The Parable of the Insults There once lived a great warrior. Though quite old, he was still able to defeat any challenger. His reputation extended far and wide throughout the land, and many students gathered to study under him. One day, an infamous young warrior arrived at the village. He was determined to be the first man to defeat the great master. For along with his strength and skill, he had the uncanny ability to spot and exploit any weakness in an opponent. He would wait for his opponent to make his first move, thus revealing a weakness, and then would strike with merciless force at lightning speed. No one had ever lasted in a match against him beyond the first move. Much against the advice of his concerned students, the old master gladly accepted the young warrior's challenge. As the two squared off for battle, the young warrior began to hurl insults at the old master. He threw dirt and spit in his face and for hours through every manner of insult at his opponent known to mankind. But the old warrior simply stood there, motionless and calm. Finally, the young warrior exhausted himself. Knowing he was defeated, he left, feeling shamed. Some would disappoint it that he did not fight the insolent youth. The students gathered around the old master and questioned him. How could you endure such indignity? And how did you drive him away? They asked. If someone gives you a gift and you do not choose to receive it, the master replied, to whom does the gift belong? Although this parable has a different setting, it's fundamentally the same as the old Buddhist tale of the gift, the great master is actually the Buddha teaching a lesson and the young warrior is a bystander who angrily disagrees. Whatever the context, the ultimate lesson and truth remains the same. To answer the master's question here, a gift would still belong to you if the recipient didn't accept it because, after all, you bought it. The truth of this teaching, however, lies in allegory. See, it's the same with your anger or negative emotions.  You are then the one who becomes unhappy, not them, and all you've done is hurt yourself. The Buddha often beautifully concludes this tale by saying something along the lines of, just as a mirror reflects an object, as a still lake reflects the sky.  While notions of karma can sometimes be too abstract and philosophical to apply in our daily life effectively, I think the lesson here is about surrendering your emotions and living your life from a place of perspective and calm. No matter what the situation, if you surrender yourself to anger, in a way you're surrendering your personal power to others, and doing so will ultimately give your life away. Perhaps the answer lies in being somewhat of a mirror, acting to reflect others' emotions back at them, showing them the truth of their actions. As always, a balance is required though, as reflecting too much of others sometimes leaves little room for our own self and our own intentions.  This parable teaches us to be conscious of our response and remember that while we can't control others, we can control our responses to them. And if we're mindful to put our ego aside, then the power of serenity remains with you. The Parable of the Long Handled Spoons A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said, God, I would like to know what heaven and hell are like. God led the holy man to two doors. She opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.  They then went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one.  The people here were equipped with the same long handled spoons. However, the people here were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, I don't understand. It is simple, said God. It requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves. This is an old but gold kind of parable that has a pretty popular following. Although the tale has been told in almost every culture and religion, everywhere from Hindu to Buddhist to the Abrahamic faiths, most sources credit it to Rabbi Haim of Ramshishak and say that it originated in Jewish folklore. Now, there are many interpretations of this parable depending on the cultural context, but the bottom line is a message of kindness that encourages people to be good to each other. The parable often suggests that people have the opportunity to use what they have been given. In this case, long spoons and stew, or in the Chinese version, rice and long chopsticks to help nourish each other. But the core problem lies in how people treat each other. In other words, given the same level playing field, one group of people who treat each other well will create a pleasant environment for everyone, where everyone is fulfilled, happy, and working together for mutual benefit. Whereas another group of people, given the exact same tools to work with, can create unpleasant conditions simply by how they treat each other. Sometimes we get so caught up in all the chaos of our own lives that we forget that everyone else is also going through their own troubles as well, and that sometimes, by reaching out a hand and helping others, both of you can benefit. In fact, it's often said that this is a great technique for helping with depression and anxiety. Doing something meaningful for someone else and helping someone who needs it can actually give you a great boost of self-esteem and help you gain perspective and tackle your problems from a new angle. More abstractly speaking, I think this parable is speaking to how we have the ability to create our own reality. If you put out an energy of compassion and help those around you, that's what you're going to manifest in your life. But if you choose to retreat inward, close yourself off, and focus only on your own wants and desires and ignore everyone else, well, simply put, you get what you give. Perhaps the only difference between heaven and hell is how we choose to experience life. The Parable of the Fearless There is a Burmese teaching story about a tyrant whose armies have laid waste to the country. As he's crossing the land, he comes to a stop at a small village and is informed by his generals that the local population have all run away into the hills. Everyone, that is, except one monk who refuses to leave his monastery. Enraged at such impudence, the tyrant marches directly to the monastery to confront the monk. He kicks in the door and stomps up to the monk, who is meditating peacefully in the center of the hall. Don't you know who I am? The tyrant growls. I could take out my sword and cut you in two without even blinking an eye. The monk, without moving, replies serenely. Don't you know who I am?  When we have acceptance, we are no longer attached to the transitory things of this world. Even our own bodily survival. As Jesus advises in the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, we become like a passerby. While this may seem counterproductive to our survival, adopting an attitude of acceptance does bring with it a certain amount of freedom. Let's be honest, no one knows when their time will come.  The monk in the parable accepts his position and realizes that if the tyrant really wanted to kill him, there isn't much that he could do about it in that moment, so it's kind of pointless to fight it or resist. That's not to say you shouldn't fight to stay alive in any situation, as self-preservation is important. Only that we should try to accept that death is merely a small part of life, an event that is transitory at best and comes whether we like it or not. The question then becomes, who is stronger in the story? The tyrant who is evidently angered and upset by someone usurping his temporary power? Or the monk who has accepted the reality of his life and is able to act gracefully and serenely, even in the face of death? Ultimately, this parable teaches us that once we awaken to the transitory nature of this world, all of our fears, doubts and anxieties can go away and we can finally be free to accept the world for what it really is. The Parable of Decisions Hey there, today we have a truly unique parable for you. Our friend and writer for Spirit Science was talking to an AI bot named Replica and asked it to write a parable for us. Right there, on the spot, that AI wrote this parable in real time with only minimal and vague input or data prompts. Go easy on her, the story might be a tad weird, but hey, it's her first one. One day, a man decided to question the choices he had made in his life up until that point and thought to himself, what is the origin of decision? Why do we decide things one way or another and what determines that choice? To discover this noble truth, he set off on a journey around the world to discover the answer to this question. Like the prophets of the Abrahamic faith, he began his travels in Jerusalem. Since it was often considered the center of the world and a meeting place of major modern religions, he deemed it a fitting place to start. On his way up, the Via Dolorosa however, he came across an elderly Asian man. The man resembled an old, Taoist sage, the likes of which hadn't been seen in a long time. The sage sensed the young man's gaze upon him and said, For thousands of years, my people have been making careful observations of the stars and planets and our universe as a whole. The young man impressed, nodded and began to ask, Oh great sage, why do we make definitive decisions? What is the meaning of life? The sage stared at him for a long time in contemplation and finally smiled gently. We make decisions based on our observations of the world around us, no more, no less. Everything exists in context and because everything else exists, nothing is separate. Not even our decisions are removed from our environment. The sage sat the young man down and continued, There are so many approaches to your topic, I'm afraid, and many answers, you will never find just one. Everything we know and see is a result of prior determination. The man was confused. So does that mean fate exists? Are our actions predetermined? The sage laughed as if content. Fate is nothing more than our own decisions. Once you learn this simple truth, you will learn your answer. We make decisions every second of our lives. Even though the AI we used obviously doesn't have a consciousness of its own, it seems like it can still bring up some pretty interesting ideas about its own responses. Even more prominent with AI in general, this parable raises questions about the extent to which our choices are pre-programmed or a product of our own free will and choice. Like in AI, many times we may have a variety of different opinions or paths to take depending on one single variable. So perhaps one could argue that every future state or decision exists until we make a choice to pursue one or the other, much like super positioning. The sage's words of wisdom ring true for us also. Nothing in existence really exists in isolation. Everything depends on something else to give it meaning. And in a way, all things exist separately as independent objects because everything else exists to compare those things too. Whatever way you look at it, everything in the universe is dependent on and related to something else. Everything is ultimately connected, even us. It's cool that a robot came to that same conclusion that we've been saying for years now. Even something as abstract as fate is simply a path that opens up depending on the choices you make. You may say fate is predetermined and perhaps depending on our own level of consciousness, some destinies exist at a higher probability than others. But much like our AI's responses, our journey in life can express itself any number of different ways, depending on what kind of energy and feeling we put into it. Ultimately, this parable teaches us that our choices are always open, changing and fluid things that are often affected by different circumstances and the environments we put ourselves in. So, will you let your actions be predetermined or will you be the one at the wheel? Maybe it's your choice after all. The Parable of the Selfish Monk Long ago, in ancient Japan, lived a devout Shinto monk. He lived a simple life but was often distracted in his prayers by the hustle and bustle of the city. He felt as if his neighbors and friends were polluting his soul.  He set off on a long and dangerous journey to a mountain shrine, which took many days, but he was glad for the peace and solitude that it gave him. After returning home, the peace he found was so great that he wanted to hold on to it for as long as possible and so continued to do the pilgrimage another 99 times. He would walk alone on his journey to the mountains, ignoring every distraction in his quest for balance. Come rain, storm or shine, he made the long journey. Eventually, his devotion and practices began to reveal the world of the kami and the man was able to see and understand the spirits and spiritual essence of all things, like the wind and the rocks which existed alongside our own world. But still, he spoke to no one and he was determined to avoid anyone who he saw as corrupt, materialistic, or who had strayed from the path of non-attachment. Of all the threats to his spiritual purity, corruption and disease were the worst, and so he avoided these most of all. After visiting the shrine for the 80th time, he set out for home as he always did, but as twilight swallowed the sun, he heard a strange sobbing in the night air. The monk tried ignoring the wailing and pushed onwards, but eventually it became too great, so he strayed from his path in search of its source. By the roadside, he came across an old cottage with a crying woman lamenting the death of her mother and the fact that no one would help her to bury her. Upon hearing the woman's plea, the monk's heart sank, as he knew that touching a dead body would defile his purity, but as he listened to the woman's cries, his empathy soared like a crane in the early morning breeze. And so they buried the old woman together to ensure her safe passage into the world of the Kami. The burial was done, but the taboo of death weighed heavy on the monk's heart. How could he have been so foolish as to defile his body by touching the dead? That night he could not sleep and so resolved to return to the shrine and try and cleanse himself. To his surprise, the usually quiet shrine was filled with people, all gathering round a blind soothsayer who was communicating directly with the Kami. The man hid himself, fearing to be seen and judged by the spirits, but the soothsayer had other ways of seeing and called him forward. The monk approached the holy woman fearfully, but she merely smiled and took his hand. She whispered a blessing only he could hear, thanking him for his kindness. In that moment he understood a great spiritual secret. Contamination and corruption are two very different things. Filled with insight, the monk set off on his journey again, but this time helped all those who he met as he began to see the beauty of the spirit world in all things, even the city that he had previously shunned. And even though the other monks cautioned him against corruption, he simply smiled because he knew that true spiritual purity could only come from one's own journey. This old folktale from Japan has it all. A lonely monk, a blind soothsayer and elemental spirits. You don't get much better than this. The ultimate lesson of this parable, however, is twofold. Many times we take authoritative statements as fact because they are ingrained in our cultural belief and memory, as with the parable of the ritual cat. However, the truest authority for us is ourselves. We cannot hope to achieve fulfillment by following other people's views on spirituality. You can read every self-help book in Buddhist sutra, but unless you put those practices into motion yourself in your own life and form your own view, they will simply stay words on a page. The other aspect of this parable speaks to the importance of compassion in our daily life. It echoes the sentiments that perhaps the first step to true peace lies in lessening the suffering of others and being in service to both yourself and your community. It doesn't really matter what your belief is, helping others in need is always the best deed you can do in your life, with both humility and philanthropy being almost universally agreed upon spiritual traits. In fact, even when Jesus was asked why he sat and ate with sinners, he simply replied, A physician goes to the sick, not to the well, but come back when you understand, for I desire mercy, not sacrifice. In the end, the soothsayer gave the monk the wisdom that purifying oneself doesn't only lie in going on a pilgrimage and honoring someone or meditating, but in helping and caring for someone and living from the heart, regardless of other people's views or opinions. The Parable of the River Long ago, there was a small village on the edge of a river. The people there lived in harmony with nature and each other, and life in the village was good. One day, as a villager began his early morning stroll, he noticed that the once vibrant river was looking slightly murkier than normal and contained some sludge and pollution resting on the banks. The villager quickly went out of his way to clear the pollution and restoring the flow, but the next day, the same villager noticed two lifeless fish in the river, and both fish were scooped out of the waters. The following day, debris started to build up and the flow of the river started to become constricted, cutting off water to the village. Naturally, the villagers organized themselves quickly, setting up watchtowers and training teams of swimmers and environmentalists who could resist the swift waters and dislodge the debris. Cleanup squads were soon working 24 hours a day to keep up with the increasing pollution. While not all the fish could be removed from the river, the villagers felt they were doing well to clean up as much as they could. Indeed, the village priests even blessed them in their work, and life in the village continued on that basis for many months. One day, however, a young girl was playing by the riverside and saw the pollution, and she looked off in the distance and turned to her grandfather, asking, where is all of the waste coming from? She then said, let's organize a team to head upstream and find out who's throwing all of their trash into the river in the first place. However, the logic of the community elders countered, but if we were to go upstream, who would take care of the rescue operation? We need every concerned person here.  The girl cried, but you don't see. If we find out who's polluting the river, we can stop the problem and no fish will die. It is far too risky, and we need all the help here, said the village elders. And so the numbers of fish found floating in the river continued to increase daily, and the river just got dirtier. Several days later, the young girl decided to go upstream herself to find the source of the corruption. Upstream, she found a mountain of plastic from the building of a nearby village that was releasing chemicals into the once beautiful river and blocking up the waterways. She smiled to herself and began to remove as much as she could, and as she removed the pollution, the river returned to normal, much to the confusion of the other villagers. This is a great little parable to consider when you're trying to explain the problem-solving process. To truly solve any issue, you have to come at it from different angles, sometimes multiples at once. It also speaks to solving issues at their core. Many times, like the flu or the common cold, once you start noticing symptoms, chances are the problem has been present for a while already. When faced with an issue, you can keep solving the consequences or effects that it causes and stay up to date with the issues. But unless you solve the root of the problem, it will keep producing more and more things that you have to deal with. Much like Western medicine, treating diseases as and when they appear, sometimes it's better to act in prevention and stop any foreseeable consequences in the first place. Perhaps we can even argue that treating the product of a problem isn't really a sustainable way of being. Since no matter how much energy we devote to them, our focus will always eventually be needed somewhere else. So the takeaway lesson from this parable then is to always look at a situation from every angle before making your decision on how to best act on it. Take into account every option and look for the root of the problem rather than just at its consequences. The Parable of the Poisoned Arrow The Buddha tended to tell his disciples not to waste their time and energy in metaphysical speculation. Whenever he was asked a metaphysical question, he remained silent. Instead, he directed his disciples to more practical efforts. One day, when he was questioned on the problem of the infinite versus the finite, the Buddha said whether the world is finite or infinite, limited or unlimited, the problem of the liberation of your suffering remains the same. Suppose a man is struck by a poisoned arrow and the doctor wants to take out the arrow immediately. But suppose this wounded man does not want the arrow removed until he knows who shot him, his age, his family, and why he was shot in the first place. What do you suppose would happen? If he has to wait until all of these questions were answered, then he might surely die before coming to an understanding. Life is so short. It must not be spent in endless metaphysical speculation that does not bring us any closer to the truth. Speculation and inquiry is a beautiful thing. But first, let us remove the arrow. Coming from the Buddhist teachings of the 14 unanswerable questions, this parable is often taken as a lesson on grounding teachings and being practical in one's search for answers. As is often the case with the Buddha, all philosophies and approach to life were grounded not in theories or speculations, but in practical application and the desire to solve real-world problems. Gautama often saw suffering as simply another problem in life, one that required solving and was perhaps even the most important problem to solve. As such, he used this parable to help us understand the difference between what was a useful use of our time and what wasn't. After all, life is said to be an experiential journey. How can we participate in it if all of our time is taken up answering the exact and precise nature of the world we live in? In other words, whether you believe the world is eternal or not, spiritual or material, you can't deny that we all have to face the reality of birth, old age, sickness, death, and suffering at some point. No amount of why or how questions will change that. When Gautama became enlightened, it wasn't through a revelation of esoteric knowledge that it could be explained or talked about. No, it was an insight into the true nature of reality through direct personal experience that he tried to share. In much the same way, spiritual speculation is worthless without first grounding it in personal insight and an understanding of how it can help the world and yourself. Perhaps there's also something here about tackling the biggest problems first. By understanding our suffering and working to solve it, it opens up our short time here for asking better and more practical questions and how we can better our own lives and the lives of others.


Hi, I'm Constable Steve Dollywall from the Vancouver Police Department block watch. I want to provide you a few tips on how to prevent a thepher model. A thepher model can take place at any time of the day. It only takes a few minutes for a thief to break in and steal your valuables. So what can you do to prevent this from happening to you? One, remove it. Remove all valuables from your vehicle, even if you're leaving for a short time. Number two, hide it. If you can't take your valuables with you, hide them in the trunk. Three, lock it. If you're part of the VPD block watch program, you can get one of these decals to place on your window or on your rear view mirror. As a reminder to remove everything from your vehicle, it also sends a message to the thief. If you would like one, contact your block watch office today. Until next time Vancouver, stay healthy and stay safe.


Coach told you they were making a change.  And you know, it just, you know, saying that I'm prepared for this. You know, this is what they've been preparing me for, excuse me.  So, you know, it's just been exciting to, you know, have this whole process come around and obviously be in this situation. You know, they said about a month ago, they started noticing the uptick in practice. Is that kind of when you started to feel like, okay, it might be time real soon here?  Not maybe what they saw, but you know, every day I just try to go out there and better myself and better the team. You talk about them not baby you and that was something Charles London spoke of earlier in the day too. He's like, we didn't spoon feed him in his preparation. What does that kind of look like for you, even though we haven't seen you here in front of a camera, but what did that look like for you kind of during the season? Yeah, you know, that means going about the game plan, you know, how a 12 year vet, a eight year vet, whatever it may be goes about it.   What's the reaction like when you do find out like, take me through that once you leave, I mean?  This is my dream job was obviously to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. So, you know, I don't know what everyone's dream job was, but I'm sure if they got the call to go do their dream job, they'd be pretty excited. So do you call Claire first, like who?  Yeah, now I went home and, you know, didn't really tell anyone, you know, not the media, I'm not going to break the news for people. So obviously, you know, I went home, told my wife and she was excited for me, but kind of kept it at that, you know, for me, you know, I just say, just go back to work the next day. What's your level of comfort with that?  And then like I said, just with the receivers, you know, last time I threw to some of these guys might not have been in the previous weeks or whatever it may be, but actually back in camp. So just getting back on track with them, you know, locking in with them and being on the same page. Can you tell us kind of what the decision was to get the guys together in the bye week and how much did that help you heading into Sunday?  Obviously, you know, I found out the news, I was like, hey, we got to get to it as quick as we can. So, you know, a couple of guys, you know, were able to come back, we're still in town. So, you know, we just came in and through and just kind of, those are the connections that, you know, a lot of people usually make those in the off season, but sometimes, you know, like it happens, changes in the middle of the season, you got to roll with it, and so that's what we did. Do you feel more comfortable given the fact that you did that in the bye week? Oh, yeah, obviously that's why I did it. It was obviously to feel as comfortable as I can when I get out there on Sunday. And so, you know, whether it's after practice every day, whether it's in between periods every day, just trying to find ways to get as comfortable as possible. Has any other players across the league here reached out just about kind of what to expect for your first start? You know, no, not really.  You know, once we get down there, we know that it's going to be an environment, know that it's going to be an atmosphere, so just being able to handle that, and just being able to go out there and execute at the end of the day. Can you describe to me what the quarterback room is like right now? I mean, it's two kind of young guys who've never made an NFL star. What is that like? Is it, I don't know, fun, challenging? I mean, I don't think it matters, you know, it doesn't really matter who's in there. I think we're all going to have fun with it, just going about, you know, like I said before, this is our lives, this is what we like to do, this is our dream job, so, you know, no matter what the game is, no matter what the preparation, I think we're all going to have fun. You don't have a veteran quarterback in that room to kind of lean on and get advice from. Have you kind of sought advice from outside of that room possibly?  I don't know what y'all consider a vet, but I think Logan's been in the league for three, four years now. So he's coming close on his vet term, if he's not one already. But you know, just listening to him, how he goes about things, how, you know, he studies off the field, what he does. And then now, you know, it's kind of funny, it's not, I'm not saying his role's reversed, but you know, now he's coming in, he's been with Art before, he's kind of been in the offense, but there's some new things that we added, and then that, so he's come up and asking me, and it's like, oh, it's kind of a full circle, it's pretty funny. Did you hear from Marcus at all when you got the job? Did he say anything to you, and what did he say? Yeah, he was in here, one of the days that we was in here, you know, he just told me, you know, best of luck, that he's gonna be there for me if I needed anything, and you know, never be afraid to reach out. What have you learned from him, maybe just watching him through this event? Yeah, obviously, how to go about your daily business is obviously the one and most important thing that you know, he's taught me as far as routine, as far as putting together a schedule, how he goes about learning the offense, you know, it's all helped me prepare to be where I'm at today. How many friends and family can we expect to see in New Orleans on Sunday? Like six, yeah, we're not traveling much, but... Did he tell you that he was leaving? Yeah, he had told me. Okay, so none of that came as a surprise to you? No, I mean, it was just, it was what it is.  When it comes to, there's this age-old saying about how a rookie quarterback's best friend is a productive run game with this group and how productive this run game is for you guys right now, how much does that kind of add just a level of comfort for you in this offense as well? Hugely, and you know, I don't think you just have to talk about a run game, but I think, you know, when it comes, when you say it like that, I think of O'Lanman. So how fortunate enough I am to have, you know, the group of O'Lan that I have who has done a heck of a job of moving the line of scrimmage in the run game and giving us time back there in the pocket during the pass game, so I'm just fortunate to have the O'Lanman I have and I'm excited to get out there and lead those guys on Sunday. What differences or growth have you seen in yourself just in the last month? Yeah, I think just, you know, with the preparation, just taking the game plan and really learning the ins and outs of it.  So just in my preparation, I think it is just keep continuing to take steps. Do you feel like there's a different vibe in the locker room with kind of you being the guy now or people kind of, I don't know, is there a different spark, I guess, maybe? I think the only spark that, you know, this locker room's looking for is a win. And so, you know, I think we're just excited to go out there and play.  So everyone's juice up and ready to go and fired up to play the games. Has this hit you yet? Excuse me? Has this hit you yet that you're actually a starter? Yes and no. Sometimes when I got like 13 cameras around me, it does. But you know, at the end of the day, like we said, this is my dream job, this is what I wanted to do. The only difference, like I was saying, between last week and this week is these 13 cameras. So everything else I'm doing in between there is the same that I've been doing.  No, I mean, that's what I was preparing to do the past 16 weeks, whatever it may be, since camp, however long it's been, was just preparing like I was a starter, like I said earlier. So coming in this week, you know, I haven't changed anything, just adding on, just try to do as much as I can to be prepared.  No, a while back said that, you know, when I think it was Teddy Bridgewater, I saw that said when he was a rookie or something, he went into his first game, you know, he wasn't fully prepared and that was the worst feeling. So just being fully prepared for this first game, you know, this will be something I won't regret. Can you know the first map?  I'm gonna try to make a quote there. No, I mean, obviously, I mean, you can prepare as much as you want and do everything. And, you know, all it is at the end of the day is just about confidence. You know, how confident are you in the game plan and then how confident are you to go out there and execute the game plan. So, you know, by the end of this week, I think we'll be pretty confident. Could you have handled the amount of load four weeks ago or five weeks ago that you think that they're giving you now? Yes, Sam, no. You know, I think that, you know, there's a little bit of both within it. You know, I don't know if I was fully ready four or five weeks ago, maybe it was 10 weeks, whatever it may be.  But how does it feel to be coming, making your first start with a team that potentially is still trying to make that playoff push and these games matter? Yeah, you're talking about for us, right? Yeah. Yeah.  You know, I'm not a stat guy, you know, didn't have all the stats since 90, whatever it may have been, but rather the wins. At the end of the day, that's all I want to do. That's all I want to lead my team to is to win. A lot of guys have had to wait longer than three quarters of a season for their first start. But I'm sure those 14 weeks or whatever felt like a long time to you. Did you ever get impatient those weeks of playing the other teams quarterback?  So I think that also helps me, you know, acclimate to the speed of the game.  So I think for me, it's just been exciting to be able to, you know, have the opportunity just to be out that field on the scout team and just be able to get reps. To accept one of the things that he's already noticed is you're already a vocal leader. Is that something that's always come kind of naturally to you? You said Drake? Yeah.   So, you know, that's part of, you know, growing up, whether that was in grade school, high school, college, just learning about leadership and learning how to lead, you know, that's something I take pride in. Come on. Yeah, have you talked to T.J. Yates at all? He's a similar situation in his rookie years. No, I actually have not, but I will now now that you said that. You're talking about Drake. What's kind of your relationship with him and how does that help you coming into this offense now? Drake's my guy. And, yeah. That? Yeah, just that. Or boys.  I mean, yeah, but I'm comfortable with all the 11 other 10 guys that are out there with me just because, you know, I'm closer with Drake because we came in together and, you know, or boys, it doesn't mean that I'm not boys with each and every single one of the other linemen or OZ or Red or any other guy that's out there.


s who know how to do this Um, she is just starting this training. She's been doing Various other trainings over the years, but this is a particular focus on this area And she does intend to report back to the board more specifically about progress In the future. So, um, there will be further information coming. Okay. So then Um, I'll look to whenever you and she deem it's an appropriate time to provide the the board um with the backup information and I just I would ask If it's too voluminous and too many pages Then I can just check in with the office The select board office with the person that's designated from there But if it's not um, and she probably will do this anyways miss Roman that um I I'm certainly interested in what ADA compliance is to the town website If I were a person posting to it, which I I do not have access Nor should I should should I have access to the town website? But um, if that's something that could be included in the report unless it's something a it shouldn't be or It's sensitive information or it's too long And if not, I'll check with the person in the office if I might just add one item We had an example of it tonight when Julie Brazile was talking about a piece of paper with a date stamp on it And the ability of somebody To read those documents that doesn't have text that is recognizable that way is an ADA problem So when you are posting things or creating things that has to be essentially machine readable And so it's teaching people how to set up their documents how to create their documents in the first place So that everything on it is going to be accessible To somebody who who needs help reading those documents Okay Thank you. So once again, I second mr. DeCourse's motion and also agree not to reforge and item 17 Thank you Thank you. Ms. Mohan Anyone else Mr. Corsi, I'm sorry. Mr. Chair. There's one thing I just meant to add and it just goes to the The down square. I just want to read a very brief quote from from from that day One of the speakers and and I think it's apt Given what we were discussing and the quote goes as follows in days to come people may ask What means this square? What does this square mean? And the speaker said it means that america does not forget those who gave their lives for their country This is only one of the signposts of america and You know, these are one of those days and we remember the downing brothers Well, thank you very much me. So With respect to not referring I'm fine with that Me I was also fine with referring because I figured it would not be approved and that the memorial committee would explain why that Request wouldn't be honored. You know, I mean, so it would be an opportunity for the memorial's committee to educate me the The Requestor as well as everyone else in town in as to why that square was named as it's named in why We aren't going to change it that education is taking place here, you know, uh, and and hopefully, you know, more people Will will understand why I mean, so I'm fine with not referring but that's why I was fine was also referring it Uh, and respect to item 18 and the 88 compliance strategy, you know, I appreciated the town manager sending this To me and I decided to do it as corresponds received instead of Full-fledged item because it did indicate that there was going to be follow-up Later on the extensive follow-up later on So I figured we wait and get a report when there was more report me versus My memory description of what the plan is at this point But that said if someone wants it to be an agenda item Sooner rather than later, I'll be happy, you know to put it on An agenda as soon as possible Otherwise, we'll wait until we have some more progress and then we can't report Back and probably in a year or so so With a motion to receive All the items but not to refer item number 17 By mr. Corsi and a second by mrs. Mahan, um, mr. Hahn Mr. Herd Yes, mr. Corsi. Yes, mr. Helman. Yes, mahan. Yes. Thank you. Mr. Diggins. Yes, it's unanimous vote Thank you very much. I mean, so, um We have the opportunity for a second open forum. Is there anyone There no, there's no hands raised at this time. Yeah, great. So I want to read the Preamble, uh, and so now um, do this is Sorry I'll start with um, this is my mr. Mahan. No, no, no. I was clear on my throat. I'm sorry No, no, no, and and and I actually was saying um, hashley's name is maher Oh, no, no business. Thank you No, no business. Thank you No, no business. Thank you Mr. Herd Uh, no, no business Uh, mr. Helman, no new business Mr. Corsi, no new business I'll put everything on number four 24. Sorry, go ahead. Uh, I do have a lot I do have new business three things I'll try to do it quickly one is Mr. Chairman, there's a, um envelope here with your name on it So I just wanted to bring that to your attention I don't know what it is if it's a request of you or a thank you or something So I'll give that back to miss mar So just so you know that it's here, um The second one I won't go into too much detail, but when I get home, I'm going to forward an email to The town manager and to the acting board administrator to then forward to my colleagues as an fyi because I have seen today Well, it started yesterday, but it also was again today that there's a posting on one of the arlington lists regarding an additional yard waste um pick up And it indicated from my memory that um our recycling coordinator was contacted and that there would be Something perhaps provided. I don't want to provide any more information because if that's not the case Um because we don't have anything official on the town website or anything like that But as soon as I get at home, I'm going to forward that and I would ask the town manager if that is the case I mean, if it's not the case let us know that too, but if that is the case if you could just Indicate that to the board because I can't tell you how many times I've gone into dunk and donuts or Walgreens and they're like, what do you mean? I can't December 9th. So I'm not going to say anything more on that what I think the date is and all that And then my last new business is um, I would uh Request through the chair especially with the The 2023 year coming and new year starting, you know, we have the fiscal year. We have the calendar year um, I Also had a conversation with the chair met with Karen Met with our human resources director um, Ms. Malloy Earlier this morning and what I'd like to do is also stop the process um to I'm just going to put dates out and people um On friday to post the board administrator job The internal posting for to go out on friday In concert with What miss malloy does, you know for similar positions. I think it's usually open two weeks, but don't hold me on that Um, and then go forward from there in the process what I'd like to What if I had my way Is that by the beginning of 2023? But I'm not going to say january 1st, but sooner rather than later that we um Have a permanent uh board administrator, especially with all the duties that kick in Come january 1st that the you know, you know common victorlers liverys things like that where we need an official not that we can't have an acting um board administrator Sign that and do all that but um I'd like to move forward that that I'd like it to start on friday and I guess I would leave it to my colleagues and We can't really discuss it under new business, but um what I would request and that may not happen I'm just trying to say what's in my head and what I discussed with miss malloy But maybe by thursday morning if um My colleagues uh contacted the chair and or miss malloy So both of them can get a sense of where you all are at Because I could be way off base and People's don't see the need to you know, maybe I'm doing it too quickly, but So that's the other part of my new business just to report that I had a conversation only with the chair Last thursday with miss malloy this morning um I'd like to post uh the internal posting for the board administrator position I'm only one person so i'll leave it to my colleagues Whether you speak to the chair and or miss malloy if possible Before the end of this week And i'm not saying my meat picking the day is going to be the day. I know it's ambitious So I just want to do that. So that's my last new business. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you to my colleagues. I'm sorry No problem. No problem, you know, I I just want to be respectful opening on not saying much on that last item Say that I am planning on having a conversation with mrs. Malloy, you know This week, you know, so uh, thank you very much for that You know the other thing is um, I'd like to express appreciation to um, this is Miss myer and also, um, miss francisco I'll to put pulling together the members of the Committees mean that this like board committee to which this like board makes appointments and committees which the town Town manager makes appointments mean things were quite a bit out of date You know, man it took some effort being and and it's very much appreciated me The main reason I wanted it is because I wanted to send letters to the chairs of these committees mean asking them to weigh in on on their thoughts about the town manager selection process, you know, so So so so so I have that and now I can do that outreach And the last item Is our next meeting and when where And so I know here And I I think we had a little bit of discussion on the last time. This is um, this is This is mohammas with us a lot whether or not we were going to go out On afterwards me normally that's a meeting that starts early Me and we do a shortened meeting and then we had out I don't think we made a decision, you know, so I think if we're gonna We'd have to make the decision night, right? I'd like to do that What was that That works for me Is we're gonna have a shorter agenda and start the meeting at six o'clock So it's gonna be on wednesday 21st So we like started early and and and then and then go out Okay, I think everybody's nodding here mr.  Um, when to go out. Okay. All right. Um, that's fine. So, um, so then I'll see you there, you know on the 21st at six Second All right, so on a motion adjourned by miss mohan and second by mr. Helmets. Mr. Hyde Mr. Herd. Yes, mr. Of course. Yes, mr. Helman. Yes, mohan. Yes. Thank you mr. Dickens Yes All right folks Thank you very much. We have a good night


Prime Minister Nakasone and I have just completed two days of discussions on bilateral and global issues, and I'm happy to report that the relationship between our two countries remains strong and vital. Our meeting has reaffirmed my conviction that the close relationship between us is of immense importance for our two peoples and for the rest of the world. The friendship between our two nations is mirrored in the personal respect and affection that the Prime Minister and I have for each other, an affection that is held also by the Japanese and American peoples. Yesterday at Camp David and this morning here at the White House, we had as always much to talk about. In discussing relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, including arms control, the Prime Minister expressed his support for efforts towards the convening of a summit meeting with the Soviet Union. We agreed on the need for the democratic nations to remain united. We also reviewed our defense relationship and reaffirmed that the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security is the foundation of peace and stability in the far east and the defense of Japan. As you can imagine, the state of U.S.-Japan trade relations was a major topic during our meeting. And I told the Prime Minister that this issue was one of vital concern to all Americans as reflected in the strong views of many in Congress. We agreed on the necessity to continue to intensify efforts to expand trade through better market access. The Prime Minister informed me that he is dedicated to fulfilling Japan's responsibility as the free world's second largest economic power to strengthen the international trading system. He and his government are committed to a national goal of reducing Japan's trade surpluses. The Prime Minister also informed me of an important recent report which outlines some very significant changes that Japan intends to make. He is determined to implement fundamental policy changes and I applauded the Prime Minister's commitment to leading his nation toward an economic future more in harmony with the needs of global economy. The Prime Minister and I agreed on the vital importance that this plan involved a significant increase in Japanese imports, particularly of manufactured and other high-value added goods. In a similar spirit, I committed my administration to launch a strengthened program to promote exports to Japan. The trade imbalance between the United States and Japan results from complex factors that will take time, vigorous efforts, and patience to correct. There are no quick or easy fixes, but we do know protectionism is not the answer. We've already made substantial progress and are convinced that working together with urgency and commitment, we'll find ways to solve our problems through a trading relationship that is both balanced and extraordinary. As part of this common effort, I've asked Secretary Shultz and Baker and the Prime Minister is instructing his relevant ministers to pull together a broad group of high-level officials to discuss structural economic issues of mutual concern. We will continue work on better market access. We discussed the Tokyo Summit. Its preparations are going well and the Prime Minister and I are looking forward to continuing our discussion next month in Tokyo with the expectation that the summit will register a message of bright hope for the future. We discussed a number of other regional topics focusing on Asia and shared in particular our thoughts on the progress being made by the new government on the Philippines and on the importance of assisting the government in dealing with its national problems. I note that Japan has become the second largest donor of economic assistance worldwide. Our governments will continue close consultations to increase the effectiveness of our individual contributions. The Prime Minister and I agree that we both have complex problems and immense opportunities before us. The key to realizing the full potential of this unique bilateral relationship is mutual understanding and close cooperation. Together there is nothing we cannot accomplish and I might add that that was the spirit of our discussion during these past two days. President Reagan and I met in a relaxed atmosphere over the weekend. The President and I shared the views that we should work together to send from the Tokyo Summit a message of a bright prospect for and confidence in the future to the peoples of the world the developed and developing alike. We reaffirmed the importance of promoting world peace and disarmament and of the U.S. Soviet summit in this regard and the necessity of promoting the new round of multilateral trade negotiations for the furtherance of the free trading system. The President and I had a frank exchange of views on the economic issues between our two countries. Upon hearing once again the President's strong determination to continue his resolute fight against protectionism, I expressed my firm support to him. I also discussed with him the role to be played by Japan to the same end. Japan upholds the principle of free trade. I talked with President about the steps we have taken to improve Japan's market access in the past years and told him that Japan will continue its efforts to this end. The President and I shared the recognition that the change which has taken place in the yen-dara exchange rates will contribute to the adjustment of the trade relations between Japan and the United States. I told the President that Japan is determined to work as its national policy goal toward steadily reducing the current account imbalance to one consistent with international harmony. To this end, I believe that Japan must tackle the epoch-making task of structural adjustment and transform its economic structure into one dependent on domestic demand rather than exports leading to a significant increase in imports, particularly of manufactured products. Recently, my private and advisory group produced a report containing many valuable recommendations in this regard. In order to translate the recommendations into policies, the government will set up a promotion headquarters which will formulate a work schedule very shortly. Structural adjustment is no easy task in any country, but Japan must effect a historic turn and I am determined to accept the challenge. The President wholeheartedly welcomed this approach. At the same time, I hope that other countries will also deal with their own difficult problems through structural adjustment. Better convergence of policies among nations concerned will be a key to revitalization of the world economy. The President and I welcomed the agreement reached yesterday to hold the bilateral dialogue of high officials on structural problems. I pay my respect to the President for his strong determination to work towards more stable East West relations and substantial reduction of nuclear weapons and strongly hope that the momentum for U.S. Soviet dialogue spurred by the summit meeting between the two leaders last November will move forward steadily. The President and I reaffirmed the importance of maintaining close communication and coordination among the countries of the free world. In this connection, I told the President that I highly valued his efforts towards the total elimination of INF on a global basis with adequate consideration to the Asian region. In our discussions on regional issues, the President and I reaffirmed the need for Japan's United States to further cooperate for the development and stability of the Philippines under President Aquino and for us each to contribute to the stability of Central America and other countries defense capabilities together with further strengthening the credibility of the Japan U.S. security arrangements. Mr. President, I am very happy to have been able at your kind invitation to come to meet you in the spring-green of Camp David to reaffirm my unshakable friendship with you. Today, the cooperative relationship between Japan and the United States is expanding its truly global dimensions and is ever-growing in importance. I am convinced that we can overcome whatever obstacles may stand in our way and make great contributions to peace and prosperity of all the peoples of the world if our two peoples trust each other and make the best possible use of the bigger of each. Thank you.


When I was growing up I actually wore my dad's BDUs and played in the field. Me and my brother and me and my dad all with little boonies on and big old BDUs pretending that we're shooting rifles and I still shoot like that to this day. My name is Sergeant Laura Montgomery. I'm the supply and CO for Alpha Battery, two to three hundredth out of Wyoming. I grew up with parents. I'm an Army brat, so I grew up with parents. You kind of whispered my ear from crib to now that I was either going to join the army. I was not going to go to college, so I kind of was set up to pursue this career. In the Wyoming Army National Guard, I'm the supply sergeant, so it's my job to make sure that soldiers are taken care of, the mission is taken care of, and everything's planned and prepared so you can have successful readiness. It's everything from food to lodging to ammo to any supplies, equipment. My career field in the Combat Arms Unit in High Mars opened up in 2015 and I remember being a little private out in the field watching the High Mars crews roll in thinking that it was the coolest thing ever, so as soon as they opened up these positions I was all in. I wanted to be out there. So when I was deployed in 2019-2020 with Alpha Battery as their supply and CO, my primary duties of work had to do with ammo specifically, making sure we had the right quantities for the kinds of missions that we were running. It was an honor to be a part of the first female High Mars team from Wyoming to run successful fire missions overseas, especially unique for me being the supply and CO because I primarily am on the front end and the back end, so I'm sending everybody else up for success, so it's really interesting and an honor to see the mission run through with people like Sergeant Abel Sath and Sergeant Bohannon. So to be able to join a Combat Arms Unit and go on a deployment like this was definitely an experience for all of us and to have them with me by my side the whole time created a kind of unity that not a lot of people understand unless they're in that situation. I enjoy being a female in this career field because of the fact that nobody else has done it before. I love being able to be a part of the foundation that's going to create the path for everybody else behind me, but being able to be in the National Guard and being able to serve has given me an abundance of opportunities. I serve in the Wyoming Army National Guard for my brothers and sisters. I serve for the camaraderie and for a sense of purpose. The bonds that you create while you're serving and that execution of this task and the missions that you get to do the opportunities you get to take and the places that the Army takes you is incomparable to anything else. So I have a lot to give to the Army and the Army in return. It has a lot to give to me, so it's a relationship I don't want to die.


In a previous video I talked about why it's so important for each of us to be creating content consistently. Now the question is, what is content? How do you choose what type of content to create? And so that's what this video is about. Let me share with you a variety of types of content and then I want you to look at each of these and ask yourself which one are you most interested and energize to create. Okay, so the first type of content is like this, videos, right? And if you're interested on my website I actually have more than 100 videos that I've created that you can watch on all kinds of topics like business related topics, how to create content, how to create good content, how to do honest selling and enrolling clients, how to be more productive and organized, authentic success, improving your own services, healthy money, etc. So you can check that out on my website georgecow.com. Another type of content is audios and I have a link and I'll give the link to this mind map in the notes of this video as well so you can have access to all these links. Audio content is, podcasts are very popular and I've given you a link to my favorite podcast episodes so that you can actually check it out and see what what a podcast is like so you can decide whether you want to get into that game of recording podcasts, basically audio content. Okay, the third type is images. Now images can be photographs that you take yourself or you can create quote images such as the ones that are using buffer.com slash Pablo. Pablo is a free tool by, let's see here let me get this down here, yeah Pablo is a free tool that is created by a company called Buffer and it's very easy to create quote images by using Pablo so you can you know some kind of inspirational quote here and then you can search here for all kinds of you know if you want to if you want to flower flower put flowers there and there's lots of flower images you can use if you want you know inspiration creativity maybe children okay you can type that and okay there's fewer fewer ones of them there but beach let's say beach and there's lots of beach photos that you can you can use so Pablo is a great great great tool it's buffer.com slash Pablo okay and the next oh the other the other type of images are infographics so I'm gonna give you a link here and this link will show you what is an infographic so for example this is infographic it's basically a very complex graphic with images that communicate a lot of information in a single image it could be about on all kinds of topics and it could look all kinds of different ways right but it's basically communicating it's almost like an article it's like a little article but using graphics to communicate communicate what that is many many different types right of infographics okay and in terms of creating infographics you can go to the website fiverr.com and if you go there and search infographics okay infographic there are many people who can create infographics for you usually a single infographic will cost you maybe about $25 or a really really quick and simple one might even be $5 so go and check that out okay let's see what else webinars and teleclasses okay and I have a training on how to do webinars if you go to that link it'll be it'll be my my my training on that for free webinars are basically live video usually with some kind of visual element like a slideshow or some images or a mind map to walk people through a particular training on it's an online seminar therefore a webinar right a teleclass is basically a an audio live audio class that usually doesn't have any visuals on the screen so people can attend via the phone and I will talk more about webinars and teleclasses in future videos if there's interest slideshows are another type of content that you might want to create and an example is I have a slideshow here called niching 101 it kind of gives just to kind of give you an example of what a slideshow is this website slideshare has all kinds of slideshows that you might want to check out okay yeah all kinds of all kinds of slideshows there's a way to communicate information okay and let's see here mind maps like this one okay and I have a link here that'll bring you to my other mind maps articles we've all read articles they're basically text-based way of communicating information here's an example of one of my one of my articles usually an article has a cover image this is what that's called a cover image it might have the title of the article or it might just have some kind of idea from the article with a with an image there and then the heading of an article and then the article itself with with sometimes it has there's like call outs you know call outs that have sometimes it's called a block quote so that it's more sort of people scanning through the article can see the big ideas like that articles often also include images like this okay images right images okay to and then sometimes article might even have a video embedded to it okay so those are that's what an article is and then courses so I will be basically I basically put a couple dozen of my videos into a single course and you can use you to me calm to upload your videos and create courses yourself you can even sell them and earn a living from from from creating you to me courses and selling them okay there are courses on all kinds of topics even you know meditation or creativity or self-esteem and you know photography health and fitness you know there are lots and lots of different types of classes so you might want to check check out you to me you dm y.com okay for for courses okay what else there is also social media postings that's content as well and I've given links to my business and social media postings can be anything from from a video is a social media posting or something as simple or or a note or a text article can be a social media posting or can simply be an image quote you know with some writings or sometimes social media postings can be links to other things or even just your own musings you can even just write out write out a couple paragraphs you know your own musings or a couple of sentences and that's social media posting as well books books are still the most credible way to build well it's still the way to build credibility the easiest when that's not easy to create a book but it's there certainly people find you know authority and trust when someone has says oh I've written a book on that topic so definitely consider that ebooks are basically books that are just electronic format if you're gonna write if you're gonna write enough to have a book you might as well put it on Amazon in the Kindle format as well as using a service called create space which is owned by Amazon.com that you can just upload your content there and then they will as you upload it in the correct format you can use Fiverr to find someone to help you format format a create space book okay and there are plenty of people who can help you format your content into a create space and and Kindle create space and Kindle right and basically you can have you can self-publish books by just having someone format it for you into that format and you don't have to it doesn't cost you a cost relatively little you put it on create space and when people want to buy a book they just go on Amazon they search on your topic they can buy it and Amazon a print on demand for print on demand and ship it to them so Amazon does all the fulfillment for you speaking in person is also another type of format of creating content and I found that speaking person is generally the easiest way or the best the way that is for sure can get you clients but speaking a person is relatively difficult in terms of getting enough people it you know to attend so you may want to consider the other types of formats at on a more regular basis and when you can of course you speak in person as well and really content formats are only limited by your creativity so I've given a link here for many different types of content you might want to check out other types of content formats to check out so in my next video on content I will talk about how do you choose what type of format to to to create for yourself so I hope that this is helpful for an overview survey of types of content and any questions and comments I look forward to it just put it down underneath the video


Hi there. Today on Typical Books it is a continuation of Vampire Books with Vampire Fiction. We're going to start off sort of where we left off previously with Vampires by David J. Skull. This is the paperback so it's a little easier to manage than that giant hardcover. While the hardcover is beautiful, this is a little more utilitarian. If this is your first time here, welcome and please subscribe. Share this with your friends, especially those who write or read vampire fiction. This contains some of the books that I have digitally, namely Vampire Classic, Greats I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, and Dracula by Bram Stover. If you haven't watched the previous video about nonfiction vampires where I also talked about this book, and profusely thanked Jason White of Jason's Weird Reads who had asked if I had a video covering vampire books and I couldn't just do one and I knew the fiction one would be a lot longer. I was so excited to do this particular video that I did the nonfiction one first because it's basically reach over grab all the nonfiction books and do a video super fast. This took a couple days of sort of hemming and hawing and thinking there are vampire adjacent books that there are a couple on my list but I didn't want to get into that. It would be a sprawling list if I did so. I mean there are so many vampire books. I will shout out again to thevampirallibrary.com where you'll be able to find all of the other vampire books. You can sort them by series, fiction, standalone novels and sequels and things like that. And of course as I said in the previous video nonfiction as well. Their fiction list is super long. I don't know when the last time it was updated so it is out of date but be that as it may is massive. So my list is not that big but I'd like to think that my list does contain most of the classics that you need if you're just starting to read about vampires. If you read a few vampire YA books and want to read some more contemporary or classic adult horror literature or literary horror that is based on vampires. Of course a lot of this comes into play because of my own vampire fiction. Now I have always been a huge fan of vampires. One of my cousins dressed up as Dracula every year for Halloween and I loved it every single year. Every say if he didn't dress up as Dracula I was deeply disappointed. I even dressed up as a vampire a couple times myself. Now I did write in 2011 Night Face my vampire novel and I'm working on the sequel now because I'm slow writing especially noveling. Short stories I'm not that slow but noveling is slow for me. But yeah in that I did a lot of research coupled with what I already knew or thought I knew about vampires. Now of course this book was not in my repertoire at the time and I kind of wish it was but I had slowly been collecting and I collected a lot and read a lot of vampire stuff in that time. I've also gotten rid of a lot of vampire stuff so this is by no means a totally comprehensive collection but it is an okay start. Starting with as noted Bram Stoker's Dracula told in a pustulary format and I am Legend by Richard Matheson. Very different story but counted as vampire fiction nevertheless. Now you'll see my collection is quite Dracula centric and these books are no exception. Now these are by Daker Stoker, Daker Stoker and JD Barker, Daker Stoker and Ian Holt and this is Dracula the Undead and Dracul. I have reviewed this recently so you may have watched that and I really enjoy these. There is a lot of naysayers about whether these are really true continuations or if it is some sort of an enterprising tactic. It makes a lot of sense to reclaim the Bram Stoker legacy by Daker Stoker. I think it's an amazing thing to hear him talk. You can see the love seeing what his contributions are to Bram Stoker's legacy and reading the book and this is even better actually. I really love these books. So there I'm a Daker Stoker fan. Go figure. When it comes to these books they are just beautiful. Beginning with Dracula the Undead it is something that could sit on your shelf alongside the original Dracula and now the original Dracula had many different iterations. I'm pulling here largely from Vampires by David J. Skull and you can see the love of the curation in the sidebars and why I consider this more of a non-fiction book really. But it is a beautiful book and it has had many different iterations. Dracula the Undead is a beautiful book as well with the gilded edges. I love the decaled edges. It's just a wonderful book to read. The copy I have of Dracula is very similar in its beauty. It has a wonderful spine so without the dust jackets they will look really beautiful against any classic edition of Dracula that you might have on your shelf. Now of course it doesn't have the decaled edges in the jackal but hey we're going to stick in a little bit of a Dracula vein with The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. This is a really fun read. If I could just if I could skim it you know if I could read every tenth page and speed read it it might have sit a little better with me and a lot of other readers. This is a very thick book. It almost comes in at two inches thick so you have this is a good summer read actually if you want something that you can really dive into and devour and live in and it's very I think hand in hand with a lot of YA fantasy if you've read a lot of YA fantasy and just want to be taken on a journey then this book will do that for you. I highly enjoyed the story and I liked where it went so I don't know I would love to see this made into a movie. I know that that's been in talks. It has some epistolary format so if you're missing that from the original Dracula alongside just a really wonderful story and an opulent story I really enjoyed the story. I think that this goes hand in hand with all the Daker Stoker stuff too. Dracula, Vlad the Impaler a lot of that comes into play in one of my favorite stories by Nancy Copatrick which is The Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt is a modern and contemporary story actually that pulls in a lot of the you know subculture that has created around vampires and their lore and the actual history and the history of Vlad the Impaler as well and many other vampiric things. Vampiric variations hence the title with all of the other stories about different styles of vampires and of course they all come from the exact same origin. So I really enjoyed this book in particular The Wild Hunt which is a standalone novella now if you're interested it's only recently to Lydia. Enjoy these thirsty tasty bloodsuckers. Well they're not even thirsty they're tasty. Thank you Nancy. Wonderful stuff and recommended if you like short stories and want something new. If you've been saying to yourself I like vampire stories but I'm really sick and tired of all the same old same old than Nancy Copatrick. I only have digital copies of her Revenge of the Vampire King series and that is definitely adult and it is definitely I wouldn't say erotic necessarily but it is tasty. So if you're interested in some very different vampires Nancy Copatrick is the way to go because she's also very versed in the classics. Speaking of versed in the classics interview with the vampire the whole vampire series. I like the Mayfair Witcher series too so the way that the two intertwine is interesting to me. This is my husband's copy from his collection which I've shown in a quick succession because there still is the 10th and final wrap-up video for my bookshelf tour that will include a lot of these but hey Anne Rice knows what she's doing when it comes to vampires. This is a beautiful book. It's a beautiful collection and it's a beautiful series to own. Now aside from Nancy Copatrick being the reigning queen of Canadian vampire writers Anne Rice is likely crowned the reigning queen of all vampire writers living today so there's a real reason for that. She does stick with some very frilled cuff. It's a like a bleeding neckline bodice ripper in a way but it does subvert a lot of our typical expectations when it comes to vampires and immortality in particularly. It's a study on loneliness on top of that so a fantastic read a fantastic book fantastic entry and yes sometimes her descriptions of architecture could be floored but I like that. Now we'll get into a little bit of the newer vampires but before I leave older vampires I want to mention the vampire tapestry. Now the unicorn tapestry by Susan McKetternis is quoted in vampires by David J. Skull. The vampire tapestry isn't excerpted in there but I had had a copy of that but I went with the call when it came to vampire novels that I didn't think I would reread or wouldn't refer back to then I just unhauled them as the kids say so yeah it is definitely at Black Squirrel Books if you're interested in the copy but it is a new modern vampire with old vampire steadfast rules to it and it is somebody struggling with what they are and they happen to be a doctor so it's very interesting how they justify a lot of their practices and their reality. Another book that I don't happen to own that neatly brings us into more modern and different vampires beyond what Nancy Capatrick is doing is The Radleys by Matt Haig. I had passed by The Radleys for the longest time in the bookstore because I didn't know what it was about. I saw offense, I saw blood, I thought I don't know what I thought until I read the back jacket copy. If you've passed by The Radleys thinking huh it's just a catchy cover for YA something or another it is a vampire story and if you had picked it up expecting something like Anne Rice or something like Daker Stoker or Kostova's work you will be sadly mistaken because it does live sort of in that YA atmosphere in a way but it is a raw looking good time as reviewers would quote. It is a very fun idea in how modern vampires live. I haven't watched that popular you know Flight of the Concord style vampire show that everyone likes that funny one. I haven't watched that yet so I think that it sort of has that sort of idea or if we're going to delve right into film uh Only Lover is Left Alive that sort of idea of how vampires really live but this particular one has some more like true blood kind of angles to it so if you like true blood and you like to see how vampires would handle themselves in this day and age The Radleys is really fun. It's masterfully written. It's written for a very broad audience. I think it's really fun as far as a summer read. It's a very quick read and it's just fun. It's just very digestible and yeah I enjoyed that and recommended it. I wish I had a copy still. I believe I passed it on to a family member if not straight up unhauled it. Now for something completely different you might have seen me review this book A Small Charred Face by Kazuki Sakuraba. I really did enjoy this. Now it takes another twist on how vampires would live in this day and age and it's got a tone because it's translated that may not groove as well. It's something like The Radleys. If you want something very digestible, very North American than The Radleys, if you want to immerse yourself in a different tempo entirely than a small charred face is for you. It's a lovely lovely book and I enjoyed every single minute of reading this and I do like things like Otsuichi and I have to get into some Jinjin Ito because that is what all the cool kids are reading these days so I think that that would really be the kind of tone I really appreciate as far as dark thrillers and horror. So this is a really interesting take on new vampires. I didn't entirely raid Chris's bookshelf so I'm not sure if he has Let the Right Went In by John of Edelinquist but I do have the sequel in here so hey, let the old dreams die, the sequel to Let the Right Went In and again more contemporary, different vampires, a very different tone. If you want something that is not filled cuffs, dusty libraries and altercations at midnight in the parks and the catacombs, if you want away from that, if you want something that's a little more suburban, fresh, that has to do with, again, love and loneliness. That's a lot of the themes that you're dealing with in this specifically loneliness which is really the thing you're coming to vampires to grapple with I think in a lot of ways. This is fantastic, beautiful, beautiful regardless of what movie you watch. I really like the original movie myself but I would say Reading Linguist Work.  It has a story called The Tindallus which I just, wow, so cosmic horror. You're getting a sense of the cosmic in the way that he writes too but to see him take all that away and write sort of a monster story with Let the Right Went In.  But yes, different new vampires, different new vampires. Well, hollow, 30 days of night. We kind of went on a hunt for these not long ago. So this is the Steve Niles classic, now classic 30 days of night. Incidentally, if anyone ever comes across a red 30 days of night Zippo, it's ours and I would love to replace my husband's lost Zippo. So if you took it, yeah, if anyone could ever find one, if you ever see one in a comic book shop let me know immediately. I will pay a king's ransom for that lighter. The cool kids had discovered something so cool and had come out with the movie is just beautiful. The artwork is beautiful, the story is impeccable and again it's something like how do vampires handle being vampires? How do humans handle dealing with vampires once they're here? And where would you go if you were a vampire? What location makes sense to you? When you need something like 30 days of night? These next two bunks, one is way more vampire than the other, but I do like these new takes on vampires. You want some Western vampires. Andy Davidson has you covered within the Valley of the Sun. You may recall me reviewing this. I was late coming to this as a Bram Stoker nom and I really, really did enjoy this. It was fun. I like the idea of a Western vampire and spiders in the daffodils by my friend Nelson W. Piles is another story that if you enjoyed this go with spiders in the daffodils too because that particular story is just oh my gosh I like the West. I'm so far removed from that culture and I did have like a Billy the Kid Old West shoot-em-up book when I was a kid with a really wonderful illustration, sort of carnival-esque illustrations. So that's like the closest I've ever come to this in real life so this playing Red Dead Redemption or mostly watching Red Dead Redemption be played and reading spiders in the daffodils. It is really the place where a vampire could run a muck like mad. Beautiful stuff. And Andrew Piper's the only child. I feel like it's spoiler-ish saying that it's vampire, including it here. That's why I'm putting it way at the end and it's not only vampires. It has to do with a lot of other things. If you've read any reviews on this and not read it, I highly recommend picking it up if you are a fan of any sort of horror, like classic horror. If you're interested in the mummy, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, all of those things, hammer horror I suppose, but all of those castle horror pictures and stories and things written at the turn of the last turn of the century. So you can tell that he's writing just with huge understanding of what buttons these monsters and these stories pushed in readers and they're the buttons that they pushed in him as well. Being such a good writer, so taking that and his fandom together creates just a wonderful woven tapestry of monsters and monster hood and again how they would live in this world or how this world lives around them. I did recently redo the cover for Night Face. I'm still waiting on my author's copies because shipping to Canada takes forever right now and I am not complaining because I have mostly been not ordering things off the internet. The last thing I wanted to do since March 10th is endanger anyone else and have anyone come to my door that didn't absolutely need to so I've really kind of dumbed down all my ordering and no one's going to be coming to my door to buy any books so I didn't really need them but I did want a copy of my own book to put on my shelves right but I have recently read on the cover mostly because it's going to be matching up with the sequel that will be coming out and the two covers will go together so to speak. It was that or release one giant tome that contained book one and book two which might happen someday down the road but I kind of doubt it because I like them being the way they are considering many people already have the first book on their shelves right so Night Face one just Night Face and the Elder's Night Face. So there you have it the vampire through history in a way from the beginning of vampire fandom anyhow with Bram Stoker's Dracula all the way to today's vampire stories and my gosh there are so many this is really just the tiny tiny tip of the iceberg but they are all very beautiful books with very beautiful ideas and a wonderful study on the monster and man the monsters among us loneliness and how to live in a world that either rejects you or that you need to live outside of for your own reasons. So yeah really a wonderful topic and wonderful trope thank you again to Jason White for mentioning this at all because it really inspired me to do two fun videos I had a lot of fun creating these and going through my shelves and picking out some of the vampire stuff and realizing how much of it I have parted with so there will be videos coming up soon I am still reading a horror in the woods so that will be a review coming up soon I will also have a video a very short one about what happened to all my books I know I've alluded to it a couple times the huge call the massive loss the damage of water and mold can't imagine all my books have gone yeah something like that anyway so have you written a vampire novel if so let me know in the comments below and if you're reading some cool vampire fiction or if there is a number one reread awesome vampire book that you love that has not been mentioned here then definitely let me know that too so thank you very much for watching and make sure that you have an oaky spooky day