Okay, greetings everyone. Greetings and welcome to Progressive Discussions After Dark. And I am here once again with my good friend and very special guest from Chicago, Illinois, Mr. McVon Raven. Mick, how are you? I am good, Jimmy. And I hope my synchronization's a bit better than last time. I had like a martial arts movie going where I talk and words didn't come out. Now, we were okay now. Of course, it is Progressive Discussions After Dark. I, excuse me, because I'm drinking my... I love you, my son. Yes, I am drinking my Yenling Porter, which is like an American Guinness Stout. It is the oldest, America's oldest brewery in Potsville. I don't know if it's Pots Town or Potsville. I think it's Potsville, Pennsylvania. Pots Town. It could be Pots Town. Well, that's Pots Town, okay? What's the difference? Pots Town, yeah. That'll be Washington, DC. Pots Town. Pots Town.  I've got a whole 12 pack of them.  And what's the difference between the town and, well,ville means village, right? Maybe. That'll be small in a town. Pots Village, Pots Town. Listen, I was criticized for doing a video in the dark. But guess what? I showed him that I do many videos under bright LED lights. So I'm not hiding from anyone. I do this in the dark because this is the theme of this particular show.    And I have dark, very dark actually, craft beer. I mean, it's dark. Look, A.O., man, come on, we got the shades on. We're wearing dark. It is dark outside. We're in the dark. My friend here, Billy Bones, he loves the dark. He's very, he's, he's into mysticism, right, Billy Bones? He's rather macabre. He's rather macabre. And so we, you know, so anyway, I want to begin.  Don't tell me, I forgot the paperwork. Oh, hold on, there's paperwork. Hold on, the paperwork. We're gonna have some interesting discussions our views on today's news from Washington. Our least favorite news. Oh, the politics of the day are not what they used to be, man. Used to be a fair fighting field. Now it's Dirty Dog City, where any rusky can come into your town and get some elected. Oh, here's James back on the call.  I for 10 years, I could cut them for like a new name that I could do it. And this guy used to always say, I'm in the back doing paperwork.  But I was, you know, I love exotic fence and I'm into arachnids, scorpions, tarantulas. Okay, instead of me ordering something online where they sucker me into paying like $40 overnight shipping, FedEx or whatever. It's ridiculous. You do not need overnight shipping for an arachnid, maybe for a reptile. So anyway, I decided to go to the local PetSmart. And I guess they assumed that it's a smart place to go because otherwise it would be called pet imbecile. Instead of smart. Anyway, I go in there and they had what I wanted. They had a captive bred, not wild caught. I don't want wild caught anything because it can be riddled with parasites. We have enough parasites in Washington. Yes. So captive bred Asian forest scorpion, it's black. Also a rather dark macabre looking. It's very good looking scorpion. It's shiny, jet black, it's sleek. Menacing. Yeah, it wasn't expensive either. So I asked for it and they acted like I was purchasing a Tasmanian devil for God's sakes, you know, the girls there and they made me sign so many forms and permits for the state of New Jersey.  A spitting cobra, a king cobra or something? I says, you're only dealing, you're dealing with one of the probably largest scorpion in the world, but it has the venom of a bee or a hornet. It's not deadly.  Yeah, permits and forms. And you would think I'm acquiring a Nile crocodile or a king cobra. I'm not going to say you're what, man. Or a chupacabra from Puerto Rico or an alien from area 51.  He didn't flow like a butterfly though, he just don't know anything. But you know, give me a break. And you know what?  What hobbies I have and what I have as a pet? Well, they don't need to tax you and get in licensing fees and any money they can get out of it, man.    It's very durable and rough and, and, you know, it doesn't break apart into dingleberries. Good to know.   The girl laughed and says, you know, you can do that on Facebook. I said, believe me, we do a lot of, we, we, we have, there are many grievances on Facebook.    Well, you saved a lot and you did a lot to save a lot. Yeah.   And unless you're rich, unless you're one of their rich buddies, then you can do anything you want. Well, yeah. Like closed down bridges and such. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Bridgegate. Cock-sucking motherfuckers. Bridgegate.  Like in other words, she says to me, oh, do you have the proper enclosure?  Oh, they need this, you know. Oh, they need that, you know. Little does she know how advanced I am in the field that I says I have everything that the little crispy, crusty little rascal can possibly need. You don't have to tell me. You don't have to try to sell me some overpriced enclosure that comes with humidity gauge and stick-on heater and substrate and this and that and the decorations.  That's their game, man, the bait and switch. Buy this, buy that as well. Typical, desirous control retail. And, you know. Unless you want some. It ends up being that the accessories end up end up much more expensive than the creature itself. Insane. Much more expensive than. That's like a jeweler. That's like you get, let's say you get a. Diamond. A ruby. Well, diamonds technically really not a precious stone anymore. Really so many diamonds being mined in South Africa. Let's say a sapphire, which is a blue ruby. They're both corundums is the name of the mineral. An emerald would be a barrel. I'm not trying to show off them just, you know. You know, yeah, we like to educate our public as well as make them laugh. So anyway, you know, we're the foremost authorities on everything in the earth. We're supposed to yell out rape when we belt your pillage or something from now on. We're right now in the evening, by the way. Yeah, so where was I before I digress? We were talking about the. Precious stone and paying more for the setting than the stone itself. Yeah, it's like, exact. Oh, this guy's psychic. This mcvon raven. Psychic or psychotic. Take your pick. Oh yeah, but Ravens are the smartest birds in the world. So anyway, yeah, the setting and the costing more than the sapphire or fire sapphire itself. It's insane. Look, but I'm way ahead of retail. I know the sleaziness of retail, plus sometimes they'll sell you never buy, never purchase a newborn or a hatchling or anything that is newborn. Anything alive, right? Never, never, ever, ever, ever buy it. Always let the breeder give it a head start and build it up, put some, put a little size on it. Yeah, take the risk. They die when they're newborn a lot of times, don't they? Oh, they definitely have a high mortality rate, sure. Well, you know, I'm chomping at the bit to talk about today's circus in Washington. You know that, don't you? Yes, you are, and all I gotta say is without going into detail about what happened to me today with the big fight on my fitness group, all I have to say is in general to you human rights out there, take the time before you go off half cocked and assume things and accuse people of things, always read word for word what the person's writing, try to understand the content of what they're trying to say. Always focus on content and if it's a video, same deal. Content, listen to what they have to say.    Where am I, Viking? We're belting. No, we're pirates of the night.  Yeah, I got a new voodoo doll, which I was very respectful for, but I found a new home for it, it's on my wall, I'm not gonna disturb it, but there is a photo of me with the voodoo doll on my mysticism paranormal Facebook page, which McVon Raven happens to be an editor of. You know, the page of Krampus and- Funny, you should- Krampus and Festivus, yeah. And I got some great new albums there since you've been there last, believe me, it's there. Take a look at my voodoo doll. I got one directly from New Orleans. Oh yeah, wow, look at that, hold on, you got, it looks similar to mine. Let me look, let me look, show it to me. Shall we turn the light on?   Well, let me tell you, this voodoo doll was given to me from a coworker that went to Nolans. He went to Nolans and got it directly for me. Okay. Motherfucker, that's a real Nolans voodoo doll. No, that's it, that looks almost identical to mine, except yours has a different outfit on it. But, respect it, don't mock it, because if you want, I have the voodoo chant for good luck and money. Let me look at it again. There you go. It's very important. Take a look. All right, what you gotta do is, you gotta make sure you have pins with the white ball on the end. Okay.  I already have a white pin in this one. There's a white pin in this one already. I don't see any black pins though.  Ooh, there is a black pin in this one also. All right, leave that there. Okay. Don't worry about that now.  I did, I went one step further. What I did was I wrote a long, you know, I wasn't too lengthy, but I got to the point. I wrote it out and then I signed it and dated it so it's official in voodoo land. I wanted to make it legally official. So I put my signature, my John Han crotch at the bottom and dated it.  All right, I got my list, I've signed it. I'm folding it. No, no, no, take your time. Do it when you're not on the show. I'll take your time. I got exactly what I need in here, trust me. You want to put, okay, all right, all right.  You can hang it on a wall, you can put it in a little vase, you know, stand it up. So, you know, it's happy. And then I will give you privately the chant for money and good luck. And what you do is you say the chant while holding the voodoo doll, gazing it to its eyes. You must gaze into its face, you must gaze into it. And you say the chant and then you go put it in a nice place. And how about that? We even have the same voodoo doll. It's a kinship. You know what, but this is for real. What I'm telling, this is from the voodoo master of New Orleans, like that song, what's that?  Now there's a man from New Orleans, from the 70s. I don't remember that particular song, but it sounds pretty cool. Yeah, anyway, now you know about the doll and what to do. I will give you the chant.   I'm very meticulous in everything I do. Now we're ready to hear the great McVon Raven rant about stuff. Hold on. Back to your point. You definitely don't want to jump to conclusions.  It's not really very helpful. It's important to absorb the content of what the other individual is trying to say.  You must never assume. You have to really be fair to the other person. Now, if somebody rubs me the wrong way, which they did and I admit I overreacted because they got very ferocious and very profane and I made gestures like I wish I had a 44 Magnum in my hand, which I sometimes I really do wish I had it, but maybe it's best I don't. You want a rocket launcher, not a 45 man rocket launcher. Yeah, what is that the Russians make this really effective shoulder held rocket launcher? They do?  Well, of course the original AK-47 is the best all-around Russian gun in the world. You know, you can bury it in a mud and you can do, you can abuse it, it doesn't jam and it always fires and you know, but anyway, this is a rocket launcher that would be wonderful on the Los Angeles freeway during a rogue rage. I mean, could you imagine somebody? I had a Facebook friend who does awesome music posts. Admittedly, he said something on a bad day and all of a sudden he posted something half-cocked going off on me for inviting him to like a semi-nudy page.   If you don't like it, just scroll on, ignore it.  But you know how it is, people on Facebook want to go berserk over nothing. Yeah, well, you know, it's, I, what really, what really sends me ballistic when I drive is the tailgater.  That's where you went, that rocket launcher, man. Changed even things up.    That's a real cocksucker, motherfucker. They do it a lot. They slow down, they slow down. Below the speed limit or they're afraid to pass a truck.  What about rubber-neckers when they see a cop that pulls somebody over and they'll have to get no, they have to get nosy, they have to slow down and look. Well, I tell you, we had a horrific accident right in my neighborhood, like a hundred feet from me like two weeks ago and I, I didn't run out, I didn't do anything, I didn't think it was gonna help. So I just waited, heard the news, unfortunately, four people perished, got rest their souls. Yeah, I'm not an EMT, I'm not gonna do anything, right? Give me the information, I'm gonna go home and do nothing with it, it's just useless rubber-neckers.  Unless you have an orangutan driving your car or you're having what, you know, what are those, those new fangled, automatic, silent drivers, or you know, I got a chimpanzee driving it. Now, they're too busy for you.   But anyway, yeah, 40 miles an hour and they're doing 35.  If you're gonna go, if you're gonna go, I wouldn't do 40, if you're gonna go 50. 40 to 50, you should be in the right lane where the, for people that get off at exits, you should not never be in the middle lane or the left fast lane. You should be in the right lane. And how about when trucks take up all the good lanes? Oh, the cocksuckers that take up all the lanes and unclucked walls. Do it, man. Two trucks in the passing lanes, both of them. Now, these are just selfish pricks that really are desperate for attention. And, or they're just natural born troublemakers, or they're just brain cell deficient. And in America it's got plenty of those. You know, that's why they need guiding lights like us to steer them in the right direction.   Tell me about the guy is, he's our attorney general and he's already lied under oath.  We're, I mean, it's just a mockery.  It's a mockery. It's all, it's a cabinet and a presidency based on lies, mistrust.  They're scumbags, they're killers. Not all Russians just hooting in his people. I never, well, Putin, you're right, dude. I'm curious at this bullshit, this revelation, this guy, they show the video of him saying he had no contact with the Russians when he was giving, you know, testified to become the attorney general and now he's backpedaling. Well, I didn't exactly lie. Yeah, he was, he was KGB, I mean, but I think that it's ridiculous to blame the 2016 election year on Russia's, on Putin and Russia's interference. I think the lack of integrity and the total corruption of the DNC as well as the Republicans collectively, all of them, I think they just did themselves in, you know? I mean, the people that are intelligent, realized it, they saw it, they saw how a real good honest man got screwed in the primaries, Bernie Sanders, and then the DNC was not held accountable. Of course they weren't. They were protected for the Obama administration and the FBI protected Hillary Clinton, the DNC.   Bernie crafts and Bernie bros did not protest in anger. The only people that protest in anger were all the carpet munchers and gays that supported Hillary Clinton that were obsessed with Hillary Clinton.  Europeans get violent, they get militant. They get militant, you know what I mean? They put a lot at risk that Europeans do. The protesters in the US are playing it safe. The most thing that makes me the angriest is the, you know, the treason. It's against the law for any citizen to talk to the Russian government. I'm not saying they did or didn't influence the election. I'm just saying a lot of legal activity took place. And if it was on a different party, they'd go berserk and be winding someone's head. But in this case, they're just kind of leisurely going into it. Hey, have you watched the video of the two young Russian hackers prank calling John McCain, Senator John McCain? Oh, I have not seen it. You gotta look for it. It really happened. And John McCain, you know, just like he did when he was a POW, he sang like a canary to these two Russian hackers. Wow. He sang like a canary. And yeah, it's on YouTube. And you know, this is the only administration or maybe even, maybe, yeah, this is the only administration that I've known in my lifetime that has lied under oath so many times. Oh, rape, pillage. I need another Yenling Porter, but I will talk a little more before I get more of my high octane antifreeze. Or summer coolant, I should say. Oh, preserve the innards. The innards. Speaking of innards, I can go for some exotic cold cuts from the Polish market. I think I have over a dozen of them. It's the best, bro. I want to get some smoked duck. They call it wedding style kielbasa. It's like, it's not cheap. It's 3.99 a pound. And they have very good blood, blood-worn sausage called kashanka. With a K, kashanka, I'll look for kashanka. It is very good. The old Polish man told me my favorite sausage is the kashanka. Best cook I ever dated was a girl from Poland, man. Just the best cook ever.  I dated a couple of them, but this was back in the 1980s. Yeah. 2000s. They have a nice meaty vagina. The labia is meaty. It's meaty. It's got meat too.  That's disgusting.  Got it. There you go. You're going to get some new fans on that one. Yeah, well, we, of course, we didn't place the show in advertisement. It was kind of a sperm in a moment thing that we decided to do this show because I was so aggravated from before I was just itching to go in the air. But normally next time I will try to keep the show advertised for several days, you know, so people know. But the meaty labia and, you know, my friend who is a fantastic, one of the best personal trainers and nutritional consultants I know in the world, what this man does for his clients, I don't know anyone else that does it. Mr. Mario Petrus, the trainer to the stars. He also has a thing for the meaty pussy, the meaty pussy. The ones that look like they got real, what do they call those kegel muscles? Nice, kegels, kegels. Oh, kegels, kegels, kegels, kegels, kegels, kegels, kegels. Billy wants to sing, kegels, kegels, kegels, kegels. All right, I'm sorry. Everything was talking to a date about kegel exercises, oddly enough. Kegel and Ebert, oh no, they died. That was, yeah, Siskel and kegel, or was it? Anyway, Siskel and Ebert. Ebert, both gone. Yeah, one of them ended up looking like Bobby Heenan looks now with the throat cancer thing. Yeah, and one of them was, I didn't know it was a long time finook, and not that there's anything wrong with that. Oh, the Siskel was a finook? Yeah, he was a finook, I didn't know that, I didn't, I'm glad I didn't. I didn't know, I didn't know he was a finook. I know the one that got cancer was married to a black girl. He was a dark meat chaser. Yeah, yeah, she was a little, She was half-ditches. She was half-ditches, like the woman who sang, it's raining men, hallelujah, you guys remember that? Black women, they really enjoy giving as well as receiving. Well, Best blow job ever.  But I think the, I don't consider myself an expert, cunning linguistic, I would say yeah, I have a PhD in cunning linguistics. You just have to watch out for HPV now, man.  Cunning linguistics? Yeah, I like cunnilinguus on the right gal, definitely. Are you talking about human papillomavirus?  Oh my God, so in other words, the woman has a human... You can get it, man.  So that means the, what if she, what if you just zero in on the little punching bag, the little clipped bag? It's still there through the vaginal juices, bro.  Well, that's covered in vaginal juices. Vaginal, maranara, yeah, so it's the plum tomato. I tell you, there's always something ruining our natural abilities to procreate. Our DNA says make love. Our DNA says caress and be kind. But that means you gotta use saran wrap. Yeah, no thanks. I'll just take a pass on the whole goddamn thing if I have to. Saran, well, what's a good quality? Saran wrap is the best quality, right? A good saran wrap. I haven't done it yet, I hope not to.  I hope not to ever use saran wrap. I haven't yet and I don't want to. In other words, the whole thing in an oyster shell is big enough, just like ours. We gotta stick to that oceanic theme. The whole thing in an oyster shell, as Ed Norton would say, oyster is to have a monogamyna monogahela. No, that's the river in Pittsburgh. Monogamous relationship with a clean woman. Be a clean guy, same difference, yep. And you go, you gotta have a clean guy to be with a clean woman, otherwise nobody's clean. Should be happy to know in front of this stuff, not make it one-sided. That's right, that's right. Guys have to take it seriously because maybe the different venereal diseases God's way of saying, okay, you don't want to do it my way, I'm gonna punish you for it.  Unfortunately, men become the carriers for the HPV and give it to other women. Yeah, because men enter them, they're the ones with the cavern, with the hole. Yep. Men have the peg and the ovens, the baster, the turkey base, the flesh, the skin flute, the bagpipes. Trouser trout. Trouser, one-eyed trouser trout. They're the ones that inject. We've got a flamwitch.  The basalantic. And he had that injector for shooting a garlic and spices and herbs into the pork loin. That's semen? Well, you know, when he whacked as hard as he could on the infomercial, that was probably a plastic hammer. Yeah. You know, my sister and brother-in-law bought one and guess what, when she used it? Broke? No, no, it worked all right.  Ronco. Yeah, Ronco.  I guarantee it. I missed that guy, they should bring him back. You see, his commercials aren't around. You got fired. Why'd they go on the computer instead or something? He's gone, they got rid of him. You know what's they got rid of that I feel bad about the original Doseki's, man? They got the crazy- He's not so much uglier, dude, to replace him.   He looks like he's related to somebody at the motel in New York. No, I don't. Oh my God, if he looked at the sky, he would be a two-car garage. It's amazing, people like us should be on TV if this motherfucker is. No, I'm not the Doseki's type, I don't know. But you know what, the original Doseki's, man, he's the meaner, he had the charisma. You know what I think it is? I think they were too cheap to pay the original Doseki's. These people just, no loyalty, no loyalty. They got off cheap, they got off cheap, they hired the new guy. You know, they don't look long-term companies today. It's all penny-wise and pound foolish. They only think from quarter to quarter every three months. Every three months. Man, I saw something interesting on Vice News, a Chinese company moved to the US and is doing production in the US. And was fell off my chair. Well, I got a salute. The richest man in China, the man who started and owns Alibaba, which is like eBay, he purchased, God knows how many thousands of acres of pristine land in the New York Adirondack area, the Adirondack Mountains, just to simply leave it alone. Nice. And let nature do what it does. Not that he doesn't have any plans for it. He did it as a sanctuary, just like that black actor, the older man. Organ Freeman? Yes, he bought land as a bee sanctuary. Yeah, I heard that. That's another guy that deserves a salute. Because those bees are in trouble, you know? Well, speaking of trouble, I heard some disturbing things about the rainforest that how many trees have been cut down because of the beef in Brazil? That's really sad shit, man. Every day. An amount of carbon that Brazil is producing and that, it's just unbelievable.  There's an imbalance of carbon dioxide to oxygen. Yeah, and there's a lot of motherfuckers that need oxygen. And when you destroy vegetation trees, it's not just the oxygen to carbon dioxide ratio, it's also the preservation of the soil. Yes. The root system holds the moisture and maintains the integrity of the ground, of the soil.   Well, it's because agreed. Yeah. It's because agreed and... Let's worry about it later. Let other generations worry about it. Now, my divining rods, being that I'm a mystic, my divining rods came in, I sent away for a very high quality copper divining rods. And let me see if I can get them to work. They're right over here. Excuse me, Billy Gump. And what better show would there be than this show to find my divining rods, you know what? I've got my own divining rod. I didn't send away for it though, and it's not copper. Okay. I'll take my glasses. Well, I already did, my shades off. Okay. Divining rods, they have tips on them.  Nice. As you know, anyway, here we go. Of course, you know the deal. How should I do this? No, no, better. They're L-shaped, you know. If they come together, that's a good sign. Okay. Divine, if they go apart, then that means no. If they go halfway, then it's undecided. Divining rods. Do you like this new show of ours, of mine, of ours, called Progressive Discussions After Dark? Hmm, thinking? Maybe not for, oh. Okay, all right. Okay, he says yes. You know what it is? I have to gently hold it in my hands, because I was grabbing it too hard. Divining rods, copper divining rods too, which is a very good conductor of energy. Nice. You like the theme, the decor of our show, the mysticism, the darkness. Hence, after dark. Okay. Okay. Very cool. Warm them up. Warm them up, warm them up. Warming up. All right, the wine rods. Do you think McVon Raven is just a hell of a cool guy and co-host for me? Oh no. Please favor me. No, don't encourage it. Yeah, be that's, and it's new, that maybe it's just gonna be used to my energy. Yeah.  Now, politically speaking, Divining rods on a more serious note. Does Donald Trump have a specific intelligent reason for choosing the people in his cabinet like a specific agenda? Yep. Please destroy the offices they're in, to be honest with you. Because I don't think Donald Trump is an evangelical religious freak. I think there's another agenda going on. And it's probably what my other, my co-host and my Reverend Dr. William J. Eisenman says is it's a right-wing agenda. It's basically, steal the money, hoard the money and screw everybody else. Is Donald, does Donald Trump have any intention of honoring any of his campaign promises? I know Bernie Sanders talks about that a lot. I think I know, I think I know what he's doing. I think I know what Trump is doing. Said yes. I think I know what he's doing.  He needed the votes to get elected. He needed the evangelical freakazoids and the right-wing votes. So maybe, maybe he just did it, you know, was, who cares if they get offended?  Is Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan bonafide pieces of shit? Mr. Divine Rod. Yep. That's a no-doubter with or without those rods.  I'm gonna put the rods. Thank you, Copper Rods. I'm gonna put them away on top of my wonderful crystal pyramids. Yeah, we were talking a little bit before the show that people that go into politics are failed actors and actresses that really want to be famous. Yeah. And they fall into politics and then they just want power no matter what the cost is. I mean, it just, every politician is one scumbag after another. Yeah. Well, I ordered two more wonderful pyramids. Different crystal, different rocks. I will have some, I will have a real humdinger of a collection. And I figure by putting those rods on top of it with all that energy pulsating. Oh, forget about it. The rods are probably very happy. There's a copper really, you know, everybody knows about copper.  Yeah. But I have a copper medieval ring. Nice. That my mom ordered it one time. It didn't fit her. Well, naturally it was a men's ring. It's a copper ring and it's starting, I'll show you, it's starting to get, you know how the Statue of Liberty gets that green mold? Yeah. Because it's copper. And that's something where copper does. You know, and I don't know if you see. It's got the pattern of the Fleur-de-lis, the French lily. Very nice. The, I like saying Fleur-de-lis. It's, you see, it's got the Fleur-de-lis. I read that the Fleur-de-lis really comes from ancient Babylonia. Very cool. And it's copper and it goes on my finger. Or else the world says it's gonna go.  I got so pissed. This is not a wedding band. Damn it. It's a medieval copper ring.  It's not a wedding band. Or to get the word on the other hand to avoid that. Well, it doesn't fit on my other finger.   You know they're obsessed with wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding, wedding.  And you know what? Unfortunately, often it is. Often it is. Now what complicates it is when you have kids of course. Cause then, then a woman can take you over to the barrel to the cleaners, you know, but. Haven't been down that road yet myself. Yeah. How you do, how are you doing on time? Do I have time for another one of these porters? Are you going to hang out a bit with me? Yeah, sure, why not? Okay, let me put Billy Bones down. Actually, Billy Bones, let me give him a rest, poor guy. I don't, you know what I could do? I don't even know. Well, I tell you, love and marriage, it's a sanctity, but it's not being honored as much these days. Well, it takes two to do to tango. Yes. Of course. And if you don't have a two-way street compatibility, excuse me, if I'm talking, if you want to. It's a matter of compromises. You have to compromise a lot to be in a relationship. Yeah, if you don't have that two-way street unselfish compatibility, it's not just having things in common, but you have to click, you have to click chemistry-wise. Well, you're just going to be two buddies, two roommate, chair, and an apartment. I mean, there has to be chemistry at the beginning. If you don't have the chemistry, that's what sickens me. Excuse me, let me put my shades on. That's what sickens me about the e-harmony commercial with that puffy face guy that sounds like Mr. Rogers. Doctor? Doctor in what? Yeah, doctor of what?  It's all about compatibility.  You know what I mean? You got, if you don't see fireworks, if you don't have that physical chemistry, I don't care if the woman is a carbon copy of you. It's not going to work unless, of course, you need a roommate. You need a roommate, you know? But anyway, let me go get another beer. Excuse me. Talk to the folks because then you'll appear on the screen. Yes. Say something. Well, I will tell you this. I mean, you need to be on the same team. The problem you fight off in relationships is you're fighting for yourself and they're fighting for themselves and you try to meet in the middle. It's got to be teamwork, man. Teamwork makes dreamwork. Some goofball I used to work with said that. But I mean, it's just not easy. I find over the years, I've dated a lot of women. I haven't married any of them. It's just, I don't know. Marriage is not what it used to be. People would get married young. They'd stay married a long time and then we find out later on they'd divorce much later after they're married 25 years. So it's crazy. But anyway, as far as things go in the political world, every day you're going to see a new headline that's more outrageous than the last. You know, with this guy lied, that guy lied, the president lied.   It's really hard sometimes to believe in the system when it's so corrupt. But you know, the good news is people like, you know, James and myself, we don't just sit by and let the liars have one over on us, man. We try to keep a lookout for each other, pass the word around. I mean, it's just a, it's a shark infested world out there with people taking off limbs left and right. Legs, arms, well, not metaphysically, of course I'm saying, but it's bad news. I see you got your drum out. You're telling me about that drum. That looks awesome. Yeah, I'm obviously going to play inside. This is, this is my African Genby drum. It's made from mahogany. Nice. Or is it moho, moho gandy? I'm not sure. Mahogany of the US. Mahogany with goat skin. Wow. All right, and I'm going to play some of it. I don't know, you won't, let me see. Chances are you won't be able to see it on this video, but I just, I thought I showed you what it looks like. Really nice. This way, when I play it, you'll, you'll know it's something I'm playing live. Let me just see. Yes, Nessie Arnaz had a drum like that, my friend. Yes, it was his birthday yesterday. Excellent stuff. I like that drum. You get that directly from Africa, right? Very cool. Oh my God, no, there's an importer in Florida, actually. Very nice. Yeah, but they are from, they are handmade in Africa, and they come from the North, Northwest Africa, from Mali. They used to be an empire, from the Mali Empire, and they used to, believe it or not, they used to communicate between villages using the drum, different drum beats. It was used as a form of communication. Can you imagine how powerful Africa could be if it ever got its shit together and became one country? Ain't nobody, man, too many tribes. You know what I like to see?   The gold, the main thing is the gold, and for Africa to have a international gold-backed currency in that part of the world, you know, I'm sure the oligarchy would have a fit. Yeah. That took place. Oh, I forgot to say rape when I belched. Not that I believe in rape, but it's just funny to say. I think Putin, China, and Iran booted the US dollar out. They are not dealing with the US dollar anymore. And I guess the European Union is really not either, right? I don't know that, man. The European Union is, it's the whole things. The world today is not very good. Yeah. Well, the part of Europe I love is Scandinavia. I don't know about, well, you know what? Northern Europe too, I mean, Holland, you know, the Netherlands, it's cool, Amsterdam, Germany. Amsterdam's awesome. Yeah, but Northern Europe, mostly Scandinavia, has the most fair, best all-round system in the universe. They have democratic socialism, excuse me, where you get free health care, you get free education, even the tourists can get it for free. And the best part is the rich pay for it. Well, I just heard today on Vice News that in Sweden, they reinstated the draft. Every 18-year-old man and woman have to go into service of their country because of the Russian threat. The Russians, right? They better, they better worry about taking in all the Muslim refugees. I don't know. They're talking about there's a big build-up of Russian arms around their country border, and they feel a big threat from it. Well, it happens to be true. I think the border between Finland and Russia is, I mean, the Russia, yeah, yeah, that happens to be very true. That shit, man. The, I heard that whole thing with Sweden about the, what was it about the Russian immigrants, or not Russian, I'm sorry, Muslim refugees. Yeah.  You know, I don't know. That's what, see, my partner, my co-host, Dr. Bill, is farther to the left than I am. And he, see, people that are very, I'm going to get serious here now. People that are very left-wing, that are ultra-liberal, neoliberal, hipster, politically correct people, they will refrain from criticizing any particular group of people. They'll never do it there.  You know, it's a, you can't call a person crippled anymore.  You know, everybody's walking on eggshells because they're afraid of offending someone. Yeah, that's the liberals. There are some, I'm liberal myself, but I don't consider myself someone afraid to speak out against any group. If you're wrong, you're wrong. It doesn't matter. And speaking out and saying how you, what you believe is a lot better than me politically correct, political correctness will not get you anywhere really in my opinion.  I think it was during Ronald Reagan when, at the time when the guilt trip from the right wing was so effective that it made disabled people, and that in those days were called handicap people, it made them feel so guilty for living on the dole, for living on, let's say, social security disability or whatever. So it made them feel so guilty for not being productive members of society and living on handouts and everything that all of a sudden you started seeing these events with disabled people in a special Olympics and all this crap. And then, and then there were disabled people that just had to have a full time job to prove a point.  That was an excuse. And these idiot, disabled people just fell right into the trap of the right wing. They felt guilty, the guilt trip worked, and they ended up shooting themselves in the foot. What they should have done was suck it up, accept the fact that they are handicapped or disabled, collect their money, live happily ever after to the best of their ability, don't join any special Olympics. If you want to work out, work out, but don't tell the government, you know, if you want to do some sports just don't tell the government, don't go on TV and keep on collecting your money, you know. Don't give them reason to throw you off the dole because once you're throwing off, what are you going to do? What are you going to do?  It's the worst thing is sometimes getting publicity, you think it'd be good. Sometimes it's not. The backfires. Yeah, it's like, look at me. I used to be disabled, but now I'm a contributing member of society. I'm holding a full-time job. Oh, guess what, chief? No more money for you. What if your employer decides you're just a tad bit too disabled for his company? And what if it doesn't work out and you're back where nobody wants to hire you and then you try to get back your social services and guess what happened to this gentleman that I know? They told him, poof, it's gone. They're no longer disabled because you held a job. Damn, this was a part-time job. You held a part-time job, therefore you are no longer disabled.  You wanted to be a big shot. You wanted to show, hey, I'm just like you. I'm not really all that disabled. I'm a person.  That's a shame. And that's what happens. It's a shame. That's what happens. And yeah, this show was great, man. The drum made its debut. I wasn't warmed up properly for the drum because it did well, though. I thought it sounded fine to me. Yeah, when I show you, I don't know if you've seen the video of me with one of the guys I performed with in the Patterson Historic Museum where the Colt firearms exhibit is. Yeah, I play. I was really warmed up for that. I was much better there than it was tonight. I just wanted to show a sample. You were pretty good. You know, you're not warmed up. It sounded good, man. You had a group, though. And I think... Oh, and my brand new copper dividing rods made their debut. And the doll, we both have the same doll. The voodoo doll. Now you know how to use the voodoo doll. And I will definitely send you the chant. Thank you. Actually, what I could do is... What I could do is I'll see if I can take a photo of the whole thing as they sent me from New Orleans. Oh, sweet. So instead of me typing it, you know... Yeah, yeah. And then you could use it towards ability.  You know, when I go to the doll store, they sell cable ties in different sizes and different colors. So I took a small red one. And I didn't do it tight because I got to go over the nail. I gently put it around the doll's neck and then I hung it on a nail upright. And right now it's on the wall. Looks great. I mean, with the note stuck to it, it's hanging up there. And what else was I going to say? It says you can do the chant more than once, but I'm not a pestering nag. You know what I mean? I don't want to pest at a poor thing. Yeah. I think once is enough. One chant is enough. I was going to say something about the doll. I, when I was in... I used to go to sale in Massachusetts. Were burned? Were they born to burn the witches? Yeah, to sale in witch hunt. They burned the death? Yeah, well, they did a lot of... They did a lot of...  He went different. Burn them. Well, what happened was, of course, Salem is over 300 years old and it's very... New England is very historic. Now Salem is super historic. So I used to go up one of my exes during Halloween weekend and man, it was like a Mardi Gras. It was so packed. You would have loved it. It was... The streets were just completely packed with people and costumes and masks from all over. And they had all kinds of New Age stores and that sold all kinds of mystical things and the fortune tellers, the astrologers that I'm telling you, it was a blast. And then I went to the Salem brewery where they had craft beer and they had very good wood burning of beer... Beer dough pizza. Wow, beer battered pizza? Beer battered? What is it called when you put the craft beer in beer dough? Similar to beer battered, beer battered dough. Yeah. Yeah, it was a wood burning of... And then I used to...  And on tap and it was right from the brewery. And you could see the big tanks. I love that kind of thing.  Had a glass wall and you can see the tanks. Nice. Yeah. And it was a really lovely place. I went to the house of the seven gables that I had to walk bent over. Like, I looked like one of my divine rods when I was walking through it. I had to bend over because I kept that hit in my head. It was like a thousand tortured souls in Salem, dude. They didn't leave. People were not tall back then. That's why I was hitting my head. Yeah. And guess what mattresses were back then? They were straw and linen. So, linen with straw inside. Wasn't Lizzie Borden in Salem? I don't recall exactly where she was at. No, I think she was like up in Maine or... She was Father North. Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her a father. What is her father for? Her mother 40 Wax before she... Yeah, gave her father 40 Wax before she knew what she did. She gave her mother 41. Something like that. But when she saw what she had done, she gave her father 40 Wax. And you can exchange the mother or the father. That was during that time of witch hunts, wasn't it? You know what? I don't know the details of the Lizzie Borden family. I don't know if she was abused. I don't know anything. I don't want to say anything because I don't have all the facts. I'm not condoning what she did. But, you know, for all we know, she was probably a very abused child. We don't know that. I remember they made for TV movie with... What's her face from Bewitched? Samantha Montgomery. Yeah, the guy herself died too young. Beautiful woman. Yeah, she died. And I like when she played Serena, just like when Barbara Eden played her sister, the black hair. I thought she was more hot looking with the black hair. Anyway, we don't know what really went on there. But the East Coast, well, not just the East Coast. I mean, I watch the Ghost Adventures and I watch the Dead Files. And there are so many areas in the United States, throughout the United States, historic old buildings or buildings built on land where there were battlegrounds, you know, or there used to be a sacred Indian land. And Indian burial grounds, yeah.  That's how I learned about the different crystal pyramids that I have now through the Dead Files. I listened to what the psychic medium had to say about how to get rid of the negative energy and the demons and the shadow people and all that stuff. And I went online and I found them and I found them at a very good price and I acquired them. And now I have a nice collection of these pyramids and I have two more coming. Actually, hematite and black obsidian are both supposed to be excellent for neutralizing electromagnetic, harmful electromagnetic energy from appliances like computer, or like, what is it, EMTs they call it? No, EMTs. Yeah, it's a great protector of that. And black obsidian also chases bad spirits out, negative energy. And a lot of it has to do with the chakras. The chakras is from India. You know, your body gives off an energy as an aura. And on the page, actually, I should really put the link in that page, that is I dedicated a part of it to mysticism. You know, and now I have an album with beautiful raven photographs. I have one with King Solomon's to Lisbon's and I have one with the gold gargoyles. It's getting, the group is getting very interesting. It's getting there. The page, yes, it's excellent. The page, you know, and I have two other, I have a shaman along with you. There's a shaman, Mr. Chris Falcone, and he's a shaman. He teaches martial arts to the Amazon jungle Indians. He also is a mysticism expert with dealing with the Amazon jungle and the plants. And then there's an alchemist, Mr. Jean-Luc O'Donne from Southern France. So, you know, we got good company there and, you know, and stuff like that. And you're more than welcome to post all your heavy duty, heavy metal videos there. All right. I'll try to get something on there soon. I don't have anything on there a while. Anything rebellious and magic stuff might not hurt. Yeah, all that good stuff. It'll be good. Because it'll attract more and more and more people that come and click like, you know. But that's about it. Anything else you have to say? I got the day off tomorrow. So I'm going to resign, you know, retire.  My first day off at my new job, I started January 11th. And it's a paid day off.  You know what? Have fun. I might, I might, I'm supposed to go to a buffet and I eat a lot of sushi Sunday. But I am thinking of, I can't do ship because I have a special appointment tomorrow. But I'll make up for it through the weekend. I'll make up for it. So, of course, my yearling for right now, I got yearling for years and have a good night. Oh, yeah. Respect that. I got it right here. Funny that you brought it up and it was right handy. And that's interesting right there. I just wanted people to understand that it's not Mr. Potato Head. That's not a toy. You know what I mean? And I have a let me show it to you. I have a special dream catcher called, I think it's called the mandala that is supposed to be not treated as a toy. All right. Let me just show people. Yeah, it's, it comes with information it was given to me by one of my exes that lived in Oklahoma. Well, she was stationed in Oklahoma. And I love that. Beautiful. Yeah, this is a special Native American dream catcher with special powers. And as you can see, it looks it. That's awesome, dude. And I have this hanging right in the center over my bed. And, you know, the instructions say this is not a toy. And that's that. But you know what, while I'm holding this, I'm going to say good night to everyone. And to you, of course, it's been, it's been great. Excellent. Good night. All right. Good night. This has been progressive discussions after dark with myself and McFawn Raven. Good night. Here's James. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.


On Friday, sailors aboard the Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower took part in an out of the darkness community walk to raise awareness for suicide prevention. More than 1,500 sailors participated in the event in collaboration with the annual walk held in Hampton Roads, Ags Homeport. Senior Chief Rafael Santiago, the walk coordinator, explains the importance of the event. Suicide prevention suicide is one of those that people don't want to really talk about. Usually people talk about it after the fact and that's what we're trying to prevent. Have this discussion, be more proactive and have that conversation from the beginning. Guided Missile Cruiser USS San Jacinto and the guided missile destroyer USS NHTSA also participated in the event. The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group has been deployed nearly three months in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. For USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, I'm Seaman Casey Treach.


The Code and Library Catalog provides a useful starting point for your research. You can access books, journal articles, reports, online videos and more on your assignment topic. To begin searching, enter broad keywords from your topic in the search box and then hit Enter. Logging in will provide you with extra functionality when searching, so click Log In. Then enter your Oasis credentials. Initially, your search results will be quite large as the catalogue will list all resources which match your search terms. You can filter your results by clicking on the options in the right menu. The availability filters allow you to limit to peer-reviewed articles, resources that are available online or resources available in the library. Under Resource Type, you can filter to particular types of resources such as journal articles or newspaper articles. If you select Books, this will filter the results to books and ebooks on your topic. To remove a filter at any time and return to the main search results, click the cross next to the filter. If you find older items listed which aren't relevant to your research, you can refine your results using the creation date filter. Most of the library's resources are available online and can be opened directly from the Library Catalog. To access, click the available online link in the catalogue record. This displays the database or databases that the item is available in. Note the available from date range as items listed in multiple databases may have different availability. To open the item, click the available at link, in this case ProQuest Central. If you have previously logged into the catalogue, the item should open directly. We recommend accessing articles in their PDF form wherever possible as it will assist you with your referencing.


Hello, it's Missy! Thank you for watching! For today's video, I thought it was time to share some more easy hairstyles using scrunchies. Today's video was sponsored by Lily's Soak, so I'll be using their scrunchies to show you how I created these hairstyles. This beautiful sweater is also from them, and I'll also be sharing how I use their silk pillowcases for the skin and hair benefits. Make sure to like and subscribe, let me know in the comment section which of their hairstyles is your favorite, and let's get started!  I'm going to be using this section to create a little mini bun. So using a clear elastic band, I'm going to wrap it around the section of hair, so the bun sits at the back of the top of my head.  Now I'm going to wrap the ends around the elastic, so I'm taking the rest of the hair that's sticking out from the bun, and I'm going to wrap this clockwise around the band a couple of times. Then I'm going to tuck the hair back around the elastic underneath the bun to hold them in place. And now I'm going to grab some bobby pins and pin down sections of the bun to help shape the bun and close up any spacings between the two sections. Then I'm going to take my scrunchie and tie this over the bun. I'm using the small scrunchie set from Lily Silk, and these scrunchies are made from 100% mulberry silk, so they're gentle on the hair and they don't snag like regular hair ties. So I'm just wrapping mine twice around the bun, so it sits right underneath around the base of the bun. Today's video is sponsored by Lily Silk, which strives to inspire people to live a better life and more sustainable lifestyle. They offer a wide variety of high-quality silk products, such as pillowcases, bedding sets, pajamas, hair accessories, and more. Lily Silk also has a zero waste policy working with TerraCycle, the world-known recycling company, where they are committed to zero waste production. They use fabric remains to make accessories such as silk eye masks and scrunchies. I have their beautiful pullover style cashmere turtleneck sweater in white that is knitted from 100% cashmere and designed with a ripped knitting trim at the cuffs and hem. It offers warmth and easily styles with jeans and dresses. I've also been using their Lily herb antibacterial mint silk pillowcase, which is a green innovation silk pillowcase that is different from other silk pillowcases. It contains natural plant extracts and a minty aroma, and these herbal ingredients have a calming effect and work as a sleep aid. Peppermint extract specifically promotes the body dissipating heat, which is helpful for sleep. It also has an antibacterial effect against a variety of bacteria. Lily Silk's products are luxurious yet affordable, and these products help promote better sleep, their anti-aging, and their wonderfully soft and smooth, making them comfortable to sleep on. For the next hairstyle, I'm going to start with my hair parted near the center.  Then I'm going to separate out the two sections I'll be working with.  Then I'm going to divide off a similar section with the hair on the right side of my head. I'm going to twist this section together, upwards as well, and then tie the two pieces together. So using a clear elastic band, I'm going to tie the two sections together near the nape of my neck. I left down the very bottom section of hair because this will help shape the ponytail a lot easier than combining all of the hair together. So once that's tied off, I'm going to take the ends of the ponytail and flip them up and around the elastic band. This will make the two side twists a lot tighter, and then I can go back over them and carefully pull sections of the twists out of the elastic just slightly to make the twists a lot more full looking. And now I'm going to finish off the ponytail style, so I'm going to combine the remaining hair together with the ends from the top section as well, and I'm going to tie them all together using my scrunchie into a low ponytail near the nape of my neck. For the next hairstyle, I'm going to transition the previous hairstyle into an updo. Starting right before I tied all of the hair together into the final ponytail, I'm going to have all of the hair combined together at the nape of my neck. Then using my scrunchie, I'm going to tie it over the hair as if I'm creating a ponytail. On the last wrap of the scrunchie though, I'm going to pull the hair partway through to create a loop with the hair, and now I'm going to hide the ends. So I'm going to take the rest of the hair that's hanging out of the loop, and I'm going to wrap this across the top of the bun towards the left side, and then I'm going to tuck them around the scrunchie underneath the bun. I want the ends to be left hanging out on the right side of the bun, so I pulled on my loop section a little bit with the ends that were hanging down just to make it a little bit smaller, and then I wrapped them around the top of the bun just to ensure that I'd have enough hair left out on the right side of the bun. Starting the next hairstyle with my hair parted near the center, I'm going to divide out some hair to frame my face, so from along the top of my forehead and then a little bit in front of my ears as well. Then I'm going to divide out a larger section of hair from my part line down to my left ear, and I'm going to clip this aside to use later. Then I'm going to divide out a similar sized section on the left side of my head, and I'm going to use these two sections to create a half up style, so I'm going to twist the two sections upwards and then bring them together at the center at the back of my head, and using a clear elastic band I'm going to tie the two twisted sections together and then wrap my scrunchie over the clear elastic band. This will give the hairstyle a little extra security so it doesn't fall loose throughout the day, and now to make sure the two side sections are twisted enough, I'm going to flip the ends up and around the hair ties. Then I can go back and make the twists fuller, so I'm going to carefully pull on small sections of hair so they slide out of the elastic just slightly and work my way along both of the twists. This will make the two twisted sections look larger and more full. For the next hairstyle I'm going to begin by dividing out a section of hair from the top of my head, so I'm creating a part in the hair starting at about my temples and then going towards the center of the back of my head, and I'm going to tie off this section of hair using a clear elastic band. I've also got my hair parted near the center like the previous styles and I've divided out a few pieces of hair to frame my face. Once that's tied off I'm going to divide off another section of hair so starting right above my ears I'm going to create another horizontal part going towards the back of my head and I'm going to combine the ends from the first ponytail into this section of hair. Now I'm going to create another ponytail so using another clear elastic band I'm going to tie off this section of hair a few inches down from the first elastic band. Then I'm going to find the hair that's going in between the two elastics and I'm going to gently pinch and pull on small sections of this hair so this section sticks out a little bit further than the rest of the hair. This will create kind of a bubble style braid. So now I'm going to create a third ponytail section so I'm going to combine the remaining hair together at the nape of my neck and add in the ponytail from the previously tied off section. Then using another clear elastic band I'm going to tie off this last section of hair so it sits a few inches down from the second elastic band and then I'm going to pinch and pull out the hair that is going in between the two elastics like the previous section to create another bubble in the hair that sticks out a little bit further than the rest. Then as a last step I'm going to take my scrunchie and tie this over the third elastic band to finish off the style. To begin the next style I'm going to start by bringing all of my hair over my left shoulder. I want this style to be a sideswept type of braid so I'm going to create it on one side and I'm going to braid the hair into a rope or twisted type of braid so I'm going to divide all of my hair into two equal sections. Then I'm going to twist the two sections in one direction while wrapping them around each other in the opposite direction. So I'm going to be crossing the left strand over the right strand while simultaneously twisting each section towards the left. So I'm crossing the section that is closest to my face over the top the other section while twisting it back towards my face. And once the hair reaches the bottom I'm going to take a clear elastic band and wrap it over the end of the twist so it doesn't unravel.  This will make the rope braid look twice as big and full and once I've pulled out the braid enough and I like the size of it I'm going to take my scrunchie and wrap this over the elastic band at the bottom of the braid to finish off the look. For the next hairstyle I'm going to create a ponytail style so to start I'm going to combine all of my hair together at the nape of my neck and tie it off using a scrunchie. Now I'm going to create a bubble braid so I'm going to grab another scrunchie and tie it about four inches down from the first scrunchie. Then I'm going to gently pull on the hair in between the two scrunchies so the bubble is going to be a lot bigger and more full. Then I'm going to create one more bubble section of the braid so I'm taking a third scrunchie and I'm going to tie this over the end of the ponytail about four inches down from the second scrunchie and then I'm going to go back over the hair that is in between the two scrunchies and gently pinch and pull on the hair so it pulls out just slightly from the scrunchie and this will make the section look larger and more full. Thank you so much for watching I hope you enjoyed today's video let me know in the comment section which of the hairstyles was your favorite make sure to like and subscribe click that notification bell so you never miss any future videos and I will see you next time


Hello and welcome to the session.  What is the sample space for this experiment? So let's start with the solution. The possible outcomes when a die is rolled are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Suppose this is a die which is rolled. Now when it is rolled the possible outcomes are 1, 2, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. When 6 appears we stop otherwise we again roll a die. So here again we have 6 possible outcomes of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.  So here again the 6 possible outcomes are from 1, 2, 6. Similarly with 3 also 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 with 4 also we have 6 possible outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and with 5 also 1, 2, 5 and 6. Now here the possible outcomes are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. So for 6 we stop and for other numbers from 2 to 5 we again roll a die. Similarly here also for 6 we stop and for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 we again roll a die. Here also for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 we roll a die and 6 we stop. Same the case here for 6 we stop and for the last case also we roll a die and for 6 we stop. So the sample space of the given experiment is for 6 we stop and for 1 we roll a die. If it comes 6 then we stop. Similarly for 2 also if it comes 6 then we stop. 3 also if it comes 6 then we stop. 4 also if it comes 6 then we stop. For 5 also if it comes 6 then we stop.  So we have 1, 1 and we have 1, 2. Now for 1 we have 1, 5, 6. Here we stop if 6 appears the third through.  If 6 appears we stop and otherwise we have 2, 1 and so on up to 2, 5, 6 and similarly for 3 also 1, 6, 3, 2, 6 and so on up to the last test. Similarly for 4 also and the last one is 5. We have 5, 1, 6 so on. 6 appears on a die then we stop. Otherwise we keep on throwing the dies. So this is the required sample space for the given problem. Hope you have understood it. Take care and have a good day.


How long have you been doing these cutouts? I've been doing the cutouts for about five years now. When did you get the idea? Why did you first experiment with it? Well, it was about five years ago. I got accepted to Megacon. I was on the wait list. Actually, this event right now, I was on the wait list for Artist Alley. Got accepted, and I didn't have any material to sell. And I'm an illustrator by trade. Initially, I went to college for illustration. And one night, I was drawing. I ran out of charcoal. And it was like two o'clock in the morning. And I wanted to keep doing art. I couldn't go to the art store. And so I found an exacto knife that was right next to me.  And I cut out a bee. And I loved it. And I just drew it. I just free handed this bee. You mean like an insect? Yeah, it was like an insect. Yeah, yeah, it was just this creepy looking like Tim Burtony weird bee. My exacto knife got stuck on the bee. I pulled it up and a shadow showed from underneath from the light. And I just literally was like, ah, this has to happen now. So I just started framing them and cutting them. And that's it. So an act of desperation turned into an accident? Completely. That's exactly what it was. Exactly what it was. So yeah, I ended up cutting that week probably about 27 pieces. Brought into Megacon. Sold out the first day. And I was like, oh, geez. Okay. So I started mixing my illustration work with this new skill of paper cutting. And just ever since been doing it. Yeah. And I'll be working on movies. I have some stop motion animations I'll be working on utilizing my layered paper cuts. I was going to ask you what was your first big hit but you say they all sold? They all sold. They all sold right away. I think the thing that people were most excited about were my three layered stuff. I did a venom that was really popular right at the time.  But it really depends on people's fandom. I do a lot of Star Wars stuff because I love Star Wars. However, I'm more of a, I like fairy tale stuff as well. So all my new stuff is transitioning more into like storybook and fairy tale things as opposed to the geekdoms, the fandoms. Do you still cut everything by hand? Yes, absolutely. I like how tactile it is. And it's very cathartic to just, I don't know, cut through the knife. It sounds a little sadistic, I get that, but it feels really nice on your hands. It's destructive and creative. That's exactly what it is. In fact, I have tattoos that say create and destroy on my hands because that's what we're doing every time as artists and I like charcoal work as well because it's messy and when you push down with a charcoal it breaks apart in front of your face. So you create and destroy at the exact same time. And that's sort of everything that I believe in when it comes to theory. Who are your artistic influences, art heroes? Well, my art heroes, my favorite artist of all time is Carvaggio. I love Art Nouveau. You can tell by, I do illustrations and a lot of it is car skewer style.  But I also love Art Nouveau. Alfonso Mucca and also Arby Beardsley. Because Arby Beardsley has these gorgeous shapes. It's stark, black and white, which is where I get a lot of my paper cut inspiration from. It's Arby Beardsley because it's graphical and illustrative at the same time. But it's all black and white because he inked. So I'm trying to mimic that as well. What new big pieces are you working on? What new big pieces? I'll be working on an entire fairy tale series. So instead of taking what other people have done through the geek fan stuff, I'm reading the stories and making my own interpretations of these characters. I have a huge Sea Witch and Little Mermaid, which looks nothing like Disney's. But it's my own interpretation of Christian Danderson's. So I did Sleeping Beauty recently, which is up on the wall. And that was a pretty big hit. People liked it a lot and I really enjoyed doing it. So I'm going to do an entire series of storybook stuff. And then I'm going to be going into doing children's books. I want to do children's books mixed with some of my creepy illustrations, maybe a little bit of horror children's books. I think that's about it. Cool.


My name is Kasim Sheik, I'm a Doctor for Law. My specialism is in Public International Law and I have a subspecialism in International Human Rights Law, cover a little bit of international criminal law. It all depends on the kind of flavour of the course that we're doing in the year. So I teach on a module called International Law and World Affairs and the point of the module is to give students exposure to what's happening in the world around them. So we cover things like issues of terrorism, we look at international climate change, we look at international treaties and trade talks, we look at human rights violations, so there's a whole mix of different things about the world around them. And what we do in this particular course isn't just focus on theory, we look at the practice of how states are behaving towards each other. There's a lot of unrest at the moment for example with the US, there's tensions in the Middle East, there's concerns in South America and we look at all these different areas. The best thing is that it's entirely topical, literally something can happen in the world yesterday, today or tomorrow and we will look at it in class that week. We'll examine it, we'll look at it from lots of different perspectives and look at it within the context of the module as a whole. So it's ever evolving and ever changing. I love interacting with students from a whole range of different backgrounds across the world. So what I find is that we see lots of different viewpoints on the areas that we cover, so lots of different viewpoints on terrorism, whether human rights are applicable to them or not. We look at the difference in world opinions on trade, we look at issues of whether a country can go to war or not and all the different students have different perspectives on these things and that makes for a very vibrant discussion forum.


Dyma'r hyn yn cael ei wneud yn gŷt. Mae'r cyfnod o'r llwyrol yn ddiddordeb llyffordiol yn y dyfodol y dyfodol hwnnw, ac mae'n gwybod ymddangos, mae'n gwybod hwnnw, mae'n gwybod, mae'n gwybod. Fe'i ddweud y dyfodol, DG Connect, yw 1200 ysgrifennid ar y brosiu a Lachsunberg ar y cyfnod ddiddordeb llyffordiol, fel nelychwyr. Mae'r gwybod yw'r gennydol yn gwybod. Roedd yn ni'n meddwl, mae'n ffrwy Fyurn, a rydyn ni wedi'i ei wnaeth i'r Minister Jens. Roedd rydyn ni'n gweithio'i fawr i'r cares yma, yn ymhwy angen â rŵn y dyfodol yn ganweithio'i gwerthu panfru. Yn amlu, rydyn ni'n gweld pethau o'r peroch. Ydyn ni'n gweld pethau yma, mae'r hefyd wedi cael cael ei cyfrifio ar gael cofer. Gallwch yn dwylo dweud y cywreith yma yn y ddaeth uned LINKE yw'r oedd ymgyrchu cyf тут ddweud yw nod mae'r ddweud, oedd ydydd o'r ddych yn y ddaeth cyfan yw y cyfnodauiant. Here we are working in a collective participatory leadership between public authorities, big companies, organisations of goodwill and the rest of our European and indeed global partners. Felly, fel Nelly, mae'n amgylchedd ar y dyfodol yma, mae'n amgylchedd ar y dyfodol yma. Mae'n amgylchedd ar y dyfodol yma, sy'n ddefnyddio eu mewn amddangos o'i gwahanol yma. Felly, mae'n ystod y Pwg 2020, y papurau sy'n adonai gynnyddol yn 2010. Mae'n ddiweddol 101 yma ar gyflwyn. Felly, ym mhysgol yma ar gyflwyn i'r oedlai, rydym yn gwybod i'r pryd yn ddyddol ar y gweithio'r cyflwyru. Ond amdw i'n gyd pan oeddwn i ddim gallu'n credu ar hyn i gynnwys y mwyaf o rydyn ni'n gwybododd a'r ystyried i'n rhoi'n fawr... mae'n gofio'r cyfathwyr o'r unig... yn rhoi'r hyn sefydig ar hyn yn 2010, sy'n defnyddio'r cyhoeddus o bobl i gael ychydig i Eurahol. ac mae'r wyf wedi cael ei gweithio bod allan o'r telekond, allan o'r bobl ITau, yn ymddorol i Europaid. Dwi'n cael eu cyfnod o'r wnaeth wahanol, mae'r cyflwneidio yn ymddorol i'r meseg. Oeddo'r mewn cyflwneidio'r cyflwneidio, dyma'r cyflwneidio, ac mae'r gweithio'r armaeth i'r eu bach o'r lluniau gydy'r ffordd yn ymweld ar y ffordd mawr o'r IT yng Nghaerdydd. Mae'n dweud hynny'n rhoi'r byw y gweithio'r peth yn ymwyllgor. Mae'n dweud i'r ffordd, dweud i'r ffordd, mae'n dweud i'n ddweud i'r ffordd am yr hyn o'r cymdeithas. Mae'n hyn o gwisiu bod, fel y mae'r ffordd o'r ysgologi'r yma yn y rhan o'r iawn, yma'r sector icit yma yn 6% o eu guldyddiaeth, ond ar y cyfle o'r 100% o eu guldyddiaeth, Tell noticing is another common problem at present day, so there are very few things you can do today as a profitable model or in terms of public good distribution to citizens without the IT inside. But the other point that I would really emphasise is the second box up on the, what will be the left hand side, you don't have to be a high tech SME to benefit from ICT, c derd stocks ddiogel ownership model, his Johnson's model who truly modernise and take advantage of what off-the-shelf high tech has to offer. They grow faster than everybody else. And that's true in all the surveyed countries across Europe. So if we want more growth and more jobs, it inside is the way to get it. And the proof is that even on today's growth rates in the sector we're three quarters of a million short of skilled of a million short of skilled graduates able to contribute to that sector. So we face a huge potential crunch, but let's look at the upside. We face a huge potential bonanza in demand for high quality jobs, and they're not jobs for which you have to do 20 years in a lab. They're jobs where experience around the world shows that you can do 12 to 18 months up skilling and begin to be useful. There are some high tech stuff where you do need 20 years in a lab, but there are hundreds of thousands of jobs to be built if we get this right. And I think that those who are telling us what they believe Europe should be doing agree with that. So eight out of ten say let's have more coordination to do it right on the ICT front. Let's say that at national level as well nine out of ten want more to be done and again education and skills. Nine out of ten of our respondents when we did a reality check on our study said yes, this is the right way to go, but you need to focus more on education and skills. And what you see here is that if we could move away still a step or two more from national frameworks towards the digital single market then we would get more jobs, more factor productivity growth. So lower overheads for every company in the economy and higher GDP gain. This is another way of looking at the same thing. And what this one tells you is that it's true for public sector innovation as well. In the country I know best which is across the water in the UK. They're currently debating do we need to reform the civil service. The answer is a lifelong civil servant is always yes, but be careful with us. In a country like this I think there are debates as well about how many people do you need and how should you structure them. If you restructure the way you deliver public services to incorporate ambient IT so that pensioners know that by default they can get everything they want from the comfort of their city or the local library. They don't they can have paper if they like. Then you begin to change the way in which a whole public administration works. And there are countries that do very well in pushing towards that. There are good news examples about how you empower less favoured citizens whether the old, the unemployed, the less educated in this country, in Malta, in Norway, in Poland. So we need to do more of that. There are people who don't yet have the abilities to interact over the web with their public administrations, but we can fix that and we need to fix that. So public sector innovation is part of the story as well. But let me then come to the one that I personally believe is the big focus for this year, which is entrepreneurship. In Davos at the end of next month, my boss will be, among others, pushing for a more supportive environment for high-tech entrepreneurs across Europe. Many of the biggest companies, whether in this country or other member states, are also, I think, catching onto the idea that it's not enough for them to grow their own supply chain and their own ecosystem. It's in their interest to spread the good news, to devote ICT know-how, whether that's in a high-tech company or in the advertising sector, to enabling new entrepreneurs to say, yes, I can do this. I understand how I can do it. So there is a gap between the eight out of ten school leavers who say, I've got an idea, I could be an entrepreneur, and the one out of ten who actually try it. We need to close that gap. We need to make it possible for more talented young people to try to do the things they want to do. And at the other end, we need to take away some of the obstacles that will trip them up. The tax regime is suboptimal for startups in every country in Europe. We could tweak some of that. And ICT is part of that, but entrepreneurship is the big skill. Now then I added a little arrow to this slide, which I take around everywhere. And you can't see everything. But broadly, on the vertical axis, you have the World Economic Forum competitive index. And across the bottom, fixed broadband lines per 100 of the population. And Ireland is at the sharp end of the arrow. So pretty much on the latest statistics in the middle. You've got people like the Netherlands at the top end, people like Bulgaria at the bottom. And therefore, I use that not to engage in a sort of beauty contest, but to observe that if the competitiveness agenda, the sort of conditions for entrepreneurship that I've just been discussing, are important, you can see that in the part of Europe we're standing in today, there are issues both on the ICT specific agenda, rolling out more broadband, which means investing more and building the demand. And also on the issue of the broader business climate. And in addition to fixing those two things, we have to fix the way individual citizens think about this very techy environment. I don't think my grandmother quite trusted the motor car. My mother didn't trust video machines. And there are a lot of people still alive in Europe today who don't trust the internet. And probably they were all not wrong in their degree of suspicion, but we need as a continent to grow more quickly comfortable with new profiles of risk in new areas of activity, not so that we do everything naively, but so that we make a sober personal choice as opposed to saying I don't want that, it's too difficult. So building trust and justifying trust are two very crucial missing bits of the mix at the moment. And then if I look more generally, so here we have the international comparisons around those three sets of issues, competitiveness, IT, rollout, trust. You've also got research, you've got education and training, labour market. From a distance, it's all pretty much of a muchness. So you might say, well, so Japan, Canada, the US and Europe, it's about the same. But there are some quite telling nuances if we compare these spider charts. And I apologise that it's a bit small for those at the back. So broadly what this tells you is we are the worst. The margin by which Europe needs to pick up most is the labour market and employment conditions. So that's not all about trashing European values. We need to do something about that, however. And on social inclusion, of course, we're among the best, but we're not the best, Canada's the best. So this is not a right-left debate. If we're right to say those are the pillars of competitiveness, it's not about do you sweat the workers or maintain the welfare state because there are other places in the world that are growing faster who have a better overall profile and who are in the social sphere, I would say pretty supportive, a bit like Europe. So worth knowing that we can do better in areas like innovation, in areas like the enterprise environment, in areas like research, without necessarily having a highly political and divisive debate about destroying society or something of that sort. Now, the to-do list, I mean this is the only slide you really need to retain and it's in slightly bigger print, they're probably still a bit small for those at the back. So I'm just going to read it out. These are the seven actions that we have concluded, having achieved a lot of the previous 101, are the focus for the next two years at least. So the broadband regulatory environment, there are people more expert than me about that in the room, but what we've decided to do there and nearly announced it in the summer is to try to adjust the regulatory environment in Europe so you can have still enough competition and a bit more investment. Secondly, we're currently negotiating under the Irish chairmanship to finalise the budget planning from 2014 onwards. We want a new tool called a Connecting Europe Facility to connect better the bits that the market doesn't yet reach, not only in ICT, also in energy and also in transport, and the three fit together because as is clear in this country and in some others, energy companies can string fibre over their high-tension wires. So the three are not three separate silos, but that's the second thing, a bit more public financial support to more rollout of broadband and to the provision of services over it, so cross-border access to your e-health data if you fall ill in London or Benidorm, cross-border access to your verified government ID if you want to have public services in some other part of Europe that you're legally entitled to, but what sort of proof do you have to give, and so on and so on? Thirdly, on the back of the Davos agenda, coming back to Brussels in March to launch a grand coalition on skills and jobs, whereby we go to the big companies, we go to the employment centres, we go to the tertiary institutes and we say, so we don't have enough skills and young people don't have enough jobs and these problems are coinciding in specific towns and cities around Europe. Can we set a specific agenda where we're going to get these skills in this town and different skills in another town and hopefully with a commitment as we've got in some member states, people coming out of that process will at least interview them or to dream people coming out of that process with a good diploma, we're going to try them out for 18 months at least. Thirdly, cyber security, so this is on the trust part. Every time you see about cyber security, you see the bad news because you see about Sony PlayStation, you see about, the latest in my case, was that the Belgian railways had lost all the subscriber information from anybody who'd ever bought a ticket from them in the last six months. So you see problems. We believe that the problems often are cross-border and the agencies which may be effective in different member states are actually not so effective at talking to each other. So a modest proposal for cooperation coming soon, coordinated between the IT commissioner, Baroness Ashton who does the foreign affairs and Cecilia Maunstrom who's the security commissioner. Copyright, again modest, but we need to have on the basis of the structured dialogue that we've already begun, but we'll finish this year, some clear vision how to make territorial rules such as copyright fit for a digital world which is inherently borderless. Accelerating our work on cloud computing, the cloud's the next big thing. We don't use enough of it. It's growing more slowly in Europe as a business case than in North America and from a lower base. So we really need to catch up there. And finally, coming back to the research side, that also depends on Irish chairmanship of the budget discussions. In 2014, we start the next, not a 10-year or 5-year plan, the next 7-year plan for research and innovation in Europe. We need to have a better industrial strategy to maintain and to retain in some cases and regain in others a leading place for Europe in what we call key enabling technologies, the KETS and emerging electronics, the next generations of chips, the next generations of computing both in data centres and embedded in your cars and aeroplanes, are we think an area where Europe can be a big winner? So those are the seven areas that we intend to focus on. That's the hard core of the digital agenda. And if we get it right, there will be more growth in jobs. And the question, which I don't have the answer to this question, but I think it's the right question, what can be done at every level across Europe to take the right proportions of this sort of agenda and make it a national agenda on the broadband side for example in most countries over the last two years and Ireland is no exception, there is a national broadband plan. It has to be national and it has to have local granularity because what's there already varies and how you can build the market towards what you need will vary. But the key question is what can be done at different levels and how from the smallest sub-municipal redevelopment plan in an old steel million Wales which is where I was on Friday right up to the sort of rarefied reaches of the European Council chaired by the T-shirt. At every level we need to work out how it fits together. So that's the key question. And then I've put at the end some links in case keen members of the audience want to dig deeper. So Madam Chairman, thank you very much.


Hi, it's Bridget. Welcome to Above Life Channel. This video is a strange one because it is something my husband did. He thought it would be so hilarious to share a Valentine video with me. So he took a lot of time to create a video collage, a montage if you will, about me talking to afterlife celebrities that I thought were very good looking. And my reaction to the ones that I was like, oh, he's so good looking. Oh, I can hardly stand it. And I think he might be just a little bit jealous. But I told him, I said, honey, these people are former, these are former people. They don't even have bodies. And they didn't even know who I was as a person. And in the afterlife, it's so not like that, you know. So anyway, I hope that you will find this Valentine's video about all my psychic boyfriends that my husband thought would be funny. I hope you find it. I hope you get a chuckle out of it. Anyway, it was awkward for me to watch it, but it is funny. Some of my reactions are pretty, are kind of comical. And so, and you don't really realize the things that you do, how you respond to things. Tell you, watch yourself on video. That is a weird thing to do. Let me just tell you in general. So I hope you enjoyed this Valentine's video. It was created by my cameraman, my loving husband. Thanks for watching. Enjoy it. Today, I am very excited. So excited. All right. Oh, I'm so excited. Oh, my gosh, I'm so excited. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Alan Thicke, you were just a pleasure.  What a nice energy vibration that was. Very nice. Alan, really, really, really nice guy. Welcome, Mr. David Bowie. I don't know you at all. And so I need to get to know you a bit. If you could help me do that, that would be great. So River, would you like to come in? He laughs at me. He kind of smiles at me. He's flirty. He's got a nice, flirty energy, but young man, good looking. I totally confuse River Phoenix with Leonardo DiCaprio. And we know that Leo is totally alive and also a good looking man.  And a philanthropist. Oh, River Phoenix is like, really? She's gushing about Leo. Wow. Buddy Holly is so sweet. He is so genuine. This man is like sunshine. I have so much emotion and it feels good. Frankie, baby. Now I'm going to sound stupid, but that's just, this is authentic. Good looking. Good looking. His features are gorgeous. Very nice features. Very nice. Very good looking. Handsome man. I mean, he's gorgeous. Let me just say, oh my gosh. Very good looking. Oh my gosh. This is so goofy. Prince and I are the same age. And so this is probably around this. So I couldn't marry Prince. Are you jealous? We've had a lot of connection. People love you. Like they love you. They're fiercely dedicated and devoted to you. You're a great guy and everything to hang out with. But what is the deal? What's the bigger magnetic attraction or something? What kind of, what kind of, what's going on with that? Like, why do you think that is? That's not like a turn you on kind of a thing. It's not really that sexual. Actually, it's quite fascinating to me. It feels primal.  I can probably feel that. Whoa. It's like, what's not to love? And because I'm sexy. I could feel the power of the love. I felt your love all the time. I felt your love all the time. I could feel you all the time. And you're just in this intimate flow. It's just, it's ecstasy. It's like, talk about erotic. That's, that's the ultimate connection. That's just incredible.  Is that the, what would you, would that, would that be accurate? Sorry, goodness is that kind of funny, right? And I am so not attracted to Prince in that way. I'm just going to be a brill up front. It's like, he's like a brother to me. Okay. So Prince is my, my really good BFF, you know, awesome dancer. So I totally give him props for that. I like, just loved your moves, man. Your moves. He's like, girls got moves. Sending you love letters or Prince loves Jesus. Just saying. That's, that's freaking fantastic. You're seeing this real comfort level because we know each other really well. Like I know him really well. It's easy to talk to him. This is a real me, you guys. Hey, I was talking to him on a cell phone. And I was like calling the UK and talking to George Michael. Like, and he, he said a few things and I can't even really remember. I should have wrote it down. I felt really, like he was coming to visit or I was going there on vacation or something and I was going to stay at the apartment or whatever. I mean, I felt just this, like I was trying to make arrangements or we were trying, he and I were trying to communicate to make arrangements for my visit. So it was really interesting. Very friendly, very nice. He looks very cool. He's a little scruffy. I like that kind of scruffy look. And I want to just hang out with them. So let's just hang out.  You know, why not, right? Let's have some fun. Oh, it's so cute. Oh, and yes, his eyes are hazo. And he's like pulling his sunglasses down. Like, do you want to see them up close? And he's got beautiful eyes. He just lifted his sunglasses up onto the top of his head. He had sunglasses on. So cool. Totally. Of course, George Michael thing. He says, you can call me George. George. I'm like, I'll call you George. So George. And he just has just the most beautiful smile and gorgeous. He's got beautiful big eyes. Wow, they're gorgeous. He has this beautiful accent. And I love that. I love that about you. I love that about you. He's fun, you guys.  He says, I told you we would have a good time. You just didn't believe me, but I told you we were going to have a good time. You got the best cheekbones. So cool in your leather jacket and your Levi's. Very cool. He's like, that's how I wonder her heart. This is what George is saying to me. I'm like, okay, but a beautiful man indeed. Let me just say beautiful. You are very much a beautiful man. Very well kept. How about that? You take care of yourself. Oh, so thank you.  He says to me, oh, thank you. Okay, look at George Michael's gorgeous size.  Oh, thank you. He just gave me a hug. He's like, oh, gosh, okay. All right. Like a little on the cheek, like a, like, okay. But he stuck his, like he didn't actually kiss me on the cheek. He was like right here. So he went, like, kiss, kiss. Paul Walker was considered very good looking. And he is good looking. I'm going to say he's good looking. He sure has a good looking face. I'm really hot right now. Oh, he's, he smells good too, by the way. Yep. Very nice. Paul Walker. And I said, yes, he's been on my list. I know he's very easy on the eyes. He is a good looking man. Let me just tell you. And in the afterlife, whoa. Very good. And I actually am not attracted to blondes and all and heel. Very good looking guy. Kind of distracting, good looking. Like, you know what I'm saying, right? Thumbs up to Paul Walker. Mm hmm. Am I too hot? Like, because it was hot?  Whoa, too hot. Like me yesterday with Paul Walker. Hot, hot. Hot, hot. You guys. But let me just be clear. He's a good looking man. He did not look like he was 40. Mm hmm. How old was he? Because I got the vibe that he was like right around 30. Turns out he was like 40 years old. Man does not look like he's 40. He's not 40. No way. He's charming. He's so good looking, you guys. It's like, and we're the same age, actually. So, just staying. If you were still on the person body, whatever, the same age. But he looks so young. It looks like a total California boy. Really good looking. Oh my God. Oh my God. Okay, okay. Focus, focus. Focus. He very charming. I'm a really good looking guy. So, it's kind of distracting because he's cute. He's so handsome. Anyway, Elvis shows up. I'm not kidding. There's Elvis. Oh my gosh. And I was like, Elvis was one of those. Wow. Wow. I'm available and I'm good at what I do. I would like to get to know him a bit. I feel like I know Prince really well. I feel like I know Michael Jackson. Pretty darn well. They both are charming. They both have style. That's for sure. And they got moves. Both of them got moves. That's for darn sure as well. I've always liked Elvis. I'd like to get to know him a bit. He's got such great structure on his cheeks, like very chiseled, like on his jawline and his cheeks, cheekbones.  Yeah, he's a good looking guy, I gotta say. I have many words. It all just depends on what you like. I really feel him. Oh, that's really nice. God, he is so sweet. I just want to cry right now. The energy is overwhelming. Oh my gosh, that was really emotional. I don't know how to explain that. Thank you. Thank you very much. It doesn't really work. I can't really do it, Elvis. It's like, I'll teach you. I can teach you. Today I have for you in the house in the kitchen with me Mr. Elvis Aaron Pressley. I remember growing up and watching some of the old movies with you and thinking you were really good looking as a young man. Gyrations on stage. I've always been drawn to you, like connected. Oh, thank you. He just gave me a couple of minutes. Thank you. Oh, I'm embarrassed now. Elvis is going to leave the building. Thank you very much, Elvis, Mr. Pressley.  I hope you enjoy it. Thank you so much for being here. Remember the purpose is to inspire your spirit. I hope I did that today. And to fill you up with hope. It's your life. My friends, listen to me. It is your life. So live it. Thanks for being here. He's good looking like he is. Very fine. Well, that was weird, wasn't it? Yeah, it was so odd for me. Awkward, very strange. I'm like, I don't know. Do you think my husband's jealous? Nah, I don't think so. I think it's fine. He just has a very strange sense of humor, which is totally fine with me because so do I. All right. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you enjoy Above Life Channel. I hope you enjoy all of the weekly videos that I share. And I do try to check out and jump in and reply to some of your comments when I'm able to do that. Thanks so much for being here. Happy Valentine's Day or week or months, whatever you're watching this. Thanks for watching.


Our systems are changing. We need to be able to know how best to manage them, how best to respond. It's an all-hands-on-deck moment in our fields. NEON is envisioned around a number of grand challenges of ecology. These are things like climate change, changes in biogeochemistry, biodiversity, invasive species, and NEON is going to provide one of the most important data sets we can bring to bear to really push the science forward. I got into science because I've always loved maps and I've always been an avid hiker and bicyclist. I grew up in upstate New York and so I spent a lot of time in the Adirondack Mountains as a kid on lakes and hiking. I was kind of a kid who was really a computer nerd, but I was also a Boy Scout. I spent a lot of time in the outdoors of southern New Jersey and the Pine Barrens and on the coastal marshes. I would go out and I would hike or ride new bike routes and I would stop at overlooks and I would look over the forest and at the time there were a number of different things happening like gypsy moth defoliation and I would ask myself what's causing these patterns and you could make a map of this and it'd be really cool to understand what these processes are that are going on that are creating this. But it is really hard to actually collect data that's representative of the whole diversity of ecosystems that you see even within a local region, but certainly when you start to scale up to a national or continental or global scale. That's the scale at which we can really test questions about ecosystem sensitivity to climate and how that changes of latitude with ecosystem type with climatic extremes. So much of ecology is, we found this really interesting ecological pattern that's specific on this elevation gradient or this time of day or this particular El Nino cycle. Field data, they're really expensive and logistically difficult to arrange and collect. That's one of the great things about NEON is that it's collecting field data and other types of information across a widely distributed set of sites that represent the biomes that we have in the U.S. NEON collects fundamental ecological data about biogeochemistry, about the water cycle, about species and biodiversity and the structure of vegetation. They have flux towers that measure gas exchange and gas uptake. Then over these different NEON sites we have these aerial measurements whether it be LIDAR or hyperspectral data that we can use to measure the pulse, the heartbeat and lung capacity of ecosystems. So NEON is enabling the collection of data on spatial and temporal scales that previously were unimaginable for the ecological community. No individual scientist would be able to collect those data on their own across so many different sites. And it's available, it's freely available to everybody in the community. NEON is also a 30-year observatory. It's meant to collect data in these ways for 30 years. There's nothing like that out there. Given that most ecology is done on a three-year grant cycle or a five-year PhD timeline, I think having the ability to answer research questions at a really large geographic scale but to do it over 30 years is going to really change the way we think about some of these questions and some of the answers we thought we understood, but we were only seeing a really small slice in the puzzle. In a three-year study of data collection if you have one anomalous year then you don't really know the state of an ecosystem. This has been a big challenge for ecology. I think a challenge that's always present is funding. We've encountered challenges in especially our long-term monitoring sites. All of those sites have had gaps in their funding which have led to gaps in the data. Many of these sites have gone through multiple principal investigators which means things get handed off, code gets handed over and things often get lost in translation. NEON is providing a vision for ecology. There's something about the shared power of these data which I'm envisioning them as kind of a catalyst for collaboration. One of the great things for me about NEON has been it's actually opened up new collaborations as I've started to work in places that I hadn't previously worked. I'm meeting new people who might be doing different things but they might overlap with what I'm doing. I'm super excited about this idea that we can have the same measurements and the same protocol with uncertainty quantified for every single variable. But making sense of this data still requires what we best do as scientists which is communicate with each other, collaborate with each other, making arguments. Having high quality data like NEON is going to make those arguments crisper, cleaner. We talk about NEON and the possibility of how it'll change the field but I think it's not going to change the ecology. I think it will transform ecology. Data is online. Virtually all the sites are now operational. We're already seeing papers in my journal that are using NEON data and showing interesting results across a gradient of NEON sites. There aren't any other networks like this that collect so much data at so many different places at so many different scales for us to be able to make ecosystems on our planet and what drives them. When it comes to the grand challenges of things like climate change and biodiversity I think NEON is our greatest hope for being able to answer those questions effectively.