Welcome to you joining us today for this presentation on teaching tactics in virtual worlds. We'll be looking at how emerging technology can help bring us together in new and satisfying ways. My name is Steve Vanhoek. I'm an educator and researcher, and that's what we'll consider today is research and results in virtual world education. No one is trying to sell you anything. Here is a brief overview of our agenda and a little bit about me. You can check it out later in the PDF slide file if you like. It's on my research website there at the bottom of the screen, www.mr.us. I'll share that link again later. We have lots to cover, so let's just jump right in. I presented on this topic for the Science Circle about a year ago, how COVID might impact education and our delivery of it, but there was a big question mark after just about every sentence. Now there's not so many question marks, but there are some pretty big exclamation points. We are likely to see some changes from what we've gone through over the last two or so years as we try to find a new normal, but it's safe to guess we're not going back to the way things were before. So let's look at how things might be. Let's see what a London-based Global Health Foundation is saying. COVID is not going away around the world anytime soon, and we need to learn how to cope with it, thinking and planning and coming to grips with new ways of living, they say. And those of us in the United States should keep in mind that more than 95% of the world is not us, and we need to care about that if nothing else we are all impacted by global supply chain disruption. I'll be sharing some data and resources as we go. Much of all that comes from this assortment of articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Education, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the BBC, and other credible sources. I'll also be sharing links to additional research resources and some of the slides as we go, and you can get those links if you download a PDF of these slides, and you can find it on my academic website. I'll give a link to that at the end. I'll be focusing primarily on U.S. news and issues, since that's where I'm here in California, and if it's happening here in academia, it's likely happening elsewhere or at least the fallout from it. Now, here are two interesting articles from a recent edition of Inside Higher Education. COVID cuts and international travel have impacted educational exchanges between young creative students all around the world, and that's just such a loss. Organizers are trying out different online platforms to increase and improve international collaboration for students, and also virtual job recruiting programs are reaching out to populations of historically marginalized college graduates. They're also looking at technological alternatives to do that better. Now, many are talking about the metaverse and figuring out how to stake a claim in it. Here are 10 companies, according to Gizmodo. They might actually survive all the hype and recoil. You can check out this story. It's got some great backgrounds and tactics of each of the companies, and you can get that by clicking the link in the slide file. I will take you to Gizmodo, and of course, way up at the top of the list is, of course, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, and it's great to see that immersive virtual world efforts are so newsworthy. Well, that's a good thing. Mark Zuckerberg calls it the holy grail of social experiences, and it's hard to argue with that. However, one virtual world long timer says the recent metaverse announcement wasn't all that innovative or inducing. Some of us have been there, done that two decades ago. He says, just check out the difference between the Facebook meta avatar and the contrast to a sophisticated avatar in second life. I just love that.  She's been there and done that 20 years ago. I'd suggest that if virtual world learning is conflated with the metaverse debate, it might ultimately do us harm. We're not saying people should perpetually live in a digital world, but for the times we do, where would you rather spend an hour of lecture? Well, Zoom is also trying to offer an immersive experience. It's there along with the speaker or gallery view options in Zoom, if you have experience toasting Zoom sessions. To me, it looks like one of those cut out stand-up signs where you stick your face through the hole. And why would people want to do this? It already don't want to share their video and audio in regular Zoom meetings. I've led hundreds of Zoom sessions, and I just don't see that working. But Zoom really deserves some credit, though, for stepping up and stepping in in a crisis. We can certainly do better. And we do do better. Case in point is with all the science circle presentations that have been going on for a decade now in virtual worlds, it's a true testament really to what virtual worlds can do consistently with clear vision and good intent, and an impressive immersive experience. You really owe it to yourself to give it a try if you haven't yet. We have this wonderful and real sense of place. There's context, proportion, exploration, tactile, interactivity, and even games. And we don't get that in a Zoom class where every square, flat face is in your face, and it's just exhausting. Much of the time, we're talking to a room of shadow silhouettes in Zoom. I've also just built a new virtual world educational region taking advantage of some of the special nonprofit rates that are available. And this is designed to serve first and likely only timers in a virtual world for single session seminars. And simplicity is the key for that.  There are minimal clicks, no poses, no automatic note cards, and that's to minimize the cognitive overload and system freeze. Those of us who find it easy enough now, well, we might remember just how overwhelming it was our first time in. Sometimes the most difficult educators to appeal to are the ones who have already tried virtual worlds and had too many challenges or unpleasant experiences, and they're not too eager to come back.  But there are also wonderful free concerts and exhibits and lectures and experiential learning opportunities. And just like the real world, it's a freedom of choice and everyone gets the opportunity to choose where they're going to gravitate towards. And this new region isn't so much to serve the educators that are already here in virtual worlds, but to help bring them in for the first time. And it's meant as an example of why to come and teach in virtual worlds. There are some useful resources at the landing, the very helpful virtual world educators manual by Gregory Perrier, and also some landmarks to sample in world campuses. If you want to see what other people are doing, you can zap me an email and I will send you some directions on how to log in and get here. There's really nothing new happening interactive and immersive world to been around for decades, tapping old technologies, teaching and touching engaging people where they live with an immersive connection. There was a show called Winky Dink that started way back in the 1950s. Bill Gates praised it as the very first interactive television program. And you had this magic screen on your TV set and you would draw on it and you could become engineers and tacticians and part of the program drawing in bridges and ropes and cages to help save the day and encourage children to be innovative and creative problem solvers and those of us who couldn't afford the 50 cents for the mail away magic screen what we just drew right on the TV and of course gotten trouble for that. The Gumby Show in the 60s, well that led us breakthrough flat dimensional world of physical books and into rich worlds of living claymated imagination and my favorite were the space travels. I'd still hear that theme song in my head here 40 years later. And then there was the inner space ride at Disneyland and that shrunk us down to subatomic size so we could oh we could ride through molecules and atoms of a snowflake and suddenly there was the red pulsating nucleus and is anybody here old enough to remember that that was a number of decades ago and you know we're doing similar exhibits right now in virtual worlds aren't we. And movies picked up on this as well shrinking us down to cellular size to traverse a human body in the film fantastic voyage it's still worth a watch and it's just it's a natural inclination of children and students and even we jaded academes we we don't want to just observe something we want to experience it we don't want to just look through the window we want to become part of it and share that experience with others and even at just seven or eight years old I felt this was the way education should be. Second life founder Phil Rosendale said recently that one reason virtual worlds have proven so attractive to educators and students is our desire for company and experience in learning we want to look at each other and see facial expressions and gestures even if we're just sitting alone at our desk and it's not just our desire for a sense of other but also our desire for a sense of place. Immersion is more than educational it can also be formational and foundational it's a low stakes experiment with modeling behavior. Here's a interesting article on cosplay and the power of pretend they call it it tells how heroic stories and pretend experiences create an emotional response of elevation and there's a link on the story if you want to dig deeper into into what that's about for example in a virtual reality study those who were given the power of flight like a superhero were significantly more likely to be helpful than those who simply got to fly around as a passenger in a helicopter they they got to feel a little of how a superhero feels in flight and that's elevation that's what they call elevation that experience here's another example studies show when people have an immersion into someone else's experience it increases an empathic response so they can experience what it's like to switch gender or races or to experience life in a war zone or a wheelchair and this could be helpful in human resources sensitivity training for example a virtual immersion also provides a sense of place which is one of the most memorable aspects of an education years after their education it's the imagery the remains the taste of the experience. Albert Einstein said it's that flavor of education that we remember once we forgotten everything else we learned in school and it's it's really sad to strip that flavor away with a tasteless online course especially from those who may have never had a chance to attend a real-life campus. New technologies are going to make that experience even more immersive and realistic tickling all our senses literally Mark Zuckerberg has been thinking about the merging of virtual worlds and education for a long time even spent two billion dollars for Oculus with the immersive goal back in 2014. I got one of those early Oculus headsets and played with it for a while my quintessential millennial did too we played some games and some educational programs and we put it all down after about an hour really and haven't played with it much since we felt the same way about 3d movies I bought the special glasses and the 3d player and custom tv and all the 3d dvds but you know we quickly got tired of that too we we still love the movies we just don't need to take it that far it's not just the movies it's the theater and the coming together and sometimes the tech just gets in the way of that I think certainly new technology may make virtual worlds even more accessible on our smartphones and pads right now there are more than 6 billion mobile phones globally 5 billion of them in developing countries according to the world bank cell phones are becoming ever cheaper and network bandwidth is doubling every 18 months and expanding into rural areas worldwide internet enabled tablets are the fastest ramping device around the world and solar powered tablets are especially promising in areas where electricity is iffy and as we consider technological access we also have to consider socially appropriate access how can we connect with a global student body in ways that are inclusive and engaging well by necessity we will typically use english as our common language 25 percent of the world speaks it at least conversationally as a second language but we should also consider a cross culturally resonant context culturally inclusive case studies and discussion topics and by finding our common ground around the world well we come to better appreciate and respect and enjoy one another's differences it's also useful to consider that trans cultural tactics apply to subcultures as well within any national culture you'll likely find lots of those young and old subcultures rich and poor right and left politics and these tactics can also help bridge those divisions and you can find a link to my unesco article on trans cultural learning and that is in the slides pdf it's there on my research website and you know over 20 years i've developed and designed online and on-ground undergrad and graduate courses for ucsb ucla california lutheran university ls university national and elsewhere more than half of the courses i've taught or online so the place has been limited especially recently to a learning platform whether it's blackboard or canvas or collaborate or brightspace or whatever they provide a sense of gathering but not a sense of place so much so it's given me a sense of what works what administrators are looking for what students like even those those aren't often the same thing and for 15 years i've been experimenting with virtual world education builds for a few years of the science circle let me huddle in a corner where i set up some sample learning demonstrations and i've been pitching these virtual world possibilities to my colleagues and administrators for for a dozen years and you know i agree with many of the critics right from the start that learning in virtual worlds can be a poor substitute for the real life thing no doubt about that i wish everyone around the world could join me in a classroom at kirkhoff hall on the ucla campus what a beautiful building that is as these korean students did it's a gorgeous building and it reeks of the finest academic trappings and tradition and the ideal learning environment if we could do it would be a diverse and well appointed campus serving all comers with fully equipped classrooms and reasonable numbers of students in the class and justly compensated instructors but this unfortunately is not where it's at and it's certainly not where we're heading it's also been said that the ideal teaching environment is socrates on one end of a log and a student on the other well that's not going to happen either we can't even build enough simple classrooms at least in the developing world for millions if not billions of inspiring learners so we well intentioned and practical educators well we turn to technology to fill the gaps as we have for decades before and this is what's happening in academia over the many months since the kovat crisis began but it's been more of a morphing than a revolution or a redesign the transformational forces were already in play a lower state funding a demographic dip in enrollments administrators stressing over budget cuts and program reductions that's nothing new however up to a 30 percent of a university's revenue comes from dorms and dining boy that's been a big loss over the last months one dean got in trouble for using kovat to further cut into 10 year and shove higher paid professors out he said why waste a good a good pandemic he said right before he got a lashing in the media there are forces simmering and expanding for decades now what we see here and now the the blinds on many of our social systems are being lifted everywhere and we can see clear just what's behind the curtain here are some interesting innovative steps that have been taken at the university's where i teach after kovat closed the ucla campus early in the crisis they put up a virtual campus in minecraft and i was interesting to look at but i don't think they've done much with it it was paid for out of the brulean gaming fund and that seems indicative of something and at national university they're working on an artificial intelligence program to help engage students better in online classes and the goal is to better engage in the course discussions and tasks and to provide students with artificial intelligence suggestions on how to do better and this may help instructors focus more on other tasks and resources but it may also worry some that it's a short step between augmenting educators and replacing them all together i believe the best way to serve our students is to better understand them and in the 20 years that i've been teaching the largest group the largest cohort of students working their way through the program have been millennials they were just turning 19 when i started at ucsb back in 2000 i have a quintessential millennial living in my home right now and as an aging hippie from the 70s i felt a special affinity with the millennials their older siblings seemed more focused on careers and earnings well the mental millennial seemed more focused on issues and they have this get over it attitude towards racism and sexism and intolerance and bullying that that i really admire their spirit of change and possibility i think we we need to better understand this new generation if we're going to serve them well here's just a few interesting bits those in the upper economic tiers of millennials are about to hear it some 30 trillion dollars from the retiring and expiring boomers over the next decade and more and more millennial errors are saying they don't want that uber wealth news reports tell how many of them plan to give much of it away including the real estate and the art and the jewels and no doubt that's a harsh news to their elders and all this coincides as well with this great bulk of millennials and ginsers who are unable to find well-paying jobs with any kind of future and many are solemn and depressed with high rates of drug abuse and self-harm not everyone wants our needs to go to school but for those who do we can make learning more accessible and more inclusive more engaging more relevant even even more fun and if predictions hold true with rapid leaps in healthcare such as 3d printing of major organs and nano robotic surgery and better levels of nutrition around the world millennials and their near-generational core core hearts well they may live hundreds of years and may be the dominant demographic for centuries to come and we should teach them well by the year 2050 some futurologists and economists say that artificial intelligence and robots replacing workers it may well entrench a new breed of people a useless class of those not just unemployed but unemployable there's a link to the guardian report on this slide here if you've downloaded the file someone said it's not that they're born with two strikes against them that's so unfair it's that they don't even get a third pitch it's also it's interesting to see that as a substitute for employment they predict that virtual reality worlds might provide people with far more excitement and emotional engagement than the real world outside these virtual worlds well they also provide a sense of place and belonging that is so important to student success and retention so much of the college experience is not sitting in a classroom we can do that just about as well online the students are also looking to mix and mingle and play and party and experiment and socialize and that's what they might remember and ultimately benefit from the most the more that we can connect with them in the context of place well the longer they may stay connected with us here are some key takeaways from a webinar with Philip Rosdale he's the the CEO of high fidelity and founder of linden labs and also there was tech evangelist Robert Scoble and they were previewing some emerging emerging technologies such as a sansar back then and when asked about educational uses of the new 3d immersive technology well they gave an in-depth response you can find a link to the video in session notes on the slide here students already use augmented reality and virtual reality glasses to learn repair of for example million dollar caterpillar tractors and bowing jet engines with virtual overlays or they may take a meeting in yosemite add a finger snap and study principles of gravity between planets by actually flying through the universe and visualize complex equations in math and physics and chemistry with 3d models but they say the costs of virtual world design may not come cheap to bring that all about the budget for the video game grand theft alone with some 400 million dollars and effective virtual world learning experiences will also be costly but the costs for virtual world teaching and simply hanging out and giving talks on stage these simple and inexpensive ideas are going to carry the day where the physicality of place and manipulate manipulating with your hands is just magical uh say scobal uh and rose dough well here are a few suggestions uh to those designing virtual worlds and technology for educators as we get ready for a showtime well first it's time to polish everything up and get ready for closer scrutiny online learning is only going to grow now that we've seen the need and the service it can provide many students may not yet like on learning but more and more of them are starting to demand it the educational platforms and programs that we use need to better understand the demands of academia old stodgy administrators who who don't understand the tech and just want to go back to the old ways and the limited funds available and the overhead demand on students and educators to learn new skills and the title line horrors over privacy and harassment in virtual worlds as well as simple performance standards universities need to cover for accreditation these are issues we very much need to understand and address I've been pitching virtual world learning to administrators for some 15 years and this is typically what they reply that there's just too much development time and costs too high of a learning curve for teachers and students with too little practical use what we need we need the accessibility of skype where a single step gets you to where you need to be and we need the creative and simple filters of tiktok for design we need the functionality of zoom where slides and video and audio files are easily shared with a single click some of that is already happening and we also need to counter what may be a gaining a bias virtual world learning may not be a game in the mind of its users but others don't always see it that way and I say so what now learning can be fine fun and gamified my god daughter recommended that I try the language app do olingo not long ago now I'd studied two years of russian in college and lived about five years in russia in ukraine speaking the language but I forgotten most of it but I relearned lots of grammar and vocabulary in just two weeks on this app it's fun it's engaging and certainly educational and I've got no financial stake in this at all I watch my god daughter play video games often monster hunter league of legend cyberpunk and she sure seems to spend a lot of time just running from place to place and exploring in these games and she says well that's what makes it fun this sense of place and space unfortunately we've also seen that the new technologies aren't always doing what they hope they would students were given access to network computers to enhance learning but a duke university study found that test scores in reading and math were actually falling and students in the one laptop per child program were spending more time on games and chat and less on actual studies and we must work harder to bridge the digital divide especially between rich and poor countries mostly split between northern and southern hemispheres and also between rich and poor communities and we need to make sure the digital divide isn't further compounded by the content divide we need appropriate course materials that connect and resonate across national cultural economic boundaries and that's an issue long dear to me and yes development is very expensive but somebody is going to do it there are many government programs around the world supporting better access to education here's just a few of those and there are some supporting foundations and familiar names out there gates jobs a sailor and schools may also well be shifting money from lowering classroom and facility costs to new and better online options and we need to see the big picture and not just the view from our own perch we need to appreciate the practical realities of administrators something that we teachers don't always do and we also need to understand the desires and needs of our younger students they're facing a very different world and future than we did and we have to nurture the creative abilities and aspirations of educators and not just treat them like machine cogs and we need to embrace the ultimate possibilities and immediate limitations of learning technologies and everything else we need to do is just simply about teaching and learning and using all that we already know to its fullest and we've done well at adapting to this virus crisis in so many ways it's really been inspiring to see just what we can do when we must and so here we are in a difficult spot of preparing for a future still so much in the fog well here's a couple bits of advice on what we might do first from a troll who says well we can't see the future we should simply do the next right thing those are good words to live by and here's some advice from a 10-year sea captain it's something I tell my passengers before we depart here on the slide there's a crew of German students from an international program at UCSB and I tell them keep one hand on the boat keep one hand on yourself and keep a weather eye on the horizon because yes we need to be very aware of our immediate times and environment for sure but if we don't watch the horizon for the subtle shifts in what's coming well we could wind up really really wet and that's it thank you so much for coming here's a link to my research website it's at www.mr.us and you can find a pdf of the slides in this presentation with all their active links and hopefully we'll be back in another year to then discuss well how the world has gone from question marks and exclamation points to maybe more low-key commas and periods as we find ever better ways to reach out and teach others


Well, June is Lakeland Wildlife Appreciation Month each weeknight in June. We're featuring one wildlife photograph during our 10 p.m. newscast. Our photos and information are being provided by award-winning photographer Steve Monum. On the day following hatching, the female wood duck will hop up to the entrance hole of her nesting box and survey the surroundings. Once she feels that it's safe, she drops to the ground and her one-day-old ducklings leap to join her. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.


The rupee has taken a nosedive against the dollar from about 70 rupees to a dollar that we had all got used to It is now almost 83 rupees to a dollar a massive massive drop Which has a huge impact on India's economy now you'd ask why because after all a rupee is a rupee inside Indian you'd say that you know I'm not going out. I don't need dollars. Why should I care? Well, you need to care because everything that is not made in India everything that is imported becomes more expensive when the rupee tanks again, you might say I believe in buying made in India products I don't need imported goods. There's one thing that you cannot escape, which is crude oil 85% of whatever we consume in India in terms of crude oil is imported only 15% is Produced domestically and it not only affects the price of petrol diesel LPG Cooking gas which directly come out of crude, but it also affects the price of all plastics Which are also byproducts of crude it affects the price of paints rubber everything Which is somewhat dependent on crude and when the price of petrol and diesel go up It not only affects fuel prices It also affects the prices of everything in the economy including food you'll ask why food Well, there are three key reasons one is that farmers consume a lot of the diesel that is consumed in India about 13% or one-eighth of all the diesel consumed is consumed by farmers where they run Diesel generated pump sets to irrigate their fields. They run tractors harvesters many other things which depend on diesel and Fertilizer prices are indirectly affected by crude. You know why because Fertilizer one of the key fertilizers comes from natural gas It is produced from natural gas and natural gas prices move in tandem with crude prices in any case About half the natural gas that we consume is imported So when the rupee falls natural grasses prices also rise which means that fertilizers prices rise And the third key reason is for food to move from the farm to the table It has to be transported and most of that comes in trucks and Trucking costs go up when diesel prices go up So crude prices make a huge difference to food prices. In fact when trucking costs go up Transport costs for every good in the economy goes up So everything becomes more expensive and any service where conveyance costs are an important part of that service That becomes more expensive and petrol prices go up So the fact is that when the rupee slides the impact on crude prices alone causes wide spread Generalized inflation in the economy and what is the way in which that inflation is tackled first? Let's look at individual entrepreneurs. What do they do when input costs go up They try to pass it on to consumers in terms of higher retail prices But what happens when prices go up some people can no longer afford those goods So the demand for that good drops the only way to keep that demand more or less stable is for companies to absorb Some of those higher input costs themselves, but that would affect their profit margins How can they ensure that they'd absorb the input costs the costs of raw materials partly But also not affect their profit margins They can only do that by cutting wages of workers or even sacking a few of them and making the remaining work harder So invariably the weight of inflation always falls on the working people the poor Who are the least likely to be able to bear that burden? They are affected the most This is how inflation is tackled by the average capitalist But when it comes to the macro level when it comes to the entire economy Who is tasked with controlling inflation the Reserve Bank of India the RBI whose main Remit is to tackle inflation and how does the RBI tackle this slide in the rupee and the Inflation that is caused by that slide the first thing it does is that it tries to prop up the rupee by Selling dollars that it holds because the RBI holds a certain amount of dollars in its foreign exchange reserves when it sells Dollars it increases the supply of dollars temporarily and therefore its price reduces in effect The rupee gets propped up its trendings temporarily But there is a limit to that because the RBI needs that foreign exchange reserve to finance our imports And already in the past 13 months for various reasons our foreign exchange reserves have gone down by 17% So the RBI cannot continue to Sell dollars to increase its supply to be able to prop up the rupee another way It does it is by increasing interest rates by increasing interest rates The RBI makes India a little bit more attractive to foreign investors Especially when the US Fed has already increased interest rates in America by 3 percentage points since January this year alone There's another reason why the RBI has to raise interest rates when it can't tackle the rupee slide because it has to control inflation How does it do that when interest rates go down corporates borrow more to invest more to hire more people to produce more and increase the supply of goods in the economy and They increase the overall production level growth goes up again, not just corporates You and I also borrow when interest rates are low not only to buy big things like homes and cars But even to convert our purchases into EMI's because if the interest rate is low we expect that okay It's worth buying this even if I don't hold the money right now So one way to cool down both Investment and consumer demand is to increase interest rates, but there's a trade-off there when you increase interest rates What happens the economy slows down growth slows down and that is bad news for a country like India where growth has been pretty dismal At least it's been much lower than what has been expected and there's a double whammy here Foreign investors just don't bring in their money to because the interest rates are high in a particular country They bring in money chasing growth and when growth slows down They go away and that is when they take their dollars away and sell their rupee and the rupee Loses its value. So the rupee weakens further. This is a vicious cycle where the rupee's value goes down It sets off a chain of events which makes the rupee weaken further The only way to stop this is to go back to the old days of capital controls of trade controls But that isn't going to happen in this completely new liberal dogmatic atmosphere That's the show today. Keep watching news click subscribe to us Do share this video comment and like it as well


So at Flintlock, there are two facets of the medical efforts. On the real world side, we're providing direct medical care to all of our participants. So that includes role one, like sick call type care. It also includes role two at all of our training sites. So emergency surgical care. Interoperability is a key portion of delivering seamless, effective medical care. And so Flintlock offers us a great opportunity to practice this interoperability. And then another benefit to training with our partners is to share best practices. We're very proud of what we've done in the U.S. military system. But at the same time, our partners are living in their own AORs and have developed advances and have adapted to their specific needs and threats in their region. So this is our chance to listen to them and learn from what they have learned in their AORs. I'm here at Tomley Air Force Base in Tomley, Ghana, in support of Exercise Flintlock 23. I'm responsible for the routine healthcare day-to-day of the participants, both the trainees and the mentors here, as well as providing emergency medical care as needed. We also had a small class slash introduction with the EMTs, the emergency medical technicians here, just to try and cross-level our and ensure like a mutual understanding between responsibilities and capabilities. Well, I'm here at Flintlock 23. Hope to learn a little bit more about African culture, learn a little bit more about austere medicine. It's kind of fun to be treating patients of different cultures and ethnicities and backgrounds in a different country.


All right, hi everybody. Thanks for joining Jenkins Advocacy and Outreach CIG. Today is October 6. And on the agenda, I have are probably going to be our final GSOC 2022 update, October fast update, DevOps world update and Jenkins newsletter. Anything else that you would like to add to this agenda? Nothing that I know of, Alyssa, if something comes up as I'm doing research. Oh, Fosdom. Yes. Thank you, John. Oh, right. Once that I have an event happening near my door. Next door. All right. So GSOC update, we did our final presentation or GSOC contributors did their final presentation yesterday. I thought it went very, very well. They did a great job presenting as usual. So the follow up on that is that we would do each of them would do a blog post about their final results and posted on Jenkins.io. Yiming has completed his and it's posted. It has already been has already been published. Most of the others I need to check our standby. Yep. So they're ready and we're going to publish them at this at the same time. So, so John Mark, it's good that Kevin and I are present because we've got the permission to do the merge of those things. Is there any reason that they any of them should be delayed I haven't looked at them since my last review you're ready to have them published now you and Alyssa are okay if they're published immediately. I didn't review them myself. So there's something I should do and run late for that. So, I'm a little bit too tired to do it correctly. But we just need to review that it's correct I think the mentors reviewed it. And they're ready to roll. Okay, so, so Alyssa if you're okay with it I'm going to paste the links to the existing blog post pull request into the document so that Kevin and I know what to review. Right now several of them several of them are marked as draft and draft would usually mean we don't review them. But I'm going to assume that that's inexperience on the part of the contributors they meant. It's okay to review this. Yeah. And I asked them to leave them in draft so that we would publish them all together with a final presentation. Okay, so then we can also Twitter it and right together. So there's supposed to link in their presentations from yesterday. So if you can when you review them. I'll take a look at them as well just to make sure that they include there's lights in it too. And then we will also reference the recording that I posted here from yesterday too. Alyssa did you already receive their presentation. No, I have not. But I will reach out to them and get it from them today. Or before the end of the week I hope, but I'll do that. Yeah, okay so so Kevin or I and I guess given that I'm out on vacation next week Kevin will be the one who will update the publication dates of those blog posts so that they're correct for for when we actually choose to publish them. And he'll do the final final merge. So it feels like we've got, we want to get each of the contributors to switch it out of draft. We want to have each of the contributors include a link to their present to their subsection of the presentation, and probably they should embed the video there so that it's easy for people to just see the video. And once all that's done so it's likely earliest tomorrow or maybe more more likely even next early next week that they get published, John Mark is that okay for you. Yeah, perfect perfect. Okay. Got a little bit late. Pulling this up. Well, and is exactly what I plan to do. The important thing that presentation was a good thing that's recorded and now available. Yeah. Then we can do the PR. The next step for that because I've been writing notes for that is that we're going to open up words. We're going to make a document to collect lessons learned and or comments or improvement ideas for the 2023 edition. And then we're, we're, we're going to start preparing the next edition. Okay, I'll do that I get myself that action item. Yeah. And then Michelle from CDF reached out to me yesterday we did receive the G sox stipend for 2022 it's currently within the Linux Foundation account. So, Mark gave me the link to where they need to apply that funds to so once that is in Michelle will will confirm, but that's in progress. We know where the money for last year is. Okay, John mark October fast. So, Alyssa just for clarity so that's the money from this year or is that the money from because the money from last year as far as I know was already applied for 2022. That's so so that's for me as a major milestone so what you just said is that the money from G sox that we spent 12 plus months getting it from last year. You have successfully gotten it in in a matter of a few weeks. So big victory. It's, let me clarify with Michelle but I believe it's just a 2022 program. Oh, see and that's not just right so so we spent 12 months getting the 2021 money into the account. And it sounds like you have successfully done what we what previously took us 12 months to figure out how to do it. This now happened in a matter of a week or two. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was assuming was going to be a painful exercise to get that G sox money transferred to the cloud bees, not cloud bees to the Jenkins account. And so that good good for you. Thanks and please thank Michelle profusely for for that. Yeah, I will do that. Okay, October fest so we started during the weekend but officially last Monday. There was on Tuesday, the main kickoff meeting. And we held our live stream kickoff meeting on Tuesday afternoon here in Europe so morning in the US. So I think it went well, although I'm still recovering from the travel, agitated travel from the US. But this worked well and so we'll hold a weekly live stream about October fest situation where we'll on one side give technical advice, answer to questions and give an update of where we're standing with the participation count. And we have already some figures were checking the figures, because the reality of the data sets and the interpretation of the rules by in the query. There is always a delta that we try to get as small as possible but the delta is substantial in this case so we're we have so probably underestimated. We have now about 10 distinct tend to. So, let's say, how do you say that. Well, let's say a dozen of distinct contributors, and about two dozen contributions to this, just to give a rough idea with checking the results and we will publish the results regularly once we're sure that the queries represent a reality. So that's two dozen new contributors. Is that right. No, two dozen contribution doesn't contribute and they're spread all over the earth. So, all major contribution we have no contribution from Antarctica so we will not will not be able to say that we have all continents participating. Just just kidding on that one. My excessive precisionometer just went off scale. So this is what I can share currently about October fest. Cool. And I did reach out to Darren to let him know that I'd be happy to help out with tweets and LinkedIn posts so he'll keep me posted whenever he needs it. Yeah, that that's thank you for your very, very precious help for for that so. You very much appreciate it's important to let people. Yeah. No. Yep. Happy to do it. Anything else on mark. No, I will, we'll see how it folds out I have some ideas to even further promote October fest and the people participating to it. But let me first try it out and see how it works out. Okay. So this is the first world in Orlando, Florida, as we all know that event was canceled due to hurricane Ian. They are talking about having a virtual event in place now that is currently being under discussion within cloud bees. There aren't any information that is shareable at the moment. No date. Nothing yet. So just keep that in the back of our mind I guess. And then I wanted to make sure that we give us a special shout out to our European colleagues who are stuck. I felt horrible at or at the hotel, and you couldn't go out. You got room that leaked. You got the wind that's howling. I'm sure was quite a scary experience, but yeah, yeah, glad you guys made it home safely though. And we have stories to tell. So let's say it is the most, and we're still able to tell them, which is the most important thing. Yeah, I don't know where. Yeah, that'll be quite a memory. And also to only half now was participating also in was. So we were able to have some very good discussions there while being stranded. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a lot bigger in person than I had imagined.  Oh yeah, okay. Oh, he's, yeah, he's tall. So Jenkins newsletter, I started the template for the document for it and so right now it's just a matter of collecting the data and with co with with the what happened last week. There's people that's coming back sick and I just didn't want to push for updates so we'll probably get this delayed a little bit, but I'm still monitoring it and work on it. So are you if in terms of that newsletter do you want it is it okay if I extract things from the presentation I prepped for the contributor summit to embed in that or would you what would you like differently Alyssa. Um, would that be okay. I think that's perfectly fine. So this is basically September, September newsletter so content for September that we're posting in October. So whatever you think I may grab some slides or some pictures from the from the contributor summit deck, just because we didn't use the deck. The pictures may help. Thanks. Definitely. Okay, so foster 2023. Is slated for February fourth and fifth. Yes, so it will be a real life event. So a physical event here in Brussels. We're on the starting blocks and listening to what's what's happening and to see how we are going to get organized. We're looking at having a booth. And maybe participate to the CI room or we're still working but at least we have already a foot in the door. And to participate. Marcus, there's something else we can say about for them. No, I think that's the right approach we've got interest from Olivia Vernau. Did I pronounce it correctly John Mark. Correct. Yeah, you're getting closer.  Olivia has led the, the efforts to get the Jenkins table and the, the CI CD dev room. And so we want to be involved in both those. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So last item was one I added Alyssa. So, we mix. Right.  I think an all day contributor summit is remote is infeasible. The past times when we've attempted to do an eight hour or a six hour block of getting people together for a meeting six hours virtually. That hasn't been successful. And so my idea is I'm preparing somebody as a concept of a series of three two hour sessions. That would cover many of the most crucial topics from the contributor summit and do those in a online webinar format, where we would allow anyone to participate. To speak to speaker only those people that we carefully select as, as a loud speaker so it wouldn't be a zoom meeting like this session it would truly be a zoom webinar. Even if the attendance is small, I'd rather do it that way for the safety of not having spammers that drop in and say or do rude things during a during a zoom meeting. And maybe we can then choose times where we lean towards different time zones I know it's mission impossible. But we can certainly the participants and because in this case we can identify readily who are the participants. We can allow us to say, okay, if we need to do it very early or very early in the US morning or very mid day and the European day or late, whatever those are things we can negotiate for me the crucial topics and, and in terms of timing, I think this will need to be November ish just because we need time to prepare it time to discuss it. And I'm going to be unavailable for a big chunk of October while I take some vacation. So that makes sense we need time to promote it as well. Right, exactly. So, so my thought was we frame it for a November timeframe and I'll start the conversations around this Google doc that I've started with various people will will then get ideas about what if it were this, what if it were this, etc. My current thinking is an initial session of two hours with board updates sig updates and the user experience thing so roughly half of that first two hours is dedicated user experience because that's a hot topic. And then a second two hour segment with probably security and security related topics like content security policy code signing from the continuous delivery foundation, etc. And then as a third segment topics around platform and those kinds of themes, so that we've got a forum for our AWS voices to share their macOS work and for others to do. So I'll, I'll put this into a Google doc, it's there and we'll start the con discussions in that Google doc. Okay, that sounds great. Let me know if I can help with anything. Thank you. Okay. Anything else. All right. Thank you everybody. Thanks Kevin for joining us. Bye bye.


Patriot Prime Reviews is a channel for adult collectors and may not be suitable for children under 13 years of age. Viewer discretion is advised. Hey, what's going on guys? Patriot Prime here once again with another Transformers review. But before I get started, I need you guys to do me a favor. If you're watching this video right here and are not a subscriber of Patriot Prime Reviews, please hit that subscribe button right now. It won't cost you a thing but will help me and my channel out tremendously. Also, make sure and visit my sponsor toyhacks.com. Toyhacks provides reproduction and upgrade decal sets for Transformer toys from Generation 1 to the latest modern figures. Make sure and stop by the Toyhacks Armory where they can equip your figures with new weaponry in multiple colors. And Toy Stages provides backdrops for figure displays and photography. Each purchase with Toyhacks earns you RoboSense that can be used for future purchases. You can check your balance anytime in your cart. Toyhacks is a company run by collectors for collectors. So check out toyhacks.com and make your collection stand out from the rest. And tell them Patriot Prime sent you. Now, on to the review. The featured button in this video is Transformers Generation Selects Hubcap. Now Hubcap being a Generation Selects figure comes in this plain cardboard box with the spray painted logo and just his name there on the sticker. You open the box up, there's Hubcap right there in all of his glory. And once again, I have to give a big shout out and thank you to subscriber and friend of the channel, Delmus Dugan, for gifting this Hubcap figure to the channel. Once again, thank you so much. I am just totally humbled with your generosity. Now taking a closer look at Hubcap here in the packaging, Hubcap is a repaint of Cliffjumper with a new head sculpt. So now without further ado, let's get this guy out of the package and take a closer look at him. And welcome to Patriot Prime Reviews. Now once you get Hubcap all open and out of the packaging, you'll see he does come with a sheet of instructions and these are just like all the new modern instructions. They are very well illustrated and very easy to follow. He also comes with this large blaster that can be broken down into smaller components. And of course, you've got Hubcap himself. As I said in my intro, Hubcap here is a straight up repaint of Earthrise Cliffjumper with a new head sculpt, which is very fitting because the generation one Hubcap was a repaint of Cliffjumper with a new head sculpt. Now here is Hubcap compared with Earthrise Cliffjumper so you can see the similarities. Now keep in mind that my Cliffjumper has been enhanced thanks to Toyhacks decals. Another thing is the weapon. Cliffjumper's weapon is more of a silver chrome look where Hubcaps is more dark gray. Now taking a closer look at the figure, let's check out that head sculpt. I love that head sculpt. That is really, really cool. I actually really like the color scheme. The red and the orange works very well and he's very generation one looking great sculpted detail. I dig it. Really, really cool. Other than that, that's the only difference between Hubcap and Cliffjumper. Everything else is the same. I do like that they actually gave him a Tampagraft Autobot logo. Cliffjumper didn't have anything. So yeah, pretty neat little figure. Now articulation, same as Cliffjumper, the head can rotate a complete 360 and look up and down. Mine is really tight though, which is always good for a figure. Arms up and down, full 360. There's an elbow bend, elbow rotation. Very, very tight once again and a wrist rotation. There's also waist rotation, legs up and out, up, down, knee bend and great ankle tilts. That's awesome. So yeah, Hubcap is really, really cool and of course he can hold his weapon here. So you think about it, you've got Hubcap, you've got Cliffjumper, you've got the upcoming Bumblebee and Bugbite. They're all going to have these bazooka weapons. Look like the Autobots and Decepticons are really boosting their anti-tank divisions. That's really cool. Now speaking of Hubcap's weapon, this weapon can be broke down and utilized in quite a few different ways. But I'm not going to go over all of that because it's the exact same as Cliffjumpers and if you want to see it, check out my Cliffjumper review right there. But what I'm not going to skip over is Hubcap's transformation. Normally when I do these straight up repaints, I don't go over the transformation, but his is really, really cool. The first thing you're going to do is remove the backpack. Yes, he is a parts former, but he does parts forming well. And you're going to take this little peg right there and fold that up into the back section of the vehicle. Now right here, flip behind and take these panels out from the feet.  Now flip the chest down and flip this section up and over Hubcap's face. Snap that back into place. Now this is the cool part. You're going to twist here at the waist. You're going to fold this down. You're going to bring these sections around, which will form the rear of the vehicle. Lock in place pretty good. So get those over and around.   It's kind of wonky to get it lined up, but a cool wonky if that makes sense. So get everything tabbed together, snapped in place, get the doors lined up. The other side, I mean this vehicle mode, once it's all tabbed in, is a solid vehicle. So now we got the hands looking like so. You get the back section and there's these pegs right here. They're going to slot into those fists. Make sure they're lined up right. Slot those in. And once again, just make sure everything is snapped in place nice and tight. And there is Hubcap in vehicle mode. And once again, he's a straight up repaint of Cliffjumper, but this is a fantastic vehicle. I love the rims that are collared in on the tires, the wheels. Love that Tampa Graphed Autobot logo right there. That looks really cool. Vehicle mode. Man, this is one of the better rolling vehicles. This might as well be a Hot Wheels car. This thing flies. You've got a solid painted rear windshield, solid painted side windows, but the front here is translucent plastic. It's a smoky translucent plastic, but you can see inside and see the robot hinges. So that is one drawback. Look at that side pop back into place. These new figures, man. You just got to make sure everything's tapped in. But yeah, a solid vehicle. I love this. And of course here is Hubcap compared to Cliffjumper in vehicle mode. And yes, you're noticing, wait a minute, where did those white stripes come from? This is another Toy Hacks Enhanced Cliffjumper. Yes, another because they included options. So I had to buy two Cliffjumpers to get both options there. Way to go, Toy Hacks. All in all, another really cool, very solid vehicle mode. And as I said earlier, the weapon here can be broke down to give him kind of a water ski mode. But I did go over that in my Cliffjumper review and you can check that out, as I said, in the link that I showed before. And now for some quick size comparisons. Here is Transformers Generation Selects Hubcap with Generation 1 Optimus Prime, Transformers Earthrise Optimus Prime, Generation 1 Cliffjumper. I don't have a Generation 1 Hubcap because honestly, I keep forgetting about this guy. And Earthrise Cliffjumper. Transformers Generation Selects Hubcap is how Hasbro should be doing their exclusive figures. Take a obscure character, make him the exclusive opposed to the core characters. That is what's pissing off a lot of us collectors because we want those core characters and when you make them hard to find exclusives, it kind of puts you off from collecting. You've got a figure like Hubcap here that not many people really know of. I mean, I didn't know anything about this guy until I picked up the Dreamwave More Than Meets the Eye guidebook when I was overseas. And as I said earlier, I keep forgetting to add him to my Generation 1 collection. So for an exclusive, this is an awesome figure to have. So there you go guys, Transformers Generation Selects Hubcap. So, does a Transformers Generation Selects Hubcap belong in your collection? Well, if you're an exclusive fan, absolutely. This is a great use of an already great mold. I love the Earthrise Cliffjumper mold. One of my biggest surprises with the Earthrise line. So yeah, you see this guy, you pick him up. For you mainline collectors that just want the core figures, he's an easy pass. I mean, this guy was never featured in the Generation 1 cartoon or the Marvel Comics. And as I said, most people don't even know about him. And that is why I think these type of characters is what Hasbro should focus on for exclusives. Now, I want to let you guys know of a little sale I've got going on in my Patriot Prime Teespring store that sells my T-shirts and other apparel. Right now, through the end of the year, I'm offering 20% off of my shirts and these new hoodies that I just got.  They've got the Patriot Prime logo here on the front. And let me get that hood flipped around. The big hooah with Saluting Prime on the back. So my Patriot Prime Teespring store, which is in the description of this video, 20% off if you use code PPRT20. Now guys, if you enjoyed the video, don't forget to like, don't forget to subscribe, and don't forget to click that bell icon to get notified when I upload new reviews. Once again, this is Patriot Prime signing out. Hooah!


This is the Big Picture, an official television report of the United States Army, produced for the armed forces and the American people. Now to show you part of the Big Picture, here is Master Sergeant Stuart Quain. Throughout history, nations have sought through treaties and alliances with other nations to maintain their security and remain free from attack. But not until the 20th century did the concept of national security become worldwide in its scope. World Wars I and II and the Korean conflict proved beyond any doubt that when one free nation anywhere is threatened by aggression, the safety of all free nations is ultimately at stake. Today the United States, keenly aware of its strategic role as a leader in the free world, has allied itself with other nations, dedicated to the preservation of peace and the welfare of mankind. Our Big Picture cameras today focus on one of the most important of these alliances. As our guest narrator, the distinguished news analyst, Edward R. Murrow, tells the story behind NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This is the Palais de Chao in Paris, headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. To this building come ministers from 15 nations of the Atlantic community. They speak different languages, have different cultural backgrounds. The countries they represent vary in size from very small to very large. But here all distinctions fade, all the languages become one, the language of hope. Why do these nations ally themselves with NATO? Why NATO? And why must this organization continue to exist? Let's go back to the beginning of the story. May 1945, the war in Europe came to an end. This had been the price of Europe's unpreparedness. But in May 1945, our hard-won peace seemed at last secure. A few days before, Allied forces from the west had joined hands with the Russians from the east. Their statesmen had met cordially at Yalta and at Potsdam. They had agreed that the countries they had occupied should be truly liberated and that freely elected government should be set up as soon as possible. Within a few months, the countries of Western Europe and Scandinavia were free and independent. But for the countries occupied by Russia, Stalin had other ideas. Throughout Eastern Europe, elections were held. But the Russians had placed the communists in key government positions and in the secret police. Within a short time, the non-communist leaders had been liquidated. Russia had swallowed up eight European countries without firing another shot, other than those of the execution squads. Great Britain and the United States protested that these countries had been coerced by threat of force and that Russia had broken her treaty, but Russia ignored the protests. Stalin knew that the greater part of the Allied forces had gone home, leaving their arms to rust in the fields of Europe. In the west, men were impatient to be demobilized. The war was finished and they had other work to do. But the Russians had not demobilized. They retained overwhelmingly the largest force in Europe. The small group of men in the Kremlin had long ago dedicated themselves to the spreading of communism by all possible means. They knew that an army can be used not only to fight wars, it can be used to intimidate. To the south, lay two more possible victims, Greece and Turkey. In March 1946, the Russians denounced their treaty with Turkey. They offered to renew it, if the Turks would give up part of their territory and allow the Russians to establish bases controlling the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The Turks refused. In Greece, the communists had already started civil war. Russia was sending arms to them through the neighboring satellite states to bring bitterness, despair and death to the Greek people. If Greece and perhaps Turkey were not also to be swallowed up, help had to come from the west. At this crisis in March 1947, President Truman asked the United States Congress in an historic speech to modify its traditional policy of neutrality. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. Only Czechoslovakia of the countries behind the Iron Curtain had thus far preserved some independence. After the war, the Russians had had to reckon with the popularity of President Benish and his foreign secretary, Jan Masary. They were liberal-minded men who believed that it was possible to be friends with the communists without succumbing to them. But to the communists, gentleness is weakness. And a country prepared to compromise is a weak country. The machinery for taking over countries had now been perfected. The coup in Czechoslovakia was swifter and more efficient than ever before. Within a week, all opposition was suppressed. There was another victory to celebrate, another victory over freedom. President Benish was allowed to retire to his country house. He died there, a broken-hearted man. One morning, on the stones under his bedroom window, Jan Masary was found dead. Truth had ceased to come out of Czechoslovakia. The nations of Western Europe were forced at last to realize that they must combine to protect their own liberty. Three weeks after the fall of Czechoslovakia in March 1948, the Brussels Treaty was signed by Great Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. These five countries pledged themselves to help each other in case of attack. But Western Union, as it was called, was not strong enough to deter the men of the Kremlin from their policy of aggression. In August, Russia decided, on a trumped-up excuse, to cut off the allied sectors of Berlin from the West. Trains, barges and road transports were stopped. The United States, Britain and France were responsible for two and a half million people in Berlin. Now their food and fuel for their homes and factories could no longer be brought to them overland, unless with armed protection and at the risk of war. It seemed that they, too, must be at the mercy of the Russian. But the governments of the West did not give way. If a Western Berlin was maintained by air on a scale never before contemplated in history, each day the prestige of the West rose. After nine anxious months, the Russians lifted the blockade. The policy of standing firm had been vindicated. Russian cynical blockade of Berlin had brought Europe to the brink of war. It was at last clear that only a strong defensive alliance could deter them from further adventures. On 4 April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed by Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Italy, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Iceland, Canada and the United States. This union of 12 nations became known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or more simply NATO. They were sworn to stand together against aggression. An attack against one would be an attack against all. The treaty was carefully designed to keep within the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter. Soviet Russia claimed that it was an attempt at world domination. But while still accusing NATO nations of intended aggression, they themselves, frustrated in Europe, turned to the Far East to Korea under a single command to hold the aggressors at bay. It was almost too late. Lesson for Europe was clear. In December 1950, the North Atlantic Council decided to give to a single commander, General Eisenhower, sufficient authority to organize, equip and train an integrated NATO force for the defense of Europe as before it was unprecedented. Though each of the NATO countries would see to the supply and support of its own national forces, the Supreme Commander would be responsible for their coordination into a single international force, a power and a responsibility unique in time of peace. As he put it, he would go knocking at the door of each country and ask, tell me what you were willing to do for the defense of Europe? His first call was France, where his new headquarters would be situated. He must first discover whether it was militarily possible for Europe, with her strong individual national traditions, to raise a sufficient force to defend them collectively. On 9 January, General Eisenhower left Paris for Belgium. Twelve nations, with eight different languages and twelve different traditions and ways of life. Of each of them, he could ask similar questions. 10 January, the Netherlands. What can you now do for NATO? 11 January, the years you have maintained a traditional neutrality. How many divisions are you prepared to train? 12 January, Norway. Your mountains require a special form of defense. Could every able-bodied man be mobilized if war came? 13 January, Great Britain. You have commonwealth commitments throughout the world, but what forces can you contribute for the defense of Europe? 16 January, Portugal. From your strategic position on the Atlantic seaboard, what help can you give NATO? Italy. Are you prepared to rebuild your army, navy and air force up to the limits set by the peace treaty? 19 January, Luxembourg.  How can you help the armament? 24 January, Iceland. We know that you have no armed forces, but what contribution can you make for the common defense of the West? 26 January, Canada. Europe is grateful for the arms you are already supplying. What forces are you prepared to send across the Atlantic? In Paris, a hotel has been hastily found as a temporary home for the new Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers, Europe. Their general Gunther was already at work. An international staff of officers had to be assembled in a plan prepared for the defense of Europe. The task was immense. At that time, SHAPE had at its disposal only about 1,800 aircraft, 15 airfields, most of which could not handle jet. 15 ill-equipped divisions. Against these forces, Russia was known to have at least 175 divisions under arms and 20,000 planes. General Eisenhower, when he arrived, asked one of his advisors what the Russians needed to march to the channel. General, he answered, all they need is shoes. So much for the beginning. Yet, in spite of the urgency, when General Eisenhower and his staff sat to plan, they planned for a long haul, for they realized that if democracy were not to destroy itself by its very efforts for defense, the build-up had to take time. All the plans of the military would come to naught without the overall long-term planning of the civilians, the representatives of the NATO nations, and NATO's permanent staff. The future strength of the alliance depended entirely upon what the peoples of its member nations could afford to give, and give of their own free will. It meant hard work, sacrifices, and above all, give and take. The difficulties were innumerable, complex and often seemed impossible, but with the months came results. One by one, the myriad problems of armaments, logistics, and supply were overcome. From Britain, Canada, and the United States arrived divisions to augment the growing forces of the continent itself. The sorely needed airfields and the pipelines to supply them turned from mere blueprints into fact. Soon, for shape, its temporary hotel home gave way to a new headquarter where officers and men of the NATO nations worked together smoothly, regardless of differences of language, temperament, and rates of pay. Soon, to the 12 flags of the founding nations, more were added. Greece, Turkey, and in May 1955, the Federal Republic of Western Germany brought new strength to NATO. As time passed, servants for the alliance came and went, handing on, taking over. The long haul was punctuated with welcomes and farewells. Eisenhower to Ridgway. Ridgway to Grunther. Grunther to Norstadt. But because an ideal is stronger than any individual, though the faces changed, the work drove on. It was in the field that results counted, and it was in the field that they were realized. At each successive meeting, the ministers of the NATO nations could report further progress and a steadily growing unity within the alliance. Thanks to the cooperation of 15 nations, what had once been merely a document with signatures was becoming the Atlantic Alliance in fact, and in strength, clouds of fear that had hung over Europe were lifting. Vigilance and readiness were paying off. Surprise and disunity amongst his victims. The strongest weapons in any aggressor's arsenal were no longer available to him. Each day found NATO stronger, more prepared, and more confident. Though the strength was not yet what NATO would have liked, already a would-be aggressor must count the cost. For now, should attack come, the Atlantic allies could call in their defense, not only upon conventional weapons, but also upon a whole new arsenal. A would-be aggressor the cost loomed large indeed. Now they would need far more than shoes. NATO's strength was such that by 1955, West could meet East at Geneva on equal terms, though any promise of real relief was soon to be dashed. In 1956, this was Budapest, exhausted by Soviet domination and denied their freedom. The people of Hungary rose in protest. Heroism is not enough. This could be us. This is why NATO had to exist. Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, gravely concerned over increasing Soviet military power, gathered in Paris in December 1957 for a crucial conference. From the United States came President Dwight David Eisenhower, whose presence at this critical time gave the nations of Western Europe new hope. For Ike, this was a homecoming. Quarters of shape, the military arm of NATO, located outside Paris. The former commander of the North Atlantic military forces, now president of one of NATO's most powerful member nations, declared his mission before the large crowd which had gathered to greet him. Frankly, I came out here because of a special kind of sickness. One that afflicts the aged and the young. Homesickness. I was homesick to see this home that was built for a sector and his staff and agency of NATO. This home was built by a great number of nations to be the headquarters of that military shield that must always belong to NATO so long as there is any menace to the freedom of the Western nations. Once more at the Pallidishio, which housed the Western world's hopes for peace they gathered. The men of good will who bore their people's mandate for freedom. This was the first NATO meeting attended by the heads of the 15 member states. This was a summit conference calling for highest level consultation. Basically, two critical tasks had to be accomplished. To shore up NATO and to counteract an intensified Soviet propaganda offensive. A major interest of the United States in the NATO meeting was the question of integrating into Western defense the intermediate range ballistic missile as a deterrent to the Soviet, whose long range missile had for the moment thrown a shadow over the world. The 15 heads of states attending this vital NATO meeting represented 450 million people, whose lands covered a total of almost 8 million square miles of the Earth's surface. Differences were to be expected, but at one point there was complete agreement. The core of the NATO partnership, an attack against one was an attack against all. In order to live in peace together, all were resolved to defend themselves together if necessary. Many of the nations of Western Europe felt that political not military action was the answer to the latest Soviet threat. Others believed that NATO should be interested as well in broader problems and looked to the United States for support of their national positions. President Eisenhower's words were the high point of the conference.  We have demonstrated a will for the spreading of the blessings of liberty. Within the last 15 years, our nations have freely granted political independence to 20 countries with populations totaling 800 million people. Within our societies, we manifest so that all can see the good fruits of freedom. Those fruits do not consist of materialistic monuments, which despots have always been able to exhibit. They consist of providing the simple things all men want, the opportunity to think and worship as their conscience and reason dictate, to live in their homes without fear, to draw together in the intimacies of family life, to work in congenial tasks of their own choice, and to enjoy the fruits of their labor. These are the most precious manifestations of freedom, and we have the collective power to defend and spread that freedom. Freedom has not failed us. Surely we shall not fail freedom. Perhaps the chief result of this summit meeting was the expansion of NATO into a broader, more realistic alliance, in keeping with the ever-increasing complexity of problems facing it. A special responsibility rested on these representatives of the Atlantic community. Within their lands, freedom first had its birth. Within their borders lay three-fourths of the world's institutions of higher learning, and the title, needs, and monuments of Western culture and civilization. To the men who met at this summit conference of NATO, there was no doubt that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must continue stronger than ever. For the existence of NATO is an assurance that each new dawn breaks over our family of nations at peace. Over the countryside, cities and homes of a community of peace-loving people, over London and Liverpool, Paris and Marseille, New York and San Francisco, Montreal and Vancouver, over Athens, Istanbul, Rome, Lisbon and Reykjavik, over Antwerp, Bond and Luxembourg, a bond welding the old world and the new. An assurance that 450 million people remain free to live their lives as they wish to live them. To protect and preserve by vigilance and readiness. These are the aims of the Atlantic Alliance. An alliance for peace. Today on The Big Picture, you have heard the distinguished news analyst Edward R. Murrow tell the story of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The United States as a founding member of this vital international body has demonstrated to the world the importance we place on the closest association between the members of the Atlantic community. Now this is Sergeant Stuart Queen, your host for The Big Picture. The Big Picture is an official television report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the United States Army in cooperation with this station.


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