The Amateur Traveler talks to Michael Kenney about traveling to Normandy in France. Michael talks about at least two different invasions associated with this region of France. The oldest was the Norman invasion of England which left from Normandy and is documented in the 224 foot long Bayeux Tapestry which is exhibited in a museum in Bayeux. The more recent was the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War 2. Michael describes visiting the invasion beaches (codenamed Juno, Gold, Omaha, Utah, and Sword), the cemeteries, and the village of Sainte-Mère-Église which was the first French Village liberated. Michael also talks about visiting the medieval fortress and monastery.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Anil Polat who blogs under the name foxnomad about a recent trip to Northern Iraq. Anil is out to visit every country in the world which might lead him to visit a country before some others would deem it safe. Anil did not travel to the green zone but traveled in the Northern or Kurdish region of Iraq. Anil’s trip was made all the more interesting as he is ethnically Turkish. Says Anil:

Honestly that was one of my concerns before going. I did not know how people would respond to me, if people would not like me being there. The whole idea of a Kurdistan in Northern Iraq is a very controversial topic in Turkey to say the least.And also I had some security and safety concerns just because of the location. However, people were very friendly to me and it was a much more normal experience than I was expecting.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Dave Kerwin about his recent trip to Northern Queensland. Dave recommends 2 main stops on your trip: the Atherton Tablelands, Daintree National Park and the Great Barrier Reef.

The Amateur Traveler talks to to Gary Arndt about the 4 micro-states in Europe: Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino.  "They all have very unique histories and the one thing that they are all very small"

The Amateur Traveler talks to Lee Abbamonte, the youngest American ever to travel to every country in the world, about 3 islands off the coast of Australia: Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, Christmas Island.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Nathan from Wand’rly Magazine about Great Smoky Mountains National Park and about his current home of Western North Carolina. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most visited U.S. National Park.

Hear about travel to North Korea as the Amateur Traveler talks to Matt from England about his recent trip to this closed and insular country. This may be one of the most unusual episodes of the Amateur Traveler as this may be one of the more unusual countries.

Hear about travel to the South Side of Chicago as the Amateur Traveler talks to Amy Bugbee, author of "Suffering and Celebration of Life in America", about her hometown, the South Side of Chicago. The South Side of Chicago is more than just the White Sox and the stock yards just as Chicago pizza is more than just deep dish.

Hear about travel to Oslo and Western Norway as the Amateur Traveler talks to Øystein about his native Norway.

Hear about travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina as the Amateur Traveler talks to Leandro Gonzalez about his hometown. Buenos Aires is a large cosmopolitan city of 13 million people. Leandro tries to help us find options for travelers from the backpacker to the upscale traveler.

Hear about travel to Belfast, Northern Ireland as the Amateur Traveler talks to Mary Jo Manzanares about her recent trip there. Mary Jo was really interested in learning more about the history of "the troubles" and her husband about the Titanic.

Hear about travel to Nova Scotia as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sherry Ott about her recent trip to this province in Eastern Canada. Sherry returns to to the show to talk about a trip around Nova Scotia she took last June.

Hear about travel to Northern Australia (Northwest Territories) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sam Guerra from EscapeFromTheBay.blogspot.com. The "Top End" is "one of the more exotic parts of Australia for sure and it's definitely the closest place you can go to get an authentic feel for aboriginal culture which in my opinion is something that makes Australia unique. There is a lot of natural beauty and a lot of wildlife up there. It is nearly untouched."

Hear about travel to North Carolina as the Amateur Traveler talks to Karen Dawkins of familytravelsonabudget.com about the Tar Heel State. We cover from Mount Mitchell in the west to the Outer Banks in the east. 

Hear about hiking the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) in northern Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to Linda Martin from The Indie Travel Podcast.

Linda says, "the thing about the Camino is that it is as long as you wanted to be."

Hear about travel to northern South Korea as the Amateur Traveler talks to Katie of aroundtheworldinktdays.com about the area of South Korea where she is living.

Hear about travel to Northern Romania as the Amateur Traveler talks to Ralph Velasco of photoenrichment.com about the region that he visited leading a recent photo tour.

We talk about the regions of Maramureş and Bukovina, north of Transylvania.

Hear about travel to North Dakota as the Amateur Traveler talks to resident Derrick Schiff about this often ignored state. 

Hear about travel to Northern Vietnam as the Amateur Traveler talks to Cindy Carlsson about her trip to some popular sites and some way off the beaten track places.

Hear about travel to Mantua, Verona, Padua Italy as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gina Mussio from ginamussio.com about these wonderful cities in her adopted country.

Hear about travel to the Northeastern region of the Netherlands as the Amateur Traveler talks to Rachel Heller from rachelheller.org about her adopted country.

Hear about travel to Northern Arizona as the Amateur Traveler talks to journalist Mark Smith about his recent road trip to beautiful Northern Arizona including half a dozen different parks in the National Park system.

Hear about hiking the Camino Ronda in Northern Spain as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sherry Ott about her trek along the coastline of the Costa Brava region.

Hear about travel to the Lofoten Islands of Norway as the Amateur Traveler talks to David Nikel, author of the Moon guide to Norway, about one of his favorite regions in that beautiful country.

Hear about travel to California's premier wine region of Napa and Sonoma as the Amateur Traveler talks again to free lance journalist Jill Robinson about this area with more than just wine... but a lot of that

Hear about travel to Northern Chile as the Amateur Traveler talks to Steph Dyson from worldlyadventurer.com about her adopted country.

Hear about travel to Mechelen, Hasselt and Leuven in Northern Flanders (Belgium) as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sofie Couwenbergh from WonderfulWanderings.com about her country.

Hear about travel to Chicago, Illinois as the Amateur Traveler talks to Francesca Mazurkiewicz about her hometown of Chicago.

Hear about travel to the Crystal Coast of North Carolina as the Amateur Traveler talks to Kit Parks from the Active Travel Adventures Podcast about the area.

Hear about travel to the Northern Mississippi River Valley in Minnesota and Wisconsin as the Amateur Traveler talks to Dean Klinkenberg from MississippiValleyTraveler.com about this stretch of America's mightiest river.

Hear about travel to Mantua, Verona, Padua Italy as the Amateur Traveler talks to Gina Mussio from ginamussio.com about these wonderful cities in her adopted country.

Hear about hiking the Kumano Koto trek in Japan as the Amateur Traveler talks to Sherry Ott about her experience on this trail that was used by medieval emperors on the Kii Peninsula. 

Hear about travel to Northern Pakistan and the  Karakoram Highway as the Amateur Traveler talks to David Harden from travelwornsatchel.com about his road trip in this remote and beautiful country.

Hear about things to do in Asheville, NC as the Amateur Traveler talks to music journalist and cocktail aficionado Bill Kopp about his adopted hometown.

An evangelical church network in California will ignore Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive prohibitions this month, opening sanctuary doors for communal worship despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. According to Fox News, California Church United, representing roughly 3,000 churches and 2.5 million congregants statewide, announced Thursday that it will return to conducting in-person services by Pentecost…

The post Huge Group of California Churches Announces Plan To Defy Governor Newsom’s Order appeared first on The Western Journal.

Last week an email hit my inbox with a simple and powerful sentiment. “I miss your writing,” it said. The person who sent it was a longtime reader of this site. I miss writing too. But there’s a reason I’ve been quiet here and on other platforms – I wrote a very short post about … Continue reading "Why Politics, Why Now?"

Andrew Yang has dropped out, which means the presidential campaign just got a lot less fun (you must watch this appreciation from The Recount, embedded above). The race also lost a credible and important voice on issues related to the impact of technology on our society.  The fact that Yang’s campaign didn’t make it past … Continue reading "For Now, America Just Doesn’t Want to Think That Hard"

Changes to a program designed to reunite refugees with family in the U.S. have slowed -- and in some cases outright denied -- legitimate entries into the country.

"We're writing off too many people," Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) says in "Immigration Battle," a feature film presentation from FRONTLINE and Independent Lens that airs tonight on PBS.

This November, explore an unsolved string of murders from the past, and the dangerous new rise of ISIS in Afghanistan.

Bitcoin will “halve” for the third time next week, slowing down the discovery of new bitcoins and preventing disruptions from new miners. Read more...

All it took was a pandemic, but the long-running joke finally became a reality: DEF CON is canceled. 

The annual hacker conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, typically draws tens of thousands of attendees to talk shop, compare notes, and generally cause delightful mischief. One element of that mischief is the constant — and until now false — yearly claim that DEF CON is canceled. The coronavirus changed that, and the organization announced Friday that the in-person conference will not take place this year. 

"The #DEFCONiscanceled meme has crossed over into real life, courtesy of #COVID19," read the announcement. "In early March we had hopes that things would be stable by August. That is no longer realistic." Read more...

Google's video chat app got new features this week. No, the other one. No, the other other one.

In a Friday blog post, Google announced some snazzy new features for Duo, one of its three video chat services. Let's get this out of the way early: Duo is the one that's mobile-friendly and resembles FaceTime more than Hangouts and Meet.

The new features make more sense with that in mind. Google added something called "Family Mode" to Duo, in which you can draw silly little doodles on the video feed, presumably to amuse the little ones on the call. There are also AR effects you can use on one-on-one calls on Android and iOS, similar to those available on Facebook's video calls. Read more...

Between the infamous Peloton commercial, the wild Boyhood wannabe that ended up being a Subway ad, and the endless #girlboss marketing reminding you that even women can be part of the capitalist machine, 2019 was a year for advertising. 

But nothing quite tops this one, which was released in September but resurfaced in a viral tweet on Friday.  

The ad starts off with a bleak statistic: women hold just 10 percent of all patented inventions. Then, it pans over to a delightful montage of ambitious young women. Each one is filmed preparing for their career goals, from mixing delicate chemicals in a laboratory to carefully testing the consistency of soil.  Read more...

In a startling turn for a robot that has long haunted your dreams, Boston Dynamics' Spot has been tasked to encourage healthy behavior. 

According to the Straits Times, the robot "dog" has been assigned to patrol the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio park in Singapore with the express purpose of encouraging social distancing. 

"Let's keep Singapore healthy," sounds a recording from the robot as it trots by two terrified people relaxing on a park bench in the above video. "For your own safety, and those around you, please stand at least one meter apart. Thank you."

Notably, Spot's jaunt is part of a two-week trial that began Friday. The robot will supposedly not collect any personal information on the people it admonishes.  Read more...

Zoom has become a way of life for some people as of late (despite, uh, some safety concerns), especially when it comes to work meetings. Whether it's a company-wide all hands or a team check-in, it's likely that if you're working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, you've had to see your coworkers' shining faces in a video call. 

Actor, writer, and Groundlings comedian Caitlin Reilly perfectly encapsulated that one co-worker you just can't stand during these video meetings:

It's so relevant it hurts. Who hasn't heard the phrase "to piggyback off of" during one of these calls?

The inspiration behind the 'tok was experiences Reilly had sitting in Zoom meetings on behalf of her boss. "I had actually never been in a zoom meeting before, so it was funny for me to see all the different 'personality' types in a situation like that," Reilly told Mashable. "And so it popped in my head one day and I just made the video." Read more...

Even with a stellar crisis plan, the COVID-19 pandemic presents a set of challenges unprecedented in our lifetimes. We don’t know what’s going to happen, and we’re dealing with something growing exponentially, creating uncertainty on a global scale. I managed a team of 40 in Singapore during SARS. That crisis was different, hitting Singapore and […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with Craig Lemasters, CEO of Global Executive Group, about what companies face when navigating the digital transformation. They […]

Rita J. King, co-director and EVP for business development at Science House, recently conducted a series of interviews with business leaders, exploring the challenges and hurdles companies face in evolving business landscapes. In this interview, King chats with James Jorasch, founding CEO of Science House, about the importance of innovation and how to inspire and […]