Yeah, hi So good news and bad news Bad news is David burn is not here. He's not gonna sing for you Good news. I'm not gonna sing either So Shamelessly stole their title from an old talking hats record, but I'm gonna talk as you might expect from me about C++ So Yeah, the the usual Where are we in our? endeavor of Keeping up with the C++ versions in our LibreOffice code base There's Hasn't been that much activity Recently, so we're still since 5.1. We're still with the same Tool chains that we support as the baselines. That's GCC for seven and the Microsoft 2013 compilers We've kind of reached I think we've kind of reached a spot there where the compilers are Good enough to support many of the things But we actively use in the code and there's not that much But we desperately long for that will be available if we if we bump the baseline. So we kind of yeah ran a bit out of enthusiasm to push further Because every bump of baseline, of course means that somebody feels left behind or some some things that some Machinery that used to work needs to be updated as well or wouldn't work anymore. So If you look at the features that we don't have yet where we would benefit from the 2015 compiler or in some cases, they wouldn't also be supported by GCC for seven and would need for eight If you look at that list, it's mostly things that we've kind of covered. So for example const expressions we do have a configured time check for those and Then have macros around features where we benefit from from having these available in the code But in a way that if they are not available on the compiler then the code still compiles But maybe does something compute something at runtime that it would otherwise Compute at compile time. So there's not much lost there the the the rest qualifiers on the functions That's mostly a feature to to catch Uses of like when you use a function that modifies the the the member function that modifies the object and you call that on a temporary and The effect of modifying the temporary is get log got gets lost afterwards That's a buck in your code and and you you you misuse that function and didn't notice We can catch those With ref qualifiers and we do in some cases And that only then warrants on the compilers that we use that threat safe statics. We have this ugly RTL static stuff to cover these for the micros and still use that on the Microsoft compiler So that's all things that We would benefit from them. We do benefit all the way from them. So there's yeah We'll keep it at that the one thing that we might find interesting in some places is that our Unicode or our Unicode string support we have that cell Unicode type def Which on platforms that do support native Unicode utf 16? Type the car 16 t type We use that one internally now on Microsoft We still use that w car t thing internally So if we had uniform support for these Unicode string literals for the you In front of the string literal then we could do In some places we have Non-asky string literals in the code that we want to represent represent in some way So what we do there now is to do a static array of cell Unicodes and then Put in the individual characters there and use that in a few places We could use a more Allegiance syntax there, but that's not that many cases of places in the code and for a single string for single character things like if you had some place in the code that wanted to replace that P in a circle With the text you could you could already use that Syntax that I put there and and and that works already so Yeah, as I said, we're kind of Reach the reach the spot where we are quite comfortable with for the for the moment and maybe even for the foreseeable future Unless somebody gets enthusiastic and wants to bump baselines again So that's 11 and 14 Next standard that's coming up will be C++ 17 which is already quite Stable and finished and the assumption is that compilers will pick that up More or less quickly and especially some of the Sugar type of Improvements there I want to go through some of them because Compilers will probably pick up the more trivial or more easily implemented sugar stuff Fastest and it still can can can bring some benefit to how we write code so one is this new syntax The problem is you have a we have a function that returns Multiple things like if you have a container and you insert you call the insert function Then it returns a pair of the iterator Where it got inserted and a Boolean flag whether it actually inserted it or whether the element was already there And then the iterator will point to the existing element So there's a new syntax now to bind multiple variables simultaneously to the return values of a function This could return a pair or it could return a tuple or it could return an array even so there's and and there's also you can also use that with some some way with With your own classes you can declare how your class would be Destructured into binding to multiple variables But this is kind of like the the most the most simple use case for it You have a pair that gets returned in the old code That is down there You would have used first and second to operate on the members of that now you can give them give them easily used names This pairs nicely with an next New feature which is initializers in if statements That's similar to how you can declare variables that are local to a for loop Now you will be able to do that also for if and for switch statements so that You don't pull you the out in namespace with having these names that are only useful within your your if Like for example, if you pair that with a with a decomposition Destructuring bindings You see how how elegantly you now Declare some variables Then have the test on that in that one statement and inside of that if block You can use that So assume that all that all things that will come more or less quickly To a compiler near you One more thing is the context expression if feature Where I Yeah, look for an example that we actually have on the code that will benefit from that and I found one that is Yeah, maybe not the ideal example, but but it does show the benefit Of these but the the idea is That you have an if expression in if statement That is evaluated at compile time and Where only one of the two branches that the branch that is actually taken needs to be Meaningful both of them have to be syntactically valid because the compiler of course needs to parse past the closing record of the other branch but the It doesn't Go into that branch and doesn't look into it more closely so for example the code below at the bottom is We have some place where we do some Template trickery on on different Kind of kind of enums with their underlying types and they could be signed or unsigned and we want to check whether some some actual value is Non-negative so for the case Where we are unsigned if we would actually write Value greater equal than zero then the compiler would warn That this is non-signed so it would never be Less than zero so we would get a compiler warning so to avoid that warning because we want to be warning free of course So what do we do? We do some even more heavy trigger Trickery on on top of that with standard enable if stuff so we have two functions Actually the one is only enabled if if the type is signed and then we do the actual Comparison against zero and the other one is only enabled if it's an unsigned type and then we always return true because it can't be negative That's much more intuitively written with a constant expression if thing where you actually see what's going on instead of having this Plop at the bottom where you have to decide a What's that all about and and then it's something trivial as you can see in the upper code block So that's always already also something that will much improve readability of the code so next thing up is That as of lately We have a new Garrett Jenkins a billboard so whenever you commit some patch to Garrett then different Jenkins bots will test out try out your your patch see if it compiles see if it doesn't produce any warnings we had bots that run on on on Linux on Mac and on Windows what we didn't check so far is the Linux with Clang and all the plugins compiler tool chain and Our our plugins are very picky by now So it often happens that people commit some patches that have Sometimes trivial sometimes not so trivial issues that the plugins warn about the Clang plugins So what we now have is a fourth bot that is triggered on every Garrett patch submission That is now checking that patch on The plugins that the Clang plugins build For now that means that there is for every Jenkins report for your Garrett patch. There's two lines of Bills that are triggered and when you click on the one for the the Garrett the the the Clang version Then you get to a page where it where the where it says default Which is a bit unlucky because you might get lost on that page But if you if you click on that default then you can go to the to the output So if it says that it failed then you'll need to to hop To get to to why it failed Norbert he's not here at the moment I think he told me that he'll improve that so that we are again back with a with only one Status report for all four bots So that confusion will go away, but I wanted to show it to you what it looks like today so that you're Not confused by now having two lines of success or failure mails for your Patches so if you do get a failure for that, please do look Do these hops to see why it failed? Oftentimes I said it's trivial things like there's a plug-in to check that you didn't use the null macro But instead use C++ 11 null pointer or there's a plug-in that checks whether a Trivial function could be member function could be static So these are also easily fixed then there's more beefy ones like one checking for misuses of VCL pointer stuff Where you can? It's not okay for example to do these on on heap On on on the stack to create them on the stack and stuff like that so we check for that So if there's any if any of the reports that you get You don't understand or don't know what how to fix them I think you'll always reach somebody on the mailing list or on I see to to Clarify that or to get that sorted out, but please do look after them because otherwise when the Once that they hit the master Then the next person who submits a patch of course will run into the same Built breaker because the master is already poisoned So After this I come to the second part the food part is actually about a shooting in your food with C++ always a favorite never going away and I once again have a look through our commits and Code and identified some of the more amusing things that you might want to look out for One is the auto thing what's bad about this? Little piece of code where somebody Reroge existing code to use use the new for statement The range based for Where looks good is it good? No What happens is that we? Create a copy for every iteration through the loop Because what a map? Begin So so what happens in the in the actual for loop is that you call from begin to end You get the iterators into the into the map and then work on them Name this our label and what you actually get back is Not a pair of a yo string and a yo string But a pair of a key and a value and the key is always const so that standard pair is Different from the standard pair that we have up there. So the compiler internally creates a copy of that Because you can you can implicitly convert from the from one to the other, but it needs to do a copy conversion Create a copy a temporary for that So this code above is actually quite suboptimal Is that But I guess I was understandable anyway good So the easy fix as always is don't specify your types because you typically get them wrong So just use an auto and and everything is soft and there's no there's no issue Something also to do with Containers something amusing some amusing you syntax and c++ 14 that is is So-called transparent containers you might never have heard of them before The problem is you have some Structure or some class that you want to use in a set and each element of that class already has a defining Some identity like you have a string that represents it and a unique string So you don't want to have a map from these strings to these items because each item already contains that string So that would be cut off redundant. So you use this set of these items But then how do you actually access the element from the set with a given identity So there was some very funny code Some old code in there that Went to great lengths and I distilled it down to to what it did It defined one static object of this item type and whenever you wanted to search or search the set For for an element you you only have that find function on the set that takes an item You don't have a find function that takes only a string So you had a static why it was static I don't know but it even adds to the fun of of how Over dose that was so you you have a static sign the idea to it and and then you Use that one item To search in that set of items What you of course do in C++ 11 with that is That you don't use find where you have to put in an actual item object But you use find if where you specify the condition What the what what on on on on a feature of that item only and you specify that You find one where the ID matches what you can do with C++ 14 is Something that looks very funny. You you change your set To be a so-called transparent set and you do that with that funny little syntax there So if you ever run across that syntax and wonder what that means, that's just What this is it's so-called transparent containers. So what that does is the find function Whatever you put into the find function needs no longer be an actual object of type item But it's just some arguments that are forwarded to the internal comparison function. So what this find actually Does in code is of course at some point it needs to compare an element in the set with this argument that you pass in and you use The perfect forwarding internally for these arguments And they are they are used to actually compare So if you then also define the necessary comparison operators between an item and a string both ways then those will magically work and No longer need To create an item just for the sake of searching for an item with the same ID So this is just Once more Another thing that happens Sometimes but for which luckily at least clang I think this is a clang warning that gets emitted. So we don't run into these This is a case of Creating an object and Then returning it By value So a unique pointer in this case gets returned by value from the from the function and there's this Return value optimization so that you don't create Additional copies of it when you return it out. So Per standard the there there should be some some Copy when you move it out of it, but you can you don't the compiler doesn't need to to emit that copy and construction actually So you can you can spare a copy there, but By Chaining this old code to use unique standard unique pointer Probably before that it used a pointer or something a naked pointer something the person who did that Accidentally inserted a standard move there because may probably because they thought Unique pointers always need to be moved But what happens in that case is that that doesn't Buy you anything so there's no advantage in having a move there, but it also Passes your code by formally disallowing that return value optimization So because there's now no longer only the name of a local variable that gets returned out Standards as you can't Elite the copy construction. So this is sorry. This is actually not making the code Better in any way it makes the code worse So always always in return statements be wary of using standard move because it never Improves things and typically Makes them worse also in the cases where you return a temporary But as I said, there's a compiler warning for that so at least with one compiler and Any questions am I way too fast way above So I come to some lighter part now some some fun trivia At the end Quiz time so kind of virtual function be defined as deleted Do you think does that make any sense? Opinions a clear maybe yes, yes it can actually I Doesn't make any sense. I don't know it actually also doesn't Result and I thought maybe that would result in a in a in a class with with no v-table Just the RTTE information, but actually at least the the GCC and then Clang ABI does have a slot there To a to this deleted virtual Stop that then upwards your program if it should ever be called We can extend that to kind of pure virtual function a Pure virtual can it override a non-pure one? Does that make any sense? Undecided as well. And so yes that that works as well and That one actually could be useful because there's some places in the code where we have virtual functions that Should never be called and we have some asserts in there so we could either make them pure or or deleted and That could actually be used to clean up a few places in the code that it


Proteins like DNA are polymeric compounds and they are made up of amino acids. So in a protein molecule, amino acids are the repeating units. Different amino acids join together and they make protein molecules. Proteins range in size from small to very large. For example, some proteins may contain up to thousands of amino acids. So proteins are very big molecules. All the proteins are made up of 20 different amino acids. And as all the proteins are made up of these 20 amino acids, so these 20 amino acids are called standard amino acids. Here you can see the structure of an amino acid. So in this amino acid, there is one amino group and there is one carboxylic group. And both these groups are attached to a carbon atom, which is called alpha carbon. So to this alpha carbon, one hydrogen is attached and to the other side, one R group is attached. So if you see the structure of an amino acid, you will find in all the amino acids all these things constant. I mean, all the amino acids have carboxylic group, a amino group and one hydrogen. So what is variable? This R group is variable. In 20 different amino acids, there are 20 different types of R groups are present and these 20 R groups make 20 different types of amino acids. Here you can see the structures of different amino acids. For example, this is glycine and in glycine there is one carboxylic group, one amino group, one hydrogen and the R group is hydrogen. So this is simplest amino acid in which R group is hydrogen. Here you can see alanine. Again there is one carboxylic group, one amino group and the R group is methyl. This is another simple amino acid. Then you can see serine. This is R group of serine. Then trunine. This is a little bigger than the other amino acids. Then there is cysteine. This is R group of cysteine. And in cysteine, you can see here sulfur is present. So cysteine is a sulfur containing amino acid. Then there is valine. Here the R group is this. Then leucine. R group is this. Isoleucine has R group like this. Then another amino acid is methionine. Methionine also contains sulfur. So cysteine and methionine. These two are sulfur containing amino acids. Then there is proline. Proline has its R group in the form of this ring. So proline is quite different from all the other types of amino acids. Then there are some other amino acids like phenylalanine. Phenylalanine also contains this phenyl group. Then tyrosine. Also similar one. Then tryptophan. And aspartic acid and glutamic acid. So these aspartic acid and glutamic acid are charged amino acids. And these are negatively charged amino acids. Then aspargin glutamine. Glutamine has quite big R group. Then histidine, lysine and arginine. All these three amino acids are also charged amino acids. But they are positively charged amino acids. So here you have seen 20 different types of amino acids. With 20 different types of R groups. In a protein molecule. Each amino acid residue is joined to its neighboring amino acid. By a specific type of covalent bond which is called peptide bond. So two amino acids are joined together through a covalent linkage. And this covalent linkage is a bit different from normal covalent linkages. So this covalent linkage is called peptide bond. Here you can see two amino acids. One is this. The other one is this. These two amino acids combine together. One water molecule is eliminated. And with the elimination of this water molecule covalent bond is established. Between this carbon, carbonyl carbon and this nitrogen. This bond is actually covalent bond. But this is called peptide bond. So in this way two amino acids join together through a peptide linkage. Similarly third, fourth, fifth and so on. Other amino acids can also join to make a long chain of amino acids. A amino acid can successfully join to form dipeptides. Tripe peptides if they contain three amino acids. Tetra peptides containing four amino acids. Oligopeptides containing few amino acids. And polypeptide containing many amino acids. So if a polypeptide is formed we cannot say it is a protein. Because polypeptide is a polypeptide chain. And after some organization, conformational organization. This polypeptide is transformed into a protein molecule. For example here you can see this is a polypeptide chain. Different amino acids are joined together in this polypeptide. This is simply a polypeptide chain. This is not a protein. In this polypeptide chain there undergoes some conformational organization. And it forms this helical structure. This is secondary structure of protein. And this simple chain is called primary structure of protein. So after secondary organization further organization takes place in the polypeptide chain. And it forms tertiary organizational level. And now we can call this polypeptide as a protein. And in some other proteins this tertiary level go beyond. And it make quaternary level. So these are different levels of organization in a protein molecule.


Keep them out on a burning crease. Keep them slow. Spam slow on a Spam it Really good, I got three burns on him here.  You'll try and drink I can stop it Got him They're okay Send the ghoul on priest, okay Say on priest down priest Yeah, we're drinking Thank you, thank you Rich girl He's buffing himself. So I'm gonna look for purge in the barrel early. Okay, we can maybe do further What am I?  Maybe you can kick priest. Yes, soon. I can feel priests there if you want Okay, when you're ready. There's gage Girls act just come in line.  I'll always Yeah, they both have trinkets Don't line me, please. You're lining me hardcore in it. He misfear. I'm gonna double priest world Okay, we're blind Got the bar Yeah, yeah, I don't know about the blind Yeah, sure. What's the fear? I Filled it a leaf I feel them you want me to keep them I Keep them. Yeah, you're lining me. You should go for all here. Yeah, big down Don't share this body. How is warrior power? It's it's pretty tricky Oh, I just bought the vanish too clean, man Yeah, just try to set We play this kind of the same just a priest. Okay, we can I got in combat dispelling priest Got the shield dotting him up rogue clerked Silence me. I pre-ps it They're on me. Just peel rogue a bit for me here. Maybe Bristle had a spurs. He vanished on you. Which I Rogue is here. Okay. You can carry on.  I'm in kidney. I can't get it. I'm seeing rogue Silence on me. I just clock out. Okay. Gage on me. You get the cloak. You're fine Reese's third Big heel. You want to go rogue or rogue still a string actually? We can just go rogue Just go rogue. Just go rogue. I got him up We'll get a cloak here probably For me. Shit.  Actually, there's no silence.  I'm emcee. You need to stop it Hitting you Maybe come down. I actually didn't get wound on you. You see me. You need to come to the edge. I'm down bottom Yeah, I sure did you sure did you sure did you? Bearing off. Don't break it Please cheap shot me a road cheap. Show me what I'm saying Rogue has no cloak for 10. You can maybe kill him Fine increase Jody you can read. I'll keep rogue.  Good job, dude


Scott Walker concedes governor's race. Sheboygan County voter turnout tops 80 percent. City of Sheboygan passes 2019 budget. These stories and more on this edition of Community News Review. This is Community News Review Service WSDS-TV News Contact divided by WHBL. Good day I'm Maddie Fister and this is Community News Review for Wednesday November 7th, 2018. Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker narrowly lost his bid for a third term Tuesday to Democratic State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers. It was the closest governor's race in the state in decades so close that Walker's Lieutenant Governor Rebekah Kleefish said before the race was called that they would likely call for a recount. Under provisions of a law Walker signed last year candidates who lose by one percent or less can demand a recount. Evers margin on Tuesday was 1.2 percent. Governor Scott Walker officially conceded the race and released a statement Wednesday afternoon on his website congratulating Evers and thanking his supporters. Republican Representative Glenn Grofman has is being awarded a third term in Congress after he was declared the winner of the Sixth Congressional District. Since the 1960s that district has been in the hands of the GOP. Grofman's opponent Dan Cole released a statement congratulating him on the victory on Tuesday night. In Grofman's garnered 55 percent of the vote. Cole received 45 percent. Incubant Republican State Senator Devin Lemahue came out on top in the race against Kyle Welton Tuesday night picking up 44,677 votes. Kyle Welton had 31,683 votes. That amounted to a 59 to 41 percent difference. Republican Terry Katzman of Usberg will continue representing the 26 assembly district defeating his challenger Rebecca Clark 58 to 42 percent. Republican Tyler Vorpigal will continue representing the 27th assembly district picking up 60 percent of the votes. And Corey Riesler has been elected sheriff of Sheboygan County and he was appointed to the post by Governor Walker late last year when Todd Preby announced his retirement. Riesler picked up 33,642 votes. His opponent Philip Schaefer received 18,360 votes. 83 percent of registered voters in Sheboygan County turned out to cast their ballots yesterday. The unofficial election results from the county clerk's office show that the county leaned Republican last night. With Scott Walker, Brad Schameel, Jay Schroeder, Leah Bookmore, Glenn Groffman, Devin Lemahue, Terry Katzman, Tyler Vorpigal all taking more votes than their Democratic opponents. Wisconsin may have a new attorney general to go along with a new governor after Josh Call declared a victory Wednesday morning. Unofficial vote totals put Call ahead of the incumbent Brad Schameel by around 22,000 votes. In his victory speech, Call said that he'll be pulling Wisconsin from the fight against the Affordable Care Act and to work as a watchdog for his constituents. Schameel has not conceded in the race yet, saying he's waiting for more official vote totals before making that step. In addition to referendum questions on medical and recreational marijuana used and school funding, voters in several Wisconsin counties had their say on nonbinding issues surrounding the state's dark store loophole as well. Both Portage County and the city of Merrill passed the straw poll question with overwhelming support. The same goes for voters in Brown Green Lake, Manitowoc, Winnebago and Otagami counties as well. Lawmakers have been trying to close the loophole for several years, but have run into roadblocks set up by big box stores who argue that their property should be taxed as if it is a dark or vacant. Municipalities say that the stores should be taxed at a higher rate because they require more services than a store that is closed. They also argue that the lower tax rate for the stores means residents end up paying a higher rate for their taxes to make up the difference. All told, some 17 counties and six cities and villages support their version of the nonbinding referendum. The information will now be passed on to state lawmakers in hopes that the tax loophole will be closed in the coming session. The city of Sheboygan passes its 2019 budget and the vote at Monday night's council meeting was unanimous to pass the one hundred and twenty eight million dollar spending plan for the city. Last year's budget came in at a price of nearly one hundred and twenty two million dollars. So the new budget will be up by six point four million dollars. As for the tax levy, it is going to be increasing by one point nine percent.  And that is up 19 cents from the last budget. And that does it for this edition of Community News Review. Join me again next week for another recap of our local news. News content for this program provided by WHBL in cooperation WSCS TV.


II A piece of ice, a jagged, triangular strip of ice, measuring one hundred feet at its base, and scarcely five hundred in its greatest extent, and on it twenty-one human beings, some hundred furred animals, a few dogs, and a large bear, which was at this moment crouching at the very edge. Yes, all the luckless colonists were there. Not one had yet been swallowed up. The last rupture had occurred when they were all in the shed. Thus far fate had spared them, probably that they might all perish together. A silent, sleepless night ensued. No one spoke or moved, for this lightest shake or blow might suffice to break the ice. No one would touch the salt-meat served round by Mrs. Jolieve. What would be the good of eating? Nearly every one remained in the open air, feeling that it would be better to be drowned in the open sea than in a narrow wooden shed. The next day, June 5, the sun shone brightly down upon the heads of the doomed band of wanderers. All were still silent, and seemed anxious to avoid each other. Many gazed with troubled, anxious eyes at the perfect circle of the horizon, of which the miserable little strip of ice formed the centre. But the sea was absolutely deserted, not a sail, not an ice-flow, not an islet. Their own piece of ice was probably the very last floating on the Bering Sea. The temperature continued to rise. The wind had gone down, and a terrible calm had set in. A gentle swell heaved the surface of the sea, and the morsel of earth and ice, which was all that was left of Victoria Island, rose in sank, without change of position, like a wreck. And what was it but a wreck? But a wreck, a piece of woodwork, a broken mast, or a few planks, remained floating. They offer some resistance to the waves, they will not melt. But this piece of ice, this solidified water, must dissolve with the heat of the sun. This piece of ice had formed the thickest part of the island, and this will explain its having lasted so long. A layer of earth and plenty of vegetation covered it, and the base of ice must have been of considerable thickness. The long, bitter polar winters must have fed it with fresh ice. In countless centuries, during which it was connected with the mainland, even now its mean height was five or six feet above the sea level, and its base was probably of about the same thickness. Although in these quiet waters it was not likely to be broken, it could not fail gradually to melt, and the rapid dissolution could actually be watched at the edges, for as the long waves licked the sides, piece after piece of ground, with its verdant covering sank to rise no more. On this fifth June a fall of this nature occurred at about one o'clock p.m. on the site of the shed itself, which was very near the edge of the ice. There was fortunately no one in it at the time, and all that was saved was a few planks, and two or three of the timbers of the roofs. Most of the cooking utensils and all the astronomical instruments were lost. The colonists were now obliged to take refuge on the highest part of the islet, where nothing protected them from the weather. But fortunately a few tools had been left there, with the air-pumps and the air-vessel, which Hobson had employed for catching a little of the rain-water for drinking purposes, as he no longer dared to draw for a supply upon the ice, every atom of which was of value. At about four o'clock p.m. the soldier Callet, the same who had already given signs of insanity, came to Mrs. Barnett and said quietly, "'I am going to drown myself, ma'am.' "'What, Callet?' exclaimed the lady.  "'I have thought the matter well over. There is no escape for us, and I prefer dying at once, to waiting to be killed.' "'Calle,' said Mrs. Barnett, taking the man's hand and looking into his face, which was strangely composed, "'You will not do that?' "'Yes, I will, ma'am. And as you have always been very good to us all, I wanted to wish you good-bye.' "'Good-bye, ma'am.' And Callet turned towards the sea. Mrs. Barnett terrified at his manner, threw herself upon him, and held him back. Her cries brought Hobbeson and Long to her assistance, and they did all in their power to dissuade the unhappy man from carrying out his purpose. But he was not to be moved, and merely shook his head. His mind was evidently disordered, and it was useless to reason with him. It was a terrible moment, as his example might lead some of his comrades to commit suicide also. At all hazards he must be prevented from doing as he threatened. "'Calle,' said Mrs. Barnett gently, with half a smile, "'we have always been very good friends, have we not?' "'Yes, ma'am,' replied Callet calmly, "'Well, Callet, if you like we will die together, but not to-day.' "'What, ma'am?' "'No, my brave fellow, I am not ready, but to-morrow, to-morrow, if you like.' The soldier looked more fixedly than ever at the courageous woman, and seemed to hesitate an instant. Then he cast a glance of fierce longing at the sea, and, passing his hand over his eye, said, "'Tomorrow.' And without another word he quietly turned away, and went back to his comrades. "'Poor fellow,' murmured Mrs. Barnett, "'I have asked him to wait till to-morrow, and who can say whether we shall not all be drowned by that time?' Throughout that night Tobson remained motionless upon the beach, pondering whether there might not yet be some means to check the dissolution of the islet, if it might not yet be possible to preserve it until they came in sight of land of some sort. Mrs. Barnett and Maj did not leave each other for an instant. Calumaha crouched like a dog at the feet of her mistress, and tried to keep her warm. Mrs. McNabb, wrapped in a few furs the remains of the rich stores of Fort Hope, had fallen into a kind of turpor, with her baby clasped in her arms. This star shone with extraordinary brilliancy, and no sounds broke the stillness of the night but the rippling of the waves, and the splash of the pieces of ice as they fell into the sea. The colonists, stretched upon the ground in scattered groups, were as motionless as corpses on an abandoned wreck. Time Sergeant Long rose and peered into the night-mests, but seeing nothing he resumed his horizontal position. The bear, looking like a great white snowball, cowered motionless at the very edge of the strip of ice. This night also passed away without any incident to modify the situation. The gray morning dawned in the east, and the sun rose and dispersed the shadows of the night. The lieutenant's first care, as soon as it was light, was to examine the piece of ice. Its perimeter was still more reduced, and alas its mean height above the sea-level had sensibly diminished. The waves, quiet as they were, washed over the greater part of it. The summit of the little hill alone was still beyond their reach. Long, too, saw the changes which had taken place during the night, and felt that all hope was gone. Mrs. Barnett joined Lieutenant Hobbson, and said to him, �It will be to-day, then.� �Yes, madam, and you will keep your promise to Calais.� �Lieutenant Hobbson,� said the lady solemnly, �Have we done all in our power?� �We have, madam.� Then God's will be done. One last attempt was, however, major in the day. A strong breeze set in from the offing, that is to say, a wind bearing to the southeast, the direction in which were situated the nearest of the Aleutian islands. How far off no one could say, as without instruments the bearings of the island could not be taken. It was not likely to have drifted far, however, unless under the influence of the current, as it gave no hold to the wind. Still it was just possible that they might be nearer land than they thought. If only a current, the direction of which it was impossible to ascertain, had taken them nearer to the much-longed-for Aleutian islands. Then as the wind was bearing down upon those very islands, it might drive the strip of ice before it, if a sail of some kind, could be concocted. The ice had still several hours to float, and in several hours the land might come in sight, or, if not the land, some coasting or fishing-vessel. A forlorn hope truly, but it suggested an idea to the lieutenant which he resolved to carry out. Could not a sail be contrived on the island as on an ordinary raft? There could be no difficulty in that, and when Hobson suggested it to McNabb, he exclaimed, You are quite right, sir, adding to his men, bring out all the canvas there is. Everyone was quite revived by this plan, slight as was the chance it afforded, and all lent a helping hand, even Calais, who had not yet reminded Mrs. Barnette of her promise. A beam, which had once formed part of the roof of the barracks, was sunk deep into the earthen sand of which the little hill was composed, and firmly fixed with ropes, a range like shrouds and a stay. A sail, made of all the claws and coverlets, still remaining, fastened onto a strong pole for a yard, was hoisted on the mast. This sail, or rather collection of sails, suitably set, swelled in the breeze, and by the wake it left it was evident that the strip of ice was rapidly moving towards the southeast. It was a success, and everyone was cheered with newly awakened hope. They were no longer stationary, they were advancing slowly it was true, but still they were advancing. The carpenter was particularly elated. All eagerly scanned the horizon, and had they been told that no land could be sited they would have refused to believe it. So it appeared, however, for the strip of ice floated along the waves for three hours in the center of an absolutely circular and unbroken horizon. The poor colonists still hoped on. At three o'clock the lieutenant took the sergeant aside, and said to him, We are advancing at the cost of the solidity and duration of our eyelet. What do you mean, sir? I mean that the ice is being rapidly fretted away as it moves along. Its speed is hastening, its dissolution, and since we set sail it has diminished one third. Are you quite sure? Absolutely certain. The ice is longer and flatter. The sea is not more than ten feet from the hill. It was true, and the result was what might naturally have been expected from the motion of the ice. Sergeant, resumed Hobson, do you think we ought to take down our sail? I think, replied Long, after a moment's reflection, that we should consult our comrades. We ought all to share the responsibility of a decision now. The lieutenant bent his head in a scent, and the two returned to their old position on the little hill. Hobson put the case before the whole party. The speed we have given to the ice, he said, is causing it to wear away rapidly, and will perhaps hasten the inevitable catastrophe by a few hours. My friends, you must decide whether we shall still go on. Four words, all cried, with one voice. So it was decided, and as it turned out, the decision was fraught with consequences of incalculable importance. At six o'clock p.m. Madge Rose, and, pointing to a point on the southeast, cried, Land! Everyone started up as if struck by lightning. Land there was indeed, on the southeast, twelve miles from the island. More sail, more sail, shouted Hobson. He was understood, and fresh materials were hastily brought. On the shrouds a sort of studying sail was rigged up of clothes, furs, everything in short, that could give hold to the wind. The speed increased as the wind freshened, but the ice was melting everywhere. It trembled beneath the feet of the anxious watchers, and might open at any moment. But they would not think of that. They were buoyed up with hope. Safety was at hand. On the land they were rapidly nearing. They shouted they made signals. They were in a delirium of excitement. At half-past seven the ice was much nearer the land, but it was visibly melting, and sinking rapidly. Water was gushing from it, and the waves were washing over it, sweeping off the terrified quadrupeds before the eyes of the colonists. Every instant they expected the whole mass to be engulfed, and it was necessary to lighten it like a sinking vessel. Every means was tried to check the dissolution. The earth and sand were carefully spread about, especially at the edges of the ice, to protect it from the direct influence of the sunbeams, and furs were laid here and there as being bad conductors of heat. But it was of no avail. The lower portion of the ice began to crack, and several fissures opened in the surface. It was now but a question of moments. Night set in, and there was nothing left for the poor colonists to do, to quicken the speed of the islet. Some of them tried to paddle about on planks. The coast was still four miles to windward. It was a dark gloomy night without any moon, and Hobson, whose heroic courage did not even now fail him, shouted, A signal, my friends, a signal! A pile was made of all the remaining combustibles, two or three planks and a beam.  But this drip of ice continued to melt and sink. Presently the little hill alone remained above the water, and on it the despairing wretches, with a few animals left alive, huddled together, the bear growling fiercely. The water was still rising, and there was no sign that anyone on land had seen the signal.  Could nothing be done to make the ice last longer? In three hours, three short hours, they might reach the land, which was now but three miles to windward. Oh! cried Hobson, if only I could stop the ice from melting. I would give my life to know how, yes, I would give my life. There is one way, suddenly replied a voice. It was Thomas Black who spoke. The astronomer, who had not opened his lips for so long, and who had long since appeared dead to all that was going on. Yes, he continued, there is one way of checking the dissolution of the ice, there is one way of saving us all. All gathered eagerly round the speaker, and looked at him inquiringly. They thought he must have misheard what he had said. Well, asked Hobson, what way do you mean? To the pumps replied Black simply. Was he mad? Did he take the ice for a sinking vessel, with ten feet of water in the hold? The air pumps were at hand, together with the air vessel, which Hobson had been using as a reservoir for drinking water. But of what use could they be? Could they harden the ice which was melting all over? He is mad, exclaimed Long. To the pumps, repeated the astronomer, filled the reservoir with air. Do as he tells you, cried Mrs. Barnette. The pumps were attached to the reservoir, the cover of which was closed and bolted. The pumps were at once set to work. The air was condensed under the pressure of several atmospheres. Then Black, taking one of the leather pipes connected with the reservoir, and opening the caulk, let the condensed air escape, walking round the ice, wherever it was melting. Hobson was astonished at the effect produced. Wherever the air was projected by the astronomer, the fishers filled up, and the surface re-frozen. Hurrah! Hurrah! shouted all with one voice. It was tiring enough to work the pumps, but there were plenty of volunteers. The edges of the ice were again solidified, as if under the influence of intense cold. You have saved us, Mr. Black, said Lieutenant Hobson. Nothing could be more natural, replied the astronomer quietly. Nothing in fact could have been more natural, and the physical effort produced may be described as follows. There were two reasons for the relegation. First, under the pressure of the air, the water vaporized on the surface of the ice, produced intense cold, and the compressed air, in expanding, abstracted the heat from the thawed surface, which immediately re-froze. Wherever the ice was opening, the cold cemented the edges, so that it gradually regained its original solidity. This went on for several hours, and the colonists, buoyed up by hope, toiled on with unwearying zeal. They were nearing the coast, and when they were about a quarter of a mile from it, the bear plunged into the sea, and swimming to the shore soon disappeared. A few minutes afterwards the ice ran aground upon a beach, and the few animals still upon it hurried away in the darkness. The colonists disembarked and falling on their knees, returned thanks to God for their miraculous deliverance. It was on the island of Bligini, the last of the Aleutian group, at the extreme south of Bering Sea, that all the colonists of Fort Hope had at last landed, after having traversed eighteen hundred miles since the breaking up of the ice. They were hospitably received by some Aleutian fishermen who had hurried to their assistance, and were soon able to communicate with some English agents of the Hudson's Bay Company. After all the details we had given, it is needless to dwell on the courage and energy of the brave little band, which had proved itself worthy of its noble leader. We know how all struggled with their misfortunes, and how patiently they had submitted to the will of God. We have seen Mrs. Barnett cheering every one by her example in sympathy, and we know that neither she nor those with her yielded to despair when the peninsula on which Fort Hope had been built was converted into a wandering island. When that island became an islet and the islet a strip of ice, or even when that strip of ice was melting beneath the combined influence of sun and waves. If the scheme of the company was a failure, if the new fort had perished, no one could possibly blame Hobson or his companions, who had gone through such extraordinary and unexpected trials. Of the nineteen persons under the lieutenant's charge not one was missing, and he had even two new members in his little colony. Kalumaha and Mrs. Barnett's godson, Michael McNabb. Six days after their rescue the shipwreck mariners arrived at New Archangel, the capital of Russian America. Here the friends, bound together by so many dangers shared, must part, probably forever. Hobson and his men were to return to Fort Reliance across English America, whilst Mrs. Barnett, accompanied by Kalumaha, who would not leave her, Maj. and Thomas Black, intended to go back to Europe, via San Francisco, and the United States. But whilst they were still altogether the lieutenant addressing Mrs. Barnett, said with considerable emotion, God bless you, madam, for all you have been to us, you have been our comforter, our consolar, the very soul of our little world, and I thank you in the name of all. Three chairs for Mrs. Barnett greeted this speech, and each soldier begged to shake her by the hand, whilst the women embraced her affectionately. The lieutenant himself had conceived so warm an affection for the lady, who had so long been his friend and counsellor, that he could not bid her good-bye without great emotion. Can it be that we shall never meet again? he exclaimed. No, lieutenant, replied Mrs. Barnett, we must, we shall meet again. If you do not come and see me in Europe, I will come back to you at Fort Reliance, or to the new factory you will found some day yet. On hearing this, Thomas Black, who had regained the use of his tongue, since he had landed on terra firma, came forward and said, with an air of the greatest conviction, Yes, we shall meet again in thirty-six years. My friends, I miss the eclipse of eighteen sixty, but I will not miss that which will take place under exactly similar conditions in the same latitudes in eighteen ninety-six, and therefore I appoint a meeting with you, lieutenant, and with you, my dear madam, on the confines of the Arctic Ocean thirty-six years hence. End of chapter twenty-four and end of part two by Jules Verne


Good morning. Today I have Terry Lynch from Powernickel. How are you today? Just great today, Tracy. Well, I would say you're great. If it's, is it just me or are these 43101 Compliant Mineral Resource Estimates staggering. Let's talk about that. We're super excited about it. Yeah, we think that shows there's a mind to be had there at Nescomber to find it. Can you talk to some of these highlights here? I'm just reviewing the information here. I see 2.587 million tons. Yeah, can you talk to this please? Yeah, sure. So that's the indicated resource combined between the open pit and the and the decline and the one thing I would draw everyone's attention to is that we use very conservative numbers. Those are you know, another nickel company came out just as we got these numbers with their PEA with numbers that are 25% more aggressive on the pricing side used as a PEA. So it's still obviously allowed by port if you want to one. So if we use those numbers, our numbers have yet by 25% in terms of tonnage. So but we felt we did that because we wanted to that's what talent metals used in their deposit and we sort of see ourselves as a comparable to them. Obviously not as good as they are right now, but hope springs eternal. But yeah, I mean, it's it's a great first start and you can look at the isometric views and you can see very plainly where we can go with infill drilling to add a bunch of times fairly easily and fairly low risk. So that's exciting for us as as the mind developers we sort of see that as a really low risk get.  I don't know about power nickel. Let's back you up for a second. Okay, let's talk about the James Bay area where you're located, which is a prominent location for a lot of producers. So you've got the infrastructure. Why don't you provide us with an interview of the NISC nickel project, please? Sure. Yeah. So NISC was we acquired it an option to acquire 80% from our partner critical elements. Critical elements is a very fine lithium junior mine explorer that's developing the very great rose lithium deposit in the neighborhood about 40 clicks away. Namaskar lithium is just about 10 clicks away. The airport's about 10 clicks away. We're across the road from major hydrocrbex substation. So you can literally drive to the site and you can stay in a hotel and you know, that's so rare in mine you can't believe to understand how rare that is. So it's really cool. So we're super close to infrastructure. We'll be the greenest nickel mine in history because of the access to the you know, Quebec hydro grid and it's right there. So we're pretty stoked about publication and obviously Quebec is you know, probably the you know, the most preferred location to develop a mine at the world, I'd say today because of the chief power and the being very pro mining friendly. The Cree are the native Indian band that's in the neighborhood. They're very supportive to the mining projects. There are three of them are already being developed. You know, our partner Critical Elements has great relationships with the Cree and we're expecting to sort of tag on with that and grow that relationship. And yeah, we're pretty excited about it as a great place to move forward and you know, create candidates next to nickel sulphide mine. And of course, I'm going to back you up here. We have a number of critical points to go with your announcement. Let's start with what you have now. A lot of people out there are following nickel because of what's happening with Russia and the Ukraine, but you also have copper, cobalt, platinum, and the palladium group of metals. Can you just talk to us a little bit more about your wide group of materials and metals and resources that you actually have here? Yeah, we're super excited to have such a metallic mix in our deposit. It really de-risks it in many ways. And you know, we're having copper, cobalt, palladium, and platinum. It basically adds almost another, we go from about 0.72, 0.75 nickel to 1.25. So it's that good. It adds almost 60, 70%. So it really de-risks it and makes it much easier to develop. And of course, I have history with you, Teri. So I appreciate the quality of qualified persons that you've selected. Would you like to talk to us a little bit about the group that provided the metal resource? Yeah, you know, 3DGO is really a smart group of young engineers and geologists in Quebec, and they've had a lot of experience in this neighborhood. And that's why we select them. We basically met them through critical elements that they've done work for. And they hit the ground running because they knew the lay of the land, they've done a couple of their minds in that area. And that's critical in any sort of mind project to get professionals that know the turf.  He's a geologist that went anywhere in the world. But it's great to have domain expertise. And these guys have terrific domain expertise. And a good geologist is a scientist, but he's also an artist. You got to have a feel for where Mother Earth is hiding things. And some guys have it. Some guys don't.  But some guys got away with resource. And these guys come up with a model concept that was fantastic. And our drill program, we did only a 2,500 meter drill program. And it added like almost 40% of the historic resource rate out of the gate. So, you know, that's staggering. So we got 5,000 meters coming. What are we going to have with that? So get excited, folks. We have done stories before on the power of treasure hunters because we agree with you, Terry. There's a lot of people with the right designations, but they couldn't find anything to save their lives. So we are going to cut this quickly and get it to the street because we understand you're going to be doing a large teleconference this morning at 10.30 to discuss your results. Indeed. Thanks so much, Tracy, for having me on. And I hope you'll follow up with us in a couple of weeks so we can find out what the aftermath is of these results hitting the street. Thank you, Terry. Perfect. Cheers for now.


Here's Jean-Carlo on the science dealings again. Well, this was this morning in Tampa. I think They did a very poor I guess bringing it bringing their side to it. I mean they They didn't have a problem being in front of the cameras and enjoying all the light when they were doing it in 17 and now they have to explain themselves and point fingers and Talking for this guy's guys talking for this guy. And you know, you gotta you gotta own up when It goes on with his issues with the scandal the way they've handled it I don't think the penalties were harsh enough players why player wise I think that At the end of the day gives you It gives more incentive To to do that if you're not gonna punish the players Part of it. All right So this is jumping off point because toward the end of yesterday's show Rob Manfred the commissioner baseball was giving his second address in The last three days. This one was in Arizona at the spring training homes of the Arizona teams And he essentially what he did was he put the ball in the court of the players Association So all the players are angry and they're angry at Manfred for not disciplining the Astros and We laid this out yesterday and Manfred more Forcedfully laid it out. He said the rules of engagement in being able to talk to the Astros the rules of engagement drawn up by the players Association was that they must be granted immunity or he would not or they would not allow them to speak to investigators so 3% of the union 3% out of a hundred 3% of the union played for the Astros in 2017. So that means 97% Seemed like they're very very angry with the Astros did but I think their anger is misplaced Yeah, you can be angry at Manfred for his heavy-handed dumb comment about Piece of metal when he's talking about the commissioner's trophy be angry at him about that You can be angry at him about the baseball whatever you want But don't be angry at him when it comes to not disciplining players He didn't have it on his own role in our right and our our responsibility. What is that Peter? I did that wasn't me It was an accident. Well, it wasn't my accident though. Okay, so the bottom line is You can't force a guy to do what he legally cannot do now the players Association Rather Then as Andrew would say just take the L They come back and said they said they didn't want to prosecute the players that they didn't want to punish the players That was never even on the table. Yeah, they said that but obviously if they had found something They didn't like they would have wanted to punish the players But then the union came back, which is their right and said we're not letting you talk to them unless that's in writing That they're granted immunity so blame whomever you want but At the point of the discipline There is no way whatsoever that man Fred could actually discipline the players which leads me to one thought This is what the players want and this is what's doable everybody Take the title away Somebody on Twitter today said I thought it was a really really smart thing if you went up to an owner Any owner of a major league team and said listen if you give me five million dollars and you promise to fire your manager and GM and Give us your first and second round picks for two years and you win a world series We take that deal every single owner would take that deal every single one So the Astros are not even staggered by this punishment But if the players expect Altuve and Bregman and Gouriel and Springer to be suspended then talk to your union leadership. Don't scream about Rob Manfred. I Hate to say he's the innocent one here because I think he's been fat-handed about this, but he does not have it in his power to discipline Those were the rules of engagement in talking to the players So how can he go back on that he can't the one thing he does have in his power? Would be to take the title away and Don I'll ask you do you believe if he takes the title away? That that would satisfy the players that the players of the Astros that would have suffered some negativity It would be much better than it is now. I don't think it would completely heal things, but would it be a SAV? Because at the end of every comment, it's they got away with it that I'm unhappy with the discipline I'm unhappy that they weren't punished by it. I think the majority of the players would be more than happy now Tony Clark spoke today Did he say anything of note? I mean I'm kind of going on perusing right now Here it is we have we have a cut of him not our job to discipline players our role in our right and our Responsibility in the conversation is protecting those rights of every player not just the Houston players Not just any other of the other 29 teams We are going to do that our role is not to Discipline players now having said that what you likely saw in the statement that you saw last night is Trying to appreciate what next step looks like as a result of what it's we've seen manifest itself Over the course of the last year or so or last couple of years or so and in doing so in our engagement with the league It's included a conversation in talking about player discipline as it relates to science dealing Tony's talking gobbledygook And I feel for him too because thank you because I was trying to understand it and I can't understand the bottom line is Even if they're the work in any union the worst people did the worst things they are Legally obligated to defend those people they are legally obligated to defend the 3% of their Constituency that actually did cheat they can't just walk away from them and go oh they're cheaters So Tony Clarkson a tough position. He has to defend them. He has to protect the players That's why I asked for immunity. He gave they gave immunity to talk to them. They gave it up They said they cheated in 2017 and now Manfred's asked well go back on you Or can you imagine how the players in the players Association would react if Manfred went back on the immunity that he granted them That wouldn't be right either. That's why we're going around and around the circles By the way, the guy who tweeted out about if you gave that offer to any owner is Eric Boland of Newsday I thought it was a really really smart thing that he said That's nothing. It's a small price to pay for a championship championships are hard to come by they really are but I don't know I Don't know what the end game is here. I don't understand the players being angry at Manfred. I don't get that I understand Justin Turner being angry about the metal comment. That was ridiculous It is not befitting a Cornell and a Harvard Law School graduate It's it's a brain cramp that Manfred had and to give him credit yesterday. He said I'm sorry It was a dumb thing to say and I'm sorry. I apologize. Okay, so that's it There's nothing more you could do with them, but they keep saying they should have been punished more when their union is Protecting them from being punished more and what Tony Clark is falling down on is don't go out of to me These are our rules and Hannah Kaiser who covers Baseball for Yahoo does a great job has this quote from Tony Clark neither MLB Nor the league wrote immunity on a slip of paper and slid it across the table The existing rules made it difficult if not impossible discipline players Those rules might change going forward. Oh, that's so it but it's just The idea that Tony Clark demanded something. I guess Tony Clark's trying to absolve himself saying I'm just playing by our union rules Right and and that's and that hopefully that will change moving forward And I think that's that's a step in the right direction as well. What I wanted to see was dialogue between The two parties now Jeff Passon made it made a very good point and something that I had not considered is that There's a legal obligation Tony Clark has to support yeah the players Yeah, the even the few players even if 99% of his union is against it Legally he has to defend the 1% or even less than 1% Representing the Houston Astros. That's what Tony Clark is saying here is I didn't ask for immunity. It's built in You know so but now we can open it up and maybe change those rules I think that's what baseball has to do right now going forward is learn their lessons Make sure something like this doesn't happen again if you were to do that and then take the title away I think that might be enough for closure and for us to be able to move forward knowing that something like this could never happen again We need to start with the point though Michaels that now every day worst you're saying in particular Why are you mad at Manifred? Why aren't you mad at the players union? We need to have that asked to players directly. Are they may be missing it? Like I know that sounds silly and ridiculous, but let's be clear not fair Some of these players may not be paying that much attention to it and they're just blaming Manfred and they I'm a member of SAG after I'm not paying attention to what's happening. So maybe they're not realizing hold on this might be on us Well, this is exactly what happens with the players association in the NFL.  We gave them the power We gave him the power a lot of that comes from apathy about voting and paying attention to the union when the CBA expires They need to take note of this and make sure that the changes happen Don't just go to Cabo and just let your union representatives worry about it Get more involved in the example of two of the biggest sports in this country where the players are just completely ignorant to the process I remember in the NHL when they were going through the lockout Peter where their lives were being affected There were players that had no idea what was going on with the negotiations had no idea. Well, they're even fighting for Because players they just disconnect. They don't know Rick DPHO who was a member of the NHL union just texted me said Most players have no idea what's going on with their own union none He said you can barely get guys to meetings. Thank you, Rick. You know what fault that is the player rep I mean the player rep is the one that's supposed to know and make sure he communicates it to everybody else It's a player's fault.  Unforgiving job you don't get paid anything you have all you're the bad guy to ownership because you have to break the grievances Nobody wants to be a player rep, but no one but you're obviously a liaison so you can educate your teammates They don't want to do it, but they're the first to complain about it when it affects them now Here's another aspect of this as well Michael Conforto and Port St. Lucy today talked about how They cannot let this where there's Internation fighting within the union affect the upcoming CBA negotiations. Here's the Mets outfielder Michael Conforto There's a fight coming in in 2021, you know a new CBA and something that we need to be focused on something We need to be unified for You know when that time comes As far as our guys, you know, I think Like I said, we're pretty unified and our answers and our things that we wanted The goal is to stay unified. I mean, I have no doubt that the league will come together right now, it's tough with all the things that have been going on, but I think You know the players the players union is going to be very very strong and unified You know when that time comes it's gonna be interesting to see how Even in an all-star game setting the astral players are going to be Embraced or will they be embraced? I don't think they will be and they're gonna be part of union negotiations as well Now there was a really interesting It's almost a must-read story by Evan drylick in the athletic and by the way the athletic has been far in a way Above this in front of the story more than any other outlet. They've been great. They broke the story They're the ones who started it Ken Rosenthal and Evan drylick and drylick wrote yesterday that Even if there was no immunity granted The people that run major league baseball are really smart. They have really smart lawyers There is no way that man Fred could have disciplined a player and There's no way that that discipline would have held up in an arbitration case or an appeal Because none of the players were ever notified of the threat of suspension It would have been it would have been shot down within hours There's just and major league baseball would have looked bad, which is probably the reason why Manfred quickly agreed To the immunity. Let's get the story out So at least we could stain them with the fact that they cheated But if they had not granted immunity and they had in fact try to discipline the players Every single discipline case by case would have been thrown out and major league baseball would have been laughed at I don't I Would never condone this publicly But looking at everything that went down The way that is this happened wouldn't have been just better if he just said we didn't find anything No, but then that could get out to but because then you make my fires look bad But we're just but you've got a lot of guys looking bad that are assuming that something happened in 2019 They said we didn't find any buzzers that ticked a lot of people off Mm-hmm, but and I understand how uncomfortable that is and it's condoning lying But really what did you get out of this Michael? He got one of the biggest controversies in the history of the sport people are complaining. There was really no discipline, right? But you can't ask him to do a cover up what but what you ended up getting out of it is nothing Two guys got three guys got suspended and one guy got fined a billionaire got fined five million dollars and three guys lost their job three in the grand scheme of things Outside of Carlos Beltran Everybody they got fired or nameless faceless people as far as the masses are concerned and meanwhile You've got one of the biggest controversies of all time, but I think they were thinking right along with you There were 10 to 12 teams that were complaining to Major League Baseball about the Astros were doing and they couldn't find anything Did they really want to but when Mike fires became public with it in the athletic it forced their hand This was a member of the team Who said that they were cheating so they could not sweep it under the rug? He made it public and that's why there are a lot of people that don't like Mike fires in this either But they could have very easily done the same thing in 2019 Right 2019 you've got all these allegations all this video that there were buzzers They were working with stuff to the fact where people just assumed that they cheated in 2019 Well, they've essentially said they haven't so maybe they were sweeping on the rug and they and they and they so they Might be doing it right now and if we do find out Michael that they have swept it under the rug Then why not sweep the whole thing under the rug? We'd be none the wiser and you still have but people that go out where the fires made that impossible He made that impossible the 10 to 12 teams that were complaining They wanted something that a Major League Baseball did nothing they sat on their hands They didn't want this out because you're right. I good. I couldn't do it I'm just saying when you look at how it's how it's happened You'd have the allegations fires would look look bad. You'd have some owners complaining about it But at the end of the day, we'd be moving on to baseball. It'd be over. Yeah, Mike fires looks bad But now you got a whole you've got a whole like 700 players complaining every single day They would an awful job that you did Manfred's getting ripped all over the place It might have just been easier to say we did an investigation We didn't find anything because that's what I'm thinking they did in 2019 anyway Well, it's interesting because what we've told you about the handcuffs that he has on in Disciplining players, but the one thing that he has in his toolbox That he can use is taking away the title and the argument that that there's no precedent of that then set a new one Baby, and I think the thing that he fears the most is that if he takes away the 17 championship He's gonna have to take away the Red Sox one two because the Red Sox one since it's dragging out two weeks longer than anybody thought They probably found something and he's got a lot of pressure on him now to really spank the Red Sox hard Really because I mean if he does another really flaccid kind of punishment. What does that help? He's gonna look worse, and I really think he's been reading the tea leaves We were supposed to find this out last Monday. Yep. It was supposed to be early last week We were supposed to find out the Red Sox discipline is he's sitting there just kind of getting a feel of What everybody's gonna say and then determining the punishment for the Red Sox Because why is it taking so long? I don't know. Well, he said that something came up They had a re-interview people that doesn't sound great because we spoke to Dan Shaughnessy a couple weeks ago said they're gonna get a slap on the wrist It's a nothing that they did was terribly wrong This is I'll never get a Yankee fan to agree with this because they all hate the Red Sox, but wouldn't it be unfair? If the Red Sox essentially did the same thing and they get punished harder Then the Astros just because of what what's happening in the court of public opinion That wouldn't be fair what that would be like it actually be the ultimate disrespect, right? You know, how could anyone stand for that? You're just okay because someone got punished even if it's not the worst offenders The only way that you have to possibly satisfy a frothing at the at the at the at the bit players Association from 97% is to take the title away. It's an it's a no-must no It's really no brand Astros should not have the title neither should the Dodgers and neither should the Yankees That should be a vacant title and don't tell me this precedent because there was no World Series played in 1994 And when it was for the good of collective bargaining then that was great There was no precedent canceling a World Series They played in two World Wars and played World Series, but they cancel it 94 So you you made precedent then and now you could take this title away and clean up this mess a little bit Wonder if he'd be more apt to do it if it was just 2017 because if he if he bangs the Astros Michael Then he's probably gonna have to take the title away from the 18 Red Sox. You're right, but I From what I've heard of the Red Sox I Don't think that they did anything as bad as the up because I've said this before the Red Sox Looked at cameras and got the the progression of signs All right, this succession of signs means this they didn't bang any drums right there The only way that they could take advantage of getting those signs is to get a runner at second base to me That's more games than shit. The Astros are straight out cheating And I think the red they the Red Sox to the leather of the law because they use the electronics That's cheating as well But it does show you how important electronics are because the bottom line is they're looking to take electronics out of the game Where a player cannot go into The video room during a game which I think is a good idea JD Martinez doesn't want that Players want to see every swing that they took in the previous the back. Sorry. Something's got to give so if you want people to stop Cheating you've got to take electronics out of the game So much cross-purposes here. It's amazing 1-800 919 3776 a lot of stuff to talk about this is the story that Literally will not die and Joe Madden the manager the angels came out said you got to let it go Well, you weren't affected your cubs didn't get rooked out of a championship the Dodgers did The Yankees have got rooked out of a possibility of playing in the world series Other teams had to face them 19 times a year sometimes 10 times admit it made field So Joe piped out let people get it out of their system I agree with Don said earlier though You don't want to go on all year, but this is the time when players are speaking for the first time to the media Of course, they're gonna give their take judge gave us take stand today gave us take Conforto gave us take before that trout gave us take Bellinger that's people have to if they're not getting satisfaction They've got at least tell people why they're mad what what legend hasn't spoken yet That could somehow be any bigger than we've already gotten considering Everyone from Cody Bellinger to LeBron James has spoken Like baseball legend yeah, is there any is there any like active player no Or former that's just such a massive voice. Well, I said they should be suspended for life Right, you should have Hank Aaron Why mays hasn't said anything Sandy Kofax Well, that's I mean, I never want to diminish what they mean that doesn't mean anything right now So players have to play against the Astros, right? I'm just trying to think of what if you have the biggest players in the game all Saying these things that show their clear passion for the subject and nothing has been done It we're just gonna keep talking and nothing's gonna change it. It looks like Manfred is dug in it doesn't seem like he wants to vacate this title But if these players keep talking and putting the heat on maybe that's the only thing to do because the Union doesn't want the Astros penalized as a player and They won't allow it and you signed a non Abinding immunity agreement so you can't do any the thing you can do that can throw a little bit of chum to the sharks Take the title away So at least it's not ill-gotten gains because again as Eric Boland of Newsday tweeted out every team would take that deal Five million two draft picks of two years. I get rid of my GM and manager as long as we're world champions take the title away It's not that hard


We have General Questions question one, Malcolm Tisham. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will make a statement about the consequences for the NHS of a no vote and a yes vote in the referendum. Cabinet Secretary, Alex Neil. Yes, I would be very happy to make a statement on the future of the national health service in Scotland as early as possible next week, but, as Mr Tisham will know, this is subject to approval by the Parliamentary Business Bureau. The cabinet secretary repudiated a series of graceful Patrioticism scars following a no vote, especially when the only evidence that he could produce last week at question time was a notional efficiency saving of 0.8 per cent of the English health budget, which even the Department of Health admits is highly problematic. Is he not ashamed to support ill-informed politically motivated scaremangory about the NHS, especially when privatised services cost more public money, not less, and when the zero— Is it a question, Mr Tism, and please let Mr Tism finish— This is my final bit of my question now, when they've calmed down. I know they're— And with 0.8 per cent efficiency saving, which will not materialise, is far less than he himself spends on privatised services or, indeed, the 3 per cent efficiency savings he demands of health boards every year. I think that Mr Tism is in the wrong end of the chamber. He should be over there with the Tories. Let me tell him the fundamental issue is the impact on public services of the cuts being made by the Conservative-led administration in Westminster and passed down to the devolved administrations. That is what the fundamental problem is here. We have a Westminster Government that believes that— Mr Tism! We have a Westminster—it's guilty, it's a guilty conscience, speaking, Presiding Officer—we have a Westminster Government that believes in shrinking the state, which believes in doing less through the public realm and passes less money down to us in order to be able to do it. That's a quote from the Labour Health Minister in Wales, Mark Drakeford, speaking in the Welsh Assembly on 17 June. Unlike Mr Tism, he hasn't sold his soul to the Tories. Ailey MacLeod. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Does the cabinet secretary share my deep concern about the adverse impact on Scotland's budget, likely to result from the cuts in public funding to the NHS in England as one consequence of the drive to privatise clinical services and introduce charging for NHS services and treatments south of the border? Does he also agree that that's why we need full control of Scotland's finances, which will, yes, be delivered? I've got the question, cabinet secretary. I'm absolutely very concerned indeed in everybody who cares about the health service in Scotland should be very concerned. As I said last week, the UK Government's own assessment of the impact of the English NHS reforms, including privatisation, could amount to a reduction in UK health spending over the next few years of £1 billion a year. Under the current funding system, which would stay under a no vote, if those monies were to be removed from the health spend and not otherwise used in another area, which did not have Barnett consequentials, that could see Scotland lose out on up to £100 million every year on public services like health up until 2020. There is no doubt, Presiding Officer, that a no vote could destroy the health service in Scotland. Question 2, Han Solo Malik. Thank you very much and good afternoon, Presiding Officer. Is to ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address the growing balance in science and maths in schools to increase the number of female students studying science, technology, engineering and maths at degree level. Minister Alasrae Rallon. When taking together entries for the three main science higher subjects shows strong interest in STEM learning from both genders, added together the total number of male entries for higher physics, chemistry and biology in 2013 was 14,056 and for females was 13,026. However, the Scottish Government is fully committed to creating opportunities for young women to undertake further study in STEM subjects and to progress to future careers. A recent report from Education Scotland encouraged staff in secondary schools to recognise and act on gender imbalance in the science subjects where it is necessary. Han Solo Malik. Thank you for that reply. In a recent letter of guidance to the Scottish funding council, the cabinet secretary challenged colleges and universities to improve the gender balance across subjects. I support that aim. However, how can colleges and universities influence the gender balance on subjects such as chemistry, physics and engineering when the imbalance is firmly rooted in schools at a higher level of studies, which results in only 29 per cent of physics being taken up by female students? Minister Alasrae Rallon. The member raises important issues. We all share an ambition to ensure that we create the maximum equality within the science sector. It is important to say that the issues that he raises are specifically around physics, because 64 per cent of those taking higher biology in schools are female and it is 50-50 in chemistry. We are not complacent about that. There is a great deal that has been raised in the Wood commission and its comments about the role of science in our economy. There is a great deal that is being done through the promotion of positive role models for young women in our schools when it comes to taking science, not least physics. John Pentland. To ask the Scottish Government what action the cabinet secretary for justice has taken to address the reported delays and the development of a unified IT system for Police Scotland. The formation of Police Scotland has created an environment whereby a unified IT system can be implemented for the first time, allowing officers to work seamlessly across Scotland that such large-scale integrated IT solutions were not able to be achieved under the previous legacy structural arrangements. Detailed governance and oversight arrangements are in place around this project to ensure that its development and delivery are being progressed in line with the project plan. I am confident that development of the I6 project is firmly on track and, once completed, it will assist significantly in the delivery of an improved service as well as sustainable efficiency benefits. John Pentland. Thank you for that response. With the lack of integration, constraining the ability of officers to function fully at the regional or national level, we are routine arming of police-leading jump-sullars to refer to Police Scotland as the crassest error that any politician has ever made. Will the cabinet secretary accept that the growing crisis of confidence in policing is not an operational matter? I am surprised that the member should take that point, given that he and his party supported the establishment of Police Scotland. It was the right thing to do, because under the previous legacy arrangements, we could not get agreement between constituencies and authorities as to what IT systems to take. I think that DCC Living Richardson has been doing an outstanding job. It is very complicated and very technical, but for the safety of our citizens to improve the service, we have to make sure that we have that seamless link across the whole of Scotland. I think that the member should recognise why he supported a single service in Scotland, recognise the hard work that is being carried out by Deputy Chief Constable Richardson, assisted by many others and recognise that savings will be delivered and the project will be completed. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the latest round of funding from the bus investment fund. Minister Keith Brown. Following the success of the bus investment fund last year, I am very pleased to announce that the second round of funding has launched and is open to applications until the end of August. This year, we have £3 million available for projects over a two-year period, which will continue to promote the improvement of bus services across Scotland. An announcement on winning bids for this year's fund is expected to be made before the end of this calendar year. Jamie Hepburn. I thank the minister for that answer. One of the projects benefiting from the first round of funding was the North Lanarkshire connector bus in which North Lanarkshire council failed to ensure that either coming all to the biggest town in the council area, Orkall Scyth. It was connected despite many local people reporting to me problems accessing decent bus services. Does the minister agree that it is incumbent on North Lanarkshire council to work to address that failure and that the on-going funding round that he has talked of presents an opportunity for them to try and do so? Minister. There is no question that the on-going funding is an opportunity, but the member will know that bus services in North Lanarkshire are primarily a matter for Strathclyde partnership for transport and the council. Last year, SPT supported 41 local bus services in North Lanarkshire carrying 1.4 million passengers in total. As the member says, they were successful in securing funding in the first round of the bus investment fund for the North Lanarkshire connector bus project. I know that SPT would be happy to discuss with the member, with the council or other interested parties any concerns about bus services in coming all to Orkall Scyth and how they might be improved. SPT are currently preparing bids for the second round of the fund, and we will consider any proposals carefully against the fund criteria and in the light of the available budget and level of demand. Question 5. Richard Lyle. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the cost of child care. Minister, Eileen Campbell. The Scottish Government is advancing over 280 million over two years to expand funded early learning and childcare from August 2014 to a minimum of 600 hours for three and four-year-olds and the most vulnerable or disadvantaged two-year-olds, 15 per cent this year rising to 27 per cent from August 2015. That is an increase of almost half from the 412.5 hours that we inherited in 2007, and we will deliver a saving to families equivalent to up to £707 per child per year benefiting around 121,000 three and four-year-olds this year. In the long term, we have set out in Scotland's future our ambitious plans to transform childcare, which would bring huge benefits to young children and their families. Richard Lyle. I thank the minister for that answer. Recent space research shows that families in the UK spend 27 per cent of their income in childcare. That is more than double the percentage of income spent in childcare in many small independent countries. What action will the Scottish Government take to remedy that fact in an independent Scotland? Minister. I am very pleased to confirm to the member that we intend to do a great deal with the powers of independence to enhance children's life chances and help families. As set out in page 194 of Scotland's future, we would in our first budget provide 600 hours of childcare to around half of Scotland's two-year-olds. By the end of the first Parliament, we will ensure that all three and four-year-olds and vulnerable two-year-olds will be entitled to 1,140 hours of childcare per year. By the end of the second Parliament, we will ensure that all children from age 1 to school age will be entitled to 1,140 hours of childcare per year. Those proposals represent a transformation in childcare, which would bring huge benefits to our young children and their families. What a great surprise to strive for following a yes vote in contrast, our help for families with the coalition's welfare reform measures is pushing an additional 100,000 children into poverty. Question 6, Sarah Boyer. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support older people who live alone. Cabinet Secretary, Alex Neil. Presiding Officer, over 77,000 vulnerable older people in Scotland receive free personal care of which nearly 48,000 are receiving their care at home. The Scottish Government also funds a number of projects such as the Silverline, which received funding of £210,000 in November 2013 and provides a free 24-7 helpline and be a friending service for older people. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. A key fear of many of my constituents and older people in general is the prospect of being stuck in hospital once they have had treatment without access to the right care or rehabilitation services. They need to live that independent quality life at home. On Tuesday, the minister said that he hoped to release £100 million over the next two or three years to reduce delayed discharges. Does the minister have the figures of what it currently costs the NHS to fund the whole process of keeping older people in hospital rather than being at home? Does he have that breakdown by NHS board? Does that equate to £100 million? Cabinet Secretary. Can I just clarify what I said? If we were able to achieve our objectives in effectively eliminating delayed discharges, that would save the health service about £125 million a year. That money then would be available for reinvestment in other priorities. It would also produce better health outcomes for those who currently are subject to delayed discharge. In terms of the cost of keeping someone in a hospital, the average across Scotland of one week in hospital is of the order of £4,000 in an acute hospital. In a community hospital it is around £1,800 a week, and in a nursing home it is around £600 a week. The average for home care is £300 a week. To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce plans for reform of the private rented sector. Minister, Margaret Burgess. In May last year, the Scottish Government published its strategy for the private rented sector. As part of the strategy, I established a stakeholder group to examine the suitability and effectiveness of the private rented sector tenancy regime. The group reported in May and recommended that the current and short-assured tenancies should be replaced by a new private tenancy. I accepted the recommendation and planned to consult the proposals for a new private rented tenancy this autumn. The consultation will also explore issues that relate to rent levels. Mark Beardie. The 30,000 constituents I have who live in the PRS and those who share streets and stairs with them will be very glad to hear of the proposals and the consultation coming forward. Does the minister envisage legislation in this Parliament potentially coming out of this consultation or would this be an issue for a subsequent Parliament? As I said my earlier answer, we do intend to consult in the autumn and we are developing the detailed proposals for consultation and they will be based on the findings of the review group's report. Subject to the outcome of the consultation, it is my intention to bring forward a bill this parliamentary term. Mike Mackenzie. To ask the Scottish Government how it will provide safeguards for rural schools. Cabinet Secretary Michael Russell. The Government is committed to safeguarding rural schools. That is why we have strengthened the schools consultation Scotland Act 2010 to establish more rigorous and specific requirements before a local authority may propose closing a rural school. We have also strengthened the requirements for all school closure proposals, requiring that those reach high standards of transparency and accuracy and safeguarding schools from recurring closure consultations. Those changes were brought into force on 1 August. Mike Mackenzie. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Does he agree that some local authorities still fail to recognise the educational value of smaller rural schools or understand their social economic importance and the key role that they play in maintaining rural communities? The member raises the key issue. A rural school is undoubtedly, its central purpose is undoubtedly educational, but it is a key facility within the community and it plays an important role in the economic and social life and development of that community. That is why the Government's proposals and the Government's legislation insist that that is considered in terms of closure. Indeed, it is not optional for local authorities to look at economic and social issues. It is compulsory that they look at economic and social considerations, and no closure proposal can go ahead without proving those issues. John Scott. Is the cabinet secretary any plans for a greater involvement of local communities? I understand that a desire to involve local authorities, but local communities are very vociferous about that. I entirely agree with the member, and I am grateful for his support on this matter on a number of occasions. It is extremely important that communities recognise that their school is an asset, which, if it were to go or disappear, would diminish the way in which the community operates. I am glad to say that many communities, almost all communities that I know, recognise that and argue strongly and effectively for local education. Question 9. In the name of Neil Bibby, it has not been lodged. I have an explanation for that question. Maureen Watt. To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on the construction of the Aberdeen western peripheral route. Minister Keith Brown. We are making good progress and remain on target the half-construction completed by spring 2018. We announced the preferred bidder, connect roads, on 11 June 2014. On Monday, at a visit to see some of the advanced works that are already underway, I confirmed that we have now entered into a pre-start contract with connect roads to allow them to get the preparatory work started ahead of contract award, which is expected later this year. Maureen Watt. Thank you for that answer. I was pleased to be able to join the minister in my constituency on Monday for that announcement. Can we have an assurance from him that the work will be accelerated where possible as a commitment to decent infrastructure for the north-east, which previous Governments have failed to provide? Yes, I can give that assurance. As well as bringing forward preparatory works with the pre-start agreement, I am determined that we continue to look to deliver the benefits of the scheme, around £6 billion over the lifetime of the scheme, which is vital for the north-east's economy as early as possible. The people in the north-east have waited far too long for this project, some of campaign for decades, and it is this Government that will deliver the scheme in partnership with our local authority partners. Lewis MacDonald. The minister will be aware of the rapid rate of economic growth, particularly in the area of dice around the airport and on dice drive. Can the minister indicate today when he expects to come to a decision about the timetabling of the priority works around the western periphery, particularly connecting Aberdeen airport to the surrounding roads? As a member knows, we have had discussions with the airport, and we have said consistently that this will require discussions with the contract winner. We are in the process now of coming to financial close, and it is true in that process that we can have the discussions with the contractor to see which parts of the project may be brought forward. Of course, top of that list would be the airport in the dice area.