Help save lives by donating to our charity, AMMALIFE, in this summer's Big Give

Here at last to satisfy the clamour of their Brummie fans, come Police Dog Hogan.

Young people feel ignored by power, but would still turn out to vote.

Join Birmingham Children’s Hospital for the SACA Bike Ride 2018.

Campaign to reduce chewing gum litter launches in Wyre Forest.

Comic Sooz Kempner gives a history lesson.

Industry executives said the latest generation chipsets, set to power high-end Android handsets, are already around 20% more expensive than their predecessors due to a more complex circuitry and advanced manufacturing process. High demand for premium handsets is also contributing to improving the product mix of chipset makers towards more high-end chipsets.

Apple India's dividend payout to its Irish holding company more than doubled to ₹3,302 crore in FY24, exceeding its net profit for the first time. This comes as iPhone sales surged in the country, boosting Apple India's revenue by 36%. While analysts acknowledge the impressive revenue, they also point to stagnant operating margins and increased inventory as potential challenges.

I think Buzzsprout is the easiest-to-use podcast-hosting provider, and now they've made monetizing easy, too! Plus, you can use this to grow your own podcast!

The post Monetize and Promote Your Podcast with Buzzsprout Ads first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

With experience in professional film and TV writing, Podcast Studio Pro has been built specifically for the planning and organization needs of podcasters.

The post Plan Your Podcast Better with Podcast Studio Pro first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Libsyn has partnered with AdvertiseCast to launch Libsyn Auto Ads, allowing any Libsyn-hosted podcast to monetize with programmatic ads in your podcast!

The post Monetize Your Podcast on Libsyn Regardless of Audience Size first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

In summer 2021, iOS 14.5 introduced a major change to Apple Podcasts with implications many podcasters may still not realize. With that update, your audience on Apple Podcasts is no longer getting your podcast directly from your RSS feed, but from a proxy. And that has some potentially bad implications!

The post How Proxies and iOS 14.5 Affect Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

We use many services in the process of podcasting and engaging our audiences, like Patreon, Buy Me a Coffee, SpeakPipe, and more. But saying these brand names in your podcast can overwhelm or confuse your audience and—even worse—break their ability to properly engage with your podcast!

The post Stop Saying Brand Names in Your Podcast! Do These 5 Things Instead first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Where do you tell your audience to go for the actions you want them to take? I suggest that should almost always be based on your podcast's own domain name.

The post Why Does Your Podcast Need Its Own Domain? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

You might think your audience should thank YOU for all the work you put into your podcast, but how often do you thank THEM?

The post 6 Ways to Thank Your Podcast Audience first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

If your podcast uses episode numbers, you have multiple options for how to display them. Here's some guidance to help you decide! But I'll give this warning: it's, unfortunately, more complicated than it should be!

The post Should You Include Episode Numbers in Episode Titles? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

If your podcast uses seasons, you have multiple options for how to display them. Here's some guidance to help you decide!

The post Should You Include Seasons in Podcast Episode Titles? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

If you ever have a guest on your podcast, you might be wondering where to put their name. Here are some things to consider for your own podcast.

The post Should You Include Guest Names in Your Podcast Episode Titles? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Whether you're a guest on someone else's podcast, you're promoting your latest episode on social networks, or you're making marketing materials for your podcast, you might be wondering which link you should use to share your podcast.

The post This Is the BEST Link to Share Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Podcast cover art is usually the first and most prominent thing people will see about your podcast! So should your photo be in the cover art?

The post Should Your Photo Be in Your Podcast Cover Art? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Here are the words to avoid so you can have the best podcast title that will clearly communicate to potential audiences and stand out in searches.

The post Avoid These Words in Your Podcast Title first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Your podcast description gives you SEO benefits and the vital opportunity to convince a potential audience to try your podcast.

The post 8 Ways to Improve Your Podcast Description first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

As you podcast consistently, you'll build up a back catalog of episodes. But should you keep all of those episodes available?

The post Should You Limit Your Available Podcast Episodes? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

There are many ways to earn income through podcasting: affiliates, sponsorships, sales, and more. Disclosing when you get compensated is not only the law, but it's also a good way to earn your audience's trust!

The post You MUST Disclose Whenever You’re Compensated! first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Internet marketers have a new crush on video and many podcasters are starting to feel pressured to create video content. But do you need to add video?

The post Does Your Podcast NEED Video? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Bonus content can be a fun way to engage and reward your loyal podcast audience, either publicly, through an opt-in, or in a premium subscription.

The post 8 Bonus Content Ideas for Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

After considering the benefits of refreshing your podcast branding, you need to decide when it's the right time to do so. Here are some suggestions!

The post When Should You Refresh Your Podcast Branding? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

After sharing multiple considerations for refreshing your podcast branding, it's time to wrap it up with the big question: how?

The post How to Refresh Your Podcast Branding first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Podcasting 2.0 is revolutionizing podcasting for podcasters, audiences, and developers. Here are what I think are the best features you should be leveraging, if you can.

The post Top 5 Podcasting 2.0 Features You Should Try first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

You might have heard people talk about IAB podcast stats, measurement guidelines, compliance, and certification. Here's what all of that means, and whether it even matters!

The post Do IAB-Certified Stats Matter for Your Podcast? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Apple provides a portal for you to submit and manage your own podcast called Podcasts Connect. I suggest you check these 8 things right away!

The post 8 Things You Should Check in Apple Podcasts Connect first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Monetization is not the only profit you can get from podcasting! Here's why I think you should put P.R.O.F.I.T. first in every aspect of your podcast.

The post Why You Should Put Podcasting P.R.O.F.I.T. First first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Inside jokes can offer fun potential for your podcast, but also some potential costs. Here are some brief things for you to consider as you engage with your podcast audience.

The post Should Your Podcast Have Inside Jokes? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

There comes a point in every podcast when it's necessary to say a URL. If for nothing else, at least your podcast's own home on the Internet. (And you should have a domain for your podcast!)

The post 11 Tips for Sharing URLs in Your Podcast first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast.

Big fines by regulators on tech companies are nothing new, but the scale of one imposed by a Russian court on Google is astronomical. For removing Russian state-run channels and pro-government accounts from YouTube in the wake of the country's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia is demanding that Alphabet pay up 20 undecillion rubles ($2.5 decillion USD) or face its being blocked from doing business in the country indefinitely.

Do you have a plan to purchase electronics and other gear in 2025? You may want to accelerate those purchases to the end of 2024 because President-Elect Trump demonstrated in his first term that he had no issue with dramatically increasing the cost of appliances for Americans with previous tariffs, so there's no reason to expect him not to do it again.

Again, we say hello! Just a reminder that the self-nominations for the inaugural Metafilter Steering Committee (SC) close on August 7th! The purpose of said committee will be to develop and implement site policy, code updates, and ensure the financial health of the site, i.e. help guide the direction of the overall site and act as the voice of the community. Interested? Come over to Metatalk to view details and learn how to apply by August 7th!

Hey there! Voting has begun for the inaugural Steering Committee (SC) for Metafilter! Come on over to MeTaTalk for a list of candidates and explanation of the voting process and help determine the future of the site!

Hi, I'm looking for an RV to rent for Burning Man, hopefully within a ~10hr drive of Black Rock City. I would need it from Thursday, August 24 through Thursday, September 5. Required: refrigerator, shower, capable of extended boondocking Appreciated: solar, large grey water capacity I'm an experienced burner, an avid consumer of information, and a mom. I'm planning to treat your RV as gently as possible and return it in the condition I receive it in, and I have a plan for how I'm going to do that. Happy to discuss further. I'm willing to pay, but I'm hoping for a reasonable rate - preferably less than $4k out the door. I am willing to get additional insurance.

"Everlasting Love" is one of two songs to become a Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hit in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s* and the only song to become a UK top 40 hit in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

Written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, "Everlasting Love" was a hit for Robert Knight in 1967. Love Affair's 1967 cover, the most successful version in the UK, knocked The Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye" off the number one spot on British charts. Singer Steve Ellis was 17 and recorded the song with session musicians after the record label rejected the band's version. Carl Carlton's 1973 cover, the most successful version in the US, was originally the B-side of a single but was made into the A-side. The video for Rex Smith and Rachel Sweet's 1981 cover features them as a couple getting married. Their version includes an additional verse of uncredited authorship that was approved by the song's composers. The video for Sandra's 1987 cover has her and "Austrian model Rupert Weber as lovers in different periods of world history" Eve to 1987. U2 did an acoustic/electric cover in 1989 as the B-side to "All I Want Is You." Gloria Estefan was pregnant when the video for her 1995 cover was filmed, so three male and two female drag performers appeared as Estefan at different stages of her career. Jamie Callum's 2005 cover was featured on the soundtrack to Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Other covers of note include Joe Dassin's "Plus Je Te Vois, Plus Je Te Veux" "(The More I See You, The More I Want You)" (1968), Patricia Paay (1977), and Willy Sommer's "Liefde Voor Altijd" (2011). The song was featured in an episode of the BBC One TV series Casualty and the cast later performed it live. Jamie Dornan performed the song in the 1998 movie Belfast. Buzz Cason performing "Everlasting Love" in 2013. The writers of 'Everlasting Love' tell their story:

Mac Gayden started writing "Everlasting Love" when he was 5 years old. Those "oooh" vocals that float in the background of the chorus? It's a melody he came up with at that age. "I just kind of drew it out of the air," he says.

Aftermath, the tech and gaming blog founded by webugees from Kotaku, is one year old! In a lengthy post on their site, founders Luke Plunkett, Gita Jackson, Riley McLeod, Nathan Grayson and Chris Person discuss what running their little co-op business is like, and the issues they face in keeping it afloat.

I asked a similar question a few months ago, but the "best answer" to that question no longer works because Facebook has changed the interface. I recently put a Facebook post (an article) into an album (using the relatively new feature that lets you do this with all kinds of links, not just photos/videos). But I changed my mind — I don't want it to be in any album. How do I remove it? I could use either a browser or the iPhone app.

Note that Facebook's album interface seems to have changed about a month ago, so older Facebook how-to posts might not be relevant.

I don't want to delete the post because it already has comments, etc.

Loving your neighbor as yourself is the highest expression of God’s law.

Actor Michael B. Jordan says “timing is everything. ” The SAG award winner marched in a Los Angeles Black Lives Matter protest last month demanding that Hollywood drastically increase its diversity in the executive ranks. Jordan, whose breakout “Fruitvale Station” role followed the events of a young Black man killed by a transit police officer, is channeling an urgency for change and healing into “A Night at the Drive-In.”

Two things:

1. Narrow your focus to your sphere of influence, just for now, because in this moment of helplessness and defeat, when we are feeling powerless, it behooves us to remember we do have immense power. Kamala Harris was never going to bring a casserole to your neighbor when their spouse was in the hospital, that's you. Donald Trump cannot steal the laughter from your friends' lips when you tell them a joke, that laughter is entirely in your power. You have the power to choose connection, fellowship, mutual aid, joy, hard work, love, passion, devotion, faith. To me, remembering that I have power is cause for hope.

2. When you're out there using your power to connect with your fellow human beings, look for the helpers. Take heart in their existence, their perseverance. Do everything you can to become one of them.

I'm sorry you've been through so much lately, but I think you are definitely catastrophizing. I'd say the likelihood you'll be a target of political violence is pretty close to zero. I would suggest you stop reading the news/Reddit for a bit if it's causing you to feel this way - go for walks in your new neighborhood, make plans to see your friends in the city, etc.

This does sound very much like your anxiety latching on to a potential future and you getting stuck in that.

Others can give you advice about dealing with this particular scenario.

But here are some things to remember:

Seeking reassurance from others usually results in your anxiety getting worse, as their advice makes the imaginary danger seem more real.

No amount of rehearsing and imagining and ruminating will make you any safer. In fact, trying to prepare for this scenario means you're staying in the anxiety space for longer.

Don't try to fight your scary thoughts, don't argue with yourself. Just note the thought and briefly describe what you're doing to yourself in a non judgemental way.

"I'm arguing with an imaginary person right now"

"I'm trying to predict the future"

"I'm ruminating right now."

"I'm seeking reassurance"

You have the power to reassure yourself, and THAT kind of reassurance really works.

Change catastrophising thoughts into compassionate realism.

"I don't know what might happen in the future, but I'm going to cope with it when it dies"

"It's possible that this frightening thing might happen, and it might be unpleasant, but I will deal with it if it does and then it will just be another memory."

Find ways to distract yourself from your spiralling thoughts. I like explaining a topic I'm really interested in out loud to myself as a way to drown out stuck thoughts.

Trying to prepare for something that *might* happen just means you're making yourself be in that horrible scary worry space for much longer than it would take for the scary thing to happen. You can't control wether or not this thing you fear will happen, but you can control how much you focus on it.

Distraction is good! Be with people you enjoy, watch a comfort show, dance to music you love, do something to make yourself feel good.

I work in a women's health clinic that does first-term abortions as one of its services.

We have a comment form on our web site where people who want to volunteer as patient escorts can reach out. Typically, we get about one or two inquiries a week.

Yesterday alone, we got twenty-five.

I'm usually allergic to a lot of the way "find the bright side" kind of things are framed, but this extended quotation from Great Tide Rising by Kathleen Dean Moore came across my Mastodon feed and really resonated with me.

Over the years, college students have often come to my office distraught, unable to think of what they might be able to do to stop the terrible losses caused by an industrial growth economy run amok. So much dying, so much destruction. I tell them about Mount Saint Helens, the volcano that blasted a hole in the Earth in 1980, only a decade before they were born.

Those scientists were so wrong back in 1980, I tell my students. When they first climbed from the helicopters, holding handkerchiefs over their faces to filter ash from the Mount Saint Helens eruption, they did not think they would live long enough to see life restored to the blast zone. Every tree was stripped gray, every ridgeline buried in cinders, every stream clogged with toppled trees and ash. If anything would grow here again, they thought, its spore and seed would have to drift in from the edges of the devastation, long dry miles across a plain of cinders and ash. The scientists could imagine that– spiders on silk parachutes drifting over rubble and plain, a single samara spinning into the shade of a pumice stone. It was harder to imagine the time required for flourishing to return to the mountains – all the dusty centuries.

But here they are today: On the mountain, only thirty-five years later, these same scientists are on their knees, running their hands over beds of moss below lupine in lavish purple bloom. Tracks of mice and fox wander along a stream, and here, beside a ten-foot silver fir, a coyote's twisted scat grows mushrooms. What the scientists know now, but didn't understand then, is that when the mountain blasted ash and rock across the landscape, the devastation passed over some small places hidden in the lee of rocks and trees. Here, a bed of moss and deer fern under a rotting log. There under a boulder, a patch of pearly everlasting and the tunnel to a vole's musty nest. Between stones in a buried stream, a slick of algae and clustered dragonfly larvae. Refugia, they call them: places of safety where life endures. From the refugia, mice and toads emerged blinking onto the blasted plain. Grasses spread, strawberries sent out runners. From a thousand, ten thousand, maybe countless small places of enduring life, forests and meadows returned to the mountain.

I have seen this happen. I have wandered the edge of Mount Saint Helens vernal pools with ecologists brought to unscientific tears by the song of meadowlarks in this place.

My students have been taught, as they deserve to be, that the fossil-fueled industrial growth culture has brought the world to the edge of catastrophe. They don't have to "believe in" climate change to accept this claim. They understand the decimation of plant and animal species, the poisons, the growing deserts and spreading famine, the rising oceans and melting ice. If it's true that we can't destroy our habitats without destroying our lives, as Rachel Carson said, and if it's true that we are in the process of laying waste to the planet, then our ways of living will come to an end – some way or another, sooner or later, gradually or catastrophically – and some new way of life will begin. What are we supposed to do? What is there to hope for at the end of this time? Why brother trying to patch up the world while so many others seem intent on wrecking it?

These are terrifying questions for an old professor; thank god for the volcano's lesson. I tell them about the rotted stump that sheltered spider eggs, about a cupped cliff that saved a fern, about all the other refugia that brought life back so quickly to the mountain. If destructive forces are building under our lives, then our work in this time and place, I tell them, is to create refugia of the imagination. Refugia, places where ideas are sheltered and encouraged to grow.

Even now, we can create small pockets of flourishing, and we can make ourselves into overhanging rock ledges to protect life so that the full measure of possibility can spread and reseed the world. Doesn't matter what it is, I tell my students; if it's generous to life, imagine it into existence. Create a bicycle cooperative, a seed-sharing community, a wildlife sanctuary on the hill below the church. Raise butterflies with children. Sing duets to the dying. Tear out the irrigation system and plant native grass. Imagine water pumps. Imagine a community garden in the Kmart parking lot. Study ancient corn. Teach someone to sew. Learn to cook with the full power of the sun at noon.

We don't have to start from scratch. We can restore pockets of flourishing life ways that have been damaged over time. Breach a dam. Plant a riverbank. Vote for schools. Introduce the neighbors to one another's children. Celebrate the solstice. Slow a river course with a fallen log. Tell stories of how indigenous people live on the land. Clear the grocery carts out of the stream.

Maybe most effective of all, we can protect refugia that already exist. They are all around us. Protect the marshy ditch behind the mall. Work to ban poisons from the edges of the road. Save the hedges in your neighborhood. Boycott what you don't believe in. Refuse to participate in what is wrong. There is hope in this: An attention that notices and celebrates thriving where it occurs; a conscience that refuses to destroy it.

From these sheltered pockets of moral imagining, and from the protected pockets of flourishing, new ways of living will spread across the land, across the salt plains and beetle killed forests. Here is how life will start anew. Not from the edges over centuries of invasion; rather from small pockets of good work, shaped by an understanding that all life is interdependent, and driven by the one gift humans have that belongs to no other: practical imagination – the ability to imagine that things can be different from what they are now.

UPDATED The new school year is rapidly approaching, but many parents and educators still don't know exactly what the semester will look like. As President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos call for schools to open in-person, districts across the country are formulating a range of plans. Doctors have their own recommendations for what systems should do. It's a lot to keep track of, but NPR reporters are following the developments. Send us your questions, and we'll answer some on-air. A producer will be in touch before using your name or question on air. This form was closed on July 14th. Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.