Jen Sincero home page'You Are a Badass Every Day' bookBadass YouTube link By Jason Middleton I hope you're feeling strong to start the new year. I mean, with some energy and some goals.  Personally, I hope to reverse decades of behavior merely because it's January. I know, it's not easy keeping a high levels of focus for the long haul when pursuing whatever goal or goals you may have.  That's why we asked a proven bad ass to join us this week.  Jen Sincero is the author of several books, all them with bad ass in the title. Her most recent one is formatted so you can open up to any page and get reinvigorated. It's not the type of self help book you're probably used to. Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody. --30--

Hon. Jackie Speier Official PageTwitter'Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage & Fighting Back'------------------------From Jonestown Massacre to #MeToo: Jackie Speier Is Undaunted By Jason Middleton Book titles can be a lot of things: tantalizing, funny and punny, cryptic ... and sometimes a book titles is just perfectly placed aside its content. The book is "Undaunted" and it is the true-life story of being left for dead after five bullet wounds, widowed early while pregnant due to a drunk driver, miscarriages and a failed adoption -- and that's before the political career began. US Congresswoman Jackie Speier's memoir, Undaunted, is subtitled Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage & Fighting Back.  Ms Speier represents California's 14th congressional district, which spans the Bay Area's peninsula from just south of San Francisco to just north of Stanford University in Palo Alto.  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody. --30--

NatGeoTravel.com/BestTrips2019

For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.  

------------------By Jason Middleton Sure, it's not our usual fare, but there's a quote we saw on Twitter that got us thinking as we close out 2018: "Fascism is cured by reading, and racism is cured by travel." And then, bang, National Geographic Travel drops its expert list of epic travel destinations for 2019. (It's NatGeo, so you know the pics are gorgeous and the stories tight.) Editor George Stone joins us to break down the 28 spots on the list, with a shoutout to The Town, aka Oaktown, aka Oakland, Calif. Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.--30--

Book: Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful

Author: www.arwenelysdayton.com/

By Jason Middleton 

We try to cover the spectrum of opinion on the impending and growing use of artificial intelligence. This week we're adding gene editing to that conversation.

And we're doing it with a science fiction writer and multi- best selling author.

The gene editing tool, known as CRISPR, an acronym, has been in experiments and testing for six years. And recently, a Chinese doctor claims to have used CRISPR on a set of human twins, removing the gene that allows humans to be susceptible to HIV.

The doctor has since dropped from public sight after triggering a vast conversation about his ethics as well as potential rules around gene editing.

A conversation that we all need to have more of

By Jason Middleton

This podcast is, admittedly, a bit beyond the brief of this show. It's about the so-called golden age of Hollywood during the time that Howard Hughes held a great amount of power and sway.

I rationalized including it because first, it is a well-researched, fair and entertaining look at that time period. And second, it elucidates and informs the present Me Too movement's momentum and successes.

AUTHOR: http://www.vidiocy.com

PUBLISHER: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062440518/seduction/

WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karina_Longworth

PODCAST: http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com

KIRKUS: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/karina-longworth/seduction-longworth/

By Jason Middleton When it comes to Silicon Valley and the modern way we use new technology, it's more than a little helpful to ask: How did we get here? We've had the internet for about 50 years. The world wide web for ~30 years.  This week on Techonomics, we host a three-time digital entrepreneur, podcast host of the Techmeme Ride Home and author -- namely Brian McCullough. His new book is "How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone."  One example of the 'internet we have today' is Facebook and its recent foibles. The average age of a worker at Facebook is 32 -- and that's the highest it's been since the company was formed. It's difficult to have the context necessary to navigate these new technologies at that age.  That's not a knock, by the way. It's just not enough time to anticipate where the blind spots might be before a new technology is pushed out.  Facebook moved fast and broke things, and the company is reaping scorn for that wreckless approach. That and many other topics are in this week's chat with Brian McCullough. Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.--30--

By Jason Middleton It's mid-December - dipping temperatures, holiday shopping - and two months until pitchers and catchers report for MLB's spring training. Baseball fans call it the Hot Stove season. It's when teams retool their rosters for the coming baseball season. It's when trades are made and contracts are signed.  And what  fuels those decisions. Data. Lots of data. This week Rob Neyer, veteran baseball writer and sabremetrics pioneer. His new book is "Power Ball: Anatomy of a Modern Baseball Game." Each half inning of one game gets a chapter of analysis and crisp writing. The game is a September 2017 matchup between the Houston Astros and the Oakland Athletics.  For any baseball fan, this book will keep you going until the spring and Opening Day.  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.--30--

By Jason Middleton Let's say you wanted to build a high rise apartment building. Say this project is in a foreign country. And you need some help clearing the paperwork and red tape.  Now, there are two ways to look at the offer of gifting a fifty million dollar penthouse apartment on a proposed high rise building:

First, incredible largesse and a show of epic generosity. Second, the giver might want something in exchange for that gift. 

The second take is the subject of a new book on corporate bribery, titled Kickback.This week we host David Montero. His new book is titled "Kickback: Exposing the Global Corporate Bribery Network."  David Montero has documented the impact of corruption in South and South East Asia. Formerly a correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor and a regular producer for PBS’s flagship investigative series, Frontline, Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.--30--

By Jason Middleton There are book blurbs, and then there are book blurbs. Here are a few of the blurb-authors who are featured on John Chambers' first book, "Connecting the Dots":

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon

Other Silicon Valley Legend Meg Whitman

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger

Former GE CEO Jack WelchMr. Chambers is the former CEO and now Chairman Emeritus at Cisco Systems.  When Mr Chambers (he would prefer John) on-boarded at Cisco the company was a simple router company that he guided to become a backbone of the internet.  Here's an example of successfully scaling a business: at the beginning of his Cisco career in 1990, it had 70 million dollars in annual revenue. When he left in 2014, the annual rev was 47 billion. And the man had a plan when it came to that growth. Build internally, but also buy externally. By the way, John is from West Virginia and you're going to hear about that. A lot.  John's newest enterprise is JC2, a venture capital and analysis firm.  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.--30--

By Jason Middleton This week, the competitive streaming video on demand -- the S V O D market -- and how it's about to get even rougher in those waters.  To help us untangle all the players now, and upcoming, we tapped Peter Csathy, Founder & Chairman of CREATV Media out of San Diego. Peter is a noted expert on media, entertainment and technology issues. In 2019 Disney intends to launch its standalone video app, called Disney Plus. The launch coincides with the expiration of Disney's content streaming on Netflix.  Back in the day, Netflix, as the market disruptor, needed movies. Disney, who wasn't quite ready to get into the SVOD space, signed over distribution rights to its content vault while it found its SVOD strategy.  Apple is also expected to get into the video content game in 20-19. Amazon Prime Video is looking to expand its stable of original content as its overall Prime strategy continues to expand into Whole Foods and its own physical stores. And there's Hulu, who recently promoted a one dollar a month offer to help increase its market share, as it increases its own original content beyond the Handmaid's Tale.  Please click through on any of these links for more information, as well as our show page, Facebook page or follow me on the Twitter. The podcasts also live on iTunes and Stitcher. Have great weeks, everybody.--30--