Hello, my name is Paul Backelman. I'm the Town Manager of Amherst. Thank you for taking the time to watch this video. I also thank Amherst Media for helping us produce it. The town has a clear, demonstrated need to make significant investments in four of our major facilities, our elementary schools, the Jones Library, the fire station, which also houses our emergency medical services, and the public works facility. This is the beginning of a process to engage all members of the community to learn more about the need, the options, and the decisions the town council will be asked to make. I emphasize that this is the beginning of the process. It starts by listening to you, and those listening are the town council, but also the school committee, library trustees, and town library and school staff. We hope to better understand your values and the questions you would like to have answered. In the next 15 minutes or so, you will hear from our staff leadership as they outline the services they provide, the condition of their facilities, and the challenges they face with their respective buildings. We will start with Superintendent of Schools Mike Morris, followed by Library Director Sharon Sherry, Fire Chief Tim Nelson, and Public Works Superintendent Gilford Mooring. I will conclude with a few comments about the financing of these investments. Let's start with Mike Morris. Welcome to the Amherst Public Schools. Two of our three elementary schools, Wildwood and Fort River, educate over two-thirds of the kindergarten through grade six students attending the Amherst Elementary District. In addition to these 712 students at these schools, well over 100 staff members work in these buildings to support our educational mission. Both buildings were constructed almost 50 years ago, and unlike Crocker Farm, which was renovated in 2002, neither Fort River nor Wildwood have had a major renovation since they were built. In addition to the classroom spaces, the schools require gymnasiums, cafeterias, art rooms, music rooms, instrumental music rooms, and libraries to support our broad educational goals. Spaces are also required to educate students with special needs, including those in specialized programs, those students who are acquiring English, and students receiving other intervention services such as Title I. All of our schools proudly serve as community centers in the town of Amherst. We are pleased to support LSEC programming, which allows for athletic activities for both children and adults to be enjoyed by many in our community. The buildings also serve as voting centers for the town. Additionally, Fort River acts as the host site for the wonderful and popular League of Women Voters Book Fair each summer. Unfortunately, Fort River and Wildwood buildings are in very poor condition at this time. Their deteriorating condition has been confirmed by two major architectural studies completed in the past four years, as well as the low rating they received in recent reviews by the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Many of the mechanical systems are at or beyond their expected lifespan. For instance, the cooling system at Wildwood broke last fall, resulting in extremely hot conditions for the first month of school. While that was fixed, the cooling system at Fort River is likely to fail soon, and for that reason, we have rented a portable chiller this year in order to be prepared for that eventuality, and will continue to do so into the future. At both Fort River and Wildwood, the heating systems operate inconsistently, and the HVAC system was not built with a dehumidifying feature, which creates constant moisture issues in the schools. Fort River's decaying roof has multiple spots that leak when it rains heavily or when snow melts. Our stop-gap measure of constructing built-in drains from the ceiling tiles to the floor in those areas will not solve this issue, and fixing it will be quite costly. There are significant issues also related to school safety and accessibility. For instance, the front entrances in both buildings are almost 100 feet from the main entrance, meaning visitors have access to students in classrooms before they check in in the main office. Neither building has fire sprinklers to protect students and staff in case of a fire, as would be constructed in a current building. Last year, the District Commission in Accessibility audit that highlighted dozens of areas of each school that do not meet the current Americans with Disability Accessibility Code. The educational environment is also compromised by the building's design. The buildings were built based on an open classroom concept, meaning most classrooms do not have permanent full walls resulting in routine noise and distractions for our students and adults. Many classrooms also do not have a sufficient source of natural light, which research indicates has an impact on student achievement and student learning. While the district has completed projects over time in an effort to ameliorate some of the challenges at Wildwood and Fort River, the reality is that many of the issues that both buildings face cannot be fixed without a major building project, whether it be new construction or major renovation. We need to solve these issues that our wonderful students and outstanding teachers and staff can have an educational environment that matches their firm dedication to learning. The Jones Library was built in 1928 based on the founder's vision that the library should attract all residents so they could experience the values and culture at the heart of Amherst. Since its inception, the library's programming, services, and collections have reflected the interests and needs of the town, including spaces such as an art gallery, an archive, and public meeting rooms. With over 800 patrons a day, the library is a unique town institution because it seeks to serve the entire community. Someone researching an original Emily Dickinson poem may have no idea that some patrons only access to computers and Wi-Fi exists at the library. Another patron coming to storytime with their child may not realize that 2,500 residents annually are learning to speak English and are gaining citizenship at the library. Each time our community's needs have grown and changed, the library has physically expanded to meet those needs. As was the case in the 1960s, 70s, and again in the 90s, we are at a critical moment where our ability to meet the needs of patrons is being impaired by our current facilities which are in disrepair with growing safety concerns, inefficient, out of step with current environmental concerns, not fully accessible, and lacking the space to provide necessary services and programs. The library strives to create a welcoming atmosphere for our patrons. We work hard to not show our flaws, but the wear and tear on a building that sees over 270,000 visitors a year is immense. The unfortunate reality of our building is that much work is needed on the roof and all our major systems, such as HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and fire alarms. They are all at the end of life, meaning they break down frequently, are difficult to service, and parts are becoming obsolete. In addition to our systems, the 1990s addition was created before owners' project managers were used and unfortunately was poorly designed from the start, creating water seepage and leaking for the last 30 years that impacts not just the addition, but also the 1928 portion of the building. A building consultant from the Massachusetts Board of Library commissioners labeled the Jones as being the most dysfunctional library in the state. The building is a warren of nooks, crannies, and hidden stacks and stairwells that present safety concerns, accessibility issues, and not enough space to meet demand. While longtime residents and patrons know just where to find their favorite book, English language learners and people who are new to town have expressed how difficult it is to find their way around. Patrons who want to find a book in nonfiction have expressed not feeling safe in the stacks, as no one can see them downstairs. Families who arrive to participate in programming often leave because there's no room. Teens who should be learning the value of the library and how to become informed citizens are currently without their own space and do not have access to the full scope of books and resources that would be made available in a larger, dedicated space. The Jones has invested in short-term improvements and redesigned available spaces where possible, but these do not address the larger systemic challenges. We have a unique opportunity to take advantage of a state grant to fund a major renovation restoration for roughly the same cost to taxpayers as the necessary repair work. A renovation and expansion will allow the Jones to introduce a smarter design that maximizes safety, accessibility, and efficiency while making bold steps towards a fully sustainable building and providing the programming and services that are essential to the resiliency and vibrancy of our community.  We provide fire and rescue services, emergency medical services, EMS, hazardous materials response, emergency management, technical rescue, disaster operations, and management. In addition, we provide the town and schools with fire prevention, education and safety services and review plans for new and renovated buildings. The fire department works with Amherst College, Hampshire College, and UMass on emergency response, safety education and emergency management. We also collaborate with and support other town departments and provide emergency medical services to the towns of Shootsbury, Leverett, and Pelham. We do all of this with 46 highly trained professional firefighter paramedics. We are committed to this community because we are part of this community. There are a few professions where the people you serve trust you to come into their home, place of business or school, at any time of the day or night to make them or a situation better through EMS or a fire rescue.  We inspect your home or business to ensure your family and customers are safe. We are there when you need us 24-7-365. The fire department's central station, Head Cold Quarters, was built in 1929. The first study on its usefulness as a fire station was done in 1947. It concluded that the building was inadequate for the needs of the fire department. 72 years later and 90 years after the building opened, we are still operating out of this building. The building was constructed purely as a fire station with no consideration for emergency medical services, which now accounts for the lion's share of our runs. The apparatus bays aren't sufficient for the needs of a modern progressive fire department. The types of trucks we need literally cannot fit through the door. Storage space for fire EMS equipment is virtually non-existent, meaning we have to use every nook and cranny to store our equipment. The emergency services world is highly technical, demanding intellectually and constantly changing. There are no areas for firefighters to train or study to stay up with the new developments in medicine and firefighting technology. The building has served us well to a point, but over the last 45 years, it has been nearly impossible to maintain it in a livable condition. The building is not energy efficient in terms of heating and cooling. Our heating system is antiquated and interior air quality is below accepted standards. The building has one full bathroom for all firefighters stationed here. We have no gender-specific locker rooms, bathrooms, and the building is not ADA compliant. Firefighters are exposed to dangerous contaminants, environmental, and biological. We do not have a decontamination area for equipment, clothing, or personnel. What we have for personal decontamination are two common bathrooms and a work sink in the rear of the station. Nationally accepted standards call for a separate decontamination area separate from living spaces in the station, apparatus areas separate from living spaces, and firefighting gear storage that is separate from living spaces. We have none of that. Because the station was built before the dangers of exposure to contaminants was known, retrofitting the station to stop cross-contamination is not an option. Our living spaces are constantly exposed. You sometimes hear a fire station referred to as a firehouse. And with good reason, our building is occupied 24 hours a day every day of the year. Firefighters live in this building. Firefighters work and train in this building. Replacement with a new fire headquarters has to be a top priority. Welcome to the Amherst Department of Public Works. The DPW is a multidisciplinary department of over 60 employees that maintain streets, sidewalks, traffic signals, town-owned street lights, street trees, parks, pools, commons, the town cemeteries. We do winter operations. We maintain the parking lots and equipment. We maintain street signage and the multiple municipal solid waste and recycling facilities. The DPW ensures that every resident on town water has an ample supply of high quality water delivered to them every day. The DPW handles all waste water from the town and provides environmentally approved treatment. We employ highly trained engineering staff, maintain a consolidated vehicle maintenance group and provide administrative support to all operational groups and other town departments. The engineering staff develop, design and oversee several projects as well as supervise outside consultants, contractors in the design and construction of other work for the DPW. Our administrative team processes many requests, questions and also pays multiple millions of dollars of bills and payroll. The DPW provides support to other town and school departments as needed. The DPW is responsible for several federal, state permits for the town. These include such things as the Water Management Act permit, the solid waste facility permit, the air quality permits issued by DEP, the wastewater discharge permit for the wastewater treatment facility and the MS4 stormwater permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and DEP. As capable, we host many statewide and regional training programs at our facilities. Several staff are recognized leaders serving on statewide boards and industry groups such as the Mass Tree Warden Association, the Massachusetts Water Works Association and the New England Interstate Water and Pollution Control Commission. The DPW is especially proud to have participated in many studies and pilot projects sponsored by EPA, DEP and other state agencies often in cooperation with the University of Massachusetts. The DPW has many facilities and structures that fall into our sphere of responsibility. There are wells, pump stations, comfort stations, water treatment and wastewater treatment facilities. They range from very small to tens of thousands of square feet and usually have one purpose. The one facility that supports the entire DPW is the DPW Barn or office. This building is located on South Pleasant Street and it is the repurposed new trolley barn built in 1915. Over the last 100 years while there have been additions and minor repairs to this facility there has never been an overhaul or significant upgrade. The employees who work out of this facility are subject to a work environment that is not acceptable to ensure the safety and well-being of our dedicated workforce. The building does not meet the VA accessibility requirements. The female restroom and locker facilities are located on the second floor with only stair access. The building lacks important life and safety code systems that are standard in current buildings. There is no sprinkler system, no fire alarms, no carbon monoxide alarms and the ventilation system does not provide adequate, required air exchanges in the shop and equipment storage areas. The buildings often enter the office space from these areas. The walls are quite literally crumbling. There are structural damage to the exterior and interior of our masonry walls. A section of the building sub-roof has fallen into the building. This leaves only the exterior membrane in place to protect against the elements. The roof has several leaks that allow water into the building during rainstorms and snow-melt events. The building is in complex life and is in need of a much deferred overhaul. A new facility would create a safe, efficient work environment that would consolidate all operations under one roof that doesn't leak. We would be able to restore our most expensive vehicles under the cover to extend their useful life. We would provide our employees with the kind of facility they deserve to work in and return to after conducting their difficult, sometimes hazardous work at all hours of the day and night. I hope you found the information provided by our department heads informative. They each have summarized the important work they do and described the deficiencies and needs of their buildings. These investments will require a sizable commitment of funds. So the question is, can the town afford to do them and what will it cost? First, we are well prepared to move forward with all four of these capital investments. We have built up our reserves, increased our commitment to capital in our annual budget, decreased our outstanding debt, and have achieved a very good bond rating which influences the interest we pay on our debt. Let's go through this in slightly more detail. In the past 10 years, the town has been managing its resources to build up reserves for when we take on the investments. By reserves, I mean our stabilization fund and free cash. These, in rough terms, are like our savings account and checking account. We have droopled it from around $4 million to over $16 million in the current year. We, as a town, have been very disciplined about budgeting carefully and putting money aside year by year. We always want to retain some reserves and the town's adopted financial policies state that we should have at least 5% of our general fund held as reserves. We are now at nearly 20% of the general fund in reserves. During the same period, the town has not taken on significant new debt. As a result, our debt service represented by the maroon part of the bar is rolling down. This means more funds are available for other capital investments or new debt service. At the same time, the town has made a concerted effort to elbow out room in the budget for capital expenditures and debt payments. That is represented by the gray bar. These two factors mean that the town has the capacity and ability to take on new debt and to pay it off but it won't be enough for all four facilities. An important note, we must continue to address our other capital needs like new ambulances, police cars, roads and sidewalks and repairs to town buildings from these same funds. The financial challenge we face is significant. We don't have firm numbers for most of the projects but early estimates are that over $100 million will be needed to pay for all four investments. Yes, that is a lot of money. However, there are state grants available for two of the projects, the library and the schools, and these projects should not move forward without state funding. There are no state grants available for fire stations or DPW facilities. You may ask what if we choose not to move forward on one or more of these buildings? If we don't build new or renovated facilities, we will definitely have to commit significant funds to the existing buildings just to be able to continue to use them. Things like replacing leaky roofs, upgrading and ventilation systems, increasing accessibility and making required safety and code upgrades. So the alternative isn't build a building or do nothing. It's build a building or pay for improvements to the existing buildings. Our early estimates are that these prices are very similar. One key element of a financial plan is to ask the voters for a debt exclusion override. A debt exclusion override is where the voters at the ballot box choose to tax themselves more to pay off the debt for a specific project. Depending on projected costs, it may even require two debt exclusions to address all of our needs. The town council will decide to place an override on the ballot, but the voters will decide if they are willing to pay for the override. So what's next? There are some key dates coming up. On December 11th, we anticipate that the Massachusetts School Building Authority will tell us if we have been accepted into their grant program. In July of next year, we expect to be awarded a grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners to assist in the renovations and addition to the Jones Library. During the same timeframe, the town council will be identifying a location for the DPW, which we need because we know that the current DPW site is the best location for a new FHIR EMS facility. With that location identified, the town can move forward with schematic design, which will give us good estimates for the cost of those two facilities. It's a lot of information, I know. But again, we are at the beginning stages, and the town council is eager to hear from you about your values and the types of questions you want them to explore as we work through the next months. We will assemble all information on the town's website, which is amherstma.gov.com Again, we thank you for taking the time to watch this. We thank Amherst Media for helping to put this production together, and we look forward to an open, robust discussion about the decisions that will shape our community and our town for decades to come.


Hello, my name is Glassfoot, and welcome to the series that I'm calling D&D Character Tales. These are going to be stories of characters that I personally have played throughout my time of playing D&D, and while that's only been about two years, I have played quite a few characters. Most of them have died.  But, um, I hope you all enjoy this series, and I would like if you guys would, um, give me pointers on what not and how I can improve these. Um, unfortunately, I don't really have access to much other in terms of backgrounds and what not, so what you're seeing is kind of what you're going to get. Please, I would love your tips and other information and feedback that you can give me. And, with that, please enjoy the first tale that I have written. The tale of my first character, the Half-Orc Ranger, Rysak. Welcome, friends. I invite you to relax, grab a drink. And listen to the tale of a valiant hero, a hero that you might not expect, but a hero nonetheless. This is the tale of the Half-Orc, Rysak. Born in a land far away, where humans and orcs came to a peace and did not attack each other on sight, Half-Orcs was still rare, as it was uncommon for humans and orcs to fall in love. As a child, Rysak was often mocked for his mother being an orc and his father a human, which would cause him to get into fights as a child. Also as a child, he would enjoy hunting in the woods, becoming good with the longbow and tracking in other such feats. While he became proficient with the longbow in the woods on his own, his father trained him in the way of the sword, specifically the longsword, which he used to prefer in combat. One fateful day when Rysak was 10, the army came looking for his father. A dragon had attacked the kingdom and they needed people to defend it. His father had been one of the best soldiers in the past, and while reluctant to go at first, his father eventually decided that the fate of the kingdom was more important than his own happiness and agreed to go with them. This, unfortunately for Rysak, was the last time that he would ever see his father alive and slain in the combat with the dragon. Upon returning, Rysak took up his father's sword and shield, refusing to ever buy a different one. And if in case they ever broke, it would only choose to reforge them and use the new blades that came of his father's weapon. He would never lose this, despite many things occurring to him that almost cost him his weapon. A number of years later, Rysak decided that it was time for him to strike out on his own. He left his mother and siblings, becoming a hunter, selling the meat and furs that he would kill in the woods for money. He would also work as a guide, or as a guard for those passing in the woods. One day, he accepted a job to guard a caravan, where he met two people that would become good friends of his. The human paladin of Bahamut, Eric, and the dwarf cleric, Audreyk. He also met three other half elves, a wild magic sorcerer that he never really got along with, but wasn't the worst. And two half-elven druids that he, Eric, and Audreyk would eventually kill on the way to the town of Greenhes, the group encountered goblins and coals attacking the villages that were running from the town. They engaged and defeated the foes, killing all but one, interrogating him for information. Upon discovering that the cult of Tiamat were the ones that were attacking the town, they entered and decided to defeat the cult, taking out most of them, and almost falling a few times. They eventually tracked the cult to a cave, defeating all that they found inside and stealing a couple of dragon's eggs that the cult seemed to have appropriated for themselves. The group from here traveled many places, following the cult, always trying to defeat them, becoming, affiliated themselves, often one step behind the cult. At one point, they ended up in a town that was having a festival, where Audreyk and Risak entered a boxing match, where they won, and won a set of silver knuckles each, where Risak used to help silver his weapon. The group eventually joined a caravan, and in this caravan, they had many interesting encounters with the folks. A few bandits, but nothing major, until the merchant tried to buy Risak's sword. Now, this sword was Risak's father, as I have told you before, but this merchant didn't know.  The next morning after the event, Risak woke up and found that his sword was gone. Enraged by the fact that his father's weapon had been stolen from him, Risak tracked down the merchant that was trying to buy it from last night, and confronted him, slamming him against his cart he demanded to know where his weapon was, and the merchant swore that he did not know, even submitting to a search of his cart by Risak and Erik. Still fuming about the fact that his father's sword was missing, Risak went and searched the caravan, eventually finding out a female god had taken his weapon. Confronting her, he went and attacked, taking her down, and almost killing her in rage, before Erik convinced him to not. She agreed to really return the sword and become a slave, with the promise that she would face trial at Waterdeep, and with the promise that if she tried to run away, Risak would kill her. Risak unfortunately never got to see her face trial, as she was released upon their entrance to Waterdeep, but by the promise that she would never steal again. When in Waterdeep, the group ended up coming upon a doctor named Flankenstein, who agreed to trade their dragon eggs for custom mounts of whatever they would like. Risak cut a dragonfly with flaming wings that would attack with fire. After this, the group met up with the Council of Waterdeep, where they agreed to help them stop the cult of the dragon, and they went around to many other places after this, stopping them. This accepting of the quest from the Council of Waterdeep eventually led the group to an outpost, where they found that the cult had a smuggling operation. Upon this time, the half-oven sorcerer had her own quest that needed to be done, so she left the group. This was around the time that the group discovered the Druids were secretly working for the cult, and dispatched them harshly. In the smuggling operation, Erik and Risak discovered a couple of scabbards with dragons on them that they took for their own weapons, because they thought they looked cool, and they continued on, eventually coming upon a group of Bullywogs that lived at Castle Nate here, a castle that the cult had taken over. The group decided to help the Bullywogs in exchange for ridding the cult, and they received a base of operations in the process. In the process of ridding the cult from the Castle Nate here, a couple of allies that the group had made along the way, died or nearly perished, and so did Erik, Erik and Risak. After the battle, Erik, Erik and Risak, who managed to just barely survive, came upon a teleportation circle in the basement, and as a group they used it and ended up in another cult operation. This time, a hunting lodge. Upon entering the lodge, they were waiting for the head of this location, and while waiting, they were attacked by a suit of armor that happened to be animated. Upon defeating the armor, Risak discovered that the tapestry in the corner of the room was also emanating magic. He fired his longbow into the tapestry, destroying it, but as it turned out, it was just a teleportation point to go out into the woods for the hunting lodge. Erik and Risak, the two had been responsible for the destruction of the armor and the tapestry, were taken into custody and held by a jailer in a rather peculiar jail that Risak still is traumatized by, until the group managed to convince the jailer to let them go in exchange for embarrassing another member of the cult, a dragon mask user who had screwed this person out of their own dragon mask, and Risak and Erik were let go, along with the promise to help stop this person. From there, the group made their way to Skyreach Castle, and after acquiring a couple of griffins to get to the castle, they managed to make it. Avoiding the cult and not dying to them on their way, before eventually meeting up with the Storm Giant who ran the castle. Upon defending this giant, they discovered that the cult had appropriated the castle and the giant did not exactly like them, for the giant did not like the idea of working with dragons. Upon their agreement to help rid the castle of the cult and all dragons, the Storm Giant agreed to give them the castle as a base of operations. The fact that the castle moved also helped them greatly. They went through, eventually found the black dragon mask where, that they were asked to embarrass, who Erik quickly seduced. After that event occurred, she revealed that she knew who they were, and said she knew they were not working for the cult. At this point, the group that had named themselves the Holy Trinidad and Company for the only three remaining members all worshiped Bahamut, ran. They were afraid, they did not want to die, and they came very very close in this instance. They managed to hold themselves up and set up enough of an energy that they were able to get a long rest and replenish their energy. Unfortunately, they were surrounded upon a waking. They had a valiant fight with about four mages and the black dragon user, who Erik managed to slay in the combat. Unfortunately, Risak and the new ally company had been separated from Ardric and Erik by a wall of fire. Risak attempted to fly out with the aid of company, but he fell into the flame. Risak rushed one of the mages that he saw and was unfortunately defeated. Erik and Ardric, seeing no alternative to save their front company, or Risak, ran. And they managed to get away. The company was killed, but Risak was not. Risak was brainwashed by the cult. He was then used later by them as a bodyguard during the ritual of Timut, during the final battle to try and defeat the god. Once the god was defeated, it is unknown what happened to Risak, but he was not seen by his friends for some time. It is believed by many that he is still just as a ranger, working, making money for himself, and potentially making his way back to his family to see if they are all right. But one thing's for sure, the world will always remember the deeds of the half-orc ranger, Risak. Thank you all for watching the tale of the half-orc ranger, Risak. My first character and still quite possibly my favorite. You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram. Links are going to be in the description down below if you would like. And if you enjoyed this tale, please leave a comment telling me so. Like, subscribe to my channel if you feel so inclined, and that is going to be all I have for now. Anyway, peace out guys.


All right, let's get this thing done here Hey y'all, all right, so uh, how's that working on my truck? it got real hot here in Alabama and I Decided to go inside and take a break watch the movie So a movie I picked out he's been harping on me for I don't know probably about 10 years 20 years something like I'm not sure how old the book is but he's like you need to read that there it book I'm like, I don't read them words. So He's like, yeah, there's a movie.  There's movie. Okay, so I decided since he's been bothering me These past couple of months years and decades and whatever's what has you I Decided I was gonna go ahead and watch that their movie now. I didn't watch no it chapter two.   Oh Well, I was told all camera. He's not the thing all catty Wombers, man. I had to refix that um, so But uh Anyway, so we're gonna open this here by this room It's from his friend Terry And since we're here doing the it movie. I heard some some it seemed With which means which means it's a bike. It's about the book. It's about the book or something I don't I don't know. I don't I don't regularly reckon I understand how these things work So all right, let me not cut my finger off there Really be mad. I lose any fingers All right, so okay, it's all wrapped up and stuff. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being Being nice with it. He says it's for me. I forgot to mention that part. He says it's for me and a Holy shoe it Holy birds is funny. Y'all like I can't look at that there. What does fella's name is? Pennywise Earl. It's his name's Pennywise. Okay All right, so we got oh Look at him. Him. Him. This is creepy Him just creepy talk it out. Y'all. Okay, so what we gonna do is this one I'm gonna I'm gonna take off my hat right here. We'll be back in a second How's that look?   I ain't seen that new one, but we we here to talk about this one Sorry, I'm a little I'm a little shell shocked shell shocked It's like he's wife when she's surprised by some shell shot. All right, so this isn't it with this This here fella up here. He's a clown fella.  It's uh, there's lots of hours in it Um There's words on the back man. Why do they put words on the back of movies ain't nobody trying to read no movies unless foreign films, you know them peoples but uh Yeah, so this this movie is about a group of kids and The clown wants to eat them. I don't know why the clown wants to eat them I never did figure that out, but but that dude did this fella right here He was scary. He was probably the only good part of the movie But it is the new one man ain't me and Brenda ain't watching that one man Y'all like my shirt. It says Something about stupidity. I don't know what it says.   I don't know why it's got spider in it There's a spider the clown's actually a spy. How do you talk all eight legs of him into that there suit? I don't get it. Well, how do how does a spider put on makeup?  Oh, no, they ain't them pincers. What's that word there? I'm looking for Oh A penguin just that that's it right there.  Don't don't do no ninja turtles or nothing Don't don't don't do that no neither No job see y'all out there y'all be heavy young ins and whatnot But did the the things that aren't pinchers that look like hang on, but I got something to show Oh, don't out. Lord Jesus. Okay, bring the Oh bring the guts and got to the pain clinic this week and my side of good Okay, okay, you see these things right here right here Y'all like that there's this climb thing last time didn't it just the These things what these things that these crab legs look at when you do a crab boy down there at the beach You know what I'm talking about. Do you catch yourself? Some of them some of them some of them crabs. You ever got crabs. You bet each and just be it You get the cream for it and you put the cream on your on your Anyway, so he got these things right here But but what was I talking about Lord Jesus? I don't forgot all about my train the spider him a spider y'all But how did he put on the clown makeup? How did put all that on if he ain't got no fingers as that's the question for you down there in them What's he called it them Scooby-Doo's down there in them Scooby-Doo's put down there in them Scooby-Doo's What thems is put down there in them Scooby-Doo's what them Dar is right there right there Was that the question?  We got spider dresses a clown. Oh, don't make no sense. Um, they got a A slingshot some how to kill the slingshot. I don't know. This is weird weird stuff. She's like The thing is like oh with this wouldn't know it's like oh And then he killed one of them. I'm not too entirely sure how he killed one of them And if he and if he were gonna kill all of them find he killed them earlier I don't understand. Why didn't he kill them when they were kids? It's like he kept on spooping them Scooby-Doo kept on spooking them. What like he make them That he make what here makes them more delicious. So that's why he scares them before he kills them What kind of good sense is that mate? I don't make no sense whether fear make them delicious You know what I ain't got time for none of this right here I quit working on my truck to watch the movie and then I decided to come over here and do this So see yeah, we done here brother and sisters If y'all seen this movie um and you like this movie let me know down there in the Scooby-Doo But uh, yeah, I'll talk to y'all later. Bye. Bye. Hey guys All right, so I am gonna be doing an actual review of it chapter 2 So if you want to see that it'll be up tomorrow But this Get this one up because some of you asked for more Earl Earl I know not everybody likes him, but I have fun doing them So it's whatever by the way, if you're wondering what the shirt says it says Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but you're abusing the privilege I thought it fit Earl talk to you guys later. Bye. Bye


The Appalachian Advantage plan is the simpler, better way to get the phone you actually want instead of paying hundreds of dollars up front.  It's called the Appalachian Advantage available at Appalachian Wireless. The final source summit for 2022 began today at the Appalachian Wireless Arena. The summit features over 100 exhibitors, 1500 registrants, and various focus groups focusing on common issues in Appalachia. It's here, the big, this is our keynote event, a source keynote event. It's really kind of the keynote event across all of Appalachia, you know, all 13 states, 423 counties. It's right here. So it's going on, we're here, and we should have 1500 people. We've got over 10 featured speakers. I think we've got 60 Kentucky counties represented, six states, something like that. So it's going to be a big couple of days. The summit is also hosting over 300 students, allowing them to network and look at the opportunities in the region. The summit will give local schools, businesses, and nonprofits a chance to network and showcase the work they do. It's a great opportunity to come out and introduce yourselves to everyone. This is our first time here. So we're very excited to be here, very, very happy about it. We've brought an exhibit, we have a virtual reality ride we're letting people do, and everyone seems to really be enjoying it. Registration for the summit will remain open until the close of the summit Thursday evening. For more information, visit sore-ky.org. For Mountain Top News, I'm Brianna Robinson.


Hello and welcome to your session. My name is Kanika and I'm going to help you to solve the following question. The question says, integrate the following functions, given function as 1 by 1 plus x to the power 4. Let's now begin with the solution. In this question, we have to integrate the function 1 by 1 plus x to the power 4 with respect to x. Now, first of all, you should know that if we have to integrate the function of the form 1 by x to the power 4 plus lambda x squared plus 1. Now, if we have to integrate functions of the type 1 by x to the power 4 plus lambda x squared plus 1 dx, then in the first step, we divide numerator and denominator by x squared. Then in the second step, we try to express denominator as x plus 1 by x whole squared plus k squared or x minus 1 by x whole squared minus k squared. Then in the third step, we introduce derivative of x plus 1 by x in the numerator if we have x plus 1 by x in the denominator plus 1 by x if we have x minus 1 by x in the denominator. So, we have x plus p or x minus 1 by x as p as required by the question and then we evaluate the integral. So, keeping this in mind, let's now integrate the given function. First divide numerator and denominator by x squared. So, we have 1 by x squared plus x squared dA and divide this expression by 2. So, we have to integral of we can write 1 minus 1 by x. So, using is equal to integral of 1 plus 1 by x squared squared dx minus 1 by 2 into integral of 1 minus 1 by x squared x squared plus x squared denominator in the form of x minus 1 by acting 2 we get 1 by x squared plus x squared minus 2 plus 2. Now 1 by x squared plus x squared minus 2 is equal to x minus 1 by x whole squared plus 2 can be written as squared in the numerator plus 1 by x whole squared. Using this, now these integrals is equal to integral 1 by x as v in second integral. Now u equals to x minus 1 by x implies du is equal to 1 plus 1 by x squared dx v equals to x plus 1 by x implies dv is equal to 1 minus 1 by x squared dA substituting u in place of x minus 1 by x in the first integral we get into integral of 1 by u squared with respect to u and by substituting v in place of x plus 1 by x in second integral we get integral dv by v squared minus root 2 squared. We know that integral of with respect to x is 1 by a tan inverse plus c and integral of 1 by x plus a plus c. So using these formulas integral of u squared plus root 2 square is 1 by root 2 tan inverse minus integral of dv by v squared minus root 2 square is 1 by 2v minus root 2 by v plus root 2 plus c plus c is denoting the sum of both the constants of these integrals. We have assumed 1 by x as v. So now putting x minus 1 by x in place of u and x plus 1 by x in place of v we get 1 by minus root 2


That's right, man. That's right. What do you... Then we're gonna app him, then we're gonna start with Dr. Pepper. He's a real man. That's why I brought me half of Dr. Pepper. Dad, I'm gonna dump... You just bring me the other half of the bottle, man. You think you're trying to look more at me, man? I ain't gonna give him all that. He has people in the bed. Say it when you spill it on yourself. Don't give... It's like somebody stopped. Don't give him all that drink. That's exactly how they used to do it. He was younger. Exactly. Put that drink down. Yeah. Nothing after eight.  What y'all been up to, man? Working. Trying to save lives. Trying to save lives. That's what we do. All right, well, on that note, I'll ring the bell. Did you know that? I did not know that. Not only do we have items for sale on the black market, but we're also getting into the life-saving business right now. Absolutely. Yes, sir. You think I'm playing, but I'm beard-ass serious.  This is serious business right here on the black market today. Got some very special guests with us. I am Jeep, an independent medical group, man, so y'all get him around and talk to me. First of all, for being independent, now give us a little background on what y'all got going on there. Look at them, one of those cameras. Introduce yourself. You second, because you're just wild. You be on that. My name is Steve Vicksomar. I'm the COO and co-founder of Independent Medical Group and Healthy MD. Okay, that. My name is Clifford Nights. I'm the CEO of Healthy MD and IMG. Okay, okay. How did this come about? We went to high school together. We threw parties in high school. Burned. Fast forward. The dude that owned the clubs that we threw parties at, he owned the pharmacy. HIV specialty pharmacy. HIV specialty pharmacy. Yeah, he asked us to come work with him. We see what he's doing in Miami. I've never seen an HIV specialty pharmacy. Yeah, you wouldn't see it though. Oh, it's, okay. Yeah, it's closed door. Oh, okay. Yeah. So he asked us to come work with him. We said no at first. He was like, just come check it out. We went and checked it out. We seen that he was saving lives. He was working in our community. We're from the underserved community. I'm from Boston. Steve's from Brooklyn. Boston ain't underserved. Dorchester is.  All the way people up there, y'all got plenty resources in Boston. No, no. Downtown Boston.  We've been to Boston downtown.  Dorchester ain't there. No, I'm just messing with you. But I'm from Dorchester. So we're from the underserved community, and we just love that he was saving the community. Right. He was helping the community. He was delivering HIV medication to pediatrics, delivering to the women and to the black men in the community. So we said we wanted to be in that business. Okay, good. Right? So he was doing good by doing good.  Right. And still have a night life and own a few clubs and all that. Absolutely, absolutely. That's the perfect thing to add to the portfolio. Absolutely. The crazy thing about that.  Yeah, the crazy thing about that is that the gentleman was an entrepreneur. He wasn't even a pharmacist. He wasn't a doctor. He was just a visionary. He saw a need and decided to fulfill that need. And that's kind of what got us into this medical space that we're in, because we're not doctors ourselves. Exactly. We're not with those pigs. No, we're not. So we're not doctors ourselves. We're just, I mean, by the grace of God, we were, you know, forced to kind of be in this situation. So fast forward to where we are today. Today we're in the pedometer group, as you just stated. We have, you know, 10 brick and mortar clinics all over the state of Florida. That's hard. And we have 15 mobile clinics. We actually have more mobile clinics than brick and mortar, because our whole model is, you know, bringing the services out to the community. Most of the people in our underserved community don't have the means for transportation and things of that sort. So our mission is to provide, you know, access and, you know, education. How long y'all been in the business? Shit, 25 years. Word? Yeah. Right out of high school. We threw parties when we was in high school to pay my Jetta car payment, my 94 Jetta car payment. That's what we started from. 94? Yeah, yeah.  Yes.  That's exactly why we got to step up our financial literacy, black people. There is no way you should have a car payment on a 1994 anything at this point.  This young man started out behind the eight ball. Who is the low down as person that put a high school student on a payment plan for 1994? I want him locked up, because he got to be out of car business. I agree, I agree, because the clutch was fucked up and everything. Come on in, it's a limit. It's a limit. We have to get around. We have to get around. Man, you probably got motherfuckers. Me, Sothi, Leoma, and nightmares. We ain't supposed to be in no car from 1994. Yeah, man. We had that car. Steve was like, yo, we should throw a party to pay the car payment. We started throwing parties. That was like, once 30 people showed up, the car was paid off. Oh, yeah. For sure. For sure. For sure. That was our first little business seeing this promotion's back in. But that's your real partner, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Y'all wasn't even born in 94. Shit. Shit is that, man. Shit, I was born in 79. I was born in 79.  That's crazy. We don't care. Black don't crack. Yeah, yeah. So that's just mid-life crack. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.  Got the level on done on your cool head. Word. Word. Word. Man, I had to make light of the situation. What y'all doing is so serious, man. No, we appreciate that. Yeah, yeah. Getting medicine to the people, you know, and saving lives, man.  Always gotta go to the doctor. Always needs an appeal. Yeah, unfortunately.  Ah, nephew, they say I gotta have another surgery. Oh, what? The surgery I had. They gotta fix the surgery. I gotta have surgery before the surgery so I can get the surgery. Right now. That's real. Damn. That's so true. We focus on sexual health, right? So STDs, HIV, hepatitis C, and prevention HIV care. Yeah. And we just started doing mental health like the end of last year as well. Yeah, cause you know, STDs and mental health, that's the same thing. Yeah.  Nah, it's true. I mean, we joke about it, but we realize that a lot of people that deal with whether it's HIV, hepatitis C, or any STDs, you know, a lot of percent of the time they do have co-mobilities. They do have behavioral health issues, unfortunately.  That's true. I mean, we do a lot of testing at a lot of colleges.  We do a lot of testing at the colleges, and it's astounding if you hear the rates of these colleges, man. It's crazy. Yeah, it's astounding.   Yeah. 20 million new STDs last year. 5 million came from colleges.   We got to educate the people, man. I mean, that's kind of what we're charged with. You think the people don't know this? You know what? They don't, though. Thank you. You think so? Yes. So how old are you? 40.  So you remember TLC with the condoms on the eye? You remember salt and pepper with let's talk about sex? Yes. All of that, right? Yes.  You know what? It's all about fluid. People ain't gonna use them anyway. I don't know about that. You do know about that. I don't know about that. You know why? We're not educating our community. Our kids nowadays is all about having sex. I get very defensive when people talk about our community because they act like we the worst at everything. No. We're nothing. I don't think we're the worst at everything. The rates speak to it. It's not us speaking to it. It's the rates. 42% of new HIV cases in the Black and Brown community. Why? Because the other community is not reporting their numbers. That could be it too. Them motherfuckers outnumber us 12 to 1.  The thing about them though is that they've been getting tested. They got insurance. They got insurance. They've been getting tested. They've been getting taken care of.  You got it. No, actually you got it though, man. You got it. Listen, we've been in the space for a long time, right? So we came from the early ages where if you are HIV positive, you're probably on seven, eight different medication cocktails. Today, you could take one medication and after 60 days and 90 days, you'll be undetectable. You could live a very healthy life if you have HIV today. It's not like how it was when we were kids. And they actually have... What do you mean when we was kids?  You know what I'm saying? When we were younger, people thought that HIV was like a death sentence. It's not that way today. HIV... You see how they just throw you in the numbers when you black?  But it's definitely not what it used to be when we were kids. I mean, there actually is PrEP, which is a prevention drug that can prevent you from catching HIV if you do come in contact with somebody who has HIV. But look at what you said. According to your stats, in the next three years, everybody's gonna have it. You see what I'm saying? He said 42%. Next year, it'll be another 42%. That'll be 84%. If you say... Two and a half years, 100%.  I would hope not, man. According to your stats... New cases. But we're doing our job. So it's not gonna happen that way. Right?  Hell, it ain't even 20 million niggas in a minute. And why they mixed us in with the brown folks? Brown folks don't be round us. When do they make black folks and brown folks the same folks?  Split us back up.  Every stat they see. Black and brown folks, it was a ridiculous number. I don't want to cut us back out.   Ain't nobody heard nothing from the brown community. Do they know they've been included with us? Brown community, get back to me. Let me know something. I don't like these numbers.  Trust me, I believe the other folks. That's the truth. We got to be safe. We got to be safe. What's their numbers? What they do last year? Who's they?  Aw, man. What they do? What type of numbers they put up? What place they in? Listen, if we a cap for 42%, they only send the black and brown numbers. You don't know? We do. We focus on our community and the reason why we got to catch up. What's the gap? Are we down six or 60? What we doing? You know, that's a great question. That's a great question. They got all the numbers ain't nobody compared. That is a great question because we don't even pay attention to the other community other than ours. And I'm going to tell you why is because what we do with taking our mobile clinics and going into the rural and underserved community, we do testing and treatment and we was at a black college. I'm going to say what college it was and 20 new HIV cases at this black college. Let's go to a white one. Yeah, we actually let's go to a white one. We go to other colleges as well. Let's go to all white ones. Let's go to Alabama or something. Let's see what they do. Let's do it. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. We do that today. We do that today in Florida as well.  See what they got. We're there. Yeah. We're there. I bet they got at least five new cases. Yeah, they do. They do.  They absolutely do. They be kissing in the mouth.   Nah, nah, nah.   But you have to go get tested. You gotta go get tested though, man. We take it for granted unfortunately, man. Who? Who? Us in our community. We don't, none of us here go to the doctor. How many people, how many, this is a lot of people. Black people, please go to the doctor so you can get that. How many of us have to go get checked? Unless it's broken or bleeding, we're not going to the doctor. Exactly. Then you don't know what's wrong with you. That's why we bring our mobile clinics out in the community to actually test people because people do need to get medical treatment unfortunately. And typically, that's not a high percentage of people who have to go to the doctor. They're like, can I have the issues that's priority for us? It's free. It's free. We test it.   At least charge $20.  Man, but again, that's one of the challenges to healthcare because access and having insurance or having the cash should be able to pay it. So we don't want that we do HIV and STD testing. Our mobile clinics safe for healthcare screening. It should be free if you got it. Unfortunately, we can't do that.  Unfortunately, we can't do that. That's a good way to have it. Just wasted your time. Nah, but we rather people know they're satisfied.  We're taking this very seriously and we're going to get with y'all and we're going to ride around all the white schools and see what they get. I'll pay for the gas. I don't want just the stats on the black and brown people. I want stats on the pink people, yellow people. I want all the numbers. With the stats on everybody. Especially in the college world. That's a fact though. Exactly.  We want to make sure we get all the communities even the people who can afford it. We can charge them $20. Yes sir. Because they serve. Yes sir. They should have been new they had. They got insurance. They got insurance. Yes sir. They could have went and got an annual check up. Ain't doubt checking my blood out. Most people are afraid to know. Most people are afraid to find out. They should be. On the college campus you got STD clinics. On every main college campus you got STD clinic. Why they don't go to the STD clinic? You want the school? No. Nobody wants to go to the STD clinic because it says it's a STD clinic. So they don't want to go into it. Our mobile clinic says free medical care. So everybody comes to our mobile clinic and say they're getting a blood check. They're getting a high blood pressure. Whatever the case may be then they can get the STD. So now when they get in there with the white coat they could have a real conversation versus walking into a STD clinic covering their face and going in there. So that's the value of the mobility. Where? Where I hooded with a hat and some glasses. It kind of looked like you but it'd be hard to tell it was you. From far away. Yeah. No matter what the weather is, where hooded. I should put me on the team. I got some great ideas. I agree. We'll do you better than they do Zoom calls, trust me. Oh please. I'm through with Zoom calls.   I got to do the black mark. This is why you think I'm still in here. Yes sir. On a Monday. And we appreciate you having us too. Drop in the info you want the people to have how they can get in touch with you. How you could pull up to if somebody got a spot they want y'all to pull up. Y'all in Florida right? Yeah we're in Florida. We got a gang of people from Florida. We're in Florida but we just launched our nationwide platform HealthyMD where you could order the test kits from home to your home and you could test yourself, ship it back, get a telehealth visit and get your medication shipped to your home. Yeah you do a telehealth visit, do a video camera. It's kind of like Zoom unfortunately. Oh y'all got to Zoom too. I knew it. I knew it. But we try to make it convenient and try to give access to people man. That's really what the whole mission is about right. From when we started back in high school you know in the pharmacy days realizing that our community don't necessarily have the right to get it. So trying to be able to articulate that and get it into a platform and a message where people can palatable and they can understand and they can not necessarily be afraid of what the outcomes may be. Like you said people get ready for the surgeries after the surgeries but until you get to a certain age when it's broken and bleeding is when we start going to the doctor. So we're trying to make it cool for people to take care of their health. There's a lot of things we're trying to do for everybody. I'm going to call you at 11 I'm great at this job I don't even have to look.  And I really thought y'all just going to come up on my show glossy and shiny nails shiny like ain't it was going to be cool.  Trying to fix his wife on the marriage 16 years. And she don't like your shiny pink nails.  My girl's been shot, I stay clean.  We got man hands over here. We rollin' blunts and gettin' dirty. Come on here with these pants and pant nails.  You gon' have the same results. Yeah, you got some beautiful nails, but your liver's failing.   Look at all the men over there. Look what you gon' have shiny pink nails. We outside couldn't grab. I'm 16 years, I got two baby girls. We go as a family.  What's your old excuse?  You got four sons, we gon' see that damn. I'm doing good by doing good, man. That's what I'm doing. Man, this is my business part when we talk to each other like that, man. But I appreciate y'all, man. I appreciate y'all doing what y'all doing for the community. I appreciate you, too. Black men love to get your nails done for you, too.  When that lady say you want jail, you're supposed to say no. You ain't men.  You can't do that. You can't do that. Oh, man. You be like, yo, please me and my baby girls want... Let's say my 13-year-old and my 15-year-old play ball. They play ball heavy. Word.   I'm from Boston. Yeah, so you ain't used to having no yard anyway. No. Exactly. You ain't did it. I did cut grass in Florida.  I cut grass in Florida. That's right there. But all at the same time, I get my nails done because I like to be clean. You do? Yes, sir. All right. Keep doing your thing. I appreciate you. I appreciate you. No, man. Y'all welcome anytime on the black market, whatever y'all got going on. Thank you for having us. When y'all launched the International Joint. Congratulations on going nationwide and keep doing what you're doing. You always welcome on the black market. The black market is over, man. Independent, military, bro. That's right. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank y'all.


The potassium sodium niobate, KNN, a lead-free material, is a promising candidate for replacing PZT in applications such as sensors and actuators due to its environmental friendliness and high efficiency. However, producing pure KNN ceramic with a high density and a uniform, fine-grained microstructure is challenging. Various methods have been developed to address these issues, including solid-state synthesis, centering, and special centering techniques. Solid-state synthesis produces KNN powders with low densities and large grain sizes, while centering requires careful control over the temperature and atmosphere to avoid coarsening and achieve densification. Pressure-assisted centering and spark plasma centering have proven successful in achieving higher densities than conventional centering. This article was authored by Barbara Malik, Jurij Karuza, Jika Hreskak, and others.