Stephanie Joanne Angelina Germanata, known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She performed initially in theatre, appearing in high school plays, and studied at CAP21 through NYU's Tisch School of the Arts before dropping out to pursue a musical career. After leaving a rock band, participating in the Lower East Side's avant-garde performance Art Circuit, and being dropped from a contract with Def Jam Recordings, Gaga worked as a songwriter for Sony A-TV Music Publishing. From there, Acon noticed her vocal abilities and helped her to sign a joint deal with Interscope Records and his own con live distribution. Her debut album The Fame, 2008, was a critical and commercial success that produced international chart-topping singles such as Just Dance and Poker Face. A follow-up EP, The Fame Monster, 2009, was met with a similar reception and Bad Romance, Telephone and Alejandro were released, becoming successful singles. Her second full-length album Born This Way was released in 2011, topping the charts in more than 20 countries, including the United States, where it sold over 1 million copies in its first week. The album produced the number one single Born This Way. Her third album Art Pop, released in 2013, topped the US charts and included the successful single Aplause. In 2014, Gaga released a collaborative jazz album with Tony Bennett titled Cheek to Cheek, which became her third consecutive number one in the United States. For her work in the television series American Horror Story, Hotel, Gaga won a Golden Globe Award in 2016. She became the first woman to have four US number one albums in the 2010s when her fifth studio album Joanne, 2016, topped the nation's charts. In February 2017, Gaga headlined the Super Bowl 51 halftime show which had a total audience of over 150 million across various platforms worldwide, making it the most viewed musical event in history. With global album and single sales of 27 million and 146 million respectively, as of January 2016, she is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Her achievements include 12 Guinness World Records, 3 Brit Awards, and 6 Grammy Awards. She is also the first artist to win the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Contemporary Icon Award. Other accolades include a Fashion Icon Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, 2011, regular appearances on Billboard's Artists of the Year lists and Forbes's Power and Earnings rankings. In 2013, Gaga finished second on Time's Readers poll of the most influential people of the past 10 years, while in 2015, she was named Billboard's Woman of the Year. She is known for her philanthropic work and social activism, including LGBT rights and her own non-profit organization, The Born This Way Foundation, which focuses on promoting youth empowerment and combating bullying. Life and Career 1986-2004, Early Life Stephanie Joanne Angelina Germanata was born on March 28, 1986, at the Lenox Hill Hospital on Manhattan's Upper East Side to a Catholic family. She is the elder daughter of Cynthia Louise Cindy, Bissette, and Internet entrepreneur Joseph Jo Germanata.She continues to practice Catholicism. Gaga is of 75% Italian descent, and also has French-Canadian ancestry. Gaga's sister Natalie is a fashion student. Despite her affluent upbringing on Manhattan's Upper West Side, she says that her parents both came from lower-class families, so we've worked for everything my mother worked eight to eight out of the house, in telecommunications, and so did my father. From age 11, she attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private, all-girls Roman Catholic school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. She described her academic life in high school as very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined but also a bit insecure. I used to get made fun of for being either too provocative or too eccentric, so I started to tone it down.  In 2014 Gaga said she was raped at the age of 19.  Gaga later said that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the rape, and that support from doctors, family and friends really saved my life. Gaga began playing the piano at the age of four, wrote her first piano ballad at 13, and started to perform at Open Mic Nights by the age of 14. She performed lead roles in high school productions, including Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She also appeared in a very small role as a mischievous classmate in the television drama series The Sopranos in a 2001 episode titled The Telltale Muzadel. She auditioned for New York shows without success.She also studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute for ten years. After high school, her mother encouraged her to apply for the Collaborative Arts Project 21, CAP21, a musical theater training conservatory at New York University's Tish School of the Arts. In 2001 of 20 students to gain early admission, she, aged 17, lived in an NYU dorm on 11th Street.In addition to sharpening her songwriter skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics, including a thesis on pop artists Spencer Tonic and Damian Hurst. She also auditioned for various roles and won the part of an unsuspecting diner customer for MTV's Boiling Points, a prank reality television show. 2005-2007, Career Beginnings At age 19, Gaga withdrew from CAP21 in the second semester of her sophomore year, deciding to focus on her musical career. In mid-2005, Gaga recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Mel Mel, for an audio book accompanying Cricket Casey's children's book The Portal in the Park.She also formed a band called the Stefani Germanata Band, SG Band, with some friends from NYU.He band played at gigs around New York becoming a local fixture of the downtown Lower East Side Club scene.After the 2006 Songwriters Hall of Fame new songwriters showcase at the cutting room in June, Gaga was recommended to music producer Rob Fusari by talent scout Wendy Starland. Fusari collaborated with Gaga, who traveled daily to New Jersey, to work on songs she had written and to compose new material with him.According to the producer, they began dating in May 2006, and he claimed to have created the Lady Gaga a moniker after the Queen's song radio GAGA. The singer was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she received a text message from Fusari that read Lady Gaga. He explained, every day, when Steph came to the studio, instead of saying hello, I would start singing radio GAGA. The text message was the result of a predictive text glitch that changed radio to Lady. Fusari said she texted back, that's it, and declared, don't ever call me Stefani again. Fusari and Gaga established a company called Team Love Child LLC to promote her career.They recorded and produced electropop tracks and sent them to music industry executives. Joshua Sarabin, the head of Ondar at Def Jam Recordings, responded positively and after agreement from his boss, Antonio LA. Read, Gaga was signed to Def Jam in September 2006.However, she was dropped by the label after only three months a period of her life that later inspired the music video of her 2011 single Marry the Night. Devastated, Gaga returned to the solace of the family home for Christmas and the nightlife culture of the Lower East Side. She became increasingly experimental, fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini, in addition to experimenting with drugs. Gaga explained her antics represented freedom, I went to a Catholic school but it was on the New York underground that I found myself our relationship with Fusari ended in January 2007 following which she became romantically involved with a heavy metal drummer. She compared this relationship and the subsequent breakup to the musical film Grease, I was his sandy, and he was my Danny, and I just broke. During this time, she met performance artist Lady Starlight, who helped mold her onstage persona. Like SG Band, the pair soon began performing at many of the downtown club venues like the Mercury Lounge, the Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall. Their live performance art piece was known as Lady Gaga in the Starlight Review and, built as the ultimate pop burlesque rock show, was a lo-fi tribute to 1970s variety X. Their performance at the 2007 Lollapalooza Music Festival was critically acclaimed. Having initially focused on avant-garde electronic dance music, Gaga found her musical niche when she began to incorporate pop melodies and the glam rock of David Bowie and Queen into her music. While Gaga and Starlight were busy performing, Fusari continued to work on the songs he had created with Gaga. He sent these songs to his friend, producer and record executive Vincent Herbert. The latter was quick to sign her to his label Streamline Records, an imprint of interscope records, established in 2007. Gaga later credited Herbert as the man who discovered her, adding, �I really feel like we made pop history, and we�re gonna keep going.� Having served as an apprentice songwriter during an internship at famous music publishing, later acquired by Sony A-TV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony A-TV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and label mates New Kids on the Block, Fergie and the Pussycat Dolls. At interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio. Akon then convinced interscope Jeffin Andem chairman and CEO Jimmy Eovini to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live, making her his franchise player. Towards the end of 2007, Gaga met with songwriter and producer Ree Dunne. Gaga collaborated with him in the recording studio for a week on her debut album, and also joined the roster of Cherry Tree Records, an interscope imprint established by producer and songwriter Martin Kierzenbaum. She also wrote four songs with Kierzenbaum.Despite her secure record deal, she admitted that there was fear about her being too racy, dance-oriented and underground for the mainstream market. Her response, �My name is Lady Gaga, I�ve been on the music scene for years, and I�m telling you, this is what�s next.� 2008-2010, The Fame End, The Fame Monster. By 2008, Gaga relocated to Los Angeles in order to work extensively with her record label to complete her debut album, The Fame, and set up her own creative team called The House of Gaga, modeled on Andy Warhol�s factory The Fame was released on August 9. 19, 2008, With Positive Reception. Critics noted the album�s combination of genres, from deaf-leopard drums and hand-claps to metal drums on urban tracks, the inspiration drawn from 1980�s synthpop and incorporation of dance music The Fame went to number one in Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland and the UK and appeared in the top five in Australia, the US and 15 other countries. Its first two singles, �Just Dance� and �Poker Face�, became worldwide commercial successes. �Poker Face� won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards while The Fame won Best Dance Electronica Album at the same ceremony. Three other successful singles were released from the album �Eh, Eh, Nothing Else I Can Say, Love Game� and �Paparazzi�. Following her opening act on the Pussycat Dolls 2009 Doll Domination Tour in Europe and Oceania, Gaga embarked on her own worldwide The Fame Ball Tour, which ran from March to September 2009. While she travelled the globe, Gaga released The Fame Monster, an EP of eight songs, in November 2009. Each song dealt with the darker side of Fame from personal experience, expressed through a monster metaphor. Lead single �Bad Romance� topped the charts in 18 countries and reached number two in the US, Australia and New Zealand, it won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Short Form Music Video. Two other singles were released from the EP, �Telephone�, featuring Beyonce, and �Allejandro�. The former became Gaga�s fourth UK number one single, while the latter faced controversy for its music video, which was deemed blasphemous by the Catholic League. Despite the controversy surrounding her music videos, Gaga became the first artist to gain over one billion viral views on video-sharing website YouTube. At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Gaga won eight of her 13 nominations, including video of the year for �Bad Romance�. As a result, she became the most nominated artist and the first female to receive two nominations for video of the year at a single ceremony. In addition, The Fame Monster won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Gaga also released, The Remix, which became her final record with Cherry Tree Records. With worldwide sales of 500,000, it remains among the best-selling remix albums of all time. Forbes first listed Gaga on their 2010 celebrity 100 and World's Most Powerful Women lists ranking her fourth and seventh, respectively. The success of The Fame and The Fame Monster allowed Gaga to start her second worldwide concert tour, The Monster Ball Tour, just weeks after finishing The Fame Ball Tour. Critically and commercially successful, the tour began in November 2009 and ended in May 2011, and grossed $227.4 million, making it the highest grossing for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for an HBO television special titled Lady Gaga Presents The Monster Ball Tour, at Madison Square Garden. Gaga also performed songs from the albums at international events such as the 2009 Royal Variety Performance, 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and the 2010 Brit Awards. Other performances might have included her participation in Michael Jackson's This Is It Concert series at London's O2 arena had he not died of a drug overdose. Gaga clarified that she was, actually asked to open for Michael on his tour. We were going to open for him at the O2 and we were working on making it happen. I believe there was some talk about us, lots of the openers, doing duets with Michael on stage. During this era Gaga ventured into business, collaborating with consumer electronics company Monster Cable Products to create a pair of in-ear, jewel-encrusted, headphones titled Heartbeats. They are designed to be the first ever fashion accessories that double as the absolute best sonically sounding headphones in the world, she commented. Gaga also partnered with Polaroid in January 2010 as their creative director and revealed a trio of new photo capturing products called Gray Label. But her collaboration with past producer, and ex-boyfriend, Rob Fusari led to her production team, Mermaid Music LLC, being sued in March 2010 when he claimed that he was entitled to a 20% share of the company's earnings. The New York Supreme Court dismissed both the lawsuit and a countersuit by Gaga. In addition to such strife, Gaga was tested borderline positive for lupus, but claimed not to be affected by the symptoms. The singer addressed the matter in an interview with Larry King, saying she hopes to avoid symptoms by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. 2011-2014, born this way, art-pop and cheek-to-cheek. In February 2011, Gaga released the lead single Born This Way from her studio album of the same name. The song debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the 1000th number-one single in the history of the charts. Its second single Judas also peaked within the top ten in several major musical markets, while The Edge of Glory, first a commercial success in digital outlets, was later released as a single to rave critical reviews. Born This Way, released on May 23, 2011, debuted atop the Billboard 200 with first week sales of 1.108 million copies, and topped the charts in more than 20 other countries. The album sold 8 million copies worldwide, and received three Grammy Award nominations, including her third album of the year listing. The album's following singles You and I and Merry the Night failed to match the international success. In July 2011, she started dating actor and model Taylor Kinney, whom she met while filming the You and I music video. The accompanying tour for Born This Way, titled The Born This Way Ball, began in April 2012 and concluded in February 2013. Some of the tour's shows were cancelled due to a labral tear of her right hip. Shortly thereafter Gaga confirmed that she had hip surgery, and was recovering. The tour earned $186.82 million globally. Gaga was ranked as the second most played artist of 2011 in the United Kingdom by the PPL. She also topped the celebrity 100 list, with earnings of $90 million, and was the highest ranked entertainer on Forbes World's most powerful women in the 11th position. In March 2012, Gaga was ranked fourth on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011 with earnings of $25 million, which included sales from Born This Way and her monster ball tour. During this period, Gaga recorded a jazz version of The Lady Is a Tramp with Tony Bennett and lent her vocals to a song with Elton John for the animated feature film, Nomio and Juliet. She held a concert at the Sydney Town Hall, Australia, to promote Born This Way, and at the celebration of former U.S. President Bill Clinton's 65th birthday. Later that year, Gaga directed the critically acclaimed Thanksgiving Day television special, A Very Gaga Thanksgiving, which attained 5.749 million American viewers, and spawned the release of her fourth EP, A Very Gaga Holiday. In May 2012, Gaga guest-starred as an animated version of herself on the 23rd season finale of The Simpsons, titled Lisa Goes Gaga. She also appeared in Tony Bennett's documentary film, The Zen of Bennett, 2012. The following month, she announced her first fragrance in association with Koti, Inc., Lady Gaga fame, which was released worldwide in September 2012. New songs for Gaga's third studio album, Artpop, were beginning to take definite form as she worked with producer Fernando Garibay in early 2012. Work on the album continued well into the Born This Way ball tour. She yearned to make audiences have a really good time with Artpop, crafting the album to mirror a night at the club. Artpop was released in November 2013. Despite mixed reviews, it debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, and has sold 2.5 million copies as of July 2014. The album spawned successful singles in applause and Do What You Want, featuring Rand B. Singer R. Kelly. A third release, G.U.Y., became Gaga's weakest performing single to date. Gaga embarked on the accompanying Art Rave, the Artpop ball tour several months later, building upon concepts from her Art Rave promotional event. Scooping up $83 million, the itinerary saw her visit new cities and several locations initially included in the Born This Way ball tour. Meanwhile, Gaga split from longtime manager Troy Carter over creative differences, and by June 2014, she and new manager Bobby Campbell joined Artist Nation, the Artist Management Division of Live Nation Entertainment.She topped Forbes list of top-earning celebs under 30, and ranked second on the Celebrity 100 list and time anniversary poll of the most influential people of the past 10 years. Gaga starred in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills, 2013, a critical and commercial failure that earned her a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress nomination. The singer also hosted the November 16, 2013 episode of Saturday Night Live, where she performed Do What You Want, with Kelly, and an album cut, Gypsy. Later that month, she held her second Thanksgiving Day television special on ABC, Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular. Gaga had a cameo in another Robert Rodriguez film, Sin City, A Dame to Kill for, released on August 22, 2014. She was confirmed as the Versace's spring-summer 2014 face with a campaign called Lady Gaga for Versace. In 2014, Gaga collaborated with American jazz singer Tony Bennett on the jazz album Cheek to Cheek. She explained her inspiration behind the album, Cheek to Cheek came out of a very organic friendship and relationship that Tony and I have built over the years and it truly was a collaborative effort. I've been singing jazz since I was a child and really wanted to show the authentic side of the genre. The album received generally favorable reviews, with Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian praising Gaga's vocals in it, and Chicago Tribune critic Howard Reich wrote that Cheek to Cheek serves up the real thing, start to finish. The album debuted at the top the Billboard 200, becoming Gaga's third consecutive number one record in the United States, and went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. The duo recorded a concert special, called Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek Live, and embarked on the Cheek to Cheek tour, which began in December 2014 and concluded in August 2015. The same year, Gaga also had a seven-day residency show commemorating the final performance at New York's Roseland ballroom before its closure. She also released her second fragrance in association with Cody Incorporated, named Oda Gaga. 2015–present, American Horror Story, Joanne, and Super Bowl performances. Gaga began 2015 with her engagement to Taylor Kinney in February. Later that month, she performed at the 87th Academy Awards, where she sang a medley of songs from The Sound of Music in a cut-glass English accent. The performance triggered over 214,000 interactions per minute globally on Facebook. Gaga then performed a piano version of John Lennon's Imagine at the opening ceremony of the 2015 European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan. She and Diane Warren Cio wrote the song Till It Happens to You for the documentary The Hunting Ground, which earned them the Satellite Award for Best Original Song and an Academy Award nomination in the same category. A few months later, Gaga and Tony Bennett featured in a commercial for Barnes & Noble's 2015 holiday campaign, for which they recorded a rendition of Baby, it's cold outside. Outside of music, Gaga appeared in Nick Knight's 2015 fashion film for Tom Ford's 2016 spring campaign. From October 2015 to January 2016, she starred as a hotel owner named Elizabeth in the fifth season of the horror show American Horror Story, entitled Hotel. Gaga's performance received mixed reviews, though she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress miniseries or television film for her role. She followed with signing with the Creative Artist's Agency, CAA, having previously been signed with William Morris Endeavour, WME. For Gaga, 2015 ended with the Woman of the Year Award from Billboard. Among other accolades, she received Contemporary Icon Award at the 2015 Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards, and the Young Artist Award at the 2015 National Arts Awards, and ranked number 25 as the third female singer on the 2015 Forbes Celebrity 100 list, with earnings of $59 million. In January 2016, Gaga was invited to be the guest editor for the V Magazine for its 99th issue, which features 16 different covers.She subsequently received the award for editor of the year for her work on the magazine in March during the Fashion Los Angeles Awards. Gaga performed live at several events in 2016. These included singing the U.S. National Anthem in February, at Super Bowl 50, partnering with Intel and Niall Rogers for a tribute performance to the late David Bowie at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, and singing Till It Happens to You at the 88th Academy Awards, where she was introduced by Joe Bidden and accompanied on stage by 50 sexual assault survivors. Gaga, in April 2016, was honored at the Jane Ortner Education Award by the Grammy Museum, with the Jane Ortner Artist Award, which recognizes artists who has demonstrated passion and dedication to education through the arts. To support their charities, Gaga and Elton John released a clothing and accessories line at Macy's in May 2016.Gaga called off her engagement to Taylor Kinney in July 2016. Gaga played a witch named Skat Hatch in American Horror Story, Roanoke, the series' sixth iteration, which ran from September to November 2016. Her role in the fifth season of the show ultimately influenced the creative process of her fifth studio album Joanne. She told Entertainment Weekly, �I return to something I�ve believed in so much, which is the art of darkness.� She released the album�s lead single �Perfect Illusion� in September 2016, which debuted at number one in France and Spain. Joanne was released the following month, and sold 170,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week, becoming Gaga�s fourth album to reach number one in the nation. As a result, Gaga became the first woman to have four U.S. number one albums in the 2010s. To promote Joanne, Gaga embarked on a three-day tour, sponsored by Bud Light, called Dive Bar Tour. The album�s second single �Million Reasons� was released later, which she performed at the Victoria�s Secret Fashion Show 2016 in Paris. It has reached number four in the United States. Gaga performed as the headlining act at the Super Bowl 51 halftime show on February 5, 2017. The performance featured a coordinated swarm of hundreds of lighted drones that formed various shapes in the sky above Houston�s NRG Stadium. It was the first time robotic aircraft appeared in a Super Bowl program. The performance garnered 117.5 million viewers based on American television ratings, exceeding the game�s total of 113.3 million viewers. It became the most viewed music performance in history, generating over 150 million viewers among all platforms. As a result of her popular halftime performance, she sold an additional 150,000 digital albums. She also announced that night that she would embark on the Joanne World Tour in support of Joanne, which will take place from August to December 2017. Gaga will star in Bradley Cooper�s remake of the 1954 musical drama film, �A Star Is Born,� being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and create new music for the project. Filming is scheduled to commence in 2017, and the film is expected to be released on September 28, 2018. Artistry Musical Style Continually experimenting with new musical ideas and images, Gaga�s musical and performance style is the subject of much analysis and scrutiny from critics. She professes that she is liberating herself by constantly reinventing her sound and image, insisting that she has been drawn to such a practice since her childhood. Refusing to lip-sync, Gaga�s range is frequently compared to those of Madonna and Gwen Stefani has manipulated her vocal style over the course of her career yet considers born this way, 2011, much more vocally up to P.A.R. with what I�ve always been capable of. In summation of her voice, Entertainment Weekly wrote, �There�s an immense emotional intelligence behind the way she uses her voice. Almost never does she overwhelm a song with her vocal ability, recognizing instead that artistry is to be found in nuance rather than lung power. Gaga possesses a contralto vocal range. Although her early songs have been called �depthless,� Gaga does manage to get you moving and grooving at an almost effortless pace, according to Evan Soddy of Pop Matters. Gaga believes that all good music can be played on a piano and still sound like a hit. She has covered a wide variety of topics in her songs, while the fame, 2008, meditates on the lust for stardom, the fame monster, 2009, expresses fame�s dark side through monster metaphors. Born this way, 2011, is sung in English, French, German, and Spanish and includes common themes in Gaga�s controversial songwriters such as �sex, love, religion, money, drugs, identity, liberation, sexuality, freedom and individualism.� Her music style has been described as �electropop� and as �dance pop� and the structure of her music is said to be influenced by classic 1980s pop and 1990s Europop. Her debut album �The Fame�, 2008, provoked the Sunday Times to assert in combining music, fashion, art and technology, Gaga evokes Madonna, Gwen Stefani circa �Hollaback Girl�, Kylie Meenog 2001 or Grace Jones right now, and a critic from the Boston Globe to comment that she draws �obvious inspirations� from Madonna to Gwen Stefani, in her girlish but sturdy pipes and bubbly beats. Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote that �everything about Gaga came from electro-clash, except the music, which wasn�t particularly 1980s, just ruthlessly catchy noddies pop glazed with auto-tune and undergirded with rand-bish beats.� The follow-up �The Fame Monster�, 2009, saw Gaga�s taste for pastiche, drawing on �70s arena glam, Perky Abba Disco, and sugary throwbacks like Stacey Q while born this way, 2011, also draws on the records of her childhood and still has the electro-sleece beats and Euro-Disco chorus chance of its predecessor but includes genres as diverse as opera, heavy metal, disco and rock and roll. There isn�t a subtle moment on the album, but even at its nuttiest, the music is full of wide-awake emotional details,� wrote Rolling Stone, which concluded, �The more excessive Gaga gets, the more honest she sounds.� With 2014�s cheek-to-cheek, Gaga dabbled in the jazz genre. Although critically appreciated for her love of the music, and the songs she recorded on the album, it was noted that Gaga�s attempt to switch genres, with her rhythmically square, shouty delivery, left her vocals sounding more like a Broadway singer than a real jazz musician. Influences Gaga grew up listening to artists such as, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, Mariah Carey, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Whitney Houston, Elton John, Blondie and Garbage, who all influenced her. She has cited heavy metal bands as an influence, stating that �Iron Maiden changed my life� and describing herself as �the biggest black Sabbath fan on earth.� Gaga�s musical inspiration varies from dance-pop singers like Madonna and Michael Jackson to glam-rock artists like David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, as well as the theatrics of the pop artist Andy Warhol and her own performance roots in musical theater.Gaga has often been compared to Madonna who admits that she sees herself reflected in Gaga. In response to the comparisons, Gaga stated in February 2011, �I don�t want to sound presumptuous, but I�ve made it my goal to revolutionize pop music.� The last revolution was launched by Madonna 25 years ago in addition to commenting that, �There is really no one that is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me.� Like Madonna, Gaga has continued to reinvent herself and has drawn inspiration from the music and performances of a diverse mix of artists including, Cindy Lauper, Depeche Mode, Prince, Lily Allen, Marilyn Manson, Yoko Ono, Ace of Base, Amber, Grace Jones, Beyonce, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera. Another spiritual influence on Gaga has been the Indian physician, public speaker and writer-depact Chopra. Labeling him a true inspiration, she stated that �He�s always reminded me to work in a life of service to my fans and to fulfill my vision and my destiny in addition to thinking about Chopra when it comes to her work as a musician, I want so much for it to go beyond the music for my fans.� Gaga also lifted a quote from Osho�s book Creativity on Twitter. When asked about her connection to him, Gaga said she was influenced by his work and that, �For her, the creativity is the greatest way of rebellion, equality,� she concluded, �is one of the most important things in my life.� Gaga has identified fashion as a major influence and claimed that her interest in fashion came from her mother who was �always very well kept and beautiful.� Her musical endeavors are directly linked with fashion with the singer explaining, �When I�m writing music, I�m thinking about the clothes I want to wear on stage. It�s all about everything altogether � performance art, pop performance art, fashion.� Gaga has been stylistically compared to Lee Bowery, Isabella Blow, and shared.He commented that as a child, she somehow absorbed shares out their fashion sense and made it her own.Gaga considers Donatella Versace her muse, and the late English fashion designer and close friend Alexander McQueen as an inspiration, admitting that �I miss Lee every time I get dressed while channeling him in some of her work.n turn,� Versace calls Lady Gaga the fresh Donatella. Modeled on Andy Warhol�s factory, Gaga has her own creative production team, which she handles personally, called the House of Gaga, who create many of her clothes, stage props and hairdos. Other fashion influences came from Princess Diana, �I love Princess Diana so much.� She was an enormous influence on me when I was younger because my mother worshipped her so much. When she died, I�ll never forget, my mother was crying. It was this very powerful moment in my childhood watching my mother so connected to someone. Videos and stage. With constant costume changes and provocative visuals, Gaga�s music videos are often described as short films. Being provocative is not just about getting people�s attention. It�s about saying something that really affects people in a real way, in a positive way, she professes �according to author Curtis Fogel, exploring bondage and sadomasochism in addition to highlighting prevalent feminist themes, the three central themes that shape Gaga�s music videos are sex, violence and power. While she labels herself a little bit of a feminist and asserts that she is sexually empowering women, Gaga strives to empower young women to stand up for what they believe in. She not only reiterates her assertion of total originality, professed pop critic and powers, but also finesses it until it�s both a philosophical stance about how constructing a persona from pop cultural sources can be an expression of a person�s truth a law those drag queens Gaga sincerely admires and a bit of a feminist act. In summation of her videos, Rolling Stone used the rhetoric, �Does anyone look to a lady Gaga video for restraint?� Her performances are described as �highly entertaining and innovative,� the blood spurting performance of Paparazzi at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was described as �i-popping by MTV News.� She continued the blood-soaked theme during the Monster Ball Tour, and triggered protests in England from family groups and fans in the aftermath of a local tragedy, in which a taxi driver had murdered 12 people. Her unconventionality continued at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, appearing in drag as her male alter ego, Joe Calderon, and delivering a love-sick monologue before a performance of her song �You and I.� As Gaga�s choreographer and creative director, Loreen Gibson provided material for her shows and videos for four years only to be replaced by Gibson�s assistant Richard Jackson. Gaga admits to being a perfectionist when it comes to her elaborate shows. I�m very bossy. I can scream my head off if I see one light fixture out. I�m very detailed every minute of the show has got to be perfect. Public image. Public reception of Gaga�s music, fashion sense and persona is polarized. Critics have pointed out her unique place in pop music, the need for new movements in popular culture, the attention Gaga brings to modern social issues, and the inherently subjective nature of her art. In view of her influence on modern culture and her rise to global fame, sociologist Matthew Difflam of the University of South Carolina has offered a course titled �Lady Gaga and the Sociology of the Fame� since spring 2011 with the objective of unraveling, some of the sociologically relevant dimensions of the fame of Lady Gaga. When Gaga briefly met with US President Barack Obama at a human rights campaign fundraiser, he described the interaction as intimidating as she was dressed in 16-inch heels making her undoubtedly the tallest woman in the room. Towards the end of 2008, comparisons were made between the fashions of Gaga and Aguilera, that noted similarities in their styling, hair, and makeup.Aguilera stated that she was completely unaware of Gaga.Comparisons continued into 2010, when Aguilera released the music video of her single �Not Myself Tonight.� Critics noted similarities between the song and its accompanying music video and Gaga�s video for �Bad Romance.� When interviewed by Barbara Walters for her annual ABC News special �10 Most Fascinating People� in 2009, Gaga dismissed the claim that she is �intersex� as an urban legend. Responding to a question on this issue, she stated, �At first it was very strange and everyone sort of said, �That�s really quite a story. But in a sense, I portray myself in a very androgynous way, and I love androgyny.� Gaga�s outlandish fashion sense has also been one of her characteristic aspects. The global language monitor named �Lady Gaga� as the top fashion buzzword with her trademark �No Pants� a close third. Entertainment Weekly put her outfits on its end of the decade best of list, saying, �Whether it�s a dress made of muppets or strategically placed bubbles, Gaga�s suitre ensembles brought performance art into the mainstream. Time placed Gaga on their all-time 100 fashion icons list amongst some of Gaga�s inspirations such as Michael Jackson, Madonna and the Beatles, stating, �Lady Gaga is just as notorious for her outrageous style as she is for her pop hits.� After all, Gaga, born Stefani Germanata, has sported outfits made from plastic bubbles, Kermit the Frog dolls, and raw meat. Gaga wore a dress made of raw beef to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards which was supplemented by boots, a purse and a hat also made out of raw beef. Partly awarded in recognition of the dress, Vogue named her one of the best dressed people of 2010 while Time named the dress the fashion statement of 2010. However, it prompted divided opinions, attracting the attention of worldwide media but also invoking the fury of animal rights organization PETA. In 2012, Gaga became a feature of a temporary exhibition The Elevated, from the Pharaoh to Lady Gaga marking the 150th anniversary of the National Museum in Warsaw. Gaga was presented in a dress of raw meat, described by Polish weekly Uprost as �an icon of modernity elevated by the power which she exercises over mass media.� The meat dress was later displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in September 2015. As Gaga appeared at the 87th Academy Awards and subsequent events, she changed her style and fashion, transforming into a more glamorous person, Vogue compared her to that of Marilyn Monroe and MTV News described the change as �more acceptably natural or classic.� Devout fans of Gaga call her �mother monster�, while Gaga often refers to her fans as �little monsters�, a phrase which she had tattooed on herself in dedication. To some, this dichotomy contravenes the concept of outsider culture. Camille Paglia, in her 2010 cover story Lady Gaga and the Death of Sex in The Sunday Times, asserts that Gaga, is more an identity thief than an erotic taboo breaker, a mainstream manufactured product who claims to be singing for the freaks, the rebellious and the dispossessed when she is none of those. Writing for The Guardian, Kitty Empire opined that the dichotomy, allows the viewer to have a transgressive experience without being required to think. At her performance as core, though, is the idea that Gaga is at one with the freaks and outcasts. In July 2012, Gaga also co-founded the website LittleMonsters.com, which became the first official social network devoted to fans of an artist. Activism Philanthropy Alongside her music career, Gaga has contributed to various charities. For natural disasters, Gaga has helped various relief efforts. Although declining an invitation to appear on the single �We Are the World� 25 to benefit victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, she donated the proceeds of her concert of January 24, 2010, at New York�s Radio City Music Hall to the country�s Reconstruction Relief Fund. All profits from her official online store on that day were also donated. Gaga announced that an estimated total of $500,000 was collected for the fund. Hours after the 2011 Thoku earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, 2011, Gaga tweeted a message and a link to Japan prayer bracelets. All revenue from a bracelet she designed in conjunction with the company was donated to relief efforts. As of March 29, 2011, the bracelets raised $1.5 million. However, attorney Allison Oliver filed a lawsuit against Gaga in Detroit in June 2011, noting that the bracelet was subject to a sales tax and an extra $3.99 shipping charge was added to the price. She also believed that not all proceeds from the bracelets would go to the relief efforts, demanding a public accounting of the campaign and refunds for people who had bought the bracelet. Gaga�s spokesperson called the lawsuit �maritless and misleading.� On June 25, 2011, Gaga performed at MTV Japan�s charity show in Makahari, Messe, which benefited the Japanese Red Cross. In 2012, Gaga joined the anti-fracking campaign Artists Against Fracking. In October 2012, Gaga was reported to have met the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. On October 9, 2012, Yoko Ono gave Gaga and four other activists the Lenin Ono grant for peace in Reykjavik, Iceland. On November 6, 2012, Gaga pledged to donate $1 million to the American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Gaga also contributes in the fight against HIV and AIDS, focusing on educating young women about the risks of the disease. In collaboration with Cindy Lauper, Gaga joined forces with MAC Cosmetics to launch a line of lipstick under their supplementary cosmetic line, Viva Glam. In a press release, Gaga declared, �I don�t want Viva Glam to be just a lipstick you buy to help a cause. I want it to be a reminder when you go out at night to put a condom in your purse right next to your lipstick.� The sales of Gaga-endorsed Viva Glam lipstick and lip gloss have raised more than $202 million to fight HIV and AIDS. On April 7, 2016, Gaga joined Vice President Joe Bidden at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to support Bidden�s It�s On Us campaign as he travels to colleges on behalf of the organization, which has seen 250,000 students from more than 530 colleges sign a pledge of solidarity and activation. On June 26, 2016, Gaga attended the 84th annual U.S. Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis where she joined with Dalai Lama to talk about the power of kindness and how to make the world a more compassionate place. The Chinese government added Gaga to a list of hostile foreign forces, and Chinese websites and media organizations were ordered to stop uploading or distributing her songs. The publicity department of the Communist Party of China, CCPPD, also issued order for state-controlled media to condemn this meeting. On July 28, 2016, Gaga headlined a private concert in Camden, New Jersey, called Camden Rising, as part of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in support of Hillary Clinton. Born This Way Foundation In 2012, she launched the Born This Way Foundation, BTWF, a non-profit organization that focuses on youth empowerment and issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring, and career development. It takes its name from the 2011 single and album. The Foundation plans to work with a number of partners, including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment, and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Media proprietor Oprah Winfrey, writer Deepak Chopra, and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius spoke at the inauguration at Harvard University. The Foundation's original funding included $1.2 million from Gaga, $500,000 from the MacArthur Foundation, and $850,000 from Barney's New York. The Foundation works in partnership with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, the MacArthur Foundation, the California Endowment, and, as lead media partner, Viacom. In July 2012, the BTWF partnered with Office Depot, which will donate 25% of the sales A minimum of $1 million of a series of limited edition back-to-school products that promote the Foundation's message. The Foundation's initiatives have included, in March-April 2012, a poster competition that asked participants to submit images that answer the question – What does bravery mean to you? The born-brave bus that would follow her on tour as a youth drop center as an initiative against bullying. And the born-brave community and school groups. On October 24, 2015, at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Gaga joined 200 high school students, top policy makers, and academic officials, including Yale President Peter Salovey, a pioneer in the study of emotional intelligence, to discuss ways to recognize and channel emotions for positive outcomes. In 2016, the Foundation partnered with Intel, Vox Media and Recode to fight online harassment. It was also announced that the sale of the cover of the 99th issue of the V-magazine, which featured Gaga and Kinney, was donated to the Foundation to bring cutting-edge, social-emotional intelligence research. Gaga and Elton John released a clothing and accessories line on May 9, 2016, entitled Love Bravery, in which 25% of each purchase will support the Born This Way Foundation and the Elton John Aides Foundation. LGBT Advocacy Gaga is an outspoken activist for LGBT rights worldwide.  Early in her career she had difficulty getting radio airplay, and stated, �The turning point for me was the gay community.� She thanked FlyLife, a Manhattan-based LGBT marketing company with whom her label interscope works, in the liner Notes of the Fame. One of her first televised performances was in May 2008 at the New Now Next Awards, an awards show aired by the LGBT television network Logo. In June of the same year, she performed at the San Francisco Pride event. After the fame was released, she revealed that the song poker face was about her bisexuality. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she spoke about how her boyfriends tended to react to her bisexuality, saying, �The fact that I�m into women, they�re all intimidated by it. It makes them uncomfortable. They�re like, �I don�t need to have a threesome. I�m happy with just you.� When she appeared as a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres show in May 2009, she praised DeGeneres for being �an inspiration for women and for the gay community.� Gaga spoke at the 2009 National Equality March in Washington, D.C. in support of LGBT movement, and described the appearance as �the single most important moment of her career.� She attended the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards accompanied by four gay and lesbian former members of the United States armed forces who had been unable to serve openly under the U.S. militaries � don�t ask, don�t tell, DADT, policy. Gaga released three videos on YouTube urging her fans to contact their senators in an effort to overturn DADT. In September 2010 she spoke at a service member�s legal defence networks rally in Portland, Maine. Following this event, editors of the advocate commented that she had become a �fierce advocate� for gays and lesbians. Gaga appeared at EuroPride, a Pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride, held in Rome in June 2011. She criticised the intolerant state of gay rights in many European countries and described gay people as �revolutionaries of love.� Gaga was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church Monasteries so that she could officiate the wedding of longtime friends, both of whom were women. In June 2016, during a vigil held in Los Angeles for victims of the attack at the Gay Nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Gaga read aloud the names of the 49 people killed in the attack, and also gave a supporting speech. Also in June 2016, the Human Rights Campaign released a video in tribute to the victims of that attack, in the video, Gaga and others told the stories of the people killed there. Legacy As of January 2016, Gaga had sold an estimated 27 million albums and 146 million singles worldwide, her singles are some of the best-selling worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists. She has also been noted, as of 2014, as a touring force, having grossed more than $300 million in revenue from 3.2 million tickets for her first three worldwide concert tours. Moreover, Gaga was named the queen of pop in a 2011 ranking by Rolling Stone, based on record sales and social media metrics, and has been regarded as a trailblazer throughout several points in her career, sometimes utilizing controversy to bring attention to various issues. With the meteoric success of the fame, Gaga is credited as being one of the front-runners of the rise in the popularity of synthpop in the late-20s and early-20s. It's all about how you cultivate your community, writer Brian Solis said. Celebs have never shied away from causes and in many ways it's expected that they will use their celebrity to gain attention for those causes. But it's what, Gaga, does over time and how her community responds that starts the lean-over into the influence factor. Polaroid CEO, after working with Gaga, said, she's a true artist who inspires her fans and the creative community. The relationship she has with her fans is exceptionally close and she is consistently in contact with them via social networks, making her messages accessible, authentic and far-reaching. According to Khalifa Sunne of The New Yorker, Lady Gaga blazed a trail for truculent pop stars by treating her own celebrity as an evolving art project. In 2015, Time also noted that Gaga had practically invented the current era of pop music as spectacle. Her work has influenced Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Ellie Golding, Halsey, Nick Jonas, Lord, Sam Smith, Grayson Chance, Debbie Harry of Blondie, Noah Cyrus, Ashley Tisdale and management. Gaga has been commemorated in the scientific names of several organisms. A new genus of ferns, Gaga, and two species, G-Germanata and G-Monster Parva have been named in her honor. The name Monster Parva alluded to Gaga's fans known as Little Monsters since their symbol is the outstretched monster claw hand, which resembles a tightly enrolled young fern leaf prior to unfurling. Gaga also has an extinct mammal, Gagadon Minimonstrum, and a parasitic wasp, a Lyod's Gaga, named for her. Awards and Recognition Lady Gaga's recognition for her work includes six Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, a Golden Globe Award, 13 MTV Video Music Awards, 12 Guinness World Records and a Songwriters Hall of Fame's contemporary icon award, which she was the first artist ever to win. In addition she was a recipient of a National Arts Awards Young Artist Award, which honors individuals who have achieved incredible accomplishments and exemplary leadership while still early in their career and honored at the. Jane Ortner Education Award by the Grammy Museum, with the Jane Ortner Artist Award, which recognizes artists who has demonstrated passion and dedication to education through the arts.Gaga has also been recognized by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, CFDA, with the Fashion Icon Lifetime Achievement Award, a special prize reserved for, an individual whose style has made a significant impact on popular culture on an international stage. Gaga has consecutively appeared on Billboard magazine's Artists of the Year, scoring the definitive title in 2010, and named as Woman of the Year in 2015 as the fifth best-selling digital singles artist in the United States according to RIAA with a total of 59 million certified. She also became the first woman to receive the Digital Diamond Award from RIAA, and is the first and only artist to have two songs pass 7 million downloads, poker face and just dance. She is regularly placed on lists composed by Forbes magazine, including their list of the world's 100 most powerful women from 2010 to 2014, named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2010, and the second most influential people of the past 10 years through a readers poll in 2013.In 2016, she was a finalist for the Advocates Person of the Year.


Hi folks, it's Matt again, and we're going to talk now about dominant strategy implementation So the idea that we're looking at is we have a society we have to make a decision and we're trying to design a mechanism that is going to take people's preferences and give us outcomes and In particular, let's start by looking at a situation where we've got a full set of alternatives and any possible ranking over those things So for instance, we have a set of candidates that we need to pick from Say four or five six candidates. Okay, so we think about the voting rules that we looked at earlier now We've got to make a choice over these candidates and in particular what we'd like is when we ask people that they have no Difficulties in deciding what they should announce. They should just be truthful. Okay, so we want dominant strategy implementation We want to design the mechanism so that they want to tell us truthfully exactly what their preference rankings are over the alternatives And they don't gain at all by trying to mix up the alternatives and manipulate the system. Okay, so that's the idea and In particular, let's think of we've got our society with n individuals Finite set of outcomes. Oh and if we begin to think about designing mechanisms in this world And we want one where every agent has a dominant strategy for each preference we can invoke the revelation principle and the revelation principle tells us that if we do have an indirect mechanism that has dominant strategies, we can just collapse that into a Social choice function a direct mechanism where people just tell us directly their preferences And then we give them the outcomes they would have gotten through the original mechanism for each announcement of their preferences So if they'd followed the strategies that they had had dominant strategies in the original one So this makes truth a dominant strategy. So the revelation principle will means that we can without loss of generality for this exercise look at social choice functions Directly, okay, and so now what we want to do is think about which social choice functions Can a society have which are going to be dominant strategy? truthful in this sense Okay, well, so it's These things are also known as non manipulable strategy proof sometimes they're called straightforward mechanisms or social choice functions and The important result in this area due to Alan Gibbard and Mark Satterthwaite in the early 1970s It's gonna say we're gonna have a really hard time doing this in a setting where people can have any possible ranking over the alternatives So let's have a look at that. This is what's known as the Gibbard Satterthwaite theorem And it's another form of an impossibility theorem similar to what we saw in terms of arrows Theorem and the Mulder Satterthwaite theorem so situations where we have a set of Conditions we'd like to have and the theorem says it's impossible to have this desirable set of conditions all at once So what's the setting here? We've got a social choice function We'd like to have one that's mapping all possible preferences. So people have linear orders they can have any strict ranking over candidates and We are going to look at situations with at least three outcomes. So we have at least three candidates to choose from and We're going to also look at a social choice function, which is on to that means for every possible outcome there is a profile of preferences which gives you that outcome and that condition Can be satisfied quite easily. For instance, if you just required that your social choice function be unanimous So if all individuals prefer the same alternative, we all say we love candidate a then Society should pick candidate a if you put that minimal condition in then indeed The in this domain of preferences C is going to be on to so if we put those conditions in then what does the theorem say? The theorem says that we're going to have the strategy proofness condition truthful reporting of preferences as a dominant strategy for every agent at Every preference profile if and only if C is dictatorial Okay, so again, that means here There is just some particular individual eye for whom the choice function is just always their favorite alternative There the thing that maximizes their preferences In regardless of what anybody else says so we just pick one individual. We just listen to that person Okay Now in terms of the proof of this It's clear that if we assign somebody to be a dictator and don't listen to anybody else That's going to be strategy proof I nobody else can make any difference doesn't matter what they say and the person who is a dictator always wants to be truthful Because they're getting their favorite alternative The converse of this theorem is is much more difficult the part saying that if it's strategy proof then it has to be dictatorial and the this can be proven by Various means there are proofs that relate this back to arrows theorem and and show that that there are similar Conclusions that can get in terms of the basic steps the lemmas that were proven there There's a very elegant proof by Salvador Barbera which Works off of individuals being pivotal in terms of changing their preferences and changing the outcome And showing that you can't have too many individuals being pivotal at once if you are going to satisfy dominant strategies So there's a basic conflict of allowing people to make decisions and having multiple people make decisions at the same time And making sure that everybody cannot manipulate things by by announcing things falsely So we're not going to explicitly offer that proof, but you can find a various versions of this in the literature and We'll leave you to look at that directly What this means is that any social choice function that we write down that we're interested in assuming that we don't want a Dictatorial functions are going to be manipulable in some situations So if we're in a voting setting and we have a set of Candidates that we're looking at and we have to pick among those candidates and any possible ordering of those is possible in people's preferences Regardless of what rule we use we're going to end up having people manipulate that rule in certain situations So that's a very negative result in some sense It's in a damaging result and and it's different from arrows theorem because what this is doing is Really looking at the incentives that people have and saying it's going to be difficult to be get people to be truthful When we were looking at arrows theorem There was nothing set about whether people were being truthful or not the kinds of conclusions that were being reached in arrows theorem We're just saying that some basic independence Conditions and Pareto conditions couldn't be satisfied by a social welfare ordering at the same time But presuming that you could see what people's preferences were as the input and this is saying that if you're going to make a choice It's going to be difficult to get people to reveal their preferences to you in a truthful manner one more thing about this And this is something you can verify yourself Suppose that you only had two alternatives Then it's going to be easy to find a rule Think of majority rule. So is that strategy proof? So imagine that we have just two candidates and you get to vote for which one you would prefer and you always prefer one to the other There there will be a variety actually of strategy proof rules in that setting If C is not on to Then we are ignoring certain outcomes Then you're going to have some more limited conclusions here that things are going to be dictatorial But only on the range of the outcome function if at least if it still has at least three alternatives in it So there's some limitations on this but in terms of really getting around this kind of Negative result there's various ways we can think of doing this One is to use a weaker form of implementation So here we were we were asking for dominant strategies for all individuals at all preferences We could work instead for something like Bayes Nash implementation Bayesian implementation where we ask people just to have it be a best response to to announce truthfully given that everyone else is and That'll open some doors for us That's going to be much more demanding in terms of an equilibrium concept and the beauty of dominant strategies is people don't have to worry about what other people are doing and They don't have to know or have beliefs about what's going on Bayes Nash Structure a Bayesian Nash structure is much more demanding in that sense. We could Relax the assumption that people have arbitrary preferences and look at more structured settings and indeed when we do that We're going to find a much more interesting and positive results In terms of rules that we can apply so more interesting rules I should say I'm not more interesting results the gibberish tethered way theorem is a very interesting result But we'll find more interesting rules that we can work with we've already seen one in fact median voting on a single peak domain So as we mentioned there if you're asked for your preferences You have no reason to try and distort your preferences the median peak wins and the only way to change that is to flip over and Announce something on the other side which would be worse for a given individual you could also take the max of the peaks You could do instead of median voting have maximum voting So whoever Has the maximum peak or the minimum peak or any order statistics? So single peak domains are going to be settings where what we've done is we've limited the set of preferences So not any ordering over candidates is allowed any longer and once you do that then it's easier to design strategy-proof rules Another setting on trade so imagine that you have an indivisible good You have to a buyer and a seller and they might have private values for how much they Value the good and you're trying to get to trade to go on One mechanism that works in that situation is just to fix a price So say of the you can trade the price at at a price of 10 So individuals say at a price of 10 am I willing to trade or not? And now there's a simple decision. You can't influence the price All you can do is influence whether you actually trade or not And so then it's you have an incentive to say truthfully Do you really want to trade or do you not and then trade if both of the agents want to trade? So there you can design a dominant strategy mechanism. There's going to be some inefficiencies associated with that You're not going to have trade occurring in all the circumstances that you'd like But at least you've got dominant strategies and we'll take a closer look at these things We're going to see a whole series of other types of rules The we'll look at the vicaricard grove schemes and other kinds of schemes and when we look and narrow in the kinds of settings So we're looking at with more structure on preferences We'll have a whole series of interesting dominant strategy compatible mechanisms Which are going to be present and we'll take a look at particular kinds of environments where that's going to be possible We'll be next up


From the heart of the jungle comes a savage cry of victory. This is Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. From the black core of dark Africa, land of enchantment, mystery and violence comes one of the most colorful figures of all time. Transcribed from the immortal pen of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan, the bronzed white son of the jungle. And now in the very words of Mr. Burroughs, the story of D for Diamonds and Death. In the village of the Anga tribe, the flames of the council firely tie. Frenzied dancers, their minds clouded from too much strong kangala, whirled about the ceremonial circle. From time to time they stopped to scream insults, and shake their fists at the hema of their chief. The Anga tribe was in revolt against their leader. And it was plain that violence would occur before Kuda the sun rose in the heaven. Suddenly the dancing stopped. The drums were stilled. The savage cries of the natives were left in their throats. It's Tarzan. He's Lord of Jungle. Tarzan, come. Tarzan. Yes, it is Tarzan. Why, you come Tarzan. I come because word has reached me that you are in revolt against your leader. That business of Anga tribe, not business of Tarzan. I am the Lord of the Jungle, and I make it my business to see that the law of the jungle is upheld. Your chief has served you and your fathers for many years. Why do you seek to go against his commands? Always before people of Anga make village in place where there good water, rich land, many animals for meat. Yes. When soil not good, water dry up, animals leave jungle near village. Anga tribe move, new place. Yes, that is the custom of all jungle tribes. Now this land grow poor, but chiefs say not move. People of Anga take vote, decide, kill, or chief. Make new chief, then go new land. I cannot understand the refusal of your mawanangwa. But certainly you must have some good reason. Where is he? He come council far now. It's time to kill. Wait. There will be no execution until I learn the reason behind all of this. Jumbo mawanangwa. Jumbo Tarzan. Your people tell me that you refuse to move the village, although this district is no longer fertile. Not move. But why? Not move. Unless you can give some good reason, your subjects are well within their rights to elect a new chief. You must give an answer. Me chiefonga many years, father chief before me, before him his father. But my son not be chief if we move. Your son? Oh, over one who left the tribe to become rich in the diamond mines at Jagerstown. Yafu, good son, come back some day. We move. Yafu, not find us. Please Tarzan, not let tribe move. Yafu, not find us. I understand your sorrow mawanangwa, but you can't expect your tribe to remain on this poor land until Yafu decides that life among the Tamanganis is not good. Yafu, come back, then we move. When he come back? Oh, there is but one solution. I shall go to the diamond mines and find Yafu. He must return with me or renounce his rights as the future chief of the tribe. You look for Yafu. You bring back. Men of Anga, you must give me sufficient time to find the son of your chief before you move or before you go ahead with the plans that you had made for tonight. We decide. Tarzan, look for Yafu. Bring back my next full moon. Oh, but that gives me little time. It's a long, dangerous trip. I may have difficulty finding him.  Make new chief, move village. Tomorrow men of Anga look for new place. You intend looking for a new site before you learn whether I shall succeed or fail in my mission? We know Yafu not come back. Tarzan not come back. Tarzan go land of diamond and death. In just a moment we shall return to our story. The great diamond mines of Africa are located in the Kimberley district at Dutitzpan and bordering the Orange and the Val rivers. These are large underground mines with modern tunnels thousands of feet below the surface. But in distant Yeagerstown, antiquated open pit mining is still practiced. And the office of the Vincent mining company to which Tarzan made his way was a shabby affair housed in a sun-baked hut of mud. Martin Vincent, despite his wealth, employed no clerks or secretaries. Dressed in solid whites, he sat behind a massive desk that faced the door. Yes, I am Tarzan. I have come from the village of the Anga tribe to seek a native by the name of Yafu. I believe he works for your company? Work. None of these ladies' work. You know where I can find Yafu? No. But surely you have records in your office giving the names of your employees? I am inspected when they check in to make sure they're not too sick or too drunk to do a day's work. I am searched at night to make sure they haven't stolen a diamond. Aside from that I pay no attention to where or how they live. I see. And you can give me no information about Yafu? I can tell you he hasn't showed up here for these three days. Just when I need labor is the worst.  If I find him, I shall tell him your words. Hey, you look pretty husky. You want a job? No, no, no. I am not cut out to be a diamond miner. I wouldn't hire a white man to dig. I thought maybe you'd like a job as foreman. Look as though you ought to be able to crack a whip or use a brandon iron. A branding iron? We find one of these rascals trying to make off with one of our diamonds.   He'll never get a job anywhere else. Thank you for your information, Mr. Vinson. All of it. I shall leave now to search for Yafu. Well, don't forget what I said to tell that native. And if you ever change your mind about going to work for me, let me know. Yeagerstown sprawls for many miles, and Tarzan combed its endless rows of thatched huts, its squalid settlements of beaver-board shanties, its meandering streets of crumbling sandstone houses. But suspicious negroes and shifty whites gave him nothing but evasive answers in return to his queries concerning Yafu. For everywhere within the limits of Yeagerstown, a stranger was regarded as a possible spy for the Vincent mining company, and man could take no chances. No, I don't know any native of that name. But in the river settlement they said all the natives from Unger and the surrounding tribes patronized your company. Sure, they came in and load themselves with Pompey and Kangala, but I never get to know their names. They all look alike. They do not look alike, and I am sure you know the names and the whereabouts of your customers. Now, tell me.  I'm not giving you any dope on Yafu.  All right, so I know him. He wants to hold up some place and not go to work at his business. And mine? I've traveled many hundreds of miles to find him and to take him back to his people. Give me that again? I have come to take him back to the jungle. Well, in that case, I'll tell you where he was living last, although he may have beat it since then. It'll be the best thing in the world for Yafu to leave Yeagerstown before they burn that D in his back. Good afternoon, Yafu. Me, not Yafu. I was told Yafu lived here. He lived two days ago, not come back. Sorry. Do not close the door. Sorry. Not no more. You leave now. I am Tarzan. Do you remember my name? I come from the Anga country. I not know your name. Me not come from Anga country. Come from Nuba. The tribal welts upon your forehead proclaim you to be a member of the Anga tribe.  May I come inside and talk, Yafu? Yes. Come inside, Tarzan. Can't you understand, Yafu?  Cannot go back. Why? Yafu stay here.  I see no evidence of wealth thus far. This room is miserable. Your sleeping mat is nothing more than rags. Work hard. Some day have much money. You have not worked for the past few days. How you know? Mr. Vincent told me. He said unless you come back at once, you won't even have a job. Afraid go back to work. Afraid go home. Where is the diamond? Diamond? Yes. The one you stole. Or was it more than one? One. One small diamond. Why did you steal it? Why I steal? You not know what is to sweat in diamond mine from morning to night. Swing mallet, crush blue rock till back, arms ache. Mud rushes come down, sweep workers away. Thieves fall, kill man next to me.  But that does not answer my question. Why did you steal? You receive good wages? We pay much for room, much for food. Yes, and much for drinks of cangala. Yafu, your only hope is to return home. For your own sake as well as your father's and the people of your tribe. They follow me. They find I take diamond. They always find out. They follow me anywhere. They burn D in back. They say diamond thief. Can I go back to people as thief? Me, Yafu, son of great chief. Oh, no.  But maybe Vincent's men not catch.  Always coming between you and happiness. No, no, no, Yafu. You must take the stolen diamond back to the mine. How? You must go back to work. At least for a day. You must return it in the same manner in which you stole it. If they find Yafu with diamond, they think he's stealing it that day. Yafu afraid? I shall be with you. You need not be afraid. Tarzan cannot come into mine only for workers. Then I shall accept Mr. Vincent's offer of a job. We will return the diamond together. If caught, D burned into Yafu's back and into Tarzan's back. D stands for diamond thief. I know. D for diamonds and for death. We must risk both, Yafu. With Vincent a reasonable man, I would go to him with the diamond and the complete story, but I know his kind. However great the danger, we must return the stolen diamond. In just a moment, we shall learn of Tarzan's fate in the diamond mines. Night fell, but although Tarzan was tired, he found himself unable to sleep in the oppressive closeness of Yafu's room. The jungle was close to the edge of the city, however. Tarzan finally rested in the friendly arms of a great tree. But by dawn, he had returned to the city. Yafu and he joined the swarm of workers who headed for the Vincent mines. And as they walked along past the beggars and the flower vendors and the stalls of the open-air bobbers, they spoke of their problem. Sometimes yet orders carry something to sorting room. Well, that's where you took the diamond? No deal. But maybe they not send Yafu there today. How did you get it past your evening inspection? Diamond was in Yafu's nose. He stained cloth with red berries, grown near office hut. Yes. When Yafu walked past inspector, he hold cloth to nose. Say it bleed. For once they not put flashlight in Yafu's nose and ears. I see. But you could hardly be expected to get away with a trick like that twice. No. Must put diamond back today. Must get to sorting room. You'd best keep the stone on your person since they do not search you on your way in. If they hire me, I shall see if I can get into the sorting room. Then you can slip the gem to me and I'll put it back. It sound easy when Tarzan talk, but Yafu work here long time. He know is not easy to fool Vincent as he spies. Careful, Tarzan. Careful. I guess I better be careful with my talk. This is the workers' entrance here. Nadio. What have we here? Two new recruits. Me, Yafu, work here long time. Not new one of Vincent. You've been absent four days now.  You'll go back to beginner's rate. Well, any objection? No. It's all right. Beginner's rates. You. You decided to take a job. Yes, sir. All right. Come with me. Dexter. Check the rest of these birds in. Come on, yo. Better check my charts here. See where to put you. See now. Section A, Gardner, section B, Van Hooten, section C. I guess the field jobs are all a sign for the day. You mean you have no job for me? Don't worry. We wouldn't pass up a chance to get a man of your size and strength. I tell you what, we'll start you in the sorting room. Back work now. Lunch over. I'm too hot for work. He's hot for noon. Yaffu. Yaffu. Tarzan? Tarzan, you be? There will be time to wait later when we're on our way home. Careful. Spies everywhere. I know, I know, I know. Yaffu, I'm working in the sorting room as a watcher. If one of the sorter's leaves is trough for a minute, I can return the jewel. Now, when we go through this archway, brush against me and drop the gem in my knife sheath. Nadi. Well, I, I think I like it here, Yaffu. Did you, uh, did you work hard this morning? It break much blue-brown. Sorry I bumped into you. I didn't realize that passageway was so narrow. He's all right, Tarzan. He's all right. Back to the mines, you. Tarzan, I don't like to have the foreman mixing with the man at mail times. Better get back to the sorting room. Yes, Mr. Vincent. And keep your eyes open. The auditor's in my office now. And it looks as though there's one diamond missing. Check table one. All OK, huh? Check table two. Right. Just a minute, Mr. Vincent. Something's wrong here on these figures on table three. Tarzan. Yes, Mr. Vincent. Any of the sorter's of table three leave their troughs any time today? The tables have been fully manned every minute. Except at lunchtime, of course. The missing stone wouldn't necessarily have had to be taken today, Mr. Vincent. These figures are for the full week. I gotta hunch it's today. Attention. Everyone line up to far into the room, facing the wall. Controller and I'll search all of you. Shall I help line the men up? Help line the men up. You get in line two. I said everyone. I refuse to be searched. You refuse. It's funny, isn't it, Dexter? I see nothing funny about a man upholding his dignity. Tell him how funny it is, Dexter. I'll show him. You see this small cord here? Yes. I give it only a slight tug. When I picked you for strength, still you were no match for eight of my guards. They are strong men. He put up a good fight, though. He did. Now let's see why he put up such a good fight. I'll relieve him of his knife and sheath and you can search him. Now then. You will find what you seek inside the knife case. He was right, Mr. Vincent. Here's the missing diamond. First day at work and he steals. I did not steal, but I would not expect you to believe the truth, even if I were free to tell it. You're quite right. I believe nothing you could say. Shall I have the guards take him to the branding room? No, I'm going to make a real example with this one. I'm going to show these thieving rascals in the fields and not even a man of Tarzan's strength and reputation can get away with anything here. What are you going to do? We'll build a fire right in the center of the blue ground. Right in the heart of the Vincent mine. He'll make the branding iron doubly hot and the brand burned doubly deep. As the workers assembled, Tarzan was led into the mine. He seemed subdued, but he was taking in each detail of the funnel-shaped mining pit. He noted the giant windlesses that dotted the upper edge of the crater and the steel ropes attached to the great winders which hauled the buckets of blue ground to the top. The tense cables formed a veritable cobweb of steel strands, a maze that resembled in many ways the tangled vines of the upper jungle growth in which Tarzan was so much at home. As the workers crowded in, Tarzan caught the eye of Yafu in the rear of the crowd, an unspoken message passed between them as the branding iron became white-hot. Have them shut down the machinery. I want everyone's attention here.   The iron is ready. Keep it hot. Right. I want you to look at this man. He thought I didn't know who he was when he came to Jagerstown. I knew. I know everything that goes on around here. He's Tarzan. Some call him the Lord of the Jungle. But around here, he's just another working stiff when he was found stealing a diamond. We're going to give him a very special treatment. I want you to watch. Remember, this is what will happen to you if you try to steal what don't belong to you. Ready? The iron. Hold it, man. We'll brand him. Can't rest until we're out of... A scurry, I hear. A police. On all sides, they have us surrounded. We surrender to a scurry. Maybe they... Mine owners control the police. No, Yaffa, we'll have to run until we get... Yaffa, down this alley. Yaffa, come. Hurry, Yaffa. Once they enter this alley, they'll think... Oh, we almost attend the valley now. A dead-end street. There's a blank wall. We surrender now? No, no. There's a bamboo pole in front of that shop there. Stand in the front of the wall, Yaffa. I can use this bamboo pole to help me fall to the top of the wall. Out, out. What's Yaffu do? The jungle is just ahead, Yaffu. Quickly, jump to the ground. Only a short rattle. And we'll be in my jungle, Yaffu. No, Yaffu not reached jungle. Everything cloudy. Everything black. Yaffu. No, you can't faint, Yaffu. You can't quit yet. All right. I'll carry over my shoulder. I'll swing myself to the upper level. And head for home. It was soon night, and the pursuers fell far behind as Tarzan with Yaffu still slung over his shoulder, scurried through the upper level. This was the jungle, and no man of the city could catch Tarzan in the primordial forest. By the time Yaffu had regained consciousness, they were near the Onga village. And the sound of the ceremonial drum suddenly made them realize that it was the night of the full moon. Well, here is your village. They're holding the shower rate. Look, father still leaves. It's time for death, the old chief. Boss! Boss! There you met me, chief. Me lead you new land. The old chief will live, and his son will lead you to your new home. Is Tarzan Tarzan returned? No, Tarzan.  You are tired, my father. Yaffu helped you to Hema. In morning we find new site for village. Then we begin everything new. Yaffu has learned lesson. He be good son, good chief when his time come. Tarzan, where you go? Back to my sea coast cabin. My mission for the people of Onga is finished. Together, Yaffu, we have won great victories over evil from within and from without. And our greatest victory is mirrored upon your father's face. In just a moment, a preview of our next exciting story of Tarzan. Perhaps when we mention pirates, we conjure thoughts of buried treasures and gold doubloons. But modern pirates do not wield cutlasses or make their victims walk the plank. Still, their diabolical crimes are sometimes crueler than those of the storybook pirates. We believe you'll enjoy Tarzan's adventure with these modern devils of the sea in Tarzan and the Pirates of Cape Bandera. Tarzan, the creation of the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs, is produced and transcribed by Walter White Jr. Prepared for radio by Bud Lesser with original music by Albert Lesser. This is a Commodore production.


Hi, Dario. Hello. How are you? Can you introduce yourself for us? I'm Dario Guil. I'm the vice president in charge of artificial intelligence and quantum computing and IBM research. And what exactly do you do here? Well, I manage and I run an organization that focus on pushing the frontiers of artificial intelligence for IBM and for our clients. And we are also responsible for creating and commercializing quantum computing, IBM Q. So which one do you love more, AI or quantum? That's a tricky question. I would say I suffer from a love entanglement between the two. Ooh, what's that on your desk? Oh, this is a calculator. It's actually a piece of art that my friend Andy Aaron makes. And he refurbishes all calculators and they have a very funny contraction on how they perform the calculation, but art. So, compared to other technology revolutions, where are we in the information age? Well, if we compared it to say the industrial revolution, I would say we're in the mid-19th century. You know, seminal breakthroughs have occurred, you know, this impacting broadly the economy, but we still haven't seen the full consequences of what IT is going to do for the world. Can you explain quantum computing to me? I have to go to a meeting now, but I would recommend that you go to the lab and talk to Jerry Chow. Hey, Jerry. Hey. Where are we right now? We're in one of our quantum computing research labs. How did you get into quantum computing? Well, my father was a physicist that got me into physics, and then I was really intrigued by quantum physics. What's the most common myth about quantum you ever heard or read? Really the most common myth is that all of your bank accounts are going to be in danger because of quantum computing. Well, it's good to know that isn't true. Do you have any good words to live by? I'd say that, let's see. Breathe. Always take the time out to breathe. Can you tell me a quantum joke? No. What's the best lunch option in the cafeteria at the Yorktown lab? Any sandwich made by Joel. What do you collaborate with most frequently at work? That would have to be Jay Gameda. And if you two had a buddy comedy, what would it be called? Jay and Jerry's Quantum Adventure. What's scarier, giving a TED talk or trying to get qubits to hold their quantum states? Cupid coherence and qubit states. Where do you see yourself in five years? Still leading this effort and pushing forward with our quantum computing. And Dario said you could explain quantum computing to us. Can you? Well, actually, Sarah Sheldon can. Hey, Sarah. Hi. What are you working on right now? I'm looking at one of our devices that we just prepared to cool down in one of our fridges. It was just mounted and wire bonded. What's that sound in here? That's the sound of the cryo coolers, which are the first stage in cooling down the dilution refrigerators that we use to cool our quantum devices. Can you show me what a qubit looks like? Actually, you can see from this chip right here, this is a seven qubit device. Our qubits are superconducting circuits that are fabricated on silicon wafers. What's your current non-scientific obsession? Well, when I have a free moment, I've been catching up on the good place on TV. I'll have to check it out. Is everything quantum?  But in our everyday experience, we don't really see the quantum effects of nature because we're not looking at such a small scale. It's actually why it's very difficult to have an intuitive sense of how quantum works. What's it like to be a female in the field of quantum computing? Well, you get asked that question all the time. In our group at IBM, my colleagues are really great, but we have very few women in quantum. But I think there are so many opportunities to be a part of quantum computing effort from engineering and physics and science. We need to make sure that we include women in all of those opportunities. Can you give me a fun fact about quantum computing? Well, one fact which kind of has to do with the work that I do is thinking about how to represent a quantum state when you have a lot of qubits. So with 50 qubits, if you were to make a bar graph of all the possible states of that qubit, and each state was one pixel, you would need a computer screen that was over 100 million miles wide to represent all possible states.  How long have you worked at IBM? I've been here for four years. And what's been your biggest accomplishment in your time here? The projects that I work on mostly involve trying to calibrate our quantum operations, the gates that are part of our quantum algorithms, and to characterize the errors in the system. So my work has contributed to increasing the two qubit gate fidelities and better understanding the noise. Can you explain quantum computing to me? Jerry said to ask you. Actually, I should really get back to work, but you can talk to Honey. You should ask Pat Wisniev. Let me walk you over to his lab. Can you introduce yourself for us? My name is Honey Paek, and I'm a scientist at TJ Watson Research Center. And what do you work on? I build the quantum devices, and then I design the quantum architecture. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I always wanted to be a scientist, but then it's more like a space scientist or an astronaut. If you were a quantum superhero, what powers would you have? I like to have a superpower to entangle anything I want as long as I want. What would that allow us to do? That it probably give us a quantum computer like a right away. What's your favorite stress reliever? I like to watch Marvel movies. I recently watched the Black Panther, which was awesome. How do you pronounce this word?  What is it? It is the quantum software kit to develop the short-term circuits for near-term quantum applications. Do you have any hidden talents? I like to draw cartoons. What excites you the most about your job right now? So building a quantum computer requires the most advanced science and technology. And tackling the toughest technological challenges together with my colleagues at IBM and the community at IBM Q Experience, that's really fun. How many experiments are running on the IBM Q Experience right now? So far, there are 2.5 million experiments run at IBM Q Experience. What's the coolest thing you've done with the IBM Q Experience? So my colleagues just put up the tutorial to calculate the hydrogen atom energy. And that was really fun to calculate that using IBM Q Experience. If a qubit had a flavor, what flavor would it be? I think it would be spicy. How does IBM's 50 qubit prototype make you feel? That's a really important step towards to build the IBM full-towel and quantum computer. And I'm really proud of that IBM actually accomplished that achievement. Hi. Hi, Bob. Can we come in and ask you some questions about quantum computing? Sure, but let's talk out here. It's a lot quieter. Awesome.  If that makes you happy. What was your first job at IBM? Back in the 1980s, I worked on the displays for notebook computers. When was the first time you observed quantum in real life or quantum IRL? So the first time I saw quantum in real life was back in high school. We had a pocket spectrometer that we could look through at a hydrogen line. And the hydrogen lines are these distinct razor-sharp lines in the spectra, unlike ordinary light. And back in the 1880s, that's the first time humans had seen quantum events. And it was so cool. That's what caused Neil Bohr to start thinking about how atoms are really constructed. So we've been looking at quantum since the 1880s? Yep. Yes. And we still don't understand a lot about it. What's your favorite part of a quantum computer? The payload, the actual qubits themselves. Making them with enough fidelity to useful things, that's where it's at. Cats or dogs? Dogs. What about quantum do you still not understand? Everything. We don't know why it works the way it does. We just know it works this way. What advice would you give to a student interested in quantum? Oh, so learning the scientific method, observing, building models, using those models to actually create things that work, that's what we do. Do you listen to music in your lab? Yes, we do, because it's really noisy in there. Personally, I like acoustic alchemy, Mozart, and Holst. Nice. What would you do with a fault-tolerant quantum computer? We change the world, because a fully fault-tolerant quantum computer is going to be able to do things we can't even imagine now. But way before that, as we're entering the era soon of approximate quantum computing, we'll be able to design new molecules, we'll be able to do optimization, we'll be able to do certain aspects of machine learning, and that will already be transformational in some areas. Can we make up a secret handshake that will allow me to get into the lab some day? Sure, but it has to involve superposition and entanglement. Can you explain quantum computing? Only experimentally, and it's something that the fundamental axioms of quantum computing all come down to observations that we've made and how we explain them with models. We don't know why the universe is built this way, it just is.


And then, with your questions, and who will let us know when we're... Who will let us know when we're... Yes. Thank you for being patient. Yeah, I wasn't really doing anything else. Yeah, we were kind of looking, hoping that you were going to be... I was just thinking. You're just pondering out here? Yeah. I love you. Well, I was also, I have like a book that I was going to open up, but first I was like... What book are you reading? What book are you trying to read? Um, reading Cravity Trainbook. It's really good. Um, I lost the cover to it. It's torn up, which means it's definitely a good book. Yeah, exactly. Especially the book of... The rule of thumb doesn't say the book of thumb. You know, it's been a long day. You're a good guy. Okay. Um, it's been a little bit more than a year. Uh... This way. What way? Yeah, just so you guys are like inside. Okay. All right, and you're good whenever you want to start. Okay. Um... Hi. Um, what's your name? My name is Phillip. What are your thoughts on adding, like, QR codes or signs in other languages for people that maybe don't speak English so they could find, like, let's say bathrooms or transportation, for example, easier? Um, yeah, I mean, why would that be a bad idea? I don't really care. It doesn't affect me. Why not? Um... Uh... What are... What do you think about adding, like, let's say, for example, certain... I don't know, like a certain time every week at established ones. There could be, like, a low noise time for people that might be, like, sensitive to loud sounds. So sure, why not? It doesn't really affect me, so... If that... If people want that, yeah. Um, what would be any, like, public accessibility things you would add if you were able to? Um, let me think for a second. I think especially the lack of public bathrooms is really bad for not only disabled people, but also just, like, people who don't have regular access to a restroom or who have a customer service. Um, I think that's, like, ridiculous. And, like, the only excuses that you could have besides not wanting to pay for the maintenance of one is just, like, you hate homeless people. So... Yeah. My bathrooms are good. Alright. So, I'm all for that, yeah. More the language, yeah. Sorry. I got a longer time. No, that's perfect. Um... What would be your thoughts on establishments having, let's say, one hour on a certain day every week, it'd be a low noise time for people to be, like, sensitive to loud noises, for example, so they could have a better experience? I don't know. It sounds complicated, but one thing I'd like to do is, and I've talked to one state rapper, local counselor, I don't know, not a counselor, but a guy from Colchester who's a state senator about getting, banning loud pipes. I think they're really disruptive. And I think they terrorize a lot of older people. And so there was a bill that he had started to draft, and other states already have in place, and it was put on the side because of the pandemic broke out right when he issued it. It was, like, in January of 2020. And so it was sort of like, okay, we got other problems right now than loud pipes. I'd like to see noise considered as a form of pollution, and even hate the word, but like, terrorism. That's what those guys do, is they drive around elderly people's neighborhoods with the loud pipes. It's really not cool. If you yourself could add any, like, public accessibility things, what would they be? Yeah, we got to ban cars from the downtown of Burlington, I think. I think there just has to be bikes and public transportation.  I think there used to be a trolley. It's a big conspiracy. You guys should check out this film, Kicking for a Ride. It's all about how General Motors, Standard Oil, and Rockefeller, and Firestone Tires bought all the trolleys in 70 or 80 of the major cities in this country and had them all destroyed so they could replace them with buses. Electric power, they just get away with it and replace them with buses. So, yeah, we need to ban cars from the downtown, just like they did at Church Street. Church Street is such a great place. That's where I'm headed now. So, yeah, I'm all for that kind of thing. We need to really realize that this whole country's been, in the last hundred years, been taken over by the auto industry and that the cars are like everything that these streets and these towns are built around and it's just terrible. It's a dirty way to live. The gas is terrible. Electric power is not even safe. Tesla cars are not even necessarily a good alternative. So, something radical needs to be done. You know, radical laws need to be passed to say no more cars that burn a certain level of fuel or make a certain amount of noise in the downtown. It can happen. I know there's, if you can get the city council and other people behind it. But thanks for doing this, guys. Thank you for taking the time out of your day. Appreciate it, guys.


So I've been chosen in my past, I have been predestined to my future, and I have been adopted and accepted in the beloved in my present. Why should this matter to me? What is the cause of all that to be done? Well, he tells us in verse six, look at it, to the praise of the glory of his grace. I want to help you right here for a moment. You have been chosen, predestined, adopted, accepted, in the beloved, all should add up to a praise that comes out of your mouth without being coerced, manipulated, poked up, pried, or otherwise twisted into doing. Ladies and gentlemen, far more than the car you drive in the house you live in to know that I already have a predestined plan that God has outlined, that the devil can't do anything about it, I'll walk in that because I've been chosen. I don't know how you feel about it, but I just came to tell you, when you look at your real blessings, the spiritual blessings that come to every believer that the Father has outlined from the foundation of the world, that order calls you to praise him right in the middle of the day driving down the road, come on somebody, without any choir, without any song, I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Well, because I was one time not adopted, at one time I was not accepted, at one time I wasn't chosen, but now it's all mine.