Podcasts about Webster

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 1, 2026 is: conscientious • kahn-shee-EN-shus • adjective Conscientious describes someone who is concerned with doing things correctly. It can be used as a synonym for both meticulous and careful. // She has always been a conscientious worker committed to painstaking research. See the entry > Examples: “Earth-friendly, conscientious gardeners learn to slow down and pay attention not only to plants but to the many creatures that share the garden. ... The garden teaches us valuable lessons. It reminds us that balance is achieved not through sorting the natural world into neat categories, but by respecting nature and allowing it to reveal to us its own complicated, interdependent and beautiful gray areas.” — Rita Perwich, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 July 2026 Did you know? As Mahatma Gandhi once wrote, “There is a higher court than courts of justice, and that is the court of conscience.” A person who is conscientious makes sure that they are judged well by such a court. This is true for someone who is “governed by their conscience” as the oldest sense of the word is defined—as in “a conscientious leader”—but it is also true for the conscientious person paying close, careful attention to the task at hand. Conscientious came to English from French, centuries after Middle English had adopted conscience from Anglo-French; both ultimately come from the Latin verb scire, meaning “to know.”

In today's episode of Backpacker Radio presented by The Trek, brought to you by onX Backcountry and Topo Athletic, we are joined by Miranda Webster, the creator behind Miranda Goes Outside- a former 12-year REI employee turned full-time outdoor content creator. In this one, Miranda breaks down her journey from an outdoorsy novice working as an REI cashier to amassing over 200,000 YouTube subscribers, the detailed process of designing her popular Migo water bottle to fix the smart water bottle's flaws, and why she firmly believes creators should never gatekeep public land locations. We also cover her tactics for managing POTS and chronic migraines in the backcountry, her go-to fueling strategy of packing tinned fish and liquid meal replacements, some of her standout current favorite backpacking gear, and her golden rules for creating YouTube content without selling out for cheap clicks. We wrap the show with covering our personal bests and worsts from our Pacific Northwest road trip, a breakdown of the gear Katie relies on when she's not testing new products, I update my sun hoodie rankings with a new score for The North Face Summit Series, a Triple Crown of foods you physically can't stop eating once you start- including the incident with Jabba's burning penis, a of course a listener shares their poop story. OnX Backcountry: Use code "TREK70" for 70% off at onxmaps.com. Get a free 3-month trial of Elite here (no credit card required). Topo Athletic: Use code "TREK15TOPO" at topoathletic.com. Gossamer Gear: Use code "BACKPACKERRADIO" for $20 off LT5 Trekking Poles at gossamergear.com. Hyperlite Mountain Gear: Use code "BPRADIO15" for 15% of hyperlitemountaingear.com Interview with Miranda Webster Miranda's Youtube Miranda's Instagram Reminders: Apply to vlog or blog for the Trek, apply to be a Trail Correspondent, listen to our episodes ad-free on Patreon, and subscribe to The Trek's Youtube! 10:33 – Miranda's origin story: from city kid to REI cashier 26:32 – Her gear philosophy and love of colorful gear 30:51 – Managing chronic migraines and POTS on trail 37:12 – The gatekeeping/geotagging debate 42:48 – How the YouTube channel started with Rainer at REI 56:03 – Designing the Migo water bottle 70:40 – Transition from REI scripted videos to her own brand 86:30 – Lessons from Rainer on YouTube success 1:41:02 – Peak performance/fueling: tinned fish and hydration 1:53:00 – Pacific Northwest road trip bests and worsts 2:11:03 – Triple Crown of foods you can't stop eating 2:39:30 – Listener mailbag and poop story Check out our sound guy @my_boy_pauly and his coffee. Sign up for the Trek's newsletter Leave us a voicemail! Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes (and please leave us a review)! Find us on Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play. Support us on Patreon to get bonus content. Advertise on Backpacker Radio Follow The Trek, Chaunce, Badger, and Trail Correspondents on Instagram. Follow Backpacker Radio, The Trek and Chaunce on YouTube. Follow Backpacker Radio on Tik Tok. Our theme song is Walking Slow by Animal Years. A super big thank you to our Bob Peoples Award winner(s) from Patreon: Alex and Misty with NavigatorsCrafting, Alex Kindle, Austen McDaniel, Bill Jensen, Bret Mullins aka Cruizy, Bryan Alsop, Carl Lobstah Houde, Christopher Marshburn, Coach from Marion Outdoors, Eric Casper, Erik Hofmann, Ethan Harwell, Gillian Daniels, Greg Knight, Greg Martin, Griffin Haywood, Hailey Buckingham, Jackson Storm, JaredNotFromSubway, Jason Kiser, Jason "I Miss Chaunce" Snailer, Luke Netjes, Matty in AZ, Patrick Cianciolo, Randy Sutherland, Rebecca Brave, Rural Juror, Sawyer Products, The Saint Louis Shaman, Thirteen Adventures, Timothy Hahn, Tracy 'Trigger' Fawns A big thank you to our Cinnamon Connection Champions from Patreon: Bells, Benjy Lowry, Bonnie Ack, Brett Vandiver, Chris Pyle, David Neal, Dcnerdlet, Denise Krekeler, Jack Greene, Jeanie, Jeanne Latshaw, Lucas Hamilton, Merle Watkins, Peter, Quenten Jones, Ruth S, Salt Stain, Sloan Alberhasky, and Tyler Powers.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 31, 2026 is: gumption • GUMP-shun • noun Gumption refers to courage and confidence. // It took a lot of gumption to speak up for yourself like that. See the entry > Examples: "Fourth graders devise machines powered by rubber bands and 10-year-old ingenuity, some of the most creative thinking you'll ever witness. Wonders of nature and humanity coexist in these spaces. Behind all this is the gumption and bravery of teachers who set this up." — Adam Johnston, The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), 13 May 2026 Did you know? English speakers have had gumption (the word, that is) since the early 1700s. The term's source isn't known, but early examples of it are found in Scottish (the related terms rumblegumption and rumgumption can be found there too). Gumption originally referred to common sense, but it is now more commonly used to refer to the kind of courage and get-up-and-go that makes undertaking difficult things possible. Art historians may know a couple additional applications for the word: gumption was historically used both to refer to the art of preparing painters' colors, and as a synonym of megilp, which refers to a mixture of linseed oil and mastic varnish that is used as a vehicle for oil paints.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 30, 2026 is: illustrious • ih-LUSS-tree-us • adjective Illustrious describes a person or deed that is highly admired and respected. // During the ceremony, the illustrious star of stage and screen was presented with a lifetime achievement award. See the entry > Examples: “Two of the most respected professors—an academic power couple—invited me to their home for dinner. I was flattered and excited. When we sat down at the table, my heart sank. The first dish they served was steak tartare. Raw beef, no matter how well seasoned, no matter how swanky the cut, is not my jam. ... And in the home of these illustrious professors, I was ashamed about that. I feared they would consider me unsophisticated for not liking the dish.” — Leslie John, Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing, 2026 Did you know? Today's spotlight is on illustrious, from the Latin adjective illustris, meaning “shining brightly with light.” Illustris itself was probably a back-formation of the Latin verb illustrare, a word with varied meanings, among them “to light up,” “to make clear,” and “to embellish.” (Our word illustrate also comes from illustrare, of course; its original meaning was “to enlighten intellectually, culturally, or spiritually.”) At one time, illustrious could be used synonymously with its immediate Latin forbear to describe things that glow brightly, but that meaning is now considered archaic. The word today is almost exclusively used to describe something—such as a career or achievement—that stands out figuratively, shining brilliantly in the mind's eye. 

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 29, 2026 is: kith • KITH • noun Kith is an old-fashioned term that refers to familiar friends, neighbors, or relatives. It is often used in the phrase “kith and kin,” which means “friends and relatives.” // Spending time with kith and kin at the end of the summer is the highlight of our year. See the entry > Examples: “One thing that you could usually count on was the loyalty of your kith and kin, your friends and family. But now it seems that the closeness of family and relatives is more difficult to maintain in the modern world.” — James Morabito, The Buffalo (New York) News, 26 July 2026 Did you know? If you'd used the word kith a thousand years ago, you might have been referring to knowledge, or to a homeland, or to your neighbors and acquaintances. While those first two meanings of kith have long since fallen out of use, the word endures with a meaning very close to that “neighbors and acquaintances” one. Today kith appears almost exclusively in the phrase kith and kin, meaning “friends and relatives.” (Kin, another ancient word, can also refer independently to relatives.) Occasionally you will see kith and kin used to refer only to family members, much to the chagrin of those who despise redundancy in language. If you wish to avoid redundancy charges you'll be sure to include friends as well as family among your “kith and kin.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 28, 2026 is: cogent • KOH-junt • adjective Cogent is a formal word that describes something that is very clear and easy for the mind to accept and believe. It is used as a synonym of convincing. // At the town meeting, citizens presented many cogent arguments in support of building a new senior center. See the entry > Examples: “The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing. Even so, many of the most memorable moments come in the form of cogent micro-essays, smartly curated ensembles of work bearing a legible, lucid premise.” — Leah Ollman, The Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2026 Did you know? A cogent argument is one that really drives its point home because it is clear, coherent, and readily understandable, and perhaps also because of the etymological history of cogent. Cogent comes from the Latin verb cōgere, meaning “to drive or force together.” Something described as cogent fuses thoughts and ideas into a meaningful whole that others can readily grasp and accept. A cogent explanation is a convincing one, and cogent analysis has us nodding along because it is clear and pertinent. Cōgere was formed in Latin by combining the prefix co- with the verb agere, “to drive, lead, or act,” a root which is also the source of our familiar noun agent. Handily enough, one definition of agent is “a means or instrument by which a guiding intelligence achieves a result.” It follows logically then that cogency is often a worthwhile agent, indeed.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 28, 2026 is: cogent • KOH-junt • adjective Cogent is a formal word that describes something that is very clear and easy for the mind to accept and believe. It is used as a synonym of convincing. // At the town meeting, citizens presented many cogent arguments in support of building a new senior center. See the entry > Examples: “The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing. Even so, many of the most memorable moments come in the form of cogent micro-essays, smartly curated ensembles of work bearing a legible, lucid premise.” — Leah Ollman, The Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2026 Did you know? A cogent argument is one that really drives its point home because it is clear, coherent, and readily understandable, and perhaps also because of the etymological history of cogent. Cogent comes from the Latin verb cōgere, meaning “to drive or force together.” Something described as cogent fuses thoughts and ideas into a meaningful whole that others can readily grasp and accept. A cogent explanation is a convincing one, and cogent analysis has us nodding along because it is clear and pertinent. Cōgere was formed in Latin by combining the prefix co- with the verb agere, “to drive, lead, or act,” a root which is also the source of our familiar noun agent. Handily enough, one definition of agent is “a means or instrument by which a guiding intelligence achieves a result.” It follows logically then that cogency is often a worthwhile agent, indeed.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 28, 2026 is: cogent • KOH-junt • adjective Cogent is a formal word that describes something that is very clear and easy for the mind to accept and believe. It is used as a synonym of convincing. // At the town meeting, citizens presented many cogent arguments in support of building a new senior center. See the entry > Examples: “The history of art reads here as one long, free verse poem-in-progress, gorgeous and absorbing. Even so, many of the most memorable moments come in the form of cogent micro-essays, smartly curated ensembles of work bearing a legible, lucid premise.” — Leah Ollman, The Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2026 Did you know? A cogent argument is one that really drives its point home because it is clear, coherent, and readily understandable, and perhaps also because of the etymological history of cogent. Cogent comes from the Latin verb cōgere, meaning “to drive or force together.” Something described as cogent fuses thoughts and ideas into a meaningful whole that others can readily grasp and accept. A cogent explanation is a convincing one, and cogent analysis has us nodding along because it is clear and pertinent. Cōgere was formed in Latin by combining the prefix co- with the verb agere, “to drive, lead, or act,” a root which is also the source of our familiar noun agent. Handily enough, one definition of agent is “a means or instrument by which a guiding intelligence achieves a result.” It follows logically then that cogency is often a worthwhile agent, indeed.

1215. This week, we talk to Kory Stamper about why color science is surprisingly dangerous. We look at the literal chemical explosions at DuPont dye labs and the bitter rivalry between Webster's Third and the American Heritage Dictionary. Then, we look at Kory's top three book recommendations for fellow color nerds. This bonus discussion originally aired for Grammarpaloozians in April. To hear them right away, join at Patreon.com/GrammarGirl.Find Kory Stamper at KoryStamper.com or on Bluesky.A hearty thank-you to our Keepers of the Commas on Patreon. We appreciate your support!Larry RosenblumMahala RussellGeorge WilsonLaurel PaulLinda CoxBirna Anna Björnsdóttir

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 27, 2026 is: southpaw • SOUTH-paw • noun Southpaw is an informal word for someone who is left-handed. It is especially used for a left-handed baseball pitcher or boxer. // The team's new pitcher is a southpaw with a wicked knuckleball. See the entry > Examples: “The Sox southpaw's perfect game bid ended when the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth …” — Gabrielle Starr, The Boston Herald, 7 June 2026 Did you know? Sandy Koufax, Lefty Grove, Whitey Ford—there's no doubt these southpaws are some of the greatest baseball players of all time. What is in doubt is the origin of the word southpaw. One popular theory ties it to the layout of baseball parks. To keep the afternoon sun out of batters' eyes, diamonds were supposedly built so that the pitcher faced west, with their left arm, therefore, pointed south. This theory strikes out however, on account of the earliest known uses of the compound south paw referring simply to one's left hand, unrelated to baseball. It wasn't until later in the century that the word began to be used, via metonymy, first for a left-handed person, and then specifically for a left-handed pitcher.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 26, 2026 is: devolve • dih-VAHLV • verb To devolve is to gradually go from an advanced state to a less advanced state, or to pass something, such as responsibility or power, from one person or group to another at a lower level of authority. // Somehow the debate devolved into a petty competition to see who could get more applause. // Community leaders hope that the new government will devolve more power to the community itself. See the entry > Examples: “He accused board members of personally profiting from the parking and landscaping policies. Board meetings soon devolved into a cacophony of charges, countercharges and shouting.” — Elizabeth Williamson, The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2025 Did you know? Evolve? Check. Revolve? Check. Devolve? Now we're on a roll—literally. All three of these words (and more) evolved from the Latin verb volvere, meaning “to set in a circular course, to cause to roll, to bring round.” The Latin ēvolvere means “to roll out or away”; revolvere means “to roll back to a starting point”; and dēvolvere means “to roll (something) down.” In its earliest uses in the 15th century, devolve literally meant “to roll onward or downward.” Today the word is typically used for a more figurative rolling down, as when an organization devolves power—that is, passes power down—to those at a lower level of authority, or when a deteriorating situation is described as “devolving into chaos.” One word, multiple uses. That's just how English rolls.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 25, 2026 is: tilde • TIL-duh • noun Tilde refers to the mark ~ placed especially over the letter n (as in the Spanish señor, meaning "sir") to denote the sound nʸ, or over vowels (as in the Portuguese irmã, meaning "sister") to indicate nasality. When a tilde appears as an independent character, it usually means "approximately" (as in "we'll be there in ~ 30 minutes"). // A familiar example of the tilde appears in the name of Brazil's capital city, São Paulo. See the entry > Examples: "Californians with accents, tildes and other diacritical marks in their names will soon be able to have their vital records accurately reflect their names." — Linh Tat, Orange County (California) Register, 30 Dec. 2025 Did you know? The terms piña colada and La Niña share more than just a "cool" factor: both are Spanish loan words whose spellings include tildes, those wavy marks which in these examples are placed over the letter n to indicate a blend of the sounds of n and y. Tilde is itself a Spanish borrowing rooted in the Latin titulus, an ancestor of the English words title and titular that means "title" or "inscription." The Spanish and English applications of tilde are distinct. In Spanish, tilde refers most commonly to the accent symbol, while ñ is its own member of the alphabet (pronounced "EN-yay"). In contrast, English speakers use tilde specifically for the aforementioned mark. In addition to functioning as a diacritic—that is, a mark paired with a character to indicate pronunciation—the tilde may be used as an independent character to indicate approximation, negation in logic, or similarity in mathematics.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 25, 2026 is: tilde • TIL-duh • noun Tilde refers to the mark ~ placed especially over the letter n (as in the Spanish señor, meaning "sir") to denote the sound nʸ, or over vowels (as in the Portuguese irmã, meaning "sister") to indicate nasality. When a tilde appears as an independent character, it usually means "approximately" (as in "we'll be there in ~ 30 minutes"). // A familiar example of the tilde appears in the name of the Brazilian city São Paulo. See the entry > Examples: "Californians with accents, tildes and other diacritical marks in their names will soon be able to have their vital records accurately reflect their names." — Linh Tat, Orange County (California) Register, 30 Dec. 2025 Did you know? The terms piña colada and La Niña share more than just a "cool" factor: both are Spanish loan words whose spellings include tildes, those wavy marks which in these examples are placed over the letter n to indicate a blend of the sounds of n and y. Tilde is itself a Spanish borrowing rooted in the Latin titulus, an ancestor of the English words title and titular that means "title" or "inscription." The Spanish and English applications of tilde are distinct. In Spanish, tilde refers most commonly to the accent symbol, while ñ is its own member of the alphabet (pronounced "EN-yay"). In contrast, English speakers use tilde specifically for the aforementioned mark. In addition to functioning as a diacritic—that is, a mark paired with a character to indicate pronunciation—the tilde may be used as an independent character to indicate approximation, negation in logic, or similarity in mathematics.

When Ellie Green left her house on the night of June 19, 2019, she thought she and her mother would continue their conversation the following day. However, Ellie says that she was shocked to discover that, just four days later, her father had her mother committed to a psychiatric hospital and she wouldn't be allowed to see her. She was even more shocked when, a month later, she says that she was told that her mother had died from a stroke while in the hospital. Devastated by her mother's death, Ellie wanted an explanation of how someone so young could suddenly die, but each question was met with vague and confusion answers. This was just the beginning of the mystery surrounding her mother's disappearance. If anyone has any information about Angela Green's disappearance, investigators urge them to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS. Information can also be sent to Steve Ridge directly at (319) 573-0657 or steveridge40@gmail.com. References Adler, Eric. 2023. "$25k reward offered for information on missing woman." Kansas City Star, March 4: 1. —. 2020. "'Dateline NBC' to explore case of missing Johnson County mom." Kansas City Star, October 29: 4. —. 2020. "Teen seeks truth of mom's mysterious disappearance." Kansas City Star, July 26: 1. —. 2022. "Three-year search from missing Prairie Village woman heats up." Kansas City Star, May 4: 10. 2026. People Magazine Investigates. Directed by Bruno Bahunek. Honeycutt, Sherae. 2020. Daughter of missing Prairie Village woman aching for answers as disappearance surpasses a year. February 26. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://fox4kc.com/news/exclusive-daughter-of-missing-prairie-village-woman-aching-for-answers-as-disappearance-surpasses-a-year/. —. 2020. Recorded phone calls involving missing Prairie Village woman's case raise more questions. October 29. Accessed August 19, 2026. https://fox4kc.com/news/recorded-phone-calls-involving-missing-prairie-village-womans-case-raise-more-questions/. Pelisek, Christine. 2026. A Mom Went Missing in 2019 After Arguing with Daughter. Her Husband Stopped Talking to Investigators a Long Time Ago. February 21. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://people.com/mom-vanished-2019-angela-green-daughter-wants-answers-11911133. Shriner, Zoe, and Betsy Weber. 2024. Five years since Prairie Village mom Angela Green disappeared without a trace. September 11. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.kctv5.com/2024/09/12/kc-unsolved-five-years-since-prairie-village-mom-angela-green-disappeared-without-trace/. Webster, Betsy. 2026. Private investigator claims new lead on Prairie Village mom's disappearance, police not yet informed. March 2. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.kctv5.com/2026/03/03/private-investigator-claims-new-lead-prairie-village-moms-disappearance-police-not-yet-informed/. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 24, 2026 is: expeditious • ek-spuh-DISH-us • adjective Expeditious is a formal word that is used to describe someone acting in a quick and efficient way, or something done in such a manner. // Both sides hoped for an expeditious resolution of the dispute. See the entry > Examples: “Inspectors were on campus Friday afternoon with a certified arborist to determine which trees are protected and the extent to which any damage or removals have occurred, according to the city. ‘The City is prepared to conduct this inspection work in an expeditious manner and supports the goal of returning students to a safe campus as soon as possible,' the city's statement said.” — Ryan Carter, The Los Angeles Daily News, 10 July 2026 Did you know? Expeditious has had quite the journey through the English language. It comes to us from the related noun expedition, which in turn comes from the Latin verb expedire (“to set free” or “to make ready”). When expedition first set forth in English in the 1400s, it did so with two meanings that are still in use today, “a journey especially by a group of people for a specific purpose” and “efficient promptness.” Expeditious followed as an adjectival form of the latter. Something (such as, say, preparation for a long voyage) done expeditiously is done quickly and efficiently; in other words, it is expedited. Like expeditious and expedition, expedite too comes from expedire.

Richard Entrup is unusual in quantum circles: he's not a physicist, and he doesn't pretend to be. He spent decades as a CIO, CTO, CDO, and CISO at organizations including Verizon, Christie's, Disney/ABC, Time Warner, and Tiffany & Company before joining KPMG to lead its Emerging Solutions practice. That background — deep operational experience on the client side — shapes everything about how he thinks about quantum. He's not selling a hardware roadmap; he's thinking about what it actually takes to get a large, complex organization to change its cryptographic infrastructure before a threat materializes.The conversation matters now because the signals are accelerating. NIST has finalized its first post-quantum cryptography standards, executive orders in the US are pushing federal agencies toward PQC migration, and the algorithmic efficiency gains that reduce the qubit threshold for breaking RSA-2048 keep coming. Listeners who work in enterprise technology, cybersecurity, or quantum strategy — or who advise organizations that do — will find Entrup's practitioner perspective a useful counterweight to the more hardware-focused conversations that dominate the field.What We Get IntoWhy Q-Day's exact date is the wrong question — and why the more important issue is how long it will take enterprises to even inventory their cryptographic exposure, let alone remediate itThe scale of the cryptographic migration problem, including why a single laptop may contain hundreds of individual cryptographic components and why upstream/downstream API dependencies make this a supply-chain-wide challenge, not just an internal IT projectWhy "harvest now, decrypt later" creates urgency today, regardless of when fault-tolerant quantum computers arrive — and how compliance and regulatory timelines interact with that threat modelWhat crypto agility actually means in practice — moving from a "set it and forget it" cryptographic posture to a dynamic, continuously monitored framework, including the pressure SSL certificate renewal windows are already creatingHow KPMG built its PQC practice, incubated it within the firm, and handed it off to the cybersecurity advisory team as a core service offeringThe "good quantum" side of the ledger — how KPMG's emerging research function is approaching quantum computing as a source of competitive advantage, not just risk, and what sectors are furthest along in exploring itThe AI-quantum convergence, including Entrup's observation that AI is already being used to read and crack code — and what that means for the urgency of cryptographic modernizationWhy the enterprise quantum opportunity still has a long tail, and how the current moment compares to the early infrastructure phase of the internet — when everyone was talking about TCP/IP and DNS, not Uber or NetflixResources & LinksGuest & OrganizationRichard Entrup — Worth Magazine Profile — Career arc from CIO/CISO roles at major global brands to KPMG's Emerging Solutions practiceKPMG Quantum Dawn (2025) — KPMG's enterprise quantum readiness hub, introducing the Q-PREP framework and PQC implementation services, with Entrup as named leadReports & ResearchKPMG — "The Quantum Threat Is No Longer Theoretical" (2026) — The threat brief discussed in this episode, charting the rapid decline in qubits needed to crack RSA-2048 and urging immediate PQC migrationKPMG — "From Theory to Impact: Real-World Results in Quantum Machine Learning" (2026) — KPMG's joint report with IBM and Kipu Quantum on measurable quantum ML results on real hardwareKPMG — "Prepare Now for Quantum Cyber Risk" — Board Leadership Article (2026) — C-suite and board-level guidance on integrating quantum risk into enterprise oversightarXiv — "Quantum-enhanced satellite image classification" (2026) — The underlying research paper behind the KPMG/IBM/Kipu Quantum ML resultsEcosystem & EventsChicago Quantum Exchange — KPMG Joins CQE (October 2024) — Announcement of KPMG's formal CQE membership, referenced in the episode as part of the firm's ecosystem-building strategyKPMG 2026 Quantum Consortium — The inaugural KPMG Quantum Consortium event (March 2026, Orlando) discussed in the episodeIndependent CoverageQuantum Computing Report — KPMG joins Chicago Quantum Exchange (2024) — Independent coverage of KPMG's CQE partnership and enterprise quantum strategyQuantum Zeitgeist — Kipu Quantum satellite imagery coverage (Feb 2026) — Independent analysis of the KPMG/IBM/Kipu hybrid QML resultsKey Quotes & Insights> "It's not if but when. And it could be five years, could be three years, could be ten years. The fact is organizations are not gonna be ready. And that's the scary part." — Richard Entrup on Q-Day> "This is not just the CISO. This is gonna be the software engineering app dev guys. This is gonna be all your partners, upstream and downstream, who have to also be compliant — because if you change your crypto and they don't, that stuff's gonna break." — On why PQC migration is an enterprise-wide, supply-chain-wide problemInsight: Entrup draws a sharp distinction between the "bad quantum" (cryptographic risk requiring urgent defensive action) and the "good quantum" (competitive opportunity with a longer tail) — and argues that most organizations aren't adequately addressing either.Insight: The analogy to the early internet is deliberate: just as the 1990s were consumed with TCP/IP and DNS rather than the applications those protocols would eventually enable, the current quantum moment is still largely an infrastructure conversation — and that's normal, not a sign of failure.> "AI is expediting all of this. If AI is doing one thing, the use case is reading code and cracking it. That's pretty scary." — On the intersection of AI capability and cryptographic vulnerabilityRelated EpisodesEp. 81 — Quantum LDPC Error Correction with Larry Cohen and Paul Webster — Directly relevant: Cohen and Webster discuss how QLDPC error correction reduces the qubit overhead needed for RSA cryptanalysis, the technical underpinning of the threat timeline Entrup describesEp. 38 — Quantum Machine Learning with Jessic...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 23, 2026 is: prowess • PROW-us • noun Prowess refers to someone's great ability, skill, or talent for something specified, as in “the pop star's vocal prowess” or “a lawyer of great prowess.” // Already a proven virtuoso on guitar, she extends her considerable instrumental prowess to the piano throughout her new album as well. See the entry > Examples: “On another Friday ... I led a nature writing workshop at the library's Fowler branch. ... I had everyone draw a map of a place they loved and populate their maps with landmarks. Then we all went around and shared our drawings. Inevitably (after first acknowledging our lack of artistic prowess) stories emerged. Walks with long-gone, beloved dogs. Times someone had been caught out in bad weather.” — Steve Edwards, Literary Hub, 4 Dec. 2025 Did you know? Prowess is a word with a lot to be proud of. Not only has it performed gallantly for the English language since the 13th century, but it has stayed relatively stalwart in hewing to its original meaning, which is quite an accomplishment. When prowess first joined the ranks of the lexicon, it could be used to refer to bravery, skill, and valor—especially those virtues as encountered in military contexts—or to individual acts of derring-do. The latter was usually used in the plural, as when people waxed rhapsodic about the “prowesses” of knights or some such. Today's “extraordinary ability” meaning, which developed in the 17th century, tends to stick to the singular form, as when it's used to describe those with intellectual prowess, or to someone known for their prowess as a fundraiser. 

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 22, 2026 is: august • aw-GUST • adjective The word august, which is pronounced with the accent on "gust," describes someone or something marked by majestic dignity or grandeur. // We toured the old mansion's august halls and expansive grounds. See the entry > Examples: "His tone is temperate, but the words echo through the State Capitol's Assembly chamber, the august backdrop for his speech." — Maya Singer, Vogue, 1 Feb. 2026 Did you know? The Roman republican calendar spanned just ten months, from March (then Martius) through December. The last five months were each named for their numerical place on the calendar: Quintilis (fifth), Sextilis (sixth), September (seventh), October (eighth), November (ninth), and December (tenth). January and February were eventually added to create a twelve-month year, obscuring the relationship between these months and their titles. So it was a welcome change when the Roman Senate honored Gaius Octavius (aka Octavian), the first Roman emperor, by changing Sextilis to Augustus—the designation taken by Octavian from the Latin adjective augustus meaning "worthy of honor" or "venerable." Although August has been the English name of the eighth month of the year since before the 12th century, it wasn't until the late 1500s that august came to be used as an adjective (pronounced aw-GUST), more or less as augustus was in Latin.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 21, 2026 is: rigmarole • RIG-uh-muh-rol • noun Rigmarole refers to a long, complicated, and annoying process, description, etc. // We went through the rigmarole of installing, registering, and activating the software before we found out it wouldn't work. See the entry > Examples: “Over the last 10 years or so, I've had an on-again, off-again relationship with running. On the one hand, I love it for the mental benefits. My mind always feels clearer after a run and it can be an escape from the rigmarole of life. But on the other hand, it seems that every few years, some mild injury befalls me that slows my momentum, or I move to a new city and lose the routine of running at a time and place.” — Maura Fox, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Sept. 2025 Did you know? In the Middle Ages, the term Rageman or Ragman referred to a game in which a player randomly selected a string attached to a roll of verses and read the selected verse. The roll was called a Ragman roll after a fictional king purported to be the author of the verses. By the 16th century, ragman and ragman roll were being used figuratively to mean “a list or catalog.” Both terms fell out of written use, but ragman roll persisted in speech, and in the 18th century it resurfaced in writing as rigmarole, with the meaning “a succession of confused, meaningless, or foolish statements.” In the mid-19th century rigmarole (also spelled rigamarole, reflecting its common pronunciation) acquired the sense referring to a complex and tedious procedure.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 20, 2026 is: divulge • dih-VULJ • verb To divulge something, especially secret or private information, is to make it known. // Rather than divulge the baby name we've chosen, we're waiting till the little one arrives to make introductions. See the entry > Examples: “Sun Ra's agent had called, he said. ... The Arkestra was heading out on tour soon, to Europe, and Sonny wanted the three of us to join him. ... After we'd calmed down, Don divulged the hitch: the tour would take us away for the school year's last weeks, meaning we would miss exams and also all the end-of-college parties.” — Michael Lowenthal, Place Envy: Essays in Search of Orientation, 2026 Did you know? Information divulged is typically secret, or known only to insiders, and it isn't usually shouted from the rooftops. But when divulge first entered English in the 15th century, it did so as a synonym of proclaim: divulging involved declaring or announcing something to the public, a duty of town criers from Lizard Point to Dunnet Head. The word's source is the Latin verb vulgare, “to make known,” which traces ultimately back to the Latin noun vulgus, meaning “common people” or “mob.” While nowadays divulge can presumably involve blabbing to the rabble, the word usually implies a more careful and considered approach to sharing sensitive information.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 19, 2026 is: balmy • BAH-mee • adjective Balmy is an adjective that is often used to describe weather that is warm, calm, and pleasant. It can also be used to describe someone or something (such as an idea) that is foolish or irrational. // After a long, eight-hour drive, we were rewarded with a mild, balmy evening at our vacation spot on the shores of Lake Erie. // Despite being a devout Green Bay fan, she finds the idea of attending games in head-to-toe yellow and green body paint to be a bit balmy. See the entry > Examples: “Everyone is encouraged to bring chairs, snacks and coolers, and remember the flashlights for the walk back to the parking lot. Leashed dogs are welcome, too. These evenings are all about enjoying good music on a balmy summer night.” — The Sun (Elizabethtown, New York), 18 June 2026 Did you know? Aromatic ointments and fragrances are the bomb. They are also, literally, balms: healing substances and soothing scents with the power to ease both mind and body. The original balm, what Latin-speakers referred to as balsamum, was the oleoresin of a species of balsam tree. In Anglo-French, balsamum became basme and baume, spellings which entered Middle English and later became balm. Balm eventually begat the adjective balmy, used to describe things with a balm's comforting, calming qualities, as when Shakespeare's Othello speaks of “balmy slumbers.” Today balmy is typically used to describe the weather—balmy breezes, balmy temperatures, balmy spring afternoons, et al—conditions that are neither too hot nor too cold, but just right—Goldilocks conditions, even.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 18, 2026 is: oxymoron • ahk-sih-MOR-ahn • noun An oxymoron is a combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings, such as "cruel kindness" or "open secret." In broader usage, oxymoron can also refer to something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements. // Some of Shakespeare's most famous plays are filled with oxymorons such as "loving hate" and "tragical mirth." See the entry > Examples: "Even the most environmentally aware beauty editors I know (perhaps that's an oxymoron, given the amount of product we have to test for our jobs…) use sheet masks on a weekly basis, and the trend is showing no signs of slowing." — Melanie Macleod, Hello Magazine, 15 Apr. 2026 Did you know? The ancient Greeks exhaustively classified the elements of rhetoric, or effective speech and writing, and gave the name oxymoron—literally "pointed foolishness"—to the deliberate juxtaposing of seemingly contradictory words. The roots of oxymoron, oxys meaning "sharp" or "keen," and mōros meaning "foolish," are nearly antonyms themselves, making oxymoron nicely self-descriptive. Oxymoron originally applied to a meaningful paradox condensed into a couple of words, as in "lonely crowd" or "sweet sorrow." Today, however, what is commonly cited as an oxymoron is often simply a curiosity of language, where one or both elements have multiple meanings (shrimp in "jumbo shrimp" doesn't mean "small"; it refers to a sea creature), or a phrase whose elements seem antithetical in spirit, such as "organized chaos."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 17, 2026 is: lackadaisical • lak-uh-DAY-zih-kul • adjective Something or someone described as lackadaisical is lacking in interest, enthusiasm, or zest. // Feeling particularly lackadaisical in the summer heat, they lazily tossed a ball back and forth. See the entry > Examples: "The defense was lackadaisical at best, while the offense wasn't much better." — Shreyas Laddha, The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, New York), 7 Feb. 2026 Did you know? We're too enthusiastic about the lexicon to be lackadaisical about words, but lackadaisical itself is rooted in the sort of sorrow that can put a damper on one's passion for vocabulary expansion. When folks living from the late 17th to the late 19th century had one of those days when nothing goes right, they could cry "Lackaday!" to express their sorrow and disappointment as a shortened form of the expression "alack the day." (Alack is an interjection used to express sorrow or regret.) By the mid-1700s, the adjective lackadaisical had been formed to describe such weary and exasperated folks, as well as their half-hearted doings and sayings. Today the word has lost some of its dreariness and most often describes the languid and lazy.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 16, 2026 is: zeugma • ZOOG-muh • noun Zeugma refers to wordplay in which a single word relates to other words in such a way that it means something different in each case, as in “building a boat and a reputation” and “open a book along with your mind.” // A clever use of zeugma was demonstrated by Groucho Marx's character Rufus T. Firefly in Duck Soup (1933): “You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff.” See the entry > Examples: “... in an evocative use of zeugma—my favorite literary device ... [Oyinkan] Braithwaite writes, ‘The old house and everyone in it was falling apart.'” — Hudson Warm, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2 Nov. 2025 Did you know? “Zeugma, like the pun, is economical: it contracts two sentences into one . . .; it links unrelated terms—mental with moral, abstract with physical, high with low—and thus generates surprise,” wrote Walter Redfern in Puns (1984). Zeugma, which has been a part of the English language since the 15th century, comes from Greek, where it literally means “joining.” But even those who are unfamiliar with the word are likely well acquainted with the clever wordplay to which it refers—zeugma is a beloved device of lyricists, probably for the economy noted by Redfern. Notable examples come from Alanis Morissette (“You held your breath and the door for me”), Taylor Swift (“The wine is cold like the shoulder that I gave you”), and the Beatles (“Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name”).