Amateur Traveler Live Dial-in Show

Amateur Traveler Live Dial-in Show

The Amateur Traveler talks to John from Dallas about traveling to Moscow. We talk about red square, the Kremlin, the towers of Saint Basil’s cathedral, night life, the National History Museum, Cold War Museum and Russian women in mini-skirts. John who knows only two words of Russian still finds it easy enough to both get around in and fall in love with this somewhat mysterious city. Just think how much much he would like it if he visited Moscow in Summer.

The Amateur Traveler talks to Erik Smith (who was a guest on Travel to America’s National Parks - Amateur Traveler Episode 121) about Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We talk about all the different geothermal highlights of the park including Old Faithful, other geysers, thermal pools, etc. We also talk about wildlife, hiking, camping, floating down the Snake river, the grand canyon of the yellowstone, the grandeur of the Tetons (and the strange original of the name Teton).

The Amateur Traveler talks to Raul from Atlanta about his recent trip to Krakow Poland. Learn about this former capital of Poland which is a treasure trove of history. Raul will take us to the cloth hall in the old town, Kazimierz and the Wawel Castle. We will also talk about his trips to the unusual Wieliczka salt mine with its rock salt carvings. A very poignant side trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau makes us confront the unspeakable evil done in those two places. Raul also traveled to Wadowice, the boyhood home of the man who would later be Pope John Paul II, and Black Madonna, the home of the Black Madonna. In between we talk about Polish food (lard for your bread sir?), museums, transportation and history.

The Amateur Traveler talks to George Wendt from Oars.com about white water rafting down the Grand Canyon which is one of Chris’s dream vacations. The Grand Canyon can be traversed in motor pontoon boats, oars rafts, paddle boats or dories. Each has different advantages and disadvantages. The water is fast and cold and the rapids get up to class 5. All the while you are drifting through one of the wonders of the world with massive red stone walls on either side. You come around the corner and are surprised by waterfalls and a green oasis. You explore the side canyons where you can see fossils and the ruins of the ancient people who called this canyon home.

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.

TheAmateur Traveler talks to Mary Jo Manzanares about 4 of her favorite hill towns in southern Tuscany: Contignano , Montalcino, Montepulciano and Pienza. Experience the food, the wine and the slower pace of some of these hill towns.

Hear about travel to Moscow as the Amateur Traveler talks to Alex Block of alexblocktravels.com about his home town and Russia's capital.

Hear about travel to Cape Town, South Africa as the Amateur Traveler talks to Annika Ziehen from Midnight Blue Elephant about her former hometown

Hear about travel to Central Europe (Prague, Krakow, Budapest) as the Amateur Traveler talks to 4 people who joined me on this year's Amateur Traveler trip: Darrell, Derrick, Loraine and Holly.

Hear about walking the South Downs Way in England as the Amateur Traveler talks to Aaron Millar about this week-long trek.

The mainstream media is still a powerful entity in America, even as its influence wanes in favor of social media. The evidence of this has come again in recent polls that show Republican Gov. Rob DeSantis’ slipping poll numbers in Florida versus Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s rising numbers in New York. And the curious part…

The post Media Lies at Work: As NY Deaths Go Up, So Do Cuomo’s Polls – As FL Deaths Go Down, So Do DeSantis’ Polls appeared first on The Western Journal.

At a cost of $7.5 million a patient, they were 16 very expensive field hospitals. Yet, according to NPR, those hospitals are now “stand[ing] down.” You probably remember them from headlines early in the pandemic: makeshift medical centers being assembled at breakneck speed by companies contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers in anticipation of…

The post After Treating Barely Any Patients for a Massive $7.5 Million Each, 16 Emergency COVID Hospitals Are Standing Down appeared first on The Western Journal.

The health expert who helped shaped Britain’s lockdown policies in response to the coronavirus has resigned after admitting he broke his own rules by having his married lover visit him at his home. Professor Neil Ferguson, 51, of Imperial College in London was a prominent member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies. The Telegraph…

The post Scientist Behind Social Distancing Breaks Own Rules To Cheat with Married Woman, Resigns appeared first on The Western Journal.

Disclosure: Some of the links below may contain affiliate links from Patriot Depot, a sister company of The Western Journal. By making purchases through these links, you’ll be helping to support The Western Journal. Being a conservative woman in a liberal world can be a daunting existence, but speaking isn’t always required to be heard.…

The post 6 Products Every Conservative Woman Should Own appeared first on The Western Journal.

Eleven members of the Secret Service have tested positive for COVID-19, according a new report. Yahoo News reported Friday it has seen Department of Homeland Security documents which show that 11 individuals currently have the virus and that 23 members of the Secret Service have recovered from the disease. Another 60 employees of the agency…

The post Report: Secret Service Discovers Nearly a Dozen Coronavirus Cases in Its Own Ranks 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"

As the coronavirus crisis built to pandemic levels in early March, a relatively unknown tech company confronted a defining opportunity. Zoom Video Communications, a fast-growing enterprise videoconferencing platform with roots in both Silicon Valley and China, had already seen its market cap grow from under $10 billion to nearly double that. As the coronavirus began … Continue reading "New Research Shows Why and How Zoom Could Become an Advertising Driven Business"

A man is in custody following a six-hour standoff in eastern Prince Edward Island that started when police responded to a domestic dispute that quickly escalated when officers learned the suspect could be armed.

South Korea's capital closed down more than 2,100 bars and other nightspots Saturday because of a new cluster of coronavirus infections, and Germany scrambled to contain fresh outbreaks at slaughterhouses, underscoring the dangers authorities face as they try to reopen their economies.

Record-breaking high and low temperatures were recorded in parts of Canada going into the weekend, including the nearly 28 C recorded in the Squamish area of British Columbia and the -4.2 C recorded in Kitchener, Ont.

CTVNews.ca asked Canadians to share how they were using their CERB payments and got a flood of responses. Most said they were covering the basics -- housing, groceries, transportation and medicine.

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.

BEST DEALS ON SEX TOYS:

• Ella Paradis — Get up to 80% off

• Lovehoney Jessica Rabbit 10 Function Silver Rabbit Vibrator — $39.99

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If Instagram is to be believed, then self care for women basically amounts to face masks and daily affirmation apps.

Hot take: Sex toys are the ultimate self-care purchase.

Orgasms release oxytocin, the anti-stress hormone that gets you warm and fuzzy when cuddling, while dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates sleep, also makes an appearance. It stands to reason, then, that "I need to get laid" is a thing that actually makes sense to say when you're having a rough week. Read more...

BEST PILLOW DEALS:

• Sealy - Essentials Molded Bed Pillow — $19.99

• Beautyrest Latex Pillow with Removable Cover —  $39.88

• Samsonite - Long Memory Foam Pillow — $24.99

Achieving a good night’s sleep isn’t always easy. Busy schedules, frequent stress, and bad rest environments can be culprits for sleep troubles. And it’s more common than you think. 

According to the American Sleep Association, 50 to 70 million U.S. adults have a sleep disorder. If your sleepless nights are taking a toll on your health, it might be time for you to buy a new pillow. 

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

TL;DR: Have a hot meal wherever you go with the Go portable solar oven for $119, a 14% savings as of May 9.

As we look toward upcoming summer festivities, our calendars are looking pretty bleak. Nearly every event has been postponed. Festival season was straight-up canceled. And gatherings in public places are basically extinct. With fewer options on the table, you're probably going to be spending a lot of time enjoying the great outdoors in small groups or on your own as the weather warms up. By then, you'll be sick of staying home, so it's a good thing nature isn't canceled.

As you head outside for your camping, hiking, biking, and beach excursions, you'll probably need a way to cook your own food, especially if restaurants are still closed or operating on abbreviated hours. We've got just thing, and it's on sale: the Go Portable Solar Oven. All you need is a little bit of sun and this lightweight grill can cook just about anything. 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 […]

If you’re already a software product manager (PM), you have a head start on becoming a PM for artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML). You already know the game and how it is played: you’re the coordinator who ties everything together, from the developers and designers to the executives. You’re responsible for the design, […]

Three months ago, Apple released a new credit card in partnership with Goldman Sachs that aimed to disrupt the highly regulated world of consumer finance. However, a well-known software developer tweeted that he was given 20x the credit line offered to his wife, despite the fact that they have been filing joint tax returns and […]

Jennifer Usellis-Mackay, aka the Klingon Pop Warrior, sings "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" in her native tongue. The performance took place in 2015 at Chicago's iO Theater. From the video description:

Opening for Improvised Star Trek, I sang a new (old) song. Got some newly translated words the day of the performance... enjoy this little slice of nerdiness... or don't.

Vocals - The Klingon Pop Warrior (Jennifer Usellis-Mackay) Guitar - The Red Shirt (Joe Mizzi) Translation - Admiral qurgh (Christopher Lipscombe) Video - Eric Scull

(via r/ObscureMedia) Read the rest

This Sunday, Weezer will cameo on The Simpsons and as a teaser, the band released their cover of "The Simpsons Theme" by Danny Elfman. From Rolling Stone:

In the new episode of The Simpsons, Weezer will play a cover band called Sailor’s Delight, which serves as the house act on a romantic cruise Homer and Marge are taking. Sailor’s Delight will “perform” a handful of tracks from Weezer’s 2019 self-titled record (also known as The Black Album) and their 2017 effort Pacific Daydream, while the episode will also boast the premiere of the band’s new song, “Blue Dream,” from their upcoming LP, Van Weezer.

An array of scientific evidence suggest that in some cases, the bacteria in your gut–your microbiome–could be tied to neurological and psychological disorders and differences, from anxiety and autism to Parkinson's and schizophrenia. The journal Science published a survey of the field and the Cambridge, Massachusetts start-up Holobiome that hopes to use insight into this "psychobiome" to develop treatments for depression, insomnia, and other conditions with a neurological side to them. From Science:

For example, many people with irritable bowel syndrome are also depressed, people on the autism spectrum tend to have digestive problems, and people with Parkinson’s are prone to constipation.

Researchers have also noticed an increase in depression in people taking antibiotics—but not antiviral or antifungal medications that leave gut bacteria unharmed. Last year, Jeroen Raes, a microbiologist at the Catholic University of Leuven, and colleagues analyzed the health records of two groups—one Belgian, one Dutch—of more then 1000 people participating in surveys of their types of gut bacteria. People with depression had deficits of the same two bacterial species, the authors reported in April 2019 in Nature Microbiology.

Researchers see ways in which gut microbes could influence the brain. Some may secrete messenger molecules that travel though the blood to the brain. Other bacteria may stimulate the vagus nerve, which runs from the base of the brain to the organs in the abdomen. Bacterial molecules might relay signals to the vagus through recently discovered “neuropod” cells that sit in the lining of the gut, sensing its biochemical milieu, including microbial compounds.

These little silicone rubber bowls come in handy in so many ways.

I use them with my digital scale to measure the bulk powder supplements I take. We use them at the dinner table to hold condiments. We use them while preparing meals to hold spices and minced herbs. I keep finding new ways to use them. For instance, when I fry or scramble eggs, I now crack the eggs over one of these bowls so I can pull out shell pieces and woogers (I wish I had a wooger snatcher but the bowl will have to do). Read the rest

Cochrane RCMP say charges have been laid against two individuals in connection with an investigation that began with a firearms complaint.

Including a shoulder-brush with a livid Steve Waugh, Rob Houwing remembers witnessing SA's heroic finish to an otherwise stormy 2001/02 Australian tour.

Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane says the premature return of football, even behind closed doors, poses a number of potential problems.

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