Please join in a moment of centering silence so we can be fully present with each other this morning. And now let's get musically present with each other by turning to the words for our in-gathering hymn which you'll find inside your order of service. And with that I'll bid you all a good morning and welcome to First Unitarian Society where independent thinkers gather in a safe, nurturing environment to explore issues of social, spiritual, and ethical significance as we try to make a difference in this world. I'm Steve Goldberg, a proud member of this congregation, and I would like to extend a special welcome to any newcomers, guests, and visitors. If this is your first time at First Unitarian Society, you'll find that it is a special place. And if you'd like to learn more about our special buildings, we offer a guided tour after most of our services, and if that interests you, please gather over by the windows after the service and we will take care of you. Speaking of taking care of you and speaking of the service, this would be a great time to silence all those pesky electronic devices that might interfere with your ability to enjoy this morning's service. So please take a moment and perform that simple but essential task right now. And if you are accompanied this morning by a youngster at the service and that young person would rather enjoy the service from a more private space, we have a couple options for you including a child haven in the back corner of the auditorium and some comfortable seating out in the lobby area that we call our commons right outside the doorway from which you and your youngster can still enjoy the service. Speaking of enjoying the service, the reason we are able to enjoy the service this morning is because we've got a dedicated team of volunteers who bring the service to us. They are shy people but they have consented to having their names read. And that way you can thank them later. Operating the sounds so that you can hear my voice and other voices this morning, Mike and Anya Linow, our lay minister is Ann Smiley. We had two greeters upstairs, Karen Hill and Joan Heitman and our ushers are Edward Zappala and Wally Brinkman. The hospitality is hosted with coffee and other goodies later on by Sharon Skratish and Jean Hills but don't enjoy the coffee yet, wait till the service is over. And the pulpit palms have been lovingly watered by Betty Evenson. Just a couple announcements before we get on with the service this morning. First in keeping with our theme, our earth oriented theme for today's service, please visit our earth fair guests in the commons right after the service is over. You can also check out the Water Justice Project which was created by our Water Sentinels team and our high school youth. And if you have a bicycle, you can get it repaired or not repaired but tuned up for free until one o'clock this afternoon as a result of the generosity of our friends from Budget Bicycle who are donating tune-ups for your bike until one o'clock this afternoon. And the last announcement, speaking of tune-ups, is a tune-up for Cabaret. In 12 days, on April 24th, that's 12 days from now, Friday evening, April 24th, this place will be transformed into an old fashioned cabaret, non-stop musical entertainment, non-stop food, some good food is planned for that event by the way, and a silent and live auction that will just knock your socks off some items that will make your heart flutter. We got handmade bowls, we got Badger and Packer tickets. We've got weak vacation spent at Northwood's Cabin and all kinds of other things that you'll find in the Cabaret catalog which is available at the Cabaret table after the service. I know you're anxious about this but you have to wait until the service is over to take a look at the catalog out in the commons at the Cabaret table and the piece of paper that I just dropped tells us that you can buy your tickets now at $25 per person if you want to save $5 and not pay the $30 that it will cost you after next week. So some good reason to take a look at the Cabaret information, not only the catalog but in your Red Flores Bulletin. And another good thing about Cabaret is that Cabaret is coming and it's really quite incredible. It's an auction, it's a party and the food is very edible. The talent is top notch and you'll be so impressed. You won't believe it's possible to have this much fun at FUS. Now that's only part of the song you get to hear the rest of it next week because instead of hearing the rest of the song we want you to hear the service today. So please sit back or lean forward to enjoy this morning's service. I know it will touch your heart, stir your spirit and trigger one or two new thoughts. We're very glad that you're with us today, glad you're here. For the beauty of the earth, this spinning blue-green ball, Gaia, mother of everything, we walk gently across your lands to come together again in this time, in this place. To remember how we can live, to remember who we are, to create how we will be. Gaia our home, our holder of wisdom and dreams, welcome us here. And if you will rise now in body or spirit to join together in the words of Chalice Lighting, we light this chalice as the sun lights the earth with warmth and a desire for growth. As the sun's light filters down to sustain us, so may our work spread its light to nourish others. May we each lend our breath to help it grow. And before we join in song, if you'll take a moment to turn and greet your neighbors, the precious moment in any congregation's life, the rite of dedication. This is a time when we who are gap have the privilege to welcome two young children into our family and religious community. Today it is our cherished assignment to welcome and pledge our care to Sebastian David Leal and Sonia Ellen Leal. Today all of us gathered here are more than casual witnesses to life's gifts and nature's marvelous creations. We're all being invited to share the joy which these parents take in their children and to enter more fully into their lives. I believe in my heart that I speak for all of us when I say that we are grateful for this privilege. This ceremony is a public declaration of our love and caring for the children of our community. It is a time when all of us here enter into a covenant with these children and with one another that we will take some part in the responsibility for their care, their learning and their development. For we recognize that every child is a symbol of the future to be received with loving arms and guided with understanding and care. And all young ones have a just claim upon their families and their larger community to be nurtured in the ways of sharing, love, hope and peaceful living. So I now invite our parents to bring their children forward as you all rise. Will everyone please join in the pledge of dedication found in your order of service for the gift of childhood whose innocence, laughter and curiosity bring hope, joy and new understanding into our lives. We lift thankful hearts. We welcome Sebastian and Sonia into the spiritual community and extend to their parents our love and support in the joys and challenges of caregiving. As these children grow, we will share with them our insights, our values and our dreams that they may enjoy the rich benefits of our religious heritage. And now while the adults sit down, will the kids stay standing or stand up if you haven't stood up already? Today we are welcoming these children into our first Unitarian family. As they grow, they will be studying and playing with you and learning from you too. I ask you to join us in welcoming them. Will you try to be true friends to Sebastian and Sonia? Will you speak to them with kindness, treat them fairly and help them to feel at home here? If so, please say we will. Thank you. Please sit down. And now to those who bring their children before us, Christa and Jacob Leal. As caregivers, it is your privilege and obligation to provide an environment both of security and challenge in which these young souls will grow.  Will you respect as well as protect these children and bestow your love as a free and unmerited gift? And do you also reaffirm your commitment to support and care for each other as partners in life and in parenting? If so, please say we do. Several are among us today who bear a special relationship to Sonia and Sebastian. Will you please stand as your names are read? Here with Sonia is Godmother Melissa Mangan, and here with Sebastian is Godfather Michael Mangan. With both children are grandparents, aunts and uncles, will all of you please rise? To all of you, I now ask, do you take upon yourselves the privilege and responsibility to nurture, defend and support Sonia and Sebastian's inherent worth and dignity? Will you encourage them to grow in freedom and spirit and to always seek the truth? Finally, will you help them to grow in love for the larger human family and to love and respect the larger community of all life to which we all belong? If so, please make the sacred promise by responding we will. Thank you. Please be seated. In the act of dedication, we use the symbolism of water as a sign of our common heritage. There is no suggestion here of a washing away of inherited sin. These children came into the world with the limitations natural to our species, but they arrived innocent. Water here stands for vitality. It is the essence of life, the foundation of being. Its use here reminds us of our common bond with all-embracing, ever-sustaining nature. This is also the water of our community, the waters of the world, gathered at our annual Water Communion Service. Its use here reminds us of the ever-sustaining and embracing love of community. Krista and Jacob named this child, Sebastian David Leely. We dedicate you in the name of truth, the promise of love and the fellowship of this society. May you be granted clarity of thought, integrity of speech, and a compassionate heart. Name this child, Sonia Ellen Leely. We dedicate you in the name of truth, the promise of love, and the fellowship of this society. May you be granted clarity of thought, integrity of speech, and a compassionate heart. As a token of their dedication, we give to Sonia and Sebastian a rosebud, fragrant symbol of beauty, promise, and love. This rose has no thorns, symbolizing the better world we would give our children if it were in our power. While we know that the world is not altogether as lovely as this rosebud, we hope that Sebastian and Sonia will learn to recognize the beauty and goodness which does exist, and that they will grow in wisdom and compassion, adding their own beauty to the world. Sebastian and Sonia, as this flower unfolds in all its natural beauty, so may your life unfold. Also as a remembrance of their dedication, we give to each child a quilt, a gift from the members of our shawl ministry program. When you see these, may you be reminded of the warmth, the support, and the love of this community for you and your family. We close our service with these words from Sarah York.  Give us a child's eyes that we may receive the beauty and freshness of each day like a sunrise. Give us a child's ears that we may hear the music of ancient times. Give us a child's heart that we may be filled with wonder and delight. Give us a child's faith that we may be cured of our cynicism and free to work toward a world of peace and justice. Give us the spirit of the child who is always reaching out, always open to love. If you will join me in welcoming our children. And if you will please rise and body your spirit to join in our next hymn as our children and teachers leave for classes. First selection from Mary Oliver. I thought the earth remembered me.  I slept as never before, a stone on the riverbed. Nothing between me and the white fire of the stars, but my thoughts. And they floated light as moths among the branches of the perfect trees. All night I heard the small kingdoms breathing around me, the insects and the birds who do their work in the darkness. All night I rose and fell as if in water, grappling with a luminous doom. By morning I had vanished at least a dozen times into something better. Our house I'm in charge of the compost. We have a big jar-like container that sits on the kitchen counter and we put things that we don't eat in there like apple cores, orange peels, coffee grounds and leftovers that have been in the fridge too long. Every few days I carry it outside and put the contents in a big box with a lid on it. The stuff stays in the box for a long time. Every once in a while I stir it up with the pitchfork and eventually it becomes rich material I can mix into the garden soil to help things grow, compost. Just before Easter I discovered something growing out of a hole at the bottom of the box. It was a beautiful flower, a hyacinth. Somehow the bulb of this hyacinth got into our compost box and lay there for a long time through two or three cold winters. Every few days I piled some more garbage on top of it. Then this April the little bulb somehow sensed that it was spring and that the sun was shining nearby and so out of this smelly compost it poked this beautiful blossom. This hyacinth is a messenger of hope. It says we may be small and in this life we may get a lot of unpleasant stuff dumped on us. But we can overcome that and dealing with that unpleasant stuff can even make us stronger and braver and wiser. And we can stand tall and proud in the sunshine and be beautiful. Thank you all for the beautiful music. It's such a joy when you sing. And thank you, Jennifer. In Barbara Kingsover's novel, Animal Dreams, the character of Cody returns to her hometown of Grace, Arizona to take care of her father. She begins teaching at the high school and resumes a relationship with Lloyd, a Native American man that she dated as a teenager. Cody's trying to determine what to do with her life. And she asks Lloyd about the meaning of the traditional corn dance. So you make this deal with the gods. You do these dances and they'll send rain and good crops and the whole works and nothing bad will ever happen again, right? After a minute he said, no, it's not like that. It's not making a deal. Bad things can still happen, but you want to try not to cause them to happen. It has to do with keeping things in balance. In balance. Really, it's like the spirits have made a deal with us. And what is the deal, I asked? We're on our own. The spirits have been good enough to let us live here and use the utilities. And we're saying we know how nice you're being. We appreciate the rain. We appreciate the sun. We appreciate the deer we took. Sorry if we messed up anything. You've gone to a lot of trouble and we'll try to be good guests. Like a note you would send somebody after you stayed at their house? Exactly like that. Thanks for letting me sleep on your couch. I took some beer out of the fridge and I broke a coffee cup. Sorry, I hope it wasn't your favorite. I laughed because I understood in balance I would have called it keeping the peace or maybe remembering your place, but I liked it. It's a good idea, I said. Really since we're still here sleeping on God's couch, we're permanent house guests. Yes, we are. So we better remember how to put everything back how we found it. I love the idea that we are permanent house guests sleeping on God's couch. But it feels to me that we have deeply forgotten how to put everything back the way we found it. And we are very far from a relationship with the earth that is in balance. Lately it feels like any mention of the earth is only in terms of more bad news. Whether it's the shrinking populations of penguins due to lack of food or the drowning polar bears who are searching for food and give way to exhaustion, the 84% of Antarctic glaciers that have retreated in the past 50 years, the drought in California or the rising ocean temperatures that depress coral growth, endangering our critical food webs, whatever it is, the news is not good. But I don't think it will be the facts or the figures, the warnings or the statistics or even the threats that will ultimately transform us and our society into who and what we need to be. I think it will be something else. I think it will come when we wake up to the realization that this is a political problem. Yes, a scientific problem, definitely. But it is also a spiritual problem. When we can learn to love the earth again, love it as a piece of our self, feel its deep connection to our own soul, then things can change. Some of us are responding to the signs with ideas and actions, trying to bring our collective attention to our unsustainable lifestyle and the way it is contributing to the crisis. But sadly, much of this response comes from the same mindset that has caused the imbalance, the belief that we are separate from the world, that it is something out there, a problem we need to solve. In some respects, the religious response so far to the ecological crisis has been rather underwhelming. Fred Small, minister at the First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts, tells this tale. Last spring, I received a news release from the Regional Communications Director of a Mainline Christian Denomination announcing the blessing of the Priuses at a downtown Boston church. These owners in the Boston area, it read, are invited to drive by so their vehicles can be blessed. The blessing celebration will be followed by the running of the Priuses, where SUV drivers will be encouraged to run on foot in front of the herd of just-blessed vehicles. Fifty-one minutes later, I received a second email with the subject line, cancel email regarding Prius. I'm afraid I was taken as part of an April Fool's joke the communications director confessed. The Prius story is a fake. My apologies. Ironically, it sounded like something we would do. Something we would do, Fred says. I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt. I'm assuming the communications director meant the blessing of the environmentally friendly cars rather than the running down of the SUV drivers. Yet, he says, in the face of threats to human survival and planetary survival unprecedented in human history, our communities need to step it up a bit to do more than issue utterances of concern and blessings. When we turn to our religious history, we find that we do have another way, a way that creates a spiritual foundation for this work, a way that helps us bring things back into balance. Bill Schultz, former president of the Unitarian Universalist Association and current director of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, says hundreds of years ago, St. Lawrence asked, whom shall I adore the creator or the creation? Most Western religions answered back, adore the creator and supplied an image to be adored. But our answer is far different. Whom shall we adore? The creation surely, for whatever there be of the creator will be made manifest in her handiwork. The divine for us, whatever that may be, is not confined to a transcendent realm. It's ramparts guarded by the scholarly elite. On the contrary, the holy is made manifest to every one of us in the transactions of the everyday. This is a fundamental departure from many religions' preoccupation with abstraction. It is not a distant, mysterious God to whom we make our appeal. The most precious and profound are available to us in the taste of honey and the touch of stone. And this is why we love the earth, honor the body, and bless the stars. Religion is not a matter of things unseen. For us, the holy is not hidden, but shows its face in the blush of the world's embrace. For hundreds of years, Unitarians and Universalists have realized our connection with the planet and have tried to call us to this realization that all life is interconnected and holy, that we are a part of the earth, not separate from it.  The world is not a problem to be solved. It is a living being to which we belong. The world is part of our own self, and we are a part of its suffering wholeness. Until we go to the root of our image of separateness, there can be no healing. And the deepest part of our separateness from creation lies in our forgetfulness of its sacred nature, which is also our sacred nature. When our Western monotheistic culture suppressed the gods and goddesses of creation, when we cut down the sacred groves and said no more to the forest sprites and the fairies, when we banished the holy to a heaven above, we began a cycle of separation that has left us with a world of brokenness. Our separation from the world has left us bereft of any instinctual connection to the soul of the world, knowing that we are all part of one living being. Some of our more famous ancestors tried to help us see this long ago. Thomas Starr King, the Unitarian minister and abolitionist once wrote a letter describing a talk that he had heard by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson, he says, gave us last Monday evening the most brilliant lecture I ever listened to from any mortal. It was on the identity of the laws of the mind with the laws of nature. He proved conclusively that humanity is only a higher kind of corn, that we are a squirrel who has moved up to first class, that we are a liberated oyster fully educated, that we are a spiritualized pumpkin, a thinking squash, a graduated sunflower and an inspired turnip. Such imagery, such wit, such quaint things said in a toned solemn and sublime. I have the most profound respect henceforth for every melon vine as my ancestor. I look upon every turtle as my kin. Yet we live today in a world where some say climate change is a myth of the scientists and elaborate hopes to be ignored. We live in a state where our land board voted last Tuesday to prohibit its staff from engaging in global warming or climate change work. This, despite the recent report from the University of Wisconsin, which outlined the likely effects of climate change on our state, including drought, heat waves, severe storms, degradation of plant and animal life. Polls suggest more than 70% of Wisconsin residents understand that climate change is happening and 60% believe government should increase environmental regulations to prevent it. So politics, yes. Science, definitely. Spirit, absolutely. Tick-Not Han, the Buddhist monk and teacher, tells us that we need to once again fall in love with the earth, that we need to create an intimate relationship with the source of all life.  The earth is everywhere. We often forget that the planet we are living on has given us all the elements that make up our bodies. The water in our flesh, our bones, and all the microscopic cells inside our bodies all come from and are part of the earth. The earth is not just the environment we live in. We are always carrying her within us. Realizing this, we can see that the earth is alive. Knowing this, we can see ourselves as a living, breathing manifestation of this beautiful and generous planet. We can transform our relationship. We can walk differently, care differently. We will fall completely in love with the earth and see no separation between ourselves and this being we love. This is the relationship we must each have if the earth is to survive and if we are to survive as well. Self and natural world are linked in ever-expanding circles. Tick-knock Han calls it a religion of inter-being. Ecologist Joan Halifax sees it this way. When we plant a tree, we are planting ourselves. Releasing dolphins back to the wild, we are ourselves returning home. Composting leftovers, we are being reborn as irises and apples. We can know the activity of the world is not separate from who we are, but rather as what we are. Real change will happen when we fall in love with our planet, when we learn about the crisis, when we learn to care for the planet in responsible and respectful ways. Threats and warnings are not gonna do it. Only love can show us how to live in harmony with nature and with one another and save us from the devastating effects of destruction. When we recognize the amazing beauty and the generous gifts of this planet, when we feel these gifts in our very bones, we feel connected and love is born. There is action to be taken in the outer world. But it must be action that comes from a reconnection with the sacred. Otherwise, we will just be recreating the patterns that have created this imbalance in the first place. And there is work to be done in our hearts and our souls, replenishing the spiritual substance of creation, bringing the healing power of love and remembrance where it is most needed. The crisis we face is dire, but it is also an opportunity, an opportunity for us to reclaim our responsibility for the wonder and mystery of this living sacred world. A few years ago, I spent a week with Joanna Macy. At the end of the retreat, she invited each of us to join her in taking vows, commitments that would link us to one another as a community that would remind us of these deep commitments we were making to ourselves and the Earth. These vows offer us an anchor point, reminding us again and again of the purposes that we hold dear and the responsibilities that we have. These were and are my vows. I vow to myself and each of you to commit myself daily to the healing of our world and the welfare of all beings, to live on Earth more lightly and less violently in the food, products, and energy I consume, to draw strength and guidance from the living Earth, the ancestors, the future beings, and my brothers and sisters of all species, to support one another in our work for the world and to ask for help when it is needed, to pursue a daily practice that clarifies my mind, strengthens my heart, and supports me in observing my vows. I invite you to consider making a vow to the Earth today. Consider what you are willing to do to reconnect in sacred relationship to the life that we share. The problems we face are huge and we grow weary. We lose focus. We need to come together and renew our strength. Stop by the Earth Fair after the service and see what you can do. See what touches your heart. What stirs in your spirit. Every action big and small makes a difference. What are you willing to vow? So I'll leave you today with these words from Jan Richardson entitled, A Blessing When the World is Ending. Look, the world is always ending somewhere. Somewhere the sun has come crashing down. Somewhere it has gone completely dark. Somewhere it has ended with the gun, the knife, the fist. Somewhere it has ended with the slam door and the shattered hope. Somewhere it has ended with the utter quiet that follows the news from the phone, the television, the hospital room. Somewhere it has ended with a tenderness that will break your heart. But listen, this blessing means to be anything but morose. It has not come to cause despair. It is simply here because there is nothing, a blessing is better suited for than an ending. Nothing that cries out more for a blessing than when a world is falling apart.  It will not talk to you about one door opening when another one closes. It will simply sit beside you among the shards and gently turn your face toward the direction from which the light will come, gathering itself about you as the world begins again. And I now invite you into the giving and the receiving of today's offering, which you will see. Our offering today will be given to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. You can find out more about their work in your order of service, and we thank you for your generosity. If you will join me now in a moment of meditation. Spirit of life and hope. Rest in us now as we gather side by side in recognition of our common humanity and our care for one another. In our struggles and loss, may we find comfort and hope. In our times of celebration and moments of awareness, may we feel inspired and grateful. May wisdom be ours as we navigate the transitions and challenges of life. Breath of life bless us and all those we hold in our hearts. Today we celebrate with Lynn and Richard Scobey, who are celebrating the birth of their granddaughter, Madeline Rose Bing in California on March 28th. Congratulations grandpa. And we hold in our heart Steve Hoberman, husband of Amy Kell. Steve passed away on Friday evening after a long journey with Lewy Body Dementia. And we send our love and our support to Amy in the days and the weeks ahead. May we enlarge the reach of our compassion to embrace all those with us here, all those beyond these walls. May we have the courage to reach out in kindness and the courage to ask when we are the ones needing support. River of life move in our hearts. Flow through our souls and refresh us. Renew our sense of possibility. Connect us to our deep longings, our visions and commitments and our deep strength. Move in our hearts, move us into lives more abundant, more full of hope, wisdom, compassion and courage. Blessed be. And if you will rise now in body or spirit for our closing hymn number 1074. As the imagination of the earth that knew early the patience to harness the mind of time, waited for the seas to warm, ready to welcome the emergence of things dreaming of voyaging among the stillness of land and how light knew to nurse the growth until the face of the earth brightened beneath a vision of color. Let us thank the earth that offers ground for home and holds our feet firm in the infinite space. Let us remember within us the ancient clay, holding the memory of seasons, the passion of the wind, the fluency of the water, the warmth of fire, the quiver touch of the sun and the shadowed sureness of the moon. That we may awaken to live the dream of the earth who chose us to emerge and incarnate its hidden night in mind, spirit and light. Blessed be and go in peace.


Good morning, John! It's PIZZA MASS! A long, long time ago, when we started to make just one video a week each on the vlog with this channel, the idea was to free up some time for us to do some other stuff. And that has 100% happened, right? Like this very weekend, the farmers market, somebody, like, tapped me on the shoulder and said, hey, are you the author Hank Green? And as I usually do, I said, no, that's my brother John. And then they said, actually, I think you're wrong? Like, I just finished reading your book. It was really good. So yeah, I guess on the author Hank Green, it hadn't really sunk in in that way yet. Novelists! So it worked. But also, switching to just one video a week made it feel like a lot more pressure to make that one video a week be really super good. And if it wasn't, then I felt bad about it. So it's like less work, but more pressure, almost? Which I think is a totally fair trait. But it's also one of the reasons why I really love PIZZA MASS, because this time of the year, I gotta make a lot of videos until you probably be a little more understanding, if not all of them are very good. Like, it's the time of the year when we can get away with, like, not having a super fancy dance break in the middle. Why is there music playing right now? Why is there music playing right now? Okay, fine.  PIZZA MASS is a really important time of the year for me, because it gives me a chance to concentrate not like on the more complicated parts of the stuff that I do, but on something a lot more simple. Like, just sharing what's on my mind. Like, for example, I would have the dermatologist because I had a face rash, and he was like, well, while you're here, let me look over, see if you got any problematic looking moles. Found one on the bottom of my foot, and y'all, bottom of the foot moles turn out to be oftentimes really dangerous, because one, people don't look at the bottom of their feet very often, and two, people think, well, it's just the bottom of the foot mole. That can't be that bad, but it turns out it's one of the more dangerous kinds of cancer, foot moles. So he used his magic knife, and he took it out of my body, and then he looked out of the lab and confirmed that it was indeed just a normal mole. But I'm glad that I had it looked at, John. It's not just something that happens to old people. I also got a flu shot while I was there. Flu shots are good for you. You should get yours. I didn't even feel it, man. They made the needle so tiny now. Also, John, I've been thinking a lot about soup. That's the whole sentence. Also, my wife and I have a podcast called Delete This, where we discuss my social media usage, and it turns out like it's been a really good thing for me, and also it's just a ton of fun because she's hilarious. Also, I'm a little worried about democracy. Also, it's spring in the southern hemisphere of Mars, which means that the carbon dioxide deposits under the surface are ripping through the ice above them into magnificent geysers of gas and dust, and that's really a thing that happens. Also, my son just turned two. He's a two-year-old. John, two. What? Also, plants are made of air. That doesn't seem right, John, but it's true, and this shirt is made of plants, and so this shirt is made of air. It's made of air. Also, John, pizza miss. I'll see you on Wednesday tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow.


So welcome. I'm going to start with a reminder. This is Eor. He's part of CNCF, not for last eight months when he volunteered for the territorial defense forces of Ukraine. He's still stuck in there. Again, no food and drink in this room. I'm going to be really obnoxious about this. He's stuck in Ukraine. And if you want to help this effort, either him personally or Ukraine in general, these are good links which are verified and which do good stuff. You will also hear a little bit about this during the opening keynote tomorrow. So let's walk through the schedule. We'll start with two sponsored keynotes. One is a reality check on a matrix by Martin and Yash. And the other one is by Anas. I think that's online. At least I don't see her in the room about how to integrate security metrics in your observability stack. Then we have the world premiere of the Prometheus documentary. In case you don't know, Prometheus is like in everything within CNCF is Prometheus always right behind Kubernetes. It's like it's the second to join. One of the two founding things. It's the second to go into integration, to graduation, to get its own conference, to get its own sub room and to also get its own documentary. I haven't seen it myself. So I'm really looking forward to this one. Then we have a short break right outside. They can have food and drink. Then we are talking about how to boost your logs with Prometheus and how you can integrate this by Jamie from Cystic. Then the hot topic of the last maybe 12 months or so, EBPF and how you can do zero instrumentation monitoring with EBPF and how you can tie this back to your metrics and to the rest of your stack by Kemal from Polar Signals. Then it's about how to automate your SLO validation. I don't know who internally is really running SLO first. I know we are internally and it's really changed how teams communicate about the services which they provide to each other. It was, I mean game changer is a big word, but SLO driven operations is really a really good thing. And Sanskar in Kingdom will be talking about this one. And tying in natively with the SLOs, we are looking at how to build runbooks and how to automate this for both Prometheus and Kubernetes. Then we have lunch. Then we're talking about how to scale your Kubernetes and how you can actually extract metrics to allow you to better scale your Kubernetes and how to again tie this back to Prometheus. Centralized versus decentralized Prometheus scraping. That's going to be quite interesting. Of course, there's like a few fundamentally different approaches and you can only find the least bad ones, not the perfect one. And then how to do Prometheus in an ML Ops lifecycle. I have my own reservations about ML Ops, but also if you have good data and if you do it properly and use it as a supporting thing and not as a magic bullet, it can be quite powerful. Again, there is no food or drink in this room. Then we have coffee where you can have food and drink. Then how not to scale your stuff and how you can run into walls with your deployments. And then we have a few lightning talks and at the end there is a reception for everyone who is attending any of the pre-events. So some housekeeping. We do follow the CNCF code of conduct and we follow it quite strictly. So yeah, please keep this in mind. You signed a legally binding contract that you're going to wear your mask at all times because that's what your ticket is. Again, no food and no drink in this room. And I'll be calling out people personally, for example, the person in the green shirt over there who is having his thank you.  Please don't. If you have more of a statement than a question, we will have more of a shutting you down than you're talking. Try it. I invite you to. And finally, there is no live stream, but we will publish everything which we have here 24 to 48 hours later or CNCF will be going to do it. And that's it. Be excellent to each other. Again, no food or drink in this room. Thank you. Yeah. And then we have a short wait and then Mao is coming up stage.


Live from Bahrain, it's theCUBE. Covering AWS Summit Bahrain. Brought to you by Amazon Web Services. Hello everyone, welcome to theCUBE's exclusive coverage. We are here in Bahrain in the Middle East for exclusive coverage of AWS's new region in the area. I'm John Furrier, Coast of theCUBE. It's our first time in the Middle East as we go out into the world and expand theCUBE's mission of bringing you the best content, extracting the signal from the noise, meeting new people, connecting with thought leaders, people creating innovation, creating a new cultural shift with cloud computing. It's a societal global phenomenon, it's a change that's going to impact society, culture, economics, and humans. And this is theCUBE coverage. We're going to continue with that. We are excited to have Khalid Aloumahi, who's the CEO of the Bahrain Economic Development Board. He's the man and responsible with his team for all the success and vision of bringing an Amazon region into the area here in Bahrain, Amazon has announced a region that's going to come in and we expect to see economic revitalization. We expect to see an amplification of culture. Welcome to theCUBE, thank you for joining me. Thanks for having me, John. Thanks for inviting us and thanks for having us here in the middle of all the action. Theresa Carlson from Amazon had a vision and you aligned with that vision. You guys are like-minded individuals. You saw something special with digital.  Take us through the history of how we got here with Amazon, about to launch a region early 2019 in Bahrain. You guys have had a vision, take us through that. You know, I started in my position about three years ago. I remember March 2015, a little more than three years ago. And my first week on the job was joining his Highness the Crown Prince in a meeting with Theresa. And so in that meeting, that's what kicked it really off. Theresa heard from his Highness, who was the Chairman of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, the vision for the country. We deregulated our telecom sector about 13, 14 years ago. We were the first country to do that in the Middle East, which meant that we introduced competition on broadband, on mobile. It dropped prices by about 50% on connectivity in the country. That attracted Amazon. When they looked at the region, they said, here's a government that's allowing true competition. And for a data center, obviously, broadband communication and the competitiveness of that price is key. And she was also impressed with His Royal Highness's vision for the country going forward. We want to become a digital economy. We want to transform this economy from an oil-based economy to one that is based on information. And so we had a common view. And we determined at that point that we were going to do everything in our power to translate the conversation we had there to reality.  I always talk about data is the new oil. Information is the new oil. In that data and information, digital assets are digital. It is a lifeblood now of society. Citizens are reacting. Everyone's now connected with mobile devices. You start to see autonomous vehicles. You start to see a cultural blending between the old world and then digital. And citizens can get new services. There's more efficiencies. But there's actually a better opportunity for the citizens and also in general. How do you guys look at that? When you guys have your meetings and you're looking at the vision of the future, the citizen benefits, whether it's an entrepreneur or someone who's just living life. Well, you know, when we had this discussion with Amazon, we decided to do what we call a cloud first policy. And we decided that we were going to move the government workloads to the cloud. We were going to actually challenge any government institution why they're not using the cloud. And it's been phenomenal. Now it's been phenomenal from a cost saving perspective which we want to pass on to the citizens. So for the citizen, for them to be able to get government services on their mobile phone, to pay their electricity bill, to do get their license. And the government, if it reduces its cost, can pass that on to that citizen. But more importantly, it's going to allow innovation to take place in the government. We're going to be able to have our education data in the Ministry of Education communicate with our labor data. We're going to be able to do education in a new way. So it is going to unleash innovation in the government and the way it offers its services. We think it's going to do the same for businesses and for startups. We didn't get a chance to film it yesterday, but we were part of the Teresa Carlson's team with you and your startup Bahrain, all the entrepreneurs from the community, very vibrant talking. General Keith Alexander was there, knows a thing or two about cyber. And then we had an entrepreneur visionary in John Wood who's been in the business, but he's also a visionary. He made a comment and you reacted to that around the impact of the AWS region coming here. He was almost like, there's a storm of innovation coming. And you aligned with that. You kind of reacted at dinner last night about it. What is your feeling of what this will bring to the region? Because Amazon has proven that when they put a region out this unexpected consequences, sometimes like things you might not see, what are you expecting for the impact for AWS? I think it's a game changer. I mean, you said data is the new oil. If we think back to the 30s, this country was the first country to discover oil. When at that time, Texaco and SoCal started a refinery and started extracting oil. All the industries that developed around it, refineries, oil field engineering, oil field services. You know, I think we're seeing, we're going to see that in the new digital economy with data. Amazon coming here is going to do several things. Number one, it's going to unleash this innovation. It's going to reduce latency for people who are storing data and looking to retrieve that. It's going to create new jobs. Data scientists, we estimate 10,000 jobs are going to come on the back of this that is going to be for the entire region. And again, I emphasize this is going to be a game changer, not just for the Kingdom of Bahrain, but for the entire Middle East. We're already seeing startups who are getting educated about what the cloud can do for them and the scale that they can reach by going to the cloud early on. We've seen them in the United States. Why can't this region see a unicorn that is able to be a global leader just by virtue of going to the cloud and learning from Amazon? And Amazon AWS shares our passion for the startup community and what this can do for that. I want to get to what's going to attract this is to come into Bahrain, but first I'll talk about the startup impact. Amazon has proven and I heard a comment from one of the startups. Amazon Web Services for big companies. Whoa, whoa, yeah, big companies are using Amazon now, but they won, they were built on the backs of startups when Amazon first started and startups still use Amazon. It is a dream for a startup, the cost to get a company up off the ground, the speed of innovation with Amazon has proven to startups. This is a big opportunity. And so this is going to impact how you set policy and get out of the way of entrepreneurs. Do you help them? As you look at policy, it's almost a tough decision on your part because you guys are used to helping entrepreneurs, very entrepreneurial friendly, but almost you get out of their way, do you help them? What's the strategy for the startups? How do you look at this? Because if the acceleration comes in and the training kicks in, you're going to see a renaissance of entrepreneurship. What do you do? Get out of the way, help them out. What's the plan? You got to balance it. I think you can't coddle them. You can't do everything for the entrepreneur. There's got to be that grit, the resilience, that hunger at the entrepreneur. I was an entrepreneur before I took this role and I think you've really got to have that fire in your belly. So what we want to do is we want to create an ecosystem but we don't want to spoon feed them. So what we've done is, for instance, we launched a $100 million venture capital fund of funds and we said the government shouldn't invest in startups but let's create a fund of funds that will invite venture capitalists to base themselves here but we're not going to tell these venture capitalists how to invest. So each startup has to pitch itself to these venture capitalists and make sure that there's justification for it. We're going to create training. We're going to create elements, the regulation. We introduced a bankruptcy law this year that is going to allow people to fail and to restructure. So we're going to put the policy in place. We're going to allow capital to be there. We're going to look at our training and education but again, it really is down to the entrepreneur. So you've got to mix, you've got to balance it. You've got to say the burden is also on you to think about what's the market opportunity. Here is what the country will do but then the rest is up to you. And I think we're going to see our young youth in the region, we're doing this because this region is transforming. This region needs to create jobs. There's about 100 million jobs you need to create in the Middle East over the next couple of years. You're not going to be able to create that in the normal way. So we want people to become employers, to become entrepreneurs rather than just employees and looking for a nine to five job. So it's integral to the vision of the region. Entrepreneurship is the engine of innovation. All right, let's talk about the region. We're first out here. So I'm kind of new, fresh eyes and you see Dubai out there. You got Asia, you got China and all these in Hong Kong on Singapore. So you guys have a unique opportunity. Dubai is kind of like a New York. It's hustle bustles built out. You guys but have this feeling like a Silicon Valley vibe. It feels very open, very friendly. So you don't have to compete with each other. New York does things, Silicon Valley does things. So you have this entrepreneurial culture. The key is a global co-creation, a connection. How are you going to attract businesses? Because there is demand in the U.S. for domiciling in places outside the United States. And there's been a lot of competition. So are you prepared for companies to come here work with you? I know you guys are doing a lot of work. What do you say to the folks out there saying, I need to have a presence. Can I domicile in Bahrain? What's it like? What's the opportunities for me to connect into a growing ecosystem around Bahrain? So I'd say, first of all, on the region, I mean, just like in Asia, just like in the U.S., you can have multiple hubs. So Bahrain will be a hub alongside a Dubai or a Riyadh or a Kuwait and so forth or an Abu Dhabi. And our niche is as a small country, we're going to be very agile. One of the reasons why Amazon chose Bahrain is because we have a team Bahrain approach. And I came from the private sector, when you're talking to General Electric, you're not talking to one department in General Electric, especially if you're a large customer. The whole company's going to rally around you and bring a solution to you as a customer. And we're going to do that as a country. So with Amazon, we got all the various ministries and we took a team Bahrain approach and we said we're going to solve, through the economic development board, we're going to solve for your problem. Mondalis, which chose to locate their $100 million facility in Bahrain, built a facility about 30 soccer pitches. And they did it within a year and a half. We reclaimed land and had the land ready for them. They called it, because they make Oreos, they called it turning ocean to Oreos. And so it's that agility that is going to differentiate us. In terms of niche, we're very interested in fintech. We think we're going to take a leadership position not only regionally, but globally in fintech. We have exciting announcements that we're going to make in fintech as a small country. We can be nimble, agile, startup friendly, and kind of innovate. And so we're determined to carve a niche in open banking, in cryptocurrency exchanges, interesting innovation areas that we think we can excel at. Cloud computing certainly is a driver. Artificial intelligence, obviously clearly the fodder for entrepreneurship because it allows you to do things with data at a scale with a cloud engine. Talk about fintech and banking, you can't ignore blockchain and cryptocurrency, which is bubble-ish right now and it was kind of cleaning itself out, sorting itself out. But when that starts to settle, and it becomes legitimate in the sense of a global access to digital money or software-defined money, and data, that could be an integral part. How do you guys look at that? I know that's something that everyone's talking about. People are looking to do token kind of business models and there really hasn't been any leadership globally at all on, there's some places people can domicile, we hear Malta here, there and there. So how do you guys look at that market? Are you thinking about it? Are you kicking the tires? What's happening? We're looking at fintech and saying, really beyond all the logos and all the, we're looking to reduce the friction for a customer doing the simple things. You know, aggregating your accounts, understanding how you're spending money, looking at how to transfer money, looking at how to raise capital. If we can look at reducing the friction for people around these challenges, these day-to-day challenges, and use our country as a pilot for doing that, then imagine the potential that once you illustrate the potential here, you could go replicated elsewhere. So we're very interested in blockchain. So you talk about cryptocurrencies. I think the real interesting element is the blockchain opportunity, infintech and beyond. How can you allow the distributed ledger to have multiple applications? We're going to introduce issuing car licensing via blockchain, land real estate transactions via blockchain. In addition to that, we're looking at open banking and allowing open banking to be prevalent here and allowing entrepreneurs to plug in and get access to that data and innovate around that. So that's how we're thinking about innovation and infintech. Really, thanks for coming on and spending the time. I know you're super busy and thanks for hosting us with theCUBE as part of the Amazon contingent. I'll give you the final word for the folks watching out there. What should they know about Baja Rain that they might not know about it? And how do they engage with you guys? What are you guys doing? How should someone contact you? How do you engage? And what's the secret sauce of the Baja Rain plan? Well, first of all, I'm going to plug my institution. It's simple. Look at BahrainEDB.com. It's online internet. It's going to give you everything you need about what Bahrain. And what I'd say is this is a small, but in today's world, a global world, an interconnected world, small is beautiful. So we're a small forward thinking country. We're in a region that is about $1.5 trillion in terms of just the Gulf Cooperation Council. And here is a great gateway for tapping into that opportunity. We're about 30 minutes from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which is doing wonderful things with Vision 2030. And you can be in Bahrain accessing that opportunity. And so I'd invite you to come, look at our website, and the BahrainEDB will help you translate that kind of opportunity to a reality. Please, Chief Executive of Economic Development Board in Bahrain, bold move, congratulations. Bold moves have bold payoffs. Good day with Amazon. Thanks for having me, John. It's coming up. It's theCUBE here, we're live in Bahrain here at the Ritz-Carlton for AWS Summit 2018. Here in the Middle East, I'm John Furrier. We'll be back with more coverage after this short break.


Here you go. Be careful, Bill, what's up? All these people are looking at you.  We gotta go, we gotta go. What is a Marvel Squad? And welcome back to our channel. If you guys are new, my name's Mariah. My name is Bill. But we are gonna be handcuffed for 24 hours and I am not sure how I'm gonna be because right now I am very hangry and we need to go get some food.    She's gonna blow a gasket. For the next 24 hours, listen up, we are going to be in these heavy duty, pull the other side. Guys. Heavy duty, metal. These don't, handcuffs. These don't unlock unless you have the key. They're literally losing the key already. You better not lose the key. Unless you have the key. Cause if you don't, like, if we had a big chub here, someone loses this key. These handcuffs are, you can hear them, they're metal. They're legit. I put them on, they do hurt. So no tugging. I swear to God. You gotta lock Amazon. I swear to God, no tugging. I'm gonna hurt you. But these are legit and we are going to be handcuffed for the next 24 hours. So wish us luck. Right now we are gonna give our pre-video notification shout out. And this shout out goes to my dad's girlfriend's daughter, Sydney. She messaged me like a long time ago. She goes, I really want you guys to do this challenge and we're finally doing it. So. Thank you Sydney for that request. We never forgot it. We just never had handcuffs and now that we have these heavy duty as handcuffs. We're doing what you guys wanted. Yes. Hi Anthony. Come here. Let's show them. We're gonna give Anthony the keys. Yes. We actually have to unlock this for, actually don't, wow. Do not remember Anthony. He was in our last video. I feel like it'd be easier if we went. No. Oh no. Oh. Wait. Ow, it already hurts. Oh God. No. Ow, something, I'm forcing it. We have the keys now. No, Bill, stop trying to tie him in. It's easy to get a little. No. No. Now we go. Come on. It hurts guys, these are act legit metals so. Please don't be annoying. I think I'm like a puppet. Yeah. Does it hurt? I'm sorry. Hope we have the keys now so you guys can't get out. Yeah, right now I'm sorry for any pain that I caused you. I don't mean it and.  You're stuck with me. Oh my God. I'm just stuck next to you.  Look at my hand and then look at hers. Who do you think is gonna like survive? You know? Not me.  Oh I'm gonna lose a key. What if we have to run from a danger person and we're. A danger person? We're gonna be stuck together. Well yeah. So you better. I'm gonna hop on your back. Yeah. I keep tightening though. I just, I love the clicking sound. I need to stop tightening them up. Yeah it's just gonna hurt. All right. Look out that I'm actually handcuffed to you. I don't like this stuff. Like there's no way out of this. All right guys. We will see you guys when we get to the car. I bet you I could pick these. I will see you guys then. All right guys we're gonna try getting into this car. Oh no it's already hurting.  I got to work together. Oh I forgot to take the tools off of them. Oh it's not working. All right. Oh. Hey you got to don't don't get my car dirty. Come on. Don't get my car dirty. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Stop. Wait stop. Stop, stop. How hard are you? I'm so hard. Just go push your legs there. Easy. All right I have to get in the car now. Yeah you guys can. You literally have to go get gas too.  Just look at guys. If you cannot see my gas tank it's currently almost on E and that doesn't last long in my car. Especially driving. I think you can use the gas. Want to show the gas station. Are you going? Actually go to the gas station. Good thing it's not a manual. I should handcuff her to this. Give me the key later. Just leave her in the car. No. Look at all. We're here. Oh you know what that means guys. I'm going to fill up the fuel tank. All right hold on. Don't scuff up the leather. What you get for me?  Watch the leather. Let's go. All right. I'm hungry though. We're all hungry. Why is everybody like we're gonna start beating you up. Let's go. Let's go. Wow. It's so difficult. All right ready?  I'll take your hand. You are hurting me. Let's go. The more you rush me, the longer it'll take.  I know what. I know how to get there. It's baloney nipples. What? What? Move the nozzle. No you're gonna have to cut it. No you do that. Move the nozzle. That's great. Hold on. We're escaped convicts. My gosh. They just escaped from jail. Yeah we were inmates together I started waving everyone. I can't turn that way. Let's just hold hands. I'll make it way easier. Ow. What? Hold this way. We should have eaten first. Aten, I had no gas. You wouldn't have made it. Anthony, we would have had to push the car. You wouldn't have made it. We would have had to push the car. Handcuff together. Think about that. That would have been a video. You're doing a good job. How long is it for this? It's a slow pump. This is what you call oldies, right? You know you've got. It's got no oil in here. Gas. No oil in here. Guys, we gotta we gotta put oil in the gas.  Your gas is really expensive for your car. This is not my gas. This is gas in general. No, I never had four of that in gas. It's because you never run it down to heat. Oh. Right behind you. 44 bucks. There you go. Careful, Bill. That's all right. You guys are looking. Oh, these people are looking at you. Hey, I see people are looking at you. I was. We gotta go. I think they're out of us. They're definitely out to you. Sounds like we're in a crappy car like. Crappy car? What? You're so walking. I'll meet you at the place. All right, guys. See you guys. Sign in the car, sign in the car. My car. Look at that. That's where it needed to be. We'll see you guys when we get to the taco place. We got to eat freaking good today. Yes. Good. Yes. All right, guys, we'll see you guys.  No, you can't eat that burrito with one arm. All right, be ready. You're gonna be doing some movement. No. Yes, dude. I cannot eat a burrito, especially their burritos. That's your fault. I can't eat a burrito with one arm. That's your fault. Their burritos are big. More on the story, you're gonna be putting in more work than I am. No, I'm not. Yes, you are. You're probably gonna have to hold the burrito while he bites.  It's hard to eat a taco because burritos are big cloves. Tacos have an egg. So if I'm sitting here not making sure. I could gangbang a taco, like just one taco.  All right. You will see you guys when we get to the taco place. He's already making me hungry. Burritos are fat. So we're all coming our way. This way. We're trying to avoid hitting this nice, awty, and I quote. Can we make it out? As you all know, awty owners. Awty owners. We're hungry and I'm not waiting any longer.   Wait, we gotta do this nonchalantly. There's a bar full of bikers. We do not want to attract her attention. Come on. There's literally, okay. Ow, wait, ow, ow. What are you, I'm not moving. Move, no, it's my things. Let's go. Hold on, hold on.  Are you ready? We gotta do this, ready? This is Kamehro. Wait, ow. Oh, that had to have hurt. I literally pulled her arm around the bag. All right, Meg, you coming out this side? Yeah, I guess so. Here we go. It's our destination. All right, guys. We just got our food. Like I said earlier, I got my steak taco because you can't go wrong with that. It's a burrito. Steak. I got my steak taco and I'm watching out on some chips and salsa. I feel like I could just do anything. This is already a pain. They will follow. You know, it's not that bad. This whole dinner thing is not that bad. I thought it would be worse. Yeah, it's actually really easy. I think it's so annoying for me to film. I'm like, people like to look at us weird. It's like, okay, we're just vloggers, sorry. They don't know what a camera is. Yeah, I'm like this, we're like, who are you looking at? It's so good that you have to swear. Ew. Hey, you literally got no drops on there. Get all of them on there. My turn. I did my thing. Mm, put it my way this whole time on it. Oh geez, that actually does hurt me. Yeah, thank you. See, maybe you should stop crying about it and actually doing stuff back to me. Can you handle the green stuff? Oh. I'm also putting myself in the process of this. Mm-hmm. When you pull, you're just enjoying the steak burrito. When you pull, it actually hurts the other person more than you. So what we're gonna do. We're gonna finish eating our bomb food. We'll meet back in the car. And yeah, so we're gonna enjoy our food and we'll see you in a little bit. Peace. All right guys, so we are gonna go to what? We really have to push on my seat like that. What?  My knees got, I can't go any far. I can't, I'm squished in general, Bill. So we're off to the dollar store. Five Below. Five Below, we gotta buy some phone cases and some other stuff, right? Yes. But yeah guys, I can't leave. I'm like that, the... I just can't wait to get this.  These hurt. Like my arms... Which five Below's are you going to? No, five Below, go over there. That way, so. This way. Wow. You turned. I already turned. No, that's just... Anyway guys, we're going to... No, that's not a drive. The dollar store. Go very short. We will meet you at the dollar store. Five Below. Five Below. No, no, no. You keep seeing the dollar store, Bill. No, this way. You can do it. You can do it. We're going to the dollar store. We'll see you there. Damn it. All right. Get out. We're sitting right here. Yeah, but we got to screw it on over. We look like dummies. Come on. At five Below, finally.  Anthony's tickling me so I can't film. Ow. I was waiting for the door to open. I did this first. I did this first, oh. Oh, oh, all right. I did this first. Goofy. Oh, here we go. I have to get a new screen protector. This is perfect. iPhone XR. I don't know if you guys can see my screen, but it's cracked up the butt. There's like a boom. It's really not funny. Who's your cracker? I don't want to hear it. Brand new phone. It's a brand new XS Max. All right, we got a case. Look at this. It's cute. All this. These are cute. No problem. There's not anything. No problem. But this one, Stay Wild Moon Chill. That's the 876 plus. Actually, I need a screen protector. I just, I was really excited. There's a million cases. There has to have to be one you like. I was just going to get a screen protector. Not for me. I'm still going to get a screen protector. I'm walking away. There's no cases. Let's go. This way. This, this way. I'm just looking at nothing. I was so excited because everyone's getting cases from here. And I come here and they're wiped out. They don't look very wiped out. Yeah. They don't have the XR either. So I took the W. You took the L. What? Oh my God. That's going to be us. I'm hoping. Guys, one day we will be, one day we will be on that board just like Paul over there. You say team bill right under it? No, yeah. It's going to be team bill. Only team bill merch sells. Bill. I can get this. Yeah. See that? Oh, wow. Ready? Let me click it. Bill. Wow. I was thinking of you. I did that. Is that it? Yeah. All right, guys. So I guess our five low run is a screen protector. Nothing else. Thank you for making this such an interesting, five low visit.  Suck? They have to shower, which means he has to come shower with me. And how is that going to suck? That's a good thing. No, because I like my privacy. Well, I don't care. Well, guys, I don't care. We'll see how this turns out. And we're going to be filming everything. All right, guys. From head to toe. Ew. Ow. Stop it. You hurt me. Why does it hurt? How does this really hurt you? Why does it hurt to me? It doesn't hurt me at all. You can swing around and do whatever you want. All right, let's do this. No. Let's do a handcuff to my dog channel. Ow. Poor dog. I want to pet him. Ow, ow. I want to pet him. I'll be pet him. Probably. All right.  Uh-oh. You need to get the challenge. For the view. For the view. For the view. For the view. For the view. Do all of it for the view. I just didn't. Walk on the stairs. Oh my God. Why do you want me back? Why do you want me back? Why do you want me back? Why do you want me back? Why do you want me back? Straight. Stop it. Straight. I am walking straight. Pull me. Pull me. You guys really want this key, don't you? No. No. No. No. Here you go. I cannot do handcuffs to this woman for another 10 minutes. We have to go take a shower. For another 16 hours. Let's go. 10 minutes, 16 hours. Wow. Alright guys, you already know what time it is. Look at her. She's hiding from me. I look comfortable. She thinks she doesn't look good. Yeah, I just ate. I look bloated and stuff. You don't look bloated and stuff. Yes I do. Come here. I'm embarrassed. Come here. Come here. Wait, here. I'm going to turn around. They're not going to see you. Let's get started. Let's get started. All right. What do you want to do? Let's go take a shower. It's cold, so I don't want to get in. I know. It's just like when we were at the gas station, I would cater to you. Yeah. Because you catered to me. There was one time we went to the gas station. Look at that guy. He catered to me now. Guys, one time when we were at the gas station, Mariah blew it up. She had diarrhea in the gas station. She's not doubting it, which means it's true. If she crashed in the car, that would be the last time you saw her. All right. Are you ready? It actually feels good. Come on. I'm so good. Oh my God. What am I supposed to do now? Sit there. Yeah. Yeah. Guys, if you ever want to shower, you have to pee.  Get out. All right. I just built my hair. You got the egg part. Yeah, I really did. Oh my God. What do you think? What do you think? No. No. No. It feels so good, Karen. It feels so good. It feels so good. No. It feels so good, Karen. I don't want to get out. I know. You ready? Ready? All right, guys. It's time. How are you? I feel good. You feel good? How are we good? I want to be like this. So I don't know how we ended up like this. Guys, I can't get out of here. I'm handcuffed. As you can see, we're still handcuffed. And it's been like hour, like four. And I don't know what to do at this point. Since they won't give us the key, let's try breaking out of these. Here, use the bobby pin. One, you got this. You got this. But if we actually break them, we're stuck in here. No, I can't. No, we're going to break them off. One. Got it? You got it? No, it's not going to work. It's not going to work, guys. We're actually trapped in here. Yeah. What about you broke them in there though? You better not mess mine up. You should have tried it on yours. It has been way too long. We need to get out of these. Like, what is that? It's been like 30 hours. We're over time now. Guys, we just got freaking water in my new phone. Yeah, those big water spots. Get the case off of it. Your phone just got off. No, it didn't. It did. Bill, stop it. I'm just kidding. The case off. How do you get this case off? Guys, so we just had a little mishap. She got water on her phone from washing and her phone died. My phone's dead now. It's broken. Yeah. Do you want to smash it and throw it away? Yeah. Let's do it. No, it's not. It's all good. We just have to clean up the case and everything. So we are back in Mariah's room. Think. Anthony is going to let us free. He's going to take these handcuffs off of our freaking arms. Because I have been too crabby. Yes, she literally and me. I feel like just because we can't do our own thing and we're stuck and all this stuff, it literally just builds up anxiety because I'm feeling it too. And we were literally getting heated on the car ride here. Come in. Right now is the time.  Come on. Come on. First. No, mine first. Mine first. Bro, I helped you with your trans. That's true. Anthony. He did. He did help me take a trans. It's not out yet though. It's not out. But we did a lot. We did a lot though. There we go. There we go. You want to hook her anywhere? No, no. I'm just kidding. I'm not. I wouldn't do that. Maybe when you're sleeping. Anthony just poked me. Not bad. Not bad. We're free guys. I can't see. Look at this. These handcuffs are toast. They're done. They're from start to finish. We did it. And we did it for like what? A lot of hours. I don't even know. Almost a full day. Honestly. To be honest, almost a full day. It seemed like a full day. It did.  Even though we got kind of cranky at the end. We did it really cranky. That's why. Throughout the whole thing. Throughout the whole thing. Yeah. It was a cranky. I got off work and I wasn't feeling it very well. And I think being handcuffed to you is just really irritating. That's so mean. No, I loved being next to you. But I realized like your space. Your space is important. Yeah. Well, once you figure out that like.  Like I'm sure they go insane. Because they're stuck and they can't move anywhere. They know they can't move. We could at least move outside. And we were getting annoyed. But like they're stuck. Stuck. So like I couldn't imagine. Oh man. But anyways guys. We're going to end this video here. And sorry for my pale ratchetness. Sorry for her beautifulness. I have to get my. You're beautiful. You know what I mean. Every time we do our end of the video. Post notification shout out. How I know. And who does that shout out. Go to today honey. KK.6812. Shout out to you. Shout out to you KK. She's asking when she was getting her shout out. So you just got your shout out. Now you got it. Thank you for being a part of our channel. Yes. We love you so very much. Yes. Thanks for watching. And we will see you in the next video. But until then. Peace. Peace.


Welcome back. Today's throwback, the political lots of legals in the last 120 years, part one, Chief Christopher Shakbara Williams. This synoptic historical serialization of the politicals who, among many notable authors of their generations, got either the streetcom electoral support of legals in the last 120 years, will start in chronological order today with Chief Shakbara Williams. Who passed the baton to Albert McCauley, the latter who anointed Dr. Nandia Zikwe from home chief of Baphemia, who was snatched it and passed it to a legislative jack-on-day who made it in a somewhat circumstantial prophetic irony, slipped to Sa or Thedola before President Bola Metinumbu came to dominate it for more than two decades, and Peter Obi in a straight electoral contestation last February 25th gained an advantage that is either to be consolidated or squandered. Note that I have deliberately refused to mention the military characters who wrote legals during the two post-independence military in Tarragna. Chief Christopher Alexander Shakbara Williams, CMG, 14 July 1855 to 15 March 1915, was the first indigenous Nigerian lawyer called to the English Bar on 17 November 1879. In addition to his legal practice, he came to play an influential role in the politics of Nigeria during the colonial era. He held the chieftain's title of the Lodifi of Ilesha. Chief Shakbara Williams was the elder brother of Ogutola Shakbara, the prominent physician who boasted the chikanri of Shokwanoa adherents who secretly spread chicken powers on innocent victims of society that they have adjudged to have offended their deity. Williams was born on 14 July 1855. He was of Ijesha origin, but was born in Syria alone. He studied law in London at the Ena Temple and was called to the English Bar on 17 November 1879. Returning from the United Kingdom, he began practicing law in the colony of Lagos on 13 January 1888. He, aside his good understanding of English law, had intimate knowledge of the unwritten customary law. He enrolled in the Nigerian Bar Association on 30 January 1888 and was chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association from 1900 to 1915. Williams was nominated to the Legislative Council, serving as a member from October 1901 until his death in 1915. In 1903, there was the crisis over the payment of the tolls that were collected from traders by native rulers. Although Europeans were exempted, the alternative was to replace the tolls by a subsidy. Governor Williams Bakregal requested views from Williams, Charles Joseph George and Obadiah Johnson as indigenous opinion leaders. All were in favour of retaining the tolls to avoid upsetting the rulers. In 1903, Governor Bakregal nominated Williams for a knighthood, but the recommendations were turned down. The refusal of the British Crown to create him as a knight like Sir Akito Iyajasa, another indigenous lawyer who was created a knight was said to be because he often sided with the people like Sir Akito Iyajasa who was always on the side of the colonial authorities and always represented them in court. In 1904, Williams moved that court. The present boundary between the colonial and protectorate of southern Nigeria and the protectorate of northern Nigeria were adjusted by bringing the southern portion into southern Nigeria so that the entire tribes of the Yoruba-speaking people should be under one and the same administration. The principle applied was to group people who were at roughly the same political and social level into one province rather than to try to align the provinces with ethnic boundaries. In 1905, Williams visited England. Wife here made several suggestions to the colonial authorities to make the decision to follow the principles of the Yoruba-based constitution. Wife here made several suggestions to the colonial authorities for changes to imperial policy. This included establishing a teacher training college in Lagos and having more continuity of policy by the governors of the colony. Shakora Williams challenged the Seditious Offences Ordnance of 1909 which suppressed criticism of the government. He pointed out that, I quote, freedom of the press is the great panadium of British liberty. Sedition is a thing incompatible with the character of the Yoruba people and has no place in their constitution. Hyper-sensitive officials may come tomorrow who will see sedition in every criticism and crime in every mass meeting. Despite his plea, the bill became law. Williams encouraged Abad Makoli to convene an inaugural meeting of the Lagos auxiliary of the anti-slavery and aborigines protection society on 30 August 1910 which gave Makoli a platform for producing popular opposition to the colonial practices. When Northern and Southern Nigeria were united in 1914 a colonial policy which is vehemently and vociferously opposed because according to him, the British colonial authorities were only determined to do it so as to use the financial surplus of the Southern Protectorate to sustain the colonial governance of the geographically humongous but economically anemic Northern Protectorate. The new legislative council was added by the governor and consisted of seven British officials, two British non-officials and two Nigerians, one of whom was Williams. He died on 15 March 1915 Williams' views on development of the colony included close association with European ideas and institutions and was against thoughtless and non-constructive criticism of the administration. However, although Williams in many ways accepted European concepts and values in October 1896 is sponsored by the Ngungu Festival a traditional ceremony moves such as this by one of the leaders of the Jeshez in Lagos were welcomed by the traditional rulers of the Yoruba Williams once said, I quote a lawyer lives for the direction of his people and the advancement of the course of his country in conclusion, are you purposefully living for the advancement of the course of Nigeria and that is the show for tonight I am Bola Hoba


What's up everybody, Jason here for JaspysCaseBricks.com. This was our last break filler we needed to do to give away the last eight spots in Donner's Round and Teens basketball break. With a 1920 Panini Mosaic basketball hobby pack one break, one pack break number 46. First you do the break, randomize the customer names and teams, distribute the hits out, then at the end we'll take all 30 customer names, re-randomize them with an 8 dice roller randomizer. And the top eight names would win a round and team spot in each one. So let's do the break first guys. Roll it. 11 times 6 out of 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. George Cobb down to Matthew. 11, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Portland down to Utah. Alright again stick to what you got guys. No trades. Quick glance at your teams. Alright let's switch scenes. Dwight Howard, Jermaine Grant. Alright nothing super crazy out of there either. Alright, switch scenes guys. And here we go. Top 8 to get in. Roll. 1 out of 4, 5 times guys. Good luck 5 times. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5 times. Alright so from Logan down to Rick unfortunately no, but top 8. Rick you're in. Sean. Evan. Nick D. George Cobb. Dusty at Dusty and Brandon Hall. There you go. Boom 5 times. Top 8 get in. You guys are now a part of the break. Coming up next in a separate video is the break itself. JasperysCaseBricks.com.


Charlize Theron is a South African born model who went on to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars. And like any Hollywood star, she's lived in some beautiful Los Angeles homes over the years. In these videos we don't reveal any addresses even though I've done a house tour of my own place. Please do not show up at any private residences because it's not safe for anyone. Charlize Theron grew up in the city of Johannesburg and she spent time as a child on her parents farm before attending the National School of Art. Then after winning a local modeling competition she was selected to travel to Milan, Italy on a one year contract at the age of just 16. Eventually she found herself in New York City training to become a dancer but a knee injury would force her to cut that dream short. Looking for a new goal to pursue she moved to Los Angeles in 1994. Well success didn't find her immediately but one day while at a bank cashing a check her mother had sent her to help with rent, Charlize was discovered by a talent agent. Within 8 months she landed a non-speaking part in the Stephen King adaptation, Children of the Corn Three, Urban Harvest. About 3 years later she co-starred in her breakout film, The Devil's Advocates. After making it big, Charlize would purchase her first home, a Spanish style mansion set in the Hollywood Hills, a property that she still lives into this day. She'd also buy a further two properties both of which were also located in LA including a modest sized home in West Hollywood as well as a luxurious penthouse apartment in the famous Broadway Hollywood Lofts building. Hey guys it's Kara back with another exclusive house tour here in Famous Entertainment in this one seeing where Charlize Theron calls home. Don't forget to like, subscribe and hit me up on Instagram to chat. Now let's get into this video. First things first, let's kick things off with not only Charlize's primary residence but also the oldest property in her real estate profile. A 5,005 square foot home secured behind gates in the star studded outpost estates neighborhood of the Hollywood Hills where her neighbors are said to include the likes of Felicity Huffman as well as Orlando Bloom. According to property records, Charlize first bought the home in June of 1998 for a reported 1.65 million dollars. For that bundle, Charlize secured herself an abode with four bedrooms and five bathrooms. But to be totally honest with you, outside of those very basic facts, there aren't many other details available about this home. Now there's a reason for all this secrecy. As reported on sites like Greater Online, Charlize has had to separate through a series of break-ins and invasions of her privacy while living here. In fact, these episodes date way back to 2010 when the A-Lister's assistant reported a burglary attempt.  Then in 2015, a man was arrested for hopping over her fence and walking up to her front door carrying flowers. When asked to vacate the premises, he refused to do so until Charlize showed up. Well, Charlize might not have, but the cops sure did. Since that scary moment in 2015, the Hollywood starlet has had to separate through five additional incidents in which the house's silent alarm was triggered and police were called to the scene. But rather than move out of what has clearly become a compromised address, Charlize decided to have her mother move in with her instead and she refuses to be pushed out of her family home. Not that she wouldn't have options if she ever did decide to leave because this is far from the only property she's ever owned. About three years after buying her first home, Charlize bought herself a second house in April of 2000, a modest Spanish charmer in West Hollywood that was originally built in 1925. With a respectable price tag of only $519,000, this hedged and gated 1,539-square-foot home is located within walking distance to the Beverly Center and boasts four bedrooms alongside two baths. Out front, a bunch of tall trees provide shade to some artificial evergreen turf and a rather simply landscaped front yard. The front door then leads into the open plan living room with matte finished wood floors, a barrow vaulted ceiling, and a stylish fireplace. That theme of free space continues into the kitchen which boasts light stone countertops on dark wood cabinets as well as up to date stainless steel appliances and a cozy breakfast nook. There is even a side door that leads out to the gated driveway. In terms of bedrooms and bathrooms, well, they're all located upstairs in the same wing, down a skylight-topped central corridor. Meanwhile, one of the three average-sized guest rooms spills out into Charlize's backyard while another provides direct access to a shared hall bathroom. As for the master suite, it offers two closets as well as a private and fully modern ensuite bathroom. Out back, there's a detached two-car garage that's been converted into an additional living space that leads out through a bank of glass sliders to a patch of fake grass that encircles a dark bottomed swimming pool with a tile-accented spa. Despite scooping this place up more than two decades ago, it's believed that Charlize never actually lived here. Instead, she'd simply hold on to it and then sell the property in September of 2020. The most perplexing real estate purchase Charlize would ever make was her decision to drop around $2.75 million for loft-style condo that she picked up in September of 2007. This 2,350-square-foot penthouse sits atop the famous Broadway-Hollywood-Lofts building that is at one time or another been home to stars like Jason Statham, Jack Osborne and Wilmer Baltimore. Property records show that Charlize paid that staggering sum for a corner unit that boasted two beds, two baths, and a living room surrounded by windows and views that overlook Hollywood Boulevard. Furthermore, this trendy home boasts two small terraces located on the first floor and a larger terrace on the second floor with an outdoor fireplace from which Charlize and her guests could take advantage of these remarkable views. Outside of that killer vibe, this airy loft also features a kitchen absolutely drenched in stainless steel appliances. Then, there are floor-to-ceiling steel-framed windows that have been installed in both the living and dining room to highlight the views, while ebony hardwood makes up the majority of the floors. But the coolest part of the home was most definitely the floating-steel staircase that climbs from the main floor up to the top one, where you can find the primary bedroom with en suite bath. Wondering why the building includes such high-sky ceilings and exposed ductwork? It's because back on the day when it was first being constructed, it was designed to function as a department store in the 1920s before being converted into apartments for the rich and famous. Speaking of the rich and famous, at the same time that Charlize originally made this purchase in 2007, her then-boyfriend, Stuart Townsend, secured the neighboring unit for a reported $1.2 million, and fortunately for the both of them, shortly thereafter they were splits filled. Perhaps that's why Charlize ultimately made the decision to move off of the property only about 10 years after buying it, and she didn't just move off of it. She sold it at a massive loss. After originally listing the home in 2016, she eventually sold the penthouse to Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings for $1.75 million, or about $1 million less than what she paid for 10 years earlier. For now, Charlize seems fully intent on remaining in her original Hollywood Hills home. What's more, she also can't imagine herself ever living with another romantic partner again. Or anyone other than her kids and mom for that matter. She recently told UK media out with the Mirror, I don't know if I'll ever be able to live with somebody again. To be totally frank, they might have to buy the house next to me.  Hey, Ali Charlize knows what she wants while enjoying the mom life, and if she really doesn't feel the need for a romantic housemate of any sort, well good for her. Well that's going to bring our Charlize there and house tour to an end. What do you guys think? Should the actress consider leaving the very first house she ever bought behind her own safety? Well, I personally wouldn't be chased out of my dream home either. Be sure to let me know your thoughts on her homes in the comment section. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button if you haven't and follow me on Instagram to chat. I'll see you all in another video. Bye!


This study found that robotic-assisted laparoscopic myomectomy, RALM, is a safe, effective, and viable alternative to conventional laparoscopic myomectomy, CLM, with fewer complications and less blood loss in patients with smaller fibroids. Additionally, it was found to have a lower rate of conversion to laparotomy, making it a more suitable option for some patients. This article was authored by Elias Tsakos, Emmanuel M. Zidias, Apostolist C. Ziyogas, and others.