Podcasts about Wang

Last time we spoke about the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact. In the summer of 1939, the Nomonhan Incident escalated into a major clash along the Halha River, where Soviet-Mongolian forces under Georgy Zhukov decisively defeated Japan's Kwantung Army. Zhukov's offensive, launched on August 20, involved intense artillery, bombers, and encirclement tactics, annihilating the Japanese 23rd Division and exposing weaknesses in Japanese mechanized warfare. The defeat, coinciding with the Hitler-Stalin Nonaggression Pact, forced Japan to negotiate a ceasefire on September 15-16, redrawing borders and deterring further northern expansion. Stalin navigated negotiations with Britain, France, and Germany to avoid a two-front war, ultimately signing the German-Soviet pact on August 23, which secured Soviet neutrality in Europe while addressing eastern threats. Post-Nomonhan, Soviet-Japanese relations warmed rapidly: fishing disputes were resolved, ambassadors exchanged, and the Chinese Eastern Railway sale finalized. By 1941, a neutrality pact was concluded, allowing Japan to pivot southward toward China and Southeast Asia.   #193 The Chiang-Wang Divide Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. After that lengthy mini series covering the battle of Khalkin Gol, we need to venture back into the second sino-japanese war, however like many other colossal events….well a lot was going on simultaneously. I wanted to take an episode to talk about the beginning of something known as the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, or much shorter, the Wang Jingwei Regime. It's been quite some time since we spoke about this character and he is a large part of the second sino-japanese war.    After the fall of Tianjin and Beiping, the government offices in Nanjing entered their annual summer recess. All of GMD's senior leadership, from Chiang Kai-shek down to Wang Jingwei, gathered on Mount Lu, a picturesque resort in northern Jiangxi, south of the Yangtze, famed for cliffs, clouds, and summer villas. Although Chiang had visited Mount Lu every summer, this was the first occasion that nearly the entire central government assembled there. Analysts suspected the gathering was a deliberate move to relocate government functions inland in the event of total war. Dozens of the nation's leading intellectuals were invited to Mount Lu to discuss strategies for countering Japan's ambitions. The forum was scheduled to begin on July 15 and to last twenty-seven days in three phases. The bridge incident caught them off guard. Unlike Manchuria, Beiping had long been the nation's capital, and the shock added urgency to the proceedings. When the forum, chaired by Wang, finally opened on July 16, speculation ran as to whether this signaled another regional conflict or the onset of full-scale war. The media pressed for a resolute stance of resistance from the government. To dispel the mounting confusion and perhaps his own indecision, Chiang delivered a solemn speech on July 17, declaring that if the incident could not be resolved peacefully, China would face the "crucial juncture" of national survival and would consider military action; if war began, every Chinese person, from every corner of the country and from every walk of life, would have to sacrifice all to defend the nation.   Chiang's Mount Lu Speech was now commonly regarded as the moment when China publicly proclaimed its firm commitment to resistance. Contemporary observers, however, did not take Chiang's stance at face value. Tao Xisheng, a Peking University law professor who had been invited, recalled that after the speech, people gathered in Hu Shi's room to discuss whether a peace option remained. Chiang left the mountain on July 20, leaving Wang to chair the conference. The discussions continued upon their return to Nanjing, where a National Defense Conference was organized in mid-August. It was also Tao's first encounter with Wang Jingwei. A "peace faction," largely composed of civil officials and intellectuals, began to take shape around Wang, favoring diplomatic solutions over costly and potentially ineffective military action.   During this period, both Chiang and Wang publicly called for resistance, while both harbored hopes for a peaceful solution. Yet their emphases differed. On July 29, Wang Jingwei delivered a radio address from Nanjing titled "The Critical Juncture," echoing Chiang's slogan. He likewise asserted that after repeated concessions and retreats, the critical juncture had come for China to rise against Japan. It would be a harsh form of resistance, since a weak nation had no alternative but to sacrifice every citizen's life and scorch every inch of land. Yet toward the end, Wang's speech took on an ironic turn. He stated, "The so-called resistance demands sacrificing the whole land and the whole nation to resist the invader. If there is no weakness in the world, then there is also no strength. Once we have completed the sacrifice, we also realize the purpose of resistance. We hail 'the critical juncture'! We hail 'sacrifice'!" The sentiment sounded almost satirical, revealing his doubt about the meaning of total sacrifice.   The hope for containment was crushed by Japan's ongoing advances. On November 12, Shanghai fell. Chiang's gamble produced about 187,200 Chinese casualties, including roughly 30,000 officers trained to German standards. Japanese casualties were estimated at a third to a half of the Chinese losses, still making it their deadliest single battle to date. The battered Japanese Imperial Army and Navy, long convinced of their invincibility, were consumed by vengeful bloodlust. The army swept from Shanghai toward Nanjing, leaving a trail of murder, rape, arson, and plunder across China's heartland.   With the fall of Nanjing looming, the central government announced on November 20 that it would relocate to Chongqing, a city upriver on the Yangtze protected by sheer cliffs. Plans for Chongqing as a reserve capital had already begun in 1935, with Hankou as the midway station. To preserve elite troops for the future while saving face, Nanjing was entrusted to General Tang Shengzhi and his roughly one hundred thousand largely inexperienced soldiers. Nanjing fell on December 13. Despite this victory, Japan's hopes of ending the China Incident within three months were dashed. The carnage produced by the war, especially the Rape of Nanjing, left a profound moral stain on humanity. A mass exodus from the coastal provinces toward the hinterland began. People fled by boats, trains, buses, rickshaws, and wheelbarrows. Universities, factories, and ordinary households were moved halfway across China, step by step. The nation resolved to persevere, even in distant mountains and deserts if necessary. In Sichuan alone, government relief agencies officially registered about 9.2 million refugees during the war years.   Chiang Kai-shek, after paying respects at Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum, flew to Mount Lu with Song Meiling. The so-called Second Couple chose a more modest path: like most refugees, the Wang family traveled upriver along the Yangtze. On November 21, they left Nanjing, abandoning a recently renovated suburban home and thirty years of collected books. Coincidentally, the ship carrying Wang Jingwei from Nanjing to Wuhan was SS Yongsui, the former SS Zhongshan that had escorted Sun Yat-sen to safety and witnessed Wang's ascent and subsequent downfall from power. Ironically renamed "Yong-sui," the ship's new title meant "peace," while the compound term suijing denoted a policy of appeasement. This symbolism—Wang being carried away from Nanjing by a ship named "Eternal Peace"—foreshadowed his eventual return to the city as a champion of a "peace movement."   After the Mount Lu Forum, Hu Shi and Tao Xisheng could not return to Beiping, now under Japanese occupation. They joined the government in Nanjing. Beginning in mid-August, Japanese bombers began attacking Nanjing. Air power—an unprecedented weapon of mass destruction—humbled and awed a Chinese public largely unfamiliar with airborne warfare. By striking a target that did not serve its immediate interests, Japan demonstrated its world-class military might and employed psychological warfare against the Chinese government and people. Because Zhou Fohai's villa at Xiliuwan had a fortified cellar suitable as an air-raid shelter, a group of like-minded intellectuals and civil servants sought refuge there. They preferred a peaceful approach to the conflict, subscribing to the idea of trading space for time—building China's industrial and military capabilities before confronting Japan. Tao Xisheng and Mei Siping, old allies of Zhou Fohai, lived in his house. Another frequent guest was Luo Junqiang, an ex-communist. The former CCP leader Chen Duxiu, recently released from prison, joined their gatherings a few times. Gao Zongwu hosted another meeting site. Hu Shi, as a guest himself, jokingly called this circle the "Low-Key Club" (Didiao julebu), a label that underscored their pragmatic defiance of the government's high-flown rhetoric urging all-out resistance. Many members of this group would later become central figures in a conspiracy known as the "peace movement," with Wang Jingwei as its leader and emblem.   As Gerald Bunker noted, the peace scheme did not originate with Wang but with certain associates of Chiang, elements in Japanese military intelligence, and members of liberal-minded Japanese political circles who were linked to Konoe. Zhou Fohai belonged to the Chiang-loyalist CC faction, named for Chen Guofu and Chen Lifu. Zhou believed that resistance under current conditions was suicidal. He sought to influence Chiang through people around him, including Wang Jingwei, whom he found impressionable and began visiting at Wang's salon. Gao Zongwu, head of the Foreign Ministry's Asian Department, felt sidelined by Chiang's uncompromising stance. They shared the sense that Chiang might be willing to talk but feared the price, perhaps his own leadership. They were dismayed by the lack of a long-range war plan beyond capitulation. Their view was that China's battlefield losses would worsen the terms of any settlement, and that the war's outcome seemed to benefit Soviet Russia and undermine the GMD more than China itself. The rapid collapses of Shanghai and then Nanjing vindicated their pessimism. Chiang's autocratic decision-making only deepened their dissatisfaction. They feared China was again at risk of foreign conquest from which it might not recover.   Wang Jingwei became the focal point for these disaffected individuals, drawn by his pacifist leanings, intellectual temperament, and preference for consensus-building. After the government relocated to Hankou, he lent guidance to the Literature and Art Research Society (Yiwen yanjiu hui), a propagandist body led by Zhou Fohai and Tao Xisheng. Its purpose was to steer public opinion on issues like the war of resistance and anticommunism, and to advocate a stance that the government must preserve both peace and war as options. Many believed it to be Wang's private organization; in truth, Chiang supported its activities. For much of 1938, Chiang's belligerent anti-Japanese rhetoric and Wang's conciliatory push were two sides of the GMD's broader strategy.   Among the society's regional branches, the Hong Kong chapter flourished under Mei Siping and Lin Baisheng. In addition to editing South China Daily News, Lin established Azure Books and the International Compilation and Translation Society (Guoji bianyishe) as primary propaganda organs. Ironically, Mei Siping had himself been a radical during the 1919 student protests, when he helped set fire to the deputy foreign minister's house in protest of perceived capitulation to Japan.   Wang Jingwei also actively engaged in international efforts to broker peace between Japan and China, including Trautmann's mediation by the German ambassador. Since the outbreak of war, various Western powers had contemplated serving as mediators, but none succeeded. Nazi Germany, aligned with Japan in an anti-Soviet partnership, emerged as China's most likely ally because it did not want Japan to squander its strength in China or compel China to seek Soviet help. Conversely, Japan's interest lay in prolonging the war or achieving a swift settlement. Ambassador Trautmann met with Wang Jingwei multiple times from October 31 to early November 1937 to confirm China's preference for peace before negotiating with Japan. The proposal Trautmann carried to Chiang Kai-shek on November 5 proposed terms including autonomy for Inner Mongolia, a larger demilitarized zone in North China, an expanded cease-fire around Shanghai, a halt to anti-Japanese movements, an anti-communist alliance, reduced tariffs on Japanese goods, and protection of foreign interests in China. Although Japan did not specify territorial gains, these terms deviated significantly from Chiang's demand to restore pre–Marco Polo Bridge status. After Shanghai fell, Chiang's rigidity softened.   On December 5, at Hankou, the National Defense Conference agreed to begin peace negotiations based on Trautmann's terms, a decision Chiang approved. But it was too late: Nanjing fell on December 13, and a provisional Beiping government led by Wang Kemin was established, signaling Japan's growing support for regional separatism. On December 24, Japan issued an ultimatum for a harsher deal to be accepted by January 10. In response, Chiang resigned as chairman of the Executive Yuan on January 1, 1938, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law Kong Xiangxi. Chiang declared that death in defeat was preferable to death in disgrace and refused to yield under coercion. The Konoe Cabinet announced on January 16 that Japan would not negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek. Trautmann's mediation had failed.   After Konoe's announcement, mediation became even more precarious, as it placed the already deadly, no-win situation between the two nations in deeper jeopardy. Secret contacts between the two governments persisted through multiple channels—sometimes at the direction of their own leaders, other times at the initiative of a cadre of officials and quasi-official figures of dubious legitimacy. Many of these covert efforts were steered by Chiang himself. In late 1937, Wang Jingwei even sent Chen Gongbo to Rome to explore the possibility of Italian mediation between China and Japan. After meetings with Mussolini and Foreign Minister Ciano, Chen concluded that Italy had no genuine goodwill toward China and favored Japan. His conversations with other Western leaders (Belgium, France, Britain, and the United States) proved equally fruitless. In diaries, Zhou Fohai and Chen Kewen recorded a pervasive mood of pessimism among Hankou and Chongqing's national government factions. Although direct champions of negotiating with Japan were few, many voices insisted that China was on the brink of collapse while secretly hoping peace talks would begin soon. Gao Zongwu's mission emerged from this tense atmosphere.   With Konoe's cabinet refusing to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek, many regarded Wang as the best candidate to carry forward a diplomatic solution. Yet Wang remained convinced of his loyalty to Chiang and to Chiang's policy. The Italian ambassador visited Wuhan to offer mediation between Wang and the Japanese government, an invitation Wang declined. Tang Shaoyi's daughter traveled to Wuhan to convey Tokyo's negotiation intent, but was similarly turned away. Even Chen Bijun, then in Hong Kong, urged Wang to join her and start peace negotiations; he again declined. Tao Xisheng remembered a quiet night when Wang confided in him: "This time I will cooperate with Mr. Chiang until the very end, regardless of how the war unfolds." His stance did not change when Gao Zongwu reported that the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office wanted him to head the peace talks.   Gao Zongwu's bid was brokered by Dong Daoning, head of the Japan Affairs Section in the Foreign Ministry. Shortly after Konoe's statement, Dong traveled to Shanghai to meet Nishi Yoshiaki, representative of Mantetsu, and Matsumoto Shigeharu, a Dōmei News Agency journalist. Nishi and Matsumoto then introduced Dong to Kagesa Sadaaki, head of the Strategy and Tactics Department in the General Staff Office. Kagesa introduced Dong to Deputy Director Tada Hayao and colleagues Ishiwara Kanji and Imai Takeo, who agreed that a peaceful resolution to the China crisis aligned with Japan's interests. It would be inaccurate to paint these figures as pacifists: Ishiwara, who helped build Manchukuo, also recognized that further incursions into China could jeopardize Japan's hard-won gains. They proposed a temporary resignation by Chiang to spare Konoe from having to retract his refusal to negotiate, thereby allowing Wang to lead the talks. In short, the scheme aimed to save face for Konoe.   Dong returned to Hong Kong and delivered the proposal to Gao Zongwu, who had been stationed there since February under Chiang's orders to oversee intelligence and liaison with Japan. Luo Junqiang, Gao's contact, testified that Gao was paid monthly from Chiang's secret military fund. Gao went back to Hankou twice, on April 2 and May 30. On the second trip, he personally conveyed Japan's terms to Chiang. Gao later admitted that Chiang never gave him explicit instructions, but rather cultivated an impression of tacit approval. At no point did Gao view the deal as Chiang's betrayal. As long as Chiang retained control of the military, Wang's leadership could only be nominal and temporary. Unbeknownst to Wang, Gao's personal ties to Chiang remained hidden from him; he learned of them only through Zhou Fohai. Startled, he handed the information to Chiang Kai-shek and told Tao Xisheng: "I cannot broker peace with Japan alone. I will not deceive Mr. Chiang." Given Tao's later departure from Wang's circle to rejoin Chiang, Tao's recollection could be trusted.   Two months later, Wang left Chongqing to pursue a peace settlement. A key factor may have been persistent lobbying by Zhou, Gao, Mei, Tao, and especially his wife Chen Bijun. Luo Junqiang recalled that Kong Xiangxi objected that Gao acted without him, prompting Chiang to order Gao to halt his covert efforts, an order Gao ignored. Gao and Mei Siping continued to press for a deal. Gao even spent three weeks in Japan in July, holding extensive talks with Kagesa Sadaaki and Imai Takeo. Their discussions produced the first substantive articulation of the Wang peace movement as a Sino-Japanese plot to end the "China incident." On November 26, Mei flew from Hong Kong to Chongqing with a draft of Japan's terms and Konoe's planned announcement. The proposal stated that the Japanese army would withdraw completely within two years once peace was reached, but it demanded that China formally recognize Manchukuo. Wang was to leave Chongqing for Kunming by December 5, then proceed to Hanoi. Upon Japan receiving news of his arrival in Hanoi, the telegram would reveal the peace terms. This pivotal moment threw Wang into intense inner turmoil. Zhou Fohai visited Wang daily, and Wang delayed decisively each time, much to Zhou's frustration. Ultimately, it seemed that Chen Bijun rendered the final judgment on Wang's behalf. As in earlier episodes, Wang found himself trapped by an idealized image of himself held by family, followers, and loyalists, seen by them as a larger-than-life figure who must undertake a mission too grand to fail.   Yet Wang's stance was not purely involuntary. As Imai Takeo noted, he fundamentally disagreed with Chiang's strategy of resistance. The so-called scorched-earth approach caused immense suffering. Three episodes stood out: the 1938 Yellow River flood, ordered by Chiang to impede Japan's advance, which destroyed dikes and displaced millions, yielding devastating agricultural and humanitarian consequences; the subsequent epidemics and famine that followed, producing about two million refugees and up to nine hundred thousand deaths, while failing to stop the Japanese advance toward Wuhan (which fell in October); and the Changsha fire, ignited in the early hours of November 13, which killed nearly thirty thousand people and devastated most of the city. These events sharpened Wang's doubts about Chiang's defense strategy, especially its reckless execution and cruelty. By late November, Wang began to openly challenge Chiang's approach, delivering a series of speeches advocating his own war-weariness and preference for limiting resistance to preserve national strength for future counterstrikes. He argued that guerrilla warfare burdened the people and wasted national resources that could be saved for a later, more effective defense. He urged soldiers to exercise judgment and listen to their consciences, and he attributed much of the civilian suffering to the Communists; nonetheless, with General von Falkenhausen, Chiang's German adviser, now urging a shift toward smaller-unit mobile warfare, Wang's critique of Chiang's strategy took on a more pointed, risksome tone. If resistance equaled total sacrifice, Wang was not prepared to endorse it. As Margherita Zanasi noted, Wang Jingwei and Chen Gongbo had long shared a vision of a self-consciously anti-imperial "national economy", the belief that China's economy had not yet achieved genuine nation-power and that compromising with the foe might be necessary to save the national economy.   Wang and Zhou also worried that continuing resistance would strengthen the Communists and that genuine international aid would not arrive, at least not soon. After Nazi Germany occupied Czechoslovakia, Wang briefly hoped for the formation of an antifascist democratic alliance. Yet the Munich Agreement disappointed him. Viewing Western democracies as culturally imperialist, he doubted they would jeopardize their relations with Japan, another imperial power, on China's behalf. This view was reinforced by Zhou Fohai and other China specialists who had recently joined Wang's circle; they argued that China would fall unless the international situation shifted dramatically. Their forecast would prove accurate only after Pearl Harbor.   In the end, Wang longed for decisive action. He had been sidelined since the government's move to Wuhan. At the GMD Provisional National Congress in Hankou (March 29–April 1), the party resolved to restore Chiang Kai-shek to near-total control by reasserting the authoritarian zongcai system. The Congress also established the People's Political Council as a nominal nod to democracy, but it remained largely consultative. Wang was elected deputy director and chairman of the council, yet he clearly resented the position. Jiang Tingfu described Wang's Hankou mood as "somewhat resentful," recognizing the role as largely ceremonial. More optimistic observers attributed his dismay to the return of dictatorship, and he likely felt increasingly useless. Since the Mukden Incident, Wang had prioritized party unity and been content to play a secondary role to Chiang, but inaction did not fit his sense of historical purpose. It was Zhou Fohai who urged Wang to risk his reputation for a greater cause, presenting a calculated nudge to someone susceptible to idealism. A longing to find meaning through action may have finally pushed him toward a fateful decision. As Chen Bijun bluntly told Long Yun, her husband "was merely an empty shell in Chongqing and could contribute nothing to the country; thus he wanted to change his surroundings."   Wang considered staying abroad as a serious option amid the Hanoi uncertainty. Gao Zongwu had previously told Japanese negotiators that if Konoe's stance did not satisfy Wang, he might head to France. Chongqing echoed this possibility. On December 29, Ambassador Guo Taiqi, acting on Chiang's orders, telegraphed Wang suggesting he go to Europe "to take a break." It would have offered a graceful exit. Kagesa recommended Hanoi as Wang Jingwei's midway station because, as a French colony, it offered a relatively safe environment. Only the French were armed there, and several members of the extended Wang family had grown up in France, enabling them to communicate with the colonial authorities.   After Wang departed for Hanoi, Long Yun hesitated for weeks. On December 20, he telegraphed Chiang, saying Wang had paused in Kunming on the way to Hanoi to seek medical treatment. Knowing this was untrue, Chiang replied on December 27 with a stern warning about Japan's unreliability, a message that appeared to have persuaded Long. A day later, Long urged leniency for Wang. Following Wang's publication of the "yan telegram," public anger likely pushed Long toward a final decision. On January 6, he informed Chiang of a letter from Wang delivered by Chen Changzu, and he noted that the Wangs were considering the French option, but recommended allowing Wang to return to Chongqing to show leniency and to enable surveillance.   Chiang replied two days later that Wang would be better off going to Europe. The extended Wang family resided in two Western-style mansions at 25 and 27 Rue Riz Marché, surrounded by high walls. On February 15, Chongqing's envoy Gu Zhengding brought their passports to Hanoi. Accounts differed on what happened next. One version had Wang offering to travel abroad if Chongqing accepted his proposal to start peace talks; if Chongqing remained indecisive, he would return to voice his dissent. Another version claimed Gu's primary task was to bring Wang back to Chongqing, which Wang declined, preferring France.   Although the French option was gaining favor, the Wang circle continued to explore other avenues. In early 1939, secret contacts with the Japanese government persisted, though not always in a coordinated way. Chiang's intelligence advised that the Wang group was forming networks in Shanghai and especially Hong Kong, with Gao Zongwu playing a central role. On February 1, Gao returned from Hong Kong and stayed for five days, finding Wang in a despondent mood. Wang asked Gao to pass along a few letters to Japanese leaders urging the creation of a unified Chinese government to earn the Chinese people's understanding and trust. Wang believed his actions would serve the best interests of both China and Japan. On March 18, the Japanese consulate in Hong Kong informed Gao that funding for the Wang group would come from China's customs revenues that Japan had seized.   Meanwhile, Chiang Kai-shek sensed a shift in the war's direction. On February 10, Japan seized Hainan, China's southernmost major island. The next day, Chiang held a press conference describing the development as "the Mukden Incident of the Pacific." He warned that Japan's ambitions could threaten British and French colonial interests and U.S. maritime supremacy. Gao Zongwu read the speech and concluded that Chiang's outlook had brightened.   For three months, the Wang circle met frequently to weigh options. The prominent writer and scholar Zhou Zuoren, who had already accepted a collaborationist post as head of the Beiping library, warned Tao Xisheng, saying "Don't do it," signaling his misgivings about collaborating with Japan based on his reading of Japanese politics. As Zhou observed, many young Japanese militarists did not even respect General Ugaki, let alone a foreign leader.   Then the assassination of Zeng Zhongming, Wang's secretary and protégé, abruptly altered the meaning of Wang's mission. The Wang group was deeply unsettled by Zeng Zhongming's assassination. The event came as a shock. On March 20, Gu Zhengding's second Hanoi visit concluded. Allegedly Gu delivered passports and funds for a European excursion. On a bright spring day, the entire Wang family enjoyed a lighthearted outing to Three Peaches Beach, only to be halted by a French officer who warned they were being followed. During their afternoon rest, a man posing as a painter, sent by the landlord to measure rooms for payment, appeared at the door and was turned away when he insisted on entering every room. More than twenty people in the household, none were armed.   Since January, Hanoi had been a hive of BIS activity. The ringleader was Chen Gongshu, a veteran operative under spymaster Dai Li, though Chen's recollections clashed with those of other witnesses, leaving the exact sequence unclear. Chen claimed their role was intelligence and surveillance until March 19, when an unsigned telegram from Dai Li ordered, "Severest punishment to the traitor Wang Jingwei, immediately!" The mission supposedly shifted. The Wang family was followed the next day but evaded capture in traffic, prompting a raid on the house. Reports varied: some said Wang resided on the second floor of No. 27; others suggested he lived in No. 25, with No. 27 used for day guests. The force entered the courtyard, forced open the door to Wang's room, and a getaway car waited outside. Chen, in the car, heard gunshots: initial shots toward a downstairs figure, then three shots through a bedroom door hacked open with an axe, aimed at a figure beneath the bed, believed to be Wang Jingwei. The team drove off after four to five minutes. Vietnamese police soon detained three killers who lingered in the courtyard and even listened in on a hospital call. Chen didn't realize the target had been misidentified until the next afternoon. Some BIS records suggested Wang and Zeng Zhongming had swapped bedrooms that night, a detail Chen doubted. Chen did not mention a painter's earlier visit.   There were competing accounts of the event with their numerous inconsistencies that fueled conspiracy theories. Jin Xiongbai outlined three possibilities: (1) the killers killed the "wrong person" as a warning to Wang Jingwei; (2) they killed Zeng to provoke Wang toward collaboration; or (3) the episode was always part of a broader Chiang-Wang collaboration plan.   In any case, Dai Li showed unusual leniency toward Chen Gongshu, who was never punished and later led the Shanghai station. After Dai Li's agent Li Shiqun was captured in 1941, Li not only spared Chen's life but recruited him on a double-agent basis for the remainder of the war, with Chen retiring to Taiwan. Chiang Kai-shek never discussed the case publicly or in his diary, and his silence was perhaps the strongest indication that he ordered the killing.   I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Wang Jingwei, once a key figure in China's resistance against Japan, grew disillusioned with Chiang Kai-shek's scorched-earth tactics during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Amid devastating events like the Yellow River flood and Changsha fire, which caused immense civilian suffering, Wang joined a peace faction advocating negotiation. Secret talks with Japanese officials led to his defection in 1938. He fled Chongqing to Hanoi, where an assassination attempt, likely ordered by Chiang, killed his secretary Zeng Zhongming instead.   

Iris Wang, CFA, is a Senior Investment Leader at a leading U.S. asset management firm, overseeing asset allocation across large-scale portfolios. Born and raised in China, she developed an early fascination with value before building a nearly two-decade career in institutional investments. She is the Author of the World of Money book series, dedicated to helping children build a healthy and confident relationship with money, starting with her two curious boys. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/World-Money-1-What/dp/B0FMNLRDZN/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.B9OU3eR72qI9RibfXOqlbw.lUnpjif-ymgsYXtFZinyTqhMcThe2fBWumxaiERfzt4&qid=1769952919&sr=8-1 Website: https://theworldofmoney.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheWorldofMoneyIris Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldofmoneymidas/ TikTok: @TheWorldofMoneyIris Little Red Book: @TheWorldofMoneyIris CallumConnects Micro-Podcast is your daily dose of wholesome leadership inspiration. Hear from many different leaders in just 5 minutes what hurdles they have faced, how they overcame them, and what their key learning is. Be inspired, subscribe, leave a comment, go and change the world!

Dr.Eddy Chong comes to the studio to discuss emerging musical transculturalism in Singapore. Beginning with the country's independence, diversity in Singapore has grown rapidly and created a shift in the city's cultural upbringing. Culture through the lens of the government was originally a Chinese, Malay, Indian, or Other classification, but more and more, due to Globalization and Immigration, race and culture have become much less binary. Chong ties this thread to the country's music education, noting its expanding diversity and emphasis on world music theory. Dr Eddy Chong is a Music Theorist and Multicultural expert. The Head of the Visual & Performing Arts at Nanyang Technological University. His research emphasizes pedagogy and world music. Help sustain the podcast by becoming a subscriber. For $7 per month or $1.75 per episode, you can help make future episodes possible. Visit https://foundation.myniu.com/give.php and choose your donation amount. Search for 'Center for Southeast Asian Studies' as the recipient, then put 'podcast' as your donation's special instruction. Your donation goes towards paying our student workers and maintaining the podcast studio and equipment.

Writer-director Amy Wang joins the No Film School podcast to discuss her debut feature, Slanted, and the long road from film school to theatrical release. In conversation with GG Hawkins, Wang reflects on leaving Australia for AFI, building a creative community in Los Angeles, learning to write as a practical path to survival in the industry, and what happened after Slanted premiered at SXSW 2025, won the Grand Jury Prize, and eventually landed distribution ahead of its 2026 theatrical release. In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guest Amy Wang discuss... How Fight Club inspired Wang to pursue filmmaking as a teenager in Sydney Why she left Australia for AFI and what it was like arriving in Los Angeles as an international student The real value of film school, especially for community-building and dedicated creative time Why learning to write became the key to sustaining a filmmaking career after graduation How a Black List script helped open doors in Hollywood The emotional and personal origins of Slanted Why body horror and comedy became the right form for exploring race, identity, and belonging How Slanted went from a logline to a financed feature What production and post looked like on a tight timeline before SXSW What it felt like to premiere at SXSW, hear audience reactions, and unexpectedly win the Grand Jury Prize The reality of selling an indie film in today's market, even after major festival recognition What Wang learned from working with Bleecker Street on the theatrical release Details about her next feature, Crescendo, set in the world of competitive piano Memorable Quotes: “If you don't come from money, if you don't have a famous uncle and you don't want to work at Starbucks for the next three to four years after you graduate, you need to learn how to write.” (12:48) “You can't let the highs be too high and you can't let the lows be too low.” (16:31) “It doesn't matter what I do, it doesn't matter who I am, how I speak, my personality is like, what my thoughts or how intelligent I am, people will always see my face first.” (19:08) “As long as you keep going, as long as you keep learning and changing and growing, I think you don't need to be the best throughout your life to be able to have a career in this industry.” (40:56) Guests: Amy Wang Resources: Slanted official film page Applying for Your O-1 Visa to Work in Film and TV Find No Film School everywhere: On the Web: No Film School Facebook: No Film School on Facebook Twitter: No Film School on Twitter YouTube: No Film School on YouTube Instagram: No Film School on Instagram

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Oliver Bell from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles about his work on chromatin-based regulatory systems that encode cellular memory and their implications for development and disease. The Interview starts with Dr. Bell describing his early career contributions to understanding the functionality of histone methylation in facilitating dosage compensation and gene silencing. His efforts at dissecting the complexities of epigenetic regulation culminate in significant discoveries that highlight the nuanced effects of chromatin adjustments on gene activity and stability across cell divisions. As we progress, Dr. Bell shares details about his postdoctoral research, where he engineered systems to study chromatin remodeling and the maintenance of transcriptional states through development. His innovative use of induced proximity to manipulate chromatin modifiers offers groundbreaking approaches to understanding how epigenetic states can be established and sustained, alongside the implications for therapeutic strategies in cancer treatment. An important aspect of our discussion centers on his identification of the ZFP462 protein, which plays a critical role in neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Bell outlines his lab's ongoing research into deciphering how this zinc finger protein interacts with enhancers to influence gene regulation in embryonic stem cells and its potential connection to specific diseases. This leads to an engaging dialogue about the relationship between 3D genome organization and epigenetic regulation, focusing on how disruptions in chromatin architecture may affect gene expression. Towards the end of our conversation, we touch upon the emerging potential of AI in epigenetic research, exploring how advances in technology could facilitate the screening of small molecules targeted at chromatin-modifying complexes. Dr. Bell offers a forward-looking perspective on the future applications of this research, revealing his aspirations for therapeutic developments based on his findings. References Bell, O., Wirbelauer, C., Hild, M., Scharf, A. N., Schwaiger, M., MacAlpine, D. M., Zilbermann, F., van Leeuwen, F., Bell, S. P., Imhof, A., Garza, D., Peters, A. H., & Schübeler, D. (2007). Localized H3K36 methylation states define histone H4K16 acetylation during transcriptional elongation in Drosophila. The EMBO journal, 26(24), 4974–4984. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.emboj.7601926 Hathaway, N. A., Bell, O., Hodges, C., Miller, E. L., Neel, D. S., & Crabtree, G. R. (2012). Dynamics and memory of heterochromatin in living cells. Cell, 149(7), 1447–1460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2012.03.052 Moussa, H. F., Bsteh, D., Yelagandula, R., Pribitzer, C., Stecher, K., Bartalska, K., Michetti, L., Wang, J., Zepeda-Martinez, J. A., Elling, U., Stuckey, J. I., James, L. I., Frye, S. V., & Bell, O. (2019). Canonical PRC1 controls sequence-independent propagation of Polycomb-mediated gene silencing. Nature communications, 10(1), 1931. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09628-6 Yelagandula, R., Stecher, K., Novatchkova, M. et al. ZFP462 safeguards neural lineage specification by targeting G9A/GLP-mediated heterochromatin to silence enhancers. Nat Cell Biol 25, 42–55 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-022-01051-2 Bsteh, D., Moussa, H.F., Michlits, G. et al. Loss of cohesin regulator PDS5A reveals repressive role of Polycomb loops. Nat Commun 14, 8160 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43869-w Related Episodes Effects of DNA Methylation on Chromatin Structure and Transcription (Dirk Schübeler) Polycomb Proteins, Gene Regulation, and Genome Organization in Drosophila (Giacomo Cavalli) Transcription and Polycomb in Inheritance and Disease (Danny Reinberg) Contact Epigenetics Podcast on Mastodon Epigenetics Podcast on Bluesky Dr. Stefan Dillinger on LinkedIn Active Motif on LinkedIn Active Motif on Bluesky Email: podcast@activemotif.com

Why do some people love cilantro, while others say it tastes like soap? How did Dubai chocolate take the world by storm? And how are scientists using A.I. to determine what we'll crave next?Today we'll learn the answers when we get a preview of the 4th International Flavor Summit, taking place March 16 to 18 in Orlando. The biennial event brings together leaders in the food and beverage science industries; it's also open to the public. To register, click here.One of the presenters is Yu Wang, Ph.D., associate professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS). In this conversation, Dr. Wang answers our burning questions about flavor, discusses how she's working with Florida's citrus growers to produce better-tasting fruit and explains how to break up with your favorite junk food.

Follow Me Social Media:-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vivalavulvalaInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/vivalavulvalaWebsite: https://www.vivalavulvala.org/Join Dr. Cara Quant in this dynamic episode of the Viva La Vulva Podcast as she welcomes Lily Wang, the CEOwner of MedAmour. Together, they delve into the burgeoning world of FemTech, exploring its profound impact on women's health and wellness. From its definition as technology designed for female health to examining the significant issues of the gender health gap, this episode highlights how FemTech is reshaping our understanding of women's health. With a projected market value soaring between $60 billion and $1 trillion by 2030, Dr. Cara and Lily will sift through the innovations that are breaking taboos and empowering women with tools for better health management.In the second half of the episode, Lily shares her insights on MedAmour's approach to curating intimate wellness products that cater to diverse needs. Listeners will discover how products like the We-Vibe Jive 2 and We-Vibe Bloom are at the forefront of enhancing sexual wellness, providing users with innovative options for pleasure and health. This conversation not only celebrates the journey of FemTech but also SexTech and offers practical insights into the future of women's wellness that challenge societal norms and promote a healthier dialogue around intimacy. Tune in to explore how these advancements are revolutionizing the landscape for women everywhere!

Social media is a powerful tool in building your brand - but what is even more strategic is thinking about your customer journey as a whole. That's where email marketing comes in. Longtime listeners know that Emma advocates for building a strong email list, and in this episode, she sits down with email marketing strategist and ALLMOST founder Kieryn Wang to unpack why owning your email list is one of the most powerful moves you can make for long-term revenue growth. With over 12 years in digital marketing - including experience in highly regulated industries where accounts were constantly at risk - Kieryn shares why email offers more control, deeper data insights, and stronger community-building opportunities than social alone. You'll hear Emma and Kieryn explore how to build an email list from scratch, what actually drives high open and click-through rates, and how brands can turn subscribers into loyal advocates. From subject line psychology to storytelling, this episode is your roadmap to making email marketing your most reliable growth channel. Listen in as Emma and Kieryn discuss: How email helps nurture and deepen relationships with your audience Where to begin when you're starting an email list from scratch Subject line psychology that increases open rates And much, much more!   Connect with Kieryn:  Website: www.itsallmost.com  Instagram: www.instagram.com/itsallmost  Freebie: Download the Inbox-to-Revenue Toolkit — an email analytics tracker and annual content calendar for brands ready to turn inboxes into income. Link here: www.itsallmost.com/stopscrollingstartscaling  Freebie Download Bonus: Get an extra $30 off The Conversion Club, a monthly membership for founders ready to turn email into their most profitable and sustainable sales channel, with code SCALE.   Connect with Ninety Five Media: Check out our website: ninetyfivemedia.co  Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/ninety.five.media   Grow your brand's social media presence with us:  Tell us about your business goals and explore how our social media management services can help you reach them! ninetyfivemedia.co/stop-scrolling-start-scaling-inquiry

Application pour EV0360 : https://hlperformance.caRéférences :Bellisle, F. (2003). Why should we study human food intake behaviour? *Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases*, *13*(4), 189–193. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0939-4753(03)00063-7](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0939-4753(03)00063-7)Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. (2023). *Canada's guidance on alcohol and health*. CCSA. https://www.ccsa.ca/canadas-guidance-alcohol-and-healthDing, D., Nguyen, B., Nau, T., Luo, M., Del Pozo Cruz, B., Dempsey, P. C., Munn, Z., Jefferis, B. J., Sherrington, C., Calleja, E. A., Hau Chong, K., Davis, R., Francois, M. E., Tiedemann, A., Biddle, S. J. H., Okely, A., Bauman, A., Ekelund, U., Clare, P., & Owen, K. (2025). Daily steps and health outcomes in adults: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis. *The Lancet Public Health*, *10*(8), e668–e681. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00164-1](https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(25)00164-1)Hall, K. D., & Guo, J. (2017). Obesity energetics: Body weight regulation and the effects of diet composition. *Gastroenterology*, *152*(7), 1718–1727. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2017.01.052Hall, K. D., Ayuketah, A., Brychta, R., Cai, H., Cassimatis, T., Chen, K. Y., … & Walter, P. J. (2019). Ultra-processed diets cause excess calorie intake and weight gain: An inpatient randomized controlled trial. *Cell Metabolism*, *30*(1), 67–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2019.05.008Hall, K. D., Sacks, G., Chandramohan, D., Chow, C. C., Wang, Y. C., Gortmaker, S. L., & Swinburn, B. A. (2012). Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. *The Lancet*, *378*(9793), 826–837. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60812-X](https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60812-X)Mattes, R. D. (2014). Beverages and positive energy balance: The menace is the medium. *International Journal of Obesity*, *38*(S1), S1–S6. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2014.21National Institutes of Health. (s. d.). *NIH Body Weight Planner* [Outil en ligne]. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwpRyan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. *American Psychologist*, *55*(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). *Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness*. Guilford Press.American College of Sports Medicine. (2022). *ACSM's guidelines for exercise testing and prescription* (11e éd.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. *(Position Stand original : 2009)*World Health Organization. (2020). *WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour*. WHO Press. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128

Constipation isn't just an adult problem — millions of kids struggle with it too. On this episode of The Exam Room Podcast, Chuck Carroll is joined by Dr. Iris Wang, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic and the author of the children's book Boo Can't Poo. Dr. Wang explains why constipation happens in children, how diet and lifestyle affect digestion, and what parents can do to help their kids develop healthy gut habits early in life.

What does it actually mean when everyone keeps saying 2026 is the year of the fire horse and everything already feels like it's moving way too fast?Letao Wang breaks down why 2026's fire horse energy is about speed paired with awareness, not just charging forward blindly. This conversation goes beyond sun sign horoscopes into the actual energetic cycles that mirror what's happening in your life right now.What you'll learn:Why 2025's snake year had to break you before the horseSpeed without awareness creates chaos, not momentumThe mirror work that breaks through mental blocksLetao Wang is a mythologist, astrologer, and licensed counselor with a master's degree in counseling psychology. He blends Eastern and Western astrological traditions with therapeutic practice and created three oracle decks based on mythology and celestial wisdom.Find Letao's oracle decks and all links at: mindlove.com/444Ready to work with fire horse energy without burning out? Join the free Mind Love Collective for monthly themed calls and weekly challenge accountability. mindlove.com/joinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At a time when other bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI, Canaan is doubling down on bitcoin. Get your tickets to OPNEXT 2026 before prices increase! Join us on April 16 in NYC for technical discussions, investor talks, and intimate conversation with the brightest minds in Bitcoin. Welcome back to The Blockspace Podcast! Today, Liang Wang, VP of Canaan, joins us to talk about how Canaan is approaching the changing tides in bitcoin mining as peers pivot to AI. We dive into their recent acquisition of Texas mining sites from Cipher Mining, their 60.9% year-over-year sales growth for their Avalon ASIC miner series, and the economics of mining in the current market. Liang also shares insights into China's regulatory landscape, the potential of stranded energy in North America, and how AI is impacting ASIC miner market dynamics. Subscribe to the newsletter! https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Notes: * 60.9% YoY growth in ASIC equipment sales. * Sold 14.6 EH/s of new equipment in Q4. * Acquired 49% equity in three Texas sites. * Texas power rates below $0.03 per kWh. * Zero self-mining exposure in China. * Bitcoin price at $65,000–$70,000 range. Timestamps: 00:00 Start 04:23 Cipher acquisition 08:57 Behind the meter & asset heavy 13:08 Stranded energy & hashrate growth 16:16 ASIC sales are up? 22:46 China update 28:09 New markets by country 33:10 2 nanometer chips? 38:58 Chip making demand for AI & others 46:58 The "AI pivot" impact?

Thanks for tuning in. Renew Church OC is a church for imperfect people only. Come visit us at: 1 Civic Center Cir Brea, CA 92821 | Renew Has 2 Main Service Times: 9AM and 10:45AM 9AM: Children, Youth and Main Service 10:45: Main Service, Sunday School and Childcare | For more information: www.renewchurchoc.com | For tax deductible giving to Renew: Www.renewchurchoc.com/give | For more resources: | Roy Kim developed a video series to help Sexual Addiction Sobriety Groups. www.newlegacycounseling.com/self-guided…iety-group/ | Roy and I host a 3 part series on Sexual Addiction in our podcast. Here is the first one; I would love to have you listen and give us some feedback. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…i=1000610037470 | Pastor Wilson and Roy Kim MFT podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…i=1000578749653 | Pastor Wilson and Nina's children's books series and adulting journal www.calledtobeproject.com

Thom Gicquel et Delphine Delrue ont failli entrer un peu plus dans l'histoire du badminton français lors de ce All England 2026, mais se sont finalement inclinés en finale face aux Taïwanais Ye/Chan. Les frères Popov ont également réalisé une belle semaine, en simple comme en double. Les paires Kim/Seo et Liu/Tan ont une fois de plus dominé leurs tableaux, mais An Se-young s'est faite surprendre en finale par une Wang Zhiyi revancharde. En simple hommes, le Taïwanais Li Chun-Yi s'est offert le plus beau titre de sa carrière. Chapitres :0:00 - Introduction4:04 - Double mixte28:08 - Simple hommes46:15 - Double hommes57:00 - Double dames1:05:06 - Simple dames1:13:00 - Conclusion Où nous retrouver : https://linktr.ee/21shuttleRejoindre notre serveur Discord : https://discord.gg/bvxdSGeJ Crédit photo : Sylvain Nalet - Badmania

In DisrupTV Episode 430, R "Ray" Wang and Vala Afshar explore the next evolution of business value: the Transformation Economy. Joe Pine, co-author of The Experience Economy, explains why companies must move beyond staging memorable experiences and start guiding customers toward meaningful outcomes—helping them become healthier, wiser, more successful, or more purposeful. Later in the episode, CRM leaders Paul Greenberg and Brent Leary connect these ideas to real-world customer experience strategies, highlighting why convenience, community, and human-centered design still matter in an AI-driven world. From AI-powered personalization to purpose-driven business models, this episode explores how organizations can design experiences that don't just engage customers—but transform them.

National political advisers have been urged to build consensus and pool wisdom for the country to achieve a good start for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).全国政协委员为“十五五”开好局、起好步广泛凝心聚力，贡献智慧和力量。The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, opened on Wednesday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, raising the curtain on this year's two sessions of China's top legislative and political advisory bodies.3月4日，全国政协十四届四次会议在北京人民大会堂开幕，标志着今年两会正式拉开帷幕。President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other leaders attended the opening meeting, joining around 2,100 CPPCC National Committee members from across the country and various sectors.中共中央总书记、国家主席、中央军委主席习近平等党和国家领导人出席开幕会，与来自全国各界、各领域的约2100名全国政协委员共同参会。Wang Huning, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, delivered a work report on behalf of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, saying that 2025 was a pivotal year for China's path to modernization.全国政协主席王沪宁代表政协第十四届全国委员会常务委员会作工作报告，指出2025年是中国式现代化进程中具有重要意义的一年。Amid complex global and domestic challenges, China concluded the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) successfully, with strength in the economy, technology and defense reaching new heights, he said.面对错综复杂的国际形势和艰巨繁重的国内改革发展稳定任务，我国 “十四五” 圆满收官，经济实力、科技实力、国防实力迈上新台阶Over the past year, the CPPCC National Committee contributed to the country's development by organizing 98 consultative and deliberative activities. It received 5,992 proposals from members, of which 5,061 were accepted for processing and the response rate for the accepted proposals reached 99.9 percent, providing reference for the government, according to the report.一年来，全国政协共举办各类协商议政活动98场次，收到提案5992件，立案5061件，办复率99.9%，为政府决策提供了重要参考。Wang called for suggestions and deliberation during the session to be centered on the implementation of the new five-year plan.王沪宁指出，要围绕“十五五”规划实施议政建言。"We should focus on key issues in fields including economic development, scientific and technological innovation, reform and opening-up, social construction and people's livelihoods, and reflect social conditions and public opinion in a practical manner," he said.要围绕经济发展、科技创新、改革开放、社会建设、民生保障等领域重点问题，实事求是反映社情民意。Wang said the CPPCC National Committee will implement a democratic supervision work plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period to help promote the implementation of major decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee.全国政协要实施好“十五五”时期全国政协民主监督工作计划，助推中共中央重大决策部署贯彻落实。The CPPCC National Committee will also hold activities to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen, a revered national hero and pioneer of the country's democratic revolution. It will strengthen foreign exchanges and better tell the stories of China's democracy, he added.要办好纪念孙中山先生诞辰160周年活动。要加强政协对外友好交往，讲好中国故事、中国全过程人民民主故事。Jiang Ying, CPPCC National Committee member and chairwoman of Deloitte China, said that as the nation gets ready to start the 15th Five-Year Plan, its push for high-level opening-up and win-win cooperation shows it is committed to high-quality growth through openness.全国政协委员、德勤中国主席蒋颖表示，在"十五五"规划即将开启之际，我国持续推进高水平对外开放和互利共赢合作，彰显了以开放促高质量发展的决心。"This is good news for global businesses — giving them more confidence and new opportunities," Jiang said, adding that China's continuous progress in areas like the digital economy and green transformation is attracting more multinational enterprises to base their research and development in China."这为全球企业带来更多信心与机遇，我国在数字经济、绿色转型等领域的持续突破，正吸引越来越多跨国企业将研发中心落户中国。"She said that managing cross-border data flows has become a key issue in high-level opening-up and her proposal this year highlights the problems enterprises face in cross-border data flows, aiming at making it easier and more convenient for enterprises to comply with regulations.蒋颖指出，跨境数据流动已成为高水平对外开放的关键议题，今年她重点关注企业数据跨境流动痛点，助力提升企业合规便利化水平。Li Shufu, a CPPCC National Committee member and chairman of Geely Holding Group, identified the "new trio" — electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaics — as pivotal trends for social progress.全国政协委员、吉利控股集团董事长李书福认为，电动汽车、锂电池、光伏产品"新三样"已成为社会发展的重要趋势。While noting that the auto industry is shifting from "involution-style" competition toward sustainable growth through technology and quality, Li said that Geely is working to convert unstable wind and solar energy into stable liquid fuels for storage and transportation.当前汽车行业正从"内卷式"竞争转向依托技术与质量的可持续发展，吉利正探索将不稳定的风光资源转化为稳定的液态燃料，实现能源的跨时空存储与运输。Clarence Ling Chun-kit, a CPPCC National Committee member from Hong Kong, said that given current cross-Strait tensions, frequent communication is more important than ever and he will focus more this year on youth exchanges.来自香港的全国政协委员凌俊杰表示，面对当前两岸关系形势，加强交流沟通至关重要，今年他将重点关注两岸青年交流。Noting that cross-Strait integration in scientific areas like artificial intelligence and computing during the 15th Five-year Plan period is essential, Ling said Hong Kong serves as a "natural bridge" to help Taiwan compatriots understand the "real situation on the Chinese mainland" through shared cultural and trade ties.他强调，在"十五五"规划期间推动人工智能、算力等科技领域的两岸融合发展尤为重要，香港可发挥天然桥梁作用，通过深化文化经贸纽带，帮助台湾同胞更好了解大陆真实发展情况。cross-border data flows /ˌkrɒsˈbɔːdə ˈdeɪtə fləʊz/跨境数据流动 photovoltaics /ˌfəʊtəʊvɒlˈteɪɪks/光伏 involution /ˌɪnvəˈluːʃən/内卷

Zhu Wang discusses the emergence of "buy now, pay later" installment loans and shares his research on the potential impacts of this payment option on the credit risks of individuals and the stability of financial markets. Wang is vice president for research in financial and payment systems at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Full transcript and related links: https://www.richmondfed.org/podcasts/speaking_of_the_economy/2026/speaking_2026_03_04_buy_now_pay_later

Send a textEver been told your pain is “just a flare,” even when your labs look calm? We sit down with Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist Dr. Xiao Jing (Iris) Wang to unpack why symptoms can linger after inflammation is under control—and what to do about it. From constipation myths to the real mechanics of bloating, this conversation reframes gut discomfort through muscles, nerves, and breath, not just meds.Dr. Wang breaks down pelvic floor function in clear, memorable language. Learn how the puborectalis sling preserves continence, why years of urgency or “holding it” can hardwire a constant clench, and how that leads to straining and incomplete emptying. She shares practical paths to diagnosis without over-reliance on expensive tests, smart ways to find qualified pelvic PT, and simple at-home tactics like an optimized toilet posture, the “anti‑Kegel,” and biofeedback fundamentals. We also explore why J‑pouch patients need their own testing norms and a different definition of “normal.”Then we tackle bloating. Groundbreaking research shows many visibly distended bellies aren't full of excess gas—the diaphragm is pushing down while the abdominal wall pooches out. Dr. Wang demonstrates how diaphragmatic breathing can retrain this pattern and why yoga, gentle twists, and abdominal massage move trapped gas better than most medications. Finally, we zoom out to the brain. When the gut's “fire” is out but the alarm keeps blaring, neuromodulators, gut-directed hypnotherapy, and virtual reality can close the pain gates. You'll hear how VR helps patients navigate bathroom anxiety, tolerate unsedated procedures, and feel safer in their own bodies.Finally we talk to Dr. Wang about the genesis of her children's book called "Boo Can't Poo." It's a humorous story about a constipated ghost named Boo and his efforts to get his bowels back on track. It's a great read for parents who are working to potty train their toddlers but also for all us to re-learn how to poo! If you've wondered whether your pain is real when scans look fine, this is your validation and your roadmap. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help more listeners find practical relief and a new way to think about gut health.Links: Boo Can't Poo bookYoga poses for constipation- Yoga JournalMore yoga poses for constipation- Verywell HealthResources on disorder of the gut-brain axis and more from GI PsychologyLet's get social!!Follow us on Instagram!Follow us on Facebook!Follow us on Twitter!

The hostilities initiated by the United States and Israel against Iran continue, with violence spreading across the region, impacting the Gulf oil trade and international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. It is imperative that the US and Israel, whose actions clearly violate the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, immediately cease their aggression.美国和以色列针对伊朗的敌对行动仍在继续，暴力在该地区蔓延，影响着海湾石油贸易和霍尔木兹海峡的国际航运。美国和以色列必须立即停止侵略，它们的行为显然违反了《联合国宪章》的宗旨和原则。Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had a series of telephone talks with his counterparts of different countries on Monday in which he stressed that countries must not be allowed to attack others at will, urging the international community to reject any act that violates international law to prevent the world from reverting to the law of the jungle.3月2日，外交部长王毅应约同伊朗外长阿拉格齐、法国外长巴罗、阿曼外交大臣巴德尔通电话，强调大国不能凭借军事优势任意攻击他国，国际社会对任何违反国际法的行为，都应予以抵制，世界不能退回到丛林法则。Speaking with his counterparts from Iran, Oman and France, Wang called for an immediate ceasefire to avoid further escalation of tensions and prevent the conflict from spreading to the entire Middle East. As Wang stressed, all parties should make joint efforts to prevent further spillover of the conflict, avert an irreversible deterioration of the humanitarian situation and support Oman in continuing its mediation efforts.王毅表示，中方已敦促美国、以色列立即停止军事行动，避免紧张事态进一步升级，防止战事扩大蔓延至整个中东地区。正如王毅所强调的，各方应共同努力，防止战火进一步外溢，避免人道主义局势不可逆转地恶化，支持阿曼继续发挥斡旋作用。The US-Israeli attacks on Iran and Iran's retaliatory strikes on Israel and US military bases in other Middle Eastern countries have resulted in a heavy loss of life, destruction of property and devastating consequences for international trade and global markets, as evidenced by the surge in oil prices and the retreat of equities. It is imperative that the hostilities end.美以对伊朗的袭击，以及伊朗对以色列和美国在中东其他国家军事基地的报复性打击，已造成重大人员伤亡和财产破坏，并对国际贸易和全球市场造成毁灭性影响，油价飙升和股市下跌就证明了这一点。必须立即停止敌对行动。As Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in reply to a question on the situation of the Strait of Hormuz, energy security is crucial to the global economy, and the countries concerned have a responsibility to ensure a stable and unimpeded energy supply. China urges all parties to safeguard the safety of navigation in the strait, and prevent further impact on the global economy.中国外交部发言人毛宁在回答有关霍尔木兹海峡局势的提问时表示，能源安全关系到全球经济和国际社会的共同利益，有关国家有责任维护能源供应的稳定和畅通。中方呼吁各方保障霍尔木兹海峡的通航安全，避免影响全球经济。But the situation remains in an escalating spiral, because the stated goal of the US and Israel is regime change in Iran. Iran will continue to retaliate strongly to calm domestic grief and seek vengeance for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This will lead to a protracted war that serves no party's interest.但局势仍在不断升级，因为美国和以色列的既定目标是改变伊朗的政权。伊朗将继续进行强烈报复，以平息国内的悲痛，并为伊朗最高领袖阿亚图拉·阿里·哈梅内伊被暗杀报仇。这将导致一场旷日持久的战争，不符合任何一方的利益。Under these circumstances, China has urged both sides to return to the negotiating table to cease the hostilities through dialogue. This approach aligns with the international consensus that sustainable peace can only be achieved through dialogue and negotiation. China's call for restraint and dialogue reflects its commitment to maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East.在此背景下，中方敦促双方回到谈判桌前，通过对话停止敌对行动。这一做法符合国际社会的共识，可持续和平只有通过对话和谈判才能实现。中国呼吁保持克制和对话，这反映了中国致力于维护中东和平与稳定的决心。Washington should heed the calls and concerns of the international community and the widespread domestic opposition to its military action against Iran. Opinion polls conducted by Reuters and CNN indicate that the majority of US citizens polled oppose the US attacks on Iran. The lack of congressional authorization for the attacks, a legal requirement for the US to wage war, has also sparked domestic criticism.华盛顿应该听取国际社会的呼声和关切，以及美国国内对其针对伊朗的军事行动的广泛反对。路透社和美国有线电视新闻网进行的民意调查显示，大多数接受调查的美国公民反对美国对伊朗的袭击。国会没有授权对伊朗发动袭击，而这是美国发动战争的法律要求，这在美国内部也引发了批评。History has repeatedly shown that war and aggression only lead to destruction and suffering. The current situation underscores the urgent need for all parties involved to exercise restraint and prioritize diplomatic engagement over military confrontation.历史一再表明，战争和侵略只会导致毁灭和苦难。当前局势凸显了有关各方保持克制、将外交谈判置于军事对抗之上的迫切需要。With US President Donald Trump warning that the war against Iran could go on for weeks, the potential for the situation to spiral out of control and spread further will only increase. The international community must recognize the gravity of the situation and work collectively to bring an end to the fighting, ensuring that the path forward is guided by responsible diplomacy, respect for sovereignty and adherence to international law.随着美国总统特朗普警告说，对伊朗的战争可能会持续数周，局势失控和进一步蔓延的可能性只会增加。国际社会必须认识到局势的严重性，共同努力结束战斗，确保以负责任的斡旋、尊重主权和遵守国际法为指导，找到前进的道路。Strait of Hormuz /streɪt əv hɔːˈmuːz/霍尔木兹海峡avert an irreversible deterioration /əˈvɜːrt æn ˌɪrɪˈvɜːrsəbl dɪˌtɪriəˈreɪʃn/避免局势不可逆转地恶化unimpeded /ˌʌnɪmˈpiːdɪd/畅通无阻的vengeance /ˈvendʒəns/报复；复仇protracted war /prəˈtræktɪd wɔːr/旷日持久的战争heed /hiːd/听从；关注

Someone's smile is often the first thing we notice in another person, but it reflects far more than appearance alone. Dentistry and oral health sit at the intersection of daily ritual and long-term disease prevention, shaping far more than just a smile. From the chemistry of fluoride strengthening enamel to the mechanics of toothbrushing and flossing that disrupt plaque before it hardens, small habits carry outsized impact. But with trends like oil pulling, activated charcoal, and “natural” oral care flooding social media, where does evidence end and myth begin? Do these alternatives actually protect our teeth and gums—or could they quietly do more harm than good?In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Connie Wang, DMD, PharmD, a board-certified pharmacist turned dentist based in Boston, MA.Dr. Wang received her Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) from the University of Rhode Island and Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. Now, Dr. Wang is a board-certified general dentist and the host of Just a Quick Pinch Podcast, a lifestyle and communications podcast for young women in healthcare.Follow Friends of Franz Podcast: Website, Instagram, FacebookFollow Christian Franz (Host): Instagram, YouTube

Wang v. University of Pittsburgh

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang

Audio Summary of the March 2026 Issue of JACC: Asia, by Dr. Jian'an Wang.

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang.

Commentary by Dr.  Jian'an Wang.

In this episode of DisrupTV, hosts R "Ray" Wang and Vala Afshar explore three critical performance levers in the AI era: negotiation strategy, meeting discipline, and founder focus. Brian Doyle (Holden Advisors) explains why AI-armed procurement teams are reshaping B2B negotiations—and why sellers must shift from discounting to outcome-based value conversations. Dr. Rebecca Hinds (Work Innovation Lab at Asana) reveals how modern meeting culture mirrors sabotage tactics—and how leaders can eliminate “meeting debt” using her 4D + CEO test. Venture capitalist Dr. Igor Ryabenkiy shares why ruthless focus—not feature sprawl—is the hidden engine behind unicorn startups. If you want to protect margin, reclaim your calendar, and build with clarity in an attention-scarce economy, this episode delivers practical frameworks you can apply immediately.

China firmly opposes and strongly condemns the attack on Iran and the killing of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by the United States and Israel, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Sunday, while experts warned that the joint military strikes will have far-reaching repercussions in the region and the world.外交部发言人3月1日表示，中方坚决反对并强烈谴责美国和以色列对伊朗发动的袭击以及刺杀伊朗最高领袖哈梅内伊的行为。专家警告称，此次联合军事行动将对该地区乃至全世界产生深远影响。Calling the attack a grave violation of Iran's sovereignty and security, the spokesperson said it also tramples on the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter and basic norms governing international relations. "We urge an immediate stop to the military operations, no further escalation of the tense situation, and joint effort to maintain peace and stability in the Middle East and the world at large," the spokesperson added.发言人在回答记者提问时表示，袭击并杀害伊朗最高领导人，严重侵犯伊朗主权安全，践踏《联合国宪章》宗旨原则和国际关系基本准则，中方对此予以坚决反对和强烈谴责。"我们敦促立即停止军事行动，避免紧张事态进一步升级，共同维护中东和世界和平稳定。"发言人强调。The US-Israeli airstrikes, which entered a second day on Sunday, have killed more than 200 people in Iran, including Khamenei, 86, and dozens of students at a girls' primary school in the southern part of the country, according to Iranian authorities.据伊朗官方证实，美以空袭进入第二天，已造成伊朗境内200余人死亡，包括86岁的最高领袖哈梅内伊，以及该国南部一所女子小学的数十名学生。The joint strikes have drawn the Middle East into unknown territory, as Iran has retaliated by firing missiles targeting Israel and 27 US military bases in the region.此次联合打击使中东地区局势进入未知境地，伊朗已向以色列及该地区27处美军基地发射导弹作为报复。The attack has opened a dangerous new chapter in terms of US intervention in Iran, marking the second time in over eight months that the US and Israel have attacked Iran amid negotiations over its nuclear program.此次袭击开启了美国干预伊朗事务的危险新篇章，这是八个多月以来，美以在其核计划谈判期间第二次对伊朗发动袭击。On Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sharply criticized the strikes in a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, calling for an immediate cessation of US-Israel military operations in Iran, a prompt return to dialogue and negotiations, and joint opposition to such unilateral actions. Wang said that China has consistently advocated adherence to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter and is opposed to the use of force in international relations.3月1日，外交部长王毅同俄罗斯外长拉夫罗夫通电话时严厉批评了此次袭击行动。王毅呼吁立即停止军事行动，尽快重回对话谈判，共同反对单边行径。王毅表示，中方一贯主张遵守联合国宪章宗旨原则，反对在国际关系中使用武力。The blatant killing of a leader of a sovereign state and the incitement of regime change are "unacceptable", he said, adding that these actions "violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations".在国际关系中动辄使用武力，公然击杀一个主权国家领导人、鼓动政权更迭，这种行为"不可接受"，他补充说，这些行为"违反了国际法和国际关系基本准则"。Noting that the conflict has spread throughout the Persian Gulf, Wang said the situation may be pushed into a dangerous abyss, and China is highly concerned about this. He emphasized that launching military strikes against a sovereign state without the authorization of the UN Security Council undermines the foundation for peace established after World War II.王毅指出，目前战事已延烧至整个波斯湾，中东局势有可能被推向危险的深渊，中方对此高度关切。他强调，未经联合国安理会授权对主权国家大打出手，破坏二战之后建立的和平根基。Wang called on the international community to clearly and unequivocally voice opposition to the world regressing to the law of the jungle.王毅呼吁国际社会应当发出明确、清晰声音，反对世界倒退回丛林法则。Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the killing of Khamenei was a "declaration of war against Muslims". Iran issued a statement vowing that this "great crime will never go unanswered", its official news agency IRNA reported.伊朗总统佩泽希齐扬表示，刺杀哈梅内伊是对"穆斯林的宣战"。伊朗官方通讯社援引伊方声明称，这一"重大罪行绝不会得不到回应"。Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera network on Sunday that a new supreme leader will be chosen in "one or two days". Iran's semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that leadership duties would temporarily be assumed by the Iranian president, the judiciary chief and a jurist from the nation's Constitutional Council.伊朗外长阿拉格齐3月1日告诉半岛电视台，将在"一两天内"选出新的最高领袖。伊朗塔斯尼姆通讯社报道，领导职责将暂时由伊朗总统、司法部长和宪法监护委员会的一名法学家共同承担。Local media reports quoted Iran's Revolutionary Guard as saying that the Strait of Hormuz — a vital waterway for oil and gas shipments — was restricted to vessels on Saturday.当地媒体报道援引伊朗革命卫队称，霍尔木兹海峡——这一至关重要的油气运输水道——已于2月28日对船只实施限制。Jasim Al-Azzawi, an analyst in Iraq, said the conflict already looked broader and deeper than the 12-day Israel-Iran war in June last year.伊拉克分析人士阿扎维表示，此次冲突的广度和深度已经超过去年6月以色列与伊朗为期12天的战争。The recent strikes "followed mediators' announcement of a significant 'breakthrough' in negotiations", with talks set to resume last week, Al-Azzawi told Al Jazeera, adding that "clearly, diplomacy was never meant to succeed and was merely used to mask war plans".他指出，最近的袭击发生在调解人宣布谈判取得重大"突破"之后，原定上周恢复谈判，"显然，外交从未真正打算成功，只是用来掩盖战争计划的幌子"。"From the timing of the attack, it is apparent that Washington and Tel Aviv had already made up their minds weeks ago. Iran's readiness to retaliate across the region suggests it is willing to wage a long war rather than compromise," he added."从袭击时机来看，华盛顿和特拉维夫显然数周前就已下定决心。伊朗准备在整个地区进行报复，这表明它愿意打一场持久战，而不是妥协。"他补充道。Sun Degang, director of Fudan University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies in Shanghai, said the previous rounds of talks between the US and Iran appear to have been a mere delaying tactic, giving time for US-Israeli military deployments.复旦大学中东研究中心主任孙德刚分析认为，前几轮美伊谈判似乎只是拖延战术，为美以军事部署争取时间。"The US and Israel, seeking a pretext for military action against Iran, used the talks to enable the deployment of two US aircraft carriers to the Middle East," he said."美国和以色列在寻求对伊朗采取军事行动的借口时，利用谈判促成了两艘美国航母向中东的部署。"Sun added that the recent strikes in Iran may be the beginning of a full-scale conflict, as this time, Iran's determination to retaliate is significantly greater, potentially leading to the mobilization of its full capabilities to counter US-Israeli actions".他表示，此次对伊朗的打击可能是全面冲突的开端，因为这一次伊朗报复的决心明显更大，可能会调动全部能力来反击美以行动。Yan Wei, deputy director of the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at China's Northwest University, pointed out that Iran's retaliatory actions may lead to the US and Israel taking further escalatory measures.西北大学中东研究所副所长闫伟指出，伊朗的报复行动可能导致美以采取进一步升级措施。"In addition to intensifying military strikes and potentially expanding the range of targets, the US and Israel may further tighten economic sanctions on Iran, and step up information campaigns aimed at weakening the Iranian government's domestic and international standing," he said."除了加强军事打击和可能扩大目标范围外，美以可能进一步收紧对伊朗的经济制裁，并加大信息宣传力度，以削弱伊朗政府在国内外地位。"Emphasizing that the US-Israeli strikes in Iran constitute violations of the UN principles and international law, Yan urged nations in the Global South, as well as the UN, to unite to promote peace, end the conflict and resolve the Iranian nuclear issue through political means.他强调美以在伊朗的打击行为违反联合国原则和国际法，敦促全球南方国家以及联合国团结起来，促进和平，结束冲突，通过政治手段解决伊朗核问题。far-reaching repercussion /ˈfɑːˈriːtʃɪŋ ˌriːpəˈkʌʃən/深远影响grave violation /ɡreɪv ˌvaɪəˈleɪʃən/严重侵犯retaliate /rɪˈtælieɪt/报复blatant /ˈbleɪtənt/公然的incitement of regime change /ɪnˈsaɪtmənt ɒv reɪˈʒiːm tʃeɪndʒ/煽动政权更迭abyss /əˈbɪs/深渊unequivocally /ˌʌnɪˈkwɪvəkəli/明确地

tariff free listening. PLAYLIST: Artist Song Release Released Label Insectarium The child’s laugh Electric Dead Speak. Music Inspired by the Electronic Voice Phenomenon 2026 Eighth Tower Records Malfunkshun The Malfunkshun Freedom 2007 Wammybox Records Kevin Ayers & The Whole Wide … Continue reading →

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Casber Wang of Sapphire Ventures Hemant Mohapatra of Lightspeed India Lara Banks of Makena Capital Management We asked guests for the most important piece of advice that they'd share with folks early in their venture career. The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. We're proud to partner with Ramp, the modern finance automation platform. Book a demo and get $150—no strings attached.   Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter.

We are so close to the weekend, and so close to the dumb with whippet guy and lighting spiders on fire in the Ill-Advised News. We have Anthony’s workplace rant, the accent duel, and a song about our text line. We remember the time they did that thing without asking, Cass is seriously tested with The Border Game, and we learn the science behind why hoes don’t get cold. Enjoy the fairy tale about pigeon wang, and we will see you tomorrow! Support the show and follow us here Twitter, Insta, Apple, Amazon, Spotify and the Edge! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey CX Nation,In this week's episode of The CXChronicles Podcast #278, we welcomed Ryan Wang, Co-Founder & CEO of Assembled based in San Francisco, CA.Industry leaders like Etsy, Robinhood, and Stripe trust Assembled to provide customer-facing AI agents and workforce planning at scale. Assembled automatically resolves millions of interactions through chat, email, and phone while optimizing staffing for hundreds of thousands of support professionals. Their mission is to elevate customer support through AI-powered software that makes life easier for customers and employees.In this episode, Ryan and Adrian chat through the Four CX Pillars: Team, Tools, Process & Feedback. Plus share some of the ideas that his team think through on a daily basis to build world class customer experiences.**Episode #278 Highlight Reel:**1. Building a high-performing team in the AI age 2. Shift towards AI-driven skill sets in the workforce 3. Creating a culture of continuous learning  4. Focusing on customer feedback early & often 5. Keeping your team lean & flexible as you scale Click here to learn more about Ryan WangClick here to learn more about AssembledHuge thanks to Ryan for coming on The CXChronicles Podcast and featuring his work and efforts in pushing the customer experience & contact center space into the future. For all of our Apple & Spotify podcast listener friends, make sure you are following CXC & please leave a 5 star review so we can find new members of the "CX Nation". You know what would be even better?Go tell your friends or teammates about CXC's custom content, strategic partner solutions (Hubspot, Intercom, & Freshworks) & On-Demand services & invite them to join the CX Nation, a community of 15K+ customer focused business leaders!Want to see how your customer experience compares to the world's top-performing customer focused companies? Thanks to all of you for being apart of the "CX Nation" and helping customer focused business leaders across the world make happiness a habit!Reach Out To CXC Today!Support the showContact CXChronicles Today Tweet us @cxchronicles Check out our Instagram @cxchronicles Click here to checkout the CXC website Email us at info@cxchronicles.com Remember To Make Happiness A Habit!!

Thanks for tuning in. Renew Church OC is a church for imperfect people only. Come visit us at: 1 Civic Center Cir Brea, CA 92821 | Renew Has 2 Main Service Times: 9AM and 10:45AM 9AM: Children, Youth and Main Service 10:45: Main Service, Sunday School and Childcare | For more information: www.renewchurchoc.com | For tax deductible giving to Renew: Www.renewchurchoc.com/give | For more resources: | Roy Kim developed a video series to help Sexual Addiction Sobriety Groups. www.newlegacycounseling.com/self-guided…iety-group/ | Roy and I host a 3 part series on Sexual Addiction in our podcast. Here is the first one; I would love to have you listen and give us some feedback. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…i=1000610037470 | Pastor Wilson and Roy Kim MFT podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…i=1000578749653 | Pastor Wilson and Nina's children's books series and adulting journal www.calledtobeproject.com

Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Ascending Taishan: A Journey of Courage and Legacy Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2026-02-23-23-34-02-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 年终的泰山，白雪皑皑，风如刀割。En: At the end of the year on Taishan, the snow was glistening white, and the wind cut like a knife.Zh: 路上的积雪在太阳的映照下闪闪发光。En: The snow on the road sparkled under the sunlight.Zh: 杰，一个年轻的学生，站在山脚下，深深吸了一口冰冷的空气。En: Jie, a young student, stood at the foot of the mountain, taking a deep breath of the icy air.Zh: 他抬头看着要征服的高峰，心中既有期待也有恐惧。En: He looked up at the peak he was about to conquer, feeling both anticipation and fear in his heart.Zh: 每年的元宵节，杰都会和奶奶一起在泰山顶上放灯笼。En: Every year during the Lantern Festival, Jie would light a lantern on top of Taishan with his grandmother.Zh: 这是家族的传统，是为了纪念过世的亲人。En: It was a family tradition to commemorate departed relatives.Zh: 去年，奶奶永远地离开了。En: Last year, his grandmother passed away forever.Zh: 这次，他要一个人完成这个任务。En: This time, he had to complete this task alone.Zh: 他知道，这不仅是向奶奶，也是向他自己证明勇气与坚韧的旅程。En: He knew it was a journey to prove courage and resilience not only to his grandmother but also to himself.Zh: 然而，杰怕高，一想到在高处可能失去的平衡，他的脚便不自觉地发抖。En: However, Jie was afraid of heights, and the thought of losing his balance at high altitudes made his feet tremble involuntarily.Zh: 李娜与王是他的同学，也是他的好朋友。En: Lina and Wang were his classmates and good friends.Zh: 他们都答应陪他一起，却因为学校的事情没能来。En: They had promised to accompany him, but due to school matters, they couldn't come.Zh: 杰知道这次他必须一个人完成。En: Jie knew he had to do it alone this time.Zh: 他背上他的旧背包，里面装着一个红色的灯笼和一盒火柴，为了在山顶上怀念奶奶。En: He strapped on his old backpack, which contained a red lantern and a box of matches, to commemorate his grandmother at the mountain top.Zh: 一开始，路非常平坦，杰走得很轻松。En: Initially, the road was very flat, and Jie walked easily.Zh: 但没过多久，山路开始变陡，到处都是冰滑的地方。En: But it wasn't long before the mountain path became steep, with slippery icy spots everywhere.Zh: 他小心翼翼地迈出每一步，手指紧紧握住铁链，心跳得如同擂鼓。En: He carefully took each step, his fingers tightly gripping the iron chain, his heart pounding like a drum.Zh: 他头一次感觉到无助的恐惧，但他没有退却。En: For the first time, he felt helpless fear, but he didn't retreat.Zh: 他心中只有一个念头：到山顶，把灯笼放飞。En: He had only one thought in his mind: reach the top and let the lantern fly.Zh: 走到半山腰，杰停下来休息，想起奶奶温暖的笑容。En: Halfway up the mountain, Jie stopped to rest and recalled his grandmother's warm smile.Zh: 他心中一阵温暖，决定继续前行。En: A wave of warmth surged in his heart, and he decided to keep going.Zh: 风再次变得猛烈，路面更加难行。En: The wind grew fierce once more, making the path even harder to navigate.Zh: 前方的一个转弯，风把积雪吹得模糊了路。En: At a turn ahead, the wind blew the snow, obscuring the road.Zh: 这个险要的地方让杰犹豫不决。En: This treacherous spot made Jie hesitant.Zh: 他想过放弃，想过回头，但转念一想，这是为了奶奶，他的脚步坚定了。En: He thought about giving up, about turning back, but then he remembered it was for his grandmother, and his steps became firm again.Zh: 不知过了多久，杰终于看到了山顶的石碑。En: After what seemed like ages, Jie finally saw the stone monument at the mountain's summit.Zh: 他的心灵一阵激动，眼泪也随之流下。En: His spirit surged with excitement, and tears began to flow.Zh: 他小心翼翼地在广场上找到了一个风稍微小一点的地方，把灯笼取出，点燃，轻声祈祷。En: He cautiously found a spot in the square where the wind was slightly less strong, took out the lantern, and lit it, whispering a prayer.Zh: 他闭上眼睛，仿佛看见奶奶就在旁边微笑。En: He closed his eyes, as if he could see his grandmother smiling beside him.Zh: 灯笼在夜空中飘得越来越高，像一个微小的星星。En: The lantern floated higher and higher into the night sky, like a tiny star.Zh: 杰的心中充满了平静和满足。En: Jie felt a deep sense of peace and fulfillment in his heart.Zh: 他明白，自己不仅完成了家族的传统，更突破了自己的恐惧。En: He realized that he had not only fulfilled a family tradition but also overcome his fears.Zh: 从这个夜晚起，杰变得更加自信。En: From that night on, Jie became more confident.Zh: 他知道，奶奶一直在他的心中。En: He knew his grandmother was always in his heart.Zh: 无论任何挑战，他都有勇气去面对。En: No matter what challenges he faced, he would have the courage to confront them.Zh: 回程的路，尽管依然艰难，但杰走得更加坚定。En: On the return journey, though still difficult, Jie walked with greater determination.Zh: 泰山下，依旧白雪覆盖，但他的心中却是温暖如春的。En: The base of Taishan remained covered in snow, but his heart was warm like spring.Zh: 元宵的灯火照亮了路，也照亮了他的心。En: The lantern light of Lantern Festival illuminated the path and his heart.Zh: 杰知道，这次的旅程，已经不再仅仅是为了纪念，而是他对自己和亲人的一种追忆和承诺。En: Jie realized that this journey was no longer just a commemoration, but a remembrance and promise to himself and his loved ones. Vocabulary Words:glistening: 闪闪发光anticipation: 期待commemorate: 纪念departed: 离开resilience: 坚韧involuntarily: 不自觉地tremble: 发抖strapped: 背上slippery: 冰滑的gripping: 握住retreat: 退却helpless: 无助的treacherous: 险要的summit: 山顶excitement: 激动fulfillment: 满足navigate: 前行obscuring: 模糊determination: 坚定monument: 石碑involuntarily: 不自觉地confront: 面对fulfill: 完成ignite: 点燃prayer: 祈祷surged: 涌overcome: 突破hesitant: 犹豫promise: 承诺conquer: 征服

The Dad Bros watched the Super Bowl. The Minnesota immigration crackdown winds down. The FAA haulted flights in El Passo for 10 days but ended it in hours. An autistic woman caught in the middle of Minnesota fraud crisis. Josh and Jon learn about Peyronie’s disease and Xiaflex. Drink of the Show: Mic Drop Rye Whiskey SHOW LINKS Bad Bunny Reaction Homan Leaves Minnesota El Paso Flights Grounded 10 Days Women Evicted During  XIAFLEX Commercial For Bent Wang’s Guthrie Kidnapping a Commercial? Secret Link Visit DadBros.com Follow the Dad Bros Show on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter Contact the Dad Bros: 1-844-DadTalk or Email Us Patreon Special thanks to: @LadyMpire & Beer Man Mark The post Ep 644 – Bent Wang appeared first on Dad Bros.

In this episode, Ty Wang, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Angle Health, shares how his team is rethinking health plan infrastructure to move beyond transactional payer provider relationships. He discusses modernizing operations with AI, improving transparency for employers and brokers, and aligning incentives around outcomes, affordability, and member experience.

Is academic dishonesty connected to political power in China? That question is explored in a new paper from Shaoda Wang, Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Wang and his co-authors explore how plagiarism detection in graduate dissertations is connected to patterns of cheating in career paths and institutional behavior. What lessons might this hold for politics, meritocracy, and institutional performance elsewhere? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tickets for AIEi Miami and AIE Europe are live, with first wave speakers announced!From pioneering software-defined networking to backing many of the most aggressive AI model companies of this cycle, Martin Casado and Sarah Wang sit at the center of the capital, compute, and talent arms race reshaping the tech industry. As partners at a16z investing across infrastructure and growth, they've watched venture and growth blur, model labs turn dollars into capability at unprecedented speed, and startups raise nine-figure rounds before monetization.Martin and Sarah join us to unpack the new financing playbook for AI: why today's rounds are really compute contracts in disguise, how the “raise → train → ship → raise bigger” flywheel works, and whether foundation model companies can outspend the entire app ecosystem built on top of them. They also share what's underhyped (boring enterprise software), what's overheated (talent wars and compensation spirals), and the two radically different futures they see for AI's market structure.We discuss:* Martin's “two futures” fork: infinite fragmentation and new software categories vs. a small oligopoly of general models that consume everything above them* The capital flywheel: how model labs translate funding directly into capability gains, then into revenue growth measured in weeks, not years* Why venture and growth have merged: $100M–$1B hybrid rounds, strategic investors, compute negotiations, and complex deal structures* The AGI vs. product tension: allocating scarce GPUs between long-term research and near-term revenue flywheels* Whether frontier labs can out-raise and outspend the entire app ecosystem built on top of their APIs* Why today's talent wars ($10M+ comp packages, $B acqui-hires) are breaking early-stage founder math* Cursor as a case study: building up from the app layer while training down into your own models* Why “boring” enterprise software may be the most underinvested opportunity in the AI mania* Hardware and robotics: why the ChatGPT moment hasn't yet arrived for robots and what would need to change* World Labs and generative 3D: bringing the marginal cost of 3D scene creation down by orders of magnitude* Why public AI discourse is often wildly disconnected from boardroom reality and how founders should navigate the noiseShow Notes:* “Where Value Will Accrue in AI: Martin Casado & Sarah Wang” - a16z show* “Jack Altman & Martin Casado on the Future of Venture Capital”* World Labs—Martin Casado• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martincasado/• X: https://x.com/martin_casadoSarah Wang• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-wang-59b96a7• X: https://x.com/sarahdingwanga16z• https://a16z.com/Timestamps00:00:00 – Intro: Live from a16z00:01:20 – The New AI Funding Model: Venture + Growth Collide00:03:19 – Circular Funding, Demand & “No Dark GPUs”00:05:24 – Infrastructure vs Apps: The Lines Blur00:06:24 – The Capital Flywheel: Raise → Train → Ship → Raise Bigger00:09:39 – Can Frontier Labs Outspend the Entire App Ecosystem?00:11:24 – Character AI & The AGI vs Product Dilemma00:14:39 – Talent Wars, $10M Engineers & Founder Anxiety00:17:33 – What's Underinvested? The Case for “Boring” Software00:19:29 – Robotics, Hardware & Why It's Hard to Win00:22:42 – Custom ASICs & The $1B Training Run Economics00:24:23 – American Dynamism, Geography & AI Power Centers00:26:48 – How AI Is Changing the Investor Workflow (Claude Cowork)00:29:12 – Two Futures of AI: Infinite Expansion or Oligopoly?00:32:48 – If You Can Raise More Than Your Ecosystem, You Win00:34:27 – Are All Tasks AGI-Complete? Coding as the Test Case00:38:55 – Cursor & The Power of the App Layer00:44:05 – World Labs, Spatial Intelligence & 3D Foundation Models00:47:20 – Thinking Machines, Founder Drama & Media Narratives00:52:30 – Where Long-Term Power Accrues in the AI StackTranscriptLatent.Space - Inside AI's $10B+ Capital Flywheel — Martin Casado & Sarah Wang of a16z[00:00:00] Welcome to Latent Space (Live from a16z) + Meet the Guests[00:00:00] Alessio: Hey everyone. Welcome to the Latent Space podcast, live from a 16 z. Uh, this is Alessio founder Kernel Lance, and I'm joined by Twix, editor of Latent Space.[00:00:08] swyx: Hey, hey, hey. Uh, and we're so glad to be on with you guys. Also a top AI podcast, uh, Martin Cado and Sarah Wang. Welcome, very[00:00:16] Martin Casado: happy to be here and welcome.[00:00:17] swyx: Yes, uh, we love this office. We love what you've done with the place. Uh, the new logo is everywhere now. It's, it's still getting, takes a while to get used to, but it reminds me of like sort of a callback to a more ambitious age, which I think is kind of[00:00:31] Martin Casado: definitely makes a statement.[00:00:33] swyx: Yeah.[00:00:34] Martin Casado: Not quite sure what that statement is, but it makes a statement.[00:00:37] swyx: Uh, Martin, I go back with you to Netlify.[00:00:40] Martin Casado: Yep.[00:00:40] swyx: Uh, and, uh, you know, you create a software defined networking and all, all that stuff people can read up on your background. Yep. Sarah, I'm newer to you. Uh, you, you sort of started working together on AI infrastructure stuff.[00:00:51] Sarah Wang: That's right. Yeah. Seven, seven years ago now.[00:00:53] Martin Casado: Best growth investor in the entire industry.[00:00:55] swyx: Oh, say[00:00:56] Martin Casado: more hands down there is, there is. [00:01:00] I mean, when it comes to AI companies, Sarah, I think has done the most kind of aggressive, um, investment thesis around AI models, right? So, worked for Nom Ja, Mira Ia, FEI Fey, and so just these frontier, kind of like large AI models.[00:01:15] I think, you know, Sarah's been the, the broadest investor. Is that fair?[00:01:20] Venture vs. Growth in the Frontier Model Era[00:01:20] Sarah Wang: No, I, well, I was gonna say, I think it's been a really interesting tag, tag team actually just ‘cause the, a lot of these big C deals, not only are they raising a lot of money, um, it's still a tech founder bet, which obviously is inherently early stage.[00:01:33] But the resources,[00:01:36] Martin Casado: so many, I[00:01:36] Sarah Wang: was gonna say the resources one, they just grow really quickly. But then two, the resources that they need day one are kind of growth scale. So I, the hybrid tag team that we have is. Quite effective, I think,[00:01:46] Martin Casado: what is growth these days? You know, you don't wake up if it's less than a billion or like, it's, it's actually, it's actually very like, like no, it's a very interesting time in investing because like, you know, take like the character around, right?[00:01:59] These tend to [00:02:00] be like pre monetization, but the dollars are large enough that you need to have a larger fund and the analysis. You know, because you've got lots of users. ‘cause this stuff has such high demand requires, you know, more of a number sophistication. And so most of these deals, whether it's US or other firms on these large model companies, are like this hybrid between venture growth.[00:02:18] Sarah Wang: Yeah. Total. And I think, you know, stuff like BD for example, you wouldn't usually need BD when you were seed stage trying to get market biz Devrel. Biz Devrel, exactly. Okay. But like now, sorry, I'm,[00:02:27] swyx: I'm not familiar. What, what, what does biz Devrel mean for a venture fund? Because I know what biz Devrel means for a company.[00:02:31] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:02:32] Compute Deals, Strategics, and the ‘Circular Funding' Question[00:02:32] Sarah Wang: You know, so a, a good example is, I mean, we talk about buying compute, but there's a huge negotiation involved there in terms of, okay, do you get equity for the compute? What, what sort of partner are you looking at? Is there a go-to market arm to that? Um, and these are just things on this scale, hundreds of millions, you know, maybe.[00:02:50] Six months into the inception of a company, you just wouldn't have to negotiate these deals before.[00:02:54] Martin Casado: Yeah. These large rounds are very complex now. Like in the past, if you did a series A [00:03:00] or a series B, like whatever, you're writing a 20 to a $60 million check and you call it a day. Now you normally have financial investors and strategic investors, and then the strategic portion always still goes with like these kind of large compute contracts, which can take months to do.[00:03:13] And so it's, it's very different ties. I've been doing this for 10 years. It's the, I've never seen anything like this.[00:03:19] swyx: Yeah. Do you have worries about the circular funding from so disease strategics?[00:03:24] Martin Casado: I mean, listen, as long as the demand is there, like the demand is there. Like the problem with the internet is the demand wasn't there.[00:03:29] swyx: Exactly. All right. This, this is like the, the whole pyramid scheme bubble thing, where like, as long as you mark to market on like the notional value of like, these deals, fine, but like once it starts to chip away, it really Well[00:03:41] Martin Casado: no, like as, as, as, as long as there's demand. I mean, you know, this, this is like a lot of these sound bites have already become kind of cliches, but they're worth saying it.[00:03:47] Right? Like during the internet days, like we were. Um, raising money to put fiber in the ground that wasn't used. And that's a problem, right? Because now you actually have a supply overhang.[00:03:58] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:03:59] Martin Casado: And even in the, [00:04:00] the time of the, the internet, like the supply and, and bandwidth overhang, even as massive as it was in, as massive as the crash was only lasted about four years.[00:04:09] But we don't have a supply overhang. Like there's no dark GPUs, right? I mean, and so, you know, circular or not, I mean, you know, if, if someone invests in a company that, um. You know, they'll actually use the GPUs. And on the other side of it is the, is the ask for customer. So I I, I think it's a different time.[00:04:25] Sarah Wang: I think the other piece, maybe just to add onto this, and I'm gonna quote Martine in front of him, but this is probably also a unique time in that. For the first time, you can actually trace dollars to outcomes. Yeah, right. Provided that scaling laws are, are holding, um, and capabilities are actually moving forward.[00:04:40] Because if you can put translate dollars into capabilities, uh, a capability improvement, there's demand there to martine's point. But if that somehow breaks, you know, obviously that's an important assumption in this whole thing to make it work. But you know, instead of investing dollars into sales and marketing, you're, you're investing into r and d to get to the capability, um, you know, increase.[00:04:59] And [00:05:00] that's sort of been the demand driver because. Once there's an unlock there, people are willing to pay for it.[00:05:05] Alessio: Yeah.[00:05:06] Blurring Lines: Models as Infra + Apps, and the New Fundraising Flywheel[00:05:06] Alessio: Is there any difference in how you built the portfolio now that some of your growth companies are, like the infrastructure of the early stage companies, like, you know, OpenAI is now the same size as some of the cloud providers were early on.[00:05:16] Like what does that look like? Like how much information can you feed off each other between the, the two?[00:05:24] Martin Casado: There's so many lines that are being crossed right now, or blurred. Right. So we already talked about venture and growth. Another one that's being blurred is between infrastructure and apps, right? So like what is a model company?[00:05:35] Mm-hmm. Like, it's clearly infrastructure, right? Because it's like, you know, it's doing kind of core r and d. It's a horizontal platform, but it's also an app because it's um, uh, touches the users directly. And then of course. You know, the, the, the growth of these is just so high. And so I actually think you're just starting to see a, a, a new financing strategy emerge and, you know, we've had to adapt as a result of that.[00:05:59] And [00:06:00] so there's been a lot of changes. Um, you're right that these companies become platform companies very quickly. You've got ecosystem build out. So none of this is necessarily new, but the timescales of which it's happened is pretty phenomenal. And the way we'd normally cut lines before is blurred a little bit, but.[00:06:16] But that, that, that said, I mean, a lot of it also just does feel like things that we've seen in the past, like cloud build out the internet build out as well.[00:06:24] Sarah Wang: Yeah. Um, yeah, I think it's interesting, uh, I don't know if you guys would agree with this, but it feels like the emerging strategy is, and this builds off of your other question, um.[00:06:33] You raise money for compute, you pour that or you, you pour the money into compute, you get some sort of breakthrough. You funnel the breakthrough into your vertically integrated application. That could be chat GBT, that could be cloud code, you know, whatever it is. You massively gain share and get users.[00:06:49] Maybe you're even subsidizing at that point. Um, depending on your strategy. You raise money at the peak momentum and then you repeat, rinse and repeat. Um, and so. And that wasn't [00:07:00] true even two years ago, I think. Mm-hmm. And so it's sort of to your, just tying it to fundraising strategy, right? There's a, and hiring strategy.[00:07:07] All of these are tied, I think the lines are blurring even more today where everyone is, and they, but of course these companies all have API businesses and so they're these, these frenemy lines that are getting blurred in that a lot of, I mean, they have billions of dollars of API revenue, right? And so there are customers there.[00:07:23] But they're competing on the app layer.[00:07:24] Martin Casado: Yeah. So this is a really, really important point. So I, I would say for sure, venture and growth, that line is blurry app and infrastructure. That line is blurry. Um, but I don't think that that changes our practice so much. But like where the very open questions are like, does this layer in the same way.[00:07:43] Compute traditionally has like during the cloud is like, you know, like whatever, somebody wins one layer, but then another whole set of companies wins another layer. But that might not, might not be the case here. It may be the case that you actually can't verticalize on the token string. Like you can't build an app like it, it necessarily goes down just because there are no [00:08:00] abstractions.[00:08:00] So those are kinda the bigger existential questions we ask. Another thing that is very different this time than in the history of computer sciences is. In the past, if you raised money, then you basically had to wait for engineering to catch up. Which famously doesn't scale like the mythical mammoth. It take a very long time.[00:08:18] But like that's not the case here. Like a model company can raise money and drop a model in a, in a year, and it's better, right? And, and it does it with a team of 20 people or 10 people. So this type of like money entering a company and then producing something that has demand and growth right away and using that to raise more money is a very different capital flywheel than we've ever seen before.[00:08:39] And I think everybody's trying to understand what the consequences are. So I think it's less about like. Big companies and growth and this, and more about these more systemic questions that we actually don't have answers to.[00:08:49] Alessio: Yeah, like at Kernel Labs, one of our ideas is like if you had unlimited money to spend productively to turn tokens into products, like the whole early stage [00:09:00] market is very different because today you're investing X amount of capital to win a deal because of price structure and whatnot, and you're kind of pot committing.[00:09:07] Yeah. To a certain strategy for a certain amount of time. Yeah. But if you could like iteratively spin out companies and products and just throw, I, I wanna spend a million dollar of inference today and get a product out tomorrow.[00:09:18] swyx: Yeah.[00:09:19] Alessio: Like, we should get to the point where like the friction of like token to product is so low that you can do this and then you can change the Right, the early stage venture model to be much more iterative.[00:09:30] And then every round is like either 100 k of inference or like a hundred million from a 16 Z. There's no, there's no like $8 million C round anymore. Right.[00:09:38] When Frontier Labs Outspend the Entire App Ecosystem[00:09:38] Martin Casado: But, but, but, but there's a, there's a, the, an industry structural question that we don't know the answer to, which involves the frontier models, which is, let's take.[00:09:48] Anthropic it. Let's say Anthropic has a state-of-the-art model that has some large percentage of market share. And let's say that, uh, uh, uh, you know, uh, a company's building smaller models [00:10:00] that, you know, use the bigger model in the background, open 4.5, but they add value on top of that. Now, if Anthropic can raise three times more.[00:10:10] Every subsequent round, they probably can raise more money than the entire app ecosystem that's built on top of it. And if that's the case, they can expand beyond everything built on top of it. It's like imagine like a star that's just kind of expanding, so there could be a systemic. There could be a, a systemic situation where the soda models can raise so much money that they can out pay anybody that bills on top of ‘em, which would be something I don't think we've ever seen before just because we were so bottlenecked in engineering, and this is a very open question.[00:10:41] swyx: Yeah. It's, it is almost like bitter lesson applied to the startup industry.[00:10:45] Martin Casado: Yeah, a hundred percent. It literally becomes an issue of like raise capital, turn that directly into growth. Use that to raise three times more. Exactly. And if you can keep doing that, you literally can outspend any company that's built the, not any company.[00:10:57] You can outspend the aggregate of companies on top of [00:11:00] you and therefore you'll necessarily take their share, which is crazy.[00:11:02] swyx: Would you say that kind of happens in character? Is that the, the sort of postmortem on. What happened?[00:11:10] Sarah Wang: Um,[00:11:10] Martin Casado: no.[00:11:12] Sarah Wang: Yeah, because I think so,[00:11:13] swyx: I mean the actual postmortem is, he wanted to go back to Google.[00:11:15] Exactly. But like[00:11:18] Martin Casado: that's another difference that[00:11:19] Sarah Wang: you said[00:11:21] Martin Casado: it. We should talk, we should actually talk about that.[00:11:22] swyx: Yeah,[00:11:22] Sarah Wang: that's[00:11:23] swyx: Go for it. Take it. Take,[00:11:23] Sarah Wang: yeah.[00:11:24] Character.AI, Founder Goals (AGI vs Product), and GPU Allocation Tradeoffs[00:11:24] Sarah Wang: I was gonna say, I think, um. The, the, the character thing raises actually a different issue, which actually the Frontier Labs will face as well. So we'll see how they handle it.[00:11:34] But, um, so we invest in character in January, 2023, which feels like eons ago, I mean, three years ago. Feels like lifetimes ago. But, um, and then they, uh, did the IP licensing deal with Google in August, 2020. Uh, four. And so, um, you know, at the time, no, you know, he's talked publicly about this, right? He wanted to Google wouldn't let him put out products in the world.[00:11:56] That's obviously changed drastically. But, um, he went to go do [00:12:00] that. Um, but he had a product attached. The goal was, I mean, it's Nome Shair, he wanted to get to a GI. That was always his personal goal. But, you know, I think through collecting data, right, and this sort of very human use case, that the character product.[00:12:13] Originally was and still is, um, was one of the vehicles to do that. Um, I think the real reason that, you know. I if you think about the, the stress that any company feels before, um, you ultimately going one way or the other is sort of this a GI versus product. Um, and I think a lot of the big, I think, you know, opening eyes, feeling that, um, anthropic if they haven't started, you know, felt it, certainly given the success of their products, they may start to feel that soon.[00:12:39] And the real. I think there's real trade-offs, right? It's like how many, when you think about GPUs, that's a limited resource. Where do you allocate the GPUs? Is it toward the product? Is it toward new re research? Right? Is it, or long-term research, is it toward, um, n you know, near to midterm research? And so, um, in a case where you're resource constrained, um, [00:13:00] of course there's this fundraising game you can play, right?[00:13:01] But the fund, the market was very different back in 2023 too. Um. I think the best researchers in the world have this dilemma of, okay, I wanna go all in on a GI, but it's the product usage revenue flywheel that keeps the revenue in the house to power all the GPUs to get to a GI. And so it does make, um, you know, I think it sets up an interesting dilemma for any startup that has trouble raising up until that level, right?[00:13:27] And certainly if you don't have that progress, you can't continue this fly, you know, fundraising flywheel.[00:13:32] Martin Casado: I would say that because, ‘cause we're keeping track of all of the things that are different, right? Like, you know, venture growth and uh, app infra and one of the ones is definitely the personalities of the founders.[00:13:45] It's just very different this time I've been. Been doing this for a decade and I've been doing startups for 20 years. And so, um, I mean a lot of people start this to do a GI and we've never had like a unified North star that I recall in the same [00:14:00] way. Like people built companies to start companies in the past.[00:14:02] Like that was what it was. Like I would create an internet company, I would create infrastructure company, like it's kind of more engineering builders and this is kind of a different. You know, mentality. And some companies have harnessed that incredibly well because their direction is so obviously on the path to what somebody would consider a GI, but others have not.[00:14:20] And so like there is always this tension with personnel. And so I think we're seeing more kind of founder movement.[00:14:27] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:14:27] Martin Casado: You know, as a fraction of founders than we've ever seen. I mean, maybe since like, I don't know the time of like Shockly and the trade DUR aid or something like that. Way back in the beginning of the industry, I, it's a very, very.[00:14:38] Unusual time of personnel.[00:14:39] Sarah Wang: Totally.[00:14:40] Talent Wars, Mega-Comp, and the Rise of Acquihire M&A[00:14:40] Sarah Wang: And it, I think it's exacerbated by the fact that talent wars, I mean, every industry has talent wars, but not at this magnitude, right? No. Yeah. Very rarely can you see someone get poached for $5 billion. That's hard to compete with. And then secondly, if you're a founder in ai, you could fart and it would be on the front page of, you know, the information these days.[00:14:59] And so there's [00:15:00] sort of this fishbowl effect that I think adds to the deep anxiety that, that these AI founders are feeling.[00:15:06] Martin Casado: Hmm.[00:15:06] swyx: Uh, yes. I mean, just on, uh, briefly comment on the founder, uh, the sort of. Talent wars thing. I feel like 2025 was just like a blip. Like I, I don't know if we'll see that again.[00:15:17] ‘cause meta built the team. Like, I don't know if, I think, I think they're kind of done and like, who's gonna pay more than meta? I, I don't know.[00:15:23] Martin Casado: I, I agree. So it feels so, it feel, it feels this way to me too. It's like, it is like, basically Zuckerberg kind of came out swinging and then now he's kind of back to building.[00:15:30] Yeah,[00:15:31] swyx: yeah. You know, you gotta like pay up to like assemble team to rush the job, whatever. But then now, now you like you, you made your choices and now they got a ship.[00:15:38] Martin Casado: I mean, the, the o other side of that is like, you know, like we're, we're actually in the job hiring market. We've got 600 people here. I hire all the time.[00:15:44] I've got three open recs if anybody's interested, that's listening to this for investor. Yeah, on, on the team, like on the investing side of the team, like, and, um, a lot of the people we talk to have acting, you know, active, um, offers for 10 million a year or something like that. And like, you know, and we pay really, [00:16:00] really well.[00:16:00] And just to see what's out on the market is really, is really remarkable. And so I would just say it's actually, so you're right, like the really flashy one, like I will get someone for, you know, a billion dollars, but like the inflated, um, uh, trickles down. Yeah, it is still very active today. I mean,[00:16:18] Sarah Wang: yeah, you could be an L five and get an offer in the tens of millions.[00:16:22] Okay. Yeah. Easily. Yeah. It's so I think you're right that it felt like a blip. I hope you're right. Um, but I think it's been, the steady state is now, I think got pulled up. Yeah. Yeah. I'll pull up for[00:16:31] Martin Casado: sure. Yeah.[00:16:32] Alessio: Yeah. And I think that's breaking the early stage founder math too. I think before a lot of people would be like, well, maybe I should just go be a founder instead of like getting paid.[00:16:39] Yeah. 800 KA million at Google. But if I'm getting paid. Five, 6 million. That's different but[00:16:45] Martin Casado: on. But on the other hand, there's more strategic money than we've ever seen historically, right? Mm-hmm. And so, yep. The economics, the, the, the, the calculus on the economics is very different in a number of ways. And, uh, it's crazy.[00:16:58] It's cra it's causing like a, [00:17:00] a, a, a ton of change in confusion in the market. Some very positive, sub negative, like, so for example, the other side of the, um. The co-founder, like, um, acquisition, you know, mark Zuckerberg poaching someone for a lot of money is like, we were actually seeing historic amount of m and a for basically acquihires, right?[00:17:20] That you like, you know, really good outcomes from a venture perspective that are effective acquihires, right? So I would say it's probably net positive from the investment standpoint, even though it seems from the headlines to be very disruptive in a negative way.[00:17:33] Alessio: Yeah.[00:17:33] What's Underfunded: Boring Software, Robotics Skepticism, and Custom Silicon Economics[00:17:33] Alessio: Um, let's talk maybe about what's not being invested in, like maybe some interesting ideas that you would see more people build or it, it seems in a way, you know, as ycs getting more popular, it's like access getting more popular.[00:17:47] There's a startup school path that a lot of founders take and they know what's hot in the VC circles and they know what gets funded. Uh, and there's maybe not as much risk appetite for. Things outside of that. Um, I'm curious if you feel [00:18:00] like that's true and what are maybe, uh, some of the areas, uh, that you think are under discussed?[00:18:06] Martin Casado: I mean, I actually think that we've taken our eye off the ball in a lot of like, just traditional, you know, software companies. Um, so like, I mean. You know, I think right now there's almost a barbell, like you're like the hot thing on X, you're deep tech.[00:18:21] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:18:22] Martin Casado: Right. But I, you know, I feel like there's just kind of a long, you know, list of like good.[00:18:28] Good companies that will be around for a long time in very large markets. Say you're building a database, you know, say you're building, um, you know, kind of monitoring or logging or tooling or whatever. There's some good companies out there right now, but like, they have a really hard time getting, um, the attention of investors.[00:18:43] And it's almost become a meme, right? Which is like, if you're not basically growing from zero to a hundred in a year, you're not interesting, which is just, is the silliest thing to say. I mean, think of yourself as like an introvert person, like, like your personal money, right? Mm-hmm. So. Your personal money, will you put it in the stock market at 7% or you put it in this company growing five x in a very large [00:19:00] market?[00:19:00] Of course you can put it in the company five x. So it's just like we say these stupid things, like if you're not going from zero to a hundred, but like those, like who knows what the margins of those are mean. Clearly these are good investments. True for anybody, right? True. Like our LPs want whatever.[00:19:12] Three x net over, you know, the life cycle of a fund, right? So a, a company in a big market growing five X is a great investment. We'd, everybody would be happy with these returns, but we've got this kind of mania on these, these strong growths. And so I would say that that's probably the most underinvested sector.[00:19:28] Right now.[00:19:29] swyx: Boring software, boring enterprise software.[00:19:31] Martin Casado: Traditional. Really good company.[00:19:33] swyx: No, no AI here.[00:19:34] Martin Casado: No. Like boring. Well, well, the AI of course is pulling them into use cases. Yeah, but that's not what they're, they're not on the token path, right? Yeah. Let's just say that like they're software, but they're not on the token path.[00:19:41] Like these are like they're great investments from any definition except for like random VC on Twitter saying VC on x, saying like, it's not growing fast enough. What do you[00:19:52] Sarah Wang: think? Yeah, maybe I'll answer a slightly different. Question, but adjacent to what you asked, um, which is maybe an area that we're not, uh, investing [00:20:00] right now that I think is a question and we're spending a lot of time in regardless of whether we pull the trigger or not.[00:20:05] Um, and it would probably be on the hardware side, actually. Robotics, right? And the robotics side. Robotics. Right. Which is, it's, I don't wanna say that it's not getting funding ‘cause it's clearly, uh, it's, it's sort of non-consensus to almost not invest in robotics at this point. But, um, we spent a lot of time in that space and I think for us, we just haven't seen the chat GPT moment.[00:20:22] Happen on the hardware side. Um, and the funding going into it feels like it's already. Taking that for granted.[00:20:30] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. But we also went through the drone, you know, um, there's a zip line right, right out there. What's that? Oh yeah, there's a zip line. Yeah. What the drone, what the av And like one of the takeaways is when it comes to hardware, um, most companies will end up verticalizing.[00:20:46] Like if you're. If you're investing in a robot company for an A for agriculture, you're investing in an ag company. ‘cause that's the competition and that's surprising. And that's supply chain. And if you're doing it for mining, that's mining. And so the ad team does a lot of that type of stuff ‘cause they actually set up to [00:21:00] diligence that type of work.[00:21:01] But for like horizontal technology investing, there's very little when it comes to robots just because it's so fit for, for purpose. And so we kinda like to look at software. Solutions or horizontal solutions like applied intuition. Clearly from the AV wave deep map, clearly from the AV wave, I would say scale AI was actually a horizontal one for That's fair, you know, for robotics early on.[00:21:23] And so that sort of thing we're very, very interested. But the actual like robot interacting with the world is probably better for different team. Agree.[00:21:30] Alessio: Yeah, I'm curious who these teams are supposed to be that invest in them. I feel like everybody's like, yeah, robotics, it's important and like people should invest in it.[00:21:38] But then when you look at like the numbers, like the capital requirements early on versus like the moment of, okay, this is actually gonna work. Let's keep investing. That seems really hard to predict in a way that is not,[00:21:49] Martin Casado: I think co, CO two, kla, gc, I mean these are all invested in in Harvard companies. He just, you know, and [00:22:00] listen, I mean, it could work this time for sure.[00:22:01] Right? I mean if Elon's doing it, he's like, right. Just, just the fact that Elon's doing it means that there's gonna be a lot of capital and a lot of attempts for a long period of time. So that alone maybe suggests that we should just be investing in robotics just ‘cause you have this North star who's Elon with a humanoid and that's gonna like basically willing into being an industry.[00:22:17] Um, but we've just historically found like. We're a huge believer that this is gonna happen. We just don't feel like we're in a good position to diligence these things. ‘cause again, robotics companies tend to be vertical. You really have to understand the market they're being sold into. Like that's like that competitive equilibrium with a human being is what's important.[00:22:34] It's not like the core tech and like we're kind of more horizontal core tech type investors. And this is Sarah and I. Yeah, the ad team is different. They can actually do these types of things.[00:22:42] swyx: Uh, just to clarify, AD stands for[00:22:44] Martin Casado: American Dynamism.[00:22:45] swyx: Alright. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, I actually, I do have a related question that, first of all, I wanna acknowledge also just on the, on the chip side.[00:22:51] Yeah. I, I recall a podcast that where you were on, i, I, I think it was the a CC podcast, uh, about two or three years ago where you, where you suddenly said [00:23:00] something, which really stuck in my head about how at some point, at some point kind of scale it makes sense to. Build a custom aic Yes. For per run.[00:23:07] Martin Casado: Yes.[00:23:07] It's crazy. Yeah.[00:23:09] swyx: We're here and I think you, you estimated 500 billion, uh, something.[00:23:12] Martin Casado: No, no, no. A billion, a billion dollar training run of $1 billion training run. It makes sense to actually do a custom meic if you can do it in time. The question now is timelines. Yeah, but not money because just, just, just rough math.[00:23:22] If it's a billion dollar training. Then the inference for that model has to be over a billion, otherwise it won't be solvent. So let's assume it's, if you could save 20%, which you could save much more than that with an ASIC 20%, that's $200 million. You can tape out a chip for $200 million. Right? So now you can literally like justify economically, not timeline wise.[00:23:41] That's a different issue. An ASIC per model, which[00:23:44] swyx: is because that, that's how much we leave on the table every single time. We, we, we do like generic Nvidia.[00:23:48] Martin Casado: Exactly. Exactly. No, it, it is actually much more than that. You could probably get, you know, a factor of two, which would be 500 million.[00:23:54] swyx: Typical MFU would be like 50.[00:23:55] Yeah, yeah. And that's good.[00:23:57] Martin Casado: Exactly. Yeah. Hundred[00:23:57] swyx: percent. Um, so, so, yeah, and I mean, and I [00:24:00] just wanna acknowledge like, here we are in, in, in 2025 and opening eyes confirming like Broadcom and all the other like custom silicon deals, which is incredible. I, I think that, uh, you know, speaking about ad there's, there's a really like interesting tie in that obviously you guys are hit on, which is like these sort, this sort of like America first movement or like sort of re industrialized here.[00:24:17] Yeah. Uh, move TSMC here, if that's possible. Um, how much overlap is there from ad[00:24:23] Martin Casado: Yeah.[00:24:23] swyx: To, I guess, growth and, uh, investing in particularly like, you know, US AI companies that are strongly bounded by their compute.[00:24:32] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I, I would view, I would view AD as more as a market segmentation than like a mission, right?[00:24:37] So the market segmentation is, it has kind of regulatory compliance issues or government, you know, sale or it deals with like hardware. I mean, they're just set up to, to, to, to, to. To diligence those types of companies. So it's a more of a market segmentation thing. I would say the entire firm. You know, which has been since it is been intercepted, you know, has geographical biases, right?[00:24:58] I mean, for the longest time we're like, you [00:25:00] know, bay Area is gonna be like, great, where the majority of the dollars go. Yeah. And, and listen, there, there's actually a lot of compounding effects for having a geographic bias. Right. You know, everybody's in the same place. You've got an ecosystem, you're there, you've got presence, you've got a network.[00:25:12] Um, and, uh, I mean, I would say the Bay area's very much back. You know, like I, I remember during pre COVID, like it was like almost Crypto had kind of. Pulled startups away. Miami from the Bay Area. Miami, yeah. Yeah. New York was, you know, because it's so close to finance, came up like Los Angeles had a moment ‘cause it was so close to consumer, but now it's kind of come back here.[00:25:29] And so I would say, you know, we tend to be very Bay area focused historically, even though of course we've asked all over the world. And then I would say like, if you take the ring out, you know, one more, it's gonna be the US of course, because we know it very well. And then one more is gonna be getting us and its allies and Yeah.[00:25:44] And it goes from there.[00:25:45] Sarah Wang: Yeah,[00:25:45] Martin Casado: sorry.[00:25:46] Sarah Wang: No, no. I agree. I think from a, but I think from the intern that that's sort of like where the companies are headquartered. Maybe your questions on supply chain and customer base. Uh, I, I would say our customers are, are, our companies are fairly international from that perspective.[00:25:59] Like they're selling [00:26:00] globally, right? They have global supply chains in some cases.[00:26:03] Martin Casado: I would say also the stickiness is very different.[00:26:05] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:26:05] Martin Casado: Historically between venture and growth, like there's so much company building in venture, so much so like hiring the next PM. Introducing the customer, like all of that stuff.[00:26:15] Like of course we're just gonna be stronger where we have our network and we've been doing business for 20 years. I've been in the Bay Area for 25 years, so clearly I'm just more effective here than I would be somewhere else. Um, where I think, I think for some of the later stage rounds, the companies don't need that much help.[00:26:30] They're already kind of pretty mature historically, so like they can kind of be everywhere. So there's kind of less of that stickiness. This is different in the AI time. I mean, Sarah is now the, uh, chief of staff of like half the AI companies in, uh, in the Bay Area right now. She's like, ops Ninja Biz, Devrel, BizOps.[00:26:48] swyx: Are, are you, are you finding much AI automation in your work? Like what, what is your stack.[00:26:53] Sarah Wang: Oh my, in my personal stack.[00:26:54] swyx: I mean, because like, uh, by the way, it's the, the, the reason for this is it is triggering, uh, yeah. We, like, I'm hiring [00:27:00] ops, ops people. Um, a lot of ponders I know are also hiring ops people and I'm just, you know, it's opportunity Since you're, you're also like basically helping out with ops with a lot of companies.[00:27:09] What are people doing these days? Because it's still very manual as far as I can tell.[00:27:13] Sarah Wang: Hmm. Yeah. I think the things that we help with are pretty network based, um, in that. It's sort of like, Hey, how do do I shortcut this process? Well, let's connect you to the right person. So there's not quite an AI workflow for that.[00:27:26] I will say as a growth investor, Claude Cowork is pretty interesting. Yeah. Like for the first time, you can actually get one shot data analysis. Right. Which, you know, if you're gonna do a customer database, analyze a cohort retention, right? That's just stuff that you had to do by hand before. And our team, the other, it was like midnight and the three of us were playing with Claude Cowork.[00:27:47] We gave it a raw file. Boom. Perfectly accurate. We checked the numbers. It was amazing. That was my like, aha moment. That sounds so boring. But you know, that's, that's the kind of thing that a growth investor is like, [00:28:00] you know, slaving away on late at night. Um, done in a few seconds.[00:28:03] swyx: Yeah. You gotta wonder what the whole, like, philanthropic labs, which is like their new sort of products studio.[00:28:10] Yeah. What would that be worth as an independent, uh, startup? You know, like a[00:28:14] Martin Casado: lot.[00:28:14] Sarah Wang: Yeah, true.[00:28:16] swyx: Yeah. You[00:28:16] Martin Casado: gotta hand it to them. They've been executing incredibly well.[00:28:19] swyx: Yeah. I, I mean, to me, like, you know, philanthropic, like building on cloud code, I think, uh, it makes sense to me the, the real. Um, pedal to the metal, whatever the, the, the phrase is, is when they start coming after consumer with, uh, against OpenAI and like that is like red alert at Open ai.[00:28:35] Oh, I[00:28:35] Martin Casado: think they've been pretty clear. They're enterprise focused.[00:28:37] swyx: They have been, but like they've been free. Here's[00:28:40] Martin Casado: care publicly,[00:28:40] swyx: it's enterprise focused. It's coding. Right. Yeah.[00:28:43] AI Labs vs Startups: Disruption, Undercutting & the Innovator's Dilemma[00:28:43] swyx: And then, and, but here's cloud, cloud, cowork, and, and here's like, well, we, uh, they, apparently they're running Instagram ads for Claudia.[00:28:50] I, on, you know, for, for people on, I get them all the time. Right. And so, like,[00:28:54] Martin Casado: uh,[00:28:54] swyx: it, it's kind of like this, the disruption thing of, uh, you know. Mo Open has been doing, [00:29:00] consumer been doing the, just pursuing general intelligence in every mo modality, and here's a topic that only focus on this thing, but now they're sort of undercutting and doing the whole innovator's dilemma thing on like everything else.[00:29:11] Martin Casado: It's very[00:29:11] swyx: interesting.[00:29:12] Martin Casado: Yeah, I mean there's, there's a very open que so for me there's like, do you know that meme where there's like the guy in the path and there's like a path this way? There's a path this way. Like one which way Western man. Yeah. Yeah.[00:29:23] Two Futures for AI: Infinite Market vs AGI Oligopoly[00:29:23] Martin Casado: And for me, like, like all the entire industry kind of like hinges on like two potential futures.[00:29:29] So in, in one potential future, um, the market is infinitely large. There's perverse economies of scale. ‘cause as soon as you put a model out there, like it kind of sublimates and all the other models catch up and like, it's just like software's being rewritten and fractured all over the place and there's tons of upside and it just grows.[00:29:48] And then there's another path which is like, well. Maybe these models actually generalize really well, and all you have to do is train them with three times more money. That's all you have to [00:30:00] do, and it'll just consume everything beyond it. And if that's the case, like you end up with basically an oligopoly for everything, like, you know mm-hmm.[00:30:06] Because they're perfectly general and like, so this would be like the, the a GI path would be like, these are perfectly general. They can do everything. And this one is like, this is actually normal software. The universe is complicated. You've got, and nobody knows the answer.[00:30:18] The Economics Reality Check: Gross Margins, Training Costs & Borrowing Against the Future[00:30:18] Martin Casado: My belief is if you actually look at the numbers of these companies, so generally if you look at the numbers of these companies, if you look at like the amount they're making and how much they, they spent training the last model, they're gross margin positive.[00:30:30] You're like, oh, that's really working. But if you look at like. The current training that they're doing for the next model, their gross margin negative. So part of me thinks that a lot of ‘em are kind of borrowing against the future and that's gonna have to slow down. It's gonna catch up to them at some point in time, but we don't really know.[00:30:47] Sarah Wang: Yeah.[00:30:47] Martin Casado: Does that make sense? Like, I mean, it could be, it could be the case that the only reason this is working is ‘cause they can raise that next round and they can train that next model. ‘cause these models have such a short. Life. And so at some point in time, like, you know, they won't be able to [00:31:00] raise that next round for the next model and then things will kind of converge and fragment again.[00:31:03] But right now it's not.[00:31:04] Sarah Wang: Totally. I think the other, by the way, just, um, a meta point. I think the other lesson from the last three years is, and we talk about this all the time ‘cause we're on this. Twitter X bubble. Um, cool. But, you know, if you go back to, let's say March, 2024, that period, it felt like a, I think an open source model with an, like a, you know, benchmark leading capability was sort of launching on a daily basis at that point.[00:31:27] And, um, and so that, you know, that's one period. Suddenly it's sort of like open source takes over the world. There's gonna be a plethora. It's not an oligopoly, you know, if you fast, you know, if you, if you rewind time even before that GPT-4 was number one for. Nine months, 10 months. It's a long time. Right.[00:31:44] Um, and of course now we're in this era where it feels like an oligopoly, um, maybe some very steady state shifts and, and you know, it could look like this in the future too, but it just, it's so hard to call. And I think the thing that keeps, you know, us up at [00:32:00] night in, in a good way and bad way, is that the capability progress is actually not slowing down.[00:32:06] And so until that happens, right, like you don't know what's gonna look like.[00:32:09] Martin Casado: But I, I would, I would say for sure it's not converged, like for sure, like the systemic capital flows have not converged, meaning right now it's still borrowing against the future to subsidize growth currently, which you can do that for a period of time.[00:32:23] But, but you know, at the end, at some point the market will rationalize that and just nobody knows what that will look like.[00:32:29] Alessio: Yeah.[00:32:29] Martin Casado: Or, or like the drop in price of compute will, will, will save them. Who knows?[00:32:34] Alessio: Yeah. Yeah. I think the models need to ask them to, to specific tasks. You know? It's like, okay, now Opus 4.5 might be a GI at some specific task, and now you can like depreciate the model over a longer time.[00:32:45] I think now, now, right now there's like no old model.[00:32:47] Martin Casado: No, but let, but lemme just change that mental, that's, that used to be my mental model. Lemme just change it a little bit.[00:32:53] Capital as a Weapon vs Task Saturation: Where Real Enterprise Value Gets Built[00:32:53] Martin Casado: If you can raise three times, if you can raise more than the aggregate of anybody that uses your models, that doesn't even matter.[00:32:59] It doesn't [00:33:00] even matter. See what I'm saying? Like, yeah. Yeah. So, so I have an API Business. My API business is 60% margin, or 70% margin, or 80% margin is a high margin business. So I know what everybody is using. If I can raise more money than the aggregate of everybody that's using it, I will consume them whether I'm a GI or not.[00:33:14] And I will know if they're using it ‘cause they're using it. And like, unlike in the past where engineering stops me from doing that.[00:33:21] Alessio: Mm-hmm.[00:33:21] Martin Casado: It is very straightforward. You just train. So I also thought it was kind of like, you must ask the code a GI, general, general, general. But I think there's also just a possibility that the, that the capital markets will just give them the, the, the ammunition to just go after everybody on top of ‘em.[00:33:36] Sarah Wang: I, I do wonder though, to your point, um, if there's a certain task that. Getting marginally better isn't actually that much better. Like we've asked them to it, to, you know, we can call it a GI or whatever, you know, actually, Ali Goi talks about this, like we're already at a GI for a lot of functions in the enterprise.[00:33:50] Um. That's probably those for those tasks, you probably could build very specific companies that focus on just getting as much value out of that task that isn't [00:34:00] coming from the model itself. There's probably a rich enterprise business to be built there. I mean, could be wrong on that, but there's a lot of interesting examples.[00:34:08] So, right, if you're looking the legal profession or, or whatnot, and maybe that's not a great one ‘cause the models are getting better on that front too, but just something where it's a bit saturated, then the value comes from. Services. It comes from implementation, right? It comes from all these things that actually make it useful to the end customer.[00:34:24] Martin Casado: Sorry, what am I, one more thing I think is, is underused in all of this is like, to what extent every task is a GI complete.[00:34:31] Sarah Wang: Mm-hmm.[00:34:32] Martin Casado: Yeah. I code every day. It's so fun.[00:34:35] Sarah Wang: That's a core question. Yeah.[00:34:36] Martin Casado: And like. When I'm talking to these models, it's not just code. I mean, it's everything, right? Like I, you know, like it's,[00:34:43] swyx: it's healthcare.[00:34:44] It's,[00:34:44] Martin Casado: I mean, it's[00:34:44] swyx: Mele,[00:34:45] Martin Casado: but it's every, it is exactly that. Like, yeah, that's[00:34:47] Sarah Wang: great support. Yeah.[00:34:48] Martin Casado: It's everything. Like I'm asking these models to, yeah, to understand compliance. I'm asking these models to go search the web. I'm asking these models to talk about things I know in the history, like it's having a full conversation with me while I, I engineer, and so it could be [00:35:00] the case that like, mm-hmm.[00:35:01] The most a, you know, a GI complete, like I'm not an a GI guy. Like I think that's, you know, but like the most a GI complete model will is win independent of the task. And we don't know the answer to that one either.[00:35:11] swyx: Yeah.[00:35:12] Martin Casado: But it seems to me that like, listen, codex in my experience is for sure better than Opus 4.5 for coding.[00:35:18] Like it finds the hardest bugs that I work in with. Like, it is, you know. The smartest developers. I don't work on it. It's great. Um, but I think Opus 4.5 is actually very, it's got a great bedside manner and it really, and it, it really matters if you're building something very complex because like, it really, you know, like you're, you're, you're a partner and a brainstorming partner for somebody.[00:35:38] And I think we don't discuss enough how every task kind of has that quality.[00:35:42] swyx: Mm-hmm.[00:35:43] Martin Casado: And what does that mean to like capital investment and like frontier models and Submodels? Yeah.[00:35:47] Why “Coding Models” Keep Collapsing into Generalists (Reasoning vs Taste)[00:35:47] Martin Casado: Like what happened to all the special coding models? Like, none of ‘em worked right. So[00:35:51] Alessio: some of them, they didn't even get released.[00:35:53] Magical[00:35:54] Martin Casado: Devrel. There's a whole, there's a whole host. We saw a bunch of them and like there's this whole theory that like, there could be, and [00:36:00] I think one of the conclusions is, is like there's no such thing as a coding model,[00:36:04] Alessio: you know?[00:36:04] Martin Casado: Like, that's not a thing. Like you're talking to another human being and it's, it's good at coding, but like it's gotta be good at everything.[00:36:10] swyx: Uh, minor disagree only because I, I'm pretty like, have pretty high confidence that basically open eye will always release a GPT five and a GT five codex. Like that's the code's. Yeah. The way I call it is one for raisin, one for Tiz. Um, and, and then like someone internal open, it was like, yeah, that's a good way to frame it.[00:36:32] Martin Casado: That's so funny.[00:36:33] swyx: Uh, but maybe it, maybe it collapses down to reason and that's it. It's not like a hundred dimensions doesn't life. Yeah. It's two dimensions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like and exactly. Beside manner versus coding. Yeah.[00:36:43] Martin Casado: Yeah.[00:36:44] swyx: It's, yeah.[00:36:46] Martin Casado: I, I think for, for any, it's hilarious. For any, for anybody listening to this for, for, for, I mean, for you, like when, when you're like coding or using these models for something like that.[00:36:52] Like actually just like be aware of how much of the interaction has nothing to do with coding and it just turns out to be a large portion of it. And so like, you're, I [00:37:00] think like, like the best Soto ish model. You know, it is going to remain very important no matter what the task is.[00:37:06] swyx: Yeah.[00:37:07] What He's Actually Coding: Gaussian Splats, Spark.js & 3D Scene Rendering Demos[00:37:07] swyx: Uh, speaking of coding, uh, I, I'm gonna be cheeky and ask like, what actually are you coding?[00:37:11] Because obviously you, you could code anything and you are obviously a busy investor and a manager of the good. Giant team. Um, what are you calling?[00:37:18] Martin Casado: I help, um, uh, FEFA at World Labs. Uh, it's one of the investments and um, and they're building a foundation model that creates 3D scenes.[00:37:27] swyx: Yeah, we had it on the pod.[00:37:28] Yeah. Yeah,[00:37:28] Martin Casado: yeah. And so these 3D scenes are Gaussian splats, just by the way that kind of AI works. And so like, you can reconstruct a scene better with, with, with radiance feels than with meshes. ‘cause like they don't really have topology. So, so they, they, they produce each. Beautiful, you know, 3D rendered scenes that are Gaussian splats, but the actual industry support for Gaussian splats isn't great.[00:37:50] It's just never, you know, it's always been meshes and like, things like unreal use meshes. And so I work on a open source library called Spark js, which is a. Uh, [00:38:00] a JavaScript rendering layer ready for Gaussian splats. And it's just because, you know, um, you, you, you need that support and, and right now there's kind of a three js moment that's all meshes and so like, it's become kind of the default in three Js ecosystem.[00:38:13] As part of that to kind of exercise the library, I just build a whole bunch of cool demos. So if you see me on X, you see like all my demos and all the world building, but all of that is just to exercise this, this library that I work on. ‘cause it's actually a very tough algorithmics problem to actually scale a library that much.[00:38:29] And just so you know, this is ancient history now, but 30 years ago I paid for undergrad, you know, working on game engines in college in the late nineties. So I've got actually a back and it's very old background, but I actually have a background in this and so a lot of it's fun. You know, but, but the, the, the, the whole goal is just for this rendering library to, to,[00:38:47] Sarah Wang: are you one of the most active contributors?[00:38:49] The, their GitHub[00:38:50] Martin Casado: spark? Yes.[00:38:51] Sarah Wang: Yeah, yeah.[00:38:51] Martin Casado: There's only two of us there, so, yes. No, so by the way, so the, the pri The pri, yeah. Yeah. So the primary developer is a [00:39:00] guy named Andres Quist, who's an absolute genius. He and I did our, our PhDs together. And so like, um, we studied for constant Quas together. It was almost like hanging out with an old friend, you know?[00:39:09] And so like. So he, he's the core, core guy. I did mostly kind of, you know, the side I run venture fund.[00:39:14] swyx: It's amazing. Like five years ago you would not have done any of this. And it brought you back[00:39:19] Martin Casado: the act, the Activ energy, you're still back. Energy was so high because you had to learn all the framework b******t.[00:39:23] Man, I f*****g used to hate that. And so like, now I don't have to deal with that. I can like focus on the algorithmics so I can focus on the scaling and I,[00:39:29] swyx: yeah. Yeah.[00:39:29] LLMs vs Spatial Intelligence + How to Value World Labs' 3D Foundation Model[00:39:29] swyx: And then, uh, I'll observe one irony and then I'll ask a serious investor question, uh, which is like, the irony is FFE actually doesn't believe that LMS can lead us to spatial intelligence.[00:39:37] And here you are using LMS to like help like achieve spatial intelligence. I just see, I see some like disconnect in there.[00:39:45] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. So I think, I think, you know, I think, I think what she would say is LLMs are great to help with coding.[00:39:51] swyx: Yes.[00:39:51] Martin Casado: But like, that's very different than a model that actually like provides, they, they'll never have the[00:39:56] swyx: spatial inte[00:39:56] Martin Casado: issues.[00:39:56] And listen, our brains clearly listen, our brains, brains clearly have [00:40:00] both our, our brains clearly have a language reasoning section and they clearly have a spatial reasoning section. I mean, it's just, you know, these are two pretty independent problems.[00:40:07] swyx: Okay. And you, you, like, I, I would say that the, the one data point I recently had, uh, against it is the DeepMind, uh, IMO Gold, where, so, uh, typically the, the typical answer is that this is where you start going down the neuros symbolic path, right?[00:40:21] Like one, uh, sort of very sort of abstract reasoning thing and one form, formal thing. Um, and that's what. DeepMind had in 2024 with alpha proof, alpha geometry, and now they just use deep think and just extended thinking tokens. And it's one model and it's, and it's in LM.[00:40:36] Martin Casado: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.[00:40:37] swyx: And so that, that was my indication of like, maybe you don't need a separate system.[00:40:42] Martin Casado: Yeah. So, so let me step back. I mean, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, these things are like nodes in a graph with weights on them. Right. You know, like it can be modeled like if you, if you distill it down. But let me just talk about the two different substrates. Let's, let me put you in a dark room.[00:40:56] Like totally black room. And then let me just [00:41:00] describe how you exit it. Like to your left, there's a table like duck below this thing, right? I mean like the chances that you're gonna like not run into something are very low. Now let me like turn on the light and you actually see, and you can do distance and you know how far something away is and like where it is or whatever.[00:41:17] Then you can do it, right? Like language is not the right primitives to describe. The universe because it's not exact enough. So that's all Faye, Faye is talking about. When it comes to like spatial reasoning, it's like you actually have to know that this is three feet far, like that far away. It is curved.[00:41:37] You have to understand, you know, the, like the actual movement through space.[00:41:40] swyx: Yeah.[00:41:40] Martin Casado: So I do, I listen, I do think at the end of these models are definitely converging as far as models, but there's, there's, there's different representations of problems you're solving. One is language. Which, you know, that would be like describing to somebody like what to do.[00:41:51] And the other one is actually just showing them and the space reasoning is just showing them.[00:41:55] swyx: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Got it, got it. Uh, the, in the investor question was on, on, well labs [00:42:00] is, well, like, how do I value something like this? What, what, what work does the, do you do? I'm just like, Fefe is awesome.[00:42:07] Justin's awesome. And you know, the other two co-founder, co-founders, but like the, the, the tech, everyone's building cool tech. But like, what's the value of the tech? And this is the fundamental question[00:42:16] Martin Casado: of, well, let, let, just like these, let me just maybe give you a rough sketch on the diffusion models. I actually love to hear Sarah because I'm a venture for, you know, so like, ventures always, always like kind of wild west type[00:42:24] swyx: stuff.[00:42:24] You, you, you, you paid a dream and she has to like, actually[00:42:28] Martin Casado: I'm gonna say I'm gonna mar to reality, so I'm gonna say the venture for you. And she can be like, okay, you a little kid. Yeah. So like, so, so these diffusion models literally. Create something for, for almost nothing. And something that the, the world has found to be very valuable in the past, in our real markets, right?[00:42:45] Like, like a 2D image. I mean, that's been an entire market. People value them. It takes a human being a long time to create it, right? I mean, to create a, you know, a, to turn me into a whatever, like an image would cost a hundred bucks in an hour. The inference cost [00:43:00] us a hundredth of a penny, right? So we've seen this with speech in very successful companies.[00:43:03] We've seen this with 2D image. We've seen this with movies. Right? Now, think about 3D scene. I mean, I mean, when's Grand Theft Auto coming out? It's been six, what? It's been 10 years. I mean, how, how like, but hasn't been 10 years.[00:43:14] Alessio: Yeah.[00:43:15] Martin Casado: How much would it cost to like, to reproduce this room in 3D? Right. If you, if you, if you hired somebody on fiber, like in, in any sort of quality, probably 4,000 to $10,000.[00:43:24] And then if you had a professional, probably $30,000. So if you could generate the exact same thing from a 2D image, and we know that these are used and they're using Unreal and they're using Blend, or they're using movies and they're using video games and they're using all. So if you could do that for.[00:43:36] You know, less than a dollar, that's four or five orders of magnitude cheaper. So you're bringing the marginal cost of something that's useful down by three orders of magnitude, which historically have created very large companies. So that would be like the venture kind of strategic dreaming map.[00:43:49] swyx: Yeah.[00:43:50] And, and for listeners, uh, you can do this yourself on your, on your own phone with like. Uh, the marble.[00:43:55] Martin Casado: Yeah. Marble.[00:43:55] swyx: Uh, or but also there's many Nerf apps where you just go on your iPhone and, and do this.[00:43:59] Martin Casado: Yeah. Yeah. [00:44:00] Yeah. And, and in the case of marble though, it would, what you do is you literally give it in.[00:44:03] So most Nerf apps you like kind of run around and take a whole bunch of pictures and then you kind of reconstruct it.[00:44:08] swyx: Yeah.[00:44:08] Martin Casado: Um, things like marble, just that the whole generative 3D space will just take a 2D image and it'll reconstruct all the like, like[00:44:16] swyx: meaning it has to fill in. Uh,[00:44:18] Martin Casado: stuff at the back of the table, under the table, the back, like, like the images, it doesn't see.[00:44:22] So the generator stuff is very different than reconstruction that it fills in the things that you can't see.[00:44:26] swyx: Yeah. Okay.[00:44:26] Sarah Wang: So,[00:44:27] Martin Casado: all right. So now the,[00:44:28] Sarah Wang: no, no. I mean I love that[00:44:29] Martin Casado: the adult[00:44:29] Sarah Wang: perspective. Um, well, no, I was gonna say these are very much a tag team. So we, we started this pod with that, um, premise. And I think this is a perfect question to even build on that further.[00:44:36] ‘cause it truly is, I mean, we're tag teaming all of these together.[00:44:39] Investing in Model Labs, Media Rumors, and the Cursor Playbook (Margins & Going Down-Stack)[00:44:39] Sarah Wang: Um, but I think every investment fundamentally starts with the same. Maybe the same two premises. One is, at this point in time, we actually believe that there are. And of one founders for their particular craft, and they have to be demonstrated in their prior careers, right?[00:44:56] So, uh, we're not investing in every, you know, now the term is NEO [00:45:00] lab, but every foundation model, uh, any, any company, any founder trying to build a foundation model, we're not, um, contrary to popular opinion, we're

  Welcome to the Conscious Millionaire Show - How to Become an Ultra-Performer. Now 3X week M / W / F with host JV Crum III.   Are you an Entrepreneur, Founder, or CEO? Committed to break into the Top 1% of Performance with current revenues $250K to $50M? Sign up for your Breakout...here's what's included in your complimentary session: (1) Define your #1 Ultra-Outcome - your break out goal (2) Find out your #1 block keeping you from it - and how to remove it  (3) Get 1-3 actionable steps to immediately use to scale bigger, faster     Schedule Your Breakthough Session Now     Join Host JV Crum III, with 2 exits and over 75M revenues in his companies, he is the Ultra-Performer Coach for 6- to 8-figure owners ready to join the top 1%.   Season 12 of the award-winning Conscious Millionaire Show. World's #1 conscious business and performance podcast for foundeers and entrepreneurs who want to become Ultra-Performers.    Access Conscious Millionaire Show     Millions of Listeners. 190 countries. Inc Magazine "Top 13 Business Podcasts" with over 3,000 episodes. Listen 3X a week.

  Welcome to the Conscious Millionaire Show - How to Become an Ultra-Performer. Now 3X week M / W / F with host JV Crum III.   Are you an Entrepreneur, Founder, or CEO? Committed to break into the Top 1% of Performance with current revenues $250K to $50M? Sign up for your Breakout...here's what's included in your complimentary session: (1) Define your #1 Ultra-Outcome - your break out goal (2) Find out your #1 block keeping you from it - and how to remove it  (3) Get 1-3 actionable steps to immediately use to scale bigger, faster     Schedule Your Breakthough Session Now     Join Host JV Crum III, with 2 exits and over 75M revenues in his companies, he is the Ultra-Performer Coach for 6- to 8-figure owners ready to join the top 1%.   Season 12 of the award-winning Conscious Millionaire Show. World's #1 conscious business and performance podcast for foundeers and entrepreneurs who want to become Ultra-Performers.    Access Conscious Millionaire Show     Millions of Listeners. 190 countries. Inc Magazine "Top 13 Business Podcasts" with over 3,000 episodes. Listen 3X a week.

Why does early breastfeeding position matter? Nancy and Barbara discuss one of their favorite topics with friend and colleague, IBCLC Rene Fisher. Whether you are talking about the starter position, laid back breastfeeding, or biological nurturing from Suzanne Colson, they all mean the same thing. Relax, lean back at a comfortable angle (not flat on your back), and place the baby tummy-to-tummy on the parent’s body. When this is done suddenly, the baby can move their body more easily, and many infant feeding reflexes are triggered, ensuring that at least one person knows what they are doing. Nancy discusses her experience improving breastfeeding practices at a Chicago-area hospital, and Rene shares her experiences with her own grandson, which made her a firm believer. Rene took this simple, time-saving technique back to her hospital on the East Coast, where it was a great success. Nancy’s ideas of adjusting your body, adjusting the baby, and adjusting the breast make it even easier to help families nurse easily and comfortably. As is known, changing hospital practice is not easy. Nancy and Rene share their wins and hurdles. There are three studies discussed in detail, which are listed below. Enjoy! Milinco 2020 (RCT): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32248838/ Yin 2021 (RCT): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33913745/ Wang 2021 (Meta-analysis): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33761882/ The post All Things Breastfeeding Episode 107: Why Early Breastfeeding Positions Matter appeared first on The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor.

In this episode of the AdTechGod Pod, Ying Wang, the General Manager of Xumo, shares her journey in the streaming television industry, discussing her career growth, the evolution of ad revenue, the significance of live sports, and the future of streaming. She emphasizes the importance of AI in personalizing user experiences and offers valuable advice for aspiring professionals in the industry. Takeaways Ying Wang's career path reflects her adaptability and pursuit of opportunities. The streaming industry has evolved significantly in terms of ad revenue and content distribution. Live sports present unique opportunities for engagement and monetization. Xumo aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem around live sports events. AI is integral to personalizing user experiences and optimizing advertising. The streaming landscape is becoming more democratized with new players emerging. Xumo's operating system approach differentiates it in the market. Building relationships and understanding the nuances of ad tech is crucial. The future of streaming will involve more personalized and immersive experiences. Continuous learning and challenging assumptions are key to career growth. Chapters 00:00 Ying Wang's Journey in Ad Tech 05:04 Evolution of Streaming and Advertising 09:55 The Impact of Live Sports on Streaming 14:03 Xumo's Future and Market Positioning 20:04 The Role of AI in Ad Tech 23:58 Advice for Aspiring Professionals in Streaming Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks for tuning in. Renew Church OC is a church for imperfect people only. Come visit us at: 1 Civic Center Cir Brea, CA 92821 | Renew Has 2 Main Service Times: 9AM and 10:45AM 9AM: Children, Youth and Main Service 10:45: Main Service, Sunday School and Childcare | For more information: www.renewchurchoc.com | For tax deductible giving to Renew: Www.renewchurchoc.com/give | For more resources: | Roy Kim developed a video series to help Sexual Addiction Sobriety Groups. www.newlegacycounseling.com/self-guided…iety-group/ | Roy and I host a 3 part series on Sexual Addiction in our podcast. Here is the first one; I would love to have you listen and give us some feedback. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…i=1000610037470 | Pastor Wilson and Roy Kim MFT podcast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…i=1000578749653 | Pastor Wilson and Nina's children's books series and adulting journal www.calledtobeproject.com

00:00 Intro01:12 Rubio, Wang outline rival visions in Munich04:09 High-stakes diplomacy before April05:44 Sec. Rubio: Europe, U.S. can build “new Western century”07:16 Alysa Liu, Eileen Gu eye Chinese politics differently09:25 Interview with Enes Kanter Freedom: Standing up for human rights12:31 Study: Over 2,000 CCP-linked groups in democracies15:15 Trump repeals 2009 endangerment finding21:02 Philippines balances U.S., China relations

Credits: 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™   CME/CE Information and Claim Credit: https://www.pri-med.com/online-education/podcast/frankly-speaking-cme-472 Overview: The transition from hospital to home is a valuable period for patients and clinicians. In this episode, we discuss which patients require follow-up, what should be reviewed during these appointments, and when follow-up should take place to help improve patient outcomes. Episode resource links: Anderson, T. S., Herzig, S. J., Marcantonio, E. R., Yeh, R. W., Souza, J., & Landon, B. E. (2024, April). Medicare transitional care management program and changes in timely postdischarge follow-up. In JAMA Health Forum (Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. e240417-e240417). American Medical Association. Anderson, T. S., Wilson, L. M., Wang, B. X., Steinman, M. A., Schonberg, M. A., Marcantonio, E. R., & Herzig, S. J. (2025). Medication Errors and Gaps in Medication Discharge Planning for Hospitalized Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study. Journal of general internal medicine, 1-10.   Balasubramanian, I., Andres, E. B., & Malhotra, C. (2025). Outpatient follow-up and 30-day readmissions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open, 8(11), e2541272-e2541272. Guest: Mariyan L. Montaque, DNP, FNP-BC Music Credit: Matthew Bugos Thoughts? Suggestions? Email us at FranklySpeaking@pri-med.com  The views expressed in this podcast are those of Dr. Domino and his guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Pri-Med.

One spring evening in 2024, science journalist Rachel Gross bombed at karaoke. The culprit was a bleed in a fist-sized clump of neurons tucked down in the back and bottom of her brain called the Cerebellum. A couple weeks later, her doctors took a piece of it out, assuring her it just did basic motor control - she might be a bit clumsy for a while, but she'd still be herself. But after that surgery Rachel did not feel quite like herself. So she dove into the dusty basement of the brain (and brain science)  to figure out why. What Rachel found was a new frontier in neuroscience. We learn what singing Shakira on stage has to do with reaching for a cup of coffee  — and why the surprising relationship between those two things means we may need to rethink what we think about thinking.Special thanks to Warzone Karaoke at Branded Saloon, the Computer History Museum for their archival interview with Henrietta Leiner, either the choir “Singing Together, Measure by Measure” or the Louis Armstrong Department of Music Therapy which houses it, Daniel A. Gross (... and Shakira?)EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Rachel GrossProduced by - Sindhu GnanasambandanEPISODE CITATIONS:Articles -“Ignoring the cerebellum is hindering progress in neuroscience.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39934082/), by Wang et al, 2025“The cerebellum and cognition.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29997061/), by Schmahmann JD. Neurosci Lett. 2019“How did brains evolve?” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11805823/), by Barton RA., Nature. 2002Books - Vagina Obscura (https://www.rachelegross.com/book), by Rachel E. GrossSign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Signup (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.Leadership support for Radiolab's science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.