So, we are from G.I. Social and we are building a social media management app in the Android. So, we have the web version writing so we are trying to build a similar version of the Android. In this hackathon, we are planning to have composed messages for both Facebook and Twitter using our compose module and schedule also schedule the posts to the Facebook and Twitter. So, right now we are progressing okay I can say. So, we have built the first page of using the Titanium SDK. So, basically we are using Titanium because we also want to build it across media technologies in a faster way. So, ours is mostly based on web technologies so we think that this Titanium is giving us enough modules to build this kind of application. So, I think pretty much that's it and I think we will be able to complete two more screens. That's what we are planning to build and let's hope that we will complete it before the next one.


Live, from San Francisco, it's theCUBE, covering Informatica World 2016. Brought to you by Informatica. Now, here are your hosts, John Furrier and Peter Burris. Okay, welcome back, when we are here live in San Francisco for Informatica World 2016. This is SiliconANGLE Media's theCUBE, our flagship program. We go out to the events and extract the signal from the noise. I'm John Furrier, my co-host Peter Burris, our next guest is Abshik Choudhury, who's the manager of information systems at Indian Oil Corporation, LTD. Welcome to theCUBE. Thank you. So tell us about your business, first of all. I'm fascinated by this. So what is the company? How does it operate? What's the business model? Give us a quick update on that. So John, we're basically a downstream company into oil. And we actually do a little bit of refining, more of a refining as well. So we operate, we sell the products in the Indian markets. We have the largest refining capacity in India. We also have greener initiatives now. We're going ahead into those areas as well. We are actually getting into petrochemical businesses as well in India. So we are the largest enterprise from oil perspective. What's the relationship with the government? Is the government regulated? Is it part of open? You guys set the price and how competitive is it? Can you just quick go over a few? So the government has 80% stake in the company. So it's basically a government company. 20% is there with the markets out there. As far as pricing are concerned, we now are living in a deregulated pricing regime. So yes, I mean the companies have technically the companies can take their own call on the pricing as well now. So what's the challenge with data? Obviously there's a lot of things to look at. Data run the business. IoT and now wireless is now booming. And I know we have an office in India and growth and tech exploding. How and also there's areas that need internet access and other forms of connections. So there's more pressure on energy than ever before. How does the data fit into all of this? So let me first get into the initiatives that the government is trying to push in here. What happened was that with the new government formation approximately two years back, their focus was more on to IT into the public sector companies in India. And that's where the digital India came in. Now with that initiative what happened was they wanted to open up a new arena of transparency with the consumers out there. And every bit and pieces of the businesses which touched lives in India, they wanted to open up to them. And then to do so, they wanted to use the technology. So we were actually mandated to do a lot of things. Here digitizing a lot of processes that were there. One of the major initiatives that the government pushed was in our LPG business, which is basically the liquefied petroleum gas cylinders that are being sold in India. So what happened was that every household in India had an LPG connection. And these bottle gases were actually being sold to them at a dual pricing. So the market had two prices for the same product, which created a lot of interest in the market. So they wanted to get away with that first. And that's where they actually introduced a scheme called Pahal. What was that called? Pahal. Pahal. Yeah. What's that? So that's basically, they wanted to bring that product under one price and the intended subsidy, which is the government subsidy, would go directly into the consumer's bank account, right from our systems to their account. For that, they wanted to use, so there was another flagship program for the government, which was called the UIDIA, which is the Aadhaar, or let's say unique identification number, which was being given to all the citizens in India. They wanted to use that system for transferring these into the bank accounts, the subsidy into the bank accounts of these consumers. So that's the system that we wanted to bring in, and we were actually fortunate to bring it as probably a three to four months' time into this. So I'm fascinated about, obviously India is a very, very populous country. Some say it's the most populous country on the planet. And it faces some very interesting, a number of very interesting infrastructure and socioeconomic problems. A different group of individuals once told me that every day 100 million people are migrating into and out of Delhi and Mumbai every single day, which is just mind boggling to me. It's the entire population of the Western US, west of the Mississippi, descending upon LA and then leaving at the end of the day. Is your business also thinking about how to optimize energy consumption across that entire group? What role does petrochemical, the oil business play in thinking about the entire needs of a population that's that diverse and that large and with those kinds of needs? So what we actually, yes, I mean that's one of the biggest challenges that we face when it comes to IET in the company because you have people moving from one place to the other. The identification numbers of these actually change from one place to the other. There are business processes which are stale for long, never being reviewed. So what essentially happened was that, these consumers had to wait for a longer time to get basic commodity services that was required. We wanted to change that and for that what we're doing is we're actually bringing in everything into one umbrella. So that's where we're actually trying to implement a CRM system as well. So you have one identification across the company. You move from one place to the other. You get self-service through these self-service portals that we have now. You want to get LPG connection at a different place.  Nothing changes for you. We have an online KYC being done. So they can actually go online, fill up the KYC. And the next day you get a connection. So you don't even, we're actually trying to move to a regime where you don't even have to visit the distributorship to get a connection now anymore. So India is a net importer of oil. In fact, I don't think you guys produce much oil, do you? No, no, we don't.  We were talking earlier with Jerry Held. Jerry Held is one of the luminaries in the database marketplace. Been a real friend of the Cube and has come on multiple times to talk about some of the challenges in data management and some of the trends in database management, et cetera. And we talked about how data is bound to time. That we can look at systems that tell us something about the past and systems that tell us something about the future. But also, a lot of the technologies that we focus on are systems that tell us something about right now, things that are doing something in real time. You have to marry together. The reality is, as India, not being an oil producing nation has to buy at an optimum price. Has to know how much to buy at that optimum price. So the future is crucially important to you, even as you're making decisions about how to allocate that limited supply that is bought on a daily basis across the entire country. Tell us about the role that big data is playing as you think about what to buy and how to distribute it across, again, something country-like India. What we've done is we've actually divided this into different product lines for us. So one of the product lines is an LPG which gets imported into India. The other is the crude which gets imported. Now, essentially, the crude which gets refined is actually the petrol and the diesel which actually goes into the market. There are certain special products which come out of that column, but then the chunk of the volume which comes out is basically the petrol and the diesel. So what we did was, since LPG was more an organized sector for us in India, we actually base, we converted our systems into a real-time consumption pattern. So we actually know sitting here today how much is the LPG consumption that has happened till yesterday night. Or for that matter, our real-time analytics will tell you till now what is the pattern that's there. And over a period of time, we've collected this data as well so that the forecast happens accordingly. So LPG is pretty much set, but then when we're talking about petrol and diesel, there was never a mindset within India to capture the secondary sales that was happening out of these gas stations in India. That's pretty much now changing. Now, we've already taken up a lot of projects, bigger projects on this, where we're actually capturing now or trying to capture the secondary sales that's happening out of these gas stations. So that's where we are actually working on the IoT space where once a person comes here, unlike in the US, right? So these gas stations are actually, again, manned gas stations. They're not self-serviced gas stations. So what happens is that, again, there's a lot of interest out there. So we need to have control systems which do that. One of the things that we are actually doing on this space is that we are actually capturing the data on a real-time basis direct from these devices, the dispensing units that are placed. And it comes to a central site over here. We do a real-time analytics on that particular data. We also have business processes which control this. So we put in controls as well on these streams of data that are flowing in. And then based on, let's say, the business decisions based on those data, again, the acknowledgement flows back to these devices. So that's how something which we are working on. We've already, there are three phases in which we've started this. One was the sourcing of the data from these devices. We already have an automation system which is running. We wanted to source this data on a real-time basis. We've done that. That's live in production for us. The second is we've included this into the future RFPs as well. And the third thing which you're actually primarily working with Informatica through a project called Stratus, is we're trying to build in a uniform platform where it's just more of a plug-and-play where you actually install a site and day one it's under that system. So that's something which is really cool for us. You guys are changing potentially the future of retail for the consumer experience in India with this idea. Yes, John. I mean, believe me, by the time we actually, we would be finishing off, or let's say, these systems come into a maintenance mode, we would be actually changing the way retail businesses is being done in India, at least for the oil industry. What we are saying is that over a period of time, we would be coming out with our own wallets. We would be integrating the system with the loyalty programs out there. So every penny that you actually spend on our gas stations, you would not only earn points out of it, but you can actually burn those points into other product lines of companies. You can take an old line kind of the LPG and then the petrol and refinery stuff, which is complicated, modernize it with the analytics, the streaming and the real-time processing informatica, and essentially create some ability to get all that data in. And so I got my notes here, I was making a note here. You guys have done the largest cash benefit program recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as a direct benefit transfer, affecting over 125 million households. That is pretty massive, congratulations. What does that mean, what's involved, how complicated is it, paint the picture. We only have two, three minutes. I mean, it's complicated. First of all, the scale of 120 million is pretty significant. But the data enabled that, right? You integrated it in. Yes, what we are basically doing is that primarily on the LPG business, right? So we're getting these data on a real-time basis. And then we put in systems or business processes, which actually decide whether the subsidy needs to get transferred to these consumers or not. What happens, the settlement that goes has to happen in T plus one time. So it goes into the bank, the settlement happens for the subsidy across all these riffle bookings that happen in India. So the sheer magnitude in which we operate makes it so large that till today, we've actually transferred more than 20 billion dollars into the Indian banking industry that was not there. You make a mistake, you lose a billion dollars. Where'd that go?  I mean, if you make a small mistake, the magnification of the consequences are pretty significant. So you got to be really careful. Yes, very, very. I mean, they put in monitoring systems there. We have a dedicated team, which looks into issues that come up. We have a dedicated call center, which looks into consumer complaints and stuff like that. We also have a lot of auditing agencies, which is sitting on these systems. So what they do is they regularly keep checking whether it's according to the government policies or not. Is there benefits coming out of this or we need to tweak the scheme a little so that it benefits the government as well? One of the things that just came in was that they're trying to link it with your tax payments now. So if you actually- You really take all your money. Yes. Hopefully they give it back. Yeah. So subsidy was never intended, John, for the rich. It's basically intended for the poor in our country. So what now they are doing is- Also efficiency for that matter, for that point. Yes. Is very important and transparency. Yes. So for transparency, we've actually opened up an entire, all of these systems are open in the public domain now. So somebody who wants to know can log in and see whatever is happening for his account. Earlier that was not the case. You guys have done the work. Okay, you guys done a lot of hard work and some of the things are popping for you on the benefit side. Foundation set, how far along are you on the IOT? You mentioned you got some IOT now. But give us the taste of how far in is it and what possibilities are still out there for you guys to build on top of the foundation. So John, what we are doing is we are trying to, right now what we are trying to do is we are trying to source the secondary sales coming out of these deals, right? So once we achieve this, we would be actually putting these data into the big data space that you would like to create. So what happens with me is that then, because this data which comes out of these gas stations would be humongous. Once we have this, we would actually have almost, since we control almost 70% of the Indian market, we actually know what is the consumption that India is having on a real time basis. And that's pretty much huge data. That's huge data. And you could turn that into benefit too for society. Yes, yes. So it actually has a chain reaction. You can actually plan your imports as well. You can plan your refinery. It's some weather data from IBM and you'd be all set, right? I mean, look at the weather, I mean, all kinds of new things are going to come out of the woodwork of this, right? Yeah, and not only that, John. So what it would also trigger a financial revolution around it. So we're trying to do as well. So there are a lot of money in India which is not in the financial backbone right now in India. So we're trying to put that, bring those money out of these systems and put it into the mainstream of the banking system. And with internet, you have other opportunities for economic revitalization, certainly from all over the country, opportunities. Yeah, so one of the examples that I would give for that economic advantage is that the government had, you know, of course I would put it to some extent to the crude prices as well. But then a lot of things earlier, government was provisioning somewhere around a billion dollar out of their budget for subsidies. This year it is nil. So you've taken the subsidies out and shifted them around? Yeah, so once that's there, that money is, can be- People are accountable, you can't hide anymore. Big data, you can't really hide the subsidies, you've got to know where it is. Is it working, right? Yes. So you get some efficiencies there. Fascinating case study. I would love to talk further. You have our cars, this is great. Once you kind of peel back the complexity of the oil and how it all works, it's really an amazing data story. Because you get a lot of complicated machinery there moving around, moving part. Yes, it is actually. But then we are trying our best to solve it as simple as it could be. Yeah, yeah. Hold on, hold on tight. Okay, thanks so much, abstract. Be coming on theCUBE, appreciate it. India Oil Company LTD here inside theCUBE sharing their big data efficiency and really changing hundreds of millions of households in India, great use of big data just to be getting IoT right on the corner. Appreciate your insights on theCUBE here, appreciate it. You're watching theCUBE live in San Francisco. We'll be right back with more after this short break.


Thank you, that concludes general questions. The next item of business is First Minister's questions, and at question number one I call Douglas Ross. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Last night, NHS Greater Glasgow Inclyde cancelled thousands of procedures. We know the SNP's flagship Queen Elizabeth University hospital is already the worst performing in the country. This morning, there are reports of nurses at the hospital working 24-hour shifts. It's disgraceful to put NHS staff in that situation. And despite their incredible efforts, it could be harmful to patients. A whistleblower has said this...their words. We are struggling to cope. In short, we are struggling to provide first world care in what feels like a third world environment.  Mae'r cyfrifol, ac mae'n ddweud o'r cyfrifol yn cofio eu cael ei dddangos i nhw'r cyfrifol yn tygfaith, ond teimlo sy'n gweithredu'r cyfrifol i gael eu bithom, gyda'r rhai hwn. Rhaid i gweithio siaradau o'r uwch yn ysgolngau neu i gweithio gweithio'r uwch yn Lleonidig. Rwy'n gweithio'n amlu'r amlwg dyma, mae gennym iawn hyn yn Ysgrifiad ac mae'n anhym yn wych ar alignig.  Felly, rydw i'n cael cael cael cyfwod yn gweithio'r cyfwod, ond wrth gwrs, os ymddw i'n cael cael cyfwod o bethau, fel y cyfwod yn gyfwod ar gyfer niforol i'r cyfwod ar gyfer niforol. Rydw i'n cael cyfwod ar gyfer niforol i'r cyfwod gyfer niforol i'r cyfwod am Gresogl ac Clyde am y roi gydag. As I said on Monday, we have empowered NHS boards to take action that they think is appropriate to protect critical and life-saving care. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has paused non-urgent elective procedures in order that they can prioritise urgent treatment and cancer care, and I would expect that to be for a very short period. I think that it insults people's intelligence to suggest that the problems being encountered in the NHS in Scotland, which are the same as the problems being encountered elsewhere, are somehow down to the health secretary. Is it, for example, the fault of Humza Yousaf that the kind of action that Greater Glasgow and Clyde announced last night has also been taken in health services in South London, in Surrey, in York, in Scarborough, in Derby, in Leicester, in Nottingham, in Southampton and in Portsmouth, and I probably could go on. Those are unprecedented pressures that we continue to support our NHS to address. How can nationalist MSPs actually clap such a despicable answer from Scotland's First Minister in Scotland's Parliament about Scotland's national health service? So let's ignore the nationalist MSPs. Let's look at what medical professionals are saying. They are damning about this Government's response to this crisis here in Scotland. On Monday, the First Minister placed some of the blame for the grave situation in A&E departments on, in her own words, unnecessary attendances. Dr Laila Peele, Deputy Chair of BMA Scotland, criticised patient blaming language saying—and those are her words—that shows a lack of understanding of the current crisis. We have analysed the figures, and Dr Peele is spot on. There are actually fewer people in A&E now than there were in the years leading up to the Covid pandemic. The problem is not unnecessary attendances. Fewer people attended A&E in the first week of this year than they did in 2020, 2019, 2018 or 2017. Will the First Minister accept that the blame lies with her Government and not the patients? Nobody, including me, certainly not me, is blaming patients. It is the case—let's hear the First Minister. Thank you. Unnecessary visits to accident emergency, unnecessary attendances and admissions to hospital are not in the interests of patients. That's why we are working hard to make sure that where patients can be and should be treated elsewhere that happens. Let me just take the points made by Douglas Ross in turn and let's look in detail at demand and why the figures that he has quoted are actually the case. There is absolutely no doubt that demand on our health service right now is higher than it has been for some time. If we look at calls to NHS 24 over the festive period, the highest demand in a decade—if we look at emergency calls to the Scottish Ambulance Service higher in the most recent week than the average of the four weeks before—the reason that they are not all translating into attendances at accident emergency or admissions to hospital is because of the work that NHS 24 and the Scottish Ambulance Service are doing to avoid that. NHS 24 now provides advice and, where necessary, treatment to the vast majority of patients during the initial call that they make. In terms of the ambulance service, most of the calls to the ambulance service are treated through sea and treat, so the patients are not taken to hospital.  That is part of the reason why we have pressure on our hospitals. The waiting times in A&E are a reflection of the fact that occupancy in our hospitals is so high, which is why we are focused on speeding up discharge from hospital where appropriate. We listen carefully to engage with work with health professionals each and every single day. It would be hard for me to find the words appropriate to describe my respect for our health professionals. However, elsewhere in the UK this week, we have seen health care professionals on strike. They have not been on strike in Scotland because of the work that this health secretary has done and because of the respect that we have for our healthcare professionals. Douglas Ross. I think that those words may come back to haunt the First Minister. However, if we are judging cabinet secretaries on sector striking, I would hate to be surely unsumberable right now, I have got to say that. We have just heard it. The First Minister is doubling down on her patient-blaming language. The problem is not too many people attending A&E, the problem is this Government's handling of the NHS crisis here in Scotland. Dr Peel said exit block is the problem in A&E. The Government has known this has been a huge issue for years. The First Minister was defending her position in the last answer by saying that people are getting sicker. However, people healthy and ready to go home cannot get out of hospital because the First Minister and her Government have not dealt with bed blocking. They were failing to tackle this before the Covid pandemic, and now it is worse than ever. New reports today state that the number of avoidable deaths is now 60 people a week in Scotland. That is 60 families across our country grieving every single week the loss of a loved one who could have been saved. So, First Minister, will you confirm those tragic figures? What I will absolutely confirm is that when people wait too long for treatment, that has severe consequences potentially for patients. That is why we work so hard and will continue to work so hard with the health service to reduce long waits for treatment, whether that is an accident emergency or whether it is for elective care on our national health service. I was not to use Douglas Ross's phrase, doubling down on anything, and I certainly, for the avoidance of any doubt, I am not blaming patients for anything. It is in the interests of patients to make sure that where appropriate they can be treated outside of hospital because it is not in the interest of any patient to end up in an accident emergency unit or in a hospital ward just because treatment is not available in the community. What I was doing was trying to, because it is obvious from his questions that Douglas Ross does not understand this, explain the flow of patients through our national health service and why we see longer waits in accident emergencies because of over occupancy in our hospital wards. Finally, on the exit block, the significant chunk of what I and the health secretary set out on Monday was about tackling delayed discharges. We understand from our daily engagement with health boards that we have seen delayed discharges reduce slightly in recent weeks, but there is much more to do. That was the reason for the interventions and the additional funding that I indicated on Monday in the health secretary set out to the chamber on Tuesday. We will continue to be focused on providing the support and making the interventions that are necessary right now to help the NHS during this period of unprecedented demand. Let me remind Douglas Ross and the chamber unprecedented demand that has been faced not just in Scotland but all over the UK and indeed in much of the rest of the world as well. Douglas Ross. The First Minister can throw insults at me if she wants. I was quoting—she laughs at this—you can laugh at that, First Minister if you want, but I was quoting a front-line doctor in Scotland's NHS who happens to be the deputy chair of the BMA in Scotland, but the First Minister effectively confirmed those tragic figures that we heard this morning are correct. Sixty avoidable deaths every single week in Scotland's NHS confirmed by Scotland's First Minister, and Scotland's health secretary is making the situation worse, not better. Here is just one example of what we are experiencing across Scotland. On Hogmanay, a family visited their 80-year-old uncle. He has had major heart surgery, hip operations and often struggles to breathe. When they arrived, they discovered that he had fallen and broken his neck. The family dialed 999 seven times, and it took more than 12.5 hours for the ambulance to arrive. Seven emergency calls, 12.5 hours for our 80-year-old who had broken their neck. His niece told us that ambulance crews were brilliant, but we are disgusted at what our uncle has been put through. That dire situation confirms yet again that this health secretary and this Government is not on top of this crisis. His failures are creating risk to lives across the country. First Minister, surely for the good of Scotland, it's time to sack. If I raised a smile in response to Douglas Ross, it was not directed at any health professional. I suppose that what I was raising a smile about in very challenging circumstances where everybody right now is Douglas Ross accusing anybody else of insults. Every single day with the health secretary, we will continue to take the actions that are necessary to support our NHS during these very difficult times. I said earlier on, and I don't take anything for granted and I am not intending to sound complacent at all but it's because we respect so highly those who work in the front line of our national health service that we are offering them right now a much higher pay increase for next year than any other Government anywhere else in the UK and thus far we have avoided industrial action in our national health service and we will continue to do everything we can to make sure that that continues. We're also supporting health boards to address the reasons for long waits in our national health service, whether that is waits for an ambulance or waits in accident emergency or long waits to be discharged from hospital. That's why we announced the action that we did earlier this week. There are too many patients right now waiting too long for treatment and we will continue to do everything we can to address that while we hope that those pressures caused by Covid and by flu in the main abate over the weeks to come but that should not take away from the fact and this is true in the ambulance service, it is true in our accident emergency units, it's true in our GP practices, it's true across our hospitals and other healthcare settings. The vast majority of patients in this country even during these extremely difficult times get excellent care on our national health service and that is down to the dedication of those who work in it and that's why they have my grateful thanks each and every single day. Yesterday, Jackie Baillie and I hosted a health summit with front-line NHS staff representing the organisations and experts working across our NHS. They told us that our NHS is broken and the system is failing, that they are being asked to do the impossible and that every day this crisis puts patients' lives at risk and they were united in telling us that the cause of this crisis is not Covid, is not the flu, is not strepey and is not winter pressures. They say that this is a crisis that is 10 years in the making but the First Minister does not agree. So why does she think that front-line NHS staff are wrong? I don't think that front-line health service staff are wrong in what they say but I don't know why it took until yesterday for Anna Sarwar and Jackie Baillie to meet with health service professionals. The health secretary meets with them regularly and I have engagements as well. What health service professionals say to us, what I'm sure they said to Anna Sarwar yesterday, is that yes, there were pre-existing challenges in our national health service that go before Covid. We were taking action to address those, so if you look at funding in our national health service, front-line health funding has more than doubled under this Government. It's higher per head of population than it is in other parts of the UK. There are almost 30,000 more people working in our national health service today than when this Government took office. More healthcare professionals, whether that's doctors, qualified nurses or across a range of different professional groups than there are per head of population in other parts of the UK. We will continue to work with front-line healthcare professionals to deal with those challenges. However, what I take issue with Anna Sarwar on is that somehow it is not the case that Covid and flu is having a very significant impact on those pressures. There are right now over 1,200 patients with Covid in our hospitals. Anybody who says that that is not having an impact on what we're dealing with right now, frankly, is not dealing in reality. In the couple of weeks, I think, leading up to Christmas or over the Christmas period, there were 1,000 patients a week with flu admitted to our hospitals. Anybody who says that is not a significant factor in what we're dealing with right now is frankly not dealing in reality. That's a comment directed at Anna Sarwar, not at healthcare professionals who are dealing with these issues each and every day. So, whether it's on NHS pay, whether it's on record staffing numbers, we will continue to support the NHS during these difficult times, as we always have done. I think that it's pretty clear from that answer who's not dealing with reality and it's Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP Government. She might not want to listen to me, but she should listen to the organisations, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, the Royal College of General Practitioners, Glasgow Local Medical Committee, the British Medical Association in Scotland, Unison GMB Unite, all saying that they've heard the excuses before, they don't believe it and they think that the First Minister is not doing enough, because the sticky plaster approach will not solve the problem. We heard directly from staff about the impact that this crisis is having on them. They told us in their words that this is causing them moral injury. That is personal distress and trauma because they can't provide the care they know their patients need, psychological and mental trauma for our NHS staff. One of them said that the conditions that we're working in meant no dignity, no respect, no safety for patients. The BME and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine have both said in stark terms that this crisis is leading to avoidable deaths, and they predict that that could be as many as 60 avoidable deaths a week. The experts tell us that what was announced this week will not be enough to address the problem, so why can't the First Minister see that her sticky plaster approach is not working? We'll continue to take a range of actions. What we announced this week was, in addition to the actions already being taken and, of course, the record investment that we are putting into our national health service in the next financial year, supported by the tax decisions that we are taking and asking those who can most afford it to pay a bit more in tax, we'll see an additional billion pounds going into our national health service, so we will support investment and where it is appropriate and in the interests of patients, we will support reform in care and patient pathways within our national health service. Nothing Anna Sarwar has said to me today hasn't already been said directly to Government by healthcare professionals, because we engage day in and day out with them. They are dealing with unprecedented pressures right now. Some of that does necessitate longer-term reform in our national health service, but some of that is absolutely being caused by the winter pressures that have been at their peak in recent weeks. I would hope that over the coming weeks and very soon we will start to see flu levels reduce significantly, for example, and that will start to reduce some of that pressure on our hospitals. The situation with Covid remains more unpredictable and volatile, given new variants that are circulating. I hope that we will see some of that pressure abate, but that will still leave a challenging situation in our health service, which is why the investment, the increase in staffing and the reforms continue to be so important. No Government anywhere has a single solution to this right now, but this Government remains focused on taking the actions that are necessary, which is why I think that we continue to have the trust of the people of Scotland as we do so. The approach is not working. It is not just a crisis in winter, it is a crisis that is all year round. Nicola Sturgeon's excuses won't wash. The crisis in our NHS is not because of Covid, it is not because of flu, it is not because of Strep A, it is not because of winter pressures, it is a crisis that is 15 years in the making. The result is the longest ever NHS waiting list, 750,000 Scots waiting, the worst ever A&E waiting times, 2,000 people a week waiting more than 12 hours, record levels of delayed discharge, 58,501 NHS bed days lost a month as a result. After 15 years of the SNP, our NHS is broken and the system is failing. Staff are being asked to do the impossible and patients are being asked to accept the unacceptable. Lives are being lost, isn't it the case that the people that caused the problem can't be the ones to fix the problem? On the latter point, that is, of course, always up to the people of Scotland who they trust to be in government to lead the country through challenges. Of course, there were challenges in our health service before Covid. I have never sought to suggest otherwise, and the actions that we were taking around investment, staffing, reforms to patient pathways are designed to address that. There are record numbers of staff in our health service right now, almost 30,000 more than when this Government took office and, of course, more staff per head of population than anywhere else in the UK. That is the reality. People watching at home listening to Anas Sarwar, around 1 in 25 of the Scottish population that have Covid right now, and many people watching at home who will be suffering from flu and other respiratory illnesses right now, to hear Anas Sarwar say that the fact that we have 1200 Covid patients in our hospitals right now or that 1000 patients with flu have been admitted a week in recent times to our hospitals, to hear Anas Sarwar say that that has got nothing to do with the pressures on our NHS, we'll wonder what on earth Anas Sarwar is talking about. So we will continue to work with, listen to those on the front line of our national health service as we continue to strive to give them fair pay increases and as we continue to support them to deliver excellent care, as even during these tough times they continue to do for the vast majority of patients across our country. Question number three, Alex Cole-Hamilton. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Do you ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet? First Minister, Tuesday. Alex Cole-Hamilton. I'm very grateful for that reply. My opposition colleagues are quite right to raise the crisis in our NHS and Liberal Democrat research has quantified just how bad things are. Last year we discovered that one in six people who couldn't get a GP appointment actually carried out a medical procedure on themselves or got somebody else to do it. Presiding Officer, Maria is 22 years old. She is a Ukrainian refugee who has been living in Scotland since the summer. She suffers from a hormonal thyroid condition, which requires regular testing and treatment, but when she presented to her new GP she was faced with an unexpected dilemma. The wait was so long that it actually made more sense for her to risk travelling back to a war zone to see her doctor in cube and so she did. Presiding Officer, the air raid sirens, the drone strikes and cruise missile attacks of the Ukrainian capital were less daunting to Maria than the wait for treatment in Scotland's NHS. That is appalling. Those are the risks that people are taking for the sake of their own health and all for the want of basic access to primary care. Is she embarrassed by this? I don't know the circumstances beyond what Alex Cole-Hamilton has narrated of that case and it would be wrong for me to comment on an individual case. What I do know is that we again continue to support general practice. There are more GPs per head of population in Scotland than anywhere else in the UK—83 GPs per 100,000 population here compared to 63 in England, 63 in Wales, 75 in Northern Ireland. We, of course, have a target that we are right now working towards delivery of increased numbers of GPs. We have recruited, I think, more than 3,000 members of the wider multidisciplinary teams in general practice and primary care. Access to GPs, like access to other parts of the health service right now, are challenging and very challenging for some patients and we continue to work to address that. We will continue to do that with record investment, record support for recruitment and in partnership with those working so hard across our health service. To ask the First Minister what the implications for Scotland and the Scottish Government are following Met Office reports that temperatures in Scotland and the UK reached the highest on record in 2022. The Met Office figures underline that we are already experiencing climate change impacts in Scotland. We must adapt to those changes and prepare for further impacts of global climate change, which are already locked in. We are currently preparing the third climate change adaptation programme for publication next year to succeed the current programme. Those programmes respond to the UK climate change risk assessments, which present the best available evidence in climate projections from organisations across the UK, including the Met Office. The climate change committee has urged that risks from higher temperatures be prioritised in the upcoming programme, and we are working across government and with public bodies to ensure that we are prepared for a projected increase in hotter years in the future. Those figures are indeed alarming. Across the world— We will have a brief suspension. Thank you members. We will resume, and I call Fiona Hyslop. So, those record temperature figures are indeed alarming. Across the world, we are seeing more extreme weather experiences with increased flooding and extreme heat at home. And every government bears acute responsibilities to tackle this climate emergency. With the draft Scottish Government energy strategy published this week, and the climate change committee's critical report published in December, does the First Minister acknowledge that this Government now needs to accelerate actual delivery on housing and transport emission reductions, and adjust transition to renewable energy? Will she ensure that the Government's budget is sufficient and that public bodies ramp up on delivery, as on current trends, we will not be meeting our ambitious net zero targets? I absolutely agree with Fiona Hyslop on all of that. It is worth pointing out, of course, that the energy strategy published this week with the just transition vision alongside that was in part about how we accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels in a fair and just manner to renewable and low-carbon sources of energy. I think that that is really important. We must remain focused 100 per cent on delivering our policy programme across the whole of society. That includes transport and the heating of homes. We have to decarbonise the energy system, as I have just said, and the draft energy strategy goes into detail about how we do that. We must make sure that the climate change plan reflects all of that. A draft of that will be published later this year alongside sectoral just transition plans setting out a clear path for emissions reductions. Of course, we need to make sure that the investment is in place to back all of that up. The Government remains focused on that. We often talk about it in terms of a challenge, and much of it is challenging. In all of that, there are massive opportunities for Scotland that we must seize. Maurice Golden. By 2050, there could be well over 100 heat-related deaths a year according to the United Kingdom Climate Change Committee. Adapting buildings for cooling will be key to avoiding a worst-case scenario. I welcome the joint work with the UK Government on that. Can the First Minister confirm when an assessment will be ready of the cooling systems required for current housing stock? On the question of when an assessment will be ready, I will come back to the member with a precise answer on that. However, I absolutely agree with him that this is an important strand of work—how we decarbonise heat in our buildings and the cooling of buildings is incredibly important as a part of the overall delivery of our climate change objectives. We will continue to work where necessary in partnership with the UK Government, because some of the levers and powers lie with the UK Government. I will be seeing the Prime Minister later this evening, and I am sure that one of many issues that we touch upon will be one of many issues. Those issues are all important. I am sure that we will debate all those issues, the detail of them robustly in this chamber, but I also hope that there will be a lot that unites us as we live up to the responsibility on our shoulders to help combat the climate emergency. To ask the First Minister for what reason to ferries which will serve Islay are being built in Turkey. In line with relevant procurement legislation, the ferries currently being built for service on the Islay routes were awarded following a full and open tendering process led by SEMA, which is the procuring authority. The bid received from the shard represented the best value for money in terms of quality and price. I thank the First Minister for that answer, but the climate change committee's report last month was not just critical. It was devastating in exposing this Government's failures on the environment and emissions. Is the First Minister comfortable that the steel for these two ferries is coming not from a Scottish steel mill—there is one around 40 miles from here, for example—but rather from China, the world's largest polluter, whose steel sector is the second largest contributor to its emissions? First Minister, on the procurement decisions, it is over recent weeks that the leader of the member's party has questioned me in this chamber, rightly so, and seemed to suggest that somehow we had not followed proper procurement policies in the award of other ferry contracts. It is really important to stress that, in all of these matters, we comply with relevant procurement legislation. In terms of the steel, of course, that is a matter for the company that has the contract. The contract awarded is a standard international shipbuilding contract. As such, the decision regarding materials and equipment lies with the shipyard. However, I understand that the shipyard may originally have intended to source steel from Ukraine, but I have had to look elsewhere. Those are decisions that the shipyard will take, and I am sure that they will apply all necessary objectives to the decisions that they reach. Those two new ferries will each be able to carry up to 450 passengers in 100 cars or 14 commercial vehicles, giving a combined 40 per cent increase in vehicle and freight capacity on the Isle route. That represents an improvement for islanders and businesses and underlines the Scottish Government's commitment to our island communities and the ferry network. Does the First Minister share my view that questions like the one that we have just heard reiterate the fact that the Tories are interested in politicking and not people when it comes to the ferry network? I think that Jenny Minto on that last point is absolutely right, but more importantly, I think that people, the length and breadth of Scotland, including in our island communities, will draw their own conclusions from the approach that the Conservatives take to these issues. Jenny Minto, who of course represents in this Parliament a number of islands, is absolutely right that the award of these contracts is good news for islanders and island communities. That is why it is important that they are progressing well. I understand that there will be an update on steel cutting and keel laying expected in the coming days. We will continue to take decisions that are in the interests of those living in our island communities, such as the decisions that we are talking about right now. To ask the First Minister in light of the extension of bus fare caps in England, whether the Scottish Government supports capping bus fares in Scotland for those aged between 22 and 60. The first thing to point out is that Scotland already has the most generous concessionary fare scheme in the UK. More than 2.3 million people in Scotland are eligible not for capped bus fares but for free bus travel in Scotland. We continue to develop and assess options to create a fairer and more transparent system of fares to maintain and increase affordability for those who need it. That is exactly why we are progressing the fair fares review. That review is considering cost and availability of services and the range of discounts and concessionary schemes available on all modes, including bus, rail and ferry. The maximum cost of a single bus fare in London is £1.65. In this city in Edinburgh, it is £1.85. In Manchester, Liverpool and West Yorkshire, where Labour mayors have taken control over transport, it is £2. It is £2 in Cardiff and now it is £2 in every part of England for the next few months. Yet in Greater Glasgow it can be as much as £2.65 for just a two-mile journey. We really do not need a fares fare review to tell us that is not fair. It is time to cap fares at greater public control of buses and for a bit of urgency. In a cost of living crisis, why are people in Scotland paying amongst the highest bus fares in the UK? Neil Bibby omits to say in that question that people over 60 do not pay anything at all for bus travel, which I think is replicated in other parts of the UK. In Scotland, nobody under age 22 pays for bus travel, either. It is not capped, it is free. 2.3 million people across our country are eligible for completely free bus travel. In terms of the question of capping costs for those who do pay, it is right that we progress any proposal like that through the fair fares review, so that we properly consider the cost and availability of services and the whole range of discounts and concessionary schemes that are already available. That is exactly what we will continue to do. Let me say yet again that it is a fantastic statistic and reality. 2.3 million people in Scotland do not pay anything at all. They do not pay a single penny to travel by bus in Scotland. We will move to general and constituency supplementaries, and I call Christine Graham. I am referencing the exchanges on the pressures on the NHS. While I understand that there are some 2 million people of access, the flu vaccine, 90 per cent or so when they were getting their winter Covid booster, is there more that can be done for those eligible to access? This flu is very serious indeed. Yes, uptake levels for both Covid and flu vaccines are high, and that is to be welcomed. However, we will continue to promote vaccine uptake for those who are eligible but have not already been vaccinated. We will, of course, think most carefully about those in the most vulnerable groups. However, if we look at older care home residents in Scotland, those are figures for the first week in January that are almost 90 per cent vaccinated, which is higher than both England and Wales for those over 50-77 per cent. Our vaccination is again higher than other parts of the UK, but we will continue to work hard to encourage everybody who is eligible for a vaccine to take up that eligibility. The First Minister is more than aware of the crisis facing the NHS. Last week, a whistleblower got in contact from the accident emergency department in the Victoria hospital in Kirkcaldy, expressing their concerns that patients were waiting for over nine hours to be seen and that patient examinations were being conducted in the ambulances in the hospital grounds. Staff within the department believed that a major incident criteria was met but were not allowed to call or declare it as such. Can the First Minister confirm that no political direction was given to NHS Fife or any other health board for that matter to ensure that a major incident was not called? Will she agree to investigate why staff were not allowed to follow standard protocol? I said on Monday that the health secretary has confirmed this to health boards in writing this week that it is up to health boards seeking advice and guidance from government where they think that that is appropriate, but it is up to health boards to take whatever decisions they think might be appropriate to prioritise critical and life-saving care. In fact, Douglas Ross started his questioning to me today by criticising the fact that Greater Glasgow and Clyde have effectively done that by pausing non-urgent care in Glasgow. Excuse me, First Minister. Members must treat one another with courtesy and respect, and I would appreciate it if there could be no interruptions at the moment. In a sense of the point that I am making, the Action Greater Glasgow and Clyde announced last night demonstrates that health boards have the flexibility where they think that that is necessary to take that action, and that is right and proper. Jackie Baillie, the fatal accident inquiry into the tragic fire at Cameron House hotel more than five years ago reported yesterday. I want to thank the sheriff and the Lord Advocate for their assistance in getting to this point. The report included a range of recommendations designed to prevent this from happening again. Will the First Minister give a commitment today that all recommendations will be implemented as a matter of the utmost urgency? Will she also consider whether the fire brigade requires further enforcement powers as both Cameron House and the more recent fire at the new county hotel in Perth appear to have been warned of fire risks but did nothing about them? Firstly, in relation to the FAI report that was published yesterday, I am also very grateful to the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service for their work on this extremely important fatal accident inquiry and for publication of the report. Let me also mark my thanks again to the emergency services for their response on the night of the fire, and of course my condolences again to those bereaved in this incident. Of course we will thoroughly consider all of the sheriff's recommendations. I would expect that yes, we will accept all of the recommendations, but we have to go through a process of considering them properly and we are required to respond to these in due course, and we will do that. In terms of enforcement, in light of Cameron House and indeed the more recent incident in Perth and my condolences go to the bereaved in that incident as well. I think that it would be right that there is a look at enforcement provisions. Under the fire Scotland Act 2005, the fire service are appointed as the enforcing authority for fire in Scotland, and as part of that they produce all relevant enforcement procedures while applying the principles contained within the Scottish regulator's strategic code of practice. As the enforcing authority, the Scottish fire and rescue service, work with duty holders in relevant premises to achieve compliance in fire safety through providing advice and support, and where necessary, taking enforcement action. Those systems are set out very clearly, but as part of our consideration of the recommendations of the sheriff, we will ensure that all appropriate aspects of that are looked at in an appropriate way. Paul McLennan. The Tory UK Government continues to show contempt for workers with their proposed anti-Trad union legislation. Does the First Minister share my concern about the impact that she's plans could have on the rights of people working in devolved public services? Will she join me in condemning and opposing this brazen attack on trade union rights? This is a really important issue, Presiding Officer. The UK Government, I think it's important to make this point, already has the most anti-Trad union laws in western Europe, but this bill threatens to undermine and weaken the rights of workers even further. We strongly oppose any bill that undermines legitimate trade union activity and doesn't respect fair work principles. I think that as Governments we should be working with the public sector and with trade unions to reach fair and reasonable settlements respecting the legitimate interests of workers, not trying to pour fuel on fires or take away workers' democratic rights. Those will be points that I make very strongly when I see the Prime Minister later this evening. Gorgie City Farm, which gives volunteering opportunities to disadvantaged young people and adults, as well as providing a wonderful green play space and learning space in one of the most urban parts of the capital, is due to close on Monday. I know that the First Minister will be aware of the incredible value in which the community facility provides, as she has previously visited one of Scotland's last urban farms. What emergency support could be made available to help to keep the farm going in an interim period? Will ministers also agree to meet with myself, council and local campaigners to discuss a way forward to save the farm? First Minister, I have visited Gorgie Farms, so I am very well aware of the excellent work that it does and its real value to the community and, I think, to Scotland as a whole. Of course, if there are any reasonable steps that the Government could take to support a way forward, we would certainly consider doing that. I will ask the relevant Minister to meet with the member of the council and representatives of the farm, if that would be helpful and appropriate to consider any options for the future. I will ask that that is taken forward with all due haste. A mother in my constituency has provided me with data showing that this year, for many courses at the University of Edinburgh outside of very welcome widening access places, there were zero Scots admitted. For Scottish peoples from ordinary families and an average school, the doors are closed, no matter their mind or their endeavour. For 440 years, the University of Edinburgh has admitted among the best and brightest of Scotland, Walter Scott, Catherine Granger, Stuart MacDonald, Robert Louis Stevenson, Joanna Cherry, all great minds who worked hard and gained entry to study law here in our capital city. With funding frozen for 13 years and the SNP's cap on Scottish students, the historic promise of a Scottish education is broken. After five centuries, First Minister, how has it come to this? I am actually quite gobsmacked that that question has been put in that way by a Labour member of Parliament. Let me first of all give these facts a record number of young people secured places at university in this latest UCAS cycle. A record number of 18-year-old Scots have secured a university place up 20 per cent since 2019, the last year there were exams. The data, yes, provides a really positive story for those applying from deprived areas. 18-year-old securing places from the most deprived areas have increased by 31 per cent since the 2019 cycle, and all ageed acceptancies from the most deprived areas are up by 4 per cent. This is where I take issue with Michael Marra. In my earlier days as First Minister, I used to be regularly criticised for the fact that there were too few young people from deprived communities going to university. Now I appear to be being criticised for the fact that there are too many going to university. I did not come from a deprived background, I came from a working-class background, I went to a state school. When I studied law at Glasgow University, I was very much in the minority, so I think that it is really good news. Within a context of a record number of young Scots at university, I think that it is really good news that we are seeing more from the most deprived areas actually going to our universities. The First Minister will be very aware that there are people from Tory and other Aberdeen campaigners here today. They are angry that they face losing their communities last to remaining green space, Synthetix Community Park. Tory contains the most concentrated area of multiple deprivation in the north of Scotland. Losing Synthetix will be detrimental for residents' health and wellbeing and bad for wider social and environmental justice. Will the First Minister support Tory residents and others' calls to save the park for current and future generations by using powers under the Town and Country Planning Scotland Act 1997 to ensure Synthetix is not re-zoned for development? I know that there is a strong feeling on this issue. However, Aberdeen City Council has notified ministers of its intention to adopt the local development plan. Ministers will now consider this as part of our scrutiny. We will consider previous Scottish Government recommendations and check on whether reporters' modifications have been fully translated into the modified plan. Of course, ministers will set out a decision in due course. That concludes First Minister's questions. I note that the First Minister referenced live data when talking about the current delayed discharge situation. As far as I am aware, live data is not public. The Office for Statistics Regulation has made clear that when information is used to publicly inform Parliament, it should be published in an accessible form. I ask the First Minister if she will seek the First Minister to make a commitment to publishing that as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr Burnett. That is not a matter for the chair, but your comments are on the record. There will be a brief suspension before we move on to members' business.


The Sea of Galilee Although not a real sea, it has remained named as such due to the staunch traditions, mainly religious which have grown and flourished from around its shores. The first century historian, Flavius Josephus for example, was so impressed by the areas surrounding the Sea of Galilee he once wrote, quote, one may call this place the ambition of nature. Being a thriving fishing industry around the lake, with well over 200 boats regularly working the waters, archaeologists have since discovered only one such fishing vessel, found in 1986. It has been nicknamed the Jesus boat. According to Christian religion, much of the ministry of Jesus Christ himself actually occurred upon the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and a recent discovery within the waters themselves has continued to perplex specialists within the area. Astounding all who have been exploring said discovery, and weighs an estimated 60,000 tons according to researchers. An astonishing size, making it much heavier than any of our modern day warships. Rising nearly 32 feet out of the ancient sea's sediment, it also has a diameter of about 230 feet. Stonehenge for example, which is an impressive ancient structure in its own right, has an outer stone circle diameter of only half that. Just discovered in 2003 using sonar exploration of the southwest portion of the sea, divers have since been down to investigate the presumably ancient structure, writing regarding their finds within the latest issue of International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. Researcher Yitzhak Paz, antiquities authority, and Ben Gurion University, believes it could date back more than 4,000 years, quote, the more logical possibility is that it belongs to the third millennium BC, because there are other megalithic phenomena from that time that are found close by, Paz told LiveScience.com in an interview, noting that those sites are associated with fortified settlements. Could it be that this is where the peoples of Bet-Europe buried and honored their dead? Is this a proverbial city of the dead, or something else entirely? As more research is undertaken, it is only a matter of time before we understand this amazing structure for what it truly once was. We will of course keep you posted. Thanks for watching guys, and until next time, take care. In one of the world's most war-torn areas, there lies what could quite possibly be one of the most important clues in regards to the construction of ancient structures. Just northwest of Aleppo in Syria rests the very ancient ruins of what is known as Ayn Dara Temple. Once completely buried in the sand, subsequently overlooked by the modern world, it is now known to be a literal representation of the Temple of Solomon, built at the same time on an artificial base placed on the highest land in the area. The temple also shared a similar floor plan, entry porch supported by two columns, a main sanctuary divided between an anti-chamber and a main chamber, and an elevated shrine behind a partition. In 1955, the site gained the attention of numerous scholars from across the world when a large basalt line was accidentally unearthed. Subsequently leading to a full excavation in 1980, by 1985 the entire complex was recognized as extremely significant in ancient times as a place of worship. Much of the structure still possesses evidence of its past grandeur. Various reliefs survive that dot the structure, which depict numerous animals. The interior would have been encrusted in hundreds of finely carved reliefs depicting lions, cherubs, mythical creatures, mountain gods, and ornate geometric designs. But what is surely the most interesting of remaining features is that of a pair of giant footprints placed in alignment with an altar in the center of the temple, as if they were left as an instruction used by beings who would have been around 60 feet tall. Interestingly, no one really knows who built the temple, and it has been a heated debate for many years. Why would a builder of average size decide to create a positional engraving for worship in the scale of a giant? Are these footprints an obvious clue to the size of the original builders of such structures? It would certainly make ancient buildings, such as the pyramids, a lot easier to explain. A being of 60 feet in height would be immensely strong, and clearly capable of carving the stones. We are now completely perplexed by, such as the 12-sided stone in Cusco, Peru, among countless other examples of seemingly impossible architecture. Maybe in the future, the footprints will become an extremely important artifact in historical understanding. Andara, a site covered in the past, yet for an entirely different reason. Our experience along this path of discovery, now allowing one a window, a glimpse into a deeper, more compounding layer of evidential detail, unraveling a tangled web of lies, weaved over generations of regurgitated fiction, accompanied by supportive evidence to again reinforce the original instinctual hypothesis created some 10 years ago now. In particular, in regard to who could have, in reality, possibly created these mind-blowing or gargantuan ancient megalithic ruins. Sites we have touched upon or researched in the past, however from a less experienced evidential angle, thus we feel they are justified a refined revisit. Yet I digress. Andara is a claimed Iron Age settlement. Yet what I am about to demonstrate is that not only is this yet another lie, but that the evidence be overwhelming to support this claim. The choice of stone used in these once exquisitely finished ruins decoration, for example, not only reminiscent of Persepolis, but due to its clearly much greater level of erosion, it would also, as the art would suggest, far predate Persepolis itself. Yet the belief structure, the artistic evolution, and by default the same civilization responsible for both, and indeed the mythological depictions, are undeniably linked. A. Andara being located in Syria and claimed as dating as far back as the Iron Age. We have covered the magnificent Lamassoon, found within Persepolis, within a two-part special previously. This extraordinary, seemingly superhumanly precise stone-carved sanctuary, however, although clearly possessing a more advanced depiction of the same creatures found at an apparent Iron Age basalt site, which is actually geographically over 1,500 km away, and dated to a completely different era. Regardless of academic opinion, share unarguable evidential similarity, and due to erosion levels can be correlated with the evolution of the depictions, along with the civilization responsibles past yet now lost abilities. From A. Andara to the Lamassoon of Persepolis is clearly an artistic evolution of the mythical creatures depicted on the basalt stones claimed as Iron Age within A. Andara. Furthermore, although only a suspiciously tiny portion remains of the basalt floor, a quietly guarded area found at the foot of Kyops upon the Giza Plateau, or more accurately Foundation, although only a remnant of what once was probably one of the most significant parts of the ancient ruins themselves, it still holds countless undeniable curious tool marks, each of which clearly made with a tool unarguably tremendously more powerful and capable than that of what academics claim the builders of the pyramids and their constructors wielded that of copper tools. It all but now seems an insult to one's intelligence. We clearly find A. Andara highly compelling. Many thousands of written fragments of Dead Sea Scrolls have been discovered over the past century. These often represent remnants of larger text, either damaged via natural causes or human activities, the vast majority only holding a small portion of the original text. However, a small number of them were well preserved, subsequently found almost intact, with nearly a dozen of those found within the Kumaran Caves. Researchers have since pieced together a collection of some 981 different manuscripts, discovered from 1946 to 1956 from 11 caves. The Kumaran Caves are located about one mile west of the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name. Yet one scroll in particular has escaped modern translation. This due to its abnormal metallurgy, made from nearly pure copper, it is said to contain a treasure map, leading anyone who can decipher the text and follow its instructions to a collection of enormous treasures, said to be hidden within the immediate vicinity of its found location. Bronze coins found at the site, corroborate the radiocarbon and paleographic dating of the scrolls, indicating that the copper scroll is thousands of years old. This is, however, this issue, halting any modern understanding of where the text suggests. The map details features on the land which would have indeed once led anyone to do these treasures, yet in the modern day these features are all but gone. According to the text, some 64 treasure hordes lay scattered across Jerusalem and the Judean Desert, and is claimed to have been used to hide the most valuable treasures in the world from invaders, including a huge amount of gold and silver. Put on two rolls of copper, on March 14, 1952, at the back of Cave 3 at Coomeran. It was the last of 15 scrolls discovered in the cave. The corroded metal could not be unrolled by conventional means, and so the Jordanian government sent it to Manchester University's College of Technology in England for it to be cut into sections, allowing the text to be read. Their H. Wright Baker cut the sheets into 23 strips in 1956, and it soon became clear that the rolls were part of the same document. The first transcription was made by Joseph Millick. He initially believed that it was not an actual historical account. Later however, Millick's view changed. He now believes that the scroll was separate from the community, although it was found at Coomeran in Cave 3. As a result, he suggested the copper scroll was a separate deposit. Could this copper scroll possibly lead to a collection of 64 unimaginable ancient treasures? Only time will tell. We find the possibility however, highly compelling.


Personal Finance PowerPoint Presentation. Life Insurance Overview Part 1. Prepare to get financially fit by practicing personal finance. Insurance is part of our long-term risk mitigation strategy where we follow the adage of measure twice, cut once, put in a formal process in place, looking something like set the insurance goals, develop a plan to reach them, put the plan in action, review the results, repeat the process periodically. Most of this information can be found at Investopedia, Life Insurance Guide to Policies and Companies, which you can find online. Take a look at the references, resources, continue your research from there. This was by Amy Fontenille, updated May 25, 2022. In prior presentations, we've been taking a look at insurance in general. Now we're looking at life insurance in conjunction or in alignment with that discussion. Life insurance can kind of be thought of as more classical kind of insurance in some ways. In other words, if you think about like property insurance or liability insurance, you're typically safeguarding against something you hope doesn't happen. The likelihood of it happening, possibly being low, but if it did happen, would be financially catastrophic.  Life insurance is kind of similar to that of insuring against dying. We're all going to die at some point, but dying possibly prematurely and therefore the people that depend on the income that you are earning would have an issue there and so that's what you're kind of could be thinking about in most cases insuring against. So in that sense, life insurance can be a little bit more straightforward, although there's a lot of complexities with all kinds of insurance, especially when you get into the calculations or the medical insurance, which we talked about in the past, which has been expanded to kind of encompass some other stuff. You're still insuring against that big financially catastrophic event, but it also kind of, you could think of it trying to cover all these other kind of things that are involved, including like the maintenance and the routine visits and that kind of stuff. So what is life insurance? Life insurance is a contract between an insurer and a policy holder. So the insurer, typically an insurance company and the policy holder, the person purchasing the insurance pain, the premium. Life insurance policy guarantees the insurer pays a sum of money. So that's typically the insurance company paying a sum of money to named beneficiaries. So these are people that are named as the recipients. So if you think about like a classical case like a husband purchasing insurance for the family, the husband saying hey, I've got money that is being dependent upon my future income and salary is what the family is dependent upon. If I died prematurely, then they would have a problem possibly a safeguard against that from happening by buying the insurance so that the beneficiaries, family members, possibly wife, then would be receiving money that would be kind of the idea in a classical kind of case. So when the insurer dies when we think the insurer is going to die within the policy term, so they might have died prematurely and that's when the insurance might kick in in exchange for the premiums paid by the policy holder. So the policy holder is the person that's going to be purchasing the policies and of course paying the premiums in order to mitigate the risk in the event that they die prematurely so that the people dependent upon them may still have some income to rely on. So during their lifetime, so the life insurance application must accurately disclose the insurer's past and current health conditions and high risk activities to enforce the contract. And this makes sense if we just think about how the insurance company works real quickly we can think that if I was trying to think about my likelihood of dying prematurely the likelihood might be low I'm trying to safeguard against that outside event that it could happen if I was to pool myself in and look at the big statistics numbers from the insurance company side of things although they can't predict who might die prematurely with a large set of numbers they can predict that someone might die prematurely and they can then calculate what their payouts are going to be and so on on an aggregate basis and that's how they can kind of try to figure out what the premiums should be and how it should cost and all that kind of stuff. Obviously if you have life conditions that are making it more likely that you're going to die if you tend to sleep every night on railroad tracks or something like that the insurance company might want to take that into consideration and adjust the risk factors based on that information. So types of life insurance many different types of life insurance are available to meet all sorts of needs and preferences depending on the short or long term needs of the person to be insured the major choice of whether to select temporary permanent life insurance is important to consider. So you might consider do you want to have life insurance that you're going to be purchasing for a certain point of time or some kind of permanent life insurance. Term life insurance term life insurance lasts a certain number of years then ends you choose the term when you take out the policy common terms are 10 20 or 30 years the best term life insurance policies balance affordability with long term financial strength so term life insurance has a set term which makes it a little bit easier to kind of think about in some ways and that can be kind of nice because obviously most of the time when you're thinking about life insurance you're probably thinking that you're going to be needing coverage during that time in your life when you're making income where other people possibly are dependent upon that income which lasts a certain term of time you would expect and you can think about you know what you're actually purchasing can be a little bit more straightforward of a calculation with term life insurance often times what types of term do we have we've got the decreasing term life insurance is renewable term life insurance with coverage decreasing over the life of the policy at a predetermined rate so notice we kind of still have an idea of what is going on here what we're purchasing because it's a renewable item and the coverage decreases over the life of the policy but it does so at a predetermined rate we've got the convertible term life insurance allows policy holders to convert a term policy to permanent insurance that being the conversion component then we've got the renewable term life insurance provides a quote for the year the policy is purchased premiums increase annually and are usually the least expensive term insurance in the beginning permanent life insurance on the other hand we've got the permanent life insurance as opposed to the term life insurance stays in force for the insurance entire life unless the policy holder stops paying the premiums or surrenders the policy it's typically more expensive than term so the permanent is going to be more confusing you can think of course from the calculation side of things if you look at the actuarial calculations because if you're not setting a set term of how long the policy is going to be covered for then you would think you would have more complex actuarial calculations because they would have to determine what the likelihood of you dying or when you're going to die kind of calculation would be which again if you look at the aggregate stacks with big numbers you can start to get a feel for what that would be so they can start to figure out their calculations and their premiums and so on so whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance that accumulates cash value cash value life insurance allows the policy holder to use the cash value for many purposes such as a source of loans or cash or to pay policy premiums so notice the whole life gets a little bit more confusing because of this component which you could argue might be kind of like an investment as well as kind of like life insurance right so now whereas the term life insurance is pretty clearly you're buying life insurance that's what it is and you're buying it for a term of time frame so that's where it gets a little bit more complex when you go into the whole life insurance which once again is a type of permanent life insurance that accumulates cash value cash value life insurance allows the policy holder to use the cash value for many purposes such as a source of loans or cash or to pay policy premiums so then we have universal life that's the UL universal life UL is a type of permanent life insurance with a cash value component that earns interest so once again you got this earning interest which you might think of something that's more like an investment investments or things that earn interest so it's a little bit different than maybe the term life which is something where it's pretty clear that you're buying simply the life insurance where with some of the permanent life insurance you might say well there's kind of an investment kind of component to this which is flexible premiums unlike term and whole life the premiums can be adjusted over time and designed with a level of death benefit or an increasing death benefit so I'll just tell you from my experience with people that I've dealt with on the life insurance most of the people have recommended to me that I'd like to be purchasing something that I kind of know what I'm purchasing so if I'm purchasing life insurance everything else equal I would basically like to be purchasing just the life insurance if I'm investing then everything else equal I would like to be basically putting my money into investment stocks and bonds savings accounts that are going to be doing something like the earning interest now obviously things can get more complex because you might say well what if there's tax implications and things and so on and there's tax benefits and if there's a significant amount of tax savings then obviously you might structure things that are going to be a little bit more complex I tend to think even if I'm going to get a benefit from it I'd rather invest in something that I understand or the simple thing that I understand and I know why I'm doing it rather than a quite complex thing unless there's a significant benefit so there's pros and cons of the different formats you can be picking so indexed universal that's the IUL is a type of universal life insurance that lets the policy earn a fixed or equity index rate of return on the cash value component then we've got the variable universal life insurance allows the policy holder to invest the policy's cash value in an available separate account it also has flexible premiums and can be designed with a level death benefit or an increasing death benefit so top rated companies to purchase so you could just take a look at this obviously from investopedia but if you're trying to actually do comparisons of companies you can take a look at some of these and do your own research from their nationwide protective mass mutual mutual of Omaha and so on we might go into a bit more on those lists later term versus permanent life insurance term life insurance differs from permanent life insurance in several ways but tends to best meet the needs of most people so if you talk to a lot of people I guess more people that might be considered more conservative type of people might say that the term life insurance might be the way to go for the reasons or for partially the reasons we've discussed in that if you're purchasing life insurance it's pretty straight cut the term life insurance is life insurance if you're investing in something that has an investment component then you might want to be investing in stocks and bonds so that you know that you're investing in something with an investment component unless again you're doing some kind of strategy that is giving you some other benefits such as possibly tax benefits so term life insurance only lasts for a set period of time and pays a death benefit should the policy holder die before the term has expired so obviously you have a term which given a lifetime you can be fairly you can set a fairly accurate term to say oh wait this is the part of the life where people might be dependent upon my income so I'm going to set the term life insurance here and then and then have that coverage in the event that a problem happens that meaning you die prematurely it's quite a problem big problem for you it's a problem for other people too if they're dependent on your income so permanent life insurance stays in effect as long as the policy holder pays the premium another critical difference involves premiums term life is generally much less expensive than permanent life because it does not involve building a cash value so once again you're not doing this whole cash value thing you're just buying life insurance right I'm buying life insurance why are you buying life insurance because I want to have insurance against me dying that's what I'm doing right so that's straight forward on what you're purchasing which is nice before you apply for life insurance you should analyze your financial situation and determine how much money you would be required to maintain your beneficiary standard of living or meet the need for which you're purchasing a policy so clearly if you're purchasing a policy so that if you were happening to die prematurely and your dependents are now then dependent upon the insurance how much is the insurance paying out and would that be sufficient in that event so for example if you are the primary caretaker and have two children and four years two children and four years old you would want enough insurance to cover your custodial responsibilities until your children are growing up and able to support themselves you might research the cost of hiring a nanny and a housekeeper or using commercial child care and cleaning services then perhaps add some money for education include any outstanding mortgage and retirement needs for your spouse and your life insurance calculation especially if the spouse earns significantly less or as a stay at home parent add up what these costs would be over the next 16 or so years add more for inflation and that's the death benefit you might want to buy if you can afford it so obviously that can get quite complex but you can try to budget out alright how long is this you know are these needs going to be held given the fact that the children's age or the children's age and so on and try to factor out how much insurance would then be appropriate which once again if you're buying term life insurance then you can try to get the policy that covers you know that calculation and usually it's a little bit more straightforward how much life insurance to buy many factors can affect the cost of life insurance premiums certain things maybe beyond your control but other criteria can be managed to potentially bring down the cost before applying after being approved for a life insurance policy if your health has improved and you've made positive lifestyle changes you can request to be considered for change in risk class let me guess it's smoking if I smoke I have to they're going to tell me my life insurance is going to be ridiculously expensive so even if it is found that you're in poor or health then at the initial underwriting your premiums will go will not go up so if you're found so if you're found to be in better health then you can expect your premiums to decrease which could be nice step one determine how much you need think about what expenses would need to be covered in the event of your death things like mortgage college tuition and other debts not to mention funeral expenses just put me in the ground in a cardboard box for crying out loud okay plus income replacement is a major factor if your spouse or loved ones need cash flow and are not able to provide it on their own there are helpful tools that are designed to calculate the lump sum that can satisfy any potential expenses that would need to be covered so you might want to take a look online think about calculation tools in the event of death what affects your life insurance premiums and costs step two prepare your application age this is the most important factor because life expectancy is the biggest determination of risk for the insurance company side of things if they're trying to calculate what's the likelihood of your dying if you're you know 22 probably less likely that you're going to die than if you're 70 or something right obviously of course a lot of 22 year olds are kind of reckless maybe like 30 something would be a safer area but in any case you see what I'm saying gender because women statistically live longer they generally play lower rates than males of the same age bias my goodness but in any case that makes sense of course because actuarial calculations if women tend to live longer then that's good for life insurance calculations so that's good smoking I knew it I knew it on the top three one person who smokes is at risk for many health issues that could shorten life and increase risk based premiums so if you smoke then they're gonna they're gonna increase your premiums they're already charging me more for my taxes on my cigarettes and now they're in my life insurance my medic they're just taxing me so they're all taking money from the smokers health medical exams for most policies include screening for health conditions like heart disease diabetes and cancer related medical matrix that can indicate risk lifestyle dangerous lifestyles can make premiums much more expensive so if you just like to sleep on railroad tracks or something like that then that could increase the risk so family medical history if you have evidence of major disease in your immediate family your risk of developing certain conditions is much higher so if you have family risk then they're just gonna that doesn't seem fair just because my dad had heart disease and my dad's dad had heart disease and my mom's dad then that's how it works because you're more likely to have heart disease whatever driving record a history of moving violations or drunk driving can dramatically increase the cost of insurance premiums so what I hit a few cars what not no one was hurt yeah they might increase the premium for that possibility life insurance buying guide life insurance applications generally require personal and family medical history and beneficiaries information so you will also likely need to submit to a medical exam so they're gonna check you out on this one you might be able to some of the other ones is pre-existing condition stuff whatever life insurance they're not messing around they want to know what your health is like possibly here so you will need to disclose any pre-existing medical conditions history of moving violations DUIs and any dangerous hobbies such as auto racing or skydiving so if you're skydiving you know I don't even wear a parachute when I do it so that's gonna increase standard forms of identification will also be needed before a policy can be written such as your social security card, driver's license and US passport so they even want to know it's you that you're talking about these people so picky we'll continue on with this in the following presentation