electrification of these neighborhoods will have 36% recycled copper content into it. All the window panes that'll have aluminum windows and brass, you know, forurposing in it, getting into the consumers to make new products so you can rebuild, wow that's. I haven't thought about that for a second. Dave: Yeah. John: You know. And so the policymakers need to hear this. They need to understand that this is what we do. They need to understand this the most vital. Because, let's say, we don't exist in California. Well, what would you do with all that material? Can't ship it to China. China doesn't take containers of steel anymore. They don't buy bulk loads of steel anymore from the West Coast of the United States. They don't. That's just a misnomer. People, oh, you're sitting in China. They don't, that's just a misnomer. People, oh, you're sitting in China. No, we're not. And people think that, again, it's the ignorance Not calling people ignorant in a negative way. They just don't understand what we do. They don't understand where our materials are going, and I like to say CO2 emissions have no borders. So if Our materials are exported to an EAF steel mill somewhere maybe Malaysia, vietnam, korea, japan, if you will Well, our materials are also going into EAF. So what is that doing? It's reducing CO2 emissions. So our raw materials, be it used here in the US or be it used anywhere in the world, is actually helping to reduce the CO2 emissions in the world. Sure, actually helping to reduce the CO2 emissions in the world? Sure, you know, aluminum reduces CO2 emissions and energy consumption in the 90 percentile, copper's in the 80 percentile. You tell me an industry that's doing that today. You can't the recycled material industry. It's our raw materials that we process. So this is why this narrative, this is why these type of conversations, hopefully are heard by people who will now understand. Wait a minute, I've got this industry all wrong. Dave: Yeah, yeah. No, that's your your passion for trying to educate as many people as possible. It really shows through and you can see it really. It really drives you, so I appreciate it. Well, I can't wait to see season three. I can't believe how the time has flown by. Just wrapping up, I have just three remaining questions. John: Yes, sir. Dave: One is in your role with Sierra. What gives you the most satisfaction and enjoyment? John: Great question. Well, I think we have some great people here and I enjoy the people in the company I've seen in our, for instance. This is an example only and this is, you know, this could be had in every department, but we just have some really high quality people who really are fighting for the same cause. You know fighting, I call it fighting for the same right. And you know I get great satisfaction seeing these young kids who are growing. You know are technicians, for instance, who are growing, who've committed themselves to this culture and you see them growing and they're growing in their abilities and they're growing in their pay scales and you see their cooperative nature and how nature and how they have the can-do spirit. That gives me great pleasure. I enjoy doing this content as well. This gives me great pleasure making the REAP series. So those are my answers to that. Dave: That's great. That's not surprising. So the second of the three is imagine if you had a time machine and you could go back and give some advice to the 25-year-old John. What advice might you give with the benefit of hindsight? John: look, I didn't find what I really loved doing until I was about 59 years old. I'm 63, okay, so find what you love doing, that that beats money all day long. Yeah, and the money I just think, chasing money. You know it's great. You know I mean sure it's. You know I've done well, I'm not gonna begrudge it. But I think the one who smiles and is happiest wins the game of life, not the one with the biggest bank account. I look at Warren Buffett a guy worth just oodles and oodles. I've never seen that dude smile. He is just a grumpy old man. That's my perception of him, my point. And maybe he is a gregarious guy in person, but God, his persona is just grumpy. And my point to you is money doesn't buy happiness. Sure, it makes misery more tolerable, as my dad used to say. But I would tell a 25-year-old me stop chasing money and find happiness through what you love doing. Dave: A great answer. So the last question is is there anything that we did not discuss today that you wish we had? John: Well, no, I you know, I think, david, you know your, your company, with what you do, with your IT desk and helping with consulting. You know that's important. You know there's so many facets of our industry that people can improve upon, and I guess what we didn't talk on are areas in which how can an individual who sees this and is in the recycled materials industry capitalize on stuff that they don't know exists and what you do? I mean, I get what you do and so how do people really, where do they go to learn more about this industry and how they can improve their business? You know there's a lot of things that can be done. You got to be careful how you say this, because you know taxes are burdensome, especially when you live here in California. How can you have a legitimate business concern that can reduce your taxes legally? Because you know avoiding taxes is one thing, evading is illegal. You go to jail for evading taxes, and so you know it's hard because I'm not an accountant and I don't understand the whole time. But there's so much more, I think, for people to learn about our industry and I think, david, with what you're doing, with your setting up companies that are exporters, to understand the benefit of the laws that are out there for companies that export. People need to learn more about that, and I think that's you know. I wish I could have touched more on it. I don't know it like you do, but it is something that I think that's what I would say is to help people learn. There's other avenues to make your business grow and save some of your money, and when you save legally on taxes, you're saving money, so you can invest that in your company. Dave: No, I appreciate you mentioning that. And you know, my most satisfying part of my role is helping our entrepreneurial clients, you know, increase their after-tax income. It's really just. It's such a privilege to be, you know, kind of in the stands watching these amazing entrepreneurs do their magic. And you know, we have scrap metal clients who have, you know, the last decade have, you know, increased their business 10X. And I'm not saying that's because of the IC disc, it probably has little to do with it, but it's just a great. It's just very enjoyable to see the best and the brightest entrepreneurs, just, you know, do their magic. So that's why I love, why I'll be at the REMA conference in May. I can't spend enough time with those people. It's a blast. Well, john, thank you again for your time and I look forward to seeing you in San Diego in a couple of months. John: I presume, yes, sir, I'll be there. I'll be coming for my son's graduation at TCU, so I'll arrive. I'll miss some of the governance you know, as a former chair you're always involved with that but I'll be there for the show and I'll have my. My son is will be a graduate and I will have no more kids going to school. Dave: That's awesome. Well, that's also a landmark event. Well, hey, john, thank you again for your time. I really appreciate it, Thank you. Special Guest: John Sacco.

RADM (Ret.) Terry Kraft, the President & CEO of the USS Midway Museum, chats about the opening of a new exhibit in June, along with an update on the building of Freedom Park at Navy Pier.  Kraft discusses Midway University and additional museum capital projects.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media"Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 19 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the gravitational power of local. For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us.Cloudcast Media | the national leader in local podcasting.  About Mission Fed Credit UnionA community champion for over 60 years, Mission Fed Credit Union with over $6 billion in member assets, is the Sponsor of Spotlight On The Community, helping to curate connectivity, collaboration, and catalytic conversations.  For more information on the many services for San Diego residents, be sure to visit them at https://www.missionfed.com/

In an exhilarating episode of Veteran Made, host Carey Kight sits down with Mike Erwin, the founder and executive director of Team Red, White and Blue (Team RWB), to discuss the upcoming Old Glory Ultra Relay. This ambitious event, set to take place in May 2025, will see a team of 12 veteran runners attempt to set a world record by relaying an American flag across the country in just 15 days, covering 3,000 miles from San Diego to Washington D.C. The Old Glory Ultra Relay represents a bold evolution of Team RWB's signature event, transforming from a member-based relay into an epic challenge that showcases the strength, determination, and unity of the veteran community. Starting at the USS Midway in San Diego with a flag that has flown over a combat zone, the team will push themselves to cover an astounding 200 miles per day. This grueling journey will test not only their physical limits but also their mental resilience and teamwork as they navigate the challenges of living and recovering together in close quarters for two intense weeks. Listeners will be captivated by the high stakes and numerous obstacles the team must overcome to achieve their monumental goal. From potential injuries and extreme weather conditions to the mental and physical fatigue that sets in during the later stages of the relay, every aspect of this challenge embodies the spirit of perseverance that defines the veteran community. The episode offers a tantalizing preview of the upcoming series, which will follow the runners' preparation and culminate with live updates during the event itself, allowing audiences to experience the excitement and inspiration of this unprecedented feat in real-time. Episode Sponsors: Go Pills -- use "VM15" at checkout for 15% off your order. BUBS Naturals -- use "veteranmade" at checkout for 20% off your order. True Made Foods -- use "VET" at checkout for 15% off your order. Ruck Sox -- use "VETERANMADE15" at checkout for 15% off your order. Bravo Actual -- use "Veteran Made" at checkout for 15% off your order. Intro Song composed and produced by Cleod9. SOCIALS: https://www.instagram.com/veteranmade.ck/ http://x.com/veteranmade.ck https://www.instagram.com/erwinrwb/ https://www.instagram.com/teamrwb/ https://x.com/ErwinRWB https://x.com/TeamRWB  

David Koontz, Director of Marketing for the USS Midway Museum and Chair of the San Diego Veterans Day Parade, chats about the November 11 parade, which will honor three D-Day veterans, all more than 100 years young.  Koontz talks about this year being the 20th Anniversary of the opening of the Museum; its upcoming "Jingle Jets" holiday tradition on the Midway; and it's huge Freedom Park undertaking.About Spotlight and Cloudcast Media"Spotlight On The Community" is the longest running community podcast in the country, continuously hosted by Drew Schlosberg for 18 years.  "Spotlight" is part of Cloudcast Media's line-up of powerful local podcasts, telling the stories, highlighting the people, and celebrating the power of local.  For more information on Cloudcast and its shows and cities served, please visit www.cloudcastmedia.us.

Most of us are guilty of throwing out spinach that we bought and didn't eat, or a half a pot of coffee.  Are you ready for a challenge?  Join us as we discuss Prevention Magazines "Waste Less Food" by Kaitlyn Phoenix.  It's a 4-week plan to make some great improvements.  Cliff's "In the News" is USS MIDWAY.  Cliff's "Inside the Music" is I'M NOT LIKE THAT.  Music - "Guilty" (music tracks only) by Bev & Cliff Nelson.  "I'm Not Like That" (full song) by Bev & Cliff Nelson, Margaret & Andy Machin.

Episode 39 FinOpsPod Live - Day 2 of FinOps X 2024 - Community Lovefest! If you aren't interested in feeling FinOps Community love, then this isn't the episode for you. Recorded at the end of Day 2, Stacy Joe and audience members go over their impressions from the conference. Highlights include discussion of the USS Midway party and keynotes, a wedding proposal, community appreciation, and a secret about Joe's career background that prepared him for FinOps.FinOps X Europe - Barcelona, Nov 11-14FinOps X ‘24 Day 2 KEYNOTE: American Express, FinOps Releases by Google Cloud, Microsoft, and AWS

Note for this encore presentation: We're bringing back this conversation in honor of Immigrant Heritage Month in the United States.  Anh and her family left their home country in the most dramatic of circumstances and in the nearly 50 years since they came to this country, their accomplishments have been extraordinary.   The family of Anh Vu Sawyer were among the small number of South Vietnamese who successfully fled Saigon in the final days and hours of the Vietnam War.  After describing this harrowing ordeal, Anh explains how these events inspired her to lead a life of inspiring service and social entrepreneurship here in the United States.   Chapters:   01:05 Personal History and Gratitude Anh Vu Sawyer's personal history in South Vietnam, her gratitude for surviving dramatic times, and her desire to give back.  03:17 Father's Escape and Family Reunion The dramatic story of Ahn's father escaping the Hanoi Hilton, reuniting with the family, and the emotional reunion during chaotic times.  11:14 Escape from Saigon The harrowing escape from Saigon, the challenges faced, and the miraculous moments that led to their survival and rescue.  19:28 Evacuation and Miracle on USS Midway Details of the evacuation process, the challenges faced on USS Midway, and the miraculous events that ensured their safe passage to the US.  23:39 Reflections on Survival and American Generosity Reflecting on the survival, the generosity of Americans during the evacuation, and the impact of the experience on Anh's life.  25:22 Life After Arrival in the US Anh's journey after arriving in the US, settling in Oak Brook, Illinois, and her career at People Express Airlines  28:06 Making Impact Through Career Choices Anh reflects on the impact of People Express Airlines and her career choices aimed at making a positive impact, especially for refugees. She discusses her work with the Southeast Asian Coalition and the joy of helping thousands access housing, jobs, and education.  32:31 Gratitude for Freedom and Helping Others Anh Vu Sawyer emphasizes the importance of freedom and the ability to help others, highlighting the luxury of being able to make a difference. She shares insights on the power of giving and the impact it has on changing the world.  36:00 Lifelong Learning and Giving Back Anh Vu Sawyer discusses her pursuit of education, including getting her MBA in her sixties, and shares her philosophy on using personal gifts to benefit others. She emphasizes the fulfillment and purpose that come from giving back.  39:00 Social Entrepreneurship with Refugees Anh Vu Sawyer details her latest project, a clothing company that employs refugees to create handcrafted labels, providing economic development opportunities. She explains the mission-driven approach of the business and its potential for creating positive change.  44:00 Inspiration and Legacy of Giving The conversation wraps up with reflections on Anh Vu Sawyer's inspiring journey, her impact on others, and the legacy she continues to build through her dedication to helping refugees. Her story serves as a testament to the power of generosity and making a difference. 

Take our Listener Survey Michael Nielsen is scientist who helped pioneer quantum computing and the modern open science movement. He's worked at Y Combinator, co-authored on scientific progress with Patrick Collison, and is a prolific writer, reader, commentator, and mentor.  He joined Tyler to discuss why the universe is so beautiful to human eyes (but not ears), how to find good collaborators, the influence of Simone Weil, where Olaf Stapledon's understand of the social word went wrong, potential applications of quantum computing, the (rising) status of linear algebra, what makes for physicists who age well, finding young mentors, why some scientific fields have pre-print platforms and others don't, how so many crummy journals survive, the threat of cheap nukes, the many unknowns of Mars colonization, techniques for paying closer attention, what you learn when visiting the USS Midway, why he changed his mind about Emergent Ventures, why he didn't join OpenAI in 2015, what he'll learn next, and more.  Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video. Recorded March 24th, 2024. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Follow Michael on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.

Did you know the USS Midway is one of the most haunted ships in the US? Discover the hauntings and paranormal activity on board in this week's Ghost Report with Lisa Morton. #HauntedHistory #USS Midway #GhostReport #SanDiego #paranormal

www.atravelpath.com   Hello Pathfinders, in today's show we welcomed back Kyle and Renee from Happily Ever Hanks! They shared their insight after spending ONE MONTH at a campground in San Diego, California and exploring everything it had to offer. In this episode learn about:   Time We covered everything from the best time of year to how long you should spend in San Diego. Although they spent a month, Kyle and Renee shared that you could spend 1-2 weeks and feel fulfilled. As far as the time of year, Kyle and Renee were there for the month of February. They shared that the weather was nice, but not “swimmable” and traffic was manageable. It was definitely the off-season during this time.   Price It's no surprise that San Diego is expensive. They shared how much they spent at their campground for the month and offered some tips so that you can prepare yourself for the prices.   To Do We discussed the San Diego Zoo, beaches, some historical activities, places to eat, and several other activities you can do in the area. They also offered some insight on things they would have done, such as roller blading or bringing bikes if they had thought about it beforehand.   Transportation Ride-sharing is expensive, but they shared that there is a transit system that is very affordable that they used a few times. We also discussed traffic, parking, and the complications of driving a larger vehicle through downtown.   3, 2, 1 Countdown 3 Things to Pack ·        Sunscreen (even if you visit in February) ·        Jacket ·        Bike 2 Complaints ·        Cost ·        Traffic/Parking 1 Thing ·        USS Midway Museum   Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:00 How long should someone plan on spending in San Diego? 02:45 Where did you stay? 04:00 How was driving a large rig through San Diego? 07:15 How close was your campground to San Diego attractions? 08:30 How expensive was San Diego? 10:45 What was nightlife like in San Diego? 12:15 Daytime activities in San Diego? 16:30 What did you use for internet? 18:00 What are three things you should bring to San Diego? 20:15 What are two complaints someone might have about San Diego? 24:15 What is one thing you can't leave San Diego without doing?   Happily Ever Hanks on Social ·        Website: https://www.happilyeverhanks.com/ ·        YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HappilyEverHanks ·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happilyeverhanks/ ·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happilyeverhanks ·        TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@happilyeverhanks   Happily Ever Hanks YouTube Videos Referenced ·        San Diego Cost Summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhWvcWyW87A   Camping Sun Outdoor Chula Vista: https://www.sunoutdoors.com/california/sun-outdoors-san-diego-bay   Driving Apps RV Life: https://www.rvlife.com/app/ Truck Map: https://truckmap.com/ All Stays: https://www.allstays.com/apps/ Google Maps   To Do USS Midway Museum: https://www.midway.org/ San Diego Zoo: https://sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org/ Coronado: https://coronadovisitorcenter.com/ 19 Mile Biking/Walking Path: https://missionbaygateway.org/biking-walking-paths   Kids/Pets Sesame Place: https://sesameplace.com/san-diego/ Dog Beach: https://oceanbeachsandiego.com/attractions/beaches/dog-beach   Beaches Ocean Beach: https://oceanbeachsandiego.com/ La Jolla: https://www.sandiego.org/explore/things-to-do/beaches-bays/la-jolla.aspx Mission Beach: https://www.sandiego.org/explore/things-to-do/beaches-bays/mission-beach.asp Imperial Beach: https://www.sandiego.org/explore/things-to-do/beaches-bays/imperial-beach.aspx   Restaurants La Puerta: https://lapuertasd.com/ Queens Town Public House: https://queenstownpublichouse.com/   *All content from atravelpath.com, including but not limited to The Travel Path Podcast and social media platforms, is designed to share general information. We are not experts and the information is not designed to serve as legal, financial, or tax advice. Always do your own research and due diligence before making a decision.   Transcript Host: Kyle and Renne, welcome back to the Travel Path podcast.   Guest: Tyler, Hope, Thanks for having us.   Host: So if anybody missed part one, they're happily with the hangs we talked about. They're happily ever hangs. We talked about everything from RV tips, budgeting, their travel nurse career. And today in part two, we're talking about travel tips and one particular destination. So guys, what are we talking about today?   Guest: Well, we just visited this destination. So it's fresh in our brain.   Host: First time?   Guest: First time. San Diego, California.     Host: Just to clarify, you're in California. So how much time did you guys actually spend there? Cause you said this was your first time visiting, right?     Guest: Yeah, we've always wanted to visit. So we gave ourselves like an entire month there, which we were nervous about because it's expensive. You know, a lot of people say you got to really make sure you have some money in the bank if you're going there, but we were ready after spending a whole summer in Alaska where there was maybe a few days of sunshine. I just said to him, like, Hey, we're doing San Diego this winter and we're going to book like a really nice resort down there and do the whole shebang.     Host: That's awesome. Good for you guys. So to get that full San Diego experience, obviously you guys spent a month there, but how long do you think someone should actually plan if they want to just go and enjoy the area?     Guest: I'd say anywhere from about one to two weeks, I would imagine would be a great amount of time to kind of get some city life in, see the surrounding areas. You know, we were ready to go about after a month. I don't know if that speaks to the RV life itself and that's always like in the pickup and go see something new or that was just applicable to the area. I'd say one to two weeks.     Host: Now you guys obviously went in February.     Guest: Uh, yeah, it was like a month of February. Whole month of February.     Host: And is that good weather for you or did you talk to anyone and find out, you know, there's other times of the year that maybe are better to go?     Guest: It's pretty funny because we thought it was like the busy time of year. We're used to when you go to Florida for say in, you know, February's boom and so many people, so we assumed it was like that in San Diego, we were in Northern California and Reading and it was cold and raining a lot. So we were really excited, but then we get there and it's not busy at all. And then we talked to some locals and they're like, Oh yeah, this is not considered the busy season the summer is. So we kind of felt like we scored because we're like, it's for us. It's nice weather. I mean, it wasn't swimmable beach weather, but if you're looking to go somewhere South where it's still decent weather, if you're used to snow, it's pretty much nice all year there is what I'm trying to say. You can go anytime of year and it's nice. And your pipes don't freeze in the RV. So that's always a plus.     Host: Yeah, there you go. That's definitely a plus for you guys. Now you said that you stayed in a resort. Is that an RV resort?     Guest: Yeah, we stayed at the Sun Outdoors in technically is in Chula Vista, just a little bit South of San Diego, but just a really quick drive to downtown.     Host: Awesome. Now, did you stay there for the entire time or did you move any spots?     Guest: No, we stayed there. Yeah, we ended up staying there, which was nice. And, um, it was a little bit more pricey, like Renee had said, but it was well worth it. So they had like a nice pool there. Like they go all out. It's Sun Outdoors. So it's a huge company that buys a bunch of, well, they pretty much build their own RV resorts across the nation, but they kind of have like that margarita feel to them, you know, they always have music playing events going on. So even though it was a slower time of the year, it's still made for a great time to get out and meet people out in the park. Still plenty. It was pretty about halfway full, I would say. So yeah.     Host: Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. We can attest to Sun Outdoors being a good RV park. We have spent the last three summers or seasons, I guess, living in an RV in a Sun Outdoors. So nice.   Guest: Yeah. You know, you're getting a pretty nice place when you book with them.     Host: Yeah, exactly. You know what to expect, which is nice, especially if you're going to be there for so long. So as far as you guys have a larger rig, so as far as transportation and getting your rig through San Diego to the campground, how is that process for you?     Guest: Not bad at all. We'd like to rely on a lot of apps on our phone. Basically, they are go-to for checking high clearances and making sure that the route we're taking is going to accommodate our fifth wheel because it does the height of our fifth wheel is about 6 feet, 6 inches. So we do run about the same height as most tractor trailers that you see out on the road. So you've got to be really careful to not just take any road and hope that it can accommodate your RV. We've gotten in some scary situations where you had a back out. I don't know if you guys ever seen the random YouTube videos where people are knocking their ACs off their RV roof. I mean, it happens a lot.     Host: But not to you guys.     Guest: Not to us. Knock on wood.     Host: So, you said you used some apps to check clearances. What apps are you using?     Guest: Our main GPS is Google Maps just to kind of see, you know, Google Maps is great. It shows like everything. But then like he was saying, we kind of have to dig into some other apps. So one of those is RV Life. It's like trip planning for RVs. And I'm sure maybe you guys use it with family too. You could do like it gives you like a radius of your travel day, like tells you kind of how far you want to go, where you pull over. It has all the resources. But then on top of that, it has a GPS and you can use that as your main GPS. It'll make sure based on your height, your width, all that stuff that you're not going near any low clearances.     Host: Oh, perfect. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And then what was that other one?     Guest: Truck Map. Yeah, there's a free one called Truck Map. Yeah. And like truckers use it. So you could if you're looking for something for free. And if Google Maps is we still like to use that and stuff. Most of the time we'll just verify with these other apps. Okay, the route we're taking on Google is the same that it's given us on these other apps. So then we could just stick to Google Maps.   Guest: Yeah, but since you know, you just got to be careful all stays pro is another one or I think it's sometimes called all stays. It'll have an icon to show you where all the low clearances depending on how you filter it. So I'm just in the passenger seat there like constantly being like, let me look for low bridges.     Host: Good. So once you see that low clearance sign, that's too late.     Guest: Yeah, no doubt. It's something you notice too when I'll just be driving with I'll be back home just driving around with a friend. And I'll be like, Oh, we want to fit there. Like you just subconsciously see it and you're like, I want to fit in an average. But before RVing, we would have never really noticed that we wouldn't pay attention to those signs.     Host: True. Yeah. Well, those are really good tips and definitely something you need to pay attention to when you are that tall. So as far as the campground you stayed at, the sun RV, how close is that in proximity to, you know, all the attractions you wanted to go to or, you know, if you want to go take a walk somewhere, what was that like?     Guest: Yeah, it was pretty nice. They did have some walking paths. I'd say it was about a mile walk out to the beach or to the bay, I should say. To the bay. Yeah, to the bay from that resort. Now, if you wanted to get into the city, probably about an 8 to 10-minute drive.   Guest: Yeah, maybe 15. Most if it's traffic. Right. And there was a like their transportation system like their, what's that called? Their railway.   Guest: Trolley.   Guest: Yeah. Trolley. There was the station right in walking distance from the campground and we did use that to go downtown the last night and it worked great. I mean, we just had 10 minutes. We were downtown and because we were going to do an Uber from the campground and during the really busy times, they were wanting $50 one way just into the city. And then we did the train like Renee was saying, and that was $2.50 one way. And just give you, yeah, terms of mileage. I think it was only like five miles away. Yeah. So not very long, but wow, they really took back those prices.     Host: Well, that's perfect. That's a good money-saving tip right there. Now, speaking of the finances, San Diego, California in general, typically a little bit more expensive. So what was it like for you guys staying there for a month and what should someone prepare, you know, their budget for when doing something like this?     Guest: Sure. Be completely transparent. I would say we spent what for one month stay at the RV resort. What would we spend? It was like close to three grand. Close to three thousand dollars. So that I don't know, comparing to other resorts around the area, it could be cheaper. I'm not exactly sure, but we had anticipated this was kind of like a vacation. So that's how we treated it. We kind of treated ourselves to that. But yeah, overall, you're going to see some hikes in grocery prices and then the fuel itself is going to be more expensive as well. I think we were paying like $5 a gallon or something for diesel when we're used to paying anywhere from like $4, maybe $4 or $5 somewhere.   Guest: Yeah. And we're actually our next video, not sorry, our maybe two videos from now, we're going to be closing out our series talking about RV expenses in California and we're going to be talking about what we spent in San Diego. We'll have we're still working on all the totals. So we'll have all of that in a future video or maybe it'll come out the same time this comes out. So be perfect.     Host: So go check that out for a real clean breakout on all your costs. So as far as but speaking back to the gas, I guess because you guys were staying in one spot for a month, you were leaving your rig there. Do you feel like you maybe were just driving less because you were so close to being able to use public transportation and just not having to move your camper back and forth to different spots?     Guest: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We weren't driving nearly as much as we normally would like the current location we're at. We have about I would say like  minute drive to the nearest town to the grocery store. But now that's the same distance, you know, time distance in San Diego as you know, to get from the RV park to San Diego. But it was a lot less mileage. So we didn't take the truck into the city all that much. We relied on that public transportation a lot. But just driving around San Diego to La Vista area, it's so condensed. Everything is just like right in your backyard at all times.   Host: So what'd you guys like to do at night? In general or in San Diego?     Guest: In San Diego. We would like to find a nice restaurant. And honestly, we did a lot of stuff during the day. Like we would go we went this one day to Miss Ocean Beach. Yeah, I think it's called Ocean Beach. And they had a dog park, which was fun to see all the dogs run around the beach. And then we watched the sunset from there. And then pretty much when the sun goes down, it's kind of like grab dinner and, you know, head on back. Yeah, we're kind of like early to bed people. But there's a lot of really cool bars, a lot of cool nightlife in San Diego. So if you're into that and breweries. So if you're looking, I mean, that would just be so much fun to be able to like, you know, if you're looking to Bar Hop, go downtown and do all that stuff.     Host: Absolutely. Yeah, of course. And I think that's nice that you mentioned you had a good sunset at that beach. But any other sunsets or sunrises that you maybe want to catch?     Guest: Hmm. We kind of had a nice sunset view from our RV because it would, you know, just set below the bay. Yeah. But any beach you go to because it's west facing is a good sunset. You're kind of right there. Yeah, you can't you can't have a bad one in that area. Yeah, of course.     Host: Now, any other activities you guys did during the day that were fun?     Guest: We're telling what we did. But we do. We were just. Let's see. We did the USS Midway tour, which was really cool. So that's an old. The naval ship. Yeah. I'm trying to say ship. Yeah, the Battle of Midway, the story behind the Battle of Midway, like the naval. That's really cool. So it's like decommissioned and it just sits there in the bay. You just pay an entrance fee and then you can walk it at your own pace with a guided tour, like an audio tour. And wow, that took us like four or five hours to get through that entire thing because they have an upper deck with all the old airplanes up there. You have a metal deck and then they have a lower deck for like kitchen and the infirmary were so it was pretty cool. But we're also the people that have to like listen and read everything. So we took the all day. We took it on. Also the zoo. I mean, the San Diego Zoo, you have to check that out. It's like one of the best zoos in the country. So we went there and that was that was a great day. Beautiful weather and just it's I don't know. We're not big zoo people, but it was just fun being out and seeing, you know, how they take care of the little bit of behind the scenes and how they take care of the animals, things like that.     Host: So the zoo and the ship, those are your two recommendations.     Guest: Yeah, do the zoo and the ship. Those are our two biggies and then check out some good restaurants. There was what was the name of that one restaurant? La Puerta downtown, which was really good.     Host: Yeah. What kind of food did they have?     Guest: They had Mexican, but it was kind of like in a rustic like the bar had a cool rustic vibe to it. We also went to a place called Queenstown Public House downtown and it had it was New Zealand inspired. That's what caught my eye. I was like, oh, this is interesting. Really cool vibe. And the food was delicious. Wellington Meatloaf. You will not be disappointed. That was really good.     Host: Awesome. We love to try new restaurants when we go out and like you we've talked about in episode one that can, of course, rack up a pretty big bill if you don't pay attention to it. But being able to try something either a local cuisine or, you know, just something like that New Zealand restaurant. Right. When do you ever see that anywhere? And enjoy something in each spot, I think is always so good.     Guest: Absolutely. Yeah.     Host: Perfect. Any other good food spots or coffee shops?     Guest: Oh, we did do that one coffee shop, but it was a really random one over in what was the name of the island. That's what we got to talk about. Coronado. Coronado Island. So that was across the bay a little bit from the RV park itself and the Naval Station is over there. And just like a really cool place to drive over. You could take a bridge. It's no toll. You don't have to pay any fees to get over there. You could park. There was a lot of parking and then you could walk along the beach and so many coffee shops and restaurants over there. Yeah, their beaches are so clean. Like we went to several of them and so clean. And the other thing I want to say, if you have kids, there's I think there was like a sesame place, sesame street world or something. Yeah. And, you know, their sea world, if people are into that, there's just like there's a lot to do for every of every age. And there was something we noticed we thought about doing, but we didn't. It was like a sunset cruise you could do on the bay. So going back to the nighttime activity is like taking a little boat ride and watch the sunset that way. Can't beat that. Yeah, that would be cool, too.     Host: So if you haven't mentioned it, are there any other nearby attractions that we need to know? It sounds like we covered all of them, though.     Guest: Yeah, those are kind of the ones off the top of our heads that we can think of. Yeah, there was a lot of the stuff we wanted to do was just too cold. Like I wanted to go surfing or paddle boarding or snorkeling. And I think what I read is if it's warm enough to do that. La Jolla or something. I can't remember what that place is called, but there's a beach way far north. Yeah, is this Bell with a J? Yeah, JOLLA. Something like that. I just can't remember how they pronounce it, but that's kind of like the go to if you want to hit up the beach. Go swimming like in a very nice beach. Yeah.     Host: Perfect. So it sounds like the consensus is February is a great time to visit, but it might be a little chilly for water activities.     Guest: Exactly. Oh yeah, for sure. But good for eating, you know, you got to like hibernate, put some good food in your belly during that time.     Host: Perfect. And then how was your internet?   Guest: Oh my gosh, it was. Well, the internet was ripping. Yeah, it was good. Starlink held up really well. Being around other people at Starlink and still did fine. Did really good. We had like a hundred down, didn't we? We can't complain about the internet there. Yeah. Our cell phone service was great the whole time.     Host: Perfect. Those are the things people need to know where to eat and if they can get internet.   Host: I know it was too cold. They do the water activities, snorkeling, swimming, surfing. Could you lay out on the beach? Were the people doing that?     Guest: There were people doing it. I mean, I had my puffy coat on several times when we were on the beach because it was so breezy. Um, but if you were brave enough and if it was like somewhat warmer weather, you could. Now we did lay by the pool at the resort, I think twice, but I had goosebumps. So I was really trying.     Host: Well, San Diego sounds like you go. It's the scenery. First of all, it's everyone talks about San Diego and then the nightlife, the food scene, but in those winter months, still, I mean, it's probably why it wasn't the biggest or the busiest time of the year is because those water activities. It was just too cold.     Guest: Oh yeah. Yeah. It seems like it's everyone. Like if you're obviously Arizona or anywhere away from the coast, seems like that's where we're flocks to in the summer to get there. What, uh, summer activities, winter, sorry, not winter water activities, water.     Host: Yeah. Great. Perfect. We'll transition to the three, two, one countdown. The final three questions of the podcast, starting with three, what are three things you're bringing to San Diego?     Guest: Okay. Well, the first two are not going to make any sense, but we'll explain. It's my sunscreen for sure. I add that like the only reason I say is because even though it's not like super hot, oh my gosh, I'll get eaten alive by the sun. That California sun. We're not all blessed with your skin tone here. My wife, very nice skin tone, but me, unfortunately, I had to rely on sunscreen a lot. So sunscreen, a jacket, if you're coming in February, that breeze sneaks up on you. So make sure you have like a little cover up. The sunscreen during the day and then immediately have your jacket put on because, you know, that sun goes away. It just gets chilly. And then on top of it, I think the last one that is really important is like a bike. If you have a bike, we don't have bikes, but we realize how nice it would have been to have a bike to get around.   Guest: Yeah. There was this, I can't remember how many miles. See how we're so good at presenting this information. Aren't we?   Guest: Yeah. Um, there's some really long bike slash walking path and it ran past our RV park. Like, so we walk that a lot to the bay, but I think it goes like  something miles.   Guest: Um, all the way out to Coronado Island and then you can come back. So bring your bikes if you have them.     Host: Yeah. Does that almost like a boardwalk? Is it hugging the water views along that bike path? Do you know?     Guest: I think when it gets to the Imperial Beach side, cause I looked at a map to see how far it goes. I think it does, but there was another area, um, Where we were walking a lot of mission beach and there was a boardwalk where people were just on. Roller skates. I mean, after being there, I really want to get roller skates for some reason and everyone's roller skating, skateboarding, biking, just very active. Fun community. Everyone's out doing something.     Host: I'm sure you passed rental shops for all, um, roller blades bikes.     Guest: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So then we had to make a decision like, do we really like, or after the price of the groceries and the dining, I had to scratch something off the budget, right?   Guest: The truth. I'm like, we'll just get our steps in. It's fine. It's free.     Host: Yep. There you go.   Host: That's it. What are two complaints or two things people should be prepared for before visiting San Diego?     Guest: Well, the one we talked about already being expensive, just the price, you know, I think most people are prepared if they are visiting San Diego, but to stay in a hotel, to stay at an RV park or wherever you're lodging, it's going to be pricey. We already told you about the  to stay one month at an RV park. And that's crazy. We've never paid that to stay somewhere, but we knew going into this, that their nightly rate was going to be outrageous. And that's a discount. If you actually like took their nightly rate and multiplied it by  days, it would have been like five or $,. So for them to give us three grand a month, that's like a monthly discount, quote unquote. And the other one, August, I guess, you know, just like with any city around traffic. So it's such a silly complaint. It's you can't complain about traffic in a city, but you can't. I mean, we are going to throw it out there. We don't visit a lot of cities like frequently, but we really, really enjoyed this one. But, you know, we're never prepared for the traffic, but it was there. And then I will say I just thought of this one is the truck parking with our big truck.   Guest: Yeah, we have a lifted truck.   Guest: And sometimes it's hard to find parking, especially, you know, when you're towing with a dually truck or anything.   Guest: Yeah, it'd be tight. If you have a dually and you want to go downtown, just take the public transportation because it's going to be such a headache to try and park that thing.     Host: Yeah, that's good to bring up. And it's especially good to bring up, especially it's in the off season and there was still traffic.     Host: So if someone's going there, when it is busier, tour season, they're going to be. Would you would that be a nightmare in your opinion?     Guest: Yes. Yes. I would not. I would not be able to relax and enjoy parking the truck and that that would be stressful.   Guest: Yeah, we love visiting areas that are like chill and it's not the busy season. So yeah, perfect for us to be there in February. So that would be stressful. Most RVers aren't used to traffic.     Host: San Francisco was the first city we went to after we were in the middle of nowhere for like a month and a half. And it was we were not ready for it. But that public, the transit you talked about, is that on its separate like road or does that actually follow? The streets that cars follow too.     Guest: Yeah, it was sometimes next to the main road. It was like a railway.     Host: Okay. So that so you'd avoid the traffic by taking that then that's its own cool.     Guest: Yeah. And I mean, it has to stop at every stop, but it's still it was really two dollars, two fifty one way. Yeah. Per person.   Guest: So really affordable and clean and just it was really, really nice.     Host: Yeah. Yeah. By the time it takes you to find parking and worth it.   Host: Was the area itself once you got to downtown, was everything pretty much walkable or would you recommend somebody do have a car or some form of transportation when they're down there?     Guest: I think the major areas that you wanted to hit were walkable. So once you found the parking spot or you're in that location, it was easy to just Google search what was in that immediate surrounding area and have some places to visit. So yeah, like I don't feel like you would have to have a rental car if you were flying in and going to a hotel, especially if you're already downtown. Because like you can get to the zoo and not just that railway system. They there that was a whole transportation system that had rapid bus transport. And they were just really good about the transportation. So you can get everywhere you need to go.     Host: Yeah. Yeah. Some of those big destinations you hear about, you think they're going to be huge. But we went to Nashville and I was shocked at how small Nashville was. It was like three blocks worth of bars. And that was the main strip. And so I was curious to see if San Diego was the same way. Once you get to downtown, you can pretty much walk around and walk to everything. So it sounds like it's a little bit bigger, but still doable. Yeah, fine. It was still like you would need to to hop if you want to go to the zoo and do the midway for some crazy reason. One last question.     Host: What is one thing you cannot leave San Diego without doing?     Guest: Oh, I would go back to that midway. I would have to say what I said before is going to do that midway tour was really cool.   Guest: Yeah, especially if you're into history or just enjoying like it's not every day you get to go walk on a ship like that and kind of be immersed into that lifestyle. So you learn a lot. You see a lot and it's worth the admission price.   Guest: Yeah, I would say the same thing that that U.S. I mean, I would have did it again. I thought it was so cool.     Host: And then when you're there, get the get the guide.     Guest: Oh, yeah, they'll have them right as you walk in the door. They'll just be like, do you want an audio guide? It's free. So yeah, pick it up. And the learning is your fingertips.     Host: Yeah, even better. Can't be free.   Host: Well, thanks again for coming on the show. This was a great episode, not only talking about things to do in San Diego in the February time of year. I think it helped people prepare for what that might look like, but also we named a few things you can do during that busy season and what to be prepared for when it does get busy.   Host: But Kyle and Renee, one more time, where can our audience find out more about you guys?   Guest: So our main platform is on YouTube, and you can find us by searching "Happily Ever Hanks." If you want to find our website, you can go to Google and just type in "Happily Ever Hanks .com," and we should pop up right there. So those are two main places to find us. Also, Instagram and Facebook, same thing, "Happily Ever Hanks."   Guest: That's true. Yeah, we have all the goodies. Just type in "Happily Ever Hanks," and it'll pop up somewhere.     Host: All right, sweet. Everyone check them out. Kyle and Renee, thanks again.     Guest: Thank you guys. We appreciate it.  

RADM (Ret.) Terry Kraft, the President and CEO of the USS Midway Museum, discusses the April 25 groundbreaking for the building of Freedom Park at Navy Pier. Admiral Kraft chats about how its army of volunteers are the soul of the museum, along with the Museum's massive footprint in supporting the region's nonprofit organizations.

Anthony and Alex get down to business from the jump, a TIPSY about Force Majeure Clauses" and a YaiYai-ism about "everyone taking a piece". Longtime personal friend of the pod hosts, Lisa DeFino Director for The Institute of Meetings and Events of the L. Robert Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University joins the conversation today. The trio get into Lisa and Anthony's shared onsite experience through a rain storm on the USS Midway. They get into the challenges of getting students engaged and socialized after 3 years of a pandemic. She gets into her desire to see more emphasis on financial management, AI's impact on education and they even get into her past experiences as an animal trainer. Get into this episode now!Follow @bollottaentertainment on InstagramSubmit ASK ANTHONY questions on the form at www.bollotta.com/podcast

In this week's episode of Urban Valor, we sit down with Mark Tyler, a retired Gunnery Sergeant from the Marine Corps, who shares his remarkable journey from his early days growing up in Las Vegas, after being born in Pennsylvania, to his extensive career in the military. Initially joining the Marines as a military police officer with an eye on a future in law enforcement, Mark found his calling within the Corps and chose to dedicate his life to it. He recounts his deployment experiences, including a harrowing incident aboard the USS Midway involving a collision with a Panamanian freighter that tragically resulted in the loss of two sailors. Mark also opens up about his transition back to civilian life after 21 years of service and his subsequent role in the Department of Justice, offering insights into the challenges and triumphs of moving on from a life in uniform.#VeteranStories #Marine #UrbanValor #Military Remember to like, comment, and SUBSCRIBE to support Urban Valor and the courageous Veterans who take the share and tell their story! Your engagement greatly supports our mission to share authentic and impactful stories. Thank you for watching, and stay tuned for more content that delves into the lives of extraordinary individuals.

The USS Midway Museum is hosting it's annual Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day ceremony today, which will include a wreath laying, a missing man flyover and recognition of pearl harbor survivor families. The San Diego Planning commission is meeting today for a hearing to decide if the former De Anza Cove Mobile Home Park should be transformed into marshland and camping space. Former San Diego Padres Juan Soto and Trent Grisham have been traded to the New York Yankees for 5 total players, headline by pitcher Michael King. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We got to tour the USS Midway. A US Naval air craft carrier that has been in the Persian and the Gulf war. First launched in 1945 and decommissioned in 1992 - 47 years of duty. Soldiers called this ship their home for months at a time. Some have even lost their lives inside this ship. We went behind the scenes to unlock some of the mysteries the USS Midway is hiding. Have you been on the USS Midway? Did you or do you know someone who served on the USS Midway? We would love to hear about your experiences. e-mail us at conspiraciesunlocked@gmail.com

We got to tour the USS Midway. A US Naval air craft carrier that has been in the Persian and the Gulf war. First launched in 1945 and decommissioned in 1992 - 47 years of duty. Soldiers called this ship their home for months at a time. Some have even lost their lives inside this ship. We went behind the scenes to unlock some of the mysteries the USS Midway is hiding. Have you been on the USS Midway? Did you or do you know someone who served on the USS Midway? We would love to hear about your experiences. e-mail us at conspiraciesunlocked@gmail.com

Smart Streetlights and License Plate Readers will now be deployed in San Diego after Mayor Todd Gloria signed their use into law. A former teacher of the year is due in court this week on a host of accusations, including claims she sexually assaulted a 13 year old child. Christmas tree lots are now open throughout San Diego, and one lot manager we spoke with reports prices have remained relatively similar to pre-pandemic levels. We now know American consumers spent nearly 10 billion dollars online this Black Friday, a 7.5% increase from last year. A number of planes and helicopters aboard the USS Midway have been decked out with Christmas lights, as the Museum opens it's doors for its first ever Jingle Jets experience. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dave Koontz, Director of Marketing to the USS Midway Museum, chats about the Museum's "Jingle Jets" holiday experience that will transform the warship into a winter wonderland for 17 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.Koontz talks about the Midway's revered volunteers and it's highly recognized education program.

We got to tour the USS Midway. A US Naval air craft carrier that has been in the Persian and the Gulf war. First launched in 1945 and decommissioned in 1992 - 47 years of duty. Soldiers called this ship their home for months at a time. Some have even lost their lives inside this ship. We went behind the scenes to unlock some of the mysteries the USS Midway is hiding. Have you been on the USS Midway? Did you or do you know someone who served on the USS Midway? We would love to hear about your experiences. e-mail us at conspiraciesunlocked@gmail.com

Today I'm recapping the first half of our Southern California vacation last week. I've got tips on flying into LAX, sharing where we stayed in Los Angeles and Del Mar California as well as our visits to the San Diego Zoo, local beaches, and more. If you are planning a trip to California, or may have one on the horizon listen in. Or just come along today for a little getaway! Come back next week for the Disneyland portion of our trip recap.I hope you enjoyed today's show. I'd love to connect with you over on Instagram @mountains_of_magic or Facebook at Fantastical Vacations by Daniele. If you would like help in planning an upcoming Disney or Universal vacation, email me at danielerobbins@fantasticalvacations.com or fill out a quote form to get started planning the magic Get A QuoteMusic from Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/bring-the-funLicense code: E9BZCTS1O3JRPERX

Levi and Ivy visit their grandpas and learn about his time in the Navy. As their curiosity grows, they delve into the history and workings of the Navy and military. The family takes a trip to the USS Midway museum in San Diego, deepening the children's appreciation for their grandfather's service and the sacrifices made by military personnel. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LIVELY LEWIS MERCH⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LIVELY LEWIS SHOW⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LIVELY LEWIS FAMILY VLOG⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkTree⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Welcome to Lively Lewis Stories!! You may know us from The Lively Lewis Show!! This is our podcast where siblings Levi and Ivy go on incredible adventures, where they learn and model positive life lessons. These imaginative stories of Levi's energetic personality and Ivy's spunky silliness will keep you engaged, laughing and learning episode after episode! Our goal is to create a safe environment for kids to listen and learn about strong values, big imaginations, humorous pretend play, and healthy family dynamics. Our stories are great for bedtime stories, car rides, or just for fun! Thanks for listening!!

Welcome to Episode 124 Sponsored by CultTVMan, Sean's Custom Model Tools and Return To Kit FormHostsStuartGeoffAnthonyKrisTerryThanks to our latest Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee Supporters:***************************************LATEST NEWSIPMS USA announces “No Touch” policy for models at contests.SPECIAL CONTEST Winner - Congratulations Preston Culp! Look out for an email from us to set up your IPMS USA Membership! Thank you to the IPMS USA Executive for their generous participation!Legacy Presents from R2KF! Brett has streamlined his business to focus on his amazing Valkyrie Canopy Masks! They are the best - check them out here! However, look for a Huge Resin Macross kit coming soon!***************************************MAILBAGWe want to hear from you! Let us know if you have any comments or suggestions scalemodelpodcast@gmail.com. ***************************************LATEST HOBBY ANNOUNCEMENTSSix new 1/48th scale aircraft detail sets from Mini Craft CollectionMiniArt P-47D in 1/48Tamiya Sept Announcements3D-Wild announcing USS Midway in 1/350Some comments from 3D-Wild on a competitor doing the same kit.Xtradecal releasing sets for Airfix's 1:48 scale Westland Sea KingQuickboost August Resin ReleasesFantastic Plastic is working on a 1:72 SR-72 Darkstar hypersonic testbed.Border Model is to release a 1/35th Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb kitSpecial Hobby Newsletter AugustGundam News - New Real Type MG 1/100 Freedom & Justice GundamAFV has upgrade items for your 1/16 scale SdKfz. 251 kit from Das Werk. What's new at Scalemates.com***************************************SPONSOR AD #1Cult TV Man***************************************InterviewKris Sieber (Luftraum72)https://luftraum72.com/product/super-detailing-the-f-14-tomcat/[foogallery id="3404"]***************************************WHAT'S ON THE BENCHStuart - Not much progress this week, work is taking up much of my time and the summer heat zaps the mojo. I did pick up the Arma Hobby 1/48 Hurricane Mk. IIc and it's a very nice kit at first look.Geoff - Got the first colours on the Savoia Marchetti, but otherwise, it was all about getting the house spiffy for a wedding group. Now that that's done, we can maybe relax…Terry - Cleaning the bench a little at a time. I discard some clutter each time and have found things I knew I had somewhere. Doing a little resin kit cleanup, too - including the Elric White Wolf figure which needs more cleanup than thought. Pups are getting bigger - Toshi is 37lbs now. Including Toshi and Zeus' attempt at a New Wave album cover.[foogallery id="3418"]Kris - Boxes, mailing labels, and books, books, books! Arma Hobby 1/72 F-6C Mustang for next book Mini Hangar No.1 published by Joycraft. Secret project which I can't go into details on at the moment.Anthony - Priming the Gundam Hazel and working on some finer detail painting for the GP03. Just killing it when it comes to procrastinating on painting figures for my Bosnia MIFV build!*************************************** WHAT WE'RE READINGStuart - Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization - Just started last night. In a time when our political and cultural views feel more polarized than ever, Tyson provides a much-needed antidote to so much of what divides us, while making a passionate case for the twin chariots of enlightenment―a cosmic perspective and the rationality of science.Geoff - “Maximum Bob” by Elmore Leonard. A quick fun summer read I hope!Kris - Nothing modelling-related, just Sci-fi from Adrian TchaikovskyTerry - Almost done with Tom Cleaver's Clean Sweep, started Moorecock's Elric books.Anthony - Nuttin' much, just finished Simu Liu's autobiography, “We Were Dreamers”. Covering my eyes until I get my copy of Kris' F-14 book so as to not ruin the surprise!***************************************SPONSOR AD #2Seans Custom Model Tools***************************************THINGS WE'VE SEENNeil Prentice doing a digital camouflage scheme on a VF-11 ThunderboltNeil's Tomcat and that little dropship. The Tomcat has a VF-0 gun pod on its centerline, but you can't see it[foogallery id="3407"] ***************************************THE LAST WORDSMP Ep. 124 is also sponsored by Return To Kit Form (R2KF). Check out their web store!For more modelling podcast goodness, check out other modelling podcasts at modelpodcasts.comPlease leave us a positive review if you enjoy what we're doing!Check us out: FaceBook, YouTube, and our very own websiteWe also have merchandise now. Check it out on Redbubble 

Contact Bruce!testmyair@gmail.com(619)888-4840Born and raised in San Diego and educated at Helix High School, San Diego State University and continuing his education at UCSD. President of Rarefied Air Environmental and experts specializing in asbestos, lead, bacteria, VOC, dioxins, particulates, water quality, meth, THC, chlorinated pesticides, advanced fire surveys, mold and many other types of testing and environmental consulting. Bruce Rosenblatt is richly involved in the community. Bruce has added CAI Past President to the distinguished list of professional organizations he belongs to, such as the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification, Indoor Air Quality Association, California Air Resources Board, San Diego Insurance Adjusters Association ( Board Member), Actionable Insights ( Board Member), Community Associations Institute ( Former Executive Board Member), California Association of Community Managers, Past President of Lemon Grove Rotary. Previously working for himself for 26 years in specialty contents textile restoration and as a subcontractor for the property insurance restoration industry. Bruce enjoys traveling to the South Pacific, snorkeling, body surfing, golfing, restoring & entering car shows with his 1966 Sunbeam Tiger and Jag ( I have a British car fetish) operating amateur radio station K6JU and working the radio room special events station on board the USS Midway.Specialties:Certified State of California Department of InsuranceTeacher & Provider for Continuing Education CreditsIICRC Certifications in WRT, FSRT, OCT, AMRTCARB CertifiedFCC Extra Class Amateur Radio OperatorRarefied Air Environmental provides California State-licensed inspectors to perform fully-comprehensive site surveys and reports for asbestos, lead, mold, bacteria and more…We are licensed and certified to perform industry leading site assessments and provide reports for:AsbestosLeadMoldBacteriaSoot/Smoke ParticulatesVolatile Organic Compounds (VOC's)Dust MitesParticulates & Nuisance DustsMethamphetamineTHCand more… NO COMPETITION!✓ Fastest Results✓ Most Affordable✓ Clearest and Most Concise Reports in the Industry✓ Unbelievable Customer Service

Get ready for an electrifying episode featuring the dynamic keynote speaker and comedienne who is revolutionizing the industry with her "laugh while you learn" approach. Join us as we dive into her unique presentation style, where education meets comedy and inspiration meets action. Discover the secrets behind whole story marketing, value stacking, and the extraordinary power of embracing your humanity as your greatest amenity. Prepare to be energized, enlightened, and ready to make a difference!Toni Blake is a popular industry keynote speaker and comedienne. Her enthusiastic presentation style is unique, with "laugh while you learn" education and comedy. After three decades of touring multifamily housing, she continues to be the premier choice. Toni Blake won top selection in the 2020 Multifamily Insiders Choice Award for her Wednesday Webinar. At the 2022 NAA in San Diego, CA, Toni was the featured comedienne to open for Jeff Foxworthy at the Top Gun Party aboard the USS Midway! In 2021 Toni boldly toured the industry with her popular AmaZING Tour bus. Since then, she has inspired apartment professionals in over 28 states, traveling over 30,000 miles. The 2023 Fall Amazing Bus Tour route is available on the home page at www.TotallyToni.com. Toni Blake's research is published in many national industry publications, including Units Magazine. Her creative wisdom inspires thousands of industry professionals each year with innovative concepts in customer service, sales, and marketing. Toni's infectious energy has built a social media following of over 36K, with .5M views of her Facebook LIVE videos, making her a sought-after guest on multifamily radio and podcasts. Toni is passionate about being an agent of positive change in our world and inspires people to be great human beings. Stay in touch with TotallyToni by following her in real-time on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.Get the Celebration Station E-Book: Email Toni@totallytoni.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toni-blake-43011a3/Company: https://totallytoni.com/Hear from Toni about:The greatest moment for her when speaking to audiences.The power of positive change.What people are looking for these days - it's not sales tactics.Powerful tips on marketing and leasing that you can do today.Value stacking and holding the line with rents.The Cheaper Choice People.Her newest leasing program: Uplifted Leasing.What keeps her motivated and inspired.Quotes:"Your humanity is your greatest amenity."Subscribe to and review Multifamily Streamlined Podcast here.Streamline your success. Never miss out again! Receive the latest and greatest from Streamline Multifamily Group straight to your inbox here.Follow us on social media for updated news and information from Streamline Multifamily Group!

An aircraft carrier is one of America's greatest symbols of freedom and power. It's a strategic asset in our national defense arsenal. It's our greatest projection of combat power. It's a city at sea. And for RADM (ret) John “Mac” McLaughlin it was a challenge he never expected. For our milestone Episode 100 of The Jedburgh Podcast, Fran Racioppi took over the Hanger Deck of the USS Midway Museum for a conversation with Mac on the history of the American aircraft carrier, the importance of the US Navy, what it was like to fly anti-submarine helicopters, and what's next in the battle for naval supremacy. Mac also shares the story of the USS Midway; for decades America's flagship carrier and host of many American Navy firsts. He explains his vision for the museum and how he led the team that built it from an empty ship towed into San Diego Harbor to one of the most visited tourist destinations in the United States. The USS Midway was built primarily by women in 1942 and later led the coalition in over 3000 sorties in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Today the ship is tribute to all who serve America; especially those at sea. Special thanks to the San Diego Military Advisory Council for their support in producing this episode. Learn more about the USS Midway and theUSS Midway Museum at midway.org and on social media at @ussmidwaymuseum.Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website. Subscribe to us and follow @jedburghpodcast on all social media. Watch the full video version on YouTube.Highlights:0:00 Welcome to the USS Midway Museum, Freedom and Episode 1003:28 Building the USS Midway in 17 months by women in 19435:21 The USS Midway at war in Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and the Cold War8:27 The many “firsts” of the USS Midway10:16 Mac's career in the Navy flying helicopters14:41 The role of United States Navy in America's national defense 17:15 The peer-to-peer Naval adversary of the Chinese and Russians20:58 USS Midway comes to San Diego26:02 The exhibits of the USS Midway29:34 The USS Midway Foundation33:54 Mac's Foundations to SuccessQuotes: “The Midway represents the transformation of the United States Navy from a battleship centric Navy to an aircraft centric Navy.” (5:08)“It became the most operationally effective aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific despite the fact it was so old.” (7:29)“As long as America has a responsibility of maintaining its supremacy as an international power we will need to continue investing in a very strong Navy.” (17:04)“The day you stop investing in your military resources is the day you can ensure that your country is in jeopardy.” (19:32)“We had nothing. If you see anything on this ship it wasn't here when we started.” (23:08)This episode is brought to you by Jersey Mike's & Compass Workforce Solutions

Al Hansen joined the U.S. Navy when he was 16 years old, both to serve his country and to help his mother keep a roof over her head. Initially trained as a dive bomber, Hansen was later shifted to a B-24 crew, where he served as a waist gunner in the Pacific theater from 1944 through the end of World War II. It's an assignment change that Hansen firmly believes to be the reason he survived the war and has lived to be a great-great grandfather.In this edition of "Veterans Chonicles," Hansen describes the horrific discovery on the island of Palau that made him even more motivated to defeat Japan and how that kept him locked in to shoot anything floating in the South China Sea. He also remembers the thrill of learning the war was over while being very confused about the weapon that ended it.Finally, Hansen tells why he finally opened up about his military experiences after a visit to the USS Midway museum in San Diego and why he loves volunteering there. This interview was conducted aboard the USS Midway.

In recognition for the "Month of The Military Child", Your Next Mission® podcast with host 12th SMA (R) Jack L. Tilley is LIVE from the flight deck of the USS Midway in San Diego. Celebrating and highlighting the life, sacrifices and experiences of our Military Children, SMA Tilley hosts some very special guests who together bring awareness and honor to our precious children. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/yournextmission/message

Nigal Miller grew up on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River and chose to serve his nation as a U.S. Naval aviator. He received his wings in 1961 and subsequently served three tours of duty in the Vietnam War aboard three different aircraft carriers.In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," CDR Miller explains the exhilaration of landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier and why why he thinks the F-8 Crusader was the finest fighter plane of its generation, superior even to the Soviet MiG. Miller also describes providing close air support for American ground forces in Vietnam and serving on the admiral's staff aboard the USS Midway on his final deployment and much more.

 The FAQ is from Raquel: How do I get from Amsterdam to EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND OR SIMILAR CITIES IN EUROPE? Today's Destination: Hannibal, Missouri Today's Mistake: Toe Blisters from tight shoes Travel Advice:  re-frame your aging body…. How do I get from Amsterdam to EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND OR SIMILAR CITIES IN EUROPE? ferry, train, flights, car or a combo   https://1map.com/routes Today's Destination:  Hannibal, Missouri What do I suggest for this destination besides painting Becky Thatcher's fence? trains, ghost tours, river boat dining, hiking.  caves museums outdoor hikes farmers market, live theater music under the stars concerts https://www.visithannibal.com/   Today's Mistake: Toe Blisters from tight shoes blisters hurt with every step. USS Midway….lots of steps and stairs Today's Travel Advice: re-frame your aging body….in words of love Connect with Dr Travelbest   https://www.amazon.com/Steps-Solo-Travel-womans-travel/dp/0963918737 Drmarytravelbest.com Dr. Mary Travelbest Twitter Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Page Dr. Mary Travelbest Facebook Group Dr. Mary Travelbest Instagram email: info@drmarytravelbest.com Dr. Mary Travelbest Podcast Dr. Travelbest on TikTok Dr.Travelbest onYouTube

每日英語跟讀 Ep.K390: Hollywood's Last Real Movie Star   The helicopter had the star's name painted on it, the letters coming into focus as it landed on the retired aircraft carrier, which was adorned for the occasion with an expansive red carpet and a smattering of fighter jets. Tom Cruise. Top Gun. Maverick. 直升機上漆有這位明星的名字，當它降落在舖有寬闊紅地毯及數架戰機停放的退役航空母艦上時，湯姆克魯斯。捍衛戰士。獨行俠。幾個大字映入眼簾。 It couldn't have been anyone else. 就是他，不作第二人想。 Decked out in a slim-fitting suit, his hair a little shaggier and his face a little craggier than when he first played Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell more than three decades ago, Cruise took the stage on the USS Midway while Harold Faltermeyer's iconic theme music played in the background. 比起30多年前首次扮演彼得「獨行俠」米契爾上尉，阿湯哥的頭髮更厚長，臉上皺紋也更多。在哈洛德．佛特邁爾的經典音樂中，穿著合身西裝的阿湯哥登上航空母艦「中途島」號的舞台。 Gesturing to the spectacle around him, including the crowd of fans and media members, Cruise said: “This moment right here, to see everybody at this time, no masks. Everyone. This is, this is pretty epic.” 阿湯哥指著周圍的盛大場面，包括大群粉絲和媒體記者說：「此時此刻，在這看到所有人都沒戴口罩。每個人。這真是太好了。」 It also felt like a time capsule. The three-hour promotional escapade — which included a batch of F-18 fighter jets executing a flyover to the sound of a Lady Gaga song from the film — harkened back to the halcyon days of Hollywood glamour. Days when Disney didn't think twice about shuttling an aircraft carrier from San Diego to Hawaii for the premiere of Michael Bay's “Pearl Harbor” in 2001. That kind of extravagance seems almost unthinkable today, when the streaming algorithm and its accompanying digital marketing efforts have replaced the old-fashioned boots-on-the-ground publicity tour with stars circumnavigating the globe, and studios spending millions to turn movie openings into cultural events. 這也讓人感覺像是個時間膠囊。這場長達3小時的宣傳活動，包括一批F-18戰機伴著電影中「女神卡卡」唱的歌曲飛越上空，讓人回想起好萊塢的美好輝煌歲月。2001年，為了麥可貝的《珍珠港》首映會，迪士尼毫不猶豫地從聖地牙哥安排一艘航空母艦前往夏威夷。這種大手筆在今天看來幾乎無法想像，串流媒體演算法及其隨之而來的數位行銷活動，已取代了老式的明星周遊列國親身宣傳，以及製片公司花數百萬美元將電影首映變成文化活動。 Making these events go were the film's megastars. They are the kind of stars who no longer really exist. Now, it's the characters that count. Three actors have portrayed Spider-Man and six have donned the Batman cowl for the big screen. Audiences have shown up for all of them. The Avengers may unite to huge box office returns but how much does it matter who's wearing the tights? 促成這些活動的是主演電影的天王巨星，不復存在的巨星。現在，重要的是角色。演過蜘蛛人的有三人，六名演員曾在大銀幕上披上蝙蝠俠的蒙頭斗篷。觀眾為了他們進電影院。《復仇者聯盟》也許合力帶來巨大的票房營收，但穿上緊身衣的是誰又有多大的差別呢？ Yet there is Cruise, trundling along as if the world hasn't changed at all. He's the last remaining global star who still only makes movies for movie theaters. He hasn't ventured into streaming. 然而，阿湯哥還在，緩緩走來，彷彿世界一點都沒有改變。他是專為電影院拍攝電影，碩果僅存，尚未涉足串流媒體的國際巨星。 There is a moment in “Top Gun: Maverick” where Ed Harris, playing Maverick's superior, tells him, “The end is inevitable. Your kind is headed to extinction.” 《捍衛戰士：獨行俠》中有一幕，扮演獨行俠上司的艾德哈里斯告訴他：「結局無可避免。你們這類飛官遲早會被淘汰。」 And Cruise, still holding on to that brash self-confidence that made him a movie star four decades ago, grins at him and replies, “Maybe so, sir. But not today.” 依然保持40年前讓自己成為電影明星那種傲慢自信的阿湯哥，露齒而笑：「也許是，長官，但不是今天。」 There are plenty of people in the movie industry who hope he's right. 電影業有很多人希望他是對的。Source article: https://udn.com/news/story/6904/6346289

Clemente Casillas joined Coach to discuss an incredible event on the USS Midway.

We've come to the end of our Tom Cruise mini-marathon, but honestly, folks, what a way to go out! Most of us doubted that 'Top Gun: Maverick' was going to be good, but no one (seriously, NO ONE) predicted that it was going to be GREAT! And perhaps even better than the original...?Rocco and Alex start off with their opening thoughts on the new film before sounding the spoiler alarm to go deep on Cruise's latest masterpiece. We debate the strange career of former architect and current "legacyquel master builder" Joseph Kosinski, if Glen Powell's Hangman is meant to be seen as the Iceman or Maverick of the new class, how sweet that entire third act with Miles Teller truly is, what Christopher McQuarrie might have added in his final polish to the screenplay, and what Alex did down in San Diego for the 'Maverick' junket and premiere on the USS Midway.Plus, stick around to the end for a preview of our next series!The NeverEnding Movie Marathon is a weekly podcastic celebration of cinema. Dive deep into fan-favorite films (#NoStinkers!), thematically curated to enhance your movie viewing by hosts Matt Detisch, Alex Logan, and Michael Rocco.Find us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or at neverendingmoviemarathon.com

From 1975 to 2006, David Watson was the ultimate field agent. From Narcotics to Agent Afloat on the USS Midway to Economic Crimes, Dave Watson has done it all. Listen to Dave's unique insight into Japanese Prisons, life aboard an aircraft carrier at "Gonzo Station" and catastrophe at sea aboard the USS Iwo Jima. Dave Watson served with distinction his entire career. I hope you enjoy the career of Special Agent David Watson.