Five tickets on one phone. A security outfit planned down to the shoes. A seat on a busy terminal floor because it’s next to the only outlet. Frequent travelers accept habits that would sound unhinged anywhere else, and most of us stopped noticing a long time ago. In this episode, Rachel Satow and Ian Andersen of Switchfly compare notes on the things travel has made normal. They cover how early to get to the airport, the tells that give away a first-timer at security, and the strange economics of paying to pick a seat you already bought, refusing (or maxing out) checked bags, and nine-dollar airport water. They also get into lounge rules, the seat-recline debate, flying with young kids, and the hotel details that signal a good stay, from a light switch you can reach from bed to checking the sheets before you unpack. Their rules of the road: embrace the weird, forgive other travelers’ foibles, and take the tiny products home. Connect with Switchfly Website: https://www.switchfly.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/switchfly/ X: https://twitter.com/switchfly YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SwitchflyOfficial Chapters [00:00] The strange habits travel makes normal [00:55] Long lines, spreadsheets, and five tickets on one phone [02:08] Planning every detail, then hurry up and wait [03:54] Three hours early or right at boarding? [06:56] The tells of a seasoned traveler at security [09:34] Wallet phone cases, packing light, and the velvet suit [11:46] Lounge rules and the USO [13:02] Paying for a seat you already bought [14:20] Window or aisle, and shoes off on the plane [15:50] Airport prices and the free cup of water [17:15] The seat-recline debate [19:05] Crowding the gate, and why seasoned travelers just sit down [21:42] Carrying everything you own, everywhere [23:39] One bag, checked bags, and the Joey Tribbiani method [25:44] Flying with young kids [29:12] Hotel habits: tiny products and outlets within reach [30:45] Complain nicely, because hotels have discretion [31:23] Black lights, bedbugs, and checking the sheets [34:57] The hotel robe question [36:40] Embrace the weird [38:11] Three rules of travel Mentioned Episode Travel Buddy Ep.43 "Creating Exceptional Moments for Unmatched Customer Experiences" #TravelHabits #FrequentFlyerTips #AirportSecurity #SeatSelectionFees #CheckedBagFees #AirportLounges #AirlineAncillaryRevenue #TravelLoyalty #HotelTips #FamilyTravel

Every October, the US fiscal year turns over, so every year I sit down with the Treasury's numbers. In this episode from October 2025, I compare fiscal 2025 with 2023 and 2019, look at why the math barely moved across two very different administrations, and walk through why forecasters like ITR Economics expect a long, deep downturn in the 2030s. I close with a short update on what's shifted since, from the Supreme Court's tariff ruling to the pace of AI. Chapters (00:00) Revisiting last year's fiscal analysis (04:18) Different stories, same math (12:06) Tariffs, Congress and the two Santa Clauses (15:40) How countries go broke (17:54) Is your house in order for the 2030s? (21:44) Forecasting a 2030s depression (27:08) What's changed since last year Connect with Paul Website: https://www.secondnature.solutions Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.secondnature.solutions/join LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-spencer-7252118/ #FederalDeficit #NationalDebt #FiscalYear2025 #NetInterest #GovernmentSpending #DebtCycle #EconomicForecast #2030sDepression #FamilyBusiness #ResilienceTalk

On this week's episode: how a kid who got kicked out of school for demanding fairness grew up to build a tax firm on the same fight. You'll hear how a PwC internship Mike Pine talked his way into turned him on to partnership tax, why he told every partner he worked for that the CPA model was broken, and what it cost him to build a firm with time for proactive tax planning. Mike also shares the story of buying a bookkeeping firm and amending most of its clients' prior-year returns for free, and the one fact about him nobody knew. The Fight Behind the Firm: 1. Tax is law, not accounting. Mike nearly dropped his accounting major six months before graduating, on his third try at Advanced Accounting. Then PwC's venture capital and private equity group turned him down for his grades, he hounded the managers and a partner until they gave him a three-week shot, and he landed in partnership tax for billion-dollar funds. A 2.87 undergrad became a 3.9 in his master's, once he could see how the law applied. 2. The model is broken, so he built another one. Mike told partner after partner to hire more staff than they needed, so CPAs had time for proactive planning instead of grinding out returns at 70 to 80 hours a week. They laughed him out of the room. He built Revo that way anyway, with no income for four or five years, payroll made on 0% credit card offers and his 401(k) funding the firm. 3. A few hundred returns, most of them amended for free. When Mike bought a bookkeeping firm, its tax returns had been built by running the QuickBooks categories through consumer tax software. So many opportunities had been missed that Revo amended roughly 70 to 80 percent of those clients' prior-year returns at no charge, and a lot of them are still clients today. 4. Fairness was always the fight. Kicked out of elementary school three times, Mike was told life isn't fair. His answer: "No, we're gonna make it fair." Today that's the mission: as long as there's death and taxes, nobody should pay a dollar more than they're legally obligated. Get in touch: https://www.revotaxpayer.com/?utm_source=revo-taxpayer&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ep-34-get-to-know-mike&utm_content=show-notes#contact-1 Connect With Us • Website: https://www.revotaxpayer.com/ • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/revotaxpayer/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revotaxpayer/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/revo-taxpayer-advocacy • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HiddenMoneyPodcast Chapters [00:00] Intro, then Kevin puts Mike in the hot seat [02:41] Football scholarships, shin splints and a move to Montana sight unseen [09:43] The accounting major Mike almost dropped, and his grandfather's advice [11:22] Talking his way into PwC's venture capital and private equity group [13:44] "Tax is not accounting" [15:14] Office politics and rebelling against the widget model [17:46] Starting Revo: credit cards, payroll and the excess-capacity bet [22:30] Buying a bookkeeping firm and amending returns for free [26:36] What Mike first thought of Kevin, and what he'd do if Revo disappeared [31:11] Kicked out three times: where the fight for fairness began

Construction prices are climbing, and when budgets tighten, AV is usually the first line cut. On this episode of Wired In: KONTEK Conversations, KONTEK's Marques Manning explains why deferring AV infrastructure can double or triple the price of adding it back later. The episode covers rising cabling, fiber and labor prices across the Research Triangle, what to defer and what to protect during value engineering, how to vet an AV partner in a growing market, and the recurring licensing that platforms like Microsoft Teams Rooms add to the IT budget. Start the conversation with KONTEK. Connect with us Website: https://kontek.com/ Email: info@kontek.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kontek-systems Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/konteksystems/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/konteksystems YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KontekSystemsDurham Chapters [00:00] Why AV gets cut first: Rising material and labor prices are pushing AV to the back burner on construction projects. [01:54] Budgets that age before construction: A budget set in 2023 for a 2027 opening, and price increases of 15 to almost 30 percent. [03:36] The low voltage squeeze: Data centers, tariffs and supply chains drive up cabling and fiber prices. [05:01] The labor gap: Why experienced technicians are scarce, and why the trades make the country work. [07:00] The building that does nothing: What happens when AV is cut and has to be added back. [07:47] Defer the display, not the infrastructure: Rethinking value engineering around what a space needs on day one. [08:40] A growing market: The Triangle's life sciences boom and how to vet an AV partner. [11:40] The long-term investment: Software updates, AI and the licensing that keeps rooms running. [13:23] Where AV stops and IT begins: Budgeting for Microsoft Teams Rooms licenses and IT management. [16:15] Behind the scenes: Meeting routing, geofencing and deployment guides. [17:42] Wrap-up: The easiest experience requires the most planning. #AVBudgeting #ValueEngineering #AVInfrastructure #ConstructionCosts #LowVoltage #ResearchTriangle #LifeSciences #MicrosoftTeamsRooms #AVLicensing #KONTEK

In this episode of "In the Interim…", Dr. Scott Berry and Dr. Kert Viele, Director of Research at Berry Consultants, review the European Medicines Agency's draft reflection paper on methodological aspects in confirmatory platform trials. They walk through the paper's definition of a platform trial and explain why the shared control arm is the source of both the efficiency and the complexity of these designs. Scott and Kert discuss the paper's preference for constant allocation ratios between each arm and control, its position that response adaptive randomization is not supported, two-stage randomization with multiple placebos, and the strong preference given to concurrent controls. They make the case that non-concurrent controls, adjusted for time, are high-quality controls, and welcome the paper's view that they are preferable to external controls. The episode closes with the risk of multiple false positive decisions from a common control, disjunctive and conjunctive power, and when multiplicity adjustment is warranted, with overall praise for a clear and well-constructed paper. Key Highlights The shared control arm as the source of both efficiency and complexity in platform trials. Constant allocation ratios, and the paper's hard no on response adaptive randomization. Two-stage randomization, multiple placebos, and testing whether placebo groups can be pooled. A strong preference for concurrent controls, and the case for time-adjusted non-concurrent controls. Internal non-concurrent controls preferred over external controls. Multiple false positive decisions, and marginal, disjunctive, and conjunctive power. When multiplicity adjustment applies across arms, doses, and related families of hypotheses. For more, visit us at https://www.berryconsultants.com/