Episodes
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
Tuesday Jan 04, 2022
When his pool vacuum cleaner’s bearings failed, a Florida man didn’t bolt to Amazon to order an expensive replacement vacuum (in the slight chance it was in stock). Instead, he found open source code for a similar bearing, modified it, and then programmed his home 3D printer to make a new bearing. With the cost of operating the 3D printer at 75 watts per hour, and filament mere cents, and after a few trials, the pool vacuum was back in service for $3 of parts and power. IN THIS EPISODE. In this episode, Doc interviews flyingRich to learn about the arrival of 3D home printing as more than a novelty. In addition, flyingRich will talk about the positive impact of 3D printing in crisis situations, such as PPE items and ventilator parts as well as 3D printed mesh network solutions for antennas used in emergency communication conditions. ABOUT FLYINGRICH. flyingRich (spelled with lowercase f) has been doing tech podcasts for more than ten years (His YouTube channel is titled flyingRich). Rich is an advocate of open source software solutions. He is a regular host on "The Mini PC Show" on the PodNutz network that focuses on single board computing like the Raspberry Pi. Professionally he is a cloud engineer. Being a 3D printing enthusiast he combines the love of tech, open source & cloud computing. Rich is also a 1,000 hour instrument rated pilot. 3D HOME PRINTING NO LONGER A NOVELTY. Rich showed off a number of items that he had 3D printed, including a stand for his monitor and a specialized device to bend pipe. In fact, through open source computing and networking, Rich has worked with people across the world to design, refine, and 3D print parts for a range of applications. While the public might perceive home 3D printing as centered on toys, flutes, and trinkets, the reality is that actual houses are being 3D printed, hard-to-configure replacement parts for old homes, automotive parts, and even food. THINGIVERSE. Rich noted that much sharing exists within the 3D printing community. In particular, THINGIVERSE is a website dedicated to the sharing of user-created digital design files. “Providing primary free, open-source hardware designs licensed under the GNU General Public License or Creative Commons licenses, the site allows contributors to select a user license type for the designs that they share (Source: Wikipedia). 3D PRINTING IN DISASTERS. The December 2021 wildfire that destroyed 1000 homes in Boulder County or the tornado that ripped apart towns in the Kentucky region caused massive damage with little warning. How might mobile 3D printing units be deployed and benefit these areas? Rich and Doc explored this question. Rich felt that 3D printers could build many of the parts needed for geodesic domes, which are lattice shell structures. These are both strong and relatively easy to configure. They could provide shelter to people and animals or staging of assets. Doc felt that portable 3D printing units might yield much relief to hurricane stricken areas, such as the Bahamas. On a September 11, 2019 show, Doc interviewed German Parodi, a disability rights advocate. In that interview, Parodi explained that people (in the Bahamas) in need of catheters, for example, were unable to obtain them as large planes were unable to land at the damaged airport and it was time-consuming and red-tape-filled to have pallets broken into smaller shipments. A 3D printer might have offered other options in that scenario. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE, BLOG & BOOKS: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. This is episode 165 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 01-04-2022.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Books:
- School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. www.velocityofinformation.com
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Sassed1 2Many works in the IT Field as a mainframe technician. He’s an avid shooter, rides motorcycles, and flies radio-controlled airplanes. And all of that was almost ripped away when early on life’s journey he was spun and strewn with obstacles that forced him to literally rethink everything. In this episode, Sassed discusses his career and the constant companion of the post effects of traumatic brain injury. Additionally, as a father, Sassed explains the disconnect between television narratives and proclamations by so-called experts and his search for authentic information. TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY (TBI). Per Mayo Clinic, “Traumatic brain injury usually results from a violent blow or jolt to the head or body. An object that goes through brain tissue, such as a bullet or shattered piece of skull, also can cause traumatic brain injury. Mild traumatic brain injury may affect your brain cells temporarily. More-serious traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding and other physical damage to the brain. These injuries can result in long-term complications or death.” At the age of 21, Sassed was involved in a violent motorcycle accident, launching him over a stationary vehicle, and inflicting a serious traumatic brain injury into the aspiring tradesman’s life. His face was smashed into the pavement and his mouth, numerous bones were shattered or dislocated, muscles torn, and nerves damaged. His mouth was wired shut and he was near metal snips as vomiting with a wired-shut mouth put him at risk for suffocating. Dizziness was nearly a constant experience and for years it was precarious to simply stand up from a chair without losing his balance. VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION. Physical, Occupational, and Speech therapy are common for persons recuperating from TBI. Sassed didn’t receive these therapies, but did partake in extensive hands-on training to rebuild motor memory and coordination. During recovery, he worked at a famous Japanese restaurant as a dishwasher - and later trained as a Tempura chef. Two years after the accident, Sassed enrolled in a state-sponsored vocational rehabilitation program which guided him into a career in computer operations. His first computer-related job, in 1984, centered on decollating six part computer printouts for $4.50 an hour. WHAT’S IN A NAME: SASSED1 2MANY. Sassed = past tense: to be cheeky or rude to (someone). 1 = one: the lowest cardinal number. 2 = to͞o: to a higher degree than is desirable, permissible, or possible many = innumerable, countless. Sassed1 2Many is a state of mind actualized from constant exposure to innumerable amounts of un-thoughtful impetuous impertinent and disrespectful content in the public and social digital communications age, resulting in a singularly sarcastic existence. BEHIND THE MEDIA CURTAIN. It was as a father of young children that Sassed found himself recoiling from the nightly news and the abrasive social-shaping of commercials. He disconnected from contemporary media and immersed in personal research and engaging in thought-provoking discourse and debates. Doc and Sassed lamented on how even BIG news events receive perhaps ninety seconds of coverage on TV and are posted, with superficial information, on websites. The era of investigative journalism seemingly went extinct in the 1980s. Today, prominent media mouthpieces are well-compensated to read teleprompters and to not ask questions. Eventually, even they arrive at a crossroads of dissonance with what they speak and what they observe - and are quickly replaced by the long line of talking heads that want their shot at being a news celebrity. CANNONBALL RUN. In 1989, Sassed roared across the eastern seaboard in his 1988 Isuzu Impulse while averaging over 140MPH. In what many call the real-life remake of the famous 1981 movie starring Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise, Sassed acquired a six pack, carton of donuts, and a first class postage stamp (25 cents at the time). FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. This is episode 161 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 12-07-2021.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Books:
- School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Velocity of Information - Human Thinking During Chaotic Times. www.velocityofinformation.com
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
The issue of masks and other COVID-19 precaution strategies in schools has become contentious, sparking a firestorm of lawsuits. Special guest Attorney Lisa Linney helps us understand behind-the-scenes strategizing when a parent sues a school district over insufficient virus mitigation protocols. What is the strongest argument for the plaintiff? Beyond the parent and the school district, will other “responsible third parties'' be at fault? What must happen in the hours after a school district has been served a lawsuit? DISCLAIMER. Attorney Lisa Linney will not be giving legal advice during this episode. Please contact your legal counsel for guidance on specific school safety legal matters. ABOUT LISA LINNEY. Lisa Linney is an attorney at Murphy Legal in Texas. Her focus is motion practice and appellate law. Lisa’s appellate practice begins before a case even goes to trial. She participates in trial preparation by researching thorny issues and crafting motions in support of her clients’ positions and to preserve the trial record for any potential appeal. Lisa also handles appellate work, including briefing and oral argument. She is a graduate of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. WHAT IS DECLARATORY RELIEF? Lisa notes that the lawsuits are between the parent and the school district. Declaratory relief would be , for example, the court interpreting the contract to determine rights of parents and the school without ordering action or awarding damages. In other words, the court has the ability to compel the school to implement a mask mandate or specific pandemic mitigation protocols. However, such a ruling would not extend to other school districts in the state. But, when similar parent-filed lawsuits against multiple districts catch the attention of the media and state legislators, there might be pressure for either the state department of health or state department of instruction to take a firm position, or in the rare chance, issue a decree on the matters. WHAT IS INJUNCTIVE RELIEF? The court may issue a sanction (injunction) regarding a school district’s pandemic mitigation practices. For example, if a school had a “masks optional” policy, the court might sanction the school district to remove the “optional” from its protocol. In Wisconsin, parent lawsuits against school districts claiming that "The school board and the superintendent are not providing a safe environment” are seeking declaratory or injunctive relief. In other words, the intent of the lawsuits is to change policy and protocol - most likely to require masks in schools. BURDEN OF PROOF. Lisa notes that the burden of proof in these lawsuits will be with the parent. As the plaintiff gather’s evidence (discovery) it’s as important to examine how a school district engaged in due diligence and debated pandemic mitigation protocols. The board of education is empowered with the responsibility of creating policies and voting on actions. When looking at the school’s decision to mitigate effects of COVID-19 in the school setting, something more could have always been done. The question is, what is reasonable? Anything publicly available from the county health department, local hospitals, CDC, FDA, NIH, WHO should be considered. Demonstrate due diligence in obtaining and weighing information from a variety of reputable sources - and government sources will be perceived as credible. Then boil down to more specific data as to what information applies to children. If the school district engaged in these steps, it’s going to be difficult for a parent to prevail in a lawsuit. WHAT IS NEGLIGENCE? Attorney Linney explained the three elements of negligence. (First) Defendant owned a legal duty; (Second) Defendant breached that duty; and (Third) Breach caused the injury. The plaintiff (parent) has to show that the defendant owed a legal duty to the plaintiff and the defendant breached that duty, and that breach was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury. Attorney Linney felt it would be a great technical challenge to prove the student contracted COVID at school and that it was a result of insufficient mitigation efforts by the school. Proximate cause will be the problem in the courts - how do you show the child got COVID. Where else has the child been, and the people that the children live and interact with outside of school? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 157 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 11-2-2021.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
Tuesday Dec 29, 2020
Tuesday Dec 29, 2020
Lee Jarvis is an Analyzer of Data Processes. He has much knowledge about intellectual property and critical considerations for bloggers, podcasters, social media influencers, and the person in charge of adding uplifting cartoons or images to the church bulletin. What happens if you post a copyrighted image to your blog? How about streaming a minute of copyrighted video within your podcast? How do we fix this mess? **LEE AND DAVID ARE NOT LAWYERS. THIS EPISODE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE ABOUT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. Read the full blog post for this episode at safetyphd.com. PANDEMIC RELIEF BILL MIGHT IMPACT CONTENT STREAMERS. Lawmakers slipped multiple copyright bills, including the CASE Act and a felony streaming law, into the $2.3 trillion spending and economic-relief legislation in December, 2020. The CASE ACT, for example, would create a small claims copyright court and a new U.S. law could hit streamers with felony charges for streaming copyrighted content. WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? Lee explains what IP is, why IP laws were made, what they cover, including copyright and patent, and the differences between patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Trademarks, for example, often expire after just 3 years while copyrights can exist for more than 70 years. Per Wipo, intellectual property (IP) refers to “creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.” We often think of photos and songs as intellectual property. WHAT IS FAIR USE? Lee notes that Fair Use largely hinges on two points. First, is the content copyrighted? Second, did the person distribute it. Per Copyright.Gov, “Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use.” However, a judge would determine if Fair Use was a valid “defense” in a lawsuit. WHAT IS CREATIVE COMMONS? Creative Commons is an internationally active non-profit organisation that provides free licences for creators to use when making their work available to the public. This means that they only need to seek the creator's permission when they want to use the work in a way not permitted by the license. CC was instrumental in facilitating the Open COVID Pledge, which calls on organizations around the world to make their patents and copyrights freely available in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. PROBLEMS WITH IP IN CURRENT TIMES AND HOW IT COULD COMPLICATE COLLABORATION IN A CRISIS. Problems with IP in current times and how it impacts people. Lee unpacks complicated laws, banned accounts, blocked content, and censorship. There’s also a cottage industry of third party “IP enforcers” with practices that border on extortion when they threaten huge fines after their Internet-scanning software locates IP on web pages, such as a copyrighted image posted in a personal blog. Such businesses might not give a cent of recovered money to the copyright owner. IP IN THE TIME OF COVID. Doc adds that a recent study revealed that 3000 people contributed intellectual input to develop schematics for both home and commercial printing of face masks, face shields, and ventilator parts in response to COVID19 pandemic demands. This mass collaboration might be impossible with increased IP monitoring and enforcement. There is no amnesty for people that violate IP during times of crises, although some manufacturers eased IP protections during COVID. HOW TO IMPROVE IP. Unless changes are made to IP, Lee envisions scenarios of IP infringement claims overwhelming courts, IP creators stifled as they aren’t being properly compensated for their efforts, and hesitation from content users as they don’t want to be sued for potentially copyrighted material. Lee explores improvements such as expanding Fair Use, fines for false claims of IP infringement, or creating a new system of IP. Although overhauling IP is daunting, consider that most songs today are legally downloaded from Amazon or iTunes whereas many were illegally shared on Napster or Limewire in the 1990s. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward scholarly thought on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 153 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 12-27-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America www.schooloferrors.com
Wednesday Nov 25, 2020
Wednesday Nov 25, 2020
Has Apple or Google uploaded a COVID-19 tracking app to your phone without asking first? One million Coloradans have opted in to receive COVID-19 exposure notifications - now what? Could voluntary apps become part of unalterable operating systems? How exactly does Bluetooth work and what are the security risks with Bluetooth communications? What’s the deal with homemade PPE? How do biological teachings or OSHA classes differ from the cascade of health-preservation advice or directives issued by governments, hospitals, and even talk show hosts? Environment / Health / Safety & Data Systems Expert Carl Hopf guides us to the granular level of these matters. Read the full blog post for this episode at safetyphd.com ABOUT CARL HOPF. Carl has worked in Environment, Health and Safety, and facility management for over 25 years. He started working as a technician in laboratories, then evolving into managing academic clinical and basic laboratories in NJ. He was also an academic IT manager, educational video conferencing manager and has been involved in emergency response for many years. Carl has also worked in emergency management, HAZMAT/BIOMAT/RADMAT for eight years. He has also worked in EHS and data management in a corporate and manufacturing setting for six years. Currently, he is a contractor for multiple companies that are involved in management systems, EHS, and safety. COVID PHONE APP and BLUETOOTH. Carl noted that New Jersey was overt in notifying residents about the COVID19 tracking app downloaded to their phones. The app opt-in is voluntary and it functions by using the phone's Bluetooth feature, which constantly scans for nearby channels and is a big drain on battery life. Walking in public, Bluetooth has a radius of about 15 feet. The tracking app will immediately notify the phone’s owner if they are in close contact with another app user who has tested positive for coronavirus. Close contact is defined as spending 15 minutes for longer near someone who tested positive for the virus. The app won’t identify the infected person (HIPPA) and prompts the user to call a contact tracing team for additional directions (contact tracing). COULD VOLUNTARY APPS BECOME PART OF THE PHONE OS? Carl stated that if the COVID19 tracking app was embedded in a future version of his phone’s operating system, he would choose to no longer use the phone. There was an uptick in flip phone sales prior to the pandemic as people attempted to break from addiction to their smartphones and concerns about tracking existed well before 2020. PROBLEMS WITH HOMEMADE PPE (and all PPE). Carl describes micron ranges and questions the effectiveness of homemade PPE which has been made from both yarn and underwear. He recounts the PPE he wore while working in virology labs and the stringent security protocols to ensure that PPE never left the “gray” zone - which was the area proximal to bacteria or viruses. This is a huge contrast to people around us carrying their masks with them from place to place and shoving them into the car’s cup holder until the next time they “need it” to enter a building. WHAT A PPE AWARE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE WOULD BE LIKE. Imagine the entrance of a grocery store in which the incoming shopper was required to gown up and wear a store-issued mask. And, when they exited the store, they would deposit their PPE into a secure disposal unit. Carl states that the CDC manuals for biohazards are in conflict with recent guidance - and that guidance was also changing often and not standardized across locations - resulting in safety fatigue. COMPLIANCE SAFETY vs. BEHAVIOR BASED SAFETY. Carl unpacks two prevailing psychological approaches to safety. The first is compliance safety, or people performing an act in order to be compliant with a rule. For example, crossing a street at the crosswalk when the “WALK” light turns white. Behavior based safety is more centered to the person surveying their setting and making decisions that they deem matches the situation and context. For example, deciding which side of the street that they will walk on. Carl cautions that an over-abundance of compliance safety devolves to people complying just to get the outcome, and losing sight of the deeper rationale for their actions. These are also known as “check box” activities. He urges people to question why they are being asked to do things - to seek to understand the fundamental purposes. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward scholarly thought on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 152 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 11-24-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America www.schooloferrors.com
Saturday Sep 05, 2020
Saturday Sep 05, 2020
What will happen when truck drivers refuse to deliver to powder-keg big cities after the Presidential election? Are you aware that truck drivers are currently paid exorbitant bonuses to take on the risk to bring supplies to America’s riot-smashed metropolitans including Seattle and Portland? Did you know that it is remarkably easy to disable a stopped semi by detaching one readily-accessible connection? If people abandon the big cities, will the smaller cities down the road collapse one-by-one as thousands of people seek refuge. How will supplies hold up? What will you do when store shelves are no longer restocked? Our guest has considered these scenarios. Read the full blog post for episode #148 at safetyphd.com. MATTHEW HOOVER of CRS FIREARMS & RESALE. Matthew Hoover describes himself as “Just a dude with hard life experience.” With his family, he operates a resale shop in rural Wisconsin and sells furniture, household items, collectibles, boat propellers, luggage, camping items, knives, firearms and ammunition. He is the host of the popular CRS Firearms YouTube channel that focuses on firearms, self-defense, supply chains impacting weapons and ammunition, and the psychology of personal safety. FOUR PHASES OF CHAOS. In August, 2020, Matthew released an insightful YouTube video in which he described his personal observations of “the four phases of chaos” that have impacted consumer demand and supply side capacity specific to gun ammunition. As many people peg the start of the ammunition shortage to the coronavirus pandemic, Matthew brings out his whiteboard and draws a timeline dating back to the Obama administration. And, he debunks a popular conspiracy that ammunition is hoarded in clandestine warehouses. JUST-IN-TIME PRODUCTION. Firearms owners scan websites for ammunition - a shortage that our guest believes will take years to remedy due to just-in-time manufacturing. By the 1990s, JIT was being adopted across industries - including productions of firearms and ammunition. How did we get here? “Just in time (JIT)” manufacturing has origins to the 1970s Toyota plants in Japan. The purpose of JIT is to limit warehousing of items and instead have items manufactured and sent directly to suppliers and to customers. This is especially prominent in modern book publishing when the book isn’t printed until the customer places an order. Instead of retrieving a copy from a pallet in a warehouse, the book is printed and sent directly to the buyer. DISADVANTAGES of JIT. There is no spare finished product available to meet unexpected orders, because all products are made to meet actual orders. When demand skyrockets, as it has for popular types of rifle ammunition in 2020, production can only scale up so much and backorders extend for months or even years. FREEZERS ARE THE NEW CURRENCY. Beyond steady inquiries for guns and ammunition, one other item has been in hot demand at Matthew’s store. Freezers! In fact, he sold the freezer from his basement! KIDS AND THE PANDEMIC. Matthew and David discussed examples of how the pandemic created bizarre, hard-to-explain experiences for young kids as schools closed, playgrounds were ringed with scary police tape, and people began to cover their faces with masks as they stood six feet away. Matthew expresses confidence when in the presence of children and doesn’t dwell on the pandemic when they are in earshot. He notes that kids take cues from the adults - and when adults express fear and panic, kids notice and in turn worry and lose their sense of security. While we want children to be aware of their environment and exercise situational awareness, there is little value in burdening and confusing them with the details of a fluid event that is complicated and beyond their control. HOW DID THE 1960s UNREST END? Toward the end of the interview, Matthew wondered how the current chaos would end and felt clues might be found by learning more about the turmoil, protests, and riots of the 1960s. Civil unrest due to a charged racial climate and unpopular war in Vietnam resulted in more than 100 cities erupting in violence in 1967 and 1968, including 43 people killed and hundreds injured in rioting in Detroit in 1967. What will be the actions that bring an end to the civil unrest of 2020, and are Americans in store for unimaginable violence following the November election? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 148 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 9-3-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Matthew Hoover’s website: https://www.youtube.com/user/11284ravin
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Friday Aug 14, 2020
Chad Elkins, CPA, discussed bewildering and draconian ways people scrambled their finances during the pandemic. While many small business owners suffered losses and experienced great personal distress, others actually thrived and even doubled their incomes! Read the full blog post for episode #147 at safetyphd.com. ABOUT CHAD ELKINS. Chad has over ten years of tax experience, including positions and engagements with the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Tax Court, and U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division, and Co-Author of the Elkins' Comprehensive Tax Guide. He’s the oracle of Chicago finance with a penchant for observing nuanced trends in how humans manage the fiscal aspects of their lives. SOME PEOPLE BAILED OUT IMMEDIATELY. Chad noted that some of his clients, mainly hair stylists, quit paying rent, broker their leases, and liquidated their assets. They didn’t have enough reserve cash to ride out the economic collapse and succumbed to panic-driven decision making. Chad encouraged them to consider suspending their businesses or waiting a few weeks for the forthcoming government relief programs. Even businesses that were established for multiple years and that had been performing well prior to the pandemic were dissolving, to Chad’s disappointment, as owners simply wanted out of the churn of safer-at-home and essential business decrees. TELEHEALTH-BASED THERAPISTS “ARE THRIVING BETTER THAN THEY EVER HAVE BEFORE” Once limited by regulation, telehealth therapy was quickly advanced by regulatory agencies and Chad’s clients that provided mental health or other counseling services were experiencing a combination of factors that swelled their incomes. First, the demand for mental health and counseling services substantially increased due to pandemic-driven anxiety in the population. Second, therapists don’t need specialized, localized machines or equipment to do their jobs. When you go to the dentist, for example, the dentist’ office has hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment that is not designed to be portable. There isn’t a “teledentistry” service to address your root canal. A mental health therapist, on the other hand, is easily location independent given a secure, private Internet connection. And, telehealth has built-in social distancing! CAT’S OUT OF THE BAG - REMOTE WORK IS HERE TO STAY. Chad believes that the pandemic-driven rapid move to remote work, such as work from home, has set the precedence that traditional office-based work isn’t necessary to maintain continuity in businesses. This likely means there will be a massive purge of office space and business-dense metropolises, such as Chicago, will lose appeal for employers and employees. PPP AND SBE LOANS WORKED - WITH CONSEQUENCES. The PPP was rolled out as a way to keep employees on payroll, even if they weren’t working - as long as owners proved that they used 80% of money for salaries. But, it caused problems as many employees were laid off and went onto unemployment - which was paying them $600 weekly ABOVE the unemployment payment they received from the state. For many people, they were now receiving as much or more money they were when they were employed. Hence, when asked to return to work - employees balked. As restrictions eased and businesses re-started, employers struggled to lure employees back to their jobs so had to recruit new employees. REDLINE VIRTUAL REALITY LOUNGE - NOW RENTING OFFICE PODS. Opened and thriving for four months before the pandemic closures, Redline Virtual Reality Lounge in Chicago is an example of a small business that had to pivot several times in order to adjust to new market trends. Aaron, the owner of Redline, shared his lounge survived on carry out orders and renting VR equipment between April 18th and June 11th. When he re-opened at limited capacity, business was very slow - and very different. People showed up with laptops and asked to rent a 9’x9’ VR pod for the day to serve as a portable office. Some lived in hot apartments or had poor wifi. So, for $15 a day, they could rent a cool work area with excellent wifi and social distancing. Aaron noted that small groups of 3-4 people rented a pod to conduct in-person business for a few hours. David noted that Parkinson’s Law is the adage that people seek clear routines to start and end the work day. Perhaps going to the VR pod met that need? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 146 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-13-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Chad Elkins, CPA website: https://www.elkinscpa.com/
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
SDP146: Survival Expert Morgan Rogue | Subtle Signs of Chaos | Livestream 8-7-2020
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
Saturday Aug 08, 2020
Morgan Rogue’s mantra is to conquer tomorrow by preparing today! She lives on 40 acres of land in the southern United States with her husband, two daughters and two dogs. She is the owner and founder of Rogue Preparedness, a website dedicated to emergency preparedness and survival skills. Morgan has published extensively in crisis preparedness and response including Preparedness For Busy People, and Prepare & Survive Economic Crisis - which is a primer to help people understand bartering, valuable items, and controlling fear. She has a fast-growing YouTube channel with diverse content including: hunting, survival, camping, hiking, guns, prepping, urban survival, family preparedness, bug out bags, gear reviews, prepping on a budget, dogs, homesteading, and all things outdoors and adventure. New videos and blog posts are published weekly! WHY MORGAN WAS INVITED TO THIS SHOW. Morgan is an authentic person seeking knowledge. She doesn’t hesitate to post a first-take video of attempting to build a solar-powered food dehydrator. Don’t get me wrong, she presents as a tremendously competent person. Her videos and posts are concise, personable and interesting without massive editing or saturated with promotions. Morgan reveals that life and preparedness have bumpy first takes. After reading Morgan’s posts, watching her videos, and exploring her website, I discovered, or perhaps re-discovered, an appreciation of preparedness and immediately re-visited the things I could do to increase my survival skills. In an infamous Tweet, I wrote, “Her [Morgan’s] contributions to safety stand out as curated and calibrated with easements for people new to preparedness as well as experienced preppers.” That sums it up - and I hope that makes it onto the praise page of one of her future best sellers. PREPAREDNESS AS A PARENT OF YOUNG KIDS. Are kids a liability during a crisis? Some people think so, but not Morgan. She’s noted that there is no magic age to introduce children to survival and self-reliance skills. Her kids are with her when she hikes, her daughter has used a survival straw to drink from a creek, and Morgan published a brilliant blog post of 45 outdoor activities for kids in a time when parks and theaters were closed due to the pandemic. One recommendation was to have kids draw a map of their house, neighborhood, or a trail. Spatial orientation. Distance. Landmarks. Planning. What Morgan shares isn’t data you offload until a disaster - instead, it’s vetted advice on how to make yourself better - right now. SUBTLE SIGNS OF CHAOS - SEWING MACHINES. The early days of the coronavirus stay home orders sparked scarcity buying - toilet paper, pasta, and cleaners. When people anticipate that a chaos event will last months, other items begin to disappear from the market. Morgan shared that she was unable to find a new or used sewing machine in May. Locating a freezer was equally challenging, despite searching stores and secondary online sites such as Craigslist. LEARN A SKILL TODAY. Morgan identified several ways that people could improve their self-reliance today. Everything takes practice, but most people can learn to sharpen a knife, make basic sewing repairs or grow food - even if in a container inside their house. Also, get fit! Fit people are better able to get to safety, recover from trauma, help others, and be easier to be aided by others. COMMUNICATIONS - CONSIDER HAM RADIO. Should you consider a landline (in case the cell towers fail)? Morgan noted that a landline is valuable, and added that there are still payphone locations in some areas and those might be an option if cellular communications are disrupted during a crisis. She encourages people to learn more about HAM radio. Morgan and her husband use HAM radios and communicate with people hundreds of miles away. Every year, HAM radio conducts a Field Day which is an amatuer radio experience to demonstrate temporary transmitting stations in public places - with an emphasis on emergency communication preparedness. A basic HAM radio receiver (listen only) is $50. Morgan notes that the HAM radio community has always been essential and reliable during crisis events. She identified a few organizations to visit to learn more about obtaining a HAM license. HAM’s more than survival, it’s a wonderful hobby. Many colleges, for example, have HAM radio clubs. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 146 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-7-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Rogue Preparedness website: https://roguepreparedness.com/
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Tuesday Aug 04, 2020
Commercial fishing has long topped the Bureau of Labor Statistics' list of jobs with the most fatalities -- and crabbing in the Alaskan waters is by far the most lethal form of fishing. Guest Robert Travis shares his experiences as a greenhorn deckhand straight out of Dutch Harbor and re-lives harrowing tales of surviving a treacherous 122-day stint fishing for Alaskan crab on the frigid, unforgiving Bering Sea. Read the full blog post for episode #145 at safetyphd.com. PRO SNOWBOARDER. After high school, Rob was a sponsored professional snowboarder and a coach at the Camp of Champions for four summers in Whistler Blackcomb - which is a ski resort located in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. By many measures it is the largest ski resort in North America. He broke his tib/fib in July and was put in full leg cast. The lure of adventure and cash called, and Rob cut off the cast with an angle grinder and headed to Alaska for crabbing season. ALASKAN CRABBING - SIGNING THE DEADLY CONTRACT. Rob shared that he nearly walked away from his opportunity to sign a contract with a crab boat company. The harrowing tales told by locals were just about enough to turn back the men that have a predisposition to seek this level of risk. However, Rob signed the contract and clearly understood the statement that he would experience injury or be killed by doing this work. Survive, and pocket more than $65,000 for 4 months work. Also, know that a 5-year “veteran” deckhand is a rarity as most are maimed or killed before they reach that mark. DANGERS ON DECK. Working on a 198-foot converted ice breaker, Rob was fortunate to be on one of the most durable rigs out on the ocean. Most crabbing takes place in the unforgiving Bering Sea. Ice can coat boat decks, 700-pound cages being winched aboard can lurch and sweep workers overboard. Even in a survival suit, designed to provide insulation from cold water, death can come before help arrives. About 80% of crab fishery fatalities are from drowning. WHEN THE HORN BLOWS. 16-hour shifts were typical and the swells often unrelenting. The job was so demanding that workers consumed 7000 or more calories daily (triple the intake of a typical adult male). There was one thing that every deckhand dreaded - a blast from the ship’s horn. Rob explained that the skipper was in the wheelhouse and overlooked the deck. The skipper also monitored the ocean and could see approaching swells, some 60-feet high! The skipper would then blast the horn alerting the deckhands to immediately grab onto something sturdy and brace for the unpredictable combination of waves rolling over the deck, a rising or plummeting deck, and sharp angle tilts -- not to mention the possibility of a 700-pound crab cage breaking loose and skidding across the deck. Rob recalled the searchlights of nearby boats - trying to find and recover an overboard sailor. He noted that staying fit gave him a split-second advantage to getting to safety and noted that being light and fit are great attributes for this line of work. CONCRETE IN HIS VEINS. Concrete is the family business for Rob - it’s in his lineage, the family crest. He was pouring 250,000 square feet a summer with his dad when he was 15 and started his own concrete company at age 17 - pouring in summers and snowboarding in winters. After the 2007 crab boat season, Rob decided to start a concrete business. After regrouping from damage sustained in a massive wildfire, he continued to expand his concrete work. He’s won gold medals at the international polished concrete awards twice in craftsman and commercial division. ROOF TOP LIFE RAFTS. Roughly five years ago, Rob and a small group of friends were determined to design and build the best safety and survival gear for floods and natural disasters. Hence, Roof Top Life Rafts was founded. Millions of people around the world endure deadly, unpredictable floods from storms, natural disasters or failure of water management systems. Homeowners, office workers, students, all need a solution to get themselves to safety in an emergency flood situation. More about RTLR when Rob returns to the show later this year! FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 145 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 8-3-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Robert Travis’ website: https://www.rooftopliferafts.com/
Friday Jul 24, 2020
Untold Stories From Former Soviet Cyclist Nikolai Razouvaev
Friday Jul 24, 2020
Friday Jul 24, 2020
Nikolai Razouvaev was part of the Soviet national team between 1984 and 1990. He won a gold medal in a team time trial at the UCI junior world championships in 1984. Nikolai was cycling in Kiev just days following the April 26, 1986, Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. Kiev, with a population of 2 million, is 100 km (62 miles) from Chernobyl. Nikolai recently returned to road racing in Australia, where he also coaches other cyclists. He works with a company involved with clinical trials for persons experiencing depression or cognitive decline. Nikolai is the author of The Renegade: A Memoir of a Soviet Cyclist. Read the full blog post for episode #144 at safetyphd.com. CYCLING NEAR CHERNOBYL - WHAT NIKOLAI SAW AND HEARD. The Peace Race, dating back to 1948 and known as the “Tour de France of the East”, was a prestigious cycling event attended not only by communist bloc states but also guest cyclists from the West. It was on a high sporting level but it also played an important political and ideological role. Its traditional participants were from Czechoslovakia, Poland and East Germany. In 1986 the Soviet Union joined in and it was decided the race should start from Kiev. Cyclists from the West immediately returned home when informed about the Chernobyl accident. Only 64 cyclists entered the race; less than half of the usual number. LEAD COVERED BUSES. Nikolai saw hundreds of evacuation buses covered with lead sheets, similar to plywood, just outside of Kiev. A driver had tipped him off to the Chernobyl accident just 62 miles away. More information came in over the airwaves from radio stations in Germany - despite the Soviet government jamming foreign radio frequencies. Nikolai recalled other foreboding signs in Kiev, such as near-empty streets during the race and a routine of large water trucks and workers washing radiation from the pavement. RED WINE AND ALL IS FINE. Red wine, vodka and other alcohol were difficult to find in Kiev. Popular belief was that alcohol protected the body from radiation. “Weird times,” per Nikolai. HOW TO GET TRUTHFUL INFORMATION IN THE 1980s SOVIET UNION. Nikolai explained that by the 1980s, most people living in Russia dismissed the constant stream of state-run media and propaganda. Surprisingly, people placed much trust into the accuracy of rumors and Nikolai shared that people would discuss rumors, but there wasn’t a practice, or need, to verify rumors. INFORMATION DURING PERESTROIKA AND GLASNOST. The 1980s policies of perestroika and glasnost changed the perspective of the citizens of the Soviet Union. As perestroika focused on reviving the economy and empowering it, glasnost focused on openness. It is during openness that most weaknesses of communism and end of the Soviet Union were brought across. Nikolai noted that this explosion of new information was more overwhelming than the Chernobyl accident. HOW DID SAMIZDAT DESTROY THE SOVIET UNION? Samizdat (self-publishing) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the documents from reader to reader. “A strange world of lies.” Nikolai noted that in the later 1980s, a flurry of small independent newspapers could be legally produced and sold in Russia. They were very expensive, costing twenty times the price of a state newspaper. For that reason, a single copy was often shared with many people. Although some of these new publications were disguised propaganda, most were suppressed truths that aligned to documents kept in “libraries” and other government archives that were not open to the public. CRAZY STORIES FROM NIKOLAI’S YOUTH. Go ahead and jump to the final 20 minutes of the show! Nikolai shares two jaw-dropping stories. One involves a bag packed with BIG money dropped at his feet and the other involves a thug pressing a gun to his head and telling him to make right with his maker. INTERNET SEARCHES SOAR FOR DEPRESSION REMEDIES. Nikolai works in the marketing department for a company that conducts clinical trials for depression and Alzheimer’s treatments. He’s observed a sharp increase in people searching for variants of depression therapy and noted that his company is inundated with people requesting to participate in trials for depression treatments. He attributes this behavior to the pandemic. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 144 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 7-24-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com.
- Nikolai Razouvaev's website: https://www.nikolai.com.au/