Anything Goes with Bilal Ali

Seif Metwally is an undergraduate student researcher at the University of Alberta studying math and finance. He joins me to talk about his position doing research at the University of Alberta on optimally executing foreign exchange positions. We dive into algorithmic trading; what is it, how and who is using it, and what does it mean for our market and economy? Seif shares his passions, goals, inspirations, and drive for success. - Follow Seif's journey:

Noah and I discuss the importance of sports, how we as competitive athletes (Noah a lacrosse player, and myself a gymnast) balance our day to day sports and schooling, what it takes to be successful in both fields, and how covid has impacted our trainings. We talk about our respective sport journeys, and Noah tells us about his future scholarship for lacrosse in the United States! This episode is filled with so many laughs and jokes, you won't want to miss it. Come join us for a great time, and a conversation with two close friends!

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Note: This episode was recorded a few months back, so some things may be a little bit outdated. For example Noah has now secured and committed to a scholarship (Congratulations!!), we're both high school graduates now, and Canada's vaccinations have increased by a lot!

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Olympic gymnast and world champion in the sport of gymnastics Brandon O'Neill tells us about his upbringing, growing up in gymnastics from such a young age, he tells us about all his international competitions and travels, and those experiences leading up to the Olympics. We learn about the shocking life of Brandon, the injuries he suffered, and how he competed with those injuries on the biggest stage of them all! Brandon speaks with us about life before and after the Olympics, his marriages, coaching the future generations, and co-owning his cosmetics business (Buff Experts) with his wife Sina! All of that is on the first episode of season 3!

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Watch some of Brandon's incredible gymnastics:

A Palestinian living inside Jerusalem tells us about the reality of Palestine, and Jerusalem. We've been seeing the genocide of Palestinians around social media for a while now, but do these stories and posts capture the full picture? The answer is NO! Listen to this episode to hear how Palestinians are really being ethnically cleansed, and battling an apartheid occupation from the people living inside Palestine itself.

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This episode was recorded in arabic and translated to english. Both the arabic and english versions are in this episode. The English version will start right from the beginning, and the timestamp for the arabic version is: (38:45)

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Two Palestinians living inside the Gaza Strip tell us about the reality of Palestine, and Gaza. We've been seeing the genocide of Palestinians around social media for a while now, but do these stories and posts capture the full picture? The answer is NO! Listen to this episode to hear how Palestinians are really being ethnically cleansed, and battling an apartheid occupation from the people living inside Palestine itself.

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This is the first part of Living in Palestine, the second and final part of Living in Palestine drops next week.

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The ethnic cleansing of an entire Palestinian state has been happening at the hands of an apartheid and colonial state for over 73 years! But what really is the history of Palestine and Israel, how did we get to where we are today, and how can we make a change? Join me in this episode to learn all about that in a short summary!

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Resources to learn more about/support Palestine:

Communication is something we all do on a daily basis whether with family, friends, neighbors, teachers, etc. It's a skill we always practice, but even with that many of us don't actively work on enhancing it. Hannah and I talk about some of our relationships and communication with the individuals in our lives, and how we can all work on bettering our overall relationships through healthier use of communication!

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I sit down with lawyer, army soldier, comedian, podcaster, and author Eric Vern to discuss all things from the experiences that brought him to where he is now to his inspirations and more! Eric is a man who really goes outside the box or rather "Goes Against The Grain" we contemplate as well as have some good laughs a long the way. Make sure to check this episode out!

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TV and the entertainment industry as a whole have a lot of control over our societies; they can make and break entire races and cultures. Red and I dive into the negative and positive aspects of TV: how it enforces certain stereotypes, but also has the power to end them, and bring forth new perspectives and understandings of societies.

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Stand up comedian, musician, podcaster, and first generation Korean American Tommy talks about his challenges growing up in America without a father figure, constantly seeking validation, but he also tells us about his biggest achievements he has accomplished. We sing, we laugh, and we think all in this episode you don't want to miss!

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My friends and amazing members at The Podcasters Community surprised me with an audio recording gift for the one year anniversary of this podcast, and I couldn't be more thankful please listen and enjoy! Thank you so much for making me this, and thank you to everyone who has supported me for this long. I appreciate every single one of you! 

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Please check out and show some love back to all these amazing podcasts and people:

Ex-journalist and current author: Christina Hoag has had her laptop searched by Colombian Guerillas, phone tapped in Venezuela, was suspected of drug trafficking in Guyana, and of course posed as a nun to get inside a Caracas jail! She tells us about all these experiences amongst many others in detail in this episode. Christina has accomplished and seen things in the reporting field that only a tiny percentage of journalists are able to say they've done and seen. She was a reporter in Latin America for Time, New York Times, Business Week, and a lot more news outlets! You do not want to miss this!

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Will bitcoin become the future of our economy? We discuss that, along with the faults in our current economic systems, how bitcoin addresses those, and overcomes them. We talk about how banks are saying bitcoin is a scam, but at the same time they're buying into it, and why they're doing that. How bitcoin is the gate to financial freedom is also discussed, and we touch base on how to get started in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency: buying, selling, storing, etc. 

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Here are the graphs mentioned in this episode:

Miinkay quit her 8 year career in a corporate firm to pursue something she really loved which turned out to be massage therapy, and life coaching! We talk about her journey, starting her own business, a long with intuition, what it is, and how we can chase what really makes us happy (which isn't always what we may think or are told is best)

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It's been five months since my last podcast episode, and I'm excited to be back! In the first episode of season 2 I introduce the podcast, what you can expect in this season, and I catch you all up to date on what's been happening in my life during these past months! Subscribe, follow, and rate Anything Goes with Bilal Ali so you don't miss any of the great episodes planned for season 2! Lets Get It!

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Growing up as family friends then getting married years later! In this episode we talked about a lot from Patrick's marriage, to gymnastics, karate, and tech! 

*Note: The number of covid-19 cases said in this episode is not accurate due to recording this episode about a month ago.

Taking a different path in life to do what you love can be risky, but it can also be one of the best decisions that you make. Today I sat down with professional Dominican Republic illustrator and graphic designer Charlie Mu! We talk about his journey to becoming successful in his fields and many of the struggles he's faced to get to where he is today. 

From rioting, to peaceful protesting, to peoples "outstanding" coronavirus practices; we talked about a lot in this episode. We discussed the importance of fixing the criminal justice system, ways we can help the black lives movement, and the world coming together to fight for justice!