Well, thank you very much, President Grundy, for the invitation to come here to the U.S. Institute of Peace and to address issues of the relationship between the United States and Vietnam, a bit about the relationship between the United States, Laos, and Cambodia, and certainly a special welcome to all of you who have journeyed from Southeast Asia to come and join this two-day conference. Thank you for being invested in a future with a positive, strong partnership between the United States and the countries of Southeast Asia. I do want to follow up on the President's recognition of the passing of Senior Lieutenant-General Wenqi Wen, former Vice Minister of Defense. Wenqi was an absolutely key architect in building the relationship between the United States and Vietnam, particularly over the remediation of dioxin. And I have with me a copy of a speech that Senator Lehi gave in March of 2021 in which he paid tribute. And I just thought I would read a couple of paragraphs to remind us of this key relationship and the contributions that he made. So these are the words of Senator Lehi, Mr. President, he's addressing the President of the Senate, Mr. President, I want to pay tribute to one of Vietnam's highest-ranking military officers, Senior Lieutenant-General Wenqi Wen. General Wen, who has served as Vietnam's Deputy Minister of National Defense since 2009, has played an indispensable role in the reconciliation between Vietnam and the United States. After more than four decades of military service, he is finally near in retirement from the Ministry of National Defense. The speech goes on for several pages, but I just thought I'd cite one other paragraph. General Wen has been my principal Vietnamese counterpart in working to address the legacy of dioxin contamination at the former U.S. military bases and the needs of Vietnamese with severe physical and cognitive disabilities resulting from exposure to dioxin. I consider him a friend and I'm grateful for the hospitality he has shown me, my wife Marcel, and other senators who have visited Vietnam. Each significant positive effort takes champions on both sides of the relationship, and certainly Lieutenant-General Wen was a champion and he will be missed. In April, I had the privilege of leading a congressional delegation to Vietnam with the express purpose of sustaining the war legacy programs that former Senator Patrick Leahy had worked for years to establish. His key staff member in this effort, Tim Reiser, is here and if Tim could stand for a minute, I'd just like to recognize him for all the decades now. He did this work in the context of being the clerk for the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, but I think he would have managed to accomplish this work no matter what official position he held and since Senator Leahy's retirement he's continued to really facilitate the connections between our nations. These programs mean a lot to me personally and I've thought about why they resonate so much and the story really begins when I'm just a little tight and my father and mechanic would come home and after dinner we would watch the evening news and on the news in the early mid-60s and then forward would be clips from the war in Vietnam and I have this memory of asking my mother about war, how long could a war last, this conflict and asking her if it could last more than a week, more than a month, more than a year and each time her affirming that yes it could last longer than that and it was hard for me as just a little guy to get my hands around a conflict that could endure with so much carnage for such a length of time. And then I started to realize that this was a war that in which young men were conscripted, drafted by the United States and sent to serve. I lived in a blue-collar community. In that community when people's draft number was called there wasn't a lot of discussion about being a conscientious objector or a lot of discussion about college deferment. I'm the first in my family to go to college, very few people I knew had gone to college and so the context was this might be something that I might be sent to that war. Well, that focuses the mind but as it turned out in June of 1973 the official authority for conscripting Americans ended. That was almost exactly a year before I graduated high school. So I wasn't drafted and I didn't face the choices that I might have faced about deferment or conscientious objection. But off I went to college with a strong interest in international affairs and immediately launched in some courses on international affairs and I learned a whole lot about the war. And I just came to believe that the entire enterprise was a terrible, tragic mistake. So many deaths in Vietnam where every family was touched, so many deaths in American families, so many injuries American soldiers were bringing home all for a severely flawed theory of international security. So when I learned about Senator Leahy's programs to heal the wounds of war it just like this is the right thing to do. I want to help sustain these programs as Senator Leahy retires. That's how I ended up leading a congressional delegation to Vietnam this last April. One of the Leahy war legacy programs is to clean up the remaining hotspots of docks in contamination from Agent Orange called such because the barrels had an orange stripe that went around them. The Agent Orange is a defoliant, it's cancer causing, it causes genetic defects, it's highly toxic and we sprayed incredible amounts across the landscape of Vietnam to make it easier to see the deployment of Vietnamese soldiers. The U.S. stacked thousands of these barrels at the Air Force bases and many of those barrels leaked resulting in deep contamination at Da Nang and Bien Hoa and the U.S. decontamination program that Lieutenant General Vinh helped to partner in tackled Da Nang Air Force base first and that had already been fully cleaned up by the time our delegation went in April. We built a giant oven, then excavated and baked incredible amounts of dirt to basically neutralize that docks and Bien Hoa Air Force base was next and while most of that work is still ahead of us, some tenure agenda ahead of us, a piece has been completely decontaminated and re-landscaped as the peace park. And at one end of the park is a bench, the Lehi Bench. Inscribed into that bench is a quote from Senator Lehi saying, we cannot change history but together we can build a better future. I think that's just a powerful, beautiful sentiment. That's what the war legacy programs are all about. We cannot change what came before but we can shape what lies ahead of us, former enemies working together to build a better future. Those war legacy programs operated really in two ways. One level is addressing the physical wounds of war. A second is building relationships through which we can partner on other projects. But let me address the components of that first level. The first is, as I mentioned, the cleaning up the docks and hotspots docks and again generates birth defects, causes cancer, the birth defects can be passed down through generations and America must remain engaged and clean up Bien Hoa Air Base. Completion of that project is estimated to take, well, about half a billion dollars and ten years. So we have to stay the course. Now when I went to college in my first year and my first international relations course, we saw a film about the United States involvement in Vietnam and those of us in the course felt it so powerfully, so personally that this was our generation's tragedy. Then four years later, I taught that course, I was a teaching assistant for that course and I took my students to that same movie and they saw it differently. They saw it as a previous generation's mistake and that kind of difference of four years span. Well, it's important that those of us who feel it personally, we're getting older, I'm 66 as General Vinh was, that we maintain this connection to our responsibilities on these warlike programs. We make sure that others who are younger than us understand the connection and the responsibility as well. We have now invested about $140 million in programs to assist individuals who are suffering disabilities triggered by dioxin. Those funds support programs for medical and rehabilitation services, prosthetic and orthotic devices, physical, occupational, speech therapy, training and support for caregivers, access to public transportation and promotion of disability rights and inclusion. These investments need to continue. Third, we're working to locate and clear unexploited ordinance. Since 1993, the U.S. government has assisted in the removal of hundreds of thousands of unexploded mines. I've seen different numbers ranging from 400,000 to 750,000. What a huge number of mines, and often cluster munition bomblets. But that number of hundreds of thousands, it's a drop in the bucket when you consider that an estimated 800,000 tons of unexploded ordinance remains scattered across Vietnam. And those cluster munitions, they can lay hidden for decades until a plow hits them or a child picks one up, it explodes and kills those or maims those who are nearby. This is really why I fiercely opposed the use of cluster munitions in the Ukrainian war this year. Since the 1970s, over 100,000 people have been hurt or killed by the delayed explosion of these munitions. So we have to continue to work on the cleanup, to fund the work of the cleanup. However difficult, however tedious it might be. Fourth, we have to continue to provide care and assistive technologies to those who have been injured by the explosions. And there is a fifth component to these war legacy programs. Vietnam has, for a substantial amount of time, helped identify the remains of American soldiers and return their remains back to the United States. And for that, we are deeply, deeply grateful. The United States now has a program in which it is assisting Vietnam in using the best DNA technology in the world to help locate and return the remains of Vietnamese martyrs. This program helps recover these wandering souls, as they are referred to, who have been lost for half a century after dying in battle and return them to their families. And while the war in Vietnam was incredibly public, we cannot forget that the United States also fought a secret war in Cambodia and Laos. In Cambodia, it's estimated that the United States dropped 26 million cluster bomblets. Since 1979, about 65,000 Cambodians have been hurt or killed by these moms. Today there are 25,000 Cambodians living with limb loss as a result of unexploded ordnance that exploded. It's the highest ratio per capita in the world. And Laos. Laos is estimated to be the most heavily bombed country in the world, bombed by the United States. It's estimated the U.S. dropped 270 million cluster bombs in Laos, where 10 times the amount dropped in Cambodia. And about a third of them failed to explode, and they're still hidden across the countryside. So the United States needs to do all it can to work with Laos and Cambodia in partnership to address the finding and removal of these munitions, just as we have in Vietnam. Earlier this week I met with the Ambassador from Laos, and we discussed ensuring that the United States and Laos continue to work together to find and remove these cluster munitions. So I mentioned that on the first level, these war legacy programs were about addressing the physical wounds of war. But on another level, they're about building a relationship, a relationship of cooperation, a planning, a partnership, of execution of those plans between our two nations, and that that partnership can be the foundation for working on many other issues, from building a stronger economic partnership, a thriving Vietnamese manufacturing economy, working on issues of the environment or issues of security. Now this cooperation was not inevitable. You know, the feelings in the course of war run deep, and we could have chosen on one side or the other, or both sides, to remain bitter enemies. But that is not the choice that we have made. We have chosen together to build a better future, and we have to keep investing in that choice, that choice of partnership for the future. The relationship between our two governments is growing. In addition to the war legacy programs, Vietnam has participated in a number of our exchange programs in which we sponsor individuals to come to the United States. In a previous capacity, I was head of the World Affairs Council of Oregon, and we hosted the International Visitors Leadership Program, and in that program we hosted any number of delegations from Vietnam. There are now more than 7,000 Vietnamese alumni of U.S. government-sponsored exchange programs. We had most recently a delegation from Vietnam in my home state of Oregon in March. And I invite all of you to come visit the most beautiful and wonderful state in the United States of America. This past December, I worked to accelerate the confirmation of a new director of the Peace Corps, Carol Spahn. We got it done just in time for her to travel to Vietnam in December at Christmas time to swear in the first ever group of Peace Corps volunteers. I think that makes it Vietnam, the 143rd country to partner in the Peace Corps. And to allow Peace Corps members to be in Vietnam, that is a significant symbol of growing trust in the relationship between our nations. I was really pleased to be able to meet those Peace Corps members while I was there. And prominent diplomatic visits, accelerating. Secretary Blinken visited Vietnam in April. I heard about his upcoming visit and mentioned it in some conversation with the press, and I was informed that it had not been officially announced yet. Word had pretty well spread, so it wasn't too bad of faux pas, but you never know when you're going to make a mistake when you're wearing a microphone. But I was so pleased that Secretary Blinken was going. And it helped pave the way for President Biden to visit this past Sunday, where he and General Secretary Trong upgraded the US-Vietnam partnership to a comprehensive, strategic partnership. And that is a tremendous goal point to accomplish. And so thank you to leadership of Vietnam and the United States for accomplishing that new relationship. And in the near future, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chin will be visiting the United States, so we will be walking him shortly. These visits, they underscore great strides that we have made together. Since the normalization of relations in 1995 and the potential for working together on issues related to economy, security, the environment, let me just highlight a few of the areas where we can continue to build our relationship. First, we can together work to build a prosperous, secure future across the Indo-Pacific. Strengthening the rules based international order, providing security for all nations and promoting shared prosperity. Working together through ASEAN, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, other multinational institutions and platforms to strengthen commerce, strengthen supply chains. We can work together.  We can work together to accelerate our mutual transition to renewable energy. This is something that has to happen incredibly fast. We see the impacts in the United States. We see the impacts in Vietnam. These last nine years have been the hottest on record in the world. This last July 4th was the hottest day in the history of human occupation on our human presence on this planet. And as Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos move up the manufacturing value chain, more multinational corporations want to move production to countries with 100% renewable clean energy. Well, then building that clean energy infrastructure will be indispensable to realizing that vision. And I don't need to tell anyone here that Southeast Asia, in particular the Mekong Delta, is incredibly susceptible to the impacts of climate change from the warmer temperatures, rising sea levels, salt infiltration, challenging the fertility of soils, floods, more powerful storms, so forth. And speaking to the Mekong Delta, we can work together on some of the challenges like sustainable fisheries, countering chemical contamination, cleaning up plastic pollution, restoring habitats. I am proud to lead in partnership with Senator Sullivan. Alaska, a bipartisan resolution in the U.S. Senate, recognized the importance of the Mekong Delta to Southeast Asia and the role of the Mekong United States partnership for promoting prosperity. We know that our two nations will not always see eye-to-eye on every issue. We have different histories. We have different forms of government. But we can use the foundation that has come from the war legacy programs and the cooperation on these other programs. We can use that to have this sort of relationship where we can discuss those differences and work to resolve them. Together our countries can build a new future that is prosperous for all, that respects human rights, that addresses climate chaos, that protects natural resources. And I was very, very struck while sitting on the Lehi bench at the Peace Park about a symbol of our countries going forward together. If you sit on that bench and you stare across the park, you will see at the other end that there are two fighter planes. But those fighter planes are not facing each other in confrontation. Instead, they are mounted parallel to each other, side-by-side with each other, representing our partnership going forward together in the same direction. One plane, Vietnamese, one plane, an American fighter, side-by-side, flying into the future together. That was a beautiful representation to me because suddenly those fighters in the Peace Park are not about war, they're about partnership. Earlier this year, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chin said, between negotiation and confrontation, we choose negotiation. Between dialogue and conflict, we choose dialogue. And between peace and war, we choose peace. Negotiation, dialogue, peace. Failing to make those choices in the past brought war and suffering. But choosing them now is a path to a far better future. Thank you. Mr. Senator, thank you for your leadership and thank you for your comments this morning. With your permission, we'd like to pick up on just a few of the aspects of your discussion. The first, you touched on the fact that you have sponsored with someone from the other side of the aisle, with a Republican senator. Important legislation then looks at the Mekong Delta. How have you seen both Democratic leaders and Republican leaders react to the elevation of our relationship with Vietnam into a comprehensive strategic partnership? The reaction has been extremely positive. There is a sense that we share mutually beneficial opportunities. And as I think about, for example, right now, what I saw in Vietnam was a rapidly expanding first world economy. And as I went from meeting to meeting, a number of people pointed out that the goal of the country is to be developed on a par with other southeast Asian economies like South Korea or Taiwan. By the year 2040, that's not very far away. To do that requires an incredibly fast investment by the world to produce parts for the international supply chain. And so Vietnam has a strong interest in the economic partnership with the United States of America. And we have a strong interest. And many of our companies that have been operating primarily in China are looking to move and to move to part of its driven by the Chinese treatment of the Uyghur community and a lot of the production that is done with slave labor wanting to move to an alternative. And so this is happening incredibly fast. And I mean, I was just stunned by the level of development that I saw, modern infrastructure, modern light rail being built, so on and so forth, at a pace that I was a little jealous, actually, I could bring some of that to Oregon. And so I think the reaction has been that that's very positive, that we have some mutual security interests too in terms of the dynamics of Southeast Asia. And so that there's a lot of opportunity here. Senator, you've talked about the beginning of this new phase of our relationship, our friendship, through the elevation of our formal state-to-state relations into this comprehensive strategic partnership. If this is the beginning, it suggests that there will be ups and there will be downs as we go forward. What do you think some of the highlights are going to be and we're very interested in your reflections on what you think some of the obstacles are, some of the things that we're together as Vietnam and the United States are going to have to face and find solutions for? Yes, so, well, I've mentioned a number of the ups. I think the Warlegsy programs, not only were the right moral thing to do, but they have been so helpful to so many people and they have provided a foundation for dialogue that has led to connections. And for example, the connection between Senator Lehi and his team member Tim Reeser and Vietnamese leaders, those friendships, and they were friendships built over time, are very meaningful in working on other issues. I guess I really feel like in addition to the substance of the programs, it's the relationships that bode well for the future. In terms of the challenges, every issue is complex. Anything easy has already been done, so therefore everything you're seeking to do is challenging by definition. And so whether it's in the economic sphere or in the security sphere, nothing is simple. And so we'll have to iron those out. Perhaps the most significant issue we'll have to wrestle with is that our two nations carry often a different approach to the issue of citizen speech and commentary. And so this issue of freedom of speech and the ability of citizens to weigh in on issues and challenges and not face retribution for that is something our two nations will definitely have a lot of conversations about and wrestle with. Senator, you described in a very compelling way why this issue has meant so much to you personally. And we think of the extraordinary role that fellow senators, Senator Lehi, Senator McCain, and Senator Kerry have played in shaping, committing to propelling this extraordinary 50-year reconciliation process. Where do you want to see that process go next? So those individuals, Senator Kerry, Senator McCain, and certainly Senator Lehi, they did invest enormous effort to make this connection. And you have both Senator McCain and Senator John Kerry having been in the Vietnam War, carrying that connection. Of course, Senator McCain having been imprisoned. And emotionally, it's so powerful to see those who were directly involved with the war behind them and build friendships and connections and call for us to be on a different path. Those of us who are coming after, we did not serve in the Vietnam War. I feel the connection by having kind of barely missed the war and having studied it carefully and had strong feelings about it. But that connection will be less over time for those who are more separated, as my students were, who were only four years behind me in college. So we have to carry this connection forward, and it will change a shape. But let's make sure that we keep the foundation in place so we keep investing and completing vision of the war legacy programs. Let's have more senators visit Vietnam and visit Cambodia and Laos. Laos, by the way, is going to be hosting ASEAN for this coming year. So it's a very good moment of reason for people to say, let's make that trip. The senator who went with me, Senator Chris Van Hollen, is the chair of the subcommittee on Southeast Asia of the Foreign Relations Committee, which I also serve on. So he's going to be a powerful partner in this. Senator Coons, who chairs the appropriation or the spending committee that Senator Leahy led and that Tim Reiser served as the clerk for, he being Chris Coons, Senator Coons, is keenly interested in supporting programs. So let's keep building the conversation, make sure we complete that vision, but then there'll be so many more newer conversations about security, about the economy, about the environment. And so I just look forward to bringing in senators who are concerned about or interested in that whole set. And then, Senator, if you allow a final question. The reconciliation process between Vietnam and the United States is, in fact, the longest reconciliation process in the entire modern period. It's lasted 50 years and has gone from milestone to milestone and now from strength to strength. When we look at other conflicts around the world, what would be the advice that you would give leaders in countries that are war, about how to end them and how to reconcile? Well, that's a pretty powerful question, a broad question. But let me start by just recognizing that time period. So I mentioned that 1973, June of 1973 is when the U.S. ended the induction process of folks whose draft number had come up. Well, here we are, June of 2023 is exactly 50 years. So it is half a century process of work, of investment in relationships and programs. The relationship that was most talked about as I was growing up was reconciliation with Germany from World War II and how the Marshall Plan had been a key part of investing in a prosperous Germany and building a foundation for other relationships. So we have that example. We have the Vietnamese example. Here's what we know. When countries have a conflict, leaders often lead a conversation in which they devalue the humanity of the opponent. And that was certainly true in our conflict in World War II and our conflict in Vietnam because it's easier to be at war in which you are looking down the scope of a rifle or dropping, pushing a button to drop a bomb if you've dehumanized the opponent. But we know that that dehumanization is false. We know that the same kind of set of human values exist and reverberate in every culture. And so we have to resist that type of leadership that calls out for dehumanizing others. And we have to recognize for any given conflict that if big conflicts of the past could be ended, and bridges created that were probably almost impossible to imagine when in the conflict or shortly after the conflict, then we know that it can be done in the existing situations. This entire United States Institute of Peace facilitates dialogue, facilitates cooperation in an effort to help kind of build pathways to end conflicts or heal wounds or build relationships. And so let me just end by saying that work is absolutely critical. My first experience on Capitol Hill was an intern for Senator Hatfield. And Senator Hatfield had been one of the first members of the Navy into Hiroshima after the dropping of the atom bomb. And he became a lifelong advocate for diminishing the threat of nuclear weapons. And he and Senator Ted Kennedy, a Republican and a Democrat, worked together in the nuclear freeze movement. They then planted together a tree that is extinct in North America for millions of years. It happens to be the Oregon State fossil. And this tree was found still growing in China. And it's referred now to as a dawn redwood. Well, you will find that tree growing in the path if you walk from my office across the open grounds to the Senate chamber. I pass it multiple times every day. And I have put a plaque on it talking about the peace tree. Well, the connection here is that if you have individuals who are dedicated to building relationships, to building a vision of peace, who are partnering across the aisle, we can build a much better future. Now that peace tree is now the tallest tree on the Capitol grounds. It was not when I was elected 15 years ago. And I wrote up in a pamphlet that when the peace tree became the tallest tree on the grounds, perhaps we'd see a new era of peace in the world. Well, I'm not sure that that vision has been accomplished. But let's rededicate ourselves in the context of our relationship with former enemies that are now partners. Let's rededicate ourselves to building on the work, the work that this U.S. Institute of Peace has involved in relationships and partnerships to build toward a more prosperous future. Resolve our differences through dialogue to choose dialogue, as the Prime Minister said, to choose partnership and cooperation rather than war. Mr. Senator, thank you. I hope everyone joins me in thanking the Senator. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you.


In the Bible, Jesus makes one heck of a promise that all of us who are believers, that is, if indeed we are, you and I, that all of us were given to him by the Father. And all of us that were given, we certainly will indeed come. As a matter of fact, the will of those that come to him, Jesus says that he will raise up every last one of us in the last days. And Jesus' promise in verse 39 of chapter 6 of John says that he will not lose one. Not one person will be lost, none. And then to wrap up this promise in John 6.47, he says that anyone, the one that believes in him, he says that he has life right now, eternal life. E.K., which is the Greek word for have, is present tense. You have it right now. In other words, you have life going into eternity, when? Right now. That is an awesome promise. And don't let anyone move you off of that promise by giving you any doubt. Amen.


Hi guys Eddie here with another video today. We're going to be discussing negative interest rates So they've been a really hot topic this week. So hopefully I'm gonna demystify this concept for you first of all I think it's useful to go through the basics. So what is interest? It's essentially the cost of borrowing money typically expressed as an annual percentage of a loan So for savers it's effectively the rate your bank or building society will pay you for borrowing money So the money you earn on those savings is called interest Okay, so the interest charged on a loan. So when you borrow money, you pay back the original amount plus interest Okay, so let's say you borrow a thousand pounds from a bank. If your loan attracts an interest rate of around 10% You'll have to pay back a thousand pound plus 10% so 1100 pounds in total after let's say one year. Okay, so negative interest rates That means the bank would pay you 10% for taking out a loan which sounds kind of crazy, right? So bear with me. In terms of the interest rate on savings So let's say you put a thousand pounds in a saving account typically earning Let's say 2% or 3% if you're lucky annually So that will be 20 pound in interest that you'll receive after one year. So let's say a thousand and 20 pounds or something like that So negative interest rates for savers means that you will have to pay the bank 2% So that 20 pound for keeping a thousand pound in the bank account sounds crazy But this is now unfortunately the new reality. So six countries currently have a Around about six countries have a negative deposit rate at the moment three have negative interest rate There's lots of countries as a result of the coronavirus now at that kind of zero lower bound So the EU and Japan are already negative countries like the UK Closest to home in New Zealand and now pricing in negative rates as well as the United States and world's obviously largest economy Their two-year guilt for the UK is actually negative already and central banks have been doing this actually for around Ten years. So look at the bank of Japan. They are actually the top shareholder in almost 40% of the publicly traded companies so Can't shake the feeling so US policy makers are actually struggling to shake off the notion that interest rates could go negative So Jerome Powell spoke on Wednesday and said we're absolutely not looking at this as a policy tool But actually the markets have not reacted to this and basically done what Jerome Powell said and they're still pricing in now The April 2021 Fed funds futures contract is now pricing in negative rates The July 2021 contract implied a policy rate of negative 0.3% on Thursday. Okay, so US rates are they about to go negative? So mr. Power she came out on Wednesday They basically all the Fed governors came out said this is not something we're basically looking at So Sweden Switzerland Etc have basically struggled to contain the backlash from banks and savers that when they've used negative rates So this Fed fund futures rate was basically cut to around 0 to 0.25 percent In an emergency action when the markets the equity markets sold off around March 23rd Okay, this sent shockwaves through markets. So you'd think actually According to economic theory when you cut interest rates, that's basically cheaper money Okay So when you do that you would expect equity markets to essentially react positively But actually the markets basically looked into that kind of announcement and that emergency cut and thought actually if the Fed Cutting and loosening and basically cutting to 0% interest rates They see something really really bad in the forward-looking data. So this actually led markets to actually sell off Okay, and this is actually something now that if we do have a second wave of this coronavirus Which is looking extra likely at the moment You know this notion of negative rates is actually something the Fed are gonna struggle To shake off because they are already at that zero bound They've got no bullets left in the chamber and Donald Trump is a vocal advocate of negative rates Describing them as a gift to the economy Struggling under the weight of something like coronavirus. So who are the winners from something like negative rates? So Businesses so this is essentially cheaper money So borrowing it in low rates will basically decrease their debt servicing costs their interest payments and thus Hopefully increased profitability may also lead to more capex of capital expenditures Which in turn may lead to productivity gains in the future equities So for example when you're valuing a company or an equity lower rates will actually translate into a lower weighted average Cost of capital and should hypothetically Increase the present value of the future cash flows therefore Implying a higher implied per share value for mortgage owners. This is also good news So people around the country may be living in houses like on the slide floating rate mortgages Payments will actually decrease. So this will increase Discretionary income and it will also be cheaper to actually get a mortgage exporters so let's say UK companies that do a Huge amount of their revenue actually Exporting their goods the currency as a result of an elucid of financial conditions in terms of lowering interest rates should Theoretically the currency should fall in response This is because capital will flow out from the UK as an example Into other countries with higher interest rates or higher yields So this is good for exporters because their goods are now more attractive to foreign importers as a result of that FX impact So let's look at the losers from negative interest rates. So banks So lower rates actually puts pressure on their net interest margins And this is a difference between that what they borrow out and lend that so lowering their banks profitability This will actually punish Banks from parking money at central banks and this will actually hypothetically encourage them to lend which is not actually the consensus view of what we've seen in Countries like Japan and Europe. So the savings rate is essentially where obviously Individuals keep their money. This will be slashed even further than it already has So savers actually may move money out of their savings account and actually hunt for yield in more riskier assets Like equities. So if you're an unsophisticated investor, this could lead to severe capital losses So there is evidence that the European central banks minus 0.5% interest rate has eaten into banks profits and the policy could have a similar Effect elsewhere. In fact, while average mortgage rates have been falling to all-time lows Some lenders have been raising their rates because they've been overwhelmed by the loan requests particularly from home owner home owners eager to refinance and save negative rates as for a kind of upside for banks would bail out the small banks But for savers, this is essentially a tax on your savings. So a Bank of America strategist came out Mark Kibana said I think it would be very negative connotation to have a saver who has worked so hard to make money and Wants to try and be prudent by saving it that to them be taxed on that when you think about like that It's absolute madness. So let's have a look at the banks hedging. So Essentially investors and analysts furthering on to the point they discussed earlier in the video Unwilling to rule out the possibility of negative rates and this is despite obviously Jerome power and all the Fed governors Essentially coming out. So banks have actually been hedging and some of the world's largest banks have been hedging their US Kind of rate volatility and this actually sparked a flurry of concern that the Fed could cut interest rates below Zero for the first time. So the rates are on the basically the Fed fund futures And these are this is a key tool for investors seeking to bet or hedge against interest rate shifts And this popped above a hundred last week This is a signal from the market that essentially the negative policy rates were on their way But this has actually been pushed back by some senior traders active in the market saying few funds or banks are actually betting on the Fed Following peers in you in the in Europe in Japan to negative rates So instead some banks are actually trying to protect themselves and their clients against this high risk state So this is something called tail risk. Okay, and this time stems in part from swaps contract So this is a basically a tool that Wall Street uses to provide companies Enabling their clients to swap a stream of floating rate payments in exchange for a fixed rate Payment and this is to basically shield them from the volatility in the benchmark interest rates So in a vicious cycle the more hedging that goes on through the market the stronger stronger those expectations for negative rates Actually become so these Fed fund futures markets are not that deep So one or two really large banks when they kind of start to execute these trades That's enough to start pushing things and once that started senior bankers from all over the world have said they're getting Loads of calls regarding if rates are going to go negative and it almost becomes its own self-fulfilling Prophecy so this is something that is a kind of strategy of mine or something that I believe that will happen So pal has kind of shown his hand So if you flash back all the way to March We had essentially an artificial tightening of financial conditions And this is essentially where the market pricing was tighter than what the Fed fund futures Or the Fed funds rate was actually at and this actually tightens find that financial conditions artificially So if markets were going to have another Sell-off this could prove And test the Fed's resolve so what happened in March essentially is equity markets sold off And this actually reduced the pricing In terms of the interest rate the market was pricing for lower rates or lower than the Fed funds futures The Fed funds rate was actually at so if that Fed rate stays above the market pricing this tightens financial conditions So if we see another kind of equity sell-off, we're going to see the markets dramatically pricing for this lower interest rate Okay, and if that stays above the Fed the Fed fund rate stays above that That's an artificial tightening of conditions and Bank of America have actually come out and said negative US rates could lead to a retest of stock markets and again This is that signaling from the from the Federal Reserve that the markets just do not like So I hope this video was useful if you haven't already Subscribe to the channel turn on post notifications and you'll be alerted when there's any other video like this from myself Anthony will or Sam coming with a technical analysis on Sunday night. Take care. Have a lovely weekend And I hope you enjoyed


What's going on everyone? Sam here with late in sports cards ripping two boxes of 2022 leaf autograph football jerseys for Richard K So good luck here Richard.  That would be fun. I'd be very happy with a couple of big names for you Here we go. All right taking off Viking Chris doleman Nice one there for the Vikings. That's gonna be inscribed Hall of Fame 2012 as well. Nice one there, man 56 Vikings legend Chris doleman Take that for sure again one more look at the the top that is Beckett certified Chris doleman Chris doleman Beckett BGS certified take a Hall of Famer to start not too bad not too bad Hated him as a Packers fan. Yeah, he was a beast man He was a beast. All right box number two. Good luck here Richard Oh, is that some That's who I think it is right nice Thurman Thomas for the bills Huge signature on that one too. Look at a sig on that man. That is awesome There it is Thurman Thomas Beckett certified Giant signature right on the four really nice one there Richard. We'll take some Thurman Thomas. That's awesome Nice one there. Let's go dude So awesome Congrats Richard. Absolutely man. Yeah, he's got a beautiful auto. That'll do it for your break there Richard Thanks again for jumping in these jerseys are such a blast to rip. So thanks for doing that We'll get them right out to you buddy. Appreciate it


Spatial transcriptomics technologies are rapidly advancing and providing valuable insight into tissue structure and function. These techniques enable researchers to obtain gene expression information from intact tissue sections in their original physiological context, allowing for a better understanding of cellular interactions with the microenvironment. Additionally, computational strategists such as R and Python packages are used to analyze the data, enabling researchers to derive important bioinformation and overcome technical limitations. Future developments will likely involve the use of more advanced imaging techniques and the integration of spatial transcriptomic data with other types of data, such as proteins and metabolites. This article was offered by Jundu, Yuchen Yang, Fijian, and others.


Going on everyone Sam here with late in sports cards. I've been 23 penina Don rest elite football hobby six box half case break number 14 Random team style. There's a look again at your random results as always can find those on the website under the results tab as well As a link in chat. Thank you all again for your selling this out selling everything out tonight I really do appreciate it. Let's get into this. We've got NT after and we'll finish up with 10 bucks Tuesday And witherspoon to 79 Again always just gonna be for base cards after a numbered card If there's an auto, it'll be the second card high life. So it'll be there instead. It'll be three base Anton Harrison to 999 Patrick Peterson for the Steelers to 49 again That's a Steelers card as you can see signed by the Steelers Kshom DT There's Chad Rylan to 399 He's telling me to mute his mic He's telling me to mute his mic Jackson Smith and Jane Bob Can I imagine what you're saying? Can we pull that video ever? I don't know, hopefully There's Jacory and Bennett to 999 Craftsman Matt Stafford one of 99 two-color patch nice one rams Just imagine what was going on Green to 399 Trevor Lawrence Staff Infection God Stafford There's Jonathan Mingo to 999 Stetson Bennett Penpal's Auto nice one there rams That's my fantasy quarterback I know that's why I said that Stafford's taking us to the Promise Land again this year like it's 2022 Allen Robinson to 2021 Allen Robinson He's taking my team to the Promise Land like it's 2021 all over again like it's one Super Bowl Jalen Hyatt Did you imagine if I had two Pete dude if I go back to back 349 Devin Dovernight like I don't even know if I want to play anymore There's no competition You're not going back to back CD Land to 140 Land? You had to split it with somebody last year Still a champion Still a champion Justin Jefferson You had to go to the game with Gus and Jake with three That was enough of a punishment Yeah There's Jakes Patrick Zartan I was a Jakes Zartan Jacob 3 Drake London on the track to 399 We'll see it all starts next week Aaron Rodgers to 299 I know we play each other too Adam do you have anybody you have a lion or a chief? To be honest with you I have no idea I have a chief There's Jalen Waddle who do you have One of you and I'm a homeless Oh true Ampacheco I think right Yeah that's a big game on Thursday Let's go lions baby Let's go dolphins Let's champ in 3 Wow before it shut down I lose most others Fair Chris Fair It's pretty impressive to win 3 out of 4 years Trevor Lawrence We've got title waves of Garrett Wilson to 25 Nice one there for the Jets Jonathan Mingo to 999 Justin Fields to 375 Going to the Bears Jalen Hyatt Isaiah Pacheco No I don't Justin Tucker to 399 See how much ground I'm gonna have to make up Well the only issue is I don't have cup this week Finish second Four years straight Oh my god That's Justin Fields to 149 I'd rather not make the playoffs Than finish second dude Justin Jefferson that's tough dude You're not first or last True We were last last year That's what you're saying Yeah There's Micah Parsons I don't count last year because I was co-managing Someone who has no clue True Sanders to 59 Co-managing is not good Communication is not good Right that's what I'm saying Hobbes That's what I'm saying dude Darnell Wright to 999 There's Sean Clifford Pennfels Penn State Green Bay Packer Kyle Sand Oh god There's a couple of degenerates right there Oh yeah they were all about that Sean BT You guys don't do it No I don't Chill bro I'd relax Miles Murphy to 999 Derek Hall Nice one there to 49 For the Seahawks on the auto I didn't even collect I just have him wait till next year Honestly I don't at least never have to pay your league dues Nice Jackson Smith and Jigba Garrett Williams to 399 Batleague won it two years ago for the first time Nice 1,500 on a 130 buy-in Damn That's wild dude That's what's up Dave Laysen That's awesome Laysen That's a come up right there Kirk Cousins to 25 Dude the blacks look really good That's what I have to say That is going to be Jalen Hertz to 349 Third three years in a row Ooh nice MVP bound Patrick Mahomes on the short print Patrick LeVon Mahomes The second You can throw that one in the recap They are dude Sir Tan Get Rob out of here 10 years buy-in That is true 10 years buy-in It's kind of wild dude 10 years buy-in is kind of insane Chiefs oh that's you right Yeah Chris nice dude The goat bounds are nice Those are like one a case generally There's Montana Mahomes There's one other guy I forget who it is Hertz maybe Desmond Rader 399 Yeah Montana Mahomes for sure And there's one other guy in that set Last year it was just Brady There's Aaron Rodgers So it's cool to see multiple new guys in there And a Daily Fantasy Sports MLB Mike Willis how much did you win on that one If you take first especially in like draft kings That's nuts Kenneth Walker black to 25 One of my buddies had been one of my draft kings Oh yeah Cedric Tillman Patrick Sir Tan the first To 149 for the Finns That's pretty cool Patrick Sir Tan Wait is that That's a PS2 on a PS1 That's not working That's not the way it's supposed to be That's not daddy Alright we'll send an empty box and wrapper with that It's like the little mellow Were you here when we pulled the car mellow Yeah It's like the car mellow all over here Pretty sure that's a Patrick Sir Tan The second auto That would make sense that it's a PS2 auto Yes So we'll send an empty box and wrapper with Miami Shit There's Michael Meyer No that's not working No Alright it's established and run as a side job That's pretty cool Uh Joe Burrow There you go Chris Uh Chad Ryland to 399 Filler Tyjay Spears to 999 Deuce Vaughn Penpal's Auto for the Cowboys Jack Campbell to 999 There's 28 of 49 Devontae Adams Pretty basically Gary To Bryce Young What did you say? Every minute it goes behind me closer and closer Justin Herbert Dorrell Rivas Anton Harrison to 399 Yeah closer and closer to what? Lose it Lose it There's the 75 Field Vision Derek Henry These are clean dude Yeah it is worth it if you do it right That's a good point honestly Jay Blasen That is a very good point What? Rookie on deck Jameer Gibbs It's worth like daily fantasy sports if you play it Play it like right Stefan Diggs I think Rob's losing it There's George Kittle to 349 I think Rob's losing it too CD Lamb to 149 Quentin Johnson Shit fair Fair The Black Parallel is nice What do you think their excuse is going to be tomorrow? Why they lost it? I don't know man I mean there really is no excuse The best way for them to do it is to say You know what, yeah But we're good friends Breton Strange to 999 We come back Another Patrick Certan on a Patrick Certan Yes two of us dad Again Nice one there You have the boxing rapper there Dolphins who has Miami Wade Marvin Mims Gold 10 of 10 I was going to say I don't think that's Certan Seniors auto It can't be No We'll love this I don't think so Look it up when you get a chance to Patrick Certan auto You're right that's what I'm saying Patrick Mahomes Yeah or like Dolphins auto To 999 George Kittle DK Mecca No Mr. Certan right I think so That's him Yeah let me Here let me do this Jamal Williams I'm going to look it up on eBay real quick Just to make sure Because there might be able to Certan Dad signs his full name with a 23 Good signs PS2 Yeah well yeah there's one from Elite That has the PS2 auto on it Yeah his dad That's his dad's auto It's like full on signing his name Yeah Yeah that's not even close What a bot Clayton Tune Red Tune 85 There's a Deuce Vaughn to 999 Moxie Tua to 375 Yeah that's not bad actually owner You got what's it called She'll take one of them You got a gold Mims Marvin Mims to 10 Which is kind of sweet Jamar Chase Just a bait like a base rookie But still pretty solid Jalen Hertz to 99 Spellbound of Tua There's nice goat bound Joseph Clifford Montana Jr Congrats Niners You can throw that in the recap too It's the same as the Mahomes right there Very nice very nice Clark Phillips to 999 Sean Clifford Penpal's auto for the Packers Josh Jacobs CJ Stroud Marte Mapu to 399 To 49 Jimmy G is a raider Tua Vaughn is on it absolute here right now Tee Higgins Playmakers It's like five home runs Two games or something stupid Two boxes to go Drew Sanders for the Broncos to 999 Craftsman Terry McLauren Scary Terry 299 Mark Andrews to 149 Full throttle Cavante Turpin to 99 You want me to have you show me that sticky note at some point There's Mike Williams What's sticky note What you wrote on that sticky note It's like show me Drew Sanders to 59 Never mind Roll on by So 999 Tucker Kraft Anthony Richardson Penpal's on card auto Going to Tyler N in the Colts Congrats buddy Well AR action there Week 1 starter for Indianapolis Florida Gator Very nice very nice congrats Indy Orange Fred Warner to 399 Roll on by Joe Burrow Quitting Johnson I know Florida definitely wishes they still had him Bryce Young to 999 It's going to be a Zach Harrison for the Falcons to 49 Nice one there So I think Forrest took Anthony Richardson Bryce Young Tavius Robinson to 399 Ravens I don't know who that is dude I don't remember drafting him Tavius Robinson Cooper Cup to 90 Rams Blue Zay Flowers to 299 Who has Pickett I don't think anybody has Pickett to be honest Lee Tech Aaron Rodgers She's there That's to 349 Derek Henry Field vision Nice Razzle Dazzle Tyler Scott on the Case hit super short print You can throw that in the recap too I don't think anybody took Pickett which is kind of nuts actually 299 is Tank Bigsby Really Justin Herbert I mean we'll see I mean He's definitely somebody who's not going to last on the waiver wire I would say Jamiro Gibbs I think someone's quarterback goes down He's like the next guy to take Dude if your quarterback goes down you're in trouble In this league you are in big trouble If anybody's main quarterback goes down I'm okay because my quarterbacks are basically the same caliber I got Matt Stafford and Jimmy G So they're basically at the same caliber But you got Mahomes and Russ right? Yeah That's not that's pretty solid Well we'll see I had Russ last year do you know what he did? Yeah A.J. Brown I think that's more He had a horrible coach Not on the waiver and a 16 man league Trevor you are crazy J.Blazon For a 16 man league That was an anomaly Yeah I agree on that to 349 Jay Jedis I wanted to I was going to take Russ I had my eye on Russ Yeah before you took him yeah Clayton Tune to 999 There's Justin Fields to 375 Who did Lane say the pick of the year is going to be? There's Jaylin Hyatt Elite Beck Some bum that he picked And he's like that's the pick of the year Miles Murphy to 399 I got to remember it so when it's not the pick of the year I can remind him over and over and over and over again T. Higgins if I looked at his team I would know Hello Vaughn did you watch your first break? Or your second break? Justin Jefferson No it wasn't a kicker It was like somebody who's not the pick of the year Basically there's Derek Carr to 999 Yeah it's going to be sick what Rich is doing on Thursday with Jeter Oh yeah go watch your break Vaughn Jimmy G to 10 Yes that was Vaughn the mess man yes Watch them bolt Vaughn, Will Leviss They're both pretty stacked Nick Chubb Felix and Duike Uzoma For the Chiefs There's Adorian Thompson Robinson going to the Browns Bass bass bass Nice Tank Dell going to the Texans That is a Tyler Algier for the Falcons to 149 Second year He's been in Is he really? Yeah he's been a soul Really? That's kind of sweet I think he's Christian McCaffrey Brother Loose out there Oh that's sick dude He's been out of the country and I'm sure when he went over there he took some time The 399 Christian Kirk out Blame him Dude that's sweet Devanna Shane He was in here one night I was saying that yeah he was out of the country That's sick dude AJ Brown to 49 Chief BT says the Chiefs will repeat Jordan Addison Rookie on deck Bass bass bass bass Field Vision Justin Herbert to 349 For the Chargers Joe Burrow And still a quick recap here everybody Solid break overall for sure We had Jersey Cards of Justin Fields Terry McLaurin Tua Devante Adams Justin Fields Matt Stafford Kirk Cousins Kenneth Walker VP Bound and Goat Bound Patrick Mahomes Joe Montana Razzle Dazzle Tyler Scott Autos Dorian Thompson Robinson Tyler Algier Zach Harrison Sean Clifford Patrick Sartan Deuce Vaughn Patrick Sartan again Derek Hall Sean Clifford again Stetson Bennett Patrick Peterson and Anthony Richardson We'll do it for the break everybody Thanks again for the fill Coming up next is


Are you building a single page app with JavaScript that has lots of frequently changing content? Then your web app might benefit from dynamic rendering, and that's what we're going to look at in this video. For this video, we will use AffiliCats as our sample application. It is a single page app, built as a progressive web app as well, that lets you search for cats and great deals on them online. We won't go much into the details of this app and focusing on implementing dynamic rendering instead. But wait, what is dynamic rendering? It is a technique where you switch between client-side rendered content and pre-rendered content for certain user agents. This is useful because you can deliver the full client-side rendered experience to users while getting as much content as possible to crawlers such as Googlebot. As discussed earlier in this series, that means your content is crawled and indexed without needing to execute JavaScript first. Alright, let's get started. First, we take a look at our web app. It loads a list of cats and shows cuteness along with its price at different affiliates. When we put the URL into the mobile friendly test though, we only see the loading view rather than the actual content. As the cats and the affiliate deals keep changing, we won't be able to pre-render them easily. Switching entirely to server-side rendering might be a little too much on our plates right now. So we want to look into dynamic rendering instead. We will write a server so that our users see the app the way it is right now. But Googlebot and a few other bots get a version that was rendered on demand in a headless chromium using Rendertron. We start by deploying a Rendertron instance. I chose to use Google Cloud for this, but you can deploy Rendertron to your own infrastructure as well. I also set up the cache because starting a headless browser and render the page on every request will take some time and we want to serve the page as quickly as possible to avoid timeouts. With our Rendertron server running, we install Express and the Rendertron middleware from NPM. Now we can write a small Express server to host our web app. Then we add the Rendertron middleware and configure it to use the default Rendertron user agent list. But we add Googlebot to also use it for Google search. Even though Googlebot can execute JavaScript, we don't want to rely on that now. The last two steps are setting up the middleware to use our Rendertron server to pre-render pages and we write a little function as part of the server start to request our single page app so that the cache is ready to serve pages without having to wait for the headless browser to run. We will rerun this function periodically to make sure the cache data is not too old. So this video has concluded our JavaScript SEO series. If you would like to see more JavaScript SEO content or any other SEO topics on our channel, please let us know and submit your ideas in the comments below.


Hello shipmates. I want to talk to you a little bit about safety. You may remember back around the January timeframe a reporter asked me what would be my wish for 2012. And I said, you know, I'd like to have a safe summer. I'd like to have all of you who are going on vacation this summer doing whatever you're doing come back and be available because you're all, each and every one important to the Navy. Our campaign is live to play and that means you've got to be alive to go on vacation and play to live, which means be smart when you're on vacation, when you're out doing things so you can come back alive.  Probably the most dangerous thing we do in the Navy is get in a car or get on a motorcycle.  It doesn't belong with driving, it doesn't really belong with grilling and it doesn't belong with boating. If you see your shipmate doing something kind of crazy, stop it, help that person out. We need each and every one of you in our Navy. So be smart this summer, have a good time, be safe, come back alive, I need you, your shipmates need you. I'll see you out there in the fleet.


Hello it's Missy! Welcome back to my channel. For today's video I wanted to share a high bun tutorial that I saw on TikTok. Of course let me know what you think down below in the comment section. Like, subscribe, click that notification bell as always, and let's get started! I'm going to begin by brushing all of my hair together up towards the crown of my head. I want my bun to sit high on my head but more towards the back of the top of my head. Then I'm going to use a hair band to tie the hair into a high ponytail. Now I'm going to divide the ponytail into two equal sections. Then I'm going to braid each section into a three-strand braid. Starting with one half of the ponytail, I'm going to divide this section into three smaller pieces and begin crossing the side strands under the middle strand. I'm alternating between both the left and the right side strands, crossing one side under the middle, then crossing the other side under the middle. Once the braid reaches the ends, I'm going to take a clear elastic band and tie it over the bottom of the braid. Then I'm going to repeat those same steps and braid the other half of the ponytail into another three-strand braid. I'm going to divide this section into three smaller pieces and begin crossing the side strands under the middle strand. I'm alternating between both the left and the right side strands, crossing one side under the middle, then crossing the other side under the middle. I'm crossing the left strand under the middle, then crossing the right strand under the middle. I'm going to work my way down the section of hair, braiding it to the bottom. Then I'm going to take a clear elastic band and tie it over the bottom of the braid. Once both braids are done, I'm going to take each braid, then I'm going to cross them over the front of the hair band so they're each wrapped around towards the opposite side. Then I'm going to cross the ends of the braids again at the back of the bun and hold them in place. Now I'm going to use bobby pins to pin the braids against my head. I'm going to pin the back of the bun where the braids cross over one another. I'm also going to slide a pin into the braid on the right side, then another one on the left side so I can remove my hands from where they're holding the hair. Now I'm going to go back over the bun and gently stretch and pull on different sections of the braids to make them fuller so they expand and fill in any gaps between my head and the bun portion of the style. I'm going to use another bobby pin to pin down a section of the braid at the front of the bun, then use another bobby pin at the back so the bun is flush against my head and there aren't any large gaps in the hair. Once that's done I'm going to take a medium hold hairspray and smooth down the sides of my hair and the bun as well. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed today's video. Let me know what you think down below in the comment section. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoyed today's video. Let me know what you think down below in the comment section. Like, subscribe, click that notification bell as always then you'll never miss any future videos and I will see you next time.


The Heian period in Japan lasted from 794 to 1185 and it was a great time of cultural and artistic developments and during this period the capital of Japan was Kyoto and Kyoto remained the nation's capital until 1867. Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the 6th century and it was patronized by the imperial court and aristocracy. Now during the Heian period Buddhism became a central part of Japanese culture and it had a profound impact on Japanese social, political and artistic life. Now one of the most significant ways in which Buddhism influenced Japanese culture during the Heian period was through the creation of new art forms such as the construction of temples and the production of religious texts. Now Buddhism played an important role in the development of Japanese literature particularly in the writing of fiction or monogatari and Buddhist monasteries became centers of learning and education and some monks even held important positions in the imperial court. Now one of the most influential groups of the Heian era was the Fujiwara family, Fujiwara Michinaga particularly succeeded in influencing Heian politics by marrying his daughters to the emperor and other royalty and then ruled on behalf of their children. So the powerful Fujiwara controlled both Heian politics as well as cultural production and so it's not a coincidence that the author of The Tale of Genji Lady Murasaki belonged to the Fujiwara family. Now let's talk about The Tale of Genji which was written during the Heian period and The Tale of Genji is widely considered to be the world's first novel and one of the greatest masterpieces of Japanese literature. Now The Tale of Genji is a very complex and nuanced work that explores themes such as love politics and religion and the impermanence of life. Now in addition to its literary significance The Tale of Genji is also significant as a historical document and so for students of history The Tale of Genji provides an important window into the lives and attitudes of the imperial court and aristocracy and it provides important insight into the religious, social and political developments of Japan during this time. Now one important point to understand is that Japanese men did not write fiction. Until the Heian period Japanese men used Chinese characters to write about history, politics, religion and philosophy, you know, matters of truth. They didn't have any interest in writing fiction where everything is imaginary and made up. So they looked down upon fiction and this is an important point because this gave women a unique opportunity to enter the literary field and in some ways we can compare this to say the origins of the blues in the deep south. Now after the civil war white musicians were not interested in the music of four African Americans in Georgia or the Mississippi Delta but their amazing music became very popular in the early 20th century and eventually became the cornerstone of American music. So similarly in Japan Japanese women were not allowed to write non-fiction or learn Chinese and so women developed Katagana and wrote fiction for the first time in Japanese and Murasaki used this opportunity to create one of the greatest masterpieces of Japanese literature and this is significant because Monogotari marks the emergence of a new literary genre and it represents a major turning point in the history of Japanese literature. Now the Tenu Genji contains several references to Buddhism. The concept of mono no avare which refers to the impermanence of everything around us and the sadness that arises from the uncertainty of life. So this concept of mono no avare is expressed throughout the novel through the characters including Genji who are deeply affected by the fleeting nature of love life and beauty and the role of Buddhist priests and monasteries is also a prominent theme and the characters in the story often visit monasteries and seek the guidance of priests and monasteries are depicted as places of peace and refuge where one can escape the troubles of the world. Now the novel is divided into 54 chapters each of which focuses on a different episode in Genji's life. Now this is a long novel with many many characters. Now let's just briefly review a few of the main characters in the novel. You'll notice that Genji is the only character in the whole novel who has a name. His name is Hikaru Genji which means shining Genji. All other characters are referred to by their titles, their birthplace or flowers. The author herself Murasaki. She is named after a flower. So in other words Murasaki is not the real name of the author. It's just a pseudonym. Now let's talk about Genji. Who is he and what is he looking for? Genji is a handsome and talented prince. He is the son of the Japanese emperor but his mother is a low-ranking consort named Kiritsubu. So what does that tell us about Heian society and imperial politics? The emperor and aristocratic men had many women and love affairs and that was quite common and socially accepted. So Genji's mom Kiritsubu was a very beautiful woman and the emperor was very attracted to her but she was not a powerful woman and what we know is that there was a kind of ranking or social hierarchy among the women and children of the consorts and so although Genji was very handsome and talented and probably the most qualified to succeed the emperor, his father, he could never become the emperor of Japan because of his mom's low social ranking in imperial politics. Now one of the top ranking consorts was a lady named Kokiden and Kokiden hated Genji and his mom and Kokiden made sure that her own son became the emperor not Genji. So she was the evil stepmom. Now Genji's mom Kiritsubu died soon after Genji was born and the emperor then took on another consort named Fujitsu and Fujitsu was a very young and beautiful girl and there was a very small age gap between Fujitsu and Genji and much smaller than what it was between the emperor and Fujitsu. So initially Fujitsu took care of Genji because he was a small boy but as Genji grew up he became very attracted to Fujitsu, his father's wife, father's consort and Genji had a secret love affair with Fujitsu and impregnated her and the child that Fujitsu gave birth to was actually Genji's son but everything was hush-hush and most people thought that it was the emperor's son. Now Genji's relationship with Fujitsu is marked by both passion and secrecy. Now despite their deep love for each other they had to keep their relationship hidden from the rest of the nobility. So now what's so interesting about this affair between Genji and Fujitsu is that many years later this child eventually becomes the emperor of Japan. So although Genji was the most qualified he could not become the emperor but ironically his illegitimate son becomes the emperor many years later and so the author Murasaki also portrays women in the novel as complex and multi-dimensional characters with their own desires emotions and agency. For example Fujitsu is shown to have her own agency and desires and she resists Genji's advances when necessary. So why does the author create the storyline? In Japanese culture the role of family lineage and the emperor are very important and although Genji is the emperor's son he was not allowed to become the emperor because of his mom's low social status. So the author is telling us in a subversive way that the emperor and the aristocrats were all having so many affairs and children with different women. So how can we be so sure about the purity of lineage? She's questioning this and one of the major themes of the tale of Genji is the importance of social status and rank in Heian period society and this theme is explored through the characters interaction and relationships as well as through the novels depiction of court life and the various rituals and customs that govern it. Now Genji has several romantic relationships. Now Lady Aoi is the only woman that Genji marries. She is his official wife but Genji does not love her. Genji is looking for true and lasting love and happiness but he never finds it. Genji is unhappy and all the female characters are unhappy people. Again this is a reference to the four noble truths that the Buddha taught. Life is full of dukkha or dissatisfaction. The Buddha thought that dukkha arises from craving and attachment to things that are impermanent and constantly changing. The Buddha thought that the ultimate cause of suffering is the ignorance of the true nature of reality and the way to end suffering is to develop wisdom and insight into the nature of reality. And so although Genji was a handsome prince and had many lovers he was never happy because all the things he pursued were impermanent. Even love does not last forever. There is only one female character named Ukifunin from the next generation towards the end of the novel who says I am happy. And after going through some very difficult and unpleasant challenges in life Ukifunin joins a Buddhist monastery and there is a sentence in that chapter that says waves of peace flowed over her and that is to show that she is now in a happy and peaceful place. Ukifunin figured out how to overcome dukkha in life by following the teachings of the Buddha. So who is Ukifunin and what is the author trying to tell us through this character? Ukifunin appears in the later chapters towards the end of the novel and one of the main themes of the novel is the impermanence of life which is highlighted by the frequent deaths and losses that occur throughout the narrative. And this theme is reinforced by the use of imagery such as cherry blossoms which are the traditional symbol of the transience of life and the novel also explores the theme of desire which is depicted both as a positive and a negative force. On the one hand desire drives many of the characters actions and provides a source of pleasure and fulfillment. On the other hand it also leads to jealousy, betrayal and other negative consequences. So the deeper significance of this novel lies in the Buddhist concepts of impermanence and the constant change and everything in the universe is constantly changing. Nothing lasts forever not even love or beauty. And so throughout the life of Genji Lady Murasaki explores these ideas. The author herself was Buddhist and the concept of karma weighs heavily on all the characters in the novel. They are absorbed in their own karma from which they seek release and the transient beauty in the world, the slow progress of time and the change of seasons. All these provide the scenic background for the tale of Genji. Everything in existence is karma if evolving from a past which predetermines the present which in turn determines the future. And leading characters in the tale of Genji do not understand themselves. They wander, doubt and try to balance their thoughts and emotions with those of others and with ideas of life and death. So overall the significance of the tale of Genji lies in its exploration of these themes and its portrayal of the complexities and nuances of Heian period society and culture. And the novel provides valuable insights into the history and culture of Japan while also speaking to universal themes and experiences that continue to resonate with readers today. So this is why the tale of Genji remains an enduring masterpiece of world literature. So I hope you enjoyed this brief lecture about the Heian period and the significance of the tale of Genji in world history and world literature. Thank you.


Alrighty, we have a construction update for you on a mock big dipper, the second one ever created out in Germany. I'm going to link the park down below. I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce the name of the park. I tried and I practiced and I could not get it right and I was just embarrassing myself by trying to pronounce it. So I'm gonna link their website down below and their social media. Huge thank you for letting us use your photos. But this is absolutely fantastic.  It's definitely a smaller coaster, but it looks like a really fun coaster. It's almost like mocks like spin on a dive coaster somewhat. It doesn't hold you over the edge or anything, but you got your little dive part. The little airtime hill into or out of the tunnel. I forget what it is. Looks fantastic. I would love to see that on other coasters. But the good news is it's finally done being built. And this thing looks really awesome from afar. That red really pops, especially in winter. I think it's winter that's really making it pop as well. But it looks really awesome. Maybe we'll see more of these mock coasters here in North America for smaller parks that can't afford those bigger coasters. They definitely look like something that would attract an audience to those smaller parks. Maybe even parks like Michigan's Adventure or CGA, something along those lines of park that doesn't necessarily have the attendance yet, but the parks, the chain is aiming for a higher attendance, especially like CGA. But who knows? Who knows? Anyways, I just wanted to give you guys a quick construction update on this coaster. It looks absolutely fantastic. For those of you that don't know, it's called Dynamite. And again, I'm not gonna attempt to pronounce the park's name, you'll just end up laughing at me. Anyways, that's all I really have of going over my notes. That's all I really know about the coaster so far. It's the only the second one in the world so far. So that's pretty unique about it as well. Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed this really quick construction update on Dynamite. Thanks so much for watching, guys. Hope you had an amazing weekend. Don't forget to hit that like button, subscribe if you haven't, and share this video for others to enjoy. Have a good one, guys. Bye. I would like to go there at the back of the house where high school teacher caught us when making out. You're merely not at the same time. Nothing can come between us. You and me, we're, we are together. We're like the fountain of you. I can hear them talking so far away. So many smooth talk or bad vibes. Coming.