Hey guys and welcome to season 2 of Stepping Up. I'm your host, Daniel Dubois. For the past 11 weeks, we were able to explore and delve into the world of creativity and innovation. We featured so many persons from various fields and organizations who continue to step up and level up despite the odds of this ongoing pandemic. This season, we wish to continue shining light on the positivity the young people of this country who continue to contribute and push boundaries. Our first interview explores the world of robotics, mechanical engineering and STEM programming. Keegan and Shogun are two young men who see that one experience in Barbados changed their lives forever and this caused them to make moves to start their own business called Obtronics. Let's take in the interview. Today, we are with Shogun Rosary and Keegan Patrick and they are the founders of Obtronics. Let me tell you, I am privileged to be in their presence because I know probably two or three years from now I'll be like, I knew these guys. I interviewed them before because they're having to chat with them before we started our interview. It's just so amazing and interesting the things that they're doing. Without further ado, I think I want them to introduce themselves individually and just to give a little bit of a feedback or introduction or background information on them and the stuff that they've been up to. So guys, thank you very much for saying yes to being part of the show today and I guess we'll start with you. Thank you very much for having us on today. A little bit about myself. My name is Shogun Rosary. I'm a sophomore mechanical engineer major. I'm currently at the Howard University. I'll just give a quick background about myself, how I got involved in robotics, would that be okay? At the Spice Program in Barbados in 2016, I participated in a robotics course where we built an underwater robot. That was the first time I really got exposed to robotics and it was at that program I realized that mechanical engineering was really something I wanted to do in the future. In 2017, I participated in the first global competition, which was an international robotics competition held in Washington, D.C. We participated with 164 other teams and at that competition we came 51st and it was really there that I realized the great disparity between the technological capabilities of the youth in St. Lucia as compared to those abroad and it was really there that both of the ideas of electronics came about. When I came back to St. Lucia in 2018, I worked closely along with the Ministry of Education and CFYR to help integrate robotics into the secondary school curricula and in 2019 I went to Howard University, now I'm here. Launching their own business, about to help anybody with an idea to create and innovate and we're going to talk about my invention just a little bit later, that they're going to help develop but we're moving on to Keegan and we're going to learn a little bit more about him. Okay, thank you for having us. My name is Keegan Patrick, a final year student at the University of West Indies studying mechanical engineering. Ziko and I, Shugan and I shared a lot of the same background. I attended SPICE with Shugan. We did that same robotics project together in terms of the underwater robot. We also participated in the first global robotics challenge together where we represented St. Lucia. After that, after we both, the idea of electronics coming from that first global robotics challenge we went our separate paths where Ziko did his gap year and I went to study mechanical engineering at the University of West Indies. Fast forwarding a year or two, we're in 2020 and we have taken up the task of starting our own company of electronics. Nice. While we were speaking, you guys mentioned that it was really actually the SPICE initiative in Barbados. What's the correct name for it? Student Program for Innovation and Science and Engineering. In Barbados, that you guys went to SPICE, a nice name. And it was there that they saw that you guys were really inspired by the technology and the fact that you guys would actually do this. Speak to how that experience encouraged you guys to create electronics and you can go right into the summer camp that you guys recently had. The SPICE experience really, the reason that it really both designed me to become an engineer at SPICE, we did robotics really from the ground up. We used materials that you could find in any hardware store. Simple materials, very, very simple like all the motors, just normal motors, not yet waterproof. There was nothing really pre-built and in terms of like the circuitry, everything we did ourselves. The wiring, the programming, it was really from the ground up and it really gave me an appreciation of how much work needed to go into any robotic device. But the thing is for me, working on that program, we really did like overnight, many times at that robotics program, sometimes we would spend maybe five, six hours in the lab working on that, go back to our dorms maybe two in the morning. Still have work to do and then right next morning we'll be back on it. And I realized that it was so easy for me to do it, like I didn't feel like I was being forced. It was something that I genuinely wanted to do and it was really there that I realized like, okay, this is cool. And I love doing it and I wish this was something that was available to me back home in St. Lucia. And this really is one of the, again, the founding things that caused us to bring the Optronic Summer Program to St. Lucia. But if you'll have to make it again? Yeah, I mean actually I have one of the kits that we used to create that robot in the first place. And I mean it was one of the robots that we considered using for the Optronic Summer Program. But that one it requires a lot more intense preparation and time. So we decided to go with something a bit more simpler that the students would be able to actually get their heads around in. Keegan, so what were some of the tasks or what exactly did the children engage or come in? Okay, so at the Optronic Summer Program, our idea was to have the students work on a project that's putting into society right now. So our project was to develop prototype medical service Korea June. So in developing the June, we got them all the kit that they needed, all the materials that we needed. We had them put it together and we had them use the skills that they learned in their design classes to design an attachment or be able to hold the medical supplies that we got from one of our medical facilities in St. Lucia. So going through the different parts of the June, we bought the speed controllers, the frame, and the flight controller that we would go on to configure and program to tell the June I wanted to go from point E to point B. And you would have your radio system to communicate to your laptop. And that's really the core components of our June and our power distribution board, which is at the bottom. And we explained all of this to the students. We went through the physics that goes into the June, our June work. The students really took it from there. We tried to do as little as possible ourselves to let the students get that same experience that we had when we were younger. And the spice, again, moving back, let's go back to the whole genesis of the camp and electronics. Why do you think St. Lucia is so behind when it comes to teaching science and technology into the classrooms? I mean, we've all done science and TD and stuff, but what's the thing that's missing in our schools to engage persons? Let them know that we could actually create our own things and become innovators and inventors. I think really to speak to that, I don't think it's just a problem here in St. Lucia. I think it's a problem Caribbean-wide. And one of the posts of the SPICE program, Dr. Cardinal Wood, they wrote a paper speaking about the development of the Caribbean and the way forward. And they also spoke a little bit about why the Caribbean is currently behind in terms of that development. And the difference between the Caribbean islands and the first world countries is that many years ago, the first world countries decided to pull their resources together to focus on increasing their STEM capabilities, and they really invested a lot of governmental funds into improving the STEM capabilities of their countries. So they gave many STEM corporations access to capital to push these sort of initiatives. Meanwhile, Caribbean nations focus more on what we traditionally have done in the past. Not to say that those areas should not be focused on as well, but I don't think that back then they were looking to the long run and looking to where things were headed. Their vision was somewhat short-sighted in that regard. I think moving forward, the traditional industries as well have to be supported, but greater emphasis has to be placed on the technological industries because it's something that you could really grow without needing skills, so to speak, because a lot of innovation itself can be done based on the ability of your human capital. It does not have to require a large skill to be done. Sometimes, I mean, when it comes to manufacturing, so to speak, you need skill, but when it comes to innovation, it's about the human capital and the expertise that you have. So that's why we have Optronics who is here to solve the problem and connect, or I should say, close the gap between the human capital and technology, right? And let us know a little bit more about that and let us know some about your plans for Optronics and how you plan to do that. Okay, going forward with Optronics, we really want to focus on a few sectors that we're going forward with our business. In terms of industrial process automation, device development, up services, and our educational programs. Our educational programs we put at the forefront. That's the first thing we did because we believe we needed to develop our human capital. These are the people that may in the future be working with Optronics. This may be a person that would be developing business in the technological industry that we're really trying to push and buff it in St. Lucia and the Caribbean. And for our business, on our business side, we want any medium-sized businesses that are using traditional methods or manual methods. We could come to their business and create a machinery, create processes to automate their processes using a machine or using new innovative technologies. Our device development segment would fall under small devices that we think that might increase the productivity of your business or an idea or product you wanted to prototype and bring to the market. Prototyping is something that's widely done in the first world countries. When you bring in your idea or pitching your idea to investors, you need a working prototype. You need something that you can say, this is what I want done and I want to have it mass produced. So with Optronics, we help you get your idea from being just an idea in your head to being something that's real life, something that's working. And something you could say, hey, this is my machine. And I want, if you invest in me, I could have this mass produced and this could be the next thing that's bigger than Amazon. And our app services is going on with our programming capabilities to help already businesses. Anybody who has an idea could come to you and say, okay, this is the idea I have for the app. And I could give you that intellectual property and say, okay, can you develop this for me? So that's the idea of Optronics. Same thing too, if you have an invention or an idea that you had that you never had the capacity or you just don't know what's the next step, you could check Optronics. So we had a very interesting discussion before we started the interview and I told them about my lifelong invention. And I'm inspired and I'm happy that you guys are so young and so versed in your fields. And I can only imagine what the future is going to look like for you guys. So as we wrap up, can you just speak to personally what's next for you guys individually and as a business, as a company, what's next, what you guys are working on, what you're willing to share with us? Personally, I started school yesterday again for the next semester. Right now, Keegan and I are looking at how we can move forward with both school and our business. We're currently thinking of how we could manage our time best. Because currently we have some projects that we already have in the pipeline and we just need to start to flesh them out a bit more in terms of how exactly we will move forward. So those really are my plan for the future. And he's been very careful to not say what they're working on there. So several times you're like, no, we can't talk about it, we can't talk about it. But you know what? All the best.   I think you may have to forgive Shilga and a little bit of not being able to disclose anything because we actually have to sign a non-disclosure form. But also we're just trying to work with our schedule because we will be going back to school and have some online courses. But we will be working tightly with our schedule for work and school. Personally, that's what's moving forward with me, trying to make sure we're able to develop opportunities. We have our few projects that we're working on, taking up the role of technical advisory services and trying to work on our first project, our first device project that a company wants us to build for them. Billionaires in the making, I'm sure. And they know it very well. So they don't deny it and they don't shy away from the fact that they understand that there's a need and what they're doing is very important in St. Lucia and globally. So just one person, just tell me how we can contact you. You could follow us on Instagram or Facebook. On Instagram, it's at Obtronics underscore. On Facebook, it's Obtronics. So guys, these are the ones who will come and take your idea around if it can make it a reality. Thank you so much. All the best, fortune and favors in all your endeavors. And thank you so much. Guys, we'll be right back. Back to school is finally here. Jade, you have your hand sanitizer. You have your disinfecting wipes. I even gave you an extra mask and this one you can put it on. Jaden, one of the COVID-19 rules. Wash your hands, wear all of your masks and six feet away. Ensure your children are provided with a personal hygiene kit to carry and use on a daily basis. Items like hand sanitizer, wipes and extra masks should be in there. Remember, if your child does not feel well or is showing any flu-like symptoms, keep him or her at home.  Classrooms have been prepared to ensure physical distancing. Teachers and support staff will guide students during the day to wash their hands and all surfaces, desks, chairs, door handles and washrooms will be cleaned regularly. By now, administrations of schools would have communicated the new schedule specific to your child's grade or form. Lunches will be consumed at the student's desk or outdoors while respecting physical distancing. As we start the new school year 2020-2021, we are all adjusting to the new normal that was introduced by COVID-19. I beg of all of you, let us observe the guidelines as prescribed by the Ministry of Health. Our children, teachers, educators, stakeholders, we all depend on one another to do the right thing for the sake of our children and the sake of our nation. Let us all be vigilant and observe the protocols as defined by the Ministry of Health. Welcome back. So as you heard, Uptronics is up and running and ready for business. I'm hoping that you'll have enough time to build that prototype for the invention that I've had in my mind for many, many years. Anyways, all the best and thank you guys so much for stepping up. Now for Linkup. We chat with a good friend of mine, Chanel Justin, a teacher, writer and drama enthusiast and a recently published author for her master's program where she studies exceptional learners. Chanel was a recipient for one of the Ministry of Education's Equipped 2019 scholarships. So we chat about her schooling, being away from home during the unfolding of this pandemic and her experience coming back and going through the process of quarantine. Let's take a look at the interview. Hello, Chanel and how are you? Hi, Daniel. Thank you so much for having this meeting with me. I am very privileged to be here. Well, I'm happy that you said yes, but you know, I really wanted to zone into your story because I think Chanel has a very interesting story. The fact that she went to Canada and she was actually part of the whole, seeing the whole pandemic, you know, happen. You know, it happened in a lot of phases, but I would say from the beginning, right? Yes, from the beginning. So let us know first, let us know a little bit about your scholarship from Equip and the Ministry of Education and what you guys are really doing up to right now. Okay, so I applied for the scholarship with Equip and it is a master's degree program in exceptional learners. There were three of us and this program ran for a year and a half and the final leg, which is the half of the year, I will be competing in St. Lucia because, well, COVID-19. Yes. It's a good feeling to be home, right? It is a wonderful feeling to be home because I saw this pandemic unfold before me. I was home in December and in January, that's when I started paying attention because I realized things can get really bad here and I'm not home. I don't have my family, so it was a lot to think of. So should I let us know a little bit more about your program, exceptional learners and give us some more information about the paper that you recently published and what does it really mean to be published? My program is a master's degree in exceptional learners and what it is really is special education and in Canada it is called exceptional learners because they are trying to remove the stigma associated with children that need special assistance in class and so it is termed exceptional learners and I think that is the best way to go because every child is special when you think about it, really. So this program is designed to meet the needs of children that have emotional disorders, intellectual disorders and learning disabilities and any child that basically needs extra help in the classroom. So that is what I am studying and I'm looking at a lot of research, reading a lot of up-to-date data, I would say and research has been conducted on various areas and various disorders so that is what it really covers and based on my program I was able to publish my first academic paper and I am very proud of that. I honestly did not think that this is something I would have been able to achieve while doing the program but I was approached by my academic advisor who encouraged me to stick to the topic which was arts education. So my paper is entitled enhancing school connectedness among vulnerable youth through arts education considerations for education systems in St. Lucia and what this paper is about it studies how arts education can be used to enhance school connectedness among vulnerable youth. School connectedness is basically the belief that a child has that the school that they attend that there are adults that care about their well-being and about their learning. So what art education does it enhances the school connectedness and I know of this because I've been involved in the arts and so on so because of my own experience I decided well I know what arts education is for me so I should explore something that I'm familiar with and see how it can reach those vulnerable students and hence the paper. So how do you plan to contribute when you finally complete your paper when I say your program because you know because of COVID you had to run home and praise God you know you could run home, yes in lack of a better word but run home and I think as much as a lot of people say a lot of things about people come home I'm like it's home. Home, yes home is home and what I would really like to do based on my experience that I've had in Canada and doing my program is focus on research. We really need to change the way we do things in terms of our education system because a lot of the programs, methods and practices that we have implemented in the education system is based on research that have been done in the UK, Canada and the US and so their systems, their findings are based on their findings, their culture their society, their economic and so on so we really need to do our own research and develop our own programs and that's what my paper did I did research and I included Saint Lucians and foreigners as well in the paper and developed our own practices that can be used based on our system so I think that's what does a direction our education system should take more research, find out what our needs are and then develop practices to meet those needs. What do you think is the greatest misconception Saint Lucians have when it comes to exceptional learners and exceptional learners you could correct me if I'm wrong is you have the spectrum of those who may need extra help and then you have those who are gifted so just let us know a little bit about that and let us know what you think is that misconception that we have as a country and how your program and the paper that you wrote can help solve some of those problems or change the misconceptions I think the misconception we have in Saint Lucians that once a child is struggling with reading and math that this child is stupid or the child is unable to learn we really need to understand that every child is gifted and talented we have to figure out what that is and groom and nurture that talent in that child so I think that's the misconception we believe that once a child has difficulty reading and difficulty in math then it's a lost case and there's also a lot of emphasis on academics and not much emphasis on practical skills and talents and skills so we have a situation where children are not necessarily gifted academically but they are talented creatively and we really need to tap into our dreamers our creative arts students the dancers the musicians they are the ones that can reshape everything the face of our country you know so I think that's a misconception and we have not given arts education the attention that it deserves because when I delve into what arts education has to offer it is so much and it's not just for children even teachers can benefit from it you know so we have a lot of work to do there's a moving power with drama and you know we kind of bias when it comes to drama naturally but there's a moving power about drama and drama challenges you on so many levels and being able to expose students to that at a very young age not only helps them to be creative but it focuses on teamwork how to express how to do things differently or to go about solving problems differently so as we wrap up the side of the academics because you know we've delved into that and we want to focus on that aspect personally how do you plan to contribute I know of course you have to teach and come back and give back to the country but you know personally you could possibly let us know what is it that you want to do to give back how do you plan on solving some of the problems that you've identified I am very much interested in using drama the main tool although I have experience in other arts areas I am working with drama can and we have been looking at play therapy and play back theater with adults and I want to bring it to the secondary school students and I'm also hoping to do some work with the boys' training center you know whenever when I was writing my paper I always reflected on the work that drama can started with them and when we started that work we were not ready we were not ready and studying it now I'm beginning to understand the way we should approach this and I think that's where I would like to start my work I would like to link up with the boys' training center and write a proposal and start some work with them because I think we can start a program there and see where it goes from there that comes to my mind as you said you mentioned that we were not ready can you just share what it was and for me just and I can imagine and it's strange we haven't had this conversation personally as to how you studying that aspect prepares us to now be able to go back into that voluntary work when we went to boys' training center we realized that you met boys who are at different levels emotionally and I don't know I don't know how to describe it Chanel I think I'll take it over to you but we just weren't ready to catch them we were not ready to meet them where they were intellectually, emotionally mentally, physically physical health oh my gosh drama education contributes to physical health and not just drama arts education dance teachers coordination hand eye coordination so many areas and that's one thing my paper touched on that arts education meets the developmental needs in terms of the intellectual needs physical needs, emotional needs and social needs it's all encompassing you know so I think that knowing that now I will be able to approach these boys knowing that they have some disadvantages and I can help them navigate and using their strengths nice thank you so much for that Chanel and you know you know anytime I have to come and end the conversation because anytime we get into it is like you'll go on and on and on yes yes but you know what thank you so much for your contribution and stepping up and congratulations on being able to publish your paper I remember when we had to always we had to note what's the proper way to note out, to cite just in 2020 this has been so much to me because we know what 2020 is all about so I am just happy that I was able to do something within this very challenging time with the help of the government as we wrap up you had to come home on a big jumbo plane what was that process like being able to travel and you know we don't want to go through the depressing stuff because we know that 2020 has depressing aspects and dark sides to it so let us know what it was like for you to come home let us know what the travel experience was like and going through, she went through quarantine guys so she has to tell us a little bit about the quarantine yes so it took me two days to get to my home country and two weeks to get to my physical home because I was in quarantine I must say it was very scary travelling to my home country because there were no direct flights from where I was in Canada, I was in your Brunswick and there was no way to get a direct flight so I had to travel through the US to get home and I made like six stops along the way and when I got to the US, it was like there was no pandemic and I can understand why the numbers are so high because there was very little social distancing even on the plane there was no social distancing so I was so scared I had to adapt to wearing a mask for the entire flight which was very challenging and in Canada as well masks were not mandatory but social distances were in effect and the airports were empty so it's almost like I came from an area where they took this pandemic very seriously social distancing, mask wearing and so on and then when I got to the US it was like another story like it was just night and day and when I finally got home I was so happy and then I went through the pre-arrival process and when I went through that process I realised why our numbers are so low we have a very very effective way of controlling the spread of this virus I was in customs before I got out I was in customs for probably an hour and I was required to sanitise my hands at least three times before I entered various different zones in the airport and I thought that's really good because that's how the virus spreads your hands and you know well your sneezing and so on and I also had to present a negative Covid test so for me I felt so secured and then I felt like we have this under control in St. Louis and I felt safe and I was just happy to be home in quarantine I was treated so well I I felt like a police escort a police escort listen this was so exciting when I got to the bus the driver told the police that they were ready and then when we were heading down it was just the sirens and we got a lot of attention but for me it was exciting it was like welcome home it was exciting for me I didn't feel like I was a criminal or anything to me it was I'm here everyone is welcoming me and I got this special treatment and it took us less than an hour to get to Kastri so I enjoyed that and when we got to Big Gardens which is where I was I said let's go again let's go again I was just happy to be home and the food was well prepared I got called to lunch and dinner to ask if I wanted fish chicken or beef that's a world treatment to me and my temperature was checked twice a day I kept myself busy by reading writing I was entertained with the television I had access to the internet the only challenging part for me about quarantine was not having my family I was there for two weeks by myself but I knew how to keep myself entertained it was fine do it again you wanted to quarantine again maybe with somebody well Chanel thank you so much for joining us here at Stepping Up and you know you have an amazing story to tell and you're almost done with your program so I wish you all the best fortune and favors moving forward and thank you so much and continue to keep Stepping Up thank you so much Daniel there are so many amazing things happening in St. Lucia right now everywhere you turn so many persons are Stepping Up as a country our citizens are so full of talent and have so many interesting stories to tell that's our objective of Stepping Up to capture and share as much as we can about our people thank you so much for joining me for this episode if you know anyone in your community who is Stepping Up or doing anything amazing feel free to send me an email at SteppingUp758 at gmail.com I'm your host Daniel Dubois once again thank you for joining us and don't forget to keep Stepping Up


Now let's discuss the character of Mr. Rochester. So Mr. Rochester is the other protagonist and this is the man that Jane Eyre ultimately falls in love with when she goes to work at Thornfield Hall. Now when we meet Mr. Rochester, he is presented almost as our bironic figure. In other words, he seems to be tormented by something innate within him, something perhaps from his past which we ultimately realise is his past marriage to Bertha, which he feels really trapped in. Now he's a really interesting and complex character so as you can see behind me, I have created key quotations to remember for him. Now the first quotation to remember when it comes to Mr. Rochester's character is how he is described when he first appears and the quotation is, his figure was enveloped in a riding cloak, ellipsis. He had a dark face with stern features and this is really what establishes him as almost this rugged looking bironic male hero. He's someone who is intriguing, he's not conventionally handsome but there's something intriguing about him but also he seems to be tormented by this inner thing that we don't quite know what it is. Now the word level analysis you want to do here is firstly the verb enveloped describing how his figure was cloaked in what he was riding with. The other word level analysis are the adjectives dark and stern to describe his features. He is seen and presented as a very forbidding feature but also there's something about him that's very alluring and this is the very thing that Jane Eyre is intrigued by and ultimately falls in love with. Now the second quotation to remember with regards to Mr. Rochester's character is he was described as being, he was proud, sardonic, harsh to inferiority so he's somebody who's also a really harsh character and the word level analysis you want to do here, this is a structural technique and this is a syndetine, a syndantic listing, the listing of the adjectives proud, sardonic, harsh to show that he almost has this veneer of sternness and harshness to him. The third quotation to remember when it comes to Mr. Rochester's character is this is now tying into this inward torment that he is experiencing. An agony of inward contempt masters me, this is what he says. And the word level analysis you want to do here is the literation masters me. Now here he is confessing this to Jane but he doesn't quite tell her what is causing this torment to him and of course this torment and the cause of this torment is this marriage to Bertha, the lady that he married from the Caribbean who he's unable to find a way to divorce and he was almost forced into this marriage by his father due to the large payment and inheritance he would ultimately get. However he's now trapped in this marriage when Bertha actually goes mad and she is essentially characterised as this demon who causes his ultimate downfall. Now the other quotation to remember is when he is justifying his marriage to Jane Eyre, so Jane Eyre of course is his social inferior so whilst Mr. Rochester is part of the landed gentry, he is a wealthy man, Jane Eyre works as his governess and in Victorian society it was forbidden, it was very much frowned upon for somebody of his social status to marry a governer. However he casts this off, he says he doesn't care and he states, for the world's judgement I wash my hands thereof, here he's basically saying I don't really care what the world thinks of me, I'm going to marry you because I love you Jane. Now here you want to focus on the hyperbole, the world's judgement, he realises that he's making a social blunder in marrying Jane Eyre as his governess, however he doesn't care, he's very libertarian, he's very free spirited, however he fails to disclose to Jane that he is already married and that's the major critical error that he makes. The other quotation to remember from Mr. Rochester's character is when he ultimately has to come clean, so he's about to marry Jane Eyre, then his marriage is stopped when somebody in the parish in the church says that he is already married and then he takes them back to see Bertha and to see this mad woman he's still married to and he states, I had but a hideous demon that he was married to and of course here the word love analysis is the metaphor demon to describe his wife who is mad. The other quotation relating to Mr. Rochester and this is the final quotation is at the end of the story when he atones for his past sins, for his past libertarian immorality and he agrees that perhaps his disability because he becomes blind he also becomes disabled, his disability is God's way of punishing his past sinful behaviour and of course he decides to take on Jane Eyre's Christianity and he states showing his penance, divine justice pursued its course, disasters came thick upon me and this is talking about all the punishment that he's gotten from God which he sees as just punishment for his bad immoral past behaviour. The word love analysis you want to do here is the alliteration of these, the divine and disasters and of course you've got the verb pursued describing how God pursued him and taught him a lesson in order to make him a better person and to make him more moral. So that's it when it comes to key quotations remember with Mr. Rochester's character.


One common question I always see out in the forums is how do I work with different data types? It's so confusing casting and converting and trying to figure out what goes where and if this is compatible and that's compatible Well, Qt actually helps you simplify that even further. So we're gonna say include And you're gonna include something called Q variant. Now Q variant is Pretty awesome. Let's go ahead and check it out Q variants a data type. So we're gonna say Q variant and let's call this value equal 1 and Let's go ahead and say Q variant And let's call this value 2 What witchcraft is this? Look at this. This isn't even generics. This is just you're shoving any value you want right into this thing So we just put an integer in here. We just put a string in here Let's go ahead and test this out and see how to work with Q variant So we're gonna say void test Q variant. Let's call this value We're just gonna print it out whatever it is and we're gonna just simply do a test try to convert this into an integer I'll say in test equals zero and If you press the letter t or even to you'll see that you have all these different conversions that you can do To bull bite array care date, I mean just about every basic Q type is in here. This is just nuts So we're gonna try to int so as we're gonna convert this to an int Notice how it gives us a pointer to a boolean. There's our callback right there. So we can figure out if this thing actually worked That's not book. It's bool. That would have been really bad. All right. There we go So really what we're doing here is we say we've got this integer We're gonna take our Q variant called to int and then we've got a callback right here where we're saying hey Modify this notice how we're passing that by reference So I shouldn't call it a callback. It's really by reference So we're gonna say if okay, then Actually, you know, we could just get rid of that and say not number Save and run this Hmm probably help if we call the actual function. There we go. There we go So we have our Q variant notice how it wraps it in these parentheses So we know what's going on here. It has an internal type. So it knows what it's storing So there's our Q variant. It is convertible to an int. Here's our Q variant, which is a Q string And there's the actual data here and it is not a number Q variant is extremely handy and extremely powerful if you're working with unknown data types Where you can just simply shove the value in a Q variant pass the Q variant over and just move on in life You don't have to worry about it and it can actually do all the converting for you I hope you enjoyed the video you just watched that was a preview of one of the videos out in the Cute core for beginners with C++ course. I have out on Udemy I am going to be making an intermediate in advance and then we're gonna start working on GUI technologies For example showing buttons lists tree views you name it and then moving on to things like QML The reason why I've restarted this whole thing is if you're watching these videos out on YouTube They are a little old this one was done in 2011 and the technology has changed over time So because the technology has changed some of these videos as good as they are Really don't line up with the current cute technology stack anymore. So I wanted to start from scratch I hope to see you out on Udemy and also in the voidrums Facebook group. See you there


Hello everyone. Last week we were talking about data acquisition from a suspect device and this week we'll be talking about recovering data from the copy that you made. So first, we're just gonna review some things that we talked about last week. First off, whenever we get a suspect or victim device before we start working with it, we want to make sure that we are right blocking the device. So we can't actually make any changes to the suspect or victim's disc. So we need to figure out, do we want to use a hardware right blocker or a software right blocker to be able to protect that data from us making changes to it. Once we actually connect the right blocker, we need to make sure that we create a hash of the original device. So creating a hash value for the suspect or victim's data to ensure that whenever we're working with the data we know what the data, the state of the data was before we access the data and after we access the data. So basically connect your suspect or victim's storage devices to a right blocker, either hardware or software and then make a reference hash value, make a hash of that data so you know whether it changes or not. Next, acquire the disc image of the device. So actually copy the data into a file form or potentially copy it to another hard drive. This is what you will actually use to work with during your investigation. Once you've made a copy of the suspect's data and you either have it in a file format or copied to another hard drive, then we want to create hashes for the copy of the data that we've created and the original again. We make a copy of the data of the, we make a hash of the copy that we created to ensure that our copy is exactly the same as the original. We also make another hash of the original disc to make sure that we didn't make any modifications. Once we've done that, then we have a, usually a disc image and we also have three hashes. Those hash values should be all the same. Once we have that, then we know that we have an original copy or a copy of the original data that has not been modified from when the suspect had access to that data. So we have this clean data that we can prove to court that we have not modified in any way. Once we get all that and all the documentation hashes match, then we need to not work with the suspect's hard drive anymore. We want to disconnect it and put it essentially in a storage locker and it will remain there until the case is over or it has to go back to the suspect or victim. So the result of all of this is an exact copy of the original data and this copy is what we will be storing either on our forensic workstation or a forensic server in our unit or whatever we're working in and the original device should be put in secure storage. We will not use it again unless absolutely necessary. The reason we do not want to access the original hard drive anymore is first off, we might make modifications to it and we do not want to change any of the data that's on that disk. But second, it's a physical device so it could break while we're using it or something could go wrong with it. The more we use it, the more likely it is to break or something will be damaged. So we want to make sure that we are using the physical device, the original physical device as little as possible. Once we make a copy, we securely store it and we're done with it from now on. We have a copy of the acquired disk image and we always want to make a second copy of the acquired disk image. The reason for that is we have this kind of copy that we've made, we have a file that contains all of the suspect or victim data and we need to analyze that copy. But maybe our tools somehow modify this image that we've created. If the tools modified the image that we created, then our image is no longer good. We can no longer use it for court and the only way we can get another good image is by going back to the physical disk and making another copy. So to prevent that from happening, we have the copy that we've made, this forensic disk image that we've created and we have it stored on our forensic workstation or secure server. And then whenever we want to actually do analysis, we make a copy of our file or a copy of the copy and we always work with this second copy. So if we modify any of the data in this second copy, no problem, we can just make another copy again without accessing the original disk. We always wanna work with the copy of the original. If the original image is damaged, we will have to use the disk again. We do not want to access the physical disk again unless we absolutely need to. And we need to create and verify the hashes of all of these copies that we make. Every time we start to do an analysis of the data, we need to make a hash of not only our original file, but also any copies we make. And once we're finished with our analysis, we also make a hash again of the copies we've made and the originals to make sure that we haven't actually modified anything. The reason that's so important is we need to be able to prove to court that all of our actions did not add or remove any data from the suspect's device. We have to prove that. So it's always good practice before you begin an analysis to hash your data and make sure the hash values match the hash values before and then after you're done with your analysis, hash again and document that those hashes are the same. If there is a change, that's not necessarily a problem as long as you can say why there was a change. So court can accept some changes as long as you can say, explain what the changes were, why they were necessary and what caused them essentially. So getting into data recovery. For data recovery, we'll have a lot of practices this week. Data recovery is an attempt to pull out as much information as possible from the system. So now we have a copy of all of this data, but we haven't actually made sense of what the data means yet. We don't have access to all of the information that's on the suspect's system. It's all there, we just need to pull it out into a form that humans can understand. So some data or some tasks that digital investigators almost always do are recovering deleted files, recovering hidden partitions or hidden files, and also recovering file fragments or parts of files that have possibly been deleted or overwritten or intentionally hidden, things like that. These are some common things, and we'll practice that this week. So to recover data, very, very basically, there's a lot of different methods or techniques and tools we can use to recover data, but basically, very basically, to recover data we normally examine known data structures. And we've already talked a little bit about data structures. Essentially, if you have a file, the file probably has a file header and it probably has a file footer. In most cases, a lot of files have file headers and file footers. Partitions also have structures, basically most of the data that we deal with on a daily basis has some sort of structure to it. And if we can understand that structure, then we can look directly at the data and be able to pull out information that's relevant to our case. So a basic example, find where the structure starts, right? Find where the structure ends and then copy everything in between. So imagine that we have an image file and we'll actually practice this today. In the slides, I have an example of a JPEG image and we have a file header for the JPEG image. So we look for where the file header begins. We look for where the file information ends and if we just start copying from the beginning to the end, we copy everything out into another file. We can recover the image that's in this data even if the suspect had deleted that image. We might still be able to recover this. So we'll practice that this week a couple different ways. There are some automated tools or there are a lot of automated tools that try to do this data recovery automatically but we'll also try some fairly straightforward manual data recovery as well. So I just wanna say real quick about fragmentation and file fragments. They're a little bit different or the concepts are a little bit different. So data fragments, sometimes only parts of a file are available. So for example, if I delete a file, then Windows is free to use that space on the hard drive again and another file might be overwritten on part of the file. So I might only actually be able to recover half or maybe even less of a file and we consider that a fragment of the file. These fragments are very interesting for investigations because imagine that somebody wrote an email saying they were going to bomb a school. They might have deleted that email from their sent box but that email might still, the data for the email might still be resident on their hard drive. But if they keep sending more emails maybe part of that email gets overwritten. We could potentially still recover fragments or a fragment of that message and still be able to recover for example, part of the text that says I'm going to blow up the school or whatever they're going to say. So fragments are parts of files that we can still recover and they oftentimes contribute or have some information that are relevant to cases but they're a little bit difficult to work with. And fragmentation is whenever all data is not necessarily located sequentially on the hard drive. So going back to the JPEG image example. If we start at the beginning of a JPEG and we copy everything until the end of the JPEG we can get a JPEG image out. However, if there's fragmentation then parts of the file may be stored in different places on the hard drive. Whenever that's the case, whenever the file is fragmented we won't be able to just start at the beginning and copy until the end because there'll be a lot of extra data in there. We get this fragmentation, we don't recover the image accurately. So fragmentation causes a lot of problems for a lot of different file types. We'll look a little bit about what fragmentation can do in your investigation when we do practice this week. So I'll have a lot of resources and tools available for you for trying data recovery on some of your own devices this week. And that's it for now. Thank you.


the President of the United States. Thank you. Thank you very much. I once learned in a public speaking class that you should never open your remarks with an apology. But then how can I explain to you that I'm sorry I was late and that kept you waiting here? I'll tell you how that happened here. Some of the fellows behind me won't get mad. They had a meeting scheduled also with a delegation from the Congress and I found out that every time that happens I'm late from then on. But welcome to the White House. We're gathered to draw attention to the plight of the long-suffering Baltic people and to affirm to the world that we do not recognize their subjugation as a permanent condition. The Soviet occupation of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania is a living reminder of the cynical agreement between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany that precipitated the Second World War. The Soviets would like the world to forget this dark chapter of history, but it's something the Baltic people and freedom-loving people everywhere will always remember. The Soviet Union invaded these small but proud countries in 1940. And then in June of 1941, only days before Hitler turned on his partners in the Kremlin, the Soviets arrested tens of thousands, executed many, and began a mass deportation to Siberia. At the end of the war, the horror continued as hundreds of thousands were sent to the Gulag. Today it's no coincidence that a large percentage of people living in these occupied countries are not of Baltic descent. The Soviets have tried their best to rushify the Baltic peoples as they have with so many of the other oppressed nationalities within the Soviet Empire. The worship of God, once at the heart of Baltic culture, has been brutally suppressed. Any legitimate attempt at independence from Moscow has been suppressed. Any tangible effort to preserve their national identity has been denied, but the Soviets have never broken their spirit. Underground publications flourish, and ad hoc committees and groups defend religious and national rights as guaranteed by the Helsinki Accords. It seems ironic that those responsible for the repression I've been describing are now proposing what they call an atom-free Baltic, a Nordic nuclear-free zone, especially since unidentified submarines have repeatedly violated the territorial waters of Norway and neutral Sweden. This kind of conduct doesn't lend itself to a spirit of trust. As a matter of fact, the curious thing is if you really stop to think about it, their description of a nuclear-free zone is that there won't be nuclear weapons in that zone. The kind of nuclear-free zones we want in the world are zones where nuclear weapons will not be landing and exploding. I urge the Soviets to concentrate on the serious negotiations in Geneva instead of making meaningless gestures. Last week, as you're aware, I unveiled a new arms control proposal. We hope the Soviets will take this proposal seriously. We've demonstrated flexibility. The ball is now in their court. We're seeking verifiable and equitable agreements because we're firmly convinced that such agreements are in the interest of both our countries and all the people of the world. However, we should never delude ourselves as to just who and what we're dealing with. I can promise you, we will not, in the process of seeking peace, be lured from our moral commitment to those captive peoples who are now held in bondage. There are those who believe that we should muffle our criticism of totalitarianism in the mistaken notion that this will further the cause of peace. We Americans want nothing more than to remain free and at peace. Nevertheless, ignoring reality, giving up the moral high ground, using to speak the truth, will not engender the respect needed for the preservation of peace and human liberty. Totalitarian regimes must know that free men will not cower. Then and only then can conflict be avoided. I'm happy to report, after the Williamsburg Summit, that I'm confident freedom and peace can be preserved. The leaders of the Western democracies gathering there in the cradle of liberty met as friends and allies. A new spirit is emerging in the West, a fellowship of decent and free people. We have the strength of our convictions, and we're not afraid. June 14th, the day of 1941, when the massive deportation of the Baltic people began, is a day which reaffirms our commitment to our ideals. The people of Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and all the other captive nations looked to the United States. We must keep the peace, and we will. We must also keep the beacon of freedom shining, and from that sacred responsibility, we will never shrink. Last week, Congress expeditiously adopted legislation proclaiming June 14th Baltic Freedom Day. I will now sign the proclamation, marking that designation. Mr. President,


O'Avana is a collaboration between the artist Lynette Wallworth and an Amazonian tribe called the Yawanawa. Tashka Yawanawa, the chief of the tribe, wanted to share the vision of the first female shaman of the community. It's a story of metamorphosis really and cultural transformation. It uses technology to put the viewer in the place of the shamaness so that you can see the visioning experiences that she had when she was going through her training and you can come to know and see and love the forest and feel the interconnectedness that the Yawanawa experience. Indigenous people have knowledge that we need if we're going to combat climate change and if we're going to come together and solve these problems which the forum is trying to address.


Some more text messages just came out from Heidi talking with her therapist about Pro Jared. And in this video we're going to discuss the very important subject about why you don't lie to your therapist. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And if you're new to my channel what I try to do is take different topics going on in the YouTube community, try to see what lessons we can learn from them. Because there's no point in watching all this stuff go on if we're not trying to see how we can improve our own mental and emotional well-being. So if you're into that stuff make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell. And right now usually I promote something of mine that's going on but I want to take this moment to shine a spotlight on one of my favorite people on earth, Miss CCB. Alright? Over on Instagram follow her. It's at the Crimson Kiss. I will link her down in the description below. She is a phenomenal author but she's also an amazing woman like we talk in DMs and things like that and she's like helped me with my writing and you know and all that. But anyways a lot of what she posts on Instagram and what her books are about are the lessons that she's learned about relationships. And aside from her just talking about setting up boundaries like she is amazing when it comes to like personal empowerment and realizing that you don't need to date like scumbags and stuff like that a lot is about that but one of the reasons I love her is because she talks a lot about personal accountability and realizing like yeah while we do date a lot of scummy people throughout our lifetime we also need to take accountability for what we did wrong. And we have to find that balance like if we live our entire lives thinking that everybody else in the relationship is wronging us we're never going to improve we're never going to find a good relationship. So anyways go follow CCB again she'll be linked down in the description down in the pinned comment below and get some of her books she is amazing alright but anyways yeah for those of you who aren't up to date you can check out the video I did yesterday about Heidi releasing some screenshots of texts between her and her therapist but yeah she released more this morning and here's here's a thing like again my my videos they aren't about this because say it with me alright just say it with me real quick all of this is none of our damn business but it's out there publicly so rather than just like picking sides of oh are you with Jared are you with Heidi let's look at this and see what we can learn from it alright so before I get started for those of you who don't know me hi I'm Chris no I'm not a licensed therapist or licensed psychologist but I worked three years in a mental health treatment center we specialize in addiction as well as mental illnesses I'm a certified life coach and I'm currently pursuing my CADC which is a certified alcohol and drug counselors licensing where I'll be working with people with mental health issues as well but aside from that one of my best qualifications for this topic is before I met my beautiful girlfriend Tristan I was in a ton of terrible relationships and I just couldn't understand why no relationship I ever got in was gonna work out and listen check it out like I feel for Heidi like breakups suck and I have no doubt in my mind that Jared was not the optimal husband alright but like the thing is is that when we go through breakups I'm gonna be talking about this over and over whenever we talk about these relationships subjects especially breakups is that our confirmation bias plays a big role we want everybody to be on our side we want everybody to see how wrong the other person was and how we were hurt and what we deserve it you know how they need to feel bad for what they did to us right we always want to act like we did absolutely nothing wrong in a relationship and it's not even when it comes to relationships with significant others all our relationships with friends with family members and all that like if I want you to do this if you take a look at every conflict that you ever have and if you look at all those and you think that you're never wrong like it's time to really reevaluate your life like what are the odds that you are the perfect human being that has never done anything wrong and listen I'm talking from personal experience I live my life in this bubble of Chris where I thought I was just perfect and never doing anything wrong I still screw up to this day although my life is a lot better I still screw up but anyways I'll link the images that Heidi posted with her conversations with her therapist but I'm sitting there and I'm reading this and I'm like okay are you telling your therapist the whole truth because your therapist cannot help you if you do not tell them the whole truth like listen if you're getting therapy I understand it could be difficult to open up to somebody like especially if you're going to therapy for like trust issues or you have anxiety it's difficult to open up to them and one of the tricks that I use is because I always relate mental health to physical health I want you to do this imagine going to the doctor and you have a pain in your leg and the doctor says okay where does it hurt and you say it hurts in my hand right like the doctor is never going to help your pain if you lie to them and don't tell them where the actual source of that pain is it's the same thing with therapy if we don't go into therapy sessions or for those of you who are in recovery and working 12-step programs so it might be your sponsor like if we don't tell them like all the things that we're doing wrong how are they ever going to help us they might not be able to help us get to the root of the pain right and listen listen up all right therapists aren't stupid all right well most of them are stupid if you keep going into therapy sessions and every time you go into a session is about how the entire world is wronging you and you're just like this innocent perfect human being like they're gonna look at you like come on like let's let's get you to open up and dig down a little bit deeper but here's the thing when it comes to Heidi and just to kind of use this as an example to give some more context like I'm gonna read you some screenshots from other text messages as she sent Jared I hate bringing them up but this is exactly what I mean so I'm just gonna read what Heidi was saying to Jared because at least that would feel less like an insult to my dignity than staying quiet and pretending nothing's wrong which is what I've been doing for weeks okay I think I would like to take it to blank before the general public to be honest it would be highly embarrassing and unprofessional to everyone like at this point I'm fantasizing about sabotaging the game so bear that in mind I'm going crazy Jared upside down smiley face emojis emojis would be a bummer to destroy everything you've built but it would be way more of a bummer to destroy myself by putting up with it God I keep fantasizing about the nasty fallout bring it on I'm ready to go down with the ship to be honest I cannot live like this okay I'm falling apart cool f me man I wish I could destroy dice camera action that would feel so good that would suck for you but it would but would it really be unfair I probably sound really cool right now but this is the result of weeks of suffering I love to see someone who causes situation experience a fraction of what I've been feeling Jared I have been very patient and I'm telling you all this instead of acting on it because I'm still exercising patience but I need things to start happening like I really need it I don't know how to make that any clearer I am desperate that makes me dangerous I'm ready to start ruining all of your lives so again like I am not trying to discount Heidi's emotions or how she felt but when you look at this like we need to recognize that we play a role in these things too we are not always the innocent person we try to portray ourselves as this is why we have to look at ourselves and listen like I said I speak on this from personal experience okay so when I got sober seven years ago and finally got a sponsor like I said I blame the entire world for all of my problems I wasn't the problem my ex-girlfriends were the problem my bosses were the problem my co-workers were the problem everybody was the problem but my favorite quote that my sponsor just pounded into my head was this we make decisions based on self that later place us in a position to be hurt all right so what he was trying to get me to realize is there are many times where I instigate things I get the ball rolling like if I retrace the breadcrumbs I might have acted in a way that set certain things in motion right I'm not always this innocent little victim and this is what I pray to God that you learn as well so like when I first got sober my son's mom and I we were not on good terms we're on amazing terms now she's one of my best friends we have a great relationship and we co-parent my son like some boss parents but anyways when I first got sober I was always calling my sponsor up and I'm like oh my god can you believe she's saying this she called me this she called me that why she's so angry that I was like 30 60 days sober and I would just go off about her and my sponsor would always flip it right back on me he said Chris have you given her any reason to be angry and upset with you and yeah I did I gave her plenty of reasons aside from being a drug addict and alcoholic like all of the things all of the things that come along with it being a bad father being a bad boyfriend to her while we were still together like I did a lot of things that upset her and she had a reason to be upset all right I needed my sponsor to remind me of that every time I came up to him complaining about other people he would always ask me as I what was your part what did you do right now some people in you know this current climate call that victim blaming I call that learning how to take responsibility like my life got so much better when I started to realize how many of my own problems that I cause so over time I eventually got to my fourth step and those of you in recovery you know about that fourth step right but you start out by writing all of your resentments right towards people places situations institutions every person that you have a problem with I had a hundred and thirty three on my first four step and it's fall it's all fun and games at first you just writing down everybody you're pissed off at right but then you start to have to reflect and see what your part was what did you do in this situation right and as I was going through all these people who I felt wronged me and I was just this innocent victim I started seeing like oh man I was hurting people too I was doing this right and when I started to realize and I think this is where a lot of that therapeutic value comes when you start to realize that you want this perfect human being and you're not always the victim in these situations you start to empathize with other people you're like oh wow well look at all these faults that I have I want to be forgiven for these right so maybe I should start forgiving other people for not being perfect human beings either you know what I mean but again like this is difficult like this is why we have to have self-awareness and work on ourselves because confirmation bias will be the death of us when we feel wronged we're constantly looking for things to justify you know how we feel right and what our beliefs are so when I watch Heidi going through this publicly I'm like girl like I feel for her because I used to be like this right like when something happens to us we run around to everybody and we try to find all the people who are going to agree with us and that's not what we need in our lives I always say the best people in your life are gonna tell you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear all right this is why I'm so outspoken against enabling none of us are ever going to learn or grow if people just keep co-signing our BS all the time like when I was in my active drug addiction and my son's mom stopped letting me see my own son I was hanging out with so many enablers right they were like oh man Chris yeah I can't believe she won't let you see your son I'm like yeah right right the reality was like I wasn't giving up drugs in order to see my son those people were helping to keep me sick so that's why like if you have a therapist that you're seeing that doesn't point out anything that you're doing wrong might be time to see a new therapist but these lessons that I'm learning it's something that I try to teach my son now because I don't want him being this you know self-absorbed victim his whole life real quick story this one that pops into my head all the time I was sitting on the couch with my beautiful girlfriend Tristan and my son comes out of his room he was playing Xbox with some friends and he started telling me he's like hey how do I block this kid he's saying really mean stuff to me right and I'm just like huh okay and I looked at him I'm like okay Dylan what did you do right he's like oh what I'm like did you say anything did you talk crap to him did you make fun of him did it oh well yeah I'm dead I'm like okay I'm like well is it possible that both of you are just really upset right now and you're both gonna calm down and be friends again right so I wasn't trying to victim blame my son but I'm not going to blindly just believe that he did nothing wrong in this situation and don't get me wrong like there are going to be times in all of our lives my son's life my life your life where people hurt us completely unprovoked that's going to happen but the goal is to narrow down the scope and find out when we did contribute to our own pain and our own suffering alright so again like I feel for Heidi in this situation I feel for anybody out there who goes through a breakup but if you are seeking therapy if you want to improve you have to start being honest with your therapist with yourself with your sponsor with your support group whoever it is and you have to start admitting and acknowledging your own faults if you ever hope to improve and grow as a human being so on that note I do want to remind you make sure that you go follow ccb over on Instagram at the crimson kiss she is amazing I just guarantee if you follow her on Instagram and read what she has to say you're going to be like dang I'm growing as a person and I'm gonna get into some bomb relationships now all right anyways that's all I got for this video if you like this video please give it a thumbs up if you do make sure you subscribe and ring that notification bell and a huge huge thank you to everybody supporting the channel over on patreon you're all amazing and a huge thank you to everybody else who supports the channel in other ways like buying merch like this cool shirt I'm wearing stay in the meowment with our cat Wyatt well my girlfriend's cat Wyatt and anybody out there who buys my books all right thanks again for watching I'll see you next time