Started unless people are trying to go to a different room like feel free to make your changes I'm not offended people walk out on me all the time My name is Z and I'll be talking with you a little bit about My company zinc and how we have moved on to a more asynchronous process for our distributed agile teams All of the things that we do are built on this foundation of what we believe makes an effective team The first of these is trust if you can't trust your team members or if your team members can't trust the executives or your customers Then your team will not be effective. It's a very simple formula And and building trust is the most important part of any any team in our opinion The second is respect People who respect one another do better work If I can respect that you are a diligent person who is doing the best that they can Who can quote the retrospective prime directive right now anyone? Yeah Diana So the retrospective prime directive is basically a very simple statement I believe that everyone on my team is doing the best they can with the skills abilities and experiences that they have And that is foundational to having an effective team having their respect for one another the third is alignment Knowing where you're going is much more important than knowing how you're getting there I Have a travel buddy who I sometimes visit and we just pick a destination and I just rely on them to figure out how we're going to do things and We wind up having wonderful adventures because our ideas never work out But we were aligned on this notion of having a delightful a delightful trip to Thailand or a Wonderful John to Taipei or whatever And so alignment is a really important part of having a productive team having an effective team freedom Being able to express yourself and do things in the way that you are most comfortable Being free to experiment to try new technologies new techniques new ideas And within the context for alignment is is very powerful. It's a this incredibly motivating thing to be able to Take a task and say you know what I'm going to try and deliver this user story Using just purely functional programming idioms like no no object or not no object-oriented design But no state mutation in between function calls or anything like that And having the freedom to do that and to experiment Is a powerful thing because it means you get new ideas and new practices that get integrated into your teammate into your team much more quickly And finally diversity If everyone is a programmer with a background in computer science, then you're going to have a lot of computer science solutions to problems You may be surprised at this but programming isn't the solution to all problems in the world It's hard for me to say that because I am a programmer But there's lots of problems that are solved by just sitting and listening to someone or by writing something or by drawing Something and as a programmer. I'm like well what we need here is we need a distributed framework for developing communications between these two access points and What my lovely writer partner does it says what we need is a haiku And like if you don't have a diverse team, you won't have those interactions And if you don't have those interactions, you won't have a significant part of your effectiveness So synchronicity and asynchronicity, I explicitly did not use versus here. I think that versus is a bad word It's a four letter word in my in my dictionary. What do I mean by synchronous and asynchronous? Those synchronous things are things which happen in conjunction So most agile teams are synchronous you get everyone into a room they work on the same project They work on a very small set of user stories at a time They limit their work in progress they have retrospectors at retrospectives as a group they do release planning as a group They do stand up as a group like and and this is a very powerful thing Because it means you don't need as much trust as much freedom as much alignment as much respect or as much diversity Because you're all in the same spot. You can all kind of like work through your problems and interact more effectively Whereas with an asynchronous team if you don't have all of these turned to 11 Your team is going to fall flat very quickly And the more asynchronous your team is the more freedom alignment respect trust and diversity it needs So My two favorite words in the English language are yes, and They are incredibly powerful I do not believe that you should have only synchronous teams and only asynchronous teams and never the two shall meet You shall never interact synchronously with one another Everyone must send a paper airplane and then wait for response. That's the only way we communicate I think that that's a false dichotomy and it's very harmful I also think that the false dichotomy of oh we always pair we always have stand-up We always have release planning at the same time everyone's in the building from eight to five Like I also think that is very harmful and that you that the most effective teams have a solid mix of these In my experience traditional agile teams are about ten percent twenty percent zero percent asynchronous And about I'm really good at numbers. See I put them out of order And 90 ish percent 100 percent 80 percent synchronous with my company. I'm working very hard to make that the opposite I would like it to be 80 percent asynchronous and 20 percent synchronous And I've got I've got some reasons for that So why why asynchronous you just told me that it's more work like I don't want to do more work No one wants to do more work than they have to right like we want to just kind of like do as As little work as possible to create the best results possible And I really strongly believe that having teams which are founded on asynchronous principles have significant advantages The first advantage I believe is non-blocking Or or if you if you've seen any of the research on any of the progress in the past like 20 years on asynchronous systems If you look at things like parallelization technologies the amount of cores that CPUs are having nowadays Like all of these things on look at networks technologies and how many nodes are involved in many of these networking technologies like These are all like very very big things that are changing the face of technology We're no longer limited by like we have a single CPU and it takes up like it takes up the entire thread And that's all you got right And if you've has anyone heard of Conway's law Yes, we got like three four. Okay, so Conway's law is one of my favorite laws The structure of your organization will be reflected in the structure of your software So if your team is built to be synchronous if your team is built on this notion that everyone has to be in the same room You'll wind up that your code will be in that way as well I was on a team recently that was technically we were distributed, but we were all synchronous The every every process had to run on the same computer like every server had to run every process And I was like what? How am I supposed to scale this like I that's that's that's very difficult to scale And the reason for that in my very strongly held opinions Which I have lots of is because we were we weren't allowed to be non-blocking. We always synced up We had we had everyone committed directly to master. There were no pull requests There was everyone is pairing and because of that our software reflected our synchronous nature of interactions And because of that it was difficult to scale Right, this is a common a common problem. If you have a lot of blocking operations, then how do you scale? Well, yeah, it's gonna be different depending on every single situation And then the third and most important part in my mind is joy I'm here today at Agile India because my team is asynchronous Like I wouldn't be here with all you awesome people if I my team was not was if my team was synchronous Because they would all be depending on me because I am the most technically competent person there according to the job description sheet that I wrote for myself And if if I were a synchronous team everyone would be relying on me and I hate to be relied on I love we wanted hate to be needed, right? It's it's kind of my my thing So let's kind of think about how traditional synchronous teams work There's my colors So if you have a synchronous team Everyone has to maintain these connections with one another That's a missed one. There we go. Is that all of them? Nope And that's all these connections all these relationships all of these these Interactions that have to be maintained because everyone's contributing directly to primary or master Everyone is kind of like responsible for the product And it's like you've got this conflation and this this this very difficult like thing to maintain and what happens is So you might have a developer who's got like a user story and they're like Hey, I'm waiting on a product and I'm kind of stuck. So I'm I'm stopped like I'm blocked right everyone's got the blocker like in stand-up where they say Oh, and by the way, I need this from this person. I'm not I can't do anything until that happens, right? And so the way you solve that in traditional agile teams Is you alert your product owner as quickly as possible who is very likely in some fancy pants executive meeting doing? portfolio management where they're trying to decide whether or not who knows whatever like there's all kinds of meetings That happened I've discovered and it's almost impossible even in even in co-located teams To not have someone be gone right when you need them, right? And so you wait for this product person to come back and then the product person and the developer kind of talk And then the developer makes a change in the product and the product owners like yes That's kind of what I wanted. Okay, great. You got that person unblocked, but what almost never happens is Is back What almost never happens is? adjusting the the artifact itself so that that decision is made easier in the future like you you don't get these situations where The developer updates the principal guideline like oh yes Well, we do mobile first for our design therefore I don't have to get the product person when I'm trying to figure out how many widgets need to be on the screen I can be like well on a small screen I can only support two so I'm not going to add four like you can make those decisions now in your head as opposed to being and synchronizing with the product person Whereas asynchronous teams We we have to focus almost all of our energy and all of our connection into the into the artifact We're working on itself We need to Invest our time and energy into updating the documentation I know the D word is a bad word in agile circles But if you're not like documenting your code not writing good tasks not including your wireframes in your artifacts not you know Mentioning people in your task tracker like you're you're missing out on a lot of information That's kind of like disappearing into the aether and on asynchronous teams You have to shovel all that information into the artifact or as much of it as possible Because then what happens is you get this ability to have discovery and memory We move past tribal knowledge. We move past like this history of well back in the good old days before we had 25 People there were two people on this team, and they built it this way, and that's how we like to gosh darn it I'm sure you've all heard that conversation on product teams that have lasted more than two months You also get this really cool interaction flow where if the expectation is your asynchronous you're never blocked Never ever I notified product that X is pending there and they I need their input on it And so instead I started why which might be maybe I'm gonna read a book about Closures core dot async functions or whatever But like I can immediately switch off of the task that is blocked and switch on to a task That is also valuable, but it's not is not that is not that And the way you resolve those is so the the developer Puts a notification into the artifact in this case. We use a sauna for pretty much all of our task tracking that's our artifact and They mention the product person the product person gets a ping They see that maybe they're in their lovely product landing meeting like oh You know what I'm just gonna reply to this. I am real quick Who cares no one's paying attention me anyway, and then they put the phone back in their pocket And the developer can get unblocked very quickly Or But the but what often happens at that point is the developers like well that was annoying and I'm already right in here Anyway, I'm going to record this somewhere either by updating our principles or updating our design docs or updating our wireframes and And the product owner will we'll see those and can then make a comment on them as well That was an arrow. It doesn't look like an arrow, but I swear it was let's try that again There we go And so you wind up with these richer These not necessarily richer richer is the wrong word you wind up with these interactions Which because they're focused on the work output because the work focused on the product because they're focused on the artifact that you are building together You are consistently and regularly adapting that artifact to allow yourselves to learn more effectively and allow yourself to build without getting blocked and Because of that scaling becomes much easier So let's go back to our lovely first synchronous team Let's start just drawing two connections. We added another team member another developer joined the team. It's great. They're really solid We think they're top of the line graduated at the top of their class and all that jazz But look at all the connections. Oh wait, that was one. I'm sorry there look at all the connections They have to just maintain like we went from To do You got more Yeah, so we went from and I can scroll back Something that kind of looked reasonable from a connection standpoint to something that is pretty much a tangled mess, right? Here. Oops, and I was even missing some Yeah, that one And that one. Oh, no, that one's right And so like just adding one person to a five-person team like I don't I'm not good at math computers do that for me It adds a significant amount of connections to to the amount of relationships that you have to maintain and maintaining Relationships is the hard part of software development Maintaining and building relationships is the hard part. So what happens if you're on an asynchronous team and you add someone? You just add another node into your into your artifact You teach them how to use a sauna you teach them how to use github flow You teach them how to use slack and you're like, okay You're not going to know everyone as closely as you would on a synchronous team You don't necessarily aren't you're not going to be going out for beers after work Or let us are playing games in the middle of the day but you're going to have a very specific set of ways in which you interact with one another and those ways that you interact with one another will be Will will will hopefully facilitate an effective experience for you as a developer Whereas as an additional team member. So let's talk about joy I don't know how much time I've got left. I've intended to start a timer, but then I kind of like freaked out Apologies, I get really nervous when I talk in front of people But the thing about joy is If you can learn more and better you are more joyful in my opinion I am a much happier developer a much happier person when I'm learning new things and becoming a better master at my chosen profession and If you're working on an asynchronous team, there's all kinds of slack right and slack is this critical component to effective Effective like cognition right if you there's a lovely talk called hammock driven development I would recommend you all watch it and then get a hammock for your office Or at least now go home more often maybe But like an asynchronous team is because you the focus is on learning better stronger faster and not necessarily on Communicating like synchronously better stronger faster. You wind up be having a little bit more joy in your life in my opinion You get to be more flexible Like I said, I'm here with all of you wonderful people because my team doesn't depend on me My team wants me to be there.  I get to go to my cousin's wedding and not worry about it I'm planning a lovely jaunt to Costa Rica with my partner and we'll probably not have to worry about it and there's this so much we're just so much more flexible and more able to adapt to people not being in the room because we don't expect people to be in the room that as a person I can have more fun outside of work and The other the other final thing is we can be more diverse. I don't know about you, but I have a burnout problem I tend to work 60-hour weeks and then flip a table and just stop working for three months and I'm trying to get better at that My partner would like me to get better at that But because I can I can actually scale down to a day a week when I'm getting burned out I mean like you know what I'm not going to be doing six-day weeks. I'm gonna be doing two-day weeks I can hire people who maybe can't get into an office very easily I can hire people who maybe can't who maybe have vision problems or hearing problems because they Because they are not expected to be able to maintain a conversation in like real time, which is very hard for some people They can instead take the time to think about how they're going to respond and think about the words that were said so we wound up with we with a much more diverse team than any team that I've ever worked with from a Skills and abilities perspective the other cool thing is because we can work with people at like a half-day increment And they can be productive is I can hire a writer for my staff like how many of your technical teams have a creative writer on their team None, do you know how awesome having a creative writer on your team is oh my goodness whenever marketing copy has to be written I just pinged them in a sauna when they wake up on Wednesday or whatever day They decide to work that week They open up their a sauna inbox and say oh we need some marketing copy written Z wrote some horrible stuff I'm gonna write some better stuff submit a pull request back in and now I've got this great marketing copy That's 10% more grabby And I can pay them at a half day of a time because they're freelancers there They have a lot of clients already and they're perfectly happy to make 300 bucks a day for for writing and such type of work So that's my pitch. Thank you very much I really believe that the future of computing in the future of relationships and the future of technology teams is asynchronous Even companies that are working together like github for instance is co-located is very asynchronous Slack is very asynchronous despite having everyone in the office And learning how to work effectively as an asynchronous team will make you much more effective as a synchronous team So if you want to chat about this, I will be around the conference center I tend to kind of hallway track and or hide in my room because I'm not really a people person Also, probably why I like asynchronous teams And you can always hit me up on Z Spencer at Twitter. I'm always happy to respond to tweets I'm literally on Twitter all the time So thank you very much. Are there any questions? Yes, they are asynchronous. They are More joyous They do it their own way the scent in the center is the product that is to be Delivered and they all contribute to it, but the only Challenge that I would see is the individual culture and the way individuals would interact So I think the biggest challenge to build an asynchronous team would be is what I feel is Hiring the right people Yeah Yeah, so the question was it was kind of there was a part of it was a statement around like github and open source and like all Of these projects are already asynchronous, right? and there's already a lot of fun that's happening there a lot of freedom around what's happening and How do you ensure that you're hiring and bringing on the right people? That can work effectively in that situation And my answer to any question about hiring is you don't hire for skills you hire for mindset So there's this notion of a growth mindset, which is a lovely book by Carol Dweck Everyone should read that book at least once in their lifetime But it talks about how you can identify and help grow the skills in people in In believing that they can actually learn things and be more effective if you can if you hire someone who thinks that Well, I'm not good at this and I never will be like then they never will be Neuroplasticity is a powerful thing, right? But if you hire someone who thinks I'm getting better at this and I'm willing to learn that I'm willing to be more Effective then they will continue to learn and be more effective And so that's my core criteria for hiring the second thing that I worry about hiring for is is there some amount of valuable skills That they can bring to the table right now So yeah, maybe the writer doesn't understand github, but oh my goodness They can like prevent me from burning two to four hours trying to get the perfect like advertising copy They can just kind of do that and I don't have to worry about it So I'll happily train them how to use github so that they don't that I don't have to so that I can rely on them For the the writing bits So those are really the two ways that I hire growth mindset and do they have a core set of skills and You know not a lot of companies support that And that's why I started my own. I kind of got sick of getting told no by too many bosses Other questions, I don't know how much time we have let me hi Here I have a question. So I think a lot of things which you talked about are counter-intuitive and I don't know maybe I would not use against but I think agile principles. I think Against some of the agile principles also and One another statement which I want to make is that okay, how human beings have evolved I mean they want to work in a community and as a tribe also, right? So does the SNC Teams I mean do they have to be? Very mature teams or is it applicable for the common or Common people also, okay, I'll just I'll just hold the microphone So the question if I if I understand I want to make sure I'm repeating it for you is First of all, this seems like it's like counter to the agile principles So and I disagree with that almost entirely I think it's actually more in line with the agile principles because we value individuals and their interactions more than a set of rules Around how that they have to interact so if you work better by going off into a room for four hours and like Really powering through a problem and then getting some feedback at the end We can support that because we're asynchronous if you work better by pair programming with someone constantly We can support that because we're asynchronous and because asynchronous systems can also be synchronous systems It is easier. I'm not I'm not sure if you've done much node programming But if you take an asynchronous system and make it synchronous, that's far easier than taking a synchronous system and making it asynchronous The other thing of contracting Like adapting over following a plan like we can adapt so much easier because we don't have like this lockstep if you if if you remember the There was a what was a there was this lovely story not really lovely. It was the end of World War two We were flying aid into Germany We're trying to make sure that like people could get back on their feet and weren't starving to death after like war has ravaged their country and Our planes would come in and they would be synchronous every plane would have to land every plane would have to fly back and If we wound up with these log jams that some planes would literally just be like, okay We're almost out of fuel everything just doesn't work and you'd wind up having a significant inefficiencies within the system And so one general was like let's be asynchronous if you don't show up on time You're out. Just go back home It's fine And what that did is introduced enough slack in the system that they were able to land about 30 to 40 percent more planes Because they explicitly chose to turn around when they when they didn't land there on time So because they were able to adapt as opposed to be forced to follow a plan like that's a really powerful thing So I and I could rant about like the agile principles and how like Asynchronosity is actually a powerful tool in the async for the agile to adjoin in the agile manifesto But the the follow-on question was is this for everyone? And I think the answer is yes because I think everyone is capable of learning new skills and learning new abilities I think it's hard work So like I said if you have a synchronous team and you do Like you don't need as much trust and respect like you have like face-to-face all the time like you're building your trust and respect through that Whereas an asynchronous team You kind of have to start with a lot of trust and respect. I'm kind of like blowing into the microphone. It's annoying me So I think everyone can do it But it's hard work and it takes time and I don't expect that we'll be there in 50 a hundred or 200 years But I think that you'll see more and more companies that are doing this And I think that's time so I would be happy to answer questions outside in the hallway and Yes, so thank you all very much again


At Appalachian Wireless, all smartphones are 50-100% off retail pricing for back-to-school. This includes all smartphones, so don't be tardy. Don't miss the bus. Get to Appalachian Wireless today. Two-year agreement required excludes outright purchase and advantage plans, while supplies last. The Leven Amp-Wattsburg concert series has attracted hundreds of people to the Letcher County seat over the past two and a half months. Last night, the city celebrated the 10th of 10 shows in the series. Just as they had for the last nine weeks, scores of people set up lawn chairs and spread out blankets for the Leven Amp-Wattsburg concert series last night. Former Sunday best frontman Nicholas Jamerson was the headliner for the final concert in the series. Rain earlier in the day may have kept the crowd more modest than what it could have been, but organizers were very pleased with the turnout. Not only for this week's finale, but for the series as a whole. It is a bittersweet evening. We've had 10 great weeks of 10 great shows, and I'm a little relieved that it's over, but I don't know what I'm going to do with myself next week. I think we thought that we would have good turnout and good feedback, but it's just been overwhelming. Especially the last few weeks, folks have really turned out, folks have said wonderful things to us. I mean, they seem to really appreciate what's going on. It's very inspiring from our point of view. It's been wonderful to hear. And it's never too early to look to next year. We'll be starting in the next two weeks to start to put the grant together, the application together for a new grant. We have a conference call next week with the funders to talk about what we've done and what we want to do and everything for next year, so full speed ahead. The city is behind it, the County Community Center wants to do it again, the Mountain Heritage Festival seems to want to do it again, so I think we're going to be full speed ahead and try it again. Thanks to everybody for coming out. We really appreciate all the support. Weizberg has been wonderful for this. In Weizberg, Chris Anderson, EKB News.


He also debunked claims in some cultures that terrorist are planning attacks on the FCT Abuja adding that the nation's capital is very safe.


I just want to point out that if this conference were being held in Arizona or Colorado I wouldn't be legally allowed to use the correct bathroom. I live in a world where my existence is a political statement. It's a lot of pressure for me to live under. It's a really hard road to travel, but I've learned some lessons along the way that I want to share with you, and I hope they're applicable to you. But most of all, this talk is for the one person in this audience who is also transgender and is afraid to come out. This talk is for you. In October 2012, I missed a train.  The train was coming down the tracks, and it creates a wind effect, so my trench coat was blowing in the wind of the train. There were two things that I wanted more than anything else. I wanted a cigarette, and I wanted to step off the platform onto the tracks. What brought me to that place? I'm transgender, and let me explain what that means. When I was born, to all appearances, I was a boy. But gender identity isn't something physical. Gender identity is in your brain, and there was a mismatch between how I knew myself to be and how my body actually looked. Despite my certainty that everything was wrong, I was socialized to conform to gender norms, so I was raised as a boy, and I got a lot of the bad habits that boys get as they're growing up. But there was this constant tug of war between my internal picture of who I was and my external appearance. This caused a shock, a literal shock of non-recognition, every time I saw myself in a picture or saw myself in the mirror.  Puberty sucks even more when it's the wrong one, because it's permanent, vocal cords thickened, facial hair came in, bones fused, hormones started being produced. I was experiencing something known as dysphoria. The DSM, the Diagnosing and Statistical Manual, defines it as a discomfort caused by a mismatch between physical gender and gender identity.  There was no information for me. The slide that was up here before, that swampland, that's where I grew up. I counted 500 people. I had no idea that there was a word for what I was. I had no idea that there were other people like me in the world. I had no vocabulary for identifying what I was going through. I was lost and scared and alone. Back then, because I'm old, there was no internet. There was no community I could seek out. I had three or four friends from this tiny town and that was it. There was no help for me. So I suffered from emotional pain and self-loathing. I was sure that something was wrong, that I was either mentally ill or I didn't deserve to live. When I did see people who questioned their gender on television or in movies, they were always the butts of jokes or they were on daytime talk shows behaving like clowns. I hated them and I hated them for being anything like me. 40% of transgender people will attempt suicide at some point in their lives. I had constant thoughts and ideations about suicide. I had to construct a new life for myself, doing the best to strike a compromise between who I knew I was and who I had to be in the world. I have a stroller memory.  And my mother at the time said, that's a boy. And I was thinking to myself, what is she talking about? That woman was right and my mother was wrong. That was my first realization that the world didn't see me the way I was. My parents split up. My mother was abusive. Nonetheless, I had fantasies about her kidnapping me and raising me as a daughter. Even after all the horrible things she had done, that was a better life to me than the life that I was living. So I learned to hide. I learned to hide these things that made me feel ashamed and made me feel different. I played with Lego, which is like the best toy in the world. And I built like really crazy machines, but also secretly I could build doll houses with it. I was always hacking from the age of seven when I got my first computer. I could forget myself and lose myself in code. Later on in the BBS era, I could experiment with identity and the anonymity of the early internet or the appearance of an anonymity of the early internet allowed me to also experiment. By the time I was in my late teens and early 20s, I discovered Goth. Goth was pretty cool because it let me flirt with androgyny. I could wear makeup. I could wear my hair long. I could wear really tight clothing. It was cool, but I was very troubled. I actually literally turned to magic in the occult because I thought if there was a slight chance of being able to transform myself physically, I was going to pursue it. I would have sold my soul for 60 years as myself. At age 23, I found out that my girlfriend was pregnant. There was nothing I could do but get married. I had a beautiful daughter named Lydia Naomi Sachet. I concentrated on my family and on my career.  The whole time I was very troubled. I was very haunted. I tried to build a wall around the sense of otherness, the sense of wrongness, and tried to push all my feelings down into it. I actually completely cut myself off from allowing myself to experience emotion. And that brought me to a train station in Chicago in October of 2012. I knew that something had to change if I was going to go on with my life. I was going to change my life or I was going to end it. This is Aaron Kalen. He's a good friend of mine. He's a person who's on the LGBT spectrum. And I knew that as a friend and colleague that he was. So I took him out to lunch one day. And this was the first person for my professional circle that I told that I was transgender. I told him how I was afraid of losing absolutely everything. My family, my career, my just absolutely everything. And he said that it would be difficult but I should build a support network for myself and maybe turn that support network into a resource for other people like me. So we planned an organization, a nonprofit called LGBT. And in October of 2013, we stood on the stage of Madison Ruby. And I told the origin story of how LGBT became a reality. And as a result came out as transgendered 400 people, including everyone who would later see the videos of Madison Ruby online. Evan Light is a good friend of mine. And he runs a thing called Ruby DeCamp. It's an invite-only conference in the woods of Virginia. 77 people can attend because that's how many slots there are at the campground. And Evan, I told him that I was transgendered. He invited me to come to DeCamp in a more way I felt most comfortable. And I clarified what he meant and realized this would be my first opportunity to enter the professional sphere presenting female for the first time. It would be a test of my strength and my resolve. It would also be a test of how the community would treat me. I did it. They did it.  I knew then that I could follow up on the decision that I made that day in October. I was at DeCamp that year, too. And the reaction that he gave from the revelations at DeCamp were pretty funny. He's like, yeah, Corey's transgender, but did you know? Corey uses BP as an editor? That was really weird. So at 40, I decided to start my life over. What does that mean? I've been living what they call part-time. So socially, I was transitioned. I was presenting female to my friends. I began my physical transition on August 11, 2013 at 10.13 p.m. by ingesting my first estrogen pill. Did you notice I blacked out the dosage? That's because a lot of people aren't as privileged as I am and can't afford the medication, and they self-dose. And people like me who are that privileged have to hide the dosages from them because self-dosing is very dangerous.  So we try not to share that information with people. It's pretty sad. It's incredibly supportive. I remember my dad's reaction. He's a Fox News-watching Rush Limbaugh listening right-wing conservative in the wilds of Virginia. And I called him up, and I was being really sort of circuitous, and I was like, you said you'd love me no matter what. And I went on for like five minutes. He's like, are you dying or what's going on? And I was like, well, actually, I'm transgender. And there's this long pause. And I thought to myself, this is the sound of me losing my father.  To honor my parents, I asked them if they wanted to give me a middle name.  I figured I'd give them a chance to make amends. They came up with Raven, and I was like, thanks, guys, but no. So I took my name from the two most badass women that I could think of, Coraline Jones and Ada Lovelace. In January of 2014, I won Google Act. There was exactly one search result from my name. And now I own my SEO. I was on a path. The scariest and hardest thing that I ever attempted was actually happening to me. I set a date for what's called my full-time transition, where I stopped pretending to be a guy altogether, March 1st. That, of course, meant some changes at work. In January of this year, I was given a glowing review and promoted to principal developer. I worked for an apartment-finding service called Blank.com that has to do with apartments. I picked them because they were very corporate. They were very safe. They had a 90% rating from the Human Rights Campaign. And unlike the startup I worked at before, they had nondiscrimination policies in place. I worked there for about a year. And then this happened. The woman that I had mentored, Liz Abinanti, was running Chicago Girl Developed at the time. And she invited me to come speak to the women there. As Coraline. This would be my first speaking engagement as Coraline. So she sent out the announcement late in January. And the technical recruiter at my company was really excited. She sent me an email. She said, I had no idea that your wife was also a speaker.  Uh-oh. So I had to tell my employers that I am going to transition from male to female on March 1st. And their response was, you're no longer meeting our expectations. Maybe this isn't the right place for you. So two weeks after starting transition, I had to go out on a job search. Imagine the awkwardness of being 13 years old at 40, trying to find the confidence to sell yourself to a potential employer. It was pretty hellish. I talked to a friend of mine who was a doctor, also transgender, and we talked about the intersection of imposter syndrome and being transgender.  So I actually made myself this t-shirt. It's upside down, so if I ever doubt myself, I can go down and read it. If you're not able to read upside down, I am not an imposter. I am a badass who is skilled at many things. I ended up working for a wonderful company called Canvas. I had a lot of uncertainty about it before. They're a Utah-based company. I was worried that it would be a very conservative company. I was worried that when they flew me out to interview that they would laugh. But I was assured that they were very, very nice and they treated me very, very well. I'm very happy to work there. That's my plug and we're hiring. So the next step was really about finding my voice. I found that I was not just accepted, but I was embraced in my personal life, my professional life, and by the Ruby community.  Imagine that. So I started speaking about my experiences, about microaggressions, about inequality, about the things that I kept silent before, out of fear, and people actually listened to me. One of my grounding achievements was getting listed on the Feminist Cabal edition of 2048. I thought that was pretty awesome. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to speak at conferences anymore. Last year I spoke at four conferences. This year I've had 12 speaking engagements. This is number 12. I'm hoping for 13 if anyone can help me out there. I got the keynote at Great Wide Open, which is a big open-source conference. I closed out the Madison Ruby Conference to a standing ovation. That was the same stage I stood on a year before and came out as transgender. I got to speak at RailsConf, and I've gotten to meet some really amazing people. But there was a price. I lost my family. My wife and I couldn't make it work. Her family would not accept me at all, and they stopped talking to me, which means I can't ever see my niece and my nephew as a guy. I had to refactor myself. I had decided to be very deliberate in the way that I would rebuild from Corey and the Coraline. I impressed the big red reset button in my life, and I had the privilege and the perspective and the opportunity to start over. Here are some things that I learned along the way. I learned to let go of my ego. I was working with Sarah Gray and Corey Haines a couple of years ago, and our boss presented an architectural problem to us, and Corey Haines had an opinion, and he stated his opinion about how we should solve it, and I had an opinion and I stated the way that we should solve it, and we argued a lot, and we didn't make any progress at all. When we got out of the room, Sarah Gray turned to me and said, never have I been in a room where two people were so certain that they were right and the other person was wrong, but you're probably both wrong. I had to find my passion. I asked myself, what are my values as a developer? It's learning, it's teaching, it's growing, and it's giving back to the community. I decided since those were my core values, that's what I would live by, and I would learn how to be a partner, professionally and personally. When I was at DeCamp, we did a code retreat, which is basically solving calmly's game of life, seven or eight times in a row, and 45 minutes tense, each time with a different partner, with a different constraint. At the beginning, I knew how to solve a problem, right, because I'm really smart and I'm always right, so I would bring my solution to the table and watch as the other person struggled to type what I was telling them to type, and I realized that's really unfair and that's kind of a jerky way to behave. So, I learned to listen. I had to deliberately learn to listen, open myself up to new ideas, and allow other people to challenge my way of thinking.  This was a new thing for me. I also had to deal with imposter syndrome, which is not easy. A lot of people talk about it these days. It's not a popular, it's not a fad, it's a real thing for a lot of people, especially as I get further and further along in my career, I'm just amazed that no one's figured out the most fake ad. I had to learn that there were valid and invalid sources of feedback in my life, and I actually had to learn that high was not a valid source of feedback for how I was doing. So, I told to my four values and giving back is a key value for me, and I wanted to share how I'm doing that. LGBTAC, I co-founded with Ari Kalin, Astrid and Corey Stevenson, JC Grubbs, and Nell Shamaral. We're dedicated to, my keeps cutting out on me, we're dedicated to promoting LGBT people in technology and making it easier for them to come out and to live and grow in their careers. I founded Open Source for Women, which is a project that aims to connect women to open source projects that are welcoming to them. I worked with the contributor Covenant, which as far as I know is the first code of conduct for open source projects. It's been adopted by Angular, by Homebrew, by Exorcism, and even by some Mozilla projects. I worked with Chicago Women Developers to teach and mentor women who were coming into technology for the first time or who were further along in their careers. And I also helped teach a girl develop at Chicago. Through volunteering and being out in the community, by making the political statement of existing, I can break down barriers that people like me face, barriers that hold people like me back. And when I get feedback from someone else that has somehow found strength through my example, it's very humbling and usually I cry. Helping even one person would make everything that I've gone through worthwhile. So some other takeaways from my experiences so far, not answers but questions, could I be a better communicator? I was at a party at my friend's house once and he's a filmmaker. And all of the guys that had sort of congregated around the snacks in the dining room and all the women were in the living room. And the guys were talking about film like guys are, they were each and every one of them absolutely right and everyone else was wrong. And they approved this by raising their voices at each other and interrupting each other. And the women meanwhile were asking each other questions and getting to know one another. And I had this really stark contrast of people standing five feet away from each other demonstrating two very different communication styles. And I had the privilege of picking which one I wanted to adopt. I asked myself, why am I afraid to pair a program? I was afraid because I knew what the answer was and I was too impatient to work with anyone else which obviously was wrong. Now I'm afraid to pair a program because I think it's a very intimate experience but I do it anyway. I challenge myself to do it anyway. If you're afraid to pair a program, why is that? Ask yourself. I learned that when I state opinion is fact I shut a conversation down. I don't give other people an opportunity to express themselves and I don't get the benefit of their knowledge and experience. I learned that I didn't know how to listen. I couldn't listen with empathy and compassion. I would rush in to state my opinions instead of taking time to understand someone else and what they were going through and what their thinking was. By giving up male privilege I learned what privilege really means. I learned that it's normal for women to feel afraid to walk down the street even in daylight. I learned lots of things that I just had taken for granted living as a male. I learned that it's important to amplify the voices of people who don't have the platform that you have not to speak over them. I learned that it's important not just to favor it but to retweet. Use your platform for good. I learned how to be a better ally and I'd like to share some things with you specifically about being an ally to transgender people. If you're not sure what someone's chosen gender is, if you're not sure what pronouns to use ask them politely. Never, ever, ever use it. Don't compliment transgender people on their ability to pass.  That's rude. There's exactly one set of words you can use to describe me as a transgender woman. Those are the words transgender woman. Anything else is a slur. Don't ask us about our bodies. It's a very personal thing. You wouldn't ask a cisgender person about their bodies and it's very rude to do that to a transgender person as well. Don't make assumptions about our sexual orientation. I was home in Virginia last week and I actually had to come out to my parents that's straight. Which was really rough. My dad was pretty upset about that one actually. Don't tell me that gender doesn't matter. I've heard people say well gender is just a social construct.  Don't do that. Most of all listen, listen, listen, amplify. These are the lessons that I learned in the two years since I realized that I needed to transition. I hope that my story is informed, moved, touched you in some way. I hope that I can make things easier for the people who came after me. And to that one transgender person who's in this auditorium I want to reassure you that you are not alone. You can have the courage, all of you, to be who you really are. Anybody can do this. Thank you.


What's up guys welcome to today's video so guess what on the video today? I actually had a special request so I had a question on Instagram and it was from Melissa and Melissa asked She said love everything that you do I was wondering would you be so kind of showing us how to cut layers on shoulder length hair? Thanks for your time So so Melissa's question kind of sparked a little bit of an idea So I want to create a segment where I just kind of take your questions And I create a whole video based on that question because you got to assume that if Melissa has this question And a lot of other people have it as well So she wants to see medium length layered haircut. So what I did was I did a medium length layered haircut It's gonna be about shoulder length a lot of movement in the layering It's gonna be rounded layers kind of pushed off the face and then we also In this video do a curtain fringe as well also as a bonus on this video. I'm gonna show you guys at the end We're gonna do a hair color Experiment so I want to show you guys that as well So stay tuned after the haircut to see the finished product the finished result with our hair color as well Thank you to Paul Mitchell So thank you guys so much for watching if you haven't subscribed to the channel or on Instagram Make sure you follow us at free salon education or hit that subscribe button right here on YouTube. All right guys Let's get started with the video. Here we go. All right So we're gonna start off today's video by taking a center parting So we're just gonna work our way right down to the crown And then I'm gonna find where the head starts to curve right in the fringe area And that's where I'm gonna draw my triangle right straight down the hairline So notice I look for that hairline because I'm looking to work with similar density throughout the entire cut Twist up that triangle clip it out of the way That's literally gonna be the only section that we really take throughout this whole cut So it's gonna be pretty simple in that aspect. So now I'm gonna add in a palm of your neuro prime It's a nice blow-dry primer. It's got a nice medium light hold. I put it in the hair helps protect it from heat So I'll put it in there It helps control the hair while I cut it and then it helps with protecting the hair when I blow it dry So to start this haircut off We're gonna work on the left-hand side of the head and basically what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna work my way back This entire section until I get to where the hairline starts to drop into the nape into the back of the head right behind the ear So Working off the curve of the head. I really want to create almost a concave feel to the sides of the cut nice short layers Skinnying up the bottom and just creating layers that really fall nice around the ear and then Remove that weight from around the sides I'm also taking some density away from the outer perimeter of the cut which we're gonna cut at the very end so a few different techniques we're gonna throw into this and Things I think you'll find very valuable in the salon as you're working So notice I didn't start this haircut by cutting the length. I'm really working on the interior shape first So everything's getting elevated up. I'm gonna create layers that push off of the face The way that you do that is you cut the hair towards the face So I'm over directing everything over that very first section. So it becomes a stationary guide Taking vertical partings and pushing the hair you can see I'm pushing it right over top of that first Parting that I took that first section that I took so everything's going to to section one I'll continue that cut all the way back to just behind the ear where that hairline starts to drop That's where I'm gonna change things up. So notice I'm going back to that point. That's because the density is all the same in that section It's really important as hairdressers and those of you guys that are getting more into advanced hair cutting or even in school Just to understand the different densities that you're working with in the hair What is the formation of the hair? How much hair are you working with? Where how does the hairline? Flow because when you look at the hairline, that's gonna determine The outer perimeter of that cut and kind of the density throughout it. So the sides I'm cutting both the same. So now we're working on the right hand side The only difference is you always want to free up that bottom that elbow when you're cutting concave shapes So I'm standing in front of the head pulling everything to me Which tends to be a little bit easier anyways because you're pulling it towards yourself Anytime you're pushing away it gets a little bit harder to stay consistent So notice it's just a straight line across Somebody in the comments is gonna say something about me wearing black clothes in dark hair It's okay. Look at my fingers. Look at the angle You can still see the hair if you look at it There's a couple highlights that pop through in there, but just look at my finger angle. That's what you need to be judging That's the most important part. You can see my hands very clearly in this video So all the way parallel to the floor is how my fingers are working across. That's the cutting line that we're creating So I go all the way back to where that hairline starts to drop in the back and that's where I'm gonna stop on the sides So because I'm over directing everything to the front all of those layers are starting to get longer towards the back And that's really the goal You also have to look at the head shape the head shape is curving a lot in the back of the head So it curves not only in the crown area, but then around the occipital bone as well So I'm now not gonna cut concave and I'm gonna work just a straight line still parallel with the floor Across and I'm gonna cut square more square layers or balanced layers in the back So my guide is now gonna be traveling. It's not gonna be stationary So I'm gonna cut my first section and then I'm gonna work my way across that way So you'll see everything's over directed straight up and we're gonna hit the overtop angle So you can see that everything's just coming back to that previous section So we're traveling across the back of the head creating a balanced line horizontally and vertically See I grab a little bit of the old and then bring in the new I'm working my way all the way over to that hairline everything coming straight up Parallel to the floor straight up in the air now if I had a guess that had a higher density of hair And I really wanted to remove some extra weight I could even shift my finger angle even a little bit more in this and cut more concave layers in the back That would take out some more weight if she had high density Then maybe I would go in with some point cutting instead of cutting a blunt line That tends to take out a little bit more weight So there's different options based on the density of your client's hair So in this last section, you'll notice there wasn't anything to cut So I move on now we're gonna go into the fringe So what I wanted to do is cut a nice open kind of curtain fringe If you if you want to call it that so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna work with a little bit of elevation I'm gonna work with vertical partings One little tip and this something I learned from Richard Manna, I believe He cuts the length so notice that I'm checking where I want my guide to be then I have a ton of hair So what I'm gonna do is cut the bulk of it off first then I'm gonna go in and point cut a line I'll show you guys that again so you can see it But I go in I point cut because I want to create a nice soft feel so I cut the blunt line for my length Then I go in with point cutting a little bit of deeper point cutting But here's the tip right here. So as I comb the hair over I've got a lot of hair in my hand So in order to control it I cut the bulk of it off first I don't go all the way to the guide I can still see my guide underneath and then I go in and I point cut that length to match my guide So what that's doing is just allowing me to control the hair a little bit better I thought that was such a cool tip Any time I'm around a different hairdresser that I haven't worked with before I always try to grab something from them that I can bring into what I do And that was one thing that I really thought was cool is just being able to control that hair because sometimes when we were Hairdressers when we go in to cut that long hair that's over our fingers It's challenging and it gets in the way. So just take that bulk off then go in and cut your lines However, you'd like so the last bit I wanted this to be a medium length haircut So we cut some shorter layers in there cut the interior part and now we're going in cutting the exterior the perimeter line Wanted it to be a little bit more of a blunt feel a nice solid line So I'm just cutting everything at that one length and the layers will kind of come to life from there So cutting off making sure all the hair looks nice and healthy as we work through it and this is a great Medium length cut for your guests. So now I'm gonna blow it dry.  I used it in a past video to make a blonde But they have a level five and I was like well if it's a violet gold then what does it look like at a level five? so Thought I put this all over the head and get a really nice idea for what that tone looks like thought you guys might find That interesting as well. So we're gonna deepen our to a level five now Definitely one thing that I've noticed about this color Is that it's got like kind of an iridescent feel so when it hits the light you get different shades from it It's it's a VG what you would think is violet gold, but it's a neutral base So with a violet kind of overcast So I really love the violet tones that come through on it You're gonna see it in the end result But that was kind of one of my favorite things about this color because you're always looking for Nice violet, but that looks natural That kind of has that natural under tone to it and a lot of them are kind of fantasy color looking So this one to me just has that violet hue that richness to it But still violet which I really really love and I think you guys will love in the salon as well So I'll check that out on palmichael calm and that's it. I hope you guys like the cut You can see the layers you can see the opened up curtain face frame fringe I hope you guys like it subscribe to our YouTube channel I'm free salon education everything and also our Instagram. Thank you guys so much for watching Can't wait to share another video with you guys. It'll be coming soon. Thanks


My name is Staff Sergeant Noah Kencil. I'm the lead technician for the A-10 Thunderbolt 2 demonstration team. So right now we're at the A-10 wash rack.   It opens up lube points for after the wash. Once it gets here, we'll go ahead and tape it up. Basically covering all of the electronic components that could get water damage. And when the wash actually starts, we focus on basically the areas that get dirtied up the most. So flight control, landing gear, anything you can see, we run a scrub brush through it. So we clean the jets every six months for 180 days. The main goal for it is corrosion control so we don't get rust, hitting, galvanic corrosion. Anything to degrade the jets usefulness throughout all the air show. Teamwork's awesome like whenever it comes to washing the aircraft. So we have a guy that's up top, he's in charge of everything that's on top of the jet. And then the two guys that are here right now, we focus on bottom, sides, and the wings of the entire aircraft. So Teamwork really gets the job done a lot faster, a lot cleaner, and a lot smoother. Our names are on the side of it, so you want to have a sense of pride in what you do. We don't let the jet leave unless we are 100% content with the outcome.


Rights without remedies do not mean much in practice so the focus of the forum this year is going to be on realizing access to effective remedies. Together we can make a positive difference. So let us be part of this positive change. Another reason people should come to the UN forum on business and human rights is that we're going to really explore some very important topics. One is the critical issue of human rights defenders. Human rights defenders are lawyers, journalists, civil society representatives who are really on the front line defending the rights of communities and others who are impacted by business related human rights abuses.


In today's video, we are going to talk about some interesting facts and myths about the Singaporea cat. The Singaporea cat is one of the lesser known breeds of cat, but it has an interesting history. It is also a notable breed in the sense that it is one of the smallest cat breeds in the world. If you've been dreaming of a tiny, beautiful cat breed that's smart and outgoing, you might have met your dream breed in the Singaporea. While the origins of these feisty little cats might be a little murky, there's no denying that they have a character that's way larger than their diminutive size might suggest.  The truth is that they're not for everyone, so they might not be the best companion if you enjoy long lazy sessions. But if you're looking for an extroverted and clever cat who can always keep you entertained, you might have met your match. Here are some interesting facts about Singaporea cat. 1. Their origins have caused controversy. Although they are officially known to have come from Singapore, this is a subject that has caused controversy as the original cats used for breeding may have originated in the United States. Cat breeder Jerry Maze was visiting Singapore on a cat finding trip in 1987. While he was there, he came across the documentation relating to the three cats originally used for the foundation of the Singaporea cat breed. He learned that the three cats had originated in the United States and were only taken to Singapore in 1974. As the cats had been born in the United States, lived in Singapore, and then returned to the United States to found the breed, there was controversy around the fact that the breed should be classified as having originated in the United States. 2. They can weigh as little as four pounds. This is one of the smallest cat breeds and a healthy adult female can weigh as little as four pounds. A healthy male cat will usually weigh around six pounds. Heavier examples of the Singaporea cat can weigh up to eight pounds. 3. Singaporeas only come in one coat color. The distinctive coat color of the Singaporea is often described as having a sepia tone, with a breed standard specifying that the pattern should be one of a tick tabby, comprising at least four bands of light and dark ticking. The darkest ticking should be across the back, fading out to an unticked tummy, the shade of old ivory. The reason for the Singaporea's coat color is down to one gene, known as a goodie. The coat ticking of this breed is one of the defining characteristics, leading to beautiful markings, including darker Puma lines that extend from the inside of the eye and then across the cheeks. The shade of the Singaporea's coat should be of warm tones, with glowing shades strongly contrasting each other. 4. Singaporea cat's exercise needs. These little cats love to exercise. Unlike some cat breeds who don't really have any specific exercise requirements, you'll need to set aside time every day to make sure your Singaporea is sufficiently exercised. Whether that's playing with them using a variety of different toys, setting up an agility course for them in the backyard, or taking them to explore the backyard, these cats really do love exercising and playing. 5. They like high perches. A quirky feature of this cat's personality is that it likes to be in high places, so the owner should get a high cat perch for them. This is because the Singaporea cat likes to have a good view of everything that is going on around them. 6. It is the mascot cat of Singapore. The Singaporeans are extremely proud of this cat and have even chosen it as the mascot for the country. It was selected by the Singapore Tourist and Promotion Board. Hello. This video is sponsored by Beemix Pets. Are you looking for high quality cat collars at an affordable cost? Check out BeemixPets.com. Use coupon code KittenLife, to get 20% off. 7. They need little grooming. One of the benefits of choosing this cat is that they need very little grooming and do not shed a lot of hair. Brushing once or twice a month is sufficient and you do not need to bathe these cats. Generally, they will self-groom to an adequate standard with very little effort required on the part of the owner. 8. Singapore's health conditions. Like most cat breeds, there are some health conditions with which this cat is associated. The most serious problem with which they can suffer is pyruvate kinase deficiency. This is a genetic disease where cats have a deficiency in producing an enzyme that supports red blood cell energy metabolism and can lead to hemolytic anemia. 9. They are sociable cats. People often choose this cat breed because of their pleasant nature. The Singaporea cat is known as a sociable creature that enjoys the company of humans and other animals. They are loyal to their owners and love being stroked affectionately. 10. Singapore's temperament and intelligence. These little cats are brimming with intelligence and curiosity. This is an extrovert breed and will likely be found following you around the house rather than sleeping in a corner. That means you'll need to find plenty of activities to keep your cat entertained. Providing a variety of toys that they can play with both independently and with their families is a good idea to keep those active little brains well occupied. Singaporea cats love interacting with their families to keep them entertained. A bored Singaporea cat can sometimes turn their thoughts to destructive behaviors, including scratching furniture, knocking things over, and generally creating a bit of a mess. Their intelligent and curious natures mean that they're a great breed to spend time training. Whether you want to take your Singaporea out on a harnessed walk or train them to play fetch, they'll love anything different that challenges their brains and keeps them on their paws. 11. Singaporea cat's training. Some cats will give you a don't mess with me look if you suggest that they might enjoy a training session, but rest assured that the Singaporea is not one of those cats. Their energetic natures and high intelligence makes them the perfect breed for cat training.  If you have kids, then a Singaporea cat is the perfect companion. Their high energy levels mean they'll stay engaged and interested in training sessions for much longer than the average cat. Remember that you and your kids will have to get used to avoiding any loud noises when training these little cats. They might be bold and brave when it comes to most things, but loud noises will send them running for cover. 12. Food and diet requirements. Singaporeas don't have any specific dietary requirements, so you can feed them any high quality cat food of your choice. If you're buying a kitten from a breeder or have found an older Singaporea and you want to rescue it, then make sure you find out what food they've been used to and see if you can source some of the same variety. Using the same food is a good way to make your new cat feel more at home, as well as minimizing the chances of them suffering from an upset stomach as they adjust to life in their new home. 13. Singaporea cats are good for families. The small yet feisty Singaporea is a great choice as a family cat, with a few caveats. The breed is well known for being afraid of loud noises, so if you have younger children who don't yet understand how to dial back the volume, a Singaporea might find this environment slightly stressful. The same can be said for loud neighbors, constantly barking dogs, or any home where the volume level could be considered above average. With that said, Singaporeas are excellent family cats for older children who will love playing with them frequently while giving them plenty of the attention that they crave. They are also still rare and expensive, and highly prone to some inheritable illnesses due to inbreeding. This cat has a high energy personality that shines. The Singaporea cat might be little, but the breed is certainly not delicate. If you think you've got what it takes to create the perfect home for a tiny Singaporea, you won't regret it. You might just struggle to keep up with their impressive energy levels. The Singaporea is tiny but large in personality. Her curiosity, friendliness, loyalty, and general good health make the Singaporea a great choice as a family pet. It might be her looks that initially attract you to her, but it will be her personality that makes her unforgettable. If you enjoyed this video, kindly press the like button. Also don't forget to subscribe with notifications on, so that you don't miss out on videos like this. Thank you for watching.


Good evening, please sit down. I have a brief statement here. The final economic figures are in for 1984, and the news is even better than anticipated. The U.S. economy grew at a rate of almost 5 percent of the fourth quarter, and final sales increased at a rate of eight and a half percent. Economic growth for calendar year 1984 measured just a shade under 7 percent. It was the strongest performance in a single year by the American economy since 1951. Our recovery is now well into its 27th month. It's the strongest expansion since the Korean War, and ours is a peacetime expansion rooted not in a military buildup for overseas conflict, but in a broadening prosperity when America is at peace. We intend to prolong and to protect this expansion, and we'll work with Congress for a sweeping program of tax simplification and reform, and we're convinced this historic legislation can and should be passed this year. America has rediscovered that the key to greater economic growth, opportunity, prosperity for all, is to unharness the energies of free enterprise. The American miracle of which the world now speaks is a triumph of free people and their private institutions, not government. It was individual workers, business people, entrepreneurs, not government who created virtually every one of our 7 million new jobs over the past two years. But protecting recovery will require political courage. A federal government that collects nearly 20 percent of the gross national product in taxes must see spending nearly 25 percent of the gross national product in federal programs. Our administration proposes to freeze overall federal program spending at last year's level to cut $51 billion out of programs in need of restraint to reduce spending by half a trillion dollars over the next five years. And these proposals are rooted both in economic necessity and common sense. To cite one example, revenue sharing. It doesn't make sense for a federal government running a deficit to be borrowing money to be spent by state and local governments that are now running surpluses thanks to our economic recovery. As for those who tell us that growth and expansion are not enough, that spending restraint is politically impossible, that higher taxes are necessary, our answer is simple. That issue was debated and decided on November 6th. We intend to proceed with the mandate that we've been given by the people. All right, Mike. Mr. President, Budget Director David Stockman says the taxpayers of this country shouldn't be responsible for the bad jacks of farmers. You agree with Mr. Stockman, and if you do, why use federal funds to extend emergency credits to family farmers? I think that Mr. Stockman's made it plain that, in fact, as apologized for some of his remarks because after three hours of what was an appearance before committee in which I think there was a certain amount of harassment and heckling going on, he himself has said that he got a little upset. And no, I think the farm problem is the result of things that have been done in the past. It's the result of the inflationary economy that we had for some time. There are a number of farmers now who their main problem is they borrowed on the basis of inflated land values. And then when we brought inflation down, that left them with loans and the collateral did not have the same value. And we have making a proposal, and we'll be talking tomorrow with the congressman about a proposal for this short-term problem that will include loans and loan guarantees, some $650 million in that, and then subsequently we will be taking up proposals for hopefully getting the farm economy back into the free marketplace and government out of the agricultural business. May I follow up, Mr. President? Do you see a contradiction between giving farmers emergency aid now while proposing to phase out price supports and crop restrictions that they've lived with for half a century? And that's the problem. We won't pull the rug out from under anyone instantly who has geared themselves to these government programs, but the government programs didn't succeed. Many of the problems they face today are the result of government's involvement. And I think you'll find that a great majority of farmers believe that the answer to their problems is out in the free market. And then if government is to help, then we should help by opening up world markets for them, by holding trade negotiations because much of the farming elsewhere in the world is government subsidized. And we intend to do all that we can. In fact, that was one of the things I talked to the prime minister about, and we both agreed that we should be discussing in the coming months with our trading partners and friends the reopening of trade negotiations to do as much as we can to have free trade and both ways in the world at large. Helen? And Jack Anderson said in his column today that in 1981, you passed the word to Moscow that even if the Senate ratified SALT II, you would not sign it, that in 1982 Moscow told you that they were no longer bound by the SALT II treaty and they began to build up their arsenal over the limit. Is that true? And I'd like to follow up. Helen, I read that myself this morning and I went into the office and I said, where is all of this coming from? I do not remember any statement from the Soviet Union of that kind. Both countries had been, as long as it was mutual obeying the restraints or staying within the restraints, mainly because of our efforts toward what we're now approaching, arms reduction talks, that we felt that if we were going to engage in those talks, it would be far better if we did abide by an agreement that while it had been signed, had never been ratified by our government. And I don't recall that at all. And I have to say that we know that the Soviet Union, we're sure has violated some of the restraints now. And we know that we're coming to a point in which we have up until now been abiding by it. And as we replaced older weapons with new, we have destroyed the older ones. The Soviet Union, one of the violations of theirs has been that they were taking nuclear missile submarines out of action, but they were cutting them down and rebuilding them as cruise missiles, carrying submarines. Now to stay with the treaties that we have negotiated, like even ABM, while the new negotiations go on. Well, we're going to stay with the treaties that are in effect, that have been ratified and are in power. We'll have it. We'll have a decision several months from now to make with regard to whether we join them in violating the restraints. Andrea? Mr. President, you have said that you would need to be convinced of shifting the tax burden from individuals to corporations, as the Treasury tax plan suggests doing. But in the State of the Union speech, you committed yourself to lowering individual tax rates to 35% or lower. Now, where would you make up that revenue if not to get it from corporations? Well, Andrea, where we're going with reducing the rates and where we're going to achieve what we call tax neutrality, that there are revenue neutrality, will be in the elimination of a number of exemptions that have existed and that sometimes have, well, they've been unfair in the sense that some are entitled to them and others are not. When I answered that question the other day, I misunderstood. I thought they were telling me that the plan was actually going to get a great higher percentage from business. And I mentioned the fact that I did not want to do something that would interfere with our recovery or keep business from being able to expand. And then I found out that, no, there had been a misunderstanding about that question. What we're talking about as to more revenue from business is from those elements of business that have not been paying taxes. Now, it hasn't been cheating. It's been legal in that that's just the way some of the exemptions had worked out. And we want to change that. So there will be a reduction in rates for everyone. And where the difference will be made up is some who are not now paying taxes at all or paying very low taxes will be paying their fair share. Saying, sir, that there would be no increase in the corporate share for those businesses that are now paying taxes that only those corporations that are not paying their fair share would would be affected. And again, how would you make up the difference since just the things that you committed yourself to in the state of the union would amount to $132 billion under the Treasury plan by 1990 when they're phased in? Well, the Treasury plan as it is now, and while we're still going to have to review that plan, and there are some options in there that we may find aren't suitable to put into operation, but the plan works out to revenue neutral and with a reduction in rates and the, you know, the business rate and the corporation rate is going to come down from 46% to 33% under that plan. Ralph? Mr. President, this week in Vienna, American and Soviet officials held two days of talks on the Middle East. Apparently, they're most intensive on this issue for seven years. Can you tell us anything about them? And also, Mr. President, do these talks fit into any other recent development, such as King Hussein's recent move and your talks with King Fahd last week? No, Ralph, these talks were not anything, had nothing to do with negotiations or anything of that kind. We simply felt that it was time to exchange views with each other and make sure that there couldn't be any miscalculations that could lead to some kind of confrontation or problem that we brought them up to date on our own views and what we thought and they were talking on their own and that's all. Follow up, Mr. President. Are the, the Soviet, is the Soviet government still pushing for a direct negotiating role in Middle East diplomacy? I haven't had a full report enough to say whether they mentioned some specific things. They have tended to support the idea of a great international meeting. We don't favor that. We don't believe that there should be that many hands in the pot, just as we're not envisioning any participation in negotiations. We have said we'll stand by and we'll help in any way we can, but these negotiations must be between the Arabs and the Palestinians and the Israelis. Let me come over here for a minute to, or if you believe Sam. Mr. President, on Capitol Hill, Capitol Hill the other day, Secretary Shultz suggested that a goal of your policy now is to remove the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. Is that your goal? We'll remove it in the sense of its present structure in which it is a communist, totalitarian state. And it is not a government chosen by the people. So you wonder sometimes about those who make such claims as to its legitimacy. We believe, just as I said Saturday morning, that we have an obligation to be of help where we can to freedom fighters and lovers of freedom and democracy from Afghanistan to Nicaragua. And wherever there are people of that kind that are striving for that freedom. And we're going to try to persuade the Congress that we can legitimately go forward and hopefully go forward on a multi year basis with the Scoop Jackson plan for trying to bring development and help to all of Central America. Sir, when you say remove it in the sense of its present structure, aren't you then saying that you advocate the overthrow of the present government of Nicaragua? Well, what I'm saying is that this present government was one element of the revolution against Samosa. The freedom fighters are other elements of that revolution. And once victory was attained, the Sandinistas did what Castro had done prior to their time in Cuba. They ousted and managed to rid themselves of the other elements of the revolution and violated their own promise to the Organization of American States. And as a result of which they had received support from the organization, that they were, their revolutionary goal was for democracy, free press, free speech, free labor unions and elections and so forth. And they have violated that. And the people that are fighting them, the freedom fighters opposing them are Nicaraguan people who want the goals of the revolution restored. And we're going to try to help. Is the answer yes, sir? Is the answer yes, then? To what? To the question, aren't you advocating the overthrow of the present government? If you want to substitute another form of what you say was the revolution. Not if the present government would turn around and say, all right, if they'd say, uncle, all right, come on back into the revolutionary government and let's straighten this out and institute the goals. Mr. President, theologians recently criticized you for saying in defending your military budget that the scriptures are on our side. I wonder, do you think it's appropriate to use the Bible in defending a political argument? Well, I was actually speaking to some clergyman and I checked that with a few theologians. If it was appropriate, then well, what I meant about appropriate, was I interpreting it correctly? Was it a warning that you should be prepared and otherwise ask for peace because you were outnumbered and out, well, now we would say outgunned on the other side and they seem to think that it was perfectly fitting. It was a caution to those people in our own country who would, if given the opportunity, unilaterally disarmus. To follow up, you don't have any problem with using the Bible in a political context. Well, I don't think I've ever used the Bible to further political ends or not, but I found that the Bible contains an answer to just about everything and every problem that confronts us. And I wonder sometimes why we won't recognize that one book could solve a lot of problems for us. Yes. President, I'd like to come back to the problem of the farmers you've met with some state legislators today. Afterwards, they said, you're not really doing enough for the farmers. In fact, you're cutting back too much too soon. You mentioned $650 million in aid up on Capitol Hill. They're trying to provide another billion. Where does the compromise lie in your mind? Well, I think that what we're doing can go a long way toward meeting this problem. I think we've been encouraging some of the banks, and if you've noticed lately, some of the banks themselves out in the farming area have voluntarily reduced the interest rates on some of those outstanding loans because they want to contribute and want to help. We have spent over $50 billion on agriculture in the last three years. We have in the budget for this year some $15 billion. And it'll be a pretty sizable amount close to that next year. And that is in the long range thing of the type of permanent programs that we're trying to phase out over a period of time. But I think that we are proposing measures and guarantees of loans and so forth that will meet this present crisis. And I think because I didn't explain that this morning and my remarks, they weren't on that subject. I think maybe they're looking at the news and they don't exactly know what we have in mind and what we're going to do. I follow, sir. You own a ranch. Perhaps it's a sort of a gentleman rancher's situation. I understand you don't raise cattle anymore, but you do get a tax break for one reason or another. How would you explain to the farmer in Iowa or Nebraska who can't find a break right now that kind of difference which seems to exist in the system? The only tax break that applies to my ranch was in effect a long time before I bought the ranch. It is a law in California and it is a law brought about in environmental interests. And that is that formerly property tax, and that's a local tax, property tax on agricultural land or just open land was based on the highest potential use of that land. And it was literally driving some farmers into sale of land, giving up farming because they could no longer afford to use as farmland or maintain as open space land that was being taxed as if it were a subdivision. And this was in place. As I say, when we bought that ranch, it is still in place. California has found that program very successful. It taxes it on that use as long as you sign a contract that you are not going to subdivide, that you are going to maintain that land, that open land. I get no income tax deductions whatsoever with regard to the ranch because the Treasury Department decided that since I couldn't be there and to run cattle or anything that it was a hobby ranch and I couldn't argue with them on that. Bill? President, I wonder if we might return to Nick Orague and answer to Sam's question when he pressed you. You said that you or you seem to be saying that you wouldn't advocate the overthrow of the government, not if the present government would turn around and say, oh, well, aren't you really saying that you want the present government out? And secondly, sir, should the United States be trying to influence the government of another nation in this hemisphere? I think that what we're doing and what we have proposed doing is within the UN Charter and within the OAS Charter and the right of people to do what the freedom fighters are doing. And it isn't you can say it's like the glass half full or half empty. You can you can say we're trying to oust the Sandinistas by what we're saying. We're saying we're trying to give those who fought a revolution to escape a dictatorship to have democracy and then had it taken away from them by some of their fellow revolutionaries. We're saying we want them to have a chance to have that democracy that they fought for. And I don't think the Sandinistas have a decent leg to stand on. What they have done is totalitarian. It is brutal, cruel, and they have no argument against what the rest of the people in Nicaragua want. Well, sir, what about the specific prohibitions by the United States Congress against the kind of conduct which would overthrow their government or provide money to do so? The what that would... According to the Boland Amendment, sir, the specific prohibitions of the Congress. I think that some of the proposals that have been made in Congress have lacked a complete understanding of what is at stake there and what we're trying to do. Mr. President, you will soon be making a decision on how to handle the March 31st expiration of Japanese auto import quotas. If Japanese auto sales do increase in this country, will you demand that the Japanese allow more American made goods to be sold in their country? Well, let me just say that commenting on anything of that kind, we have been in communication with the Japanese. We have discussions going forward now on open markets both way in improving the situation between our two countries. A deal of progress has been made. We've got a long way to go yet, but everything that we're going to decide is going to be in that context of the two of us as trading partners having fair trade and free trade between us. Let me just follow up with no restraints. Your special trade representative has predicted a sales increase of 750,000 vehicles in this country. Will the benefits of that for consumers outweigh the adverse or the presumed adverse effects on the U.S. auto industry? Well, the agreement that is being discussed is a voluntary agreement that the Japanese themselves instituted. And we've had a cabinet council that is, I know some of you've gotten information before I did on this, that is going to be coming to me with a recommendation. They have not done so as yet, but I will hear all their arguments and I will consider them in the context of the negotiations and the communication or discussion that is going on between us and the Japanese. Yes. Mr. President Beck, if I made a David Stockman for a moment, even his mother thought that his comments on farmers were been heartless. He managed to alienate in almost the next breath, almost every veterans group in the country. Admittedly, his is kind of a thankless job, but some have suggested that you could find someone who could accomplish that job with a little less rank or what do you think, sir? Well, as I told you, I think he's expressed some regret and at the same time I know the circumstances and at the time that he made some of those statements and I know also that under the guise of a committee hearing, some of the harassment that he'd been subjected to and I could understand fellowblown is cool. I think he feels, as we all do, and I certainly feel myself. Yes, the farmers have a very real problem and a lot of it has to do with policies that led to the runaway double-digit inflation that we had in which their land became a haven for those who were seeking hedges against inflation. All of these, plus the government programs, have left them with a very real problem and we're going to do our utmost to help them find a solution to it. If I may, sir, you want Mr. Stockman to stay on the job? Did I say yes? Mr. President, a number of the questions have been on our economic problems abroad. The farmers problem part of it is, sir, that they're priced out of the market in the international trade because of the overvalued dollar. I think that's part of our problem in the auto sales abroad and in this country, where at a disadvantage because our dollar is so valuable compared to other currencies. I wonder, sir, if you have discussed this with Mr. Baker and some of your other economic advisors and if you have studied the possibility of taking any action by this country to try to reduce the value of the dollar against other currencies both in Europe and in Asia. Jim, I think that the problem I can remember when our dollar was devalued and there weren't very many people happy about that. I think the problem of the dollar today is that our trading partners in the world have not caught up with us in economic recovery. I think they have a ways to go in changing some rigidities in their customs and their methods of doing business and in industry. And what we really need is their recovery to bring their money up in value comparable to ours. There are two sides to this problem as we find with the trade deficit, for example, because of our inability with the price of our dollar to sell some of our goods abroad. They are too high priced. But at the same time you turn to the other hand and see the people in this country that are benefiting by the purchase of products which are cheap by our standards, cheap in price, not quality, in our imports and how that has managed to hold down inflation. I think if you start toying around with trying to reduce the value of the dollar without curing this other side of the issue, we put ourselves back into the inflation spiral and that we don't want. Yes, ma'am. Mr. President, do you see any weakening signs in the region of the southern, southeastern flank of NATO in the light of the last Greek attitude? And according to Washington Post there was a story saying that the United States bases will be moved out of Athens. Do you intend to do so? We have no plans about any moves of any kind, but all I can say about the other and I don't think I should go farther than this is to say that, yes, we're very concerned about some of the bilateral problems between countries there at our southern flank of NATO and the effect that they can have on the whole security of the alliance. Gary? Mr. President, if you and Mrs. Thatcher correct that the Soviets plan to hold hostage any progress on intermediate range and strategic weapons in the talks in Geneva in return for concessions on your part on your space defense program, how far are you willing to go in giving concessions to get an arms agreement? We believe that the Soviets are sincere in the statements they've made about actually wanting a reduction and even the elimination of nuclear weapons. They'll stay at the table and negotiate with all that we have proposed and all that we're doing is engaging in research which is legal within the ABM treaty. We're not violating that treaty and I have said repeatedly and Prime Minister Thatcher is aware of this that if our research does produce the possibility of such a weapon, a defensive weapon that could alter the balance, then I would be willing to come forth before any deployment and negotiate and discuss the deployment and the use of that weapon in such a way that it would be used to rid the world of the nuclear threat, not to give us any particular advantage over anyone else. We just think that the ABM treaty itself, this is one part that has been violated. The ABM treaty in being passed, being a defensive weapon treaty, expressed the belief that this should then be accompanied by realistic reductions of nuclear weapons and all there has been since the treaty was passed was a tremendous increase in those weapons. President, back to tax reform for a minute, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee has floated a proposal to impose a consumption tax and he says preferably on energy. Does this fall within the bounds of forbidden territory and you're pledged for no new taxes? Well I would have great difficulty accepting such a proposal. I imagine that he's talking about a tax in the nature of a value-added tax. First of all, bearing with one of the principal sources of local government levels and state governments in their use of the sales tax since the federal government had so, you might say confiscated the area of the income tax, but the other thing with that tax is it's hidden in the price of a product and that tax can quietly be increased and all the people know is that the price went up and they don't know whether the price went up because somebody got a raise or whether the company wanted to increase profits or whether it was government and I just am not enthused. I think I've said before taxes should hurt in the sense that people should be able to see them and know what they're paying. Finally, follow up, sir, would you put an import tax on oil or on oil refined products in that same category? I'm just not considering a tax of that kind. All right, good night. I'm sorry. You're considering steps against Mexico for not cooperating with us? You'll be back next month. We'll be here same time, same place.


UK consumers are buckling under the cost of living crisis. UK consumers are starting to crumple in the face of soaring prices, according a series of reports that paint a grim picture of the nation's cost of living crisis. The Office for National Statistics said Friday the volume of goods sold in stores and online fell half a percent in May, as soaring food prices forced consumers to cut back on spending in supermarkets. More than nine in 10 adults say their cost of living has gone up in the past month, with price of food the most cited factor, a separate report showed. Those releases came after figures showing higher prices are also weighing heavily on consumer confidence, pushing it to a record low this month. The outlook for stores also looks bleak, with the Confederation of British Industry saying Thursday that retailers were also expecting a poor July. Taken together, the reports show the deep damage that the fastest inflation rate since the 1980s is having on the economy. With wages failing to keep pace with rising prices, consumer finances are being squeezed. The outlook is more gloomy than during the depths of the coronavirus pandemic. �We're entering the real cost of living crisis,� said Emma Lomond-Ghumry, Associate Director at Personal Investing, Fidelity International. With prices for even the most basic foods and goods rising substantially many consumers are already adopting more defensive spending behaviors, such as self-imposed checkout limits. The poor figures are bad news for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ruling conservatives, which suffered two bruising defeats in key special elections on Thursday. Read more, Boris Johnson's Tory chair quits after double election blow. GFK said Friday its measure of consumer sentiment dropped one point to minus 41 in June, the lowest reading in the 48 years of the survey. The risk of recession weighed on consumers� view of the future outlook both for their own finances and the broader economy. The survey is the first since the government announced a multi-billion-pound package of support for households to help them cope with soaring energy bills. The findings suggest that unprecedented aid is not enough to bolster sentiment. �Britain faces a stark new economic reality,� said Joe Staten, Client Strategy Director at GFK. �History shows that consumers will not hesitate to retrench and tighten their purse strings when the going gets tough.� Meanwhile the ONS said the drop in sales from April, the third in the last four months, was driven by a 1.6% fall in food sales, particularly at large supermarkets. Data earlier this week showed overall inflation hit a four-decade high of 9.1% in May with food prices rising 8.5%. A separate survey later showed four in ten adults are buying less food when shopping, up from one in ten in the autumn. Feedback from supermarkets suggested customers were spending less on their food shop, because of the rising cost of living, said Heather Bowville, the ONS's deputy director for surveys and economic indicators. Sales at supermarkets fell 1.5% last month, the ONS said, while sales of tobacco, alcohol and other drinks dropped 4%. Total sales were 1.3% lower in the three months through May than during the December to February period, suggesting the retail sector will act as a drag on the economy in the second quarter. In May, department stores and household goods shops also reported a drop in sales as people spent less on items such as furniture. There was also a small decline in online spending. The impact was only partially offset by increases in spending on motor fuel and clothing and footwear. Overall sales excluding fuel fell 0.7%. Consumer pessimism. Sales in April rose just 0.4%, rather than the 1.4% previously estimated. Sales volumes last month were just 2.6% above their levels in February 2020, before the pandemic struck. The prospects of a summer of industrial action and soaring interest rates are also weighing heavily on the mood of the nation, with the Bank of England indicating it is prepared to sacrifice economic growth to lean against higher prices. With the economy already on track to shrink in the second quarter, the risk is that ebbing confidence weighs further on spending and tips the economy into recession. More pain also lies ahead, with the BOE predicting inflation will climb above 11%, more than five times its target, as another big energy bill high kicks in come October. As essential costs continue to rise, as does the risk that further discretionary goods demand reduces in line with the consistently low levels of consumer confidence that we are seeing, said Linda Ellett, UK head of consumer markets, retail and leisure at KPMG.