Podcasts about Uzbekistan

Across Uzbekistan, a network of about a hundred banks of high-resolution roadside cameras continuously scan vehicles' license plates and their occupants, sometimes thousands a day, looking for potential traffic violations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dani Cazalla ha ingressat deu dies en un monestir budista de Tailàndia, on estarà aïllat de l'exterior per fer meditació. Recordem que el lloretenc està fent una ruta d'un any en bicicleta, passant per diferents països fins arribar a Nova Zelanda i completar uns 20.000 quilòmetres. A l'agost vam parlar amb ell i, des d'aleshores, ha passat per Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kirguizistan, Xina, Laos i on és ara, a Tailàndia. D'entre tot, el que més l'ha sorprès diria que són el Pamir, que és una carretera molt famosa de la ruta de la seda, i també com de diversa és la Xina. Pel que fa als objectius, cada dia els va canviant, però això no el preocupa, sinó que forma part de l'experiència. El que sí que està complint és el fet de gaudir de cada moment. “Els objectius van canviant cada dia, però l'objectiu principal és gaudir i això sí que ho estic fent”Dani Cazalla Dani Cazalla durant el viatge Dani Cazalla durant el viatge Dani Cazalla durant el viatge Dani Cazalla durant el viatge Dani Cazalla durant el viatge Sobre el retir que tot just acaba de començar en un temple budista, reconeix que és una cosa que volia fer des de fa temps i que li ve molt de gust per poder aïllar-se del món i practicar molta meditació. “Anul·len tota la comunicació, tothom va amb la mateixa roba, no es pot fer absolutament res ni comunicar-te amb ningú, estàs tot el dia meditant, fas uns dejunis molt llargs i jo tenia aquesta idea des de fa molts anys”Dani Cazalla Sobre el fet de passar el Nadal en aquest retir, assegura que no va caure en què arribava Nadal fins fa pocs dies. “No m’he recordat del Nadal fins que fa poc he vist que els meus germanes s’estaven organitzant, però aquí fa una calor que no vegis i no he pensat gens en el Nadal!”Dani Cazalla Dani Cazalla està seguint els trams de l'antiga ruta de la seda, que connectava la Xina amb Europa, l'Àsia Central, l'Orient Mitjà i l'Àfrica, i que va ser important per a l'intercanvi de béns, cultures, religions i idees entre diferents regions del món. El projecte se li va instaurar al cap des de fa un parell de dècades i ara, per fi, l'està fent realitat. Un cop acabi, però, tornarà a casa i assegura que no el preocupa gens tornar a la rutina, perquè la vida que té aquí li agrada molt. “La vida que tinc a casa m’agrada molt, soc una persona molt activa, seguiré viatjant, m’agrada estudiar, m’agrada treballar… a casa soc feliç i no tinc cap problema en tornar”Dani Cazalla El lloretenc va sortir de casa seva a finals de maig i la idea és estar en ruta durant un any.

What is a call? How does a person know if God is calling them to mission service? Join in a discussion as these and other questions are addressed.

What happens when curiosity, resilience, and storytelling collide over a lifetime of building something meaningful? In this episode, I welcome Nick Francis, founder and CEO of Casual Films, for a thoughtful conversation about leadership, presence, and what it takes to keep going when the work gets heavy. Nick's journey began with a stint at BBC News and a bold 9,000-mile rally from London to Mongolia in a Mini Cooper, a spirit of adventure that still fuels how he approaches business and life today. We talk about how that early experience shaped Casual into a global branded storytelling company with studios across five continents, and what it really means to lead a creative organization at scale. Nick shares insights from growing the company internationally, expanding into Southeast Asia, and staying grounded while producing hundreds of projects each year. Along the way, we explore why emotionally resonant storytelling matters, how trust and preparation beat panic, and why presence with family, health, and purpose keeps leaders steady in uncertain times. This conversation is about building an Unstoppable life by focusing on what matters most, using creativity to connect people, and choosing clarity and resilience in a world full of noise. Highlights: 00:01:30 – Learn how early challenges shape resilience and long-term drive. 00:06:20 – Discover why focusing on your role creates calm under pressure. 00:10:50 – Learn how to protect attention in a nonstop world. 00:18:25 – Understand what global growth teaches about leadership. 00:26:00 – Learn why leading with trust changes relationships. 00:45:55 – Discover how movement and presence restore clarity. About the Guest: Nick Francis is the founder and CEO of Casual, a global production group that blends human storytelling, business know-how, and creativity turbo-charged by AI. Named the UK's number one brand video production company for five years, Casual delivers nearly 1,000 projects annually for world-class brands like Adobe, Amazon, BMW, Hilton, HSBC, and P&G. The adventurous spirit behind its first production – a 9,000-mile journey from London to Mongolia in an old Mini – continues to drive Casual's growth across offices in London, New York, LA, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong and Greater China. Nick previously worked for BBC News and is widely recognised for his expertise in video storytelling, brand building, and corporate communications. He is the founding director of the Casual Films Academy, a charity helping young filmmakers develop skills by producing films for charitable organisations. He is also the author of ‘The New Fire: Harness the Power of Video for Your Business' and a passionate advocate for emotionally resonant, behaviorally grounded storytelling. Nick lives in San Francisco, California, with his family. Ways to connect with Nick**:** Website: https://www.casualfilms.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@casual_global  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/casualglobal/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CasualFilms/  Nick's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickfrancisfilm/  Casual's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/casual-films-international/  Beyond Casual - LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=6924458968031395840 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  01:21 Well, hello everyone. I am your host, Mike hingson, that's kind of funny. We'll talk about that in a second, but this is unstoppable mindset. And our guest today is Nick Francis, and what we're going to talk about is the fact that people used to always ask me, well, they would call me Mr. Kingston, and it took me, as I just told Nick a master's degree in physics in 10 years to realize that if I said Mike hingson, that's why they said Mr. Kingston. So was either say Mike hingson or Michael hingson. Well, Michael hingson is a lot easier to say than Mike hingson, but I don't really care Mike or Michael, as long as it's not late for dinner. Whatever works. Yeah. Well, Nick, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're Nick Francis  02:04 here. Thanks, Mike. It's great to be here. Michael Hingson  02:08 So Nick is a marketing kind of guy. He's got a company called casual that we'll hear about. Originally from England, I believe, and now lives in San Francisco. We were talking about the weather in San Francisco, as opposed to down here in Victorville. A little bit earlier. We're going to have a heat wave today and and he doesn't have that up there, but you know, well, things, things change over time. But anyway, we're glad you're here. And thanks, Mike. Really looking forward to it. Tell us about the early Nick growing up and all that sort of stuff, just to get us started. Nick Francis  02:43 That's a good question. I grew up in London, in in Richmond, which is southwest London. It's a at the time, it wasn't anything like as kind of, it's become quite kind of shishi, I think back in the day, because it's on the west of London. The pollution from the city used to flow east and so, like all the kind of well to do people, in fact, there used to be a, there used to be a palace in Richmond. It's where Queen Elizabeth died, the first Queen Elizabeth, that is. And, yeah, you know, I grew up it was, you know, there's a lot of rugby played around there. I played rugby for my local rugby club from a very young age, and we went sailing on the south coast. It was, it was great, really. And then, you know, unfortunately, when I was 10 years old, my my dad died. He had had a very powerful job at the BBC, and then he ran the British Council, which is the overseas wing of the Arts Council, so promoting, I guess, British soft power around the world, going and opening art galleries and going to ballet in Moscow and all sorts. So he had an incredible life and worked incredibly hard. And you know, that has brought me all sorts of privileges, I think, when I was a kid. But, you know, unfortunately, age 10 that all ended. And you know, losing a parent at that age is such a sort of fundamental, kind of shaking of your foundations. You know, you when you're a kid, you feel like a, you're going to live forever, and B, the things that are happening around you are going to last forever. And so, you know, you know, my mom was amazing, of course, and, you know, and in time, I got a new stepdad, and all the rest of it. But you know, that kind of shaped a lot of my a lot of my youth, really. And, yeah, I mean, Grief is a funny thing, and it's funny the way it manifests itself as you grow. But yeah. So I grew up there. I went to school in the Midlands, near where my stepdad lived, and then University of Newcastle, which is up in the north of England, where it rains a lot. It's where it's where Newcastle Football Club is based. And you know is that is absolutely at the center of the city. So. So the city really comes alive there. And it was during that time that I discovered photography, and I wanted to be a war photographer, because I believe that was where life was lived at the kind of the real cutting edge. You know, you see the you see humanity in its in its most visceral and vivid color in terrible situations. And I kind of that seemed like an interesting thing to go to go and do. Michael Hingson  05:27 Well, what? So what did you major in in college in Newcastle? So I did Nick Francis  05:31 history and politics, and then I went did a course in television journalism, and ended up working at BBC News as a initially running on the floor. So I used to deliver the papers that you know, when you see people shuffling or not, they do it anymore, actually, because everything, everything's digital now digital, yeah, but when they were worried about the the auto cues going down, they we always had to make sure that they had the up to date script. And so I would be printing in, obviously, the, you know, because it's a three hour news show, the scripts constantly evolving, and so, you know, I was making sure they had the most up to date version in their hands. And it's, I don't know if you have spent any time around live TV Mike, but it's an incredibly humbling experience, like the power of it. You know, there's sort of two or 3 million people watching these two people who are sitting five feet in front of me, and the, you know, the sort of slightly kind of, there was an element of me that just wanted to jump in front of them and kind of go, ah. And, you know, never, ever work in live TV, ever again. But you know, anyway, I did that and ended up working as a producer, writing and developing, developing packets that would go out on the show, producing interviews and things. And, you know, I absolutely loved it. It was, it was a great time. But then I left to go and set up my company. Michael Hingson  06:56 I am amazed, even today, with with watching people on the news, and I've and I've been in a number of studios during live broadcasts and so on. But I'm amazed at how well, mostly, at least, I've been fortunate. Mostly, the people are able to read because they do have to read everything. It isn't like you're doing a lot of bad living in a studio. Obviously, if you are out with a story, out in the field, if you will, there, there may be more where you don't have a printed script to go by, but I'm amazed at the people in the studio, how much they are able to do by by reading it all completely. Nick Francis  07:37 It's, I mean, the whole experience is kind of, it's awe inspiring, really. And you know, when you first go into a Live, a live broadcast studio, and you see the complexity, and you know, they've got feeds coming in from all over the world, and you know, there's upwards of 100 people all working together to make it happen. And I remember talking to one of the directors at the time, and I was like, How on earth does this work? And he said, You know, it's simple. You everyone has a very specific job, and you know that as long as you do your bit of the job when it comes in front of you, then the show will go out. He said, where it falls over is when people start worrying about whether other people are going to are going to deliver on time or, you know, and so if you start worrying about what other people are doing, rather than just focusing on the thing you have to do, that's where it potentially falls over, Michael Hingson  08:29 which is a great object lesson anyway, to worry about and control and don't worry about the rest Nick Francis  08:36 for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. You know, it's almost a lesson for life. I mean, sorry, it is a lesson for life, and Michael Hingson  08:43 it's something that I talk a lot about in dealing with the World Trade Center and so on, and because it was a message I received, but I've been really preaching that for a long time. Don't worry about what you can't control, because all you're going to do is create fear and drive yourself Nick Francis  08:58 crazy, completely, completely. You know. You know what is it? Give me the, give me this. Give me the strength to change the things I can. Give me the give me the ability to let the things that I can't change slide but and the wisdom to know the difference. I'm absolutely mangling that, that saying, but, yeah, it's, it's true, you know. And I think, you know, it's so easy for us to in this kind of modern world where everything's so media, and we're constantly served up things that, you know, shock us, sadness, enrage us, you know, just to be able to step back and say, actually, you know what? These are things I can't really change. I'd have to just let them wash over me. Yeah, and just focus on the things that you really can change. Michael Hingson  09:46 It's okay to be aware of things, but you've got to separate the things you can control from the things that you can and we, unfortunately aren't taught that. Our parents don't teach us that because they were never taught it, and it's something. That, just as you say, slides by, and it's so unfortunate, because it helps to create such a level of fear about so many things in our in our psyche and in our world that we really shouldn't have to do Nick Francis  10:13 completely well. I think, you know, obviously, but you know, we've, we've spent hundreds, if not millions of years evolving to become humans, and then, you know, actually being aware of things beyond our own village has only been an evolution of the last, you know what, five, 600 years, yeah. And so we are just absolutely, fundamentally not able to cope with a world of such incredible stimulus that we live in now. Michael Hingson  10:43 Yeah, and it's only getting worse with all the social media, with all the different things that are happening and of course, and we're only working to develop more and more things to inundate us with more and more kinds of inputs. It's really unfortunate we just don't learn to separate ourselves very easily from all of that. Nick Francis  11:04 Yeah, well, you know, it's so interesting when you look at the development of VR headsets, and, you know, are we going to have, like, lenses in our eyes that kind of enable us to see computer screens while we're just walking down the road, you know? And you look at that and you think, well, actually, just a cell phone. I mean, cell phones are going to be gone fairly soon. I would imagine, you know, as a format, it's not something that's going to abide but the idea that we're going to create technology that's going to be more, that's going to take us away from being in the moment more rather than less, is kind of terrifying. Because, I would say already, even with, you know, the most basic technology that we have now, which is, you know, mind bending, compared to where we were even 20 years ago, you know, to think that we're only going to become more immersive is, you know, we really, really as a species, have to work out how we are going to be far better at stepping away from this stuff. And I, you know, I do, I wonder, with AI and technology whether there is, you know, there's a real backlash coming of people who do want to just unplug, yeah, Michael Hingson  12:13 well, it'll be interesting to see, and I hope that people will learn to do it. I know when I started hearing about AI, and one of the first things I heard was how kids would use it to write their papers, and it was a horrible thing, and they were trying to figure out ways so that teachers could tell us something was written by AI, as opposed to a student. And I almost immediately developed this opinion, no, let AI write the papers for students, but when the students turn in their paper, then take a day to in your class where you have every student come up and defend their paper, see who really knows it, you know. And what a great teaching opportunity and teaching moment to to get students also to learn to do public speaking and other things a little bit more than they do, but we haven't. That hasn't caught on, but I continue to preach it. Nick Francis  13:08 I think that's really smart, you know, as like aI exists, and I think to to pretend somehow that, you know, we can work without it is, you know, it's, it's, it's, yeah, I mean, it's like, well, saying, you know, we're just going to go back to Word processors or typewriters, which, you know, in which it weirdly, in their own time, people looked at and said, this is, you know, these, these are going to completely rot our minds. In fact, yeah, I think Plato said that was very against writing, because he believed it would mean no one could remember anything after that, you know. So it's, you know, it's just, it's an endless, endless evolution. But I think, you know, we have to work out how we incorporate into it, into our education system, for sure. Michael Hingson  13:57 Well, I remember being in in college and studying physics and so on. And one of the things that we were constantly told is, on tests, you can't bring calculators in, can't use calculators in class. Well, why not? Well, because you could cheat with that. Well, the reality is that the smart physicists realized that it's all about really learning the concepts more than the numbers. And yeah, that's great to to know how to do the math. But the the real issue is, do you know the physics, not just the math completely? Nick Francis  14:34 Yeah. And then how you know? How are the challenges that are being set such that you know, they really test your ability to use the calculator effectively, right? So how you know? How are you lifting the bar? And in a way, I think that's kind of what we have to do, what we have to do now, Michael Hingson  14:50 agreed, agreed. So you were in the news business and so on, and then, as you said, you left to start your own company. Why did you decide to do that? Nick Francis  14:59 Well, a friend of. Ryan and I from University had always talked about doing this rally from London to Mongolia. So, and you do it in an old car that you sort of look at, and you go, well, that's a bit rubbish. It has to have under a one liter engine. So it's tiny, it's cheap. The idea is it breaks down you have an adventure. And it was something we kind of talked about in passing and decided that would be a good thing to do. And then over time, you know, we started sending off. We you know, we applied, and then we started sending off for visas and things. And then before we knew it, we were like, gosh, so it looks like we're actually going to do this thing. But by then, you know, my job at the BBC was really taking off. And so I said, you know, let's do this, but let's make a documentary of it. So long story short, we ended up making a series of diary films for Expedia, which we uploaded onto their website. It was, you know, we were kind of pitching this around about 2005 we kind of did it in 2006 so it was kind of, you know, nobody had really heard of YouTube. The idea of making videos to go online was kind of unheard of because, you know, broadband was just kind of getting sorry. It wasn't unheard of, but it was, it was very, it was a very nascent industry. And so, yeah, we went and drove 9000 miles over five weeks. We spent a week sitting in various different repair yards and kind of break his yards in everywhere from Turkey to Siberia. And when we came back, it became clear that the internet was opening up as this incredible medium for video, and video is such a powerful way to share emotion with a dispersed audience. You know, not that I would have necessarily talked about it in that in those terms back then, but it really seemed like, you know, every every web page, every piece of corporate content, could have a video aspect to it. And so we came back and had a few fits and starts and did some, I mean, we, you know, we made a series of hotel videos where we were paid 50 quid a day to go and film hotels. And it was hot and it was hard work. And anyway, it was rough. But over time, you know, we started to win some more lucrative work. And, you know, really, the company grew from there. We won some awards, which helped us to kind of make a bit of a name for ourselves. And this was, there's been a real explosion in technology, kind of shortly after when we did this. So digital SLRs, so, you know, old kind of SLR cameras, you know, turned into digital cameras, which could then start to shoot video. And so it, there was a real explosion in high quality video produced by very small teams of people using the latest technology creatively. And that just felt like a good kind of kick off point for our business. But we just kind of because we got in in kind of 2006 we just sort of beat a wave that kind of started with digital SLRs, and then was kind of absolutely exploded when video cell phones came on the market, video smartphones. And yeah, you know, because we had these awards and we had some kind of fairly blue chip clients from a relatively early, early stage, we were able to grow the company. We then expanded to the US in kind of 2011 20 between 2011 2014 and then we were working with a lot of the big tech companies in California, so it felt like we should maybe kind of really invest in that. And so I moved out here with some of our team in 2018 at the beginning of 2018 and I've been here ever since, wow. Michael Hingson  18:44 So what is it? What was it like starting a business here, or bringing the business here, as opposed to what it was in England? Nick Francis  18:53 It's really interesting, because the creatively the UK is so strong, you know, like so many, you know, from the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones to, you know, and then on through, like all the kind of, you know, film and TV, you know, Brits are very good at kind of Creating, like, high level creative, but not necessarily always the best at kind of monetizing it, you know. I mean, some of those obviously have been fantastic successes, right? And so I think in the UK, we we take a lot longer over getting, getting to, like, the perfect creative output, whereas the US is far more focused on, you know, okay, we need this to to perform a task, and frankly, if we get it 80% done, then we're good, right? And so I think a lot of creative businesses in the UK look at the US and they go, gosh. Firstly, the streets are paved with gold. Like the commercial opportunity seems incredible, but actually creating. Tracking it is incredibly difficult, and I think it's because we sort of see the outputs in the wrong way. I think they're just the energy and the dynamism of the US economy is just, it's kind of awe inspiring. But you know, so many businesses try to expand here and kind of fall over themselves. And I think the number one thing is just, you have to have a founder who's willing to move to the US. Because I think Churchill said that we're two two countries divided by the same language. And I never fully understood what that meant until I moved here. I think what it what he really means by that is that we're so culturally different in the US versus the UK. And I think lots of Brits look at America and think, Well, you know, it's just the same. It's just a bit kind of bigger and a bit Brasher, you know, and it and actually, I think if people in the US spoke a completely different language, we would approach it as a different culture, which would then help us to understand it better. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, it's been, it's been the most fabulous adventure to move here and to, you know, it's, it's hard sometimes, and California is a long way from home, but the energy and the optimism and the entrepreneurialism of it, coupled with just the natural beauty is just staggering. So we've made some of our closest friends in California, it's been absolutely fantastic. And across the US, it's been a fantastic adventure for us and our family. Michael Hingson  21:30 Yeah, I've had the opportunity to travel all over the US, and I hear negative comments about one place or another, like West Virginia, people eat nothing but fried food and all that. But the reality is, if you really take an overall look at it, the country has so much to offer, and I have yet to find a place that I didn't enjoy going to, and people I never enjoyed meeting, I really enjoy all of that, and it's great to meet people, and it's great to experience so much of this country. And I've taken that same posture to other places. I finally got to visit England last October, for the first time. You mentioned rugby earlier, the first time I was exposed to rugby was when I traveled to New Zealand in 2003 and found it pretty fascinating. And then also, I was listening to some rugby, rugby, rugby broadcast, and I tuned across the radio and suddenly found a cricket game that was a little bit slow for me. Yeah, cricket to be it's slow. Nick Francis  22:41 Yeah, fair enough. It's funny. Actually, we know what you're saying about travel. Like one of the amazing things about our Well, I kind of learned two sort of quite fundamentally philosophical things, I think, you know, or things about the about humans and the human condition. Firstly, like, you know, traveling across, you know, we left from London. We, like, drove down. We went through Belgium and France and Poland and Slovenia, Slovakia, Slovenia, like, all the way down Bulgaria, across Turkey into Georgia and Azerbaijan and across the Caspian Sea, and through Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, into Russia, and then down into Mongolia. When we finished, we were due north of Jakarta, right? So we drove, we drove a third of the way around the world. And the two things that taught me were, firstly that human people are good. You know, everywhere we went, people would invite us in to have meals, or they'd like fix our car for not unit for free. I mean, people were so kind everywhere we went. Yeah. And the other thing was, just, when we get on a plane and you fly from here to or you fly from London, say to we, frankly, you fly from London to Turkey, it feels unbelievably different. You know, you fly from London to China, and it's, you know, complete different culture. But what our journey towards us, because we drove, was that, you know, while we might not like to admit it, we're actually quite, you know, Brits are quite similar to the French, and the French actually are quite similar to the Belgians, and Belgians quite similar to the Germans. And, you know, and all the way through, actually, like we just saw a sort of slowly changing gradient of all the different cultures. And it really, you know, we are just one people, you know. So as much as we might feel that, you know, we're all we're all different, actually, when you see it, when you when you do a drive like that, you really, you really get to see how slowly the cultures shift and change. Another thing that's quite funny, actually, was just like, everywhere we went, we would be like, you know, we're driving to Turkey. They'd be like, Oh, God, you just drove through Bulgaria, you know, how is like, everything on your car not been stolen, you know, they're so dodgy that you Bulgarians are so dodgy. And then, you know, we'd get drive through the country, and they'd be like, you know, oh, you're going into Georgia, you know, gosh, what you go. Make, make sure everything's tied down on your car. They're so dodgy. And then you get into Georgia, and they're like, Oh my God, you've just very driven through Turkey this, like, everyone sort of had these, like, weird, yeah, kind of perceptions of their neighbors. And it was all nonsense, yeah, you know. Michael Hingson  25:15 And the reality is that, as you pointed out, people are good, you know, I think, I think politicians are the ones who so often mess it up for everyone, just because they've got agendas. And unfortunately, they teach everyone else to be suspicious of of each other, because, oh, this person clearly has a hidden agenda when it normally isn't necessarily true at all. Nick Francis  25:42 No, no, no, certainly not in my experience, anyway, not in my experience. But, you know, well, oh, go ahead. No, no. It's just, you know, it's, it is. It's, it is weird the way that happens, you know, well, they say, you know, if, if politicians fought wars rather than, rather than our young men and women, then there'd be a lot less of them. Yeah, so Well, Michael Hingson  26:06 there would be, well as I tell people, you know, I I've learned a lot from working with eight guy dogs and my wife's service dog, who we had for, oh, gosh, 14 years almost, and one of the things that I tell people is I absolutely do believe what people say, that dogs love unconditionally, unless they're just totally traumatized by something, but they don't trust unconditionally. The difference between dogs and people is that dogs are more open to trust because we've taught ourselves and have been taught by others, that everyone has their own hidden agenda. So we don't trust. We're not open to trust, which is so unfortunate because it affects the psyche of so many people in such a negative way. We get too suspicious of people, so it's a lot harder to earn trust. Nick Francis  27:02 Yeah, I mean, I've, I don't know, you know, like I've been, I've been very fortunate in my life, and I kind of always try to be, you know, open and trusting. And frankly, you know, I think if you're open and trusting with people, in my experience, you kind of, it comes back to you, you know, and maybe kind of looking for the best in everyone. You know, there are times where that's not ideal, but you know, I think you know, in the overwhelming majority of cases, you know, actually, you know, you treat people right? And you know what goes what goes around, comes around, absolutely. Michael Hingson  27:35 And I think that's so very true. There are some people who just are going to be different than that, but I think for the most part, if you show that you're open to trust people will want to trust you, as long as you're also willing to trust Nick Francis  27:51 them completely. Yeah, completely. Michael Hingson  27:54 So I think that that's the big thing we have to deal with. And I don't know, I hope that we, we will learn it. But I think that politicians are really the most guilty about teaching us. Why not to trust but that too, hopefully, will be something we deal with. Nick Francis  28:12 I think, you know, I think we have to, you know, it's, it's one of the tragedies of our age, I think, is that the, you know, we spent the 20th century, thinking that sex was the kind of ultimate sales tool. And then it took algorithms to for us to realize that actually anger and resentment are the most powerful sales tools, which is, you know, it's a it's something which, in time, we will work out, right? And I think the problem is that, at the minute, these tech businesses are in such insane ascendancy, and they're so wealthy that it's very hard to regulate them. And I think in time, what will happen is, you know, they'll start to lose some of that luster and some of that insane scale and that power, and then, you know, then regulation will come in. But you know whether or not, we'll see maybe, hopefully our civilization will still be around to see that. Michael Hingson  29:04 No, there is that, or maybe the Vulcans will show up and show us a better way. But you know, Nick Francis  29:11 oh, you know, I'm, I'm kind of endlessly optimistic. I think, you know, we are. We're building towards a very positive future. I think so. Yeah, it's just, you know, get always bumps along the way, yeah. Michael Hingson  29:24 So you named your company casual. Why did you do that? Or how did that come about? Nick Francis  29:30 It's a slightly weird name for something, you know, we work with, kind of, you know, global blue chip businesses. And, you know, casual is kind of the last thing that you would want to associate with, a, with a, with any kind of services business that works in that sphere. I think, you know, we, the completely honest answer is that the journalism course I did was television, current affairs journalism, so it's called TV cadge, and so we, when we made a film for a local charity as part of that course. Course, we were asked to name our company, and we just said, well, cash, cash casual, casual films. So we called it casual films. And then when my friend and I set the company up, kind of formally, to do the Mongol Rally, we, you know, we had this name, you know, the company, the film that we'd made for the charity, had gone down really well. It had been played at BAFTA in London. And so we thought, well, you know, we should just, you know, hang on to that name. And it didn't, you know, at the time, it didn't really seem too much of an issue. It was only funny. It was coming to the US, where I think people are a bit more literal, and they were a bit like, well, casual. Like, why casual, you know. And I remember being on a shoot once. And, you know, obviously, kind of some filmmakers can be a little casual themselves, not necessarily in the work, but in the way they present themselves, right? And I remember sitting down, we were interviewing this CEO, and he said, who, you know, who are you? Oh, we're casual films. He's like, Oh, is that why that guy's got ripped jeans? Is it? And I just thought, Damn, you know, we really left ourselves open to that. There was also, there was a time one of our early competitors was called Agile films. And so, you know, I remember talking to one of our clients who said, you know, it's casual, you know, when I have to put together a little document to say, you know, which, which supplier we should choose, and when I lay it on my boss's desk, and one says casual films, and one says agile films, it's like those guys are landing the first punch. But anyway, we, you know, we, what we say now is like, you know, we take a complex process and make it casual. You know, filmmaking, particularly for like, large, complex organizations where you've got lots of different stakeholders, can be very complicated. And so, yeah, we sort of say, you know, we'll take a lot of that stress off, off our clients. So that's kind of the rationale, you know, that we've arrived with, arrived at having spoken to lots of our clients about the role that we play for them. So, you know, there's a kind of positive spin on it, I guess, but I don't know. I don't know whether I'd necessarily call it casual again. I don't know if I'm supposed to say that or not, but, oh, Michael Hingson  32:00 it's unique, you know? So, yeah, I think there's a lot of merit to it. It's a unique name, and it interests people. I know, for me, one of the things that I do is I have a way of doing this. I put all of my business cards in Braille, so the printed business cards have Braille on them, right? Same thing. It's unique completely. Nick Francis  32:22 And you listen, you know what look your name is an empty box that you fill with your identity. They say, right? And casual is actually, it's something we've grown into. And you know it's we've been going for nearly 20 years. In fact, funny enough for the end of this year is the 20th anniversary of that first film we made for the for the charity. And then next summer will be our 20th anniversary, which is, you know, it's, it's both been incredibly short and incredibly long, you know, I think, like any kind of experience in life, and it's been some of the hardest kind of times of my entire life, and some of the best as well. So, you know, it's, it is what it is, but you know, casual is who we are, right? I would never check, you know? I'd never change it. Michael Hingson  33:09 Now, no, of course not, yeah. So is the actual name casual films, or just casual? Nick Francis  33:13 So it was casual films, but then everyone calls us casual anyway, and I think, like as an organization, we probably need to be a bit more agnostic about the outcome. Michael Hingson  33:22 Well, the reason I asked, in part was, is there really any filming going on anymore? Nick Francis  33:28 Well, that's a very that's a very good question. But have we actually ever made a celluloid film? And I think the answer is probably no. We used to, back in the day, we used to make, like, super eight films, which were films, I think, you know, video, you know, ultimately, if you're going to be really pedantic about it, it's like, well, video is a digital, digital delivery. And so basically, every film we make is, is a video. But there is a certain cachet to the you know, because our films are loved and crafted, you know, for good or ill, you know, I think to call them, you know, they are films because, because of the, you know, the care that's put into them. But it's not, it's, it's not celluloid. No, that's okay, yeah, well, Michael Hingson  34:16 and I know that, like with vinyl records, there is a lot of work being done to preserve and capture what's on cellular film. And so there's a lot of work that I'm sure that's being done to digitize a lot of the old films. And when you do that, then you can also go back and remaster and hopefully in a positive way, and I'm not sure if that always happens, but in a positive way, enhance them Nick Francis  34:44 completely, completely and, you know, it's, you know, it's interesting talking about, like, you know, people wanting to step back. You know, obviously vinyl is having an absolute as having a moment right now. In fact, I just, I just bought a new stylist for my for my record. Play yesterday. It sounded incredible as a joy. This gave me the sound quality of this new style. It's fantastic. You know, beyond that, you know, running a company, you know, we're in nine offices all over the world. We produce nearly 1000 projects a year. So, you know, it's a company. It's an incredibly complicated company. It's a very fun and exciting company. I love the fact that we make these beautifully creative films. But, you know, it's a bit, I wouldn't say it's like, I don't know, you don't get many MBAs coming out of business school saying, hey, I want to set up a video production company. But, you know, it's been, it's been wonderful, but it's also been stressful. And so, you know, I've, I've always been interested in pottery and ceramics and making stuff with my hands. When I was a kid, I used to make jewelry, and I used to go and sell it in nightclubs, which is kind of weird, but, you know, it paid for my beers. And then whatever works, I say kid. I was 18. I was, I was of age, but of age in the UK anyway. But now, you know, over the last few 18 months or so, I've started make, doing my own ceramics. So, you know, I make vases and and pictures and kind of all sorts of stuff out of clay. And it's just, it's just to be to unplug and just to go and, you know, make things with mud with your hands. It's just the most unbelievably kind of grounding experience. Michael Hingson  36:26 Yeah, I hear you, yeah. One of the things that I like to do is, and I don't get to do it as much as I would like, but I am involved with organizations like the radio enthusiasts of Puget Sound, which, every year, does recreations of old radio shows. And so we get the scripts we we we have several blind people who are involved in we actually go off and recreate some of the old shows, which is really a lot of fun, Nick Francis  36:54 I bet, yeah, yeah, sort of you know that connection to the past is, is, yeah, it's great radio. Radio is amazing. Michael Hingson  37:03 Anyway, what we have to do is to train some of the people who have not had exposure to old radio. We need to train them as to how to really use their voices to convey like the people who performed in radio, whatever they're doing, because too many people don't really necessarily know how to do that well. And it is, it is something that we're going to work on trying to find ways to get people really trained. And one of the ways, of course, is you got to listen to the old show. So one of the things we're getting more and more people to do when we do recreations is to go back and listen to the original show. Well, they say, Well, but, but that's just the way they did it. That's not necessarily the way it should be done. And the response is, no, that's not really true. The way they did it sounded natural, and the way you are doing it doesn't and there's reality that you need to really learn how to to use your voice to convey well, and the only way to do it is to listen to the experts who did it. Nick Francis  38:06 Yeah, well, it's, you know, it's amazing. The, you know, when the BBC was founded, all the news readers and anyone who appeared on on the radio to to present or perform, had to wear like black tie, like a tuxedo, because it was, you know, they're broadcasting to the nation, so they had to, you know, they had to be dressed appropriately, right, which is kind of amazing. And, you know, it's interesting how you know, when you, when you change your dress, when you change the way you're sitting, it does completely change the way that you project yourself, yeah, Michael Hingson  38:43 it makes sense, yeah, well, and I always enjoyed some of the old BBC radio shows, like the Goon Show, and completely some of those are so much fun. Nick Francis  38:54 Oh, great, yeah, I don't think they were wearing tuxedo. It's tuxedos. They would Michael Hingson  38:59 have been embarrassed. Yeah, right, right. Can you imagine Peter Sellers in a in a tux? It just isn't going to happen. Nick Francis  39:06 No, right, right. But yeah, no, it's so powerful. You know, they say radio is better than TV because the pictures are better. Michael Hingson  39:15 I agree. Yeah, sure, yeah. Well, you know, I I don't think this is quite the way he said it, but Fred Allen, the old radio comedian, once said they call television the new medium, because that's as good as it's ever going Nick Francis  39:28 to get. Yeah, right, right, yeah. Michael Hingson  39:32 I think there's truth to it. Whether that's exactly the way he said it or not, there's truth to that, yeah, but there's also a lot of good stuff on TV, so it's okay. Nick Francis  39:41 Well, it's so interesting. Because, you know, when you look at the it's never been more easy to create your own content, yeah, and so, you know, and like, in a way, TV, you know, he's not wrong in that, because it suddenly opened up this, this huge medium for people just to just create. Right? And, you know, and I think, like so many people, create without thinking, and, you know, and certainly in our kind of, in the in the world that we're living in now with AI production, making production so much more accessible, actually taking the time as a human being just to really think about, you know, who are the audience, what are the things that are going to what are going to kind of resonate with them? You know? Actually, I think one of the risks with AI, and not just AI, but just like production being so accessible, is that you can kind of shoot first and kind of think about it afterwards, and, you know, and that's never good. That's always going to be medium. It's medium at best, frankly. Yeah, so yeah, to create really great stuff takes time, you know, yeah, to think about it. Yeah, for sure, yeah. Michael Hingson  40:50 Well, you know, our podcast is called unstoppable mindset. What do you think that unstoppable mindset really means to you as a practical thing and not just a buzzword. Because so many people talk about the kinds of buzzwords I hear all the time are amazing. That's unstoppable, but it's really a lot more than a buzzword. It goes back to what you think, I think. But what do you think? Nick Francis  41:15 I think it's something that is is buried deep inside you. You know, I'd say the simple answer is, is just resilience. You know, it's, it's been rough. I write anyone running a small business or a medium sized business at the minute, you know, there's been some tough times over the last, kind of 1824, months or so. And, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine who she sold out of her business. And she's like, you know, how are things? I was like, you know, it's, it's, it's tough, you know, we're getting through it, you know, we're changing a lot of things, you know, we're like, we're definitely making the business better, but it's hard. And she's like, Listen, you know, when three years before I sold my company, I was at rock bottom. It was, I genuinely thought it was so stressful. I was crushed by it, but I just kept going. And she's just like, just keep going. And the only difference between success and failure is that resilience and just getting up every day and you just keep, keep throwing stuff at the wall, keep trying new things, keep working and trying to be better. I think, you know, it's funny when you look at entrepreneurs, I'm a member of a mentoring group, and I hope I'm not talking out of school here, but you know, there's 15 entrepreneurs, you know, varying sizes of business, doing all sorts, you know, across all sorts of different industries. And if you sat on the wall, if you were fly on the wall, and you sit and look at these people on a kind of week, month to month basis, and they all present on how their businesses are going. You go, this is this being an entrepreneur does not look like a uniformly fun thing, you know, the sort of the stress and just, you know, people crying and stuff, and you're like, gosh, you know, it's so it's, it's, it's hard, and yet, you know, it's people just keep coming back to it. And yet, I think it's because of that struggle that you have to kind of have something in built in you, that you're sort of, you're there to prove something. And I, you know, I've thought a lot about this, and I wonder whether, kind of, the death of my father at such a young age kind of gave me this incredible fire to seek His affirmation, you know. And unfortunately, obviously, the tragedy of that is like, you know, the one person who would never give me affirmation is my dad. And yet, you know, I get up every day, you know, to have early morning calls with the UK or with Singapore or wherever. And you know, you just just keep on, keeping on. And I think that's probably what and knowing I will never quit, you know, like, even from the earliest days of casual, when we were just, like a couple of people, and we were just, you know, kids doing our very best, I always knew the company was going to be a success act. Like, just a core belief that I was like, this is going to work. This is going to be a success. I didn't necessarily know what that success would look like. I just but I did know that, like, whatever it took, we would map, we'd map our way towards that figure it out. We'd figure it out. And I think, you know, there's probably something unstoppable. I don't know, I don't want to sound immodest, but I think there's probably something in that that you're just like, I am just gonna keep keep on, keeping on. Michael Hingson  44:22 Do you think that resilience and unstoppability are things that can be taught, or is it just something that's built into you, and either you have it or you don't? Nick Francis  44:31 I think it's something that probably, it's definitely something that can be learned, for sure, you know. And there are obviously ways that it can there's obviously ways it can be taught. You know, I was, I spent some time in the reserve, like the Army Reserve in the UK, and I just, you know, a lot of that is about teaching you just how much further you can go. I think what it taught me was it was so. So hard. I mean, honestly, some of the stuff we did in our training was, like, you know, it's just raining and raining and raining and, like, because all your kits soaking wet is weighs twice what it did before, and you just, you know, sleeping maybe, you know, an hour or two a night, and, you know, and there wasn't even anyone shooting at us, right? So, you know, like the worst bit wasn't even happening. But like, and like, in a sense, I think, you know, that's what they're trying to do, that, you know, they say, you know, train hard and fight easy. But I remember sort of sitting there, and I was just exhausted, and I just genuinely, I was just thought, you know, what if they tell me to go now, I just, I can't. I literally, I can't, I can't do it. Can't do it. And then they're like, right, lads, put your packs on. Let's go and just put your pack on. Off you go, you know, like, this sort of, the idea of not, like, I was never going to quit, just never, never, ever, you know, and like I'd physically, if I physically, like, literally, my physical being couldn't stand up, you know, I then that was be, that would be, you know, if I was kind of, like literally incapacitated. And I think what that taught me actually, was that, you know, you have what you believe you can do, like you have your sort of, you have your sort of physical envelope, but like that is only a third or a quarter of what you can actually achieve, right, you know. And I think what that, what the that kind of training is about, and you know, you can do it in marathon training. You can do it in all sorts of different, you know, even, frankly, meditate. You know, you train your mind to meditate for, you know, an hour, 90 minutes plus. You know, you're still doing the same. You know, there's a, there's an elasticity within your brain where you can teach yourself that your envelope is so much larger. Yeah. So, yeah, you know, like, is casual going to be a success? Like, I'm good, you know, I'm literally, I won't I won't stop until it is Michael Hingson  46:52 right, and then why stop? Exactly, exactly you continue to progress and move forward. Well, you know, when everything feels uncertain, whether it's the markets or whatever, what do you do or what's your process for finding clarity? Nick Francis  47:10 I think a lot of it is in having structured time away. I say structured. You build it into your calendar, but like, but it's unstructured. So, you know, I take a lot of solace in being physically fit. You know, I think if you're, if you feel physically fit, then you feel mentally far more able to deal with things. I certainly when I'm if I'm unfit and if I've been working too much and I haven't been finding the time to exercise. You know, I feel like the problems we have to face just loom so much larger. So, you know, I, I'll book out. I, you know, I work with a fan. I'm lucky enough to have a fantastic assistant who, you know, we book in my my exercise for each week, and it's almost the first thing that goes in the calendar. I do that because I can't be the business my my I can't be the leader my business requires. And it finally happened. It was a few years ago I kind of, like, the whole thing just got really big on me, and it just, you know, and I'm kind of, like, being crushed by it. And I just thought, you know what? Like, I can't, I can't fit other people's face mask, without my face mask being fit, fitted first. Like, in order to be the business my business, I keep saying that to be the lead in my business requires I have to be physically fit. So I have to look after myself first. And so consequently, like, you know, your exercise shouldn't be something just get squeezed in when you find when you have time, because, you know, if you've got family and you know, other things happening, like, you know, just will be squeezed out. So anyway, that goes in. First, I'll go for a bike ride on a Friday afternoon, you know, I'll often listen to a business book and just kind of process things. And it's amazing how often, you know, I'll just go for a run and, like, these things that have been kind of nagging away in the back of my mind, just suddenly I find clarity in them. So I try to exercise, like, five times a week. I mean, that's obviously more than most people can can manage, but you know that that really helps. And then kind of things, like the ceramics is very useful. And then, you know, I'm lucky. I think it's also just so important just to appreciate the things that you already have. You know, I think one of the most important lessons I learned last year was this idea that, you know, here is the only there. You know, everyone's working towards this kind of, like, big, you know, it's like, oh, you know, when I get to there, then everything's going to be okay, you know. And actually, you know, if you think about like, you know, and what did you want to achieve when you left college? Like, what was the salary band that you want? That you wanted to achieve? Right? A lot of people, you know, by the time you hit 4050, you've blown way through that, right? And yet you're still chasing the receding Summit, yeah, you know. And so actually, like, wherever we're trying to head to, we're already there, because once you get there, there's going to be another there that you're trying to. Head to right? So, so, you know, it's just taking a moment to be like, you know, God, I'm so lucky to have what I have. And, you know, I'm living in, we're living in the good old days, like right now, right? Michael Hingson  50:11 And the reality is that we're doing the same things and having the same discussions, to a large degree, that people did 50, 100 200 years ago. As you pointed out earlier, the fact is that we're, we're just having the same discussions about whether this works, or whether that works, or anything else. But it's all the same, Nick Francis  50:33 right, you know. And you kind of think, oh, you know, if I just, just, like, you know, if we just open up these new offices, or if we can just, you know, I think, like, look, if I, if I'd looked at casual when we started it as it is now, I would have just been like, absolute. My mind would have exploded, right? You know, if you look at what we've achieved, and yet, I kind of, you know, it's quite hard sometimes to look at it and just be like, Oh yeah, but we're only just starting. Like, there's so much more to go. I can see so much further work, that we need so many more things, that we need to do, so many more things that we could do. And actually, you know, they say, you know, I'm lucky enough to have two healthy, wonderful little girls. And you know, I think a lot of bread winners Look at, look at love being provision, and the idea that, you know, you have to be there to provide for them. And actually, the the truest form of love is presence, right? And just being there for them, and like, you know, not being distracted and kind of putting putting things aside, you know, not jumping on your emails or your Slack messages or whatever first thing in the morning, you know. And I, you know, I'm not. I'm guilty, like, I'm not, you know, I'm not one of these people who have this kind of crazy kind of morning routine where, like, you know, I'm incredibly disciplined about that because, you know, and I should be more. But like, you know, this stuff, one of the, one of the things about having a 24 hour business with people working all over the world is there's always things that I need to respond to. There's always kind of interesting things happening. And so just like making sure that I catch myself every so often to be like, I'm just going to be here now and I'm going to be with them, and I'm going to listen to what they're saying, and I'm going to respond appropriately, and, you know, I'm going to play a game with them, or whatever. That's true love. You know? Michael Hingson  52:14 Well, there's a lot of merit to the whole concept of unplugging and taking time and living in the moment. One of the things that we talked about in my book live like a guide dog, that we published last year, and it's all about lessons I've learned about leadership and teamwork and preparedness from eight guide dogs and my wife's service dog. One of the things that I learned along the way is the whole concept of living in the moment when I was in the World Trade Center with my fifth guide dog, Roselle. We got home, and I was going to take her outside to go visit the bathroom, but as soon as I took the harness off, she shot off, grabbed her favorite tug bone and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog. Asked the veterinarians about him the next day, the people at Guide Dogs for the Blind, and they said, Well, did anything threaten her? And I said, No. And they said, there's your answer. The reality is, dogs live in the moment when it was over. It was over. And yeah, right lesson to learn. Nick Francis  53:15 I mean, amazing, absolutely amazing. You must have taken a lot of strength from that. Michael Hingson  53:20 Oh, I think it was, it was great. It, you know, I can look back at my life and look at so many things that have happened, things that I did. I never thought that I would become a public speaker, but I learned in so many ways the art of speaking and being relaxed at speaking in a in a public setting, that when suddenly I was confronted with the opportunity to do it, it just seemed like the natural thing to do. Nick Francis  53:46 Yeah, it's funny, because I think isn't public speaking the number one fear. It is. It's the most fit. It's the most feared thing for the most people. Michael Hingson  53:57 And the reality is going back to something that we talked about before. The reality is, audiences want you to succeed, unless you're a jerk and you project that, audiences want to hear what you have to say. They want you to be successful. There's really nothing to be afraid of but, but you're right. It is the number one fear, and I've never understood that. I mean, I guess I can intellectually understand it, but internally, I don't. The first time I was asked to speak after the World Trade Center attacks, a pastor called me up and he said, we're going to we're going to have a service outside for all the people who we lost in New Jersey and and that we would like you to come and speak. Take a few minutes. And I said, Sure. And then I asked him, How many people many people were going to be at the service? He said, 6000 that was, that was my first speech. Nick Francis  54:49 Yeah, wow. But it didn't bother me, you know, no, I bet Michael Hingson  54:54 you do the best you can, and you try to improve, and so on. But, but it is true that so many people. Are public speaking, and there's no reason to what Nick Francis  55:03 did that whole experience teach you? Michael Hingson  55:06 Well, one of the things that taught me was, don't worry about the things that you can't control. It also taught me that, in reality, any of us can be confronted with unexpected things at any time, and the question is, how well do we prepare to deal with it? So for me, for example, and it took me years after September 11 to recognize this, but one of the things that that happened when the building was hit, and Neither I, nor anyone on my side of the building really knew what happened. People say all the time, well, you didn't know because you couldn't see it. Well, excuse me, it hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. And the last time I checked X ray vision was fictitious, so nobody knew. But did the building shake? Oh, it tipped. Because tall buildings like that are flexible. And if you go to any tall building, in reality, they're made to buffet in wind storms and so on, and in fact, they're made to possibly be struck by an airplane, although no one ever expected that somebody would deliberately take a fully loaded jet aircraft and crash it into a tower, because it wasn't the plane hitting the tower as such that destroyed both of them. It was the exploding jet fuel that destroyed so much more infrastructure caused the buildings to collapse. But in reality, for me, I had done a lot of preparation ahead of time, not even thinking that there would be an emergency, but thinking about I need to really know all I can about the building, because I've got to be the leader of my office, and I should know all of that. I should know what to do in an emergency. I should know how to take people to lunch and where to go and all that. And by learning all of that, as I learned many and discovered many years later, it created a mindset that kicked in when the World Trade Center was struck, and in fact, we didn't know until after both towers had collapsed, and I called my wife. We I talked with her just before we evacuated, and the media hadn't even gotten the story yet, but I never got a chance to talk with her until after both buildings had collapsed, and then I was able to get through and she's the first one that told us how the two buildings had been hit by hijacked aircraft. But the mindset had kicked in that said, You know what to do, do it and that. And again, I didn't really think about that until much later, but that's something that is a lesson we all could learn. We shouldn't rely on just watching signs to know what to do, no to go in an emergency. We should really know it, because the knowledge, rather than just having information, the true intellectual knowledge that we internalize, makes such a big difference. Nick Francis  57:46 Do you think it was the fact that you were blind that made you so much more keen to know the way out that kind of that really helped you to understand that at the time? Michael Hingson  57:56 Well, what I think is being blind and growing up in an environment where so many things could be unexpected, for me, it was important to know so, for example, when I would go somewhere to meet a customer, I would spend time, ahead of time, learning how to get around, learning how to get to where they were and and learning what what the process was, because we didn't have Google Maps and we didn't have all the intellectual and and technological things that we have today. Well intellectual we did with the technology we didn't have. So today it's easier, but still, I want to know what to do. I want to really have the answers, and then I can can more easily and more effectively deal with what I need to deal with and react. So I'm sure that blindness played a part in all of that, because if I hadn't learned how to do the things that I did and know the things that I knew, then it would have been a totally different ball game, and so sure, I'm sure, I'm certain that blindness had something to do with it, but I also know that, that the fact is, what I learned is the same kinds of things that everyone should learn, and we shouldn't rely on just the signs, because what if the building were full of smoke, then what would you do? Right? And I've had examples of that since I was at a safety council meeting once where there was somebody from an electric company in Missouri who said, you know, we've wondered for years, what do we do if there's a fire in the generator room, in the basement, In the generator room, how do people get out? And he and I actually worked on it, and they developed a way where people could have a path that they could follow with their feet to get them out. But the but the reality is that what people first need to learn is eyesight is not the only game in town. Yeah, right. Mean, it's so important to really learn that, but people, people don't, and we take too many things for granted, which is, which is really so unfortunate, because we really should do a li

キルギスのジャパロフ大統領と会見される天皇陛下、１９日午前、皇居・御所天皇陛下は１９日、来日した中央アジア４カ国の大統領と皇居・御所でそれぞれ会見された。 Japan's Emperor Naruhito held separate meetings with the visiting presidents of four Central Asian countries--Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan--at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Friday.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito held separate meetings with the visiting presidents of four Central Asian countries--Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan--at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Friday.

Max and Maria spoke with Sergey Radchenko about the state of affairs in peace negotiations over Ukraine as we come to the close of 2025. They discuss the different parties' goals and positions, and how this current round of negotiations compares to the talks in Istanbul at the start of the full-scale invasion back in 2022. This conversation was recorded on December 12, 2025. "America's Magical Thinking About Ukraine: A Bad Deal Is Worse Than No Deal," by Sergey Radchenko (Foreign Affairs, December 2025). "The Talks That Could Have Ended the War in Ukraine: A Hidden History of Diplomacy That Came Up Short — but Holds Lessons for Future Negotiations," by Samuel Charap and Sergey Radchenko (Foreign Affairs, April 2024).

For review:1. President Trump Orders Blockade of Sanctioned Venezuelan Oil Tankers.2. Speaking at an annual meeting with top military officers, Russian President Putin said Moscow would prefer to achieve its goals and “eliminate the root causes of the conflict” by diplomatic means, but he added that “if the opposing side and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive dialogue, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means.”3. Six Countries Join (Gaza) Board of Peace. The US has secured commitments from Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany to have their leaders join US President Donald Trump on the Board of Peace.4. The United States Central Command hosted a conference in Qatar on Tuesday with dozens of partner nations to discuss plans for an International Stabilization Force for the Gaza Strip.Egypt, Indonesia, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE, Italy, France, the UK, and Azerbaijan were among the attendees. Other countries at the summit included Cyprus, Georgia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Jordan, Japan, Greece, Singapore, the EU, Saudi Arabia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait, Morocco, Bahrain, Bosnia, Finland, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Spain, and Yemen.5. Senators voted 77-20 on a bipartisan basis to send this year's National Defense Authorization Act to the desk of President Donald Trump, who has indicated he will sign the bill. The 2026 NDAA authorizes $900.6 billion in defense funds, or about $8 billion more than the White House's request. 

The year winds down, but our maps are just getting interesting. After a warm reset in Florida, a birthday pilgrimage to Iceland, canyon time in West Texas, an Austin do-over, and a passport-stacking cruise, we took a hard look at what actually made 2025 travel feel good—and what didn't. The frenzy cooled, flight deals quietly returned, and a new mindset emerged: go with intention, spend smarter, and skip the crush.From that lens we reveal seven destinations we're excited about for 2026, all chosen with solo women in mind: Albania's affordable Riviera and rugged Alps, Taiwan's festival-rich culture and flawless transit, Uzbekistan's Silk Road splendor stitched together by high-speed rail, Poland's overlooked mix of medieval squares and Baltic breezes, Slovenia's lakes-and-Alps perfection anchored by walkable Ljubljana, South Korea's Seoul where palaces meet neon and late-night eats, and Mongolia's vast steppe, monasteries, and wild horses that reward guided exploration. Each pick balances safety, value, and texture, offering big experiences without elbowing through the usual lines.We also share why revenge travel finally ran out of steam, how to spot mistake fares without chasing noise, and when shoulder seasons stretch budgets while keeping the magic. If you're ready to trade overdone itineraries for places that still surprise, this guide is your green light. Listen to map your next move, then tell us where you're headed. Subscribe, share with a friend who travels solo, and leave a review with the destination you want us to tackle next.Support the showhttps://www.cherylbeckesch.com hello@cherylbeckesch.com Instagram @solotraveladventures50

In this episode, we sit down with Maxim and Pavel from FinSight Ventures to explore their unique "secondary-first" investment strategy, which allows them to capture equity in giants like Anthropic, SpaceX, Stripe, and Palantir. We dive deep into their newly launched $50M Generative AI Index Fund, a novel product bringing index investing logic to private markets. Maxim and Pavel also break down their distinct approaches for different geographies—operating as a "fund of funds" in India while pursuing "local monopolies" and super-apps in emerging markets like Uzbekistan. Tune in to understand why they believe AI-native startups will beat incumbents and how they find alpha in inefficient markets globally.⭐ Sponsored by Podcast10x - Podcasting agency for VCs - https://podcast10x.comIn this episode, we cover:- Why the "middle" is missing in private market investing.- How to buy secondaries from early employees and liquidity-seeking funds.- The "Fund of Funds" strategy for penetrating the Indian market.- Why AI-native startups have a long-term advantage over incumbents.Companies & Concepts Mentioned:Portfolio Highlights: Zoom, SpaceX, Anthropic, Palantir, Stripe, Razorpay, Medibuddy.Concepts: Secondary Markets, Index Funds, Super Apps, Fund of Funds, DPI (Distributed to Paid-In Capital).Links -FinSight Ventures - https://www.finsightvc.com/Maxim - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nazarovmaxim/Pavel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelgurianov/Website: https://VC10X.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/choubeysahabTimestamps:(00:00) - Finsight's unique value proposition in securing competitive deals.(00:23) - Finsight's secondary-first strategy for its growth stage portfolio.(00:41) - Adapting investment strategies to find alpha in different markets.(01:30) - Episode introduction and sponsor message.(03:12) - Finsight's core investment thesis across diverse global markets.(04:46) - The logic behind Finsight's $50 million generative AI index fund.(06:10) - How the growth of secondary markets enables an index fund strategy.(07:28) - Securing allocations in category-defining companies like Anthropic and SpaceX.(09:09) - Who sells in the secondary market: employees vs. VCs.(10:15) - How Finsight sources secondary deals from individual employees.(12:00) - Finsight's specific investment angle and focus in the Indian market.(15:05) - Comparing the US secondary approach vs. the India fund-of-funds model.(16:49) - The philosophy of finding alpha by understanding a fund's strengths and weaknesses.(18:10) - Key trends in enterprise AI adoption and the shift to sustainable revenue.(22:09) - How to judge the stickiness and sustainability of an AI startup's revenue.(24:03) - Using gross margin as an indicator of a product's ROI.(25:17) - The conviction behind investing in Uzum, Uzbekistan's first unicorn.(27:40) - Insights into building a global VC firm with diverse strategies.(30:59) - Evaluating Anthropic in the competitive landscape of large language models.(34:36) - The biggest misconceptions about Finsight's global investment strategy.(38:21) - Start of the Rapid Fire Round.For sponsorship or guest appearance requests, write to prashantchoubey3@gmail.comSubscribe to VC10X on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts.#VentureCapital #GenerativeAI #SecondaryMarket #Investing #SpaceX #Anthropic #IndiaStartupEcosystem #PrivateEquity #TechInvesting

Alex Payne was born in Uzbekistan and raised in a post Soviet environment before living briefly in Moscow. He moved to the U.S. at 16 and talks about learning to rebuild from scratch, then stacking real life work experience before ever putting on a uniform. He didn't start policing at 21. He entered the job later, after corporate work and customer service, and he's direct about why that mattered. In his view, the street doesn't care how motivated you are, it cares whether you can manage people, stay calm, and make decisions when somebody's worst day becomes your problem.Alex walks through a law enforcement career that gave him purpose and also tested his trust in the organization behind the badge. He describes calls that never leave you, including scenes involving children, and he doesn't pretend the job is clean or predictable. He also recounts being ambushed and how that reinforced a mindset he repeats throughout the conversation: tomorrow isn't guaranteed, so don't live on autopilot.The turning point in his story is an in-custody death that he says triggered a long stretch of internal pressure. He explains how an internal affairs finding he labels “administrator disapproval” became fuel for a civil lawsuit. He talks about the depositions, the case dragging on into 2020, and being on his way out while he still had an open lawsuit and multiple internal investigations. He describes feeling more worried about his department than working nights in South Central, and he ties that to why he lateraled and rebuilt his career in Santa Monica. He says those years became the best stretch of his time on the job, and it's also where his personal life changed, meeting his wife and starting a family.Now retired, he lays out what he does today, business first. He runs a turnkey commercial asset operation that designs, furnishes, and clears out offices and buildings, including full liquidations. He also mentions a logistics company, a media company, and his own podcast. If you're a veteran or first responder thinking about transition, this episode stays in the real world: identity, loyalty, pressure, and what it looks like to walk away while you're still carrying unfinished business.The best podcast for military veterans, police officers, firefighters, and first responders preparing for veteran transition and life after service. Helping you plan and implement strategies to prepare for your transition into civilian life.Follow the show and share it with another veteran or first responder who would enjoy this.CONNECT WITH THE PODCAST:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulpantani/WEBSITE: https://www.transitiondrillpodcast.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulpantani/SIGN-UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER:https://transitiondrillpodcast.com/home#aboutQUESTIONS OR COMMENTS:paul@transitiondrillpodcast.comSPONSORS:GRND CollectiveGet 15% off your purchaseLink: https://thegrndcollective.com/Promo Code: TRANSITION15Blue Line RoastingGet 10% off your purchaseLink: https://bluelineroasting.comPromocode: Transition10Frontline OpticsGet 10% off your purchaseLink: https://frontlineoptics.comPromocode: Transition10

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Episode Description Episode Description         Sign up to receive this Unreached of the Day podcast sent to you:                         https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/12348                                       Dear Friend,             The Batak people of North Sumatra didn't have a written language until 1834. Today, they're one of the largest Christian populations in Indonesia, with over 6 million believers. The transformation happened because someone, a German missionary named Ludwig Nommensen, decided their spiritual poverty was unacceptable. That was 190 years ago. Today, 4,473 people groups are still waiting for their Ludwig Nommensen moment. The People Group Adoption Program launches today, and here's how it works: It meets you where you are. You're not being asked to become a missionary in the field (though if God calls you to that, we'll cheer you on). You're being invited to use your current gifts, prayer, advocacy, networking, research to support those who are already called to go.

Episode Description Episode Description         Sign up to receive this Unreached of the Day podcast sent to you:                        https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/14039                                          Dear Friend,             The Batak people of North Sumatra didn't have a written language until 1834. Today, they're one of the largest Christian populations in Indonesia, with over 6 million believers. The transformation happened because someone, a German missionary named Ludwig Nommensen, decided their spiritual poverty was unacceptable. That was 190 years ago. Today, 4,473 people groups are still waiting for their Ludwig Nommensen moment. The People Group Adoption Program launches today, and here's how it works: It meets you where you are. You're not being asked to become a missionary in the field (though if God calls you to that, we'll cheer you on). You're being invited to use your current gifts, prayer, advocacy, networking, research to support those who are already called to go.

Welcome to Foxtrot World Cup! Our dedicated segment for the 2026 FIFA World Cup is here and we kick things off by doing a very early preview before the big dance with six months to go. Timestamps: 2:02 Group A - Mexico, South Africa, South Korea (+1) 10:05 Group B - Canada, Qatar, Switzerland (+1) 17:52 Group C - Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, and Scotland 25:35 Group D - USA, Paraguay, Australia (+1) 35:13 Group E - Germany, Curaçao, Ivory Coast, and Ecuador 41:13 Group F - Netherlands, Japan, Tunisia (+1) 48:10 Group G - Belgium, Egypt, Iran, and New Zealand 55:21 Group H - Spain, Cabo Verde, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay 1:03:14 Group I - France, Senegal, Norway (+1) 1:10:51 Group J - Argentina, Algeria, Austria, and Jordan 1:17:52 Group K - Portugal, Uzbekistan, Colombia (+1) 1:24:26 Group L - England, Croatia, Ghana, and Panama 1:31:07 World Cup schedule for Houston and Dallas 1:35:20 Which nation lifts the World Cup? 1:41:38 Closing Credits: ⬢ Foxtrot World Cup is hosted by OSG, Mark Segovia, Xespool, and yours truly Andres Naranjo! ⬢ Follow the fox on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@DynamicFoxtrot⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), Instagram (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@dynamicfoxtrot⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), and Bluesky (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@DynamicFoxtrot⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⬢ Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Foxtrot TV⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About the Guest: Sardor Umrdinov is a serial entrepreneur, founder, and ecosystem builder who went from growing up in Uzbekistan without basic resources — including a refrigerator — to running one of the largest appliance repair companies in the U.S., plus a rapidly scaling multi-business ecosystem.Sardor's story is defined by relentless curiosity, extreme accountability, and a willingness to enter every new room before he feels ready. He's a master of creating scalable structures, building internal accountability systems, and empowering teams to solve problems at the highest level. He hosts the Founder to Founder podcast, interviewing leaders building $100M–$1B companies.Episode Summary: In this powerful conversation, Steve Mellor and serial entrepreneur Sardor Umrdinov break down the mindset, discipline, and structure required to scale yourself and your business far beyond what you think you're capable of.Sardor shares how growing up with constant discomfort — new languages, new environments, new failures — taught him to build readiness through action, not delay. He explains how he built an accountability “ecosystem,” why success requires a 360° support system, and how he scaled from technician to industry leader by solving bigger and bigger problems.This episode is a masterclass in growth for founders, leaders, and high performers who want to build momentum, expand capacity, and craft a structure that makes success inevitable.Key Takeaways:Why readiness is built through action, not preparationSardor's childhood in Uzbekistan & early resilienceLeaving comfort zones repeatedly to develop identityBreaking down long-term goals into daily disciplineBuilding a 360° ecosystem of accountabilityHow internal “micro-boards” strengthen company growthThe 1–3–1 problem-solving rule for teamsWhy entrepreneurs should love big problemsBringing spouses into long-term vision planningBuilding companies designed to last 300 yearsCuriosity as a superpower in the AI eraSend us a textSupport the showConnect with Steve Mellor Stay connected and keep growing with Steve: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-mellor-cc/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/coachstevemellor Book Steve to speak at your next event → www.stevemellorspeaks.com Support the GrowthReady Podcast by leaving a 5-star rating → Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/growthready-podcast/id1406082163 Connect with GrowthReady Join the community and keep your growth journey going: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/wearegrowthready/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/growthreadypodcast/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/growthreadywithcoachstevemellor Official Website - https://growthready.com/ ---- This podcast was produced on Riverside and released via ...

This session will examine key considerations for leaders, senders, and international travelers/workers in the areas of duty of care, risk assessment, contingency planning, security, and common pitfalls ("lessons learned") in international mission work.

Around the world, women and girls walk long distances every day to fetch water, losing education, income, and safety in the process. On this global episode of The Nonprofit Show, we welcome Shilpa Alva, founder and executive director of Surge for Water, beaming in late at night from Samarkand, Uzbekistan. From the first moments, Shilpa reframes water as a gendered economic issue, not just an infrastructure problem. As Shilpa puts it, “The water crisis is a woman's crisis” — and it is also a profound injustice baked into race, gender, and geography.Shilpa walks us through Surge's “water plus” model: safe water, sanitation, hygiene, and menstrual health, all rooted in a woman centered, community owned approach. Surge does not parachute in solutions; it backs local leaders in rural Uganda, Indonesia, and Haiti so they can design and manage what their communities truly need. For nonprofit executives, the business implications are huge: the World Bank estimates a twenty one to one return for every dollar invested in comprehensive water access, yet most funders still treat water as a narrow infrastructure line item instead of a generational prosperity strategy.The conversation then moves into power, money, and the shifting landscape of international aid. With government funding cuts shaking the sector, organizations that once relied on large public grants are now competing for the same corporate and individual donors as smaller NGOs. Surge has navigated this by diversifying its revenue model between the United States and Dubai, and by building creative fundraising events that attract sectors like design and architecture into the water conversation.Shilpa is candid about decolonial practice and the uncomfortable truth that international NGOs are part of a historic power structure. Surge actively works to reduce that power imbalance so local partners shape solutions and control implementation. SurgeForWater.org shows us all how to align mission, funding strategy, equity, and storytelling. 00:00:00 Global welcome and introducing Shilpa Alva from Uzbekistan 00:02:23 What Surge for Water does and the water plus model 00:04:03 Why the global water crisis is a women centered injustice 00:07:01 Lost hours, education, and income cost of water collection 00:08:52 Respecting local roles while shortening the walk and reducing harm 00:11:37 Making distant donors care storytelling and climate connections 00:13:13 Creative events and interior design partners as a fundraising engine 00:14:50 Aid cuts, USAID shifts, and new competition for nonprofit funding 00:15:52 Decolonial practice and sharing power with local leaders 00:21:18 How Surge builds trust with next generation donors and partners 00:22:46 Metrics versus stories choosing humanity while still tracking results 00:27:23 Funding wins, 2026 expansion plans, and Shilpa's hopeful vision #TheNonprofitShow #WaterJustice #WomenInLeadershipFind us Live daily on YouTube!Find us Live daily on LinkedIn!Find us Live daily on X: @Nonprofit_ShowOur national co-hosts and amazing guests discuss management, money and missions of nonprofits! 12:30pm ET 11:30am CT 10:30am MT 9:30am PTSend us your ideas for Show Guests or Topics: HelpDesk@AmericanNonprofitAcademy.comVisit us on the web:The Nonprofit Show

Fund manager Kokkie Kooymans warns of looming global market risks as Mr Price places a bold R9.6bn offshore bet, Eskom's last-minute deal with Glencore saves 15,000 smelter jobs, Grindrod surges as a Transnet alternative, HCI buys back R650m of its shares, Uzbekistan's SOE playbook raises eyebrows, and thousands of SA expats regain citizenship through the new online portal.

Adam Hurrey is joined on the Adjudication Panel by Charlie Eccleshare and David Walker. On the agenda: a review of the World Cup draw ceremony, forecasting the nation's TV viewing habits next summer, why Mohamed Salah chose the wrong time and place for his seismic outburst, a dubious recipent of the "bagsman" honour and Dion Dublin invents a new variation on the proverbial goalscoring diet. The interactive Football Cliches Christmas Quiz is streaming live on December 28th — sign up at footballcliches.com/xmas to take part, with £250 the prize for the winning quizzer. All money raised will go to Shelter. Sign up for Dreamland, the new members-only Football Clichés experience, to access our exclusive new show and much more: https://dreamland.footballcliches.com Download SAILY in your app store and use code CLICHES at checkout to get an exclusive 15% off your first purchase! For more info, visit https://saily.com/cliches Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The December 8, 1975 issue of Sports Illustrated had Texas A&M star back Bubba Bean on the cover because the Aggies were 10-0 after they beat the Longhorns. But the SI curse would get the better of A & M as the win over UT was their last of the season, as they lost to Arkansas and USC to close out the season. Another football team was also streaking… this one the NFL's Baltimore Colts who after a 1-4 start were in the midst of a 9-game winning streak led by young QB Bert Jones. The good news is that run got them into the playoffs. The bad news… it was in Pittsburgh. And the Steelers took care of business en route to their 2nd straight Super Bowl title. Pittsburgh writer Jim O'Brien has written over 30 books in his Pittsburgh Proud series many featuring the Steelers dynasty that began in 1974 and continued through the end of the decade. Franco Harris, Andy Russell, Rocky Bleier, Jack Lambert and more often were the subjects of O'Brien's writings and he knows that team as well as anyone. But Jim isn't relegated to just football. The founding editor of Street and Smith's Basketball Yearbook in 1970, O'Brien is an expert on hoops from half a century ago as well and he covered ‘em all… Dr. J and George McGinnis, the Squires and the Spirits, the ABA and the NBA… He tells us that Dr. J was better off the court than he was on it… how he cornered Franco Harris on a flight for 12 hours, interviewing him for most of the trip, and how the owners of the Spirits of St. Louis engineered the greatest business deal in the history of sports… and the key to the deal was that they would no longer exist. If you're looking for a 70's hoops expert, O'Brien is your man… add his expertise when it comes to that Steelers Dynasty of the 70's and he's the perfect guest for this week's Past Our Prime show.  Download and listen to wherever you get your podcasts… I'm looking at you, Uzbekistan! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have captured the attention of global investors in 2026. In this episode, Anatoliy Shal, Khamza Sharifzoda, and Nicolaie Alexandru dive into the factors fueling investor interest across Central Asia this year. The conversation also explores the outlook for 2026, examining whether these driving forces will sustain the region's momentum. Our speakers also discuss key economic and political risks that may impact Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the year ahead. This podcast was recorded on December 08, 2025. This communication is provided for information purposes only.  Institutional clients can view the related reports at https://www.jpmm.com/research/content/GPS-5136574-0 https://www.jpmm.com/research/content/GPS-5140889-0 https://www.jpmm.com/research/content/GPS-5124410-0 for more information; please visit www.jpmm.com/research/disclosures for important disclosures. © 2025 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. This material or any portion hereof may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of J.P. Morgan. It is strictly prohibited to use or share without prior written consent from J.P. Morgan any research material received from J.P. Morgan or an authorized third-party (“J.P. Morgan Data”) in any third-party artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems or models when such J.P. Morgan Data is accessible by a third-party. It is permissible to use J.P. Morgan Data for internal business purposes only in an AI system or model that protects the confidentiality of J.P. Morgan Data so as to prevent any and all access to or use of such J.P. Morgan Data by any third-party.    

Cristiano Ronaldo BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Cristiano Ronaldo has spent the past few days quietly reshaping the final chapter of his career and his legacy far beyond the pitch. The most consequential move came with his announcement that he has become an investor and global ambassador for the rapidly growing AI answer engine Perplexity. Goal and Cybernews report that Ronaldo has taken an undisclosed stake in the company, recently valued in the tens of billions, and fronted a Perplexity x CR7 campaign built around a dedicated CR7 hub and archive of his career. According to those reports, he framed the decision as a bet on curiosity and innovation, positioning himself not just as a face of the brand but as a long term partner as AI becomes part of how elite performers prepare, learn, and communicate. On social media, he unveiled the deal with promotional clips emphasizing that success comes from asking new questions every day, a line that dominated headlines like Cristiano Ronaldo expands business empire as Portugal legend invests in ChatGPT rival and Ronaldo kicks off AI deal with Perplexity.On the political stage, his recent visit to Washington is still echoing. The SportsTak relays a new social media post from US President Donald Trump praising Ronaldo as an incredible athlete and person and revealing that Ronaldo phoned to thank him for a tour of the White House and Oval Office during a November trip as part of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salmans delegation. That earlier appearance, covered by outlets such as AOL, placed Ronaldo in an unusually high profile diplomatic photo op alongside world leaders, reinforcing his status as a global soft power asset for both Saudi football and Portugal.Looking ahead to what is widely expected to be his final World Cup, Spanish daily AS and NDTV Sports confirm that Ronaldo and Portugal have been drawn into Group K for 2026, opening on June 17 against the winner of the Jamaica Congo New Caledonia playoff, then facing Uzbekistan on June 23 before a marquee June 27 date with Colombia at Miamis Hard Rock Stadium. AS highlights that Portugal will be based between Houston and Miami, with FIFA effectively handing Miami to Ronaldo rather than Lionel Messi, a decision that could become a defining image of his last World Cup summer. Reports that this will be his final tournament are consistent with past comments about his age but remain, strictly speaking, anticipatory rather than officially re announced in the past few days.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

IT'S STARTING TO FEEL REAL.The day began with 4 pots and ended with 12 groups! Andrew and JJ give their full reaction to the USMNT's draw including a couple matchups that bring some recent bad blood. What are the expectations and what is your level of excitement? We discuss.Then, we go full throttle into the other 11 groups. From the giants to the minnows, from France to Uzbekistan, we'll cover it all on what is essentially day 1 in our run up to the 2026 FIFA World Cup!For even more Caught Offside content, get on over to Caught Offside Plus right now! To sign up, just go to https://caughtoffside.supercast.com! Once you have access to the premium feed, be sure to go back and check out our special "welcome episode" from June 24th, 2024 (we don't think you'll be disappointed)!And for all the latest merch, get over to https://caughtoffsidepod.com/---Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/CaughtOffsidePod/X: https://twitter.com/COsoccerpodInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/caughtoffsidepod/Email: CaughtOffsidePod@gmail.comYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@caughtoffsidepod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

00:13 – Intro & Lions/Eagles Misery Chris and Mario open from “on location,” joking about Uzbekistan, then dive into Lions and Eagles frustrations: injuries, failed physicals, underperforming CBs (Arnold, Okuda), tired defenses, Saquon's decline, O-line issues, and constant coordinator turnover. 09:56 – Coaching Personalities & Fit Discussion of Mike McDaniel, Lane Kiffin, Joe Judge, personality conflicts, and how coaches struggle when they aren't “the guy.” 13:56 – Recruiting, NIL & Transfer Portal Chaos Shifts to college football: strange QB commitments (Houston/Vanderbilt), Penn State's recruiting collapse, BYU coach leverage, loyalty vs. opting out, and Wrexham anecdotes about finishing seasons with teammates. NFL Week 14 Games  23:46 – Cowboys at Lions Debate over Detroit's ability to stop Dallas, injury concerns, and Lions' must-win stakes. 24:50 – Bengals at Bills Buffalo's inconsistency, Cincinnati's uneven form, and how each team's identity is shifting. 26:15 – Colts at Jaguars Conversation about both teams' surprising rise, T-Law's volatility, and AFC hierarchy questions. 27:18 – Dolphins at Jets Jets' cold-weather advantage, defensive competence, and Miami's road vulnerability. 29:07 – Saints at Buccaneers Tampa rediscovering rhythm, Saints' issues, and how injuries complicate both sides. 30:26 – Steelers at Ravens Baltimore's higher ceiling, Steelers' struggles, and roster decisions (Mark Andrews, Likely). 34:45 – Seahawks at Falcons Atlanta's offensive talent vs. collapse, QB uncertainty, and Seattle's playoff relevance. 37:23 – Titans at Browns Cam Ward soundbite, Tennessee's internal frustration, Cleveland's QB chaos, and fan unease. 45:42 – Commanders at Vikings Both teams' self-inflicted issues, run-game reliance, and thin margins. 46:10 – Broncos at Raiders Denver's need to “prove it,” Raiders' volatility, and why this matchup remains unpredictable. 48:15 – Bears at Packers Playoff-seeding implications, Chicago's surprising standing, and Green Bay skepticism. 50:41 – Rams at Cardinals Arizona fading post-elimination; Rams viewed as eye-test contenders. 51:14 – Texans at Chiefs Discussion of Kansas City's strange season, playoff positioning, and Houston's growth. 54:42 – Eagles at Chargers Herbert's health, Trey Lance possibilities, Eagles' defensive punch, and LA's underachievement.

Max speaks with Michael Kimmage about his immediate reactions to the new 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, and the rapid-fire diplomacy taking place in response to its release. This conversation was recorded on November 24, 2025.

Dr Ana Maria Villada has spent years unraveling the mysteries of sloths—creatures so physiologically unique that they're closer to chimpanzees than they are to each other. But her work treating electrocution injuries, creating rope highways through fragmented forests, and tracking hand-raised orphans released into the wild reveals something surprising: sloths are far more adaptable than science once believed.Right now, Ana is in Uzbekistan fighting to protect sloths from international wildlife trade. Yet back in Costa Rica, her biggest challenge isn't the dramatic rescues, it's answering a fundamental question: we still don't know if sloth populations are thriving or declining in the wild.Discover how the Sloth Institute's "sloth speedways" benefit jaguars, monkeys, and porcupines. Hear why hand-raised sloths can survive in the wild. And learn what makes treating a three-fingered sloth 31% more complicated than treating a two-fingered one.LinksLearn more about the Sloth InstituteAna Maria's professional Instagram page.Check out more details about Ana Maria's PhD at Andres Bello University, Chile. Read the press release and information about sloth trafficking for CITES here.We'd love to hear from you ... share your thoughts, feedback and ideas.

Leaving the US after weeks on the road, we zoom out from New York and Washington and asks a question we almost never ask in Europe: what if the real future of geopolitics isn't in Brussels, Beijing or DC, but in Central Asia? To get there, we bring in historian Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads, to map the region we lazily call “the Stans”; Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, plus Afghanistan, Iran and their neighbours. Together we unpack why this vast strip of land, once the beating heart of the Silk Roads, is suddenly back at the centre of the global game: home to huge reserves of oil, gas, uranium, rare earths and critical minerals, a young and growing population, and wedged between Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Iran. We hear how Central Asian states are learning to play everyone off against everyone and why the new Great Game isn't a neat East vs West story at all. If the world is getting more dangerous, more digital and more fragmented, what does it mean that Ireland is the EU's weak link on defence, with tiny cyber budgets, under-protected seabed cables and a very cosy version of neutrality? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Host Sina Sadrzadeh is joined by Gol Bezan director Arya Allahverdi and special guest Art Eftekhari from ‎⁨‎⁨Team Melli Talk to discuss Team Melli's back to back 0 - 0 draws with Cape Verde and Uzbekistan in the Al Ain International Cup. We also preview the upcoming group stage draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Follow us on social media @GolBezan, leave a like/review & subscribe on the platform you listen on - YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, Amazon, Castbox. CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Intro, Women's Futsal, U-17, & ACL Updates 5:40 - Remembering Iraj Danaeifard: A Football Legend's Journey 8:05 - Analysing Goalless Friendlies: Coaching & Federation Blame 14:55 - Questionable Call-ups & Declining National Team Standards 23:37 - Iran's Struggles Against Cape Verde: Tactics & Performance 32:32 - The Detrimental Impact of Players Leaving European Leagues 46:28 - Leadership Vacuum & Penalty Shootout Controversy 53:21 - Previewing the 2026 FIFA World Cup Draw 57:38 - Quick Fan Questions and Outro Panel: Sina Sadrzadeh, Arya Allahverdi, Art Eftekhari Editor: Samson Tamijani Graphics: Mahdi Javanbakhsh Intro Music: CASPIAN by ASADI https://instagram.com/dannyasadi https://smarturl.it/CASPIAN Outro Music: K!DMO https://instagram.com/kidmo.foreal Sina - https://twitter.com/IranFooty Arya - https://twitter.com/Arya_Allahverdi Art - https://twitter.com/TeamMelliTalk https://youtube.com/@teammellitalk Samson - https://twitter.com/GBPSamson Mahdi - https://twitter.com/mativsh https://youtube.com/@UCKwPPeXDBpdpJWLb1U1cBSw https://twitter.com/GolBezan https://twitter.com/GolBezanFarsi https://instagram.com/GolBezan https://facebook.com/GolBezanPodcast https://tiktok.com/@golbezan https://patreon.com/GolBezan

Hear stories and life-lessons from circumnavigating the planet on a bicycle while living on 3 Euros a day for 5 years. _____________________________ Subscribe to The Maverick Show's Monday Minute Newsletter where I email you 3 short items of value to start each week that you can consume in 60 seconds (all personal recommendations like the latest travel gear I'm using, my favorite destinations, discounts for special events, etc.). Follow The Maverick Show on Instagram ____________________________________ Pablo Mandado talks about his experience growing up in the Aragon region of Spain, how a trip to Greece changed everything and led to a life of long-term travel, and how he quickly transitioned into a spontaneous, hyper-minimalist and hyper-budget travel style.  He reflects on negotiating trust and reciprocity when hitch-hiking and couch surfing.  Pablo then shares an uncomfortable moment while  hitchhiking, as well as a surprising moment of connection, and some incredible stories from his month in Laos.  He then talks about meeting his girlfriend in Latvia and embarking on a 5 year cycling journey to circumnavigate the globe together.  Pablo explains the value of of a loosely planned trip rooted in spontaneous decisions and how he was able to live on just 3 Euros a day for 5 years.  Next, he tells incredible stories of getting caught in a massive snowstorm in Turkey, the heartwarming hospitality he found in Iran, avoiding the secret police in Uzbekistan, and what it was like to cycle across mainland China.  Pablo also talks about his photography journey and how he was able to turn that into a business.  Finally, he reflects on the unique benefits of traveling the world by bicycle, the re-acclimation experience after the trip, how the journey shaped his relationship, and the lasting impact of long-term, hyper-minimalist, spontaneous travel on him as a person.  FULL SHOW NOTES WITH DIRECT LINKS TO EVERYTHING DISCUSSED ARE AVAILABLE HERE. ____________________________________ See my Top 10 Apps For Digital Nomads See my Top 10 Books For Digital Nomads See my 7 Keys For Building A Remote Business (Even in a space that's not traditionally virtual) Watch my Video Training on Stylish Minimalist Packing so you can join #TeamCarryOn  See the Travel Gear I Use and Recommend See How I Produce The Maverick Show Podcast (The equipment, services & vendors I use) ____________________________________ ENJOYING THE SHOW? Please Leave a Rating and Review. It really helps the show and I read each one personally.  You Can Buy Me a Coffee. Espressos help me produce significantly better podcast episodes! :)

The EU and the US have restarted their trade negotiations in a bid to settle sticking points left unsolved in their tariff deal reached in July. The US side called on the EU to reconsider its digital rules and find "a balanced approach" if it wanted Washington to lower import duties on steel and aluminium. Plus, global talks on protecting wildlife and ensuring sustainable trade have kicked off in Uzbekistan. The EU wants to tighten restrictions on the trade of eels, something Japan is vehemently against. 

The Rich Zeoli Show- Hour 3: 5:05pm- Sarah Parshall Perry—Vice President of Defending Education & Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss her latest editorial for National Review, “We Sued an Ohio School District over Preferred Pronouns and Won.” You can find the article here: https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/11/we-sued-an-ohio-school-district-over-preferred-pronouns-and-won/. 5:30pm- Stacy Garrity—Pennsylvania Treasurer & Republican Candidate for Governor—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss her call for an investigation into how a suspected Uzbekistan terrorist obtained a CDL driver's license issued by PennDOT under Gov. Josh Shapiro's leadership. 5:40pm- Following their meeting at the White House, President Trump said he believes that conservatives might be pleasantly surprised by some of Zohran Mamdani's planned actions as mayor. While taking questions from the press, Mamdani was asked whether he regrets calling President Trump a “despot” during his recent mayoral campaign. Trump joked, “I've been called worse.” Meanwhile, Mamdani said that their Oval Office meeting was constructive, focusing on areas of agreement—like bringing peace to the Middle East. Mamdani noted that one in ten Trump voters in NYC also voted for him.

The Rich Zeoli Show- Full Show (11/21/2025): 3:05pm- On Friday, New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House. Will there be fireworks? 3:30pm- Kathleen Lochel—Co-owner Lochel Bakery in Hatboro, Pennsylvania—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss the unfair backlash her bakery has received for simply offering her customers a Trump-themed gingerbread house for the holidays! You can order your holiday desserts from Lochel Bakery or learn more about the store here: https://www.lochelsbakery.com/. 3:40pm- Following their meeting at the White House, President Trump said he believes that conservatives might be pleasantly surprised by some of Zohran Mamdani's planned actions as mayor. While taking questions from the press, Mamdani was asked whether he regrets calling President Trump a “despot” during his recent mayoral campaign. Trump joked, “I've been called worse.” Meanwhile, Mamdani said that their Oval Office meeting was constructive, focusing on areas of agreement—like bringing peace to the Middle East. Mamdani noted that one in ten Trump voters in NYC also voted for him. 4:00pm- While speaking with the press from the Oval Office, President Trump said he would be comfortable living in New York City with Zohran Mamdani as mayor—noting they have far more in common than he would have thought prior to their meeting. Also, Mamdani confirmed that he would be retaining Jessica Tisch as NYC Police Commissioner—she's a good friend of Ivanka Trump. Did Trump and Mamdani just become friends? 4:30pm- On Thursday, several Democratic lawmakers—Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, Rep. Jason Crow, Rep. Maggie Goodlander, Rep. Chris Deluzio, and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan—released a video to social media imploring service members and intelligence officials to disobey “illegal” orders issued by President Donald Trump. Though, they never once mentioned what the orders might hypothetically be. In a post to Truth Social, President Trump stated: “This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” He added, “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” 5:05pm- Sarah Parshall Perry—Vice President of Defending Education & Senior Legal Fellow at the Heritage Foundation—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss her latest editorial for National Review, “We Sued an Ohio School District over Preferred Pronouns and Won.” You can find the article here: https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/11/we-sued-an-ohio-school-district-over-preferred-pronouns-and-won/. 5:30pm- Stacy Garrity—Pennsylvania Treasurer & Republican Candidate for Governor—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss her call for an investigation into how a suspected Uzbekistan terrorist obtained a CDL driver's license issued by PennDOT under Gov. Josh Shapiro's leadership. 5:40pm- Following their meeting at the White House, President Trump said he believes that conservatives might be pleasantly surprised by some of Zohran Mamdani's planned actions as mayor. While taking questions from the press, Mamdani was asked whether he regrets calling President Trump a “despot” during his recent mayoral campaign. Trump joked, “I've been called worse.” Meanwhile, Mamdani said that their Oval Office meeting was constructive, focusing on areas of agreement—like bringing peace to the Middle East. Mamdani noted that one in ten Trump voters in NYC also voted for him. 6:00pm- Don't fight with family members over politics at Thanksgiving dinner, Mamdani flies to Washington DC instead of taking the train (isn't that bad for the environment?), and Rich is making pizza! 6:30pm- Hours before Zohran Mamdani's visit to the White House, the House of Representatives passed a resolution denouncing the “horrors of socialism.” The bipartisan vote was 285 to 98. 6:40pm- Rich Zeoli Flashback: From 2015, Rich gets into an argument at the mall over Santa Claus's not so jolly sche ...

Max and Maria spoke with Nikolay Petrov and Mikhail Troitskiy, two leading experts on the contemporary Russian elite, to discuss the current status of this ruling group inside Russia today, and why it finds itself increasingly under pressure from state security organs. This conversation was recorded on November 13, 2025. "Отцы и дѣти: Генеалогическое исследование российской власти" (Proekt.media, November 2025) "Transition without a successor: The transformation of Putin's regime," by Vladimir Pastukhov and Nikolay Petrov (NEST, September 2025) "Managing multiple audiences: dual-track signals and the silencing of Russia's globalized elites before the invasion of Ukraine," by Mikhail Troitskiy (Post-Soviet Affairs, June 2025)

Editors Jimmy Lovaas and Agnese Boffano discuss the UN Security Council vote to back US President Trump's plan for Gaza, plus more on the G20 meeting in South Africa, an election in Guinea-Bissau, Mexican truckers and farmers striking and the EU-Central Asia Economic Forum in Uzbekistan.Note: The podcast will be off next week. So, our next episode will be out on Dec. 4. In the meantime, we are a 24-7 newsroom, so be sure to follow us on Bluesky, Mastodon, or Threads where we'll still be posting breaking news.Subscribe to the show: Apple Podcasts, Spotify and many more. These stories and others are also available in our free weekly Forecast newsletter.This episode includes work from Factal editors Agnese Boffano, David Wyllie, Jess Fino, Joe Veyera and James Morgan. Produced and edited by Jimmy Lovaas. Music courtesy of Andrew Gospe. Have feedback, suggestions or events we've missed? Drop us a note: hello@factal.comWhat's Factal? Created by the founders of Breaking News, Factal alerts companies to global incidents that pose an immediate risk to their people or business operations. We provide trusted verification, precise incident mapping and a collaboration platform for corporate security, travel safety and emergency management teams. If you're a company interested in a trial, please email sales@factal.com. To learn more, visit Factal.com, browse the Factal blog or email us at hello@factal.com.Read the full episode description and transcript on Factal's blog.Copyright © 2025 Factal. All rights reserved.

On this Wednesday, Tunnel to Towers edition of Sid & Friends in the Morning, Sid details next year's New York gubernatorial race where Governor Kathy Hochul holds a very early lead in the polls over Republican challenger Elise Stefanik. ICE enforcement is set to increase in New York City amid sanctuary city policies. The Senate passed a bill for the release of Jeffrey Epstein files, with President Trump reacting on social media. Outgoing Mayor Eric Adams has been active abroad with visits to Israel and Uzbekistan, stirring local political debates ahead of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's inauguration in January. Bill O'Reilly, Bruce Blakeman, Jennifer Harrison, Peter King, Rich Lowry & Scott LoBaido join Sid on this hump day T2T installment of Sid & Friends in the Morning. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

House set to vote to release Epstein files, ICE arrests illegal-immigrant trucker from Uzbekistan over alleged terror ties, Senator  Tommy Tuberville And Rep. Lauren Boebert  join the show. Check Out Our Partners: Fast Growing Trees: Get 15% off with Code: “BENNY”: https://www.fastgrowingtrees.com/ Cove Pure: https://covepure.com/benny Bon Charge: Go to https://www.boncharge.com/BENNY and use coupon code BENNY to save 15% American Financing: Save with https://www.americanfinancing.net/benny NMLS 182334, nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.327% for well qualified borrowers. Call 888-528-1219 or americanfinancing.net/Benny, for details about credit costs and terms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ICE just arrested an Uzbekistan terrorist – also an illegal alien – whom the Biden Administration had earlier released. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the arrest of Akhror Bozorov, a commercial truck driver in Pennsylvania, with links to a terrorist organization. The Sekulow team discusses Bozorov's capture in Kansas, how the migrant truck driver was able to secure a CDL license, the Trump Administration's efforts to secure our borders and strengthen national security, the ACLJ's legal work – and much more.

   Illegal aliens committing crimes has reached critical mass all over America.  After an ICE operation in Charlotte, 21,000 students call in sick for school. 140 Venezuelan gang bangers are caught in a sex ring in Texas and ICE rounds up 10 bad guys in Kansas.  Then, the cherry on top.  We have an alien terrorist from Uzbekistan driving through Kansas with a Pennsylvania CDL license.  What could possible go wrong with a terrorist driving an 18 wheeler?    So what do we do in KC?  We rally up to release the Epstein files from decades ago.  What a joke.    KC car break ins continue to grow in Westport and so do thefts.    In the aftermath of the Chiefs loss, did you notice all the haters that are out celebrating and bashing the team?  But there is one thing NONE of them will say and it's hilarious.    KU plays Duke Tuesday and they are a massive underdog without Darryn Peterson.  KSU and MU win Monday.  Stephen A. Smith says politicians from one party won't go on his podcast and Marco Rubio warns World Cup fans about coming to America.  

In a story shocking millions across the nation, an illegal migrant from Uzbekistan—wanted on terrorism charges and tied to jihadist recruitment—was arrested driving an 18-wheeler in Kansas after receiving full work authorization, a commercial driver's license, and Real ID in the United States. Despite an active Interpol warrant and clear warnings from foreign authorities, he was caught, released by Border Patrol, and later authorized to legally operate school buses and heavy transport vehicles. This episode exposes how security protocols were bypassed, how Real ID requirements are being rendered meaningless, and what this case reveals about border policy, administrative negligence, and national security risks. A viral story crossing political lines—Americans are now asking: If terrorists can get Real ID, what's the point of having one?

In this episode, we explore the growing controversy over religion in public spaces, from school prayer disputes to the NYPD's hijab demonstrations. We examine how Christians in America face restrictions on expressing their faith in public institutions while other religions are increasingly accommodated—and what that means for the principle of separation of church and state. We also dive into a shocking national security story: the release of Akhirah Bazarov, a wanted terrorist from Uzbekistan, who was granted a commercial driver's license and Real ID in the U.S. This raises alarming questions about federal oversight, immigration policy, and public safety. From religion in schools to failures in our security system, this episode challenges listeners to reconsider the balance between tolerance, law, and American values.

A. COMMERCIAL SPACE ACHIEVEMENTS AND POLICY SHIFTS Guest: Bob Zimmerman Blue Origin's New Glenn successfully launched and landed its first stage vertically, becoming only the second company to achieve orbital stage reuse, despite its slow operational pace. VAST, a US commercial space station startup, signed a cooperation deal with Uzbekistan, possibly including flying an astronaut to its Haven One module. France announced a new, market-oriented national space policy, significantly increasing budgets and embracing capitalism via public-private partnerships.

SHOW 11-14-25 CBS EYE ON THE WORLD WITH JOHN BATCHELOR THE SHOW BEGINS IN THE DOUBTS ABOUT THE ECONOMY. FIRST HOUR 9-915 BLISS: WEST COAST URBAN ISSUES AND THE PACK FIRE Guest: Jeff Bliss Seattle elected socialist Kate Wilson, who wants public grocery stores. The Luxor Pyramid in Las Vegas has installed a massive slide for visitors. Both San Francisco and Santa Monica are seeing major business failures and mall auctions due to unchecked crime and vagrancy. Los Angeles Mayor Bass requested citizen help for cleanup before the Olympics. Meanwhile, the 3,000-acre Pack Fire in Mono County is being aided by heavy rain. 915-930 MCTAGUE: LANCASTER COUNTY ECONOMY AND AI FEAR Guest: Jim McTague Reports from Lancaster County show a strong local economy: a metal forming company is "busy as they've ever been" and actively hiring, and the mall is packed with shoppers. Tourism is thriving, exemplified by sold-out shows at the Sight and Sound Theater. However, a persistent fear of AI-driven layoffs exists among retirees, despite no personal connection to the issue. Data centers supporting AI are rapidly being built in the area. 930-945 A. THE FILIBUSTER AND CONTINUING RESOLUTIONS Guest: Professor Richard Epstein Professor Epstein discusses the filibuster's purpose: slowing down legislation to improve deliberation and mitigate hyper-partisanship. However, he argues its use against continuing resolutions is illegitimate, leading to "horrendous dislocation." He proposes changing the Senate rule to forbid filibusters on continuing resolutions, ensuring essential government functions are not held hostage for collateral political gain and maintaining fiscal continuity. 945-1000 B. BBC DEFAMATION AND THE NEED FOR REFORM Guest: Professor Richard Epstein Professor Epstein discusses the BBC's alleged defamation of President Trump through edited footage. Unlike US law, British defamation has a low bar, though damages may be smaller. Epstein contends that the BBC's reputational damage is enormous and suggests the institution is "thoroughly rotten" due to corruption and political capture. He advocates for cleansing the operation and breaking up the public monopoly. SECOND HOUR 10-1015 BRANDON-WEICHERT: AI'S IMPACT ON JOBS AND GEOPOLITICS Guest: Brandon Weichert High-profile layoffs at Amazon and Walmart are tied to AI replacing roles, fitting the anticipated economic transformation, though it may initially look like a bubble. The US leads in AI software, while China excels in robotics. Concerns exist regarding massive AI bets by industry leaders like Ellison and Altman, specifically whether their political ties could result in taxpayer bailouts if these huge projects fail. 1015-1030 FIORI: ITALIAN HERITAGE TRAINS AND POLITICAL DISPUTES Guest: Lorenzo Fiori Italy is launching heritage Christmas trains like the Espresso Monaco and Espresso Assisi, restoring old coaches and locomotives for tourists. Deputy PM Salvini is publicly criticizing aid to Ukraine, linking it to corruption, potentially as a strategy to regain consensus and boost his party's falling popularity. Nationwide student protests are occurring over school reform and the Palestine issue. Milan is preparing for Christmas celebrations. 1030-1045 A. COMMERCIAL SPACE ACHIEVEMENTS AND POLICY SHIFTS Guest: Bob Zimmerman Blue Origin's New Glenn successfully launched and landed its first stage vertically, becoming only the second company to achieve orbital stage reuse, despite its slow operational pace. VAST, a US commercial space station startup, signed a cooperation deal with Uzbekistan, possibly including flying an astronaut to its Haven One module. France announced a new, market-oriented national space policy, significantly increasing budgets and embracing capitalism via public-private partnerships. 1045-1100 B. GOLDSTONE FAILURE AND SUPERNOVA DISCOVERY Guest: Bob Zimmerman NASA's Goldstone antenna, a critical link in the Deep Space Network, is out of service due to an embarrassing error where it was over-rotated, twisting the cables. This impacts communications with interplanetary and Artemis missions. Separately, new astronomical data from a supernova explosion shows the initial eruption was not symmetrical but bipolar, pushing material and light along the star's poles, refining explosion models. THIRD HOUR 1100-1115 1. JOSEPHUS AND THE SIEGE OF JODAPATA Guest: Professor Barry Strauss The Jewish revolt against Rome, starting in 66 AD, is primarily chronicled by Josephus, a leader of the revolt and later historian. Josephus commanded the defense of Jodapata against General Vespasian. After defeat, Josephus survived a mass suicide pact, surrendered, and convinced Vespasian not to kill him by predicting he would become Roman emperor. The rebels were inspired by previous victories like the Maccabees. 1115-1130 2. TITUS'S SIEGE OF JERUSALEM Guest: Professor Barry Strauss Nero's forced suicide in 68 AD and the subsequent chaos confirmed Josephus's prophecy, leading to Vespasian being proclaimed emperor in 69 AD. Vespasian left his son Titus to lay siege to Jerusalem in 70 AD. Though Jerusalem was a strong fortress, the defenders were critically weakened by infighting among three rebel factions and their own destruction of the city's necessary grain supply. 1130-1145 3. SURVIVAL DURING THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM Guest: Professor Barry Strauss Before the siege of Jerusalem was sealed, two foundational groups fled: Rabbi Yohanan Ben Zakai, smuggled out to Yavneh to establish Rabbinic Judaism, and the followers of Jesus, who went to Pella. Titus focused the Roman assault on the city's weakest point, the northern wall. The overconfident Romans were repeatedly frustrated by Jewish defenders using effective irregular tactics, including raids and undermining siege equipment. 1145-1200 4. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE AND MASADA Guest: Professor Barry Strauss The Flavians decided to completely destroy Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD, an act of extreme Roman imperialism that left the city in ruins. Afterwards, Judea was upgraded to a formal Roman province with a governor and the 10th Legion quartered in Jerusalem. Four years later, the siege of Masada ended with the alleged suicide of defenders, though archaeological evidence remains controversial among scholars. FOURTH HOUR 12-1215 US Greenlights ROK Enrichment, Raising Proliferation Fears Guest: Henry Sokolski, Executive Director of the Non-Proliferation Policy Education Center The US agreement to support the Republic of South Korea's civil uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing for peaceful uses is viewed by Sokolski as a movement toward proliferation. Sokolski notes that this decision greenlights the ROK—a treaty ally with a history of attempting to use its civil programs to make nuclear weapons—to a position similar to Iran's. The ROK successfully leveraged the inconsistency of US policy, pointing out that Japan has permission to enrich and reprocess fuel and possesses a massive plutonium stockpile. Granting the ROK these capabilities sets a concerning precedent, potentially compelling the US to allow other countries like Saudi Arabia to seek similar nuclear options. The proliferation concern is heightened further by the ROK's desire for a nuclear-powered submarine, which could lead to pursuit of a full nuclear weapons triad. 1215-1230 SOKOLSKI: CHINA'S CONVENTIONAL ICBM THREAT Guest: Henry Sokolski The US military is concerned China's PLA may field a conventionally armed ICBM able to strike the continental US. Such missiles could use maneuverable front ends to evade defenses and deliver autonomous drones. This weapon might target civil infrastructure to intimidate the US and deter intervention during a Taiwan conflict. This prospect is opening up a new and puzzling area of strategic warfare requiring urgent strategic assessment. 1230-1245 A. RARE EARTHS: CHINA'S MONOPOLY AND AUSTRALIAN SUPPLY Guest: David Archibald China's predatory pricing previously achieved a rare earth monopoly, damaging competitors like Lynas, which almost went bankrupt. Australia, via companies like Lynas and Iluka, is being eyed by the US as a non-Chinese source for rare earths critical for high-end electronics and defense. Processing is complex, requiring many steps, and often occurs in places like Malaysia. 1245-100 AM B. HIGH-TEMPERATURE RARE EARTHS AND PREDATORY PRICING Guest: David Archibald The most desirable rare earths, Dysprosium and Terbium, allow magnets to function at high temperatures. China is now sourcing 40% of its supply of these from Myanmar. Though Australia produces these, structural oversupply is a risk. Subsidies, like the floor price given to MP Materials, may be necessary to prevent Chinese predatory pricing from killing off non-commercial producers seeking market dominance.

PREVIEW Bob Zimmerman reports that Vast, an American commercial startup, is launching its single-module space station, Haven One, next year without NASA funding. Vast signed a cooperation deal with Uzbekistan, strongly implying that the Central Asian nation will fly an astronaut to the station, marking its return to space development after the Soviet era. Guest: Bob Zimmerman. Retry

Sharks and rays are some of the ocean's most iconic species, but they are in crisis. At the upcoming CITES COP20 meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, governments will decide on dozens of proposals to regulate global trade in wildlife and wildlife products. That includes whether or not to give certain shark and ray species the highest level of international trade protections—a full ban.  Reporting: Dan Rosen Guests: Luke Warwick, Dana Tricarico

Kathy talks about surviving Trump, the Groundlings, Stand-up, her parents who loved show biz, Sia, Joan Rivers, relationships, dating younger guys, saving every dime, and why she made Jay pay for their date. Bio: Two-time Emmy and Grammy award-winning comedian Kathy Griffin is a towering figure on television, on tour and in publishing. In 2013, Kathy was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records for writing and starring in an unprecedented 20 televised stand-up specials - more than any comedian in history. In 2014, Kathy made history again with her 6th consecutive Grammy nomination and first win for Best Comedy Album (Kathy Griffin: Calm Down Gurrl), joining Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin as the only other female comedians to ever win Grammy awards for Best Comedy Album. Her hit Bravo series, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List aired for 6 years and won 2 Emmys. It was nominated every single year of its run. The series also earned her a GLAAD Media Award for Best Reality Program.Kathy starred on NBC's Suddenly Susan and guest starred on multiple legendary TV series including Seinfeld, Law & Order: SVU, Glee, You, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Additionally, she has lent her unique voice to animated characters in Shrek Forever After, The Simpsons, American Dad, Futurama and Dilbert. Kathy's unrivaled style of humor and prolific comedy pedigree has made her one of television's go-to hosts for premier live events. Kathy drew huge worldwide audiences to CNN's New Year's Eve special, which she co-produced and co-hosted with Anderson Cooper for 10 years. Kathy co-hosted The Billboard Music AwardsLIVE three years in a row, the 41st annual Daytime Emmy Awards LIVE and AARP's Movies for Grownups Gala. Her sure-fire hosting success led to her own LIVE late night talk show, Kathy.Also an accomplished author, Kathy's memoir, Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin, debuted at #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Her much-anticipated second book, Kathy Griffin's Celebrity Run-Ins: My A-Z Index, was also a New York Times Best Seller. On the stage, Kathy has performed standup for hundreds of thousands around the globe. Buoyed by her fiercely dedicated fans, Kathy's live performances are legendary and in a class of their own. The fiery redhead has sold out shows to rave reviews throughout North America, Europe, Australia and Asia at such iconic venues as The Sydney Opera House, The Mark Taper Forum, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. Kathy has also performed for active military servicemen and women in such war zones as Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Uzbekistan. She has graced the covers of The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek, and The Advocate, and has had in-depth profiles in New York Magazine and Forbes.In addition to performing, writing and producing, Kathy is a renowned speaker and has taken her empowering messages of equality through activism and humor all over the country. Kathy's passionate advocacy for women, the LGBT community, and other disenfranchised groups have been displayed through numerous candid and intimate conversations with award-winning journalists and moderators from The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Hudson Union Society, 92Y, as well as tech giants Google and AOL. She has been honored in this area with multiple awards including The Human Rights Campaign's Ally for Equality, GLAAD's Vanguard Award, The Trevor Life Award from the Trevor Project, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America's Leadership in Entertainment honor, the Harvard College Distinguished Service Partner Award, Veterans Tickets Foundation Distinguished Donor Award, the Lambda Legal Liberty Award, a two-time Ladies' Home Journal “Funny Ladies We Love” Recipient, and a Gracie Award for Outstanding Female Lead.

Max and Maria had a livestreamed conversation in the CSIS Brack Studio with Dara Massicot and Kateryna Bondar to discuss Russian and Ukrainian battlefield adaptations and technological innovations. This conversation took place on November 5, 2025. A video recording is available at CSIS.org. "How Russia Recovered: What the Kremlin Is Learning From the War in Ukraine" by Dara Massicot (Foreign Affairs, October 2025) "How and Why Ukraine's Military Is Going Digital" by Kateryna Bondar (CSIS.org, October 2025) "Russia's War in Ukraine: The Next Chapter" by Max Bergmann and Maria Snegovaya (CSIS.org, September 2025)  

Host Sina Sadrzadeh is joined by Gol Bezan director Arya Allahverdi to discuss Team Melli's two friendlies this week. After facing newly-qualified Cape Verde prepping for their first FIFA World Cup, Iran will face the team with the equal result between Egypt and Uzbekistan. Follow us on social media @GolBezan, leave a like/review & subscribe on the platform you listen on - YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, SoundCloud, Amazon, Castbox. Editor: Samson Tamijani Panel: Sina Sadrzadeh, Arya Allahverdi Graphics: Mahdi Javanbakhsh Intro Music: CASPIAN by ASADI https://instagram.com/dannyasadi https://smarturl.it/CASPIAN Outro Music: K!DMO https://instagram.com/kidmo.foreal Sina - https://twitter.com/IranFooty Arya - https://twitter.com/Arya_Allahverdi Mahdi - https://twitter.com/mativsh https://youtube.com/@UCKwPPeXDBpdpJWLb1U1cBSw https://twitter.com/GolBezan https://twitter.com/GolBezanFarsi https://instagram.com/GolBezan https://facebook.com/GolBezanPodcast https://tiktok.com/@golbezan https://patreon.com/GolBezan

Wicus Diedericks, owner of Rockwood Conservation, dropped a bomb on the rhino conservation world on Friday, when a court ruled that he can trade in rhino horn (devil is in the details). It's not quite that simple, but the ruling stated that the CITES exemption for conservation-bred rhinos is part of South African law - i.e., he should legally be able to get an export permit for horns that have been dehorned from his herd. This is huge news for rhino conservation and potentially the legal mechanism by which rhino horn can be purchased by the east and the Middle East. This is absolutely breaking news, with this court decision occurring last Friday. We do not know the extent of the implications of the court ruling, we do know the MEC of the Northern Cape has 7 days to respond to the issuance of the export permit. We also know that in 2 1/2 weeks CITES COP starts in Uzbekistan and this will be the talk of the town there! Get to know the guest: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-10-31-rhino-horn-harvested-from-captive-breeding-operations-can-be-exported-high-court-rules/ Do you have questions we can answer? Send it via DM on IG or through email at info@theoriginsfoundation.org  Support our Conservation Club Members! Schalk Pienaar Safaris Namibia: https://spsafarisnamibia.com/  Dr. Blake Brown, DDS: https://www.drblakebrowndentistry.com/  The Hunting Ban in Cabaneros National Park: https://theoriginsfoundation.org/conservation-projects/hunting-ban-cabaneros-national-park/  See more from Blood Origins: https://bit.ly/BloodOrigins_Subscribe Music: Migration by Ian Post (Winter Solstice), licensed through artlist.io This podcast is brought to you by Bushnell, who believes in providing the highest quality, most reliable & affordable outdoor products on the market. Your performance is their passion. https://www.bushnell.com  This podcast is also brought to you by Silencer Central, who believes in making buying a silencer simple and they handle the paperwork for you. Shop the largest silencer dealer in the world. Get started today! https://www.silencercentral.com  This podcast is brought to you by Safari Specialty Importers. Why do serious hunters use Safari Specialty Importers? Because getting your trophies home to you is all they do. Find our more at: https://safarispecialtyimporters.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A city in Uzbekistan used to be the site of one of the world's largest seas. Now it's a dusty reminder of one of the largest and most forgotten environmental disasters.READ MORE: Visit the Stihia website here to learn more about the music festival that happens in Moynaq, including where it may be this year. And this news article is a good primer on some of the current conflicts and issues in the region. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.