So, my name is Yann Cardon. I'm a software architect in Orange for now around 20 years and I mainly do internal consulting. I'm operating at group level, internal consulting to help the project to use cloud-native technologies, DevOps, etc. And now, the objective of this talk is, I will tell you about what's happening inside the telco, the business models are evolving and we do have new challenges to deal with. I want to show you how exciting technologies can help to break those challenges. So, let's go. We will speak about Edge, obviously, and a little more about opening the ecosystems. So, first, maybe you might know what is Orange. So, Orange is a French telco operator. It operates worldwide also, mainly in Europe, in Africa, and we have a different type of activity. So, what Edge means for a telco operator can mean different things. So, being an international carrier, we have pipes under the oceans, big pipes. We do have access points where we offer some services such as, I don't know, CDN or IP transit, etc. So, this is one kind of activities at the Edge. We do have a lot of point of presence across different countries. Orange is also operating, is a mobile telephony infrastructure. So, that means that we have a lot of antennas and all the infrastructure to to support these telecommunications. And right now, Orange is moving to a virtualized infrastructure with virtualized network functions. So, with really a tree structure with regional clouds, with Edge clouds, and then the far edge, which would be in this case, the antennas as well. There are some infrastructures also. Orange also has customers in different countries. So, for this customer, we offer broadband. So, that means there are some equipment right inside the customer home and that would be the user Edge. So, these equipment that could be set up box, that could be broadband rotors, etc. And we can also consider that whenever we have software inside the smartphone or even inside our clients when they run something belonging to some application, Orange application inside their browser. So, all of these are Edge, in fact. And as we can see, these are very different in nature, very different type of equipment in terms of computing power, in terms of manageability. So, further as you go from the central point, the private clouds or the hyperscalers cloud, manageability becomes a problem. It costs more to operate at the cloud, at the Edge, sorry. Then we also have a second trouble with that is that this is not only a distributed system, it is a geo-distributed system. So, we have to take care about latency. Maybe we can have some different behavior depending on the region where we are deploying. So, I will give you an example coming from our, what we call the core commerce. So, this is the information system, the core commerce. What it does, it helps selling the product, selling the services. So, to sell them, then also we will want to provision them, to activate them. And of course, whenever the client, the customer will use those services, we want the system to, we want to be able to rate this usage. So, this is the example I will give you. So, this is, well, just to explain the schematics, but it's quite easy. You've got a user right now when he's using, let's say, a telephony services. Then it goes to the core network. It's something black box. And the core network produces a core detail record. And this core detail record gets rated inside the core commerce. So, this works, but it's slow, in fact. And what we, you cannot cope with all the traffic. And in fact, usually those systems, we used to do it in batch mode and not on the fly. So, and there is a second problem with that is that you cannot act on the service usage. You cannot act. You can only, well, take notes of what's happening, but you cannot cut the usage on the fly if for one reason you, I don't know, you want to avoid your build customer, build shop for your customers because you are in roaming, et cetera, et cetera. So, then we could, so this is not at the edge, obviously. And we saw and it's been usable for postpaid, which we call postpaid. And there's a first evolution where we will want to move those rating functions directly inside the core networks. So, closer to the user. So, here we've got, well, we do have the same rating engine somewhere, rating function, but here are the troubles coming because, so it does exactly the same difference is that we are managing a balance. And this balance could be a balance of the user is buying a certain amount of data or minutes of conversation or price, whatever. And we will update this balance on the fly. And whenever the balance is at zero, then the customer has to refill it. So, here we see that we can act. We have a reactive loop, in fact. So, this is why first we are doing edge activities is because we want to close the loop to have a short reaction time between the input signal, the business logic, and then we want to act. So, in this case, for instance, to cut the service. So, here comes new trouble with that. We have to take care about state distribution, in fact, because we will have to sync the customer balance, which is on the edge with the customer balance on the core commercial side, because our customer will want to know how much they still have on their balance. And maybe they will want to top up those balance to recharge it. We will have more problems because we will have also to replicate some of the customer inventory, for instance. And more difficult, we will have to transcode the commercial offer definition to a commercial offer definition at the edge inside the core network, because it's not the same software running centrally and not the same software doing the rating engine function. So, there is a trouble here. So, to sum up, I would say there are different reasons we would like to go at the edge. First one is because of latency. I say we have a shortest retrogression loop between sensor, applying logic, and then generate effects. We also maybe would like to make use of to customize what's happening at the edge. Maybe it's not exactly the same behavior. We do have some local context. So, maybe the business logic we want to project at the edge is not the same everywhere. And the last reason would be also for security, because whenever you hear we are speaking about doing some rating, but if we are in the automotive industry, well, if we can hack, if you can hack something, if you can inject some bad behaviors, then it could be less. So, having your business logic as close as possible to the input and the effector, it's something that helps with security also. So, let's deal with what are the different, let's sum up what would be the different challenge we have to deal with operating at the edge. So, free, we talk about it coming from our use case, latency, portability, because we want the same software to run centrally and at the edge also. And we will have also to deal with distributed states. But then we do have other stuff not coming directly from our other, our use cases. We will, we want to operate at the edge. So, we want to deploy, operate, maybe the topography, the topology will evolve. So, it would be nice if our solution could adapt to different topologies. We do have to deal with trust, no trust, tolerance, network tolerance also to deal with network partition, for instance, we might be inside use case where we want to operate multi, that are multi-tenants. And of course, we want to be as efficient as possible, which means less energy, which means better for the planet. So, I will present rapidly, but I think if you were here at the previous call, you know about globally what is WebAssembly. Who knows about WebAssembly here? Almost. I will just retain some of the characteristics, which are really important, I think, at least for our use case, is running inside a sandbox environment. And second is coming from Wazi and the component model is the fact that we can do runtime componentization. We can aggregate components at runtime. So, and those two characteristics, they are really useful if we want to deal with multi-tenancy. I don't have much time, so I'll let you read about containers. Then I will introduce second technology, which is WazemCloud, which could be seen as a, well, the orchestrator for an orchestrator for Wazem payloads. So, who knows about WazemCloud? Okay, I'll spend a little more time on this. What you do with WazemCloud is you have different servers. So, in gray here, you just make sure they can connect each other, maybe directly on the Internet.  And those binary, they are really what's enabling the enabler for WazemCloud. So, inside those binary, you will find the WebAssembly runtime. And you will find also some Nets clients that will help you to communicate so that the nodes and these binary will communicate together. So, once you've done that, what you have is you get a flat topology and you've got ambient connectivity between all these different nodes. So, you have an abstraction which is called a lattice. So, it's based on Nets. And on this abstraction, meaning everything that belongs to a lattice, they can communicate freely. You can do some access. You can enforce the communication and do some access control. But, naturally, it's open and you can communicate freely between the nodes. So, when you think about how difficult it is to have multi-clustering inside Kubernetes, this is really helpful. So, what you get also is having a single control plane for the whole of your lattice. So, you can define precisely where you will bunch or you'll throw your payloads, in fact. And one neat thing is there is a neat abstraction. And Wasm Cloud is really a pure, has really a pure functional approach in the sense of you've got two different abstraction actors in blue here. Actors, they are just functions, in fact. They cannot do anything by their own. They're just reacting to inputs. And you've got some, and you deal with the outside world with capabilities. So, it's the same as if you've seen the previous talks, those capabilities that can be random generators, that can be a database, that can be an HTTP endpoint, etc. So, this is the base. So, for the use case I will show you and the implementation I will show you. We'll use both Wasm for sure and Wasm Cloud to ensure the deployment of the edge on all of these, on the different servers. Okay. If we go back to our distributed system, rating system use case, I just want to introduce some breaking change in the telco industry. It comes from 5G. So, it's not just the same technology plus one because it's better. There are really breaking chains, as I said. And 5G is really about collaboration between different actors. And it's about having composite services. Previously, telco used to own most of the value chain of communication service. So, they are using their own service in their own infrastructure, etc. And it's not the case anymore. We've got, if I continue to the history side, then we had over IP services and communication over IP services coming. And finally, we could say that a telco operator were related to the role of connectivity provider and not communication, just connectivity you've got. And now we do have ambient connectivity, etc. What 5G brings, and this is crucial, is that we do have two different aspects. The first one is QoS. You can choose the quality of your communication on your connectivity. So, that means if you need high requirements, then you can get it. It will use a lot more of energy, of resources. And on the contrary, you could have low requirements. And second thing is ownership. In fact, GSMA is introducing new roles inside whenever it comes to 5G communication. So, all of that to say that we are in a world where we are opening and you cannot do your business just alone. And it's true also for the telco companies. So, I will go directly in our use case. So, we do have some composite service. If we have a look at the technical implementation part of the technical services, there are, these are some services provided by other actors. And if we can think about this relation between actors, there are some contracts existing between all of these actors. So, on one part, you've got, let's say, I take the example of the green one. So, the green one is providing some service to the orange one. So, he's got a commercial offer with terms and conditions. And those are statics. There are really what's inside the contract. And then, you've got a stateful part with states, which is the customer contract by itself. So, in our use case, that maybe, I don't know, the customer balance or some configuration or user preference, et cetera. So, maybe you see me coming on one part static, other part we deal with the state. So, what if we try to implement that idea of having a contract as code, we can do it. We can, with the weather cloud, we can have some, so here we have three different providers, orange, green, blue. We need something common, which would be a common lattice that will just ensure that the different contracts of the different actors are called in sequence. So, the main idea is, whenever you will want to rate the usage of a service, then you can just call this common lattice to know what is the rating for this particular usage. And then the system would go down the line of the different actors and different contracts. And then each of these commercial contracts will activate depending on the conditions, terms and conditions of each contract. So, this is one example. So, if you want to have a look at that, we implemented in this GitHub repo, and it works. So, what, yeah, I will skip that part. And it was, this part is about how to deal with distributed states. So, it's complicated just to know that there are different options with the weather cloud. You can, for instance, address one capability provider, which will hold all the states centrally, but you will lose the benefit of being at DH. So, imagine you have your payloads at DH, and then you have to travel back to go to central states. So, you could also rely on other multi-region-enabled providers, data source providers. It's in hyper-scalers, or you can build yourself. And we decided to build it with event sourcing. That means that we just operate the logic at the application level. And for that, we will use a concordance, which is an event store implementation on top of weather cloud. So, get back to our distributed rating system. So, what can we do with such an ecosystem? So, being able to model the relationship between actors as code can enable to, can unlock a lot of things. We can build something, some ecosystem, which would be really truly open where you can have some new actors coming that will build upon existing services. So, in the cloud industries, we do that every time, but it's something quite new for Telco, really. So, here we applied this pattern to this pluggable behavior pattern to rating functions, but we could also apply it for more complex functions such as service provisioning, service activation. It's more complex because the different actors have different roles. The usage of the ones are the provisioning of the others, etc. So, this same principle can be used also for service provisioning. So, to wrap up, what about our edge challenge? So, in fact, we have different game-changing technologies that will unlock disruptive architectural patterns and that will enable the business. So, our edge distribution, we said efficiency, real-time, WebAssembly is about code portability, trusted code, resource efficiency, wasm cloud distribution, operation and CDH, multi-tenancy, etc. And then, with the functional approach, we can gain deployment flexibility because it's functional. You can place wherever the payload, you can place your function wherever you want. It will give the same results. It will not be as efficient if you place it far away from the effect or from the input, but it will still work. So, this is really powerful. ContractExcol also is really about pluggable behavior and we discussed, we have all the tools with the component model to do that with wasm and even sourcing for distributed states. So, final words. Really, Orange is involved as an operator. All the telco are really deeply involved in an open project, common project, to normalize and open their infrastructure, their platform, to provide their common assets. So, I could quote several. If you're interested in Kubernetes, you've got the Silva initiative, which is about telco cloud. Camara is about sharing, releasing directly to the developer some API that they can use to build upon all really, that's in use to consume telco services to put inside application. Purple, it's about having some, the same software on the, sorry, same software on the setup blocks and on the gateways, fiber gateways, et cetera. So, I would say that open platforms, open standards, open source, they are no longer just a moral preference. They are really a need if we want to maintain business, resilient and sustainable. So, and just if you want to know more, we will be present also and presenting different stuff in Copenhagen on TMF, TM forum. So, Disco, which is an open source implementation of a core commerce using the technologies that what I've shown. And also we're discussing really how WebAssembly and Kubernetes can be bound together to build the application. Thank you. Again, thank you so much for this exciting talk. We maybe have time for one question if anyone has one. Let's see if it's a good one. Make it hard for you to give to me. A quick comment and then a question. The comment is, I'm from Ericsson so I think I read more into your slides than probably most of the people in the room. When you're talking about building this new kind of model, it is really about basic app providers having the ability to create these slices so that they can get a particular quality of service or things from the network that nobody's been able to get before. Examples of 8K video coming in for telemedicine where you're trying to do something remotely or augmented reality as we're getting more into that. For a surgeon. Exactly. So, just to give more applicability to the rest of the room, my question is, as you look at WASM and WASI today, what's missing? What's the next thing? What's the most important thing for this platform to do for you and for the TELCO industry? Okay, I would say that right now when we are speaking about an FV virtualized function, we are bound to Kubernetes because, well, it's the logical choice. So, we need a little time, I think, that would be the first quick answer for that. But we can think about having real, we see that the ecosystem within WASM Cloud and Kubernetes is really evolving. We see that we could try to implement those NFVs with EBPF, but also when it comes to higher level, we could build these higher level functions that will not fit inside EBPF. We can build it with a WASM Cloud. So, I think we just need time and maturity and we know that right now it's a lot of work to transform the network appliance inside being cloud native and externalize it, et cetera. So, I see that you agree. Maybe one more and then we got to get going. Thank you. Question about security and trust? Yeah. When you are pushing the function and the computing to the edge, are you taking as a mandatory condition that you are working on a trusted zone? Yeah, okay. This is a good question. I didn't have the time to go through. So, what is WASM Cloud ensure you that you have secure communications between your WASM Cloud hosts as long as you can trust these binaries, these hosts? So, when it comes to trust, there is the whole chain coming from starting from the hardware and you can build and in order to have this to function, we have to start from the hardware with TPM, et cetera. So, it's another field and it will hopefully be demonstrated also in Copenhagen, but we are working on attestation framework in order to to show that the binary has not been altered. So, and then it starts from here and you have the whole chain. Thank you for the question. Great questions. Please join me in thanking Yen for his wonderful talk. Yen, thank you so much.


Yeah, I'm gonna give an update on whispers. So a quick reminder. What is whisper? It's a peer-to-peer messaging system with strong metadata privacy guarantee You cannot like no one can read the content of your message and they cannot know who you're sending it to either So because of the way it's implemented You need a lot of bandwidth. You cannot really do video chat things like that The best use case is really to Distributes a message to several recipients and So like what would be a necessary or possible in in distributed exchanges? But you have some company like less like like status, of course who have who have implemented that as a messaging system So so that's that's really nice As a quick reminder of how it works imagine that those diamonds represent nodes on the network and Node on the far left wants to send a message to notes on the on the right. So what they do they just forward Oh, yeah, I forgot to say the blue lines are the network links so the the node forwards the message to their to its neighbors and Those neighbors in turn forward The message to to their neighbors and you can already see that the one at the bottom already received two copies of the message and the other thing is that One of the recipients got the message but to not be identified as the recipient They will still keep forwarding the message to their neighbors and you can see that one of the nodes already received three copies And that is a pretty simple network So over the last year we released version 6 I built a test net and I implemented a leapy-to-pea version of whisper Right so the leapy-to-pea version Last year in Cancun we we had to talk with parity with leapy-to-pea people and we agreed To try to use whisper as a test bed for leapy-to-pea simply because whisper is fairly independent from the rest of the of the network So so that was a nice experiment and I made a couple a couple Articulate a couple PRs one of them one of those proof-of-concept of work, so it's available at this address I have a test net of leapy-to-pea Whisperer clients talking to each other the problem is that Leapy-to-pea at least the go implementation is not exactly modular yet So we have to bring in 400 files. So that's a bit of a problem. So that's why it's not it's not available yet so when it comes to the Development that is going to take place this year first status is Starting a big documentation effort. So I'm joining in so kudos to them for for helping with that There's drive because parity has a slightly different Version of the protocol is not compatible. So I'm going to spend some time Trying to to make them talk offer a PR. Hopefully I'll get a t-shirt in in response and The other the other two things so there is a test net There are examples on how to use it, but people keep asking questions. So there's there's a need to to improve the communication on that So these are the easier things now. I want to delve a little bit more into the Leapy-to-pea changes. So this is a very contrived examples or representation of the of the current state with def p2p So on top in the red boxes, you got the protocols You have you have ETH you have whisper and then just below it. You have the library Let's call it the library so the server object the protocol object and then you have the fp2p proper and The fp2p does all the heavy lifting it does the discovery does all the connection connection things and And really down at the bottom you got the transport layer which is called our LPX It's got some some security issues So that's what's initially driving the potential potential switch to to the p2p Now the PR that I that is available the one I described earlier It's basically just putting another server right next to the def p2p server and Like you have something to almost independent entities Except whisper kind of still relies on the library layer. So it's a bit of a of a hack But this is not what we want to do for several reasons Well, one of them is that we know a lot of things about the def p2p Felix has invested a lot of time in in in that for example We can't just chuck everything and move to the next to something new that we don't really understand The other the other issue is that leapy-to-pea itself. I mean that that's that's a big change That's really an engineering problem here Leapy-to-pea has we started discussion with them recently it's got a lot of a Lot of modules that we don't need a lot of Redundant things. So I'm really positive really happy really enthusiastic about the work that we can do together But yeah, the goal would be to end up with this So we just keep def p2p for now to benefit from all the security We have so far and we just slowly phase out Rlpx and we use the leap the transport layer of flip p2p and over time We slowly replace components of the fp2p with leapy-to-pea if that makes sense And then they are on the horizon. They are more long-term improvements So one of them is the proof of work So whisper when you send a message you calculate the proof of work on on this message This is to prevent spamming Because if you remember when you send one message it gets Duplicated and sent over several times. So you need to make sure that you don't abuse the system the problem was that is that status is complaining that the proof of work is Draining the battery like calculation is draining the batteries of mobile phones So I want to spend some time Trying to find alternative proof of work algorithms that will consume less power and Daniel from from swarm Has suggested to use proof of burn, which is great for for preventing spam because it's your own money However, it's connected to your Ethereum account, which means that when it comes to privacy You are pretty much identified. So so yeah, that needs to be to be Improved and then we want I want to do some some simulations For try to not for forward the message to every every single node try to have a bit more Feedback between the nodes to not forward so as once again a contrived example if you remember this slide At the point where the node received two messages if you see that the same message Keeps going keeps coming from two different peers. Well, you simply remove Remove one of the peers. So once again, this is a very contrived example. We need to to make sure that You know privacy is a metadata privacy privacy is is ensured if we do that, but I think it's it's a good. It's a good Experiment to have in the coming year and the last Improvement I want to work on it's wasm. So I'm sure most of you have heard of wasm But just in case you've been living under a rock. So wasm lets you Take whatever language you have a program written in whatever language Compile it to a blob and that blob will run in the virtual machine in your browser or on node And wasm has a lot of nice properties because so far What we use is the remote procedure call call. So if you have a D app, it's running in your browser It connects to one of the nodes ask the node to create a private key for you to encrypt your message and to forward it Which means you you need to to trust the node and thanks to wasm now you all all you need to do is trust your browser Okay, I thought I thought people would think it's funny But ideally if you can trust your browser then it's it's much more secure Because Yeah, it's it's much more secure, but or if you run it on node on your on your machine, you don't have to trust anybody the only issue with with wasm at this stage is that The go for example the go compiler to wasm is pretty new a lot of a lot of the dependencies don't compile So there's some need to wait for the For the ecosystem to mature. So we're a bit Yeah, we're waiting a bit for that to happen So I'll end up with a roadmap. So the easy stuff first Documentation parity compatibility then around the middle of next year I hope to be able to publish some results about my networking experiments Maybe the collaboration with with lip to people will be fruitful and we can we can provide the some Some lip to be unable enable geth and then next year early next year wasm and the proof-of-work experiments So that was pretty much it. If you have plenty of questions, you can hit me on any of those platforms Or you can catch me and hit me for real and Yes, that's that was and that was all for me


Ladies and gentlemen, the Railroad Hour. Here comes our star-studded show train. Tonight, the Association of American Railroads presents a memorable musical hit, Victor Herbert's Sweethearts, starring Jane Powell, Walter O'Keefe, and your host, Gordon MacRae. Our choir is under the direction of Norman Luboff, and our music is arranged and conducted by Carmen Dragon.  And now, here is Gordon MacRae. Thank you and good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Well, along with all the valentines you may have received today, you can add one more. For the Association of American Railroads, it's a great Broadway show with a great musical by Victor Herbert, and we call it Sweethearts. If you've ever been in love, we're sure you'll enjoy tonight's show. For musical comedies are like fairy tales that everybody wishes could come true. The Prince is always handsomer than any movie star, and the Princess is just as lovely as, well, even Jane Powell, if that's possible. Jane's with us tonight in the role of Sylvia, and we have one of the favorite comics of Broadway and radio, Mr. Walter O'Keefe. He plays McCallan, Sweethearts, Albie Franz, and Berna Felton is the owner of the Laundry of the White Geese, just about the most romantic laundry that ever ripped a button off his shirt. I know the holding fruit is iron, iron, iron, iron. There are things we'd rather do but clean. Someone brings another lock, and then comes an awful war to simply house. That's what we're for. It's all so many clothes to be ironed. Well, I hate to iron shirts. Oh, I don't mind. If it's a military shirt like this one. Oh, don't iron that shirt. Not yet. Why not, Sylvia? Well, that shirt belongs to Franz, and if we get his laundry all ready for him, then he won't be in again for a whole week. Oh, I think our little Sylvia's got a crush on a certain officer named Franz. Well, I think he's very nice. Are you in love with him or his uniform? I'm in love with his uniform when he's in it, and when he's marching with his company, he's almost here to come now. Come on, Sylvia. You know my name by this time. I'm coming in to get my laundry three times a day, just so I can talk to you. Rule number two. Don't flirt with the customers. What's rule number one? Don't let the customers flirt with you. I'm sorry, Franz. Your laundry isn't ready yet. Good. I'll wait. But it might not be ready until tomorrow. Well, that's even better. I'm used to waiting for things. And by the way, how long do you think I'll have to wait for you to fall in love with me? Well, it takes longer to fall in love than when it does to start your car. Oh, sweetie, you're wrong. You can fall in love as fast as you can scorch a shirt. Only this time, I'm the shirt. When love would have stood as my master in his fairerest of flaws. Very much, but... No buts. I'll settle for a maybe. I have against the uniform. Nothing, except I married one. A handsome dashing chap who won your girlish heart, no doubt. Not so handsome. I'll have his picture in this locket. Take a look if you can stand it. Oh, my goodness. This is your husband? Was, thank goodness. What happened to him? He was a soldier of fortune with very little fortune. And he ran off and left me with seven daughters, the bum. Okay. If that's the way you feel about it. I beg your pardon, sir. Can you direct me to the laundry of the white goose? Geese. Geese. Goose. It all comes out in the wash. I just want... Why, your Highness... Shh. Nobody around here knows I'm the crown prince of Zelenia. Mikkel. Shh. Nobody around here knows I'm the prime minister of Zelenia. I'm in disguise. As what? As the prime minister of Zelenia. What kind of a disguise is that?  It's foolproof, Mikkel. What are you doing here in Belgium? I lost control of the government. But I heard you'd regain control. That was yesterday. Oh, Mikkel. All these revolutions. My poor native land. You've got no idea how poor it is. Don't forget I was also secretary of the treasury. Your Highness, how would you like to be restored to the throne? Oh, Mikkel. To see my native country again. The rolling hills. The rippling streams. Prince. The magnificent landscapes. Prince, chum, tourists we can kid, but you and I, we've been to Zelenia. Let's face it, it's a gopher hole. But, Your Highness, if you say the word, I can put you back on the throne of Zelenia. Like that. Are you sure my people want me? We'll have an election and I'll count the votes myself. Mikkel, I won't have anything to do with your crooked plans. Look, Sam, you aren't the only heir to the throne of Zelenia. But the other royal house died out. You wouldn't be too sure, laddie. When the monarchy was overthrown by the First Revolution, I slipped out of the country with a babe. Well, a little babe, a little babe. Only a few months old. And I left her right here beside this laundry 20 years ago. Now, if there's a pretty young girl in here in her early 20s... Oh, brother, have you got a surprise coming? What do you mean? We'll go out in the laundry, find out for yourself. All right, I will. Is there a pretty girl in here in her early 20s? I never had a stigmatism so good. Feel like the janitor in the YWCA. Tell me, do you all belong to one family?  Well, quack quack. Look, is one of you an adopted daughter? Yes, but mother never told us which one was adopted. Well, I guess I'll have to hang around here until I find out. Girls, look, please, keep your hands out of my hair. No. Television will be better, you know? The torture I go through for Zalania. None of you girls are married, I hope. Oh, no, we can't get married because we wear wooden shoes. Naturally, wooden shoes. Can't get married. Can't get married, wooden shoes. There must be something my father didn't tell me. I guess you don't know the legend of Jeanette and her wooden shoes. Enlighten me, child, I'm listening all over as a pair of sneakers. Oh, and she really got into trouble when she eloped with the prince. Oh. He was in the middle of winter. Yes, yes. And the king sent out his guards to bring back the two lovers. Don't tell me. I can see it coming. Enough to make a girl spend the rest of her life barefooted. Hide me some place. Where can I hide? Quick, a jump in this half-her-of-duty clothes. Don't forget I'm in here. And when you're sorting this, remember, I'm the one without the laundry marks. Quick, quick, whose half-her looks a little bulgy? Everybody hiding in the clothes hamper? Who? Why else would he want to hide from Mama? Besides, he looks just like the picture in Mama's locket. Hey, Sylvia. Are you back again, friends? Your laundry isn't ready yet. Well, I'm looking for something you can't wrap up in a package and tie with a string. Well, what's that? As if I didn't know. It's something you can never find by looking for it. And all of a sudden you glance around and there it is. Right out of your own back window. You're right, friends. Ask where love is home. There is always one place you can find. On January 20th, President Truman spoke of the value to the peoples of the world of what he described as America's imponderable resources in technical knowledge. Agreeing with what the president said and commenting upon it, the New York Times cited a tremendous upsurge of wartime production in America as an example of what has been accomplished by this know-how of our people. But the Times went on to say, and I quote, it did not require war to demonstrate American supremacy in the field of applied technology and mechanical skill. A classic example is furnished by comparing the development of railroading in this country with that of other nations. Such a comparison reveals that American railroads excel in virtually every respect, ranging from wages paid to efficiency of operation and freedom of from accidents. End of quotation. Continuing its comment, the Times emphasized what it called, and again I quote, the fundamental reason for our superiority in this sphere. For it is no accident of history or geography. It reflects the fact that where the railroads of most countries are state-owned and managed, ours are privately owned and operate in competition, not only among themselves, but with other forms of transportation. End of quotation. The efficiency of which the New York Times spoke reached a record high on American railroads in 1948. To mention just one example, in the year just closed, the average freight train turned out more transportation service per hour. That is, it hauled more tons of freight more miles than ever before. And that record is typical of the year's performance of what the Times rightly calls the most efficient railroads in the world. We're ready for the second act of Victor Herbert's sweetheart, starring Jane Powell, Walter O'Keefe, and your railroad, our host, Gordon McRae. There, but you didn't have to leave the lid down all through the commercial. You do? Well, quick, tell me. Welcome. Now, there's no use trying to deny it. We all know you're our father. I'm the father of seven girls? Yes. Cantor will never speak to me. I should say geeslings.   Now, bust me, my little buttercup.  Here. Hooray for dandelion. Hey, this is a fine way to run a laundry. When you figure out a better way, let me know. How does a customer get some service around here? This kind of service we don't waste on the customers. Me, Kel, what's going on here? Girls, girls, go wash clothes. Papa has to explain to the gentlemen. Papa. Sure, Papa. You see, I had to figure out a way to stick around here. I've got to find out which one of these daughters is an heir to the throne of Zillania. Which one do you think it is? The prettiest one, naturally. Well, how are you going to tell which one's the prettiest, me, Kel? You know, powder and paint makes a girl what she ain't. Who's complaining? It doesn't matter what is done by nature for a pretty one. She's never satisfied till she her hand has tried. A touch of rouge applied with skill will make her more like nature still. Her cheeks a shell like paint. We think and as this goddess goes her way she chuckles as she hears us say. Goes how? Hey, girls, you're as pretty as we look. My year is pretty as a picture but did you ever see a picture without any paint? Hey, Sylvia, is my laundry ready yet? No, don't be silly. Come back later. You bet I will, me, Kel.  All right, wet wash, go hang yourself up to dry. I'll remember me, Kel, no tricks. Oh, you got to be nicer to him, Papa. Why? You're not in love with him, are you? Well, I might be. You don't act very lovey-dovey? Oh, you must never do that. Remember, if you want to catch a husband, you've got to be very cold to him until he proposes. I'll remember that if I'm ever a girl. Papa, tell me, where have you been all these years? I have been in and out of Zelenia. Zelenia? What's that? It's a little country, here in Europe. Don't you know where it is? No, how do you find it? Well, it's right there on the map as big as life. Well, not quite as big as life. It's more the size of Newsweek. Oh, well, there must be a very, very small place. It is so small, dear. Look, I'll tell you, whenever the prince went out back of the palace to wash his hands, he had to clear customs. Whenever. When you come right down to it, you know I am. My wit is so keen and so clever my ways that I am much sought as a guest. The things that I say keep me laughing for days. For instance, here's one of my best. This one is going to assassinate you. I went to the circus one day with a crowd and I sat me outside in the fence. When asked why I did so, I said right out live because the heat in the tents is intense. Exceedingly amusing. I thought so? Oh, I don't know how I'd do it, but I do. I don't know how I've said it when it's said. As a melancholy killer, I'm a genuine Joe Miller. I really knock them dead. I don't know how I say the things I say. I don't know how I've said them when they're said. I only am aware that all the people stare and ardently declare, what a head!  Sylvia, is this big laundry bag mama? I'm home, kiss me. I'd rather have a nerve killed. Mama, you're not a widow any longer. Report to you, you've got to do some work. Lift that laundry bag, toad that spail of dirty clothes. Yes, Snooker. And iron. Guess what I want. Your laundry isn't ready yet. Yes, it is, friends. Thanks, Sylvia. Hey, just a minute. I brought in four handkerchiefs and a shirt, and now there are five handkerchiefs. Look again. One of those handkerchiefs has a sleeve. Now, get out of here. We've got work to do, Your Highness. Your Highness. I mean... He means... I thought you were just an ordinary soldier.  Well, Sylvia, you may as well know the truth. I'm really the crown prince of Zelenia. Oh, I mean Your Highness. Well, what's the matter, Sylvia? What difference does it make? Well, a plain girl in a laundry. She can't marry a prince. Marry? Would you marry me? Would you? Really? I can never marry you now. Sylvia, come back! Sylvia! The androids. At least I can... I can kneel here and pray. Maybe I'll find out what I should do. What does it matter who you are? Oh, Sylvia. Listen to me. To measure the efficiency of our railroads is to do what the New York Times did in the editorial we were talking about a few minutes ago. That is, to compare their operations with those of the railroads of other countries. But there is another and a tougher standard by which to measure them. And that is to compare the post-war operations of American railroads with their own records in the peak pre-war year of 1939. In the year 1948, the average freight car carried the highest load of any peacetime year. Each day, this average freight car produced transportation service equivalent to moving more than 1,020 tons of freight one mile, as against less than 600 ton miles in 1939. And here's a striking fact about fuel efficiency.  That's a lot of figures about railroad performance. And there are many more in the records. But they all add up to just this. That the American railroads are turning out transportation service for the people of this country not only more efficiently than any other transportation system in the world, but also more efficiently than their own previous records. Our show train will return in just a moment after a brief pause for station identification. Now for Act 3 of Victor Herbert's Sweetheart starring Jane Powell, Walter O'Keefe and your host, Gordon McRae. Yes, Snookums. A fine business. The leading politician of Zelenia pressing ruffles in a petticoat. Iron! Yes, Mama. Papa is iron. Come to think of it, why is Papa ironing? I'm not even Papa. I'm crazy. Iron. Iron your own petticoats. I'm getting sick and tired of this laundry. All right, then get out. All right, I will. On one condition. Anything. Tell me, Mama. Which one of our daughters is adopted? You're their father. You ought to know. You know she's got a point there? You have a point there, Duchess, but I confess I am not your husband. Thank heaven. Well, then who are you? I'm the guy who left that little baby in your tulip garden 20 years ago. And now I want her back again. She's the heir to the throne of Zelenia. My little Sylvia, a princess. Well, this ought to make our girl Sylvia pretty happy. She won't have to ask the question. Can a young girl from Laundry in Belgium find happiness married to Zelenia's most famous crown prince? Oh, what a surprise this is. Sylvia, Franz, come in. Yeah, come on in, kids. We got some good news for you. What kind of good news? What is it, Papa? Don't call this old windbag, Papa. He isn't your father. He isn't? No, Sylvia, you were adopted. Why, then Sylvia must be the other heir to the throne of Zelenia. Yep. Ain't it convenient how these things work out here?  Well, I just can't believe it. Hey, kids, you're Highness. When the two of you get restored to the throne of Zelenia, I happen to know of an unemployed prime minister who is between engagements. As Wardrobe will travel doubles and brass. Oh, no. Not a chance, Miquel. You'll never get a job in my government. No, no, no. Our government, darling. Oh, yes. Of course, my sweet. You know, I really think we ought to be able to find some kind of a position for a man who used to be my father. Well, all right. We'll make him third assistant secretary of agriculture in charge of corn. Now, that's gratitude for you. Yes, my princess. Sometimes, sometimes I'm an awfully moody person. Do you think you can love me whatever mood I'm in? Of course, darling. Or I'll make love to you to suit your mood. The game of love has so many plays whenever you are pursuing you must adapt your ways to the mood of the girl you are wooing. For instance, if I play a cookin', then this is what you'll get.  Try fo' with me if you dare. Kiss or I'll take it from you. I did. What's that? You dare me? Well, there. But when she strikes the romantic mood mid-sentimental environs she must be gently wooed with the sonnets you've copied from Byron's a moonlight night, a wandering breeze and some such words as these from lovely maid to some hair with a cerulean score.  Let's get married tomorrow. Tonight. Right now. Oh, I love you, my darling. Oh, my sweet heart. How do you like that for the ending of a fairy tale? Thanks, Christian Anderson. The Grim Brothers, even St. Valentine. I'll give them cards and spades if they can top this one. Sweet hearts make love. Sweet hearts can live. Thank you to Jane Powell, Walter O'Keefe, and Berna Felton for joining me in Sweet Hearts. With book by Harry B. Smith, lyrics by Robert B. Smith, and music by Victor Herbert and adapted for radio by Lawrence and Lee. Say, Walter, we never did get to visit Delania, did we? Gordon, did you ever try to get a round-trip ticket to a mythical kingdom? Well, it's tough, you know. What's next week, Gordon? A great old favorite, Janey, Lady Be Good, starring Groucho Marx, complete with mustache and eyeglasses. And the week following, the first air performance of the song of Norway with Marina Koschets and members of the cast of the original operetta. We'll be listening, Gordon. Oh, at our house, we always listen to the railroad hour, just like having a big Broadway show in your own living room. Well, it looks as though we're ready to pull out. And so until next week, goodbye. Sweet Hearts has been presented by Special Arrangement with the Tams Whitmark Music Library. Jane Powell appeared by arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, producers of the Technicolor picture The Sun Comes Up, starring Jeanette McDonald, Lloyd Nolan, Claude Jarman Jr. and Lassie. Gordon McRae appeared on this program by arrangement with Warner Brothers. This is Marvin Miller speaking. The railroad hour is brought to you each week at this time by 132 railroads of the United States. Each one competes keenly with others for business. But all of them work together through the association of American railroads for the improvement of all railroading and for better service to you. The broadcasting company.