y start to see children taken out of the court environment, certainly in relation to the more serious court in the High Court. We would allude to try to expend that. We recognise that there are big issues. We try to do the best practical things that we can within the constraints. The equally part of the drive is actually how do we stop them being there in the first place? Okay, thank you. That is helpful. Probably some of your answer relates to some of the measures that might be on the justice digital strategy. The committee has had criticism about the lack of progress with the strategy and also concerns about the effect of sharing of a security email, the effectiveness of that and about the security of the wi-fi system. Could you give us timescales, first of all, of how that is progressing that strategy? Part of the challenge is that the strategy covers probably about 15 on different areas across different organisations that have got responsibility, so to give you one answer on the timescale would be very, very difficult. In terms of the Scottish Courts and Tribunial Service, some of the things that we had given that strategy commitment was to roll out a new case management for civil business in Scotland, and that was rolled out last Monday. We have made a fundamental change in terms of the case management system that is now available. We now have wireless across all of our courts in Scotland, so that is there, it is usable, it is accessible, it is secure and there are no issues with it. We are now working with the Law Society and the Faculty to electronically bring on board all those members, so they now have access to it. In a very short space of time and hopefully a short number of weeks, every member of the Law Society or faculty or defence agents will have access to wi-fi across courts. Again, that is a step in the right direction. I say that it is in place in the courts, just now it is just simply getting the right registration process in place for defence agents to access it. The area that I think is of most interest is what is loosely classed as the digital evidence vault. We see that this is being one of the key areas that will solve a number of problems that are currently around at the moment. You mentioned the CGSM system as being one issue that has caused frustration, and the other issue that causes frustration is particularly in relation to video evidence in different formats and how it can be shared across organisations. The idea of the digital evidence vault is to try to see if we can get through some of those problems. The idea is that this would be a central store or a repository, and that would hold evidence associated with a case, which would then be securely accessed by organisations or defences from different points. Where we are at the moment—and you will realise that this is quite a complex development—is kicked off a prototype now, which is about building an evidence store about storing video evidence. How do we get video evidence out of the many hundreds of different formats that exist at the moment into one common format? Have it stored in the same area and make that accessible by different justice organisations? Through time, we look at the key part of the evidence vault that supports the work that Tim was describing earlier about how we get this evidence sharing across all organisations and across different defence agents. We are making process, but this is a big clunky staff. It takes time. I am very conscious of time and I am very conscious that Fulton MacGregor has been waiting for quite some considerable time to get in. I do appreciate the questioning that I want to do is get back in the conversations that have moved on. However, it is exactly the clear baker's earlier question, and it would be no surprise at all that I completely agree with Claire's line of questioning and the response from ACC Higgins. I would like to give ACC Higgins a chance to confirm that some of the criticism that perhaps we have heard through the process is that the police and subsequently the procurator are prioritising the cases of domestic abuse quite rightly. I do not think that he disagrees with that, but I would like to give ACC Higgins a chance to confirm that that is not the case. Thank you, sir. I confirm that that is not the case. Police officers are demand driven. We do not get to choose what calls are made to us and we have to respond to them all. If a domestic abuse call comes in, then yes, that will get a priority, but if a shoplifting call comes in, that will be answered as well. On the prosecutor's priority, again, that would be a matter for Crown Office, but I can assure you that we try and service all the demand that comes in. If I may convene, I just want to give Mr MacArthur some reassurance around the fixed penalty. We will have a look at that, but about six months ago we, in conjunction with Crown, introduced recorded police warnings. So far, there has been about 11,000 of them given. That is 11,000 non-cases that have been submitted or non-fixed penalty notices that have been issued. Rather than caution and charge somebody or giving them a fixed penalty notice, they are dealt with by way of a recorded police warning. If they receive two recorded police warnings within a set time for the same offence, they are cautioned and charged. That will reduce the number of fixed penalties that will be issued in the future, which hopefully will give another proportionate response to fairly low-level crime. A very quick question for Eric McQueen, as well. It is a follow-up from Rona Mackay's question, and I am also staying on the issue of domestic abuse. When we have been doing this inquiry, we have spoken to some victims and we have heard some quite harrowing tales of not only the abuse that they experienced, but also the subsequent experience of the court system. I think that you began to touch on it, but specifically for this type of offence, is there anything that you can think of that we could do to improve the process for victims of domestic abuse when they are coming in and out to court specifically? I think that there are two things. I think that in the short term it is about continuing the good things that we are doing. Already we are trying to improve the facilities in courts. We have far more TV links now that are available if people want to give their evidence-buying TV links. We are improving where we can the experience in court. I think that there was a comment made in the past about screens that are pulled out within court that were quite flimsy. All of those are now being largely replaced across our courts. Where people want to give evidence-buying the screen is now in a place that is safer and a more comfortable environment for them. Interestingly, the vast majority of vulnerable witnesses that come forward, their preference is to give evidence in court. We were thought that when the change came in with the Vulnerable Witnesses Act, there would be a big increase in people preferring to give evidence by video link, but it does seem very much that people want to give their evidence in court. Certainly our aim is to make sure that we support them as best we can to make sure that they have a safe environment somewhere that they are comfortable and that they can give their best evidence. If they choose to use screens to block them from their cues, then all those type things are in place. We are trying within the limitations that we have to provide the best possible service. All of our staff and front-line staff have gone through extensive training in terms of how we support not just vulnerable witnesses but all witnesses that come within the court environment. In the medium and long term, it is back to what we were talking earlier about fundamentally how we shift a significant number of witnesses from having to give evidence in court in the first place. I think that that has got to be our goal and where our focus stays, while at the same time we build on the improvements that we are making at the moment to try to make the experience for victims of witnesses the less traumatic and the less stressful that we can possibly achieve. One final very short question, a specific question from Stuart Stevenson, which should elicit a very equally short response. The rules for committees in the Parliament here at 4.37 read. A member may be present at a committee, count towards the quorum and participate fully by means of video conference. Are we heading towards that same interaction with video technology right across all aspects of the court system? If not, when? I would like to think that we are getting there. The honest answer is we are probably still in the early days. We have limitations in terms of the current legislation as to what can be done by video conferencing. At the moment, any custody hearings can't be done by VC and the same with trials other than vulnerable witnesses that requires people to appear physically in court. There are a range of procedural hearings, which we are now moving more routinely being done by VC. About a third of our courts now are transaction procedural business by video conferencing, and we are looking to extend that to the other courts next year. When the provisions come in, hopefully in May next year, custody cases will be able to be taken by VC and we are working with Police Scotland in crown as to how we could implement that. The answer to where we truly want to go in VC is back to the work that was done by Tim McStuffin earlier on. That genuinely is about capturing evidence at the very early stage electronically and reducing significantly the number of victims of witnesses in court. Questions remains for me to thank the witnesses very much for attending committee today. We now move into private session. The next meeting of the committee will be on 29 November when we will continue taking evidence from the Crown and Procurator Fiscal Service inquiry. I suspend the meeting to allow the public and official record to leave report to leave the room.


Hello everybody! If you haven't seen Tomorrow Before or you haven't watched in a very long time, welcome! I'm Ryan and I've been in our Tomorrow Space news show since the start of 2020, primarily reporting on SpaceX but also a range of other topics since I took up the reins of being the main host last summer. If you're one of our lovely subscribers or Tomorrow's citizens, you'll know that this is not scheduled programming and that is because I'm asking for your help and support to assist in covering some costs to head out to the Space Coast this summer to report on the launch of Psyche Live from Florida on a Falcon Heavy. Psyche is heading to the asteroid named Psyche which is very rich in metal. It'll be the first mission of its kind and due to the way that physics works there will only be a two-week window in August for the mission to launch which makes it the perfect opportunity for me to fly over to the US and bring you the best coverage possible of this mission which is heading to the only place we know in our solar system where the core of a planet could actually be analyzed. It's believed that because of its metallic structure Psyche was actually a planet that was hit by an asteroid and had its crust layers knocked off. That theory is also backed up by the fact that Psyche orbits the Sun on its side. If you want to learn more about what Psyche is all about then go and check out orbit12.21 of the live show linked in the description where Jade Anathena interviewed Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the principal investigator of the Psyche mission. If that's all you need to hear the link to contribute to this journey is in the description and on your screen now but more data is coming right up. For this trip I'm going to be very transparent on the finance side so you know how your money is being spent. Every purchase made using the money raised will be published publicly. All the money raised is going to three main places which are transportation, accommodation and equipment. The former two are obviously the most important but if there is any money left over from the contributions then it will be invested in upgrading the video and audio equipment to improve the quality of the coverage of this exciting and historic mission. Flights will cost approximately £2,000 to £3,000. Transport to the airport will cost approximately £150 to £220. Accommodation will cost about £1,600 to £2,100 and the car rental will cost about £1,300 to £1,850. Rocket launchers don't always go to plan it's just in their nature so if Psyche is scrubbed past my return date home whilst I am in Florida then I obviously very sadly wouldn't be able to bring you the coverage but that would only be in a worst case scenario if something detrimental goes wrong meaning that the launch can't commence. Falcon Heavy does have a pretty good track record though so that is very unlikely to happen. If something happens to cause a delay before the trip then all the purchases made that can be refunded will be and the money will be put aside to a future trip to cover another launch. What that would be I don't know yet but I promise the money raised will not be wasted and it will go to coverage of an equally exciting mission in the future. Also everybody who contributes publicly no matter how large or little will be credited in all of the content that they make possible similar to the way we thank our tomorrow's citizens at the end of every show. Trust me it will be a fair junk of content being produced not just to do with Psyche if there's any other launches happening whilst I'm out there I'll cover them as well. I think I've covered the most important parts but if you want more information then check out the campaign linked in the description make sure to read over GoFundMe's terms and conditions also link below or just message me on Twitter at DeepoDolphinProbe or on Discord DeepoDolphin hashtag 6164. I'd really appreciate it if you can invest in this content with however much you deem appropriate. Thank you very much if you do and for now thanks for watching and goodbye.


The signal oil program The whistler that whistle is your signal for the signal oil program The whistler the whistler and I know many things for I walk by night I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak Yes friends, it's time for the signal oil program the whistler Rated by independent research the most popular program on the west coast Remember that every traffic signal remind you with new signal gasoline you do go farther than ever Look for the familiar big yellow and black circle sign that identifies those popular signal stations in seven western states from Canada to Mexico And now the whistler strange story Poison is quicker Most men lead lives of quiet desperation said thorough quiet desperation How well little Alfred Smithers who never read a word by thorough in all his life knew the meaning of that phrase All the nagging dullness of a humdrum existence and attire some wife Yes, the saucy little servant girl Alfred had married in London so many years before It become a lazy slovenly housewife whose untidy little home had miraculously survived the blitz Now with the coming of peace Gracie Smithers sat in a dingy front parlor night after night reading murder mysteries in yawning Well Alfred gazed blankly at his daily express and wished he were rid of her Wished it with all his heart and did nothing about it. That's another one off me docket fair though I still don't see how that little watts his name could have been the crimson hangman What you thinking about Alfie nothing? Still waters run deep, you know, you don't just sit there thinking about nothing only a perishing statue does that I Was thinking about the days what the days aren't so bad. At least I have something to do with the office Mr.. Keep occupied. What's the matter Alfie getting the jitters never mind Don't you like a happy little home all of a sudden if you must know that truth mrs. Smithers I say now. What's got your back up? Oh Feeling sorry for yourself again, dearie.  Let a man have a little peace and quiet There's nothing to read I was hoping you'd pick up some more thrillers for me at the bargain shop tomorrow All right. All right. What do you want me to get I wrote down the titles somewhere got them ready for you. Oh Yes, here they are Dearest Alfred what's that?  Lovey. It's only a book title Doesn't sound much like a murder mystery to me perhaps it isn't I thought I'd like to see the Alfred in real life If he's anything like Alfred in the book very amusing the others are all thrillers though death is my bridegroom There gives you the creeps. Don't it? Nobody loves me. That's a murder that looks like suicide This way out a spine chilling cat and mouse game the catalogue says I could hang Don't know that one and the last one Poison is quicker rubbish Nothing but tribe Alfred Smith is you're a snob. Everybody reads murder novels. I don't oh you've always thought yourself better than anybody else Especially better than me. I've never been good enough for you. That's for you to say my dear That's a fine thing to say to your wife. I'll give me a list grassy. I'll pick the books up tomorrow. Well, okay dope Yes, the list Be sure and get poison is quicker It's all about somebody murdered for insurance The catalogue says trash Dear is down Death is my bridegroom Nobody loves me this way out. I could hang but Poison is quicker Delford death is my bridegroom. Nobody loves me this way out I could hang That poison is quicker Alfred I was What's the matter? Why are you shaking so? I don't know. I Not a quarter chills Almost like a note to you isn't it Alfred the barely coherent elliptical style of a suicide note If Gracie were dead and that note were found beside her body You try not to think of it why it's monstrous. You're thinking of murder You want to be rid of her but not that way Still if you simply left her you'd have no money and Gracie does have insurance But poison is quicker. She said Poison that arsenic powder you used in the garden the thoughts in your mind all that night and all the next day It's coming out now from its hiding place deep inside you Then when you return home that evening It happens the little push that makes you a murderer Where are they? Where's what my books theory you said you'd bring them home with you? I'm sorry. I forgot all about them. You forgot. Yes, Gracie.  I couldn't help it Gracie to slip me mine like fun They did you done. It's a little bit. I know you don't raise up boys Oh, no, I'm vulgar am I well if I'm not good enough to do things for I'm not good enough to do things for you You can make your own tea and toast tonight.  Oh just a second And only upset yourself I'll make tea for the phone of us. You'll make none for me that wishy-washy weak stuff. You'll prove yourself I'll make me. Oh, all right. Oh once I'll do it your way. Hey tonight. I'll make it the way you want it Just as strong as you like With the prologue of tonight's story poison is quicker signal oil company is bringing you another strange story by the whistler Inflation you hear that word all around you these days But in the midst of higher and higher prices and dollars that buy less and less It's gratifying to find a product that actually offers more quality than ever before in history But still sells at its pre-war price Yet that's just what you get in new signal gasoline Course improvement isn't new to signal gasoline since that day 14 years ago when signal oil company introduced the first Guaranteed anti-knock gasoline at no extra price Signal gasoline has been constantly improved to give you the benefit of every latest development in the automotive and petroleum industry But today's signal gasoline in which the atoms in gasoline molecules have actually been rearranged to create amazing new power is So superior to pre-war gas allines. It's really a completely new type super fuel To discover what thrilling performance.  Smithers not right now Sergeant I I just can't think now. I'm sure you understand. We must get to the bottom of this unfortunate affair Of course now about the question of motive then well the books Might have been the books books, but it's such a tiny thing Better tell me about it mr. Smithers My wife is very fond of reading last night. She asked me to pick up some novels for her in the city today And I was so busy though. I forgot all about him.  Smithers awkward heavens. No at least I didn't think so then you quarreled about it Oh, no, we never quarrelled. She was upset as I said and it disturbed me in What way I felt rather guilty about failing so while she was making our tea Your wife made tea after your little incident. Oh, yes. She always done that. She said I made such audible tea Our neighbors can tell you that who are they? Well, there's mrs.  I see it go on mr. Smithers. You said you Felt guilty. Oh, yes. Yes. So I did So while she was making the tea I decided to surprise her make up for what I'd forgotten to do like you know In in what way well, I remember the rental library on the Queen's Road might still be open So I thought I'd better take a quick walk over there and pick up a few novels for her I left the house without a word wanted to surprise a lot see Mm-hmm. How long were you gone? I left at half past six. It was foggy You know the way just this time of year. So I was longer than I'd bargain for over half an hour I was and these are the books. She you got her that's it embers the desire and love in the desert Sort of thing most women like to read did your wife read this sort of thing as a general rule Oh, I read don't know Never much thought about the books. She read what books did she ask you to get for her the city books. Yes What title? Oh, well, uh, I know it's absurd sergeant, but I simply can't remember Are you sure? I just can't think of him. I mean to say I I forgot about him in the first place and Now I'm so mixed up and come to you later now about the note Doesn't it strike you as rather odd? I don't think I know what you mean Sort of well It isn't coherent for one thing and she didn't sign her name to it for another I thought of that my wife She must have been on a great mental strain when she wrote it. I can see that Decided to take her life on a sudden impulse. Hey must have thought you'd left the house And if it of anger then hurried about the business of writing the note and putting the arsenic in her tea It's a terrible thing to think about and it's all right Arsenic poisonings not the most pleasant of deaths since you weren't here to prevent it Perhaps it's just as well. You didn't get home until until it was all over. Yes It's a Is that all sergeant? Yes, you'll be notified when to appear for the inquest mr. Smithers I'll see you then. Good night And so you've gotten away with murder Alfred or have you Is Sergeant Jellybee as stolid and blind as he seems he certainly didn't seem too sympathetic Was that merely his official manner or does he suspect you and Was your trip to the rental library after you'd watched Gracie die as clever an alibi as you thought He had a lie about the type of novel Gracie read you deliberately brought home those trashy love stories to ward off any questions about the suicide note But if Henry small or Molly Applegate should remember that Gracie read mystery novels You made a mistake there Alfred, but it's too late to rectify it now All you can do is attend the inquest with Molly Applegate and Henry small on either side And nasty business itself. It'll soon be over though. I hope so Henry You think that the coroner's jury could have made up their minds by no can't see why they're taking so long about it Well, it really isn't so long mrs. Apple data only been gone a few minutes and arrowing or deal for you That's what it is I don't see how you could be so cool up there on the witness stand the man can't reveal his grief in public Mrs. Applegate that he can't you gun yourself proud of Me now the few questions a coroner asked me. They had me shaking like a leaf pretty silly if you ask me Are you mean Molly the few questions he put to you didn't really need to call you as a witness Same goes for me as far as that goes. I'm sure I could have told us sight more if I'd been asked Just what do you mean by that mrs. Applegate? They're coming back the jury's coming out mrs. Applegate. I'd like to know what you now It is the coroner members of the jury have you reached a verdict we have I'll find you the case of the deceased grace Smithers in the light of the evidence disclosed We find the deceased grace Smith is a suicide while I've kept rarely our sound mind Well, that's it off. There it is my yes, nothing to worry about now. What do you mean nothing to worry about? Really mr. Smithers, what do you mean by it?  I'm sure only that it's official now Sorry, mrs. Applegate. I I'm not quite myself. You know, well, I didn't mean to snap that you miss out You're right of course, sir. I haven't anything to worry about now Nothing at all Thing to worry about Alfred that why is fear so clammy and cold inside you you've always been afraid of so many things And now you've actually killed Gracie.  What about Molly Applegate? What more could she have told if she'd been asked? Question haunts you all during the funeral and through the next day and the day after when the insurance man calls at the house Just one more question for our files mr. Smithers I don't see why I have to answer any more questions You can get all your information from the police records. It's a formality. We have to follow mr. Smithers My company's not in business for its health you understand surely. I told you everything you want to know just one more thing What really made your wife take her own life? That's in the evidence of the inquest It's available to you my instructions are to get it in your own words You want your wife's insurance, don't you mr. Smithers?  Yes. Do you good now? What about your wife? Oh I'll guess the war was too much for her She finally give way after it was all over Sergeant Jellaby told me you said that then you've seen the police. What part of my job, you know Is that all you want? I think so the money will come through in due time mr. Smithers Good day Panic won't help you at all Alfred Still mr. Chatham the insurance man seemed much too suspicious, didn't he why all the leading questions? If he were in your shoes, he said he'd go away As if he knew that was already in your mind for that's your plan now, isn't it the moment you get your money You'll go away start all over again in another town, maybe even another country You hold of that thought all the next day And then you stop at the corner pub on your way home from the office and have a beer with your friend Henry Well ears to your elf a long life and no slip ups. No slip ups accidents Oh, nothing ever goes wrong for you. Cheerio Cheerio. Oh, that's a bit of all right. What? Yes. Yes, it is Ran into that insurance bloke this afternoon. Uh Chatham. You did Tells me you're thinking of going away. What gave you that idea? I don't know Perhaps he didn't say that exactly Said he mentioned it to you. Where are you thinking of going now? I haven't got a south of France is the spot this time of the year Well, I haven't even thought about it Henry here speaking of France by the way I ran across a rum item in the paper last week.  He did He killed her he's self if he'd stayed where he was Nobody'd have been any the wiser now the way I look at it. Elf. Oh When you go I say there Could be a friend mr. Small Well, he was here only a second ago. I was just shinnin not looking at him especially and he ups and disappears He walked out while you was talking mr. Small Why does the sheet he was just like he'd seen a ghost? It wasn't a ghost you'd seen was it Alfred merely the folly of trying to go away Henry Smalls, right people would immediately start to talk Wait though Henry Small never invited you to have a beer before and why did he tell you that story about the Frenchman? It's very suspicious As frightening as Molly Applegate's remarks at the inquest. What was the information she could have given the coroner? The question beats at your mind again as you walk home from the pub trying to hurry through the fog that's come up I Hope I didn't startle you mr. Smithers. Yeah, you did give me a bit of a tear mrs. Applegate I didn't notice you're waiting at the doorway thought she'd be along about now I've been waiting for you wait in for me I know how it's been for you since Gracie passed on I thought perhaps you were tired of having your tea alone by now Oh Well, I haven't thought about it much mrs. Applegate as a widow I know what it's like to be lonely myself. I Just got some lovely fish and chips at the shop and I left here on a tell So she'd like to come in really I thought we might have things to talk about Things to talk about. I'm a woman.  I know how things were with you and Gracie what you mean and are a mystery box Well, what about believe me? I understand understand what what is it understand? You can trust me not to breathe a word to anyone mrs. Applegate. Oh, I'm sure I don't know what I've said You've known me long enough now to call me by my right name. You can call me Molly if you want to I'm sorry. I really must be getting out. Oh, but I'll see What's happening to you Alfred Sergeant Jellaby Henry small the insurance man Molly Applegate They've all talked to one another about you. Are they playing a cat-and-mouse game with you? You've got to find out how much they know ask Henry small question him skillfully cunningly so that he won't suspect anything But get the truth from him That's it. He'll fight him to the house He's late in arriving though by the time he does get there It's late afternoon and fog is beginning to creep through the streets again What did you want to see me about Elf? Well, Henry or I'd like to apologize about the other night Apologize What for I suppose you thought it was odd to me? I said Why are you looking out the window? Oh, nothing nothing. What's up, Elf? I wanted to talk about something else, too What's that? Well, I Don't quite know how to say it something trouble in your elf. Why do you say that? Help sometimes to get it off your chest like I was saying to Molly Applegate Why must you keep looking at that window? What's that elf? You expecting something? Is that it? Is that why you was late? Here he is. He's coming now. Oh, oh you're talking about another minute You wouldn't be able to see him for the fog. Oh, is it here? Let me see them uniforms Don't keep out the cold in weather like this. No, no, we can't what's up. He can't come here Look here Mike easy does it now look elf. Is anything the matter? He's at the door Elf. You better let him in Elf, don't you hear him? You better go to the door What have you done? Let me help you You can let him in now Henry You all thought you were so clever but Poison is Whistler will return in just a moment with a strange ending to tonight's story Meantime a word about a site that's becoming more and more common these cold mornings Somebody trying to start his car, but no luck the reason another war weary battery has gone dead So that this can't happen to your car I'd like to suggest that you take advantage of your signal gasoline dealer's complete battery service at least every two weeks Stop in to have him check the water level and remove destructive corrosion from the terminals If your battery seems run down your signal dealer has the latest equipment to tell its exact condition as well as to give you a thorough Recharge job in the event that you need a new battery He has top quality signal batteries fully guaranteed for long trouble-free service And I might add signal dealers also have America's finest spark plugs Champion spark plugs which play such an important part in cold weather starting So stop in at your signal dealer soon You'll find he's much more than just a place to buy signals famous go farther gasoline and fine lubricants For wherever you see signals yellow and black circle sign there You'll also find complete signal service and accessories to help your car run better Look better and last longer And now back to the Whistler Yes Alfred poison is quicker quick enough to kill you while that uniform figure still rang your doorbell The cat and mouse game is over The moment you saw his vague form coming up the walk through the fog You knew that giant paw was descending on you the police have come for you at last So now you lie dead in a huddled heap in your little kitchen While Molly Applegate aroused by Henry Smalls outcry and Henry talked to the newcomer about you Terrible terrible. How soon do you think the police will get here Sergeant Jellaby ought to be here at any time now Not that he can do anything. Nobody can now what made him do it Well, mate the minute he saw you he makes a dash for the kitchen at the time. I realized something was up It was too late. Oh poor fella seem to go all to pieces after his wife died I did what I could for him to stood him a drink the other night Ran out on me while I was telling him some yarn or the other. I must say I was wrong about him wrong Well, I feel proper ashamed of myself now, but I got the idea. She hadn't been a good wife to him I tried to tell him so poor old chum Ain't it funny how he jumped on the edge the minute I spotted you coming up the walk Thought you might be bringing me a quitter to on the football pool this week Instead you called on a left. What gets me? Why does he do it just when I'm ringing the bell?  Postman a special delivery letter registered from the insurance company? It's the money from his poor wife's policy But the whistler will bring you another strange tale The whistler is broadcast for your entertainment by the marketers of signal gasoline and motor oil and fine quality Automotive accessories and by your neighborhood signal dealer this program produced by George W. Allen with tonight's story by Leslie edgeley Music by Wilbur hatch is transmitted to our troops overseas by the armed forces radio service That whistle is your signal for the signal oil program the whistler This is Marvin Miller speaking reminding you to look for those familiar yellow and black circle signs That identify those popular signal oil stations in seven western states from Canada to Mexico This is CBS the Columbia broadcasting system


Hello and welcome to Daily Debrief brought to you by People's Dispatch, I am Shriya. In today's episode, we talk about Honduras' announcement to open diplomatic relations with China, health workers in South Africa ending a week-long strike and finally 150 women's national team players right to FIFA demanding equal pay before the 2023 World Cup. Honduras' President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday announced plans to open diplomatic relations with China in a move that will leave behind the Central American nation's relationship with Taiwan. According to Honduran foreign minister Edouard Duenrique-Rena, the decision is largely based on economic interests of the country but it is not completely unexpected as moving closer to Beijing was a part of Castro's presidential campaign. We are now joined by Anish from People's Dispatch with more details on the story. Welcome back on the episode Anish. So major development this one and what led to Honduras making this decision and what led to it taking a different stance, changing its stance from Taiwan? Yeah, so in we have to talk about the domestic politics before we talk about the wider geopolitical implications. So in this case, the domestic politics has a lot to with how things panned out. You had the Honduran President Xiomara Castro having campaigned as part of her foreign policy promises to push for relations with China, which is the People's Republic of China and to cut off relations with Taiwan, which calls itself the Republic of China. So in this case, it is taking the same position that many countries around the world, almost all countries except for a dozen now, have taken in with respect to the one China policy and also a practical decision in many ways. But it has been held back primarily because of the kind of governments that they had for so long, which we have to remember in the geopolitical sense as we move on to like this is what many of the mainstream media calls the backyard of the United States. So the level of influence that US imperialism had in supporting a whole host of reactionary political groups, not just in Honduras, but across Central America and the whole of Latin America. We have seen many of them hold on to this very rigid sort of anti-communist position when it came to Taiwan and when it came to China and continued relations with Taiwan, even though it made very little difference or actually gave them no additional benefits whatsoever. So this whole point like the statement that the Foreign Minister made, which is that of this decision being primarily based on economic interest has a lot of merit to it. It's just that it took a political change, a massive political change. We have to remember Castro won with an emphatic majority last year, so not last year 2021 and she came to power last year and obviously the sea change in Honduran politics was what eventually led to this decision. Right and another question would be that what are likely to be the strategic implications of this decision for Honduras because US is a major trade partner. What are we expecting to follow now? Well, there will definitely be some displeasure on the part of the United States that already Taiwan is airing its discontentment on the matter and we can expect several right-wing groups within Honduras to also oppose the decision. But in the overall sense it is part of a sort of ideological battle because this is not the first time that Central American or Latin American country have changed positions when it came to what China they recognize. And if you take even the recent case of Nicaragua, which had cut off ties in 2021, if you see the history, it actually had a very brief period between 1985 and 1990 when it had relations with the PRC, with Beijing. But the only reason being that Ortega was the president then and after he lost the presidency, the right-wing government just promptly cut off one of the first things that they did for us to promptly cut off ties with China and resume relations with Taiwan. So this is also a part of the larger ideological battle that has been waged not only in Central America, we have now two countries left that still recognize Taiwan but also in the Pacific region where you have several nations still holding on to this vestige of Cold War post influenced by reactionary politics that was supported and still is supported by US imperialist powers. So in all of these cases obviously you have a larger ideological battle being waged, we have to wait and see how long this is going to be such but obviously this is a better step to the future because smaller countries like Honduras definitely need aid. Our countries that are in dire straits since the pandemic are ones that are going to be the worst affected because of the climate emergency that we are facing right now. So definitely looking for better economic prospects at the time when China is a major economic superpower and going for pragmatic positions no matter what ideological ground that you look for is the way to move forward and Taiwan is not going to offer them what China can as a larger economic powerhouse in that sense. So this is what we are looking at and what we can expect in the near future. Thank you so much for joining us Anish. Strike action by the workers of the national education health and allied workers union was concluded this week after the government in South Africa agreed to review the salary demands made by the workers. The strike was launched on March 6 following repeated refusals by the government to seriously approach negotiations regarding health workers salaries and through that the overall state of the health system. The health workers strike is a significant step in collective bargaining for the sector as current labor legislation in South Africa makes it illegal for health workers to engage in industrial action which disrupts essential services putting into question health workers right to engage in strike like all other workers. Anna from People's Health Movement now joins us with the latest details on this story. Thanks for joining us Anna. So what led to this strike and it's been going over for at least a week and more than that there are some considerable gains that the strike has achieved as is reflected in the agreement. Can you also tell us that? Yes. So essentially what happened was that one of the trade unions in South Africa which organizes public sector workers in education in health and the similar services the national education health and allied workers union it held a 10-day strike over some prolonged disputes over salaries and the government's unwillingness to negotiate a salary rise for this year and then for the next one. So what happened was that the union wanted the government to reopen the discussion about this year's salary citing inflation and higher costs of living as reasons that the workers were not able to make sense meet on what's agreed before and that it definitely required more substantive negotiations. So the government was not willing to do that for a very long time and this is something that's also reflective of how the government has approached negotiations and dialogue with trade unions since 2020 or even before. It's not been a very friendly relationship let's put it that way so they've been very reluctant to do it. The labor legislation that has been passed is somewhat limiting of trade union activities in South Africa and so these were all like a list of things that led the union to take the step and initiate the strike. What should also be mentioned is that the health workers were talking about how austerity measures were impacting the health system and their working conditions for a very long time so essentially it's been you know they have very low salaries which are not keeping keeping up with what the actual prices are. The whole health system is under strain because of austerity measures so it wasn't it wasn't only framed as a strike for for their own rights but also in a wider sense for for the for the health system and so just you know to wrap up a bit about the strike itself it it was it was ended later yesterday it was it was actually announced that it that there was an agreement which was reached which the union found more more acceptable that what was earlier on the table and so the health services are expected to resume and to pick up over the next couple of days and finally of course you know they the the strike got a lot of solidarity statements from around the world not only from from the from the rest of the trade union movement in South Africa we have seen public services international supporting the action taken by the workers and this is unsurprising in a way knowing that PSI is so committed to you know better funding for public public services and supporting the role that health workers play in in delivering those services to the people. Right and the strike was concluded after following some court orders about and once agreement was reached what was that about? So essentially the strike while it was supported by quite a wide you know base of people it also has some contested parts so essentially and this again has a lot to do with the labor legislation that they mentioned before it caused widespread disruptions to health care services so it's because there was no minimum agreed with the government it ended up with people literally having no access to to essential services like emergency like maternity maternity care and so on so this was one of the contested parts and that essentially led to the situation where the government deployed military medical staff to to staff the hospitals the health institutions that were covered by the strike and then of course you know the pickets got quite quite dynamic and there were also reports of rubber bullets being fired at picketters at strikers and it was an overall quite quite yes quite a complicated picture of the strike because as we know you know health workers have every right to take strike action as any other worker but the government and the employers usually use this as an excuse to say that health workers are irresponsible that they are not mindful of their patient's lives or their well-being and these kind of situations that arise which include violence and lack of access to essential services actually play to to that narrative so what we have seen in in this case of the latest strike in South Africa is that you know people's organizations like the People's Health Movement South Africa was very clear in supporting the right to strike for health workers and of course PHM South Africa is very clear about the strikes and the disruptive actions taken by health workers actually lead to a better health system for all if that is clearly stated in in the trade union and in the strike demands and if it it is upheld during the the action the action itself so that's that's one part that's still still going to be analyzed a bit in the future so to see essentially what happened what was the government's narrative and what was actually what could have actually been organized better to uh to deliver essential health care services at all times thank you so much for joining us Anna on this very important issue thanks the global professional soccer players union has sent a letter signed by 150 women's national team players to FIFA calling for equal distribution of the world cup prize money this comes a few months before the 2023 women's world cup that is set to begin in Australia and New Zealand the movement for parity in pay has been gathering momentum for some time now and in May 2022 a milestone was reached when the US soccer federation agreed to pay both its men's and women's team equally Sidhanth Ani joins us now with more details on this issue welcome to this episode Sidhanth the tournament is around the corner it's set to start in a few months but a lot of players from across the national teams they are set against not playing this tournament if their demands are not met uh why so uh thanks Shriya for having me it's good to swap places with you from yesterday's show um yeah the world the tournament that you're referring to of course is the FIFA women's world cup 2023 which is being held in Australia and New Zealand set to begin in July in just a few months from now and not just some players Shriya but uh actually a large number of some of the best players in the world are likely to miss out on what would otherwise be the highlight of any player's career something that you sort of dream about playing at a at a world cup representing your country and playing against the best players and with the best players uh in the world uh and unfortunately some of these amazingly talented footballers will be forced if their respective federations don't get in line to give the tournament a miss not because uh they want to but because they are actually now at a stage where they are fighting for the bigger picture and the bigger picture is essentially one that has been fought by I suppose generations of women for decades which is equal pay for equal work you know so if you look at football as an industry and the jobs that these professional athletes do this is how they earn their livelihood and uh what they seek in return is of course a decent living wage and secondly conditions in which they can perform to their best potential that's essentially all that they are looking for and unfortunately it's 2023 and we are still at a stage where that fight takes up so much time and energy for these women footballers that it often detracts from their ability to concentrate on what they want to do which is play football uh reach as wide an audience as possible of course in that process inspire young people to also inculcate develop a love of not just the sport but the idea of playing a team sport and functioning as a collective and being part of a club and all of the other things that go with with football that make it that give it the kind of universal global popularity that the sport has on the one hand we are seeing organizations like FIFA which runs the sport at a global level talk consistently about how the World Cup which is their tournament their flagship event how it's doing better year on year on year television numbers are sponsorship revenues are up the tournament is now developing into one that can potentially be a money spinner just like the FIFA men's World Cup is for the organization and then then as they are structured they are still very much based on the idea of trickle down economics so so then that then gives you the wherewithal to engage in other programs and use some of that money and put it towards building things at the grassroots level we're not getting into a discussion about how things are structured we're talking only specifically about what's happening with the women and following the United States is quite successful collective bargaining process negotiation agreement which also took by the way many many years and a protracted legal battle to happen but finally it took the men's players union and the women's players union coming together right and to say that okay whatever amount we collectively generate we will share equally between the men's national team and the women's national team now this is essentially the same kind of contract or argument that all teams are now asking for and rightly so you know is countries like Canada Spain and France in this case who are all major I guess players at the women's football world stage so all of them have extremely talented players some of the best players in the world Leon in France is one of the biggest clubs for women Barcelona in Spain is another one these are clubs that regularly are the best football clubs in the world they also have the biggest budgets and some of the best players in the world so if at this level also there is still a struggle for basics like you know playing time trading conditions regular tournaments and of course then equal pay for the kind of work that they're doing it takes a lot away from from the point of it which is which is to go out and play football which is what these players are and their representatives and the FIFA fifth pro which is the the world professional players union they are all arguing for that you know you have to set the basics in place before you can then expect this sport to become something that generates viewership and significant interest outside of those who are directly involved in it thank you so much for joining us Siddhans and that's all we have for today for more such stories keep following peoplesdispatch.org you can also follow us on facebook instagram and twitter


Hi, I'm Denchy. So if you've seen my previous videos on Scratch, you'll know that people make a lot of various impressive programs in it. Everything from 3D games to physics simulators, stuff like that. And today what I'm looking at is probably the most impressive thing I've seen so far, which is a full implementation of the Linux kernel. 6.1.14 year it is right there in Scratch. So the way this is accomplished from what I know, of course I haven't sat down and looked through the entire source code for this yet because it's massive, but basically what it does is it emulates the RISC-5 architecture. This is running not on x86 or ARM as most devices are running Linux nowadays. This is a RISC-5 Linux kernel, which is one of the Linux kernels available. And what this does is it emulates a RISC-5 processor in Scratch and runs the Linux kernel. We'll have a closer look at what's going on in the background later, but first let's actually run it and see what it can do. I'm really curious. I have tried it before, but I've not really looked into it too deeply, so let's go. Alright, here we go. So it does have a full terminal interface. We can see the kernel starting up right there. So we're at 64 bits at 1000 kilohertz. So it's a 1 gigahertz processor in Scratch, at least according to the log here. If I'm reading the log right, it's starting the init system. And here we are. So we're logged in on a Linux term Scratch setup apparently. And we're just thrown into a terminal. So I'm going to try running a few commands and see what happens. So first of all, I want to see if it can clear the screen. So I'll try running clear. And okay, yeah, I guess that's not included. I tried to control L there, but that didn't work. I'll try doing Ls to see what the sort of contents of the drive are, because I know there is something. Yeah, here we are. There is something on here. There's a JavaScript program and readme.txt. So I'll try to cat out one of these files. So readme.txt. Sorry, I'm doing it wrong. I tried to press tab, but I'm running this. There's no tab completion in Scratch. Readme.txt. Let's see what happens. All right, here we are. Welcome to Linux on Scratch. This is overall a pretty bare bones Linux installation for risk five. But there's a few cool things installed. So you can use the add text editor. So I was thinking maybe there's like VIM included, but no, there's there's no VIM or VI or anything like that. It just comes with the add editor, which is one of those really rudimentary ones. If I'm not sure, I don't think this is the one from plan nine, but it's it's one of those really rudimentary editors where you're editing the text like line by line in a really weird way. I don't know how to use it. So I'm not gonna try using it. You can use duck tape to run JavaScript files. So I want us to run fizzbuzz.js with that. Okay. So I'll guess we'll do that duck tape and then fizzbuzz.js. See what it does. It's not really here. Oh, here we are. Okay. So I ran fizzbuzz up to 100. Huh. Well, there you go. It works. I guess I'll cat the readme. I tried doing control all of that. I'll cat the readme again because there was more information in there than it read. There's a benchmarking utility installed called Cormark, which can be used to test the speed of the risk five emulation. Okay, let's try that. So Cormark. So I realized that when you press enter, it kind of takes a little while for it to process it. So I just kind of have to wait because it takes a second. So I'm currently, yeah, there you go. A benchmark scratch that says the Cormark size is, wow, that's a, that's quite a coincident number. Does it come with like PWD? And okay, we're in root. It comes with LS. If I try to list like our binary programs, what is there? Okay. So there's a few things. So this is running busybox. Okay. So busybox is the base utilities you'd find in distributions like alpine and kiss linux. Okay. So touch is included RM. So all the basic utilities are there. I guess that's a testament to how flexible linux is that it'll run on literally anything, including an emulated risk five processor on scratch. And I don't know if you can hear that, but that's my computer, my computer fans spinning up as it tries to run this recompiled scratch program. Okay. So obviously all this will be linked in the description. But what I'm curious about now is what this actually looks like in the back, how this was accomplished scratch. We're going to click the C inside button and hopefully it won't crash our browser. Okay. There's there's a few things going on. So this is presumably just like a blank sprite. What's what's this then? This is probably good. What I just clicked on probably has a bunch of code. Okay. A bitwise and a B set A to that's a lot of embedded stuff.  And you could scroll between. So this is like, okay, this is like all the I guess these are the this is the implementation of the entire risk five instruction set, I'm assuming. I mean, it's crazy that this is done in scratch, right? But at the same time, it is technically just running the instructions which were made into like a physical processor, like a physical instruction set, at least I'm assuming I'm not a hardware architect. I can't give you the details here, but it's basically emulating a real CPU in scratch, which is just crazy. And so what it does is it from from what I understood, they copy like a copy of Linux into this, they upload a copy of Linux into the wrong, and then it can just run Linux. And I'm assuming the terminal works by just having a bunch of sprites. And there's a pen tool as well. So which is weird because I know that scratch has like a text tool. So I'm surprised that's not being used. But I guess not. I guess it's like emulating a display or something. So what's this? This is the Oh, these are all the different key events. So key events and those go into the processor. Okay, adding yours like the run button, which actually starts the program, the risk five wrong. Okay, if we if we do show the list, we can actually look through the ROM. So if I do show show list, risk five wrong. I believe this entire thing is the whole Linux kernel, like address by address, this is the ROM for this full install late, not just the Linux kernel, but the full installation of Linux from scratch, that is currently running at scratch is the getting over this mental image of scratch right next to an emulated Linux system is just that's messing with me right now. But what you're seeing in this tiny little risk five wrong menu, that's that's all the data. I'm assuming because I mean, what else would be in the wrong? So I'm waiting for the moment people start getting XOR growing on scratch. And the moment we start getting like, maybe not XOR, but more advanced distributions, maybe start getting like a package manager work. I'm assuming probably not a package manager because that would require some kind of internet IO, but maybe something like Vim running in scratch stuff like that. That would be interesting to see. I want to thank the creator of this project, Billman 66 for creating this amazingly impressive program in scratch. Of course, all of this will be in the description. I'm running this using Turbo Warp, which is a recompiler for scratch recompile scratch to JavaScript and it runs it basically runs your scratch projects a lot faster than the native scratch engine. And it's basically impossible to run this without having Turbo Warp. So yeah, I hope everybody enjoyed this video. And I've been Denchie. Goodbye.


Mae'r syniad ymlaen i'r syniad yn cyfoedol. Gweithio yma hwnnw yn ymweld clywbeth eich rhaid i'r cyfan gweithio syniad ar gyfer y rhaid i'r ffordd. Mae'r gweithiau mewn Unedigedd Cymru, a'r ysgwrs ar yr ysgwrs, ond y cyflawniaeth cychwynwyl yn gilydd newydd fel yna ein bandwyr bod gyna dweud deng ddechrau yn fwyg yma iawn o'r ffordd o'n cyd-dechrau'n gilydd i wael hynny'n gyferogi. Ar d Sorry, Cymru ei amddangosol o'u gweithio'r cyfeiri. Mae'r ysgol wedi'n gweithio gyda'u gweithio ar gyfer oedol sydd wedi gweithio'r ffemwril o'u wedi ymgyrchu felly a'r rydyn ni i'n cael eu defnyddio'r feddwyr. ...y'r blaen iawn i gael ddylchiau o'i llwyddoedd o'r amser o'r blaen o'r llwyddoedd o'r llwyddoedd. Don't forget the little ones. There is a whole world of tiny organisms out there such as plankton... ...and their movements are hugely important to any healthy ecosystem. The ocean is no longer untouched by human activity. Organism movements are being disrupted by dams, shipping traffic, noise, pollution and heatwaves. Fynghoriwn cymryd o'r organiadau yn ymgorghau newydd, yn ddiwedd o'r funordeb eichol sydd o'r cyffredinol. Cyfnodd yn ymdyn nhw'n fwy o'r ysgrifennu yn siarad o'r ffaloedd o'r cyfwyrdd o'r cyfwyrdd o'r cyfwyrdd o'r cyfwyrdd. Felly, philipe Lisu, a'r ffaluwch yn dwy'n gweithio'r ffaloedd yn ymdwy'r cyfwyrdd i'r sefyllfa o'r ffaloedd o'r cyfwyrdd i'r cyfwyrdd. Ond while whales and fish are rather obvious, there are many marine organisms that are so tiny that we need powerful, magnifying glasses to be able to observe them. By using these microscopes we can follow their shape and their movement, and reveal an entire dramatic world that is unseen to our naked eye. A while they are little, the role that these tiny creatures play is huge. For example, these single-celled algae can live on their own freely moving about, or they can live inside of corals in a partnership that benefits both. But with climate change, heat waves in the oceans caused these algae to leave the coral in a process called coral bleaching. This is often the beginning of the end for the coral. Or here we have barnacle larvae moving about trying to find the best place to settle, which could well be the hull of a ship. So movement is essential at all scales and we can't afford to ignore the very little ones. Hi, I'm Dr Joe Bailey, I'm a mathematician and I'm interested in the past animals take. We can determine lots of interesting things. We can find out how far the animal is moved. We can also find out how fast the animal is moving. Now that helps us determine things like energy use, so perhaps how recently the animal has fed and how much the animal has fed, and also how much the animal needs to feed. We can also determine things like space use, finding out how much the animal has explored the local area. From this we can determine things like home range behaviour. That tells us the neighbourhood that the animal likes to explore. If it's foraging, so if it's feeding, if it's hunting, or maybe if it's being hunted. And finally we can also try and understand phenomena like group movement. So we know that there are large shoals of fish who will swim together. Now they somehow all tend to swim in the same direction, but individually they might want to head off in their own way. Now somehow we need to figure out how they do that. Now why we do this is really important. Perhaps we're interested in maybe putting a dam in a river, maybe we want to build something in the ocean, maybe we want to add some shipping lanes so that we're interested to find out how is that going to affect everything else living under the sea. My name is Dr Serina Rowe, and I'm a fishery scientist from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. My work focuses on trying to better understand the behaviour and ecology of fish species using things called electronic tags like these. Now these allow us to track fish in their natural environments. For example we've been recently working with governments in the South Atlantic to better understand tuna behaviour. Tunas are pretty much the poster child for macro-scale movements. They can migrate thousands of miles within a year, crossing entire ocean bases. They basically do that to migrate between those key grounds like that they use for spawning and for feeding. They've got amazingly streamlined bodies and crescent-mutualed tails, which are perfect for long-distance movements. And they're also one of the few species that can generate their own body heat, which allows them to hunt even in the coldest and darkest environments. Why do we use tags anyway? Well, tags allow us to understand lots of different information about fish, but only things like growth, so how fast they grow in a daily and monthly or yearly baseless, but how deep they can dive, how far they can travel within a day or over the different seasons and what drives those movements. All of that information helps us to better understand and protect fish populations. My name is Dr Anna Sturrick and I'm a fish ecologist and a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow. So when we think about tracking macro-scale movements in the ocean, we typically think about tagging the animal in some way, but some individuals and some species are just very difficult to tag. Soft-bodied species such as octopuses, deep-sea fishes that don't like to be brought to the surface and very early life stages that are just too small to attach a tag to. For those kind of animals, it helps to use natural tags, such as genetic markers or chemical traces in their body tissues. And so what we use are otoliths which are ear stones of the fish and the eye lenses. Now both of these grow in layers and so you can look at these layers just like a tree trunk to look at how old the fish was and how fast it was growing at different time points in its life. But we can also look at chemical traces in those layers to look at where the fish was from, which habitats it used, what it experienced, what it ate and if it encountered any pollutants. So I've been using these approaches to track the movements of fish such as salmon and sea bass and understand the contribution rates of these important nursery habitats to the adult stock. If we know that certain habitats are performing really well then we can put protection measures in place there. If they're performing really badly then we can restore them or put in remediation efforts. You've heard some of the reasons why movement is so important to marine organisms and some of the ways that human activity can impact free movement. But actually there's more to it than that. Humans can move otherwise immobile species around the world's oceans, introducing them beyond their natural geographic ranges. We then call these species introduced or non-indigenous species and they can have serious impacts on natural ecosystems. One of the main ways that these species move around the world's waters is global shipping. Shipping is vital to modern society almost everything in this room will have been on a container ship at some point. But it's also an easy way for stowaways to transport themselves either in the ballast water of ships or attached to the ship holds in biofowling communities. Shipping also releases about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions so it's crucially important that we keep the holders of ships clean and then moving efficiently through the world's oceans. My research studies larval settlement ecology that is how the larvae of these biofowling organisms select the surfaces they want to attach to. In fact my research focuses on developing more environmentally harmonious so-called anti-fowling coatings that these larvae can't attach to and therefore prevent them being transported around the oceans. We've heard about some of the fascinating ways that researchers are setting the movement of marine organisms just how important these movements are in connecting species, individuals and populations into one cohesive ecosystem. From micro to macro, the ocean relies on all of its organisms to carry out their roles, humans included. The ocean covers the majority of our planet's surface therefore we rely on it for many resources like food, energy and even the air we breathe. We're continually learning about the impacts that humans are having and indirectly on our ocean travellers. From unregulated fishing activities that are depleting fish stocks to the El Niño heat waves that are bleaching our corals these are challenges that we're tackling with policy makers to explore our solutions for the future. Although we live on land the ocean provides so much for us and needs us to care for it. Through our exhibit we want to inspire you to learn more about the ocean and join us in looking after it. By reducing plastic waste and energy consumption we'll help keep our ocean healthy and our ocean travellers moving.


Welcome back. In this lecture and the next one we will be spending some time in reviewing some parts of linear algebra that are very much used especially in linear theory and given in qualitative theory of non-linear differential equation. Let me make one point clear that this is not a course in linear algebra. Our main aim in these two lectures is to give an explanation for exponential of a matrix and some estimates involving matrix norms. So, let me just begin with some notation and what we are going to do. So, let a be a n by n real matrix. So, that means all the entries of a are real numbers. The space of n by n real matrix is denoted by m n r. So, so on we are going to put a metric on this thing, the space m n r. So, let us begin with the definition of Euclidean matrix on R n. So, this R n we know this. So, this is the space of all n tuples. So, x j in R. So, the Euclidean law norm x. So, let define in terms of its square. So, this is nothing but x n square. So, the Euclidean law. So, this immediately gives rise to a metric in R n. So, d of x y is nothing but x y. So, x and y are in R n. So, you can easily check the following properties. The first one norm of x is bigger than equal to 0 and equal to 0 if and only if x is 0 vector. So, this is 0 vector in R n. So, 0 is the n tuple consisting of all zeros and alpha x norm x. So, do not get confused with because I am using just single line. So, that is do not get confused with that thing. So, this is all alpha in R and x in R n. Just get used to this notation. So, soon we are going to use the same notation even for matrix. So, the third one is important property called triangle inequality and this in term these three properties in term they prove that d is a metric in R n. Not only that R n with this Euclidean metric coming from the Euclidean norm is a complete metric space that is every Cauchy sequence in R n. So, that is and now this Euclidean metric induces a norm in M n r. So, let start with a n by n real matrix and define again I am saying norm of a this is supremum of A x in R n norm x equal to 1. So, this is well defined this is a vector in R n. So, I am taking the Euclidean norm and now I am taking supremum over all x subject to this norm x is equal to 1. So, that is. So, you can easily check. So, check norm of A is also equal to 0 this is also supremum less than or equal to 1. So, moreover you can also check that. So, if A is the matrix with entries A i j A is a real. So, 1 less than or equal to i j less than or equal to 1 n. So, A is are the entries then norm A square is less than or equal to A i j square i j equal to 1 to n. This is not very difficult to see that and this one the right hand side is called the Frobenius norm and usually denoted by A f square. So, this is Frobenius norm. So, it is different from this norm, but it is this norm satisfy this inequality that is. So, it is a finite number. So, for any matrix A and we have this inequality. So, there is no problem regarding the finiteness of norm A. So, this is norm A norm of the matrix A and just like in the previous case. So, you have can easily verify the following properties. So, again the first one. So, this A is norm A is greater than or equal to 0 and equal to 0 if and only if A is the 0 matrix. So, this is true for all A in m and r. And second one is again that homogeneity. So, if I multiply the matrix by a real number I take the matrix. So, this is. So, for all alpha in real numbers and A in m and r. So, a real n by n matrix and third one again triangle inequality. So, if I have two matrices A and B. So, A plus B is also in m and r and this is. So, for all A B in m and r.  So, it is more than that. So, we also have the concept of matrix multiplication. So, in case of vectors we did not have this. So, if A and B are two matrices also have this product of those two matrices that is again a matrix and this is an important property of this matrix norm A B in m and r. So, any this is definition any norm norm is just on m and r which satisfies 1 to 4 above is called a matrix norm. So, norm by definition is just a usually these three things are included. And for matrices we have this special thing 4 and which we call it a matrix norm. So, this is only special for matrices or in general linear transformations. So, with this thing we can just use. So, m and now we can define. So, this matrix norm induces a matrix in m and r. So, I have to define distance between two matrices and this is the definition A minus B for all A B in m and r.  That is let me stress that every Cauchy sequence m and r converges in m and r. So, let me just explain this fact little more. So, let A k be a sequence in m and r that means for each k equal to 1 etcetera A k is a real n by n matrix. So, A k is called a Cauchy sequence I am just writing a general definition in any matrix space this is true. If D of A k A l and this by definition just look at here this by definition is norm of A k minus A l tends to 0 as k l tends to infinity that is a Cauchy sequence. So, what is a convergent sequence we say A k again another sequence in m and r converges to A in m and r distance A k A and let me say that this is just norm of matrix norm of A k minus A and that goes to 0 as k tends to infinity. So, the completeness results say that every Cauchy sequence in m and r converges to a matrix in m and r. So, this fact we use to define the exponential of a matrix. So, exponential this is in m and r.  So, k bigger than or equal to. So, I is the identity n by n identity matrix. So, which will have all once in the diagonal and 0 elsewhere. So, this is a finite sum. So, each S k belongs to m and r for k equal to 1 2 etcetera. We claim that the sequence x the sequence S k is a Cauchy sequence. So, if k is bigger than L S k minus S l. So, let us compute this.  So, up to L they get cancelled.  So, therefore, S k minus S l. So, use properties 1 to 4. So, get repeatedly, but this is just the tail of the usual numerical exponential function. So, this is just let me write this A j matrix norm is j equal to L plus 1 to k and this certainly goes to 0 as L k tends to 0. So, therefore, S k j. So, therefore, S k being a Cauchy sequence converges to some and that is unique S in M and R. This S will be denoted by this limit this limit S S will be denoted by e to the A or exponential A and called exponential. So, that is the definition is certainly no problem, but the computation may be difficult. So, there is no absolutely no problem with the definition of the exponential of a matrix and our one of our main aim is how to simplify the computation of the exponential of a matrix and also matrix norm. So, it is very easy to know C. So, by the definition by the definition it is not very difficult. So, e to the A is also a matrix now. So, this is just less than or equal to e to the mod A, but this is quite crude and it does not bring in any special property of the matrix A. So, that is what we want to improve upon and obtain a better estimate on this matrix norm of exponential A that is what we are going to do. So, before we proceed further. So, let us make some observations. So, this is first one A, B are in M and R and are similar that is there is a non singular matrix matrix C in M and R. So, everything is in M and R. So, we are not going outside the real field. So, we are always in the real field such that C inverse A C is equal to B. So, we are repeatedly using this thing. So, just remember that. So, A and B N by N matrices are called similar if there is a non singular matrix C in M and R such that C inverse A B is C and let us see how their exponentials are related. So, you observe that. So, B square let us compute B square. So, this is C inverse A C. So, in general the matrix multiplication is not commutative. So, you have to be bit careful, but it is associative that is one good thing about matrix multiplication it is associative. So, you just write like that and now this is identity. So, what you get is just C inverse A square C. So, this is true for B square. So, by induction it is true for any k. So, what you can see that e to the b is C inverse e to the a C. So, that means if A and B are similar exponential of A and exponential of B are also similar that is what it says and our main aim is try to find given a matrix A given a matrix A try to find a non singular matrix C such that C inverse A is equal to B and this is as simple as possible as simple as possible. And this is the way statement. So, let me make it let me explain what simplicity we want. So, let us take one example. So, suppose C inverse A C is equal to B and B is diagonal. So, what does that mean? So, we are again using this concept again and again. So, this means B is some let me write mu 1 mu n and off diagonals are all 0. So, this is sometimes also written as diagonal mu 1 mu n all mu j's are real numbers and let us try to compute the exponential of B that is again very easy. So, you just so it follow that follow that e to the b is diagonal e to the mu 1 e to the very simple because if you take powers of a diagonal matrix you just get powers of the diagonal elements. So, once you add you get back your exponential that is very easy. So, unfortunately this will not be the case all the time. So, what best one can do that is the next question. So, second observation suppose A can be written as a diagonal block matrix A 1, A 2, A 1, A 2 are square matrices and this will see will be the case in many instances. And then just following this previous example it is not hard to show that e to the a is simply e to the a 1 and e to the a 2 that is also very nice and this easily extends to any number of block matrices. So, in general if A is equal to A 1, A 2, A k, 0 each A j is a square matrix then exponential of A is the block diagonal matrix e to the a 1 etcetera e to the a. And next thing again I like to see is again is one of the observations. So, suppose again let me start with two block matrices. So, this A 1, A 2 are square matrices then now I come to the norm. So, this is less than or equal to maximum A 1. So, this is straight forward to prove and this will be. So, let me just sketch a proof of this thing this is not very difficult. So, you let x belongs to R n and you write x is equal to x 1, x 2 and x 1, x 2 corresponds to the order of A 1 and A 2. Let me not write everything in detail. So, you can just see that. So, then A x is simply this A x 1 and A x 2, A 1 x 1, A 2 x 2. So, therefore, if you work out A x is equal to A x square equal A x square equal to A 1 x 1 square plus A 2 x 2 square. And then you restrict to norm x equal to 1 and take the supremum and immediately you see that this no problem maximum of A 1. So, this we use for the exponential in particular. So, in particular A is equal to A 1, A 2, A k then norm of exponential of A is less than or equal to maximum of A to the A 1 etcetera A to the and this is what we are going to use in order to derive a finer estimate for the exponential. So, in the remaining 15, 20 minutes.  So, suppose C inverse A C is equal to B and this is suppose diagonal mu 1, mu 2, mu n. So, mu j's are real. In that case let us try to see how this mu 1, mu 2, mu n are related to A. So, that is let us see that thing. So, if you write C in the as column. So, let me write them as C 1, C n. So, these are columns of C the matrix C columns of C. Then so, you expand this thing you see that A C j is equal to mu j C j. So, j equal to 1, 2 and this you already seen what does this mean? This means that this means each mu j is an Eigen value let me write E value of A with C j as the corresponding Eigen vector. So, Eigen value Eigen vector. So, if at all we are going to if we wish to have such a thing and then what we should have is this Eigen values of A have Eigen vectors that generate the entire space R n. So, since this is non singular the columns of C are linearly independent for since their number is n for a basis and we see immediately examples where this is not true. So, simple example n equal to 2 this matrix 1, 1, 0, 1 two matrix has only one linearly independent Eigen vector. So, we can easily check that and since this is in R 2 we need two linearly independent Eigen vectors to span the space, but this is not possible. So, what we call this? This matrix this is not diagonalizable. So, this is the terminology we use this is not diagonalizable. And however, we show that we show that we show that matrix men are block diagonalizable. So, we will explain what this means is block diagonalizable with simple diagonal blocks. This is what our aim is this leads to the so called Jordan canonical form and we will explain now several steps that lead to this block diagonalization. So, let me recall that. So, let again A belongs to M and R. So, the Eigen values of A roots of the characteristic polynomial which is determinant of lambda i minus A. So, this polynomial is a real polynomial because we are taking A in M and R. So, real polynomial degree n. Though this is a real polynomial this excuse me see the Eigen values may be real or complex. So, that is another problem we have to deal with. So, the set of Eigen values of A is called spectrum of A is denoted by. So, just remember this notation spectrum of A. Let us start with something and see what are the problems. So, let mu belongs to spectrum of A and mu real. So, then there is a real Eigen vector I stress that real Eigen vector call it x in R n such that A x equal to mu x there is no problem. So, what if mu is complex and now suppose mu belongs to S P A spectrum of A is non real. So, that is mu is equal to A plus I B I square root of minus 1 it is a complex 1 A B are real and importantly B is non zero. So, in this case also there is an Eigen vector by definition every Eigen value will have an Eigen vector, but in this case it will be a complex Eigen vector. So, has complex Eigen vector. So, let me call it again just like here we separate the real and imaginary parts. So, u 1 and u 2 are real vectors and we have this A u is equal to and remember A is real remember this this is important A is real. So, now we separate the real and imaginary parts.   Now, you write separately the real part. So, real part.  You see u 1 and u 2 they are not Eigen vectors, but they do satisfy these relations and you can check that check that u 1, u 2 now there are two vectors are real vectors they are real vectors are linearly independent. So, this is what we want this is important this is important. So, in case when mu is a real Eigen value we automatically get a real Eigen vector that is fine and in case of a complex Eigen value we get two linearly independent vectors they are not Eigen vectors, but related to the Eigen vector, but they are real and are real that is important. So, with this observation we will continue next time and our main aim is to construct a basis for R n using the Eigen vectors and some vectors like this and some more vectors that will come up in the next class. So, that is our main aim and then we will see how to utilize that basis in order to estimate the matrix norm. Thank you.


we have collectively been spoiled by the astounding clinical benefit of antimicrobials. Much like the discovery and use of penicillin to eradicate one's deadly infections, we continue to desperately search for the next magic bullet to kill cancer while sparing the non-transformed cells. Greater appreciation for the molecular intricacies of malignancy has resulted in dedicated pursuit of cancer genomics and large-scale informatics to identify drugable targets within the cancer cell itself. However, studies at the bench elucidating a dynamic relationship between tumor and microenvironment have become more common and demonstrate promise for novel therapeutic intervention. This article was authored by Ryan M. Carr and Martin E. Fernandez-Zapiko.


The 2021 Men's Double Pickleball Championship. Barr and Stone won the first two games. One more game needed to win. They lost the next two. Now we're at a crucial moment in the match. Look, Barr and Stone, nine points. McGuffin Newman, eight points. McGuffin, they got the serve. You can only score a point if you hold serve. So if they get the point here, not only do they tie the game, they have to serve a huge moment in the Pro Pickleball Association 2021 PPA Championship. Pickleball is getting hot in the streets these days. It was originally invented by the Romans. That's a lie. But if you go to GetRoman.com slash Johnboy now, you can speak to a U.S. licensed healthcare professional about your ED. Let's get into the game.  Barr, Stone, get the point. They get the serve back. Great job by them. Wipes off the paddle. Let's go. Let's go, Stone or Barr. I don't know which one is which. So now he serves it and now they're going and they're pickling it up and now, okay, going deep, deep. They got to want to approach the net. I've learned that though. Here we go.  Oh, point, Barr, Stone. So what happened here was they got double coverage. Barr and Stone, that ball is not getting past them. Double paddle coverage on the other end. Zero paddle coverage. You just got beat on a ball. You let go deep and now you let it go deep again. McMuffin, what the hell? They're celebrating because now they're one point away from winning the 2021 Pro Pickleball Association Championship. So here we go. Barr, Stone, with serve, deep into the corner. Now, like we've learned, everyone just wants to approach the net. Oh, wow. Stone or Barr.  They're going to soft. Soft it up. Soft, it can go drop-seize, let it drop, let it drop, let it drop, drop-seize, drop-seize. Oh, hard hits the net. They recover. Okay, let's go soft, soft, soft pickleball. And just kind of looks like they're warming up, just chilling, just letting it drop. Oh, hard. And they win. Let's go. Pumped up, fired up, but first show some respect. You know, it's pickleball.  Your Barr or Stone and you've won. You've won the championship. Pickleball is all about the ability to go from soft to hard quickly, as is sex. And if you don't have that ability right now, don't get upset about it. Just go to GetRoman.com slash Johnboy. Speak to a U.S. licensed healthcare professional about your ED. Get better. Hit the pickleball court. Get after it. It's actually, you know, in the older communities, pickleball's going crazy right now. I played in middle school. I loved it now. I drive by like the old people place where they hang out and it's just nothing but 60-year-olds going soft, soft, soft, soft, soft to each other. And then hard.


Hello and welcome to the International Daily Roundup, where we bring you major news developments from around the world. Our headlines, anti-government protests erupt once again in Egypt, Facebook blocks accounts of activists days ahead of anti-pipeline campaign in Canada, seven killed in Colombia's 60th massacre this year, Sudanese delegation to meet US officials, terrorist delisting to be discussed, and Iraqi-staged massive protests against kidnappings and killings of activists. On Sunday, hundreds of Egyptians took to the streets in different cities and towns including Gaza and Suez, asking the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to resign. The protests marked one year of similar protests, which were some of the largest in Egypt in years. The protesters responded to a call given by Muhammad Ali, a contractor and actor turned whistleblower, who lives in self-imposed exile in Spain. He asked his social media followers to go out on September 20th to mark the anniversary of last year's protests. His videos on YouTube alleging corruption in the Sisi government were viewed millions of times and had led to popular demonstrations against the government for days in September 2019. The government cracked down on the protests last year led to the arrest of thousands of people across the country. The Abdel Fattah al-Sisi regime outlawed demonstrations since it came to power in a military coup in 2013 after reposing the democratically elected Muhammad Morsi. According to reports, Egyptian authorities had shut down cafes and arrested hundreds of people including some left intellectuals and activists on September 16th this year in anticipation of the protests. Security forces were also deployed at all crucial protests sites several days before the anniversary. The popular anger against al-Sisi's regime is rooted in the ongoing economic crisis in the country as well as the government's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic began, the government has ordered the demolition of thousands of houses calling them illegal. Egypt has also recalled over 100,000 cases and registered more than 5,700 deaths. In September 19th and 20th, in our second story, Facebook blocked dozens of accounts linked as co-hosts on an event page of an upcoming online campaign against the coastal gasoline project in support of the Wetzewetan tribe of Canada. The event was to target the US-based investment group KKR and Co which became the majority funder of the CAD 6.6 billion pipeline project which is set to traverse through indigenous Wetzewetan land. Pages of more than a dozen indigenous and environmental organizations along with accounts of many individuals were reportedly targeted in the recent virtual crackdown by Facebook. All accounts put through a three-day suspension were either listed as hosts or were associated in other ways with the organizing of the social media campaign. According to Greenpeace USA, whose pages among the ones that were blocked, Facebook notified them of a three-day suspension in response to a supposed copyright infringement. Many others were reported to have been blocked without a proper explanation from the social media platform. The September 21st event was to target KKR and Co with the communications blockade by flooding their New York office with calls and emails along with the social media blitzkrieg on Twitter and other platforms. The investment group acquired 65% of the stake in the pipeline project in December 2019. In our next story on Sunday at least seven people were killed in a massacre in the municipality of Buenos Aires in the Department of Cauca in Colombia according to reports by the Network of Life of Human Rights of Cauca. Bringing the total number of massacre victims to 35, this is the ninth one to occur in this department since the beginning of the year according to the network. So far in September there have been 11 massacres around Colombia. The human rights network has put forward a demand that the government and the attorney general take forward the investigation process with the aim of clarifying the facts. It is also demanded that the victim should not be stigmatized in order to justify the massacres. Social leaders have been among those targeted in violence in rural areas in the country. Former combatants of the demobilized guerrilla group FARC who gave up their weapons following the 2016 peace accords with the government have also been targeted in the violence. Young Colombians also mobilized in the street earlier this month in response to the torture and killing by the police of Javier Ordonez in Bogota. The gruesome assault which was captured on video was widely seen and led to mass protests against police terror in the capital and in the country. Aggression by Ivan Duque's security forces towards the protesters resulted in at least 13 deaths. In our next story, a high-level delegation led by the head of Sudan's ruling council has travelled to the UAE for separate talks with Emirati and US officials. According to reports, Sudan plans to take forward the discussion on its removal from the United States list of countries that supposedly sponsored terrorism. According to reports, General Abdul Fateh al-Burhan, head of the sovereign council that has been in charge following the overthrow of Omar al-Bashir last year, will hold talks with the UAE's leadership on to court or regional issues that are related to Sudan. Reports also suggested that besides a terror de-listing, Sudan's transitional government is asking for more than $3 billion in humanitarian assistance and budgetary aid in return for a deal with Israel. Al-Burhan had met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda in a secret meeting in February. This was widely condemned by the Sudanese protesters who were responsible for the overthrow of the dictator al-Bashir last year. Since coming to power, Sudan's transitional government has been pushing to be taken off the US list. Its presence on the list makes the country ineligible for loans from international financial institutions and limits potential foreign investment. And finally, intense protests have taken place in the Iraqi city of Nasiriya in the southern part of the country over the past two days over the repeated killings and kidnappings of human rights activists. The protesters demanded that the government bring the culprits to justice as well as make public the names of all those suspected. The protests, which began in the late hours of Saturday, continued over the next day and saw the protesters blocking the three main bridges in the city. Hundreds of protesters also gathered around and surrounded several government buildings, including the provincial government. Soon after the protests began, Iraqi security forces were deployed in massive numbers of the protest locations. The protesters sparked by yet another kidnapping this time of Sajjad al-Iraqi, a prominent anti-establishment activist who was abducted by unidentified men late on Saturday. The kidnapped activists had in the past received multiple threats to his life. According to another fellow activist, Abdul Wahhab al-Hamdani, al-Iraqi was a vocal critic of both the government and the various Islamist parties in the country. Following al-Iraqi's kidnapping, Iraqi social media users and other activists launched an online campaign to demand his release with the hashtag freedom for Sajjad al-Iraqi. Iraq has witnessed scores of kidnappings, murders and assassination attempts on human rights activists, civil rights activists and anti-government critics over the past one year, since the protests began in the country on October 1st. That's all. We are time for today. We will be back tomorrow with more news from the world. Until then, keep watching People's Dispatch.


In the game Smart Ball, you are in fact not a Smart Ball, but a jelly bean named Jerry. In fact, this game in Japan is titled Jerry Boy, made by some company named Game Freak that went on to make some sort of Pokimans series, I guess? I don't know. Anyway, Smart Ball is yet another mascot platformer for the Super Nintendo, but it does at least have its own unique slant, thanks to some of the platforming and your jelly bean form. You can scale and cling to walls and ceilings, you can attack enemies above you with this interesting upward motion, you jump on enemies and hold down on the d-pad to eliminate them, and you collect a limited number of projectiles along the way that you can use, as well as collect the letters in your name to get a couple extra lives, similar to Donkey Kong Country. Other than that, the platforming is the same old stuff you're used to from games like this, although it'll feel pretty dang slippery before you get used to it. The controls can be finicky, but I don't think there are that much of a deal breaker here. This game does cut a quick pace, and the fact that you can scale walls really helps with that. There's lots to explore here, and plenty of instances that test your ability to take advantage of wall scaling to find items or getting through sections like this here. There's eight worlds split into two stages each, no saves or passwords, but this is a pretty fast playthrough depending on how much you want to explore and find every item. And yeah, Jerry's abilities encourage you to explore a lot, but unfortunately that leads to a lot of blind jumps into pits and spikes, and that really gets annoying. My main criticism with SmartBall is that, I mean, this might as well be an NES game. From a gameplay standpoint, it's totally fine, but visually it's so bland. The only standout memorable section is where you're on the moon and the ground rotates beneath you, but otherwise, this game is wasted on the Super Nintendo. The music is okay-ish, the sound design is good enough, but the visuals are just blech. I should also talk about the story here, because I'll at least give the game credit for providing an interesting setting right off the bat with this burned down village. I mean, what's the deal with that? It's especially weird because there's no story, cutscenes, or dialogue of any kind in the game itself. But the Super Famicom version, Jerry Boy has an opening cutscene, and it was cut entirely from the North American version. It explains, very dryly, that two brothers, Jerry and Tom, ruled the land together. Jerry was going to marry someone named Emmy, and Tom got jealous and hires a wizard to turn Jerry into a jellybean. So now Jerry's gotta fight his way back in jellybean form to defeat the wizard to get his normal form back. So I guess it's implied from the destroyed village that Tom just kind of sucks as a ruler, or at least with upkeep and maintenance. Apparently this was all relegated to the instruction manual in the North American version, but I can't get a hold of one so I can't really confirm that.  A sequel for the Super Famicom was practically finished but cancelled at the last minute. It's called Jelly Boy 2. There is a playable ROM out there, and this is more like it. This looks, sounds, and plays much more like a Super Nintendo game and takes advantage of the hardware. You've got six different characters to choose from this time around. With all sorts of wacky abilities, there's a world map menu where you can pick and choose what order to play everything. That's the one that's worth playing today. But just regular old vanilla smart ball for Super Nintendo? Eh, it depends on how much you like platformers like this. Sure, Jerry's jellybean form enables some interesting platforming, and I admit it's kind of interesting to see what Game Freak was up to before Pokemon came around, but the controls are slippery and tough to get used to, and like I said, this one just feels like an NES game, not to slag the NES, but I mean, I'm playing a Super Nintendo game here. The cartridge is at least a cheap pick up for under $10, and I'll grant that this game isn't bad, it's just pretty underwhelming.