Siwr mwy pobl yn bwysig serum nhwad~? Rhinityn ein sgareddant yn euuckles deglingosiau'r bwysig? Siwr mae'r sgareddant yng Nghymru yn ei pap formaidd na beth eich awr wononig a'r bwysig yn tua heddiw ysgadol i'w hwnnw wahanol glueodau i Gwgoriwr Williamston. Mae fod yn lawer ei daidd anref sungai. Mae bienchion cyftvarr Primur General o swyddan yn sefydlu bwysigat Roti, broadband access to at least 95 per cent of premises by the end of 2017. Without that investment, only 66 per cent of premises would have been reached. To date, the programme has provided fibre broadband access to 4215 premises in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency, 95 per cent of which are capable of accessing superfast speeds. Can I welcome that? I'm sure that 4215 premises in my constituency will welcome that too. However, constituents from the village of Stonehouse in my constituency have had a very difficult time with getting access to broadband, and when they do, they have experienced loss of service, a slow service, which has been disruptive not only to domestic use of broadband services, but to the many businesses in that area who depend on an uninterrupted high-speed service in order to do their business. Can the cabinet secretary look into the particular problems that are faced by my constituents in Stonehouse and reassure them that everything possible is being done to provide them with that quality service from that £400 million investment? Yes, I'm happy to provide Ms McElvie with that assurance and I'm happy to receive more details from her if she so wishes. She will appreciate, of course, as we all do, that telecoms and telephony is a reserved responsibility for the UK Government, but, despite that, we are committed to providing 100 per cent superfast broadband access by 2021. I'm obviously aware that BT is handling many of those cases. I'm very happy to take up any particular case with Ms McElvie, who is obviously working hard for her constituents on this serious matter. 2. Douglas Ross Thank you, Presiding Officer. To answer this, the Scottish Government, when it last met the board of NFU Scotland and what issues were discussed. I last met the board of the NFUS on 22 December last year when we discussed cap greening and the issue of linked holdings in relation to livestock movements. I can also advise that I will be meeting with the new national farmers union Scotland presidential team tomorrow morning. 2. Douglas Ross I thank the cabinet secretary for that response and my question allows me to wish the new NFU Scotland board announced at the recent AGM all the best and, in particular, to Martin Burst from Putgaveny Farms near Elgin, who is the new regional board member for Highland. The NFUS was very supportive of the new farm advisory service when it was launched in September last year. The scheme costs £20 million and will run until 2020. Can the cabinet secretary tell us what the uptake of that scheme has been so far and what has been the feedback from crofters and farmers for this new service? Just this morning, I can assure members that I was discussing with the rural committee some of the good work that is done by the SRUC. That includes, for example, arranging, facilitating and handling meetings for farmers to understand the opportunities to avail themselves of greening measures, which, as well as good for the planet, are good for their pocket. There is a wide range of activities that are being undertaken by SRUC. I have discussions with SRUC on various matters recently and have asked for a further meeting, specifically to address the issues that Mr Ross fairly raises. After that meeting, if he wishes, I am happy to go over with him what they do, because it is a substantial contract and it is absolutely essential that, in those challenging times, where farmers risk the possibility of facing the loss of their CAP and SRDP financial support as a result of the total failure of the UK Government to give any details that are there in end, we must do all that we can to address those matters. Gillian Martin The cabinet secretary, what changes has taken forward to the greening measures in response to the NUFS and farmers' concerns? I announced three particular measures, shortening the period during which maintenance of field drains is prohibited on ecological focus areas, such as the EFA fallow from 1 July 2015, to allow hedges to count separately as EFA and agroforestry supported under the forestry grant scheme, and located on temporary grassland, we will be able to count as EFA. I and Ms Cunningham, the environment secretary, also announced the establishment of our group, chaired by Professor Russell Griggs, that has been asked to undertake a forward looking review of our approach to greening. Further, we plan to publish our analysis of the impacts of changes to rules as requested by stakeholders. Further research will be commissioned on those matters. It is my understanding that the twin announcements of specific measures and an on-going approach of serious consideration of those matters have been broadly welcomed by farmers and their representatives. I am sure that the NUFS board will wish to discuss with the cabinet secretary the progress that has been made in terms of payments for 2017, but at a recent meeting with the NFUS locally in Orkney, a concern was raised around some uncertainty about the payments for 2016. Some farmers are still yet to receive payments and, given the change in the regime, I think that there is a lack of clarity there. Would you consider writing out to all farmers explaining the payments that have been made and any outstanding amounts that may still be due? Well, Ms MacArthur raises perfectly reasonable points. I can assure him and all other members that those matters occupy a great deal of my time and attention, and rightly so, and that my officials are working flat out in order to address those matters. I believe that substantial progress is being made. I can also say that I discussed those matters in Orkney, not in Orkney but in Shetland, on Monday with the farmers there. I think that I should perhaps point out, as Mr MacArthur will know well, that in respect of the various farming payments that a loan scheme was brought in and was implemented in the first fortnight of November, and that made sure that for most farmers they received up to 80 per cent of their full entitlement and they received that earlier than would normally be the case. That did inject, Presiding Officer. I think that there are some from memory, not unadjacent to £270 million to the rural community in Scotland, including in the Isle of Orkney, where farming is of such importance. 3. Margaret Mitchell To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives from the Scottish Roads partnership. Minister Humza Yousaf. Keith Brown, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work, last met representatives of the Scottish Road partnership. The project contracted on 1 February 2017, when he visited the site to view the progress on the Wraith underpass. Transport Scotland, of course, is part of the Scottish Government. Officials meet representatives from the Scottish Road partnership on a regular basis. Margaret Mitchell I thank the minister for that answer and very much welcome the significant progress made on the on-going works at the Wraith interchange, including the opening of the East Kilbride underpass. However, there are problems with the lack of appropriate signage generally, and in particular to make motorists aware early enough of the new EK underpass road configuration, where many drivers are ending up on the bypass by mistake. They then have to do a detour and double back to get to the bottle Glasgow turn-offs, which adds to the confusion and congestion at the Wraith. Will the minister take up the issue and confirm the completion date for the entire project? I thank the member for the constructive way in which he approaches the issue. Roadworks, of course, will involve disruption. We do our best to advertise that disruption and diversion routes as early as we possibly can. However, I will take her point in regard to signage. I will ask the contractors and, indeed, my own officials in Transport Scotland to look again to see if anything can be done. In terms of the completion date, I will stick to what has been said about spring 2017. That is the schedule that we are working towards when we expect the entire project to be complete. Can the minister advise why the Government chose the Scottish roads partnership PPP model as opposed to a traditional roads maintenance contract? Will he agree to publish the level of profits that is being delivered through the public sector contract to the private investors involved? If Neil Findlay was sitting here in this role, which I think is a feat of imagination, but nonetheless, if he was, I do not think that he would have constructed the amount of infrastructure that we have managed to do—the M8, M73, M74 project, the AWPR, of course, the dualling of the A9, the A96 and many, many other infrastructure projects. I will write to the member to give him a little bit more information, but he will understand that commercial confidentiality is important. However, the Government has a great record of not only delivering infrastructure projects but delivering them on time and on budget. That is something that I am very, very proud of. Neil Findlay. I simply ask the minister if he will publish the level of profits that is being provided under the contract. Will he do that? It is a public contract. I said that there is commercial confidentiality and I will explore what can be published and what cannot be published, what is not appropriate and I will write to the member in that regard. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle livestock worrying. We are fully supporting the campaign that was launched recently by Police Scotland to highlight the importance of dog owners keeping their pets under control when walking in rural areas. The campaign is being run in conjunction with the Scottish partnership against rural crime, SNH and the represented body land and estates. It is time to coincide with lambing season when the effects of livestock worrying can be devastating. Police Scotland is committed to using the law robustly if dog owners fail to keep their dogs under control, including investigating all incidents of livestock worrying and reporting cases to the Procurator Fiscal with a view to securing convictions. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response and also for the very helpful information that he has provided. He will know about the dreadful event that happened in Muthall when a whole field of sheep was destroyed in Muthall. According to the NFU Mutual, the cost of dog attacks in livestock is estimated to be about £1.4 million across the UK and that the cost has more than tripled in Scotland. I appreciate what the cabinet secretary has just said about the policing of the issue, but could he also tell us what is happening to ensure that the farmers who are affected are actually reporting the issue in the first instance? My attention has been drawn to that particular episode. It is absolutely devastating, not only for the financial, but I think that the emotional consequences for any farmer seeing his livestock suffer in this way is appalling. It must be said that the primary responsibility must lie with the dog owner to keep his or her dog under proper control. There is legislation that criminalises a dog owner that attacks livestock, chases livestock or be at large, but not under close control in a field. There is legislation in place, but that legislation requires evidence for the prosecution. That is why, in 2015, the former Solicitor General conducted a review to ensure that the matter was taken absolutely seriously, which it is. To respond to the second part of the question, I would obviously encourage every single person who sees witnesses, an incident, to report that to the police. That is really our civic duty and one that, if taken seriously by most people—I am sure that most people do and, of course, most dog owners are responsible dog owners—that duty to report would in itself be of great help in part of the solution to this serious matter. To ask the Scottish Government how it supports Scottish firms in the food and drink sector in accessing public sector contracts. Significant progress has been made in recent years, with almost half of our public sector food and drink contracts now awarded to Scottish businesses. I want to see more of our schools, hospitals and public sector organisations taking advantage of the high-quality food and drink that is produced in Scotland. That is why I convened a round-table discussion earlier this month to bring together the supply chain for the first time to discuss the barriers and opportunities, to increase local sourcing in public sector contracts and to help to boost the economic potential of the food and drink sector. A range of actions are now being considered and a further round-table event will be convened later this year to review progress. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. In my constituency, there is great concern among food producers, such as McDuff, Shellfish and Mintlaw, that they will face severe difficulties if they cannot get a guarantee that workers from other EU member states can continue to work in Scotland when we leave the EU. What contingencies should we be suggesting to them as they prepare for the future, for example, as they bid for the kind of contracts that we have just discussed? The member has raised an extremely important point. I know from my own visits in Peterhead and Fraserborough and, indeed, this week to Shetland, just how absolutely crucial the continued presence of EU nationals working in the processing sector and the food and drink sector is to Scotland. Around 8,000 working in that sector, and a further 15,000 EU nationals are employed by Scotland's farmers. They are all welcome in Scotland and we want them to continue to be welcome. If they are not, as a result of the granite hard Brexit plans proposed by the UK Government, then we may see the horrendous human tragedy of people leaving because they are not welcome here. That is repulsive and repellent to us and it also would have the effect of shrinking the economy, because if a processing factory relies on half its workforce being of EU origin living in Scotland and that factory cannot continue to operate, the other half, Indigenous Scottish residents, will also risk losing their job. That matter could not be more serious for the rural economy and therefore this Scottish Government believes that it is essential that everybody stands up and defends the right of EU nationals to continue to work here and enjoy this as their home, which of course it is. I am glad that the Scottish Government is treating the issue of local food procurement with the importance it deserves. However, there is a real performance gap between our better achieving rural areas and underperforming urban areas in regard to public sector contracts. What further work will the minister undertake to narrow this gap? Just in the last couple of weeks, I convened the very first event of its sort in Scotland of bringing together those involved in procurement. I am not sure that I would necessarily accept the presentation of the event of the situation as put forward by Mr Chapman, although if he wants to send me evidence, I will happily have a look at it. However, I think that there has been great progress made in sourcing more food and drink from Scotland and from local sources. However, the issues are very substantially practical and business ones. The supply of food and drink is very much a business issue. Farmers and co-operatives, for example, need to be able to co-operate to provide food and drink to large retailers on a day basis 365 days a year. There are business issues here and the Government should not dictate to business. However, there is a great deal of goodwill amongst local authorities, the Scottish Government and all businesses involved in the chain. I think that working collaboratively is by far the best way to advance those matters. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the instance of avian flu and what advice and support it is giving to commercial and domestic poultry keepers. To date, there has only been one confirmed finding of a highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N8 in Scotland this winter, and that was a wild peregrine falcon found in the Dumfries area. There have been no confirmed cases in domestic poultry or captive birds in Scotland. I have met key representatives of the poultry and game bird sector in the past few weeks to discuss how we can best support keepers during this unprecedented situation. In addition, we have regularly provided advice and support to poultry keepers on how best to protect their birds at this time, done so through digital media, news releases and emails to a wide range of stakeholder groups. We also arranged for the animal and plant health agency, AFA, to issue email and text alerts to subscribers through their notifiable diseases alerts service. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for his response? Subject to no further outbreaks, when does the Government expect to be able to lift the current restrictions on the movement of live poultry? I think that I would answer the question this way. I am not assigned to see or react on advice from Sheila Voastie, chief veterinary officer, obviously, and her colleagues. However, my understanding is that this virus is one that is not expected to be, if you like, killed off until the warmer weather arrives. Therefore, it is not reasonable to expect that there will be an absence of problems until, perhaps, May or June. There have been a number of outbreaks, confirmed cases in England, nine cases, and we have, on veterinary advice, taken the step of indicating that, when the current prevention zone comes to an end at the end of this month, it will be renewed, but it will be amended so that birds may be let out, subject to heightened biosecurity. That will have the benefit, of course, that those who are producing free-range eggs will not be liable to forfeit their free-range status, provided they maintain the other conditions, apart from, obviously, being outdoors and free-range. That is extremely important to Scotland because there is an enormous amount of money involved here, £46 million of business, so that is not a minor issue. That is why I met many of the players involved, including some farmers who are very important players in this field, and it has been receiving the utmost attention, which, of course, is quite right. I was a detailed answer, but there are a couple of supplementaries, and I am afraid that we do not have time. That concludes that section of topical questions. We move on to environment, climate change and land reform. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure the safe restoration of opencast coal mine sites in East Ayrshire and the south of Scotland. Cabinet secretary, Roseanna Cunningham. Following the liquidation of Scotland's two largest coal mining companies, a cross-party Scottish opencast coal task force was established to deal with the key issues of coal sector employment, improving regulation and promoting restoration of legacy sites. Two subgroups to the main task force were established in 2014 to look at and make recommendations on compliance monitoring and financial factors. The final report to the task force was published in October 2015 and included a comprehensive suite of 29 recommendations. In addition, a short-life coal restoration working group was also established to take forward and progress the recommendations of the task force. It met between February and October 2016. The Scottish Mine Restoration Trust was formed in May 2013 to seek innovative solutions to restoration. That is chaired by Professor Russell Greggs and is continuing its work and has now taken over the ownership and care of eight legacy surface mines. The Scottish Government continues to work closely with councils, communities and with industry to ensure the safe restoration of surface mines in Scotland. Brian Whittle. As you will be aware, the mining companies were supposed to be accumulating a restoration fund to ensure that the landscape could be properly restored after mining was finished through regular surveying and cost analysis. I was taken off the ball and when the Scottish Gold Folded, it was unfortunately discovered that the funds had been grossly underestimated. Those sites scarred the landscape and, at the very least, need to be made safe for the local communities. However, there are some very innovative and interesting alternatives to just making them safe such as pumped hydro storage schemes or bike tracks or outdoor activities that could attract visitors to the area. Will the Scottish Government commit to at least the very minimum investment that is required to make those sites safe? Will the minister consider looking at some of the very interesting projects that might be worth further investment? We are already supporting work with funding and that is the work of the SMRT, the group that has been working since 2013 on that. I think that most of us would agree with the concerns being expressed by the member as to the environmental on-cost of the effective closure of the mines and the consequences thereof. I know that a very great deal of work is currently being done and continues to be done and I would have hoped that my initial answer would have indicated to the member that this is an issue that this Government takes extraordinarily seriously. Related to similar issues, what is the Scottish Government doing to address the coal-related damage to the Muirkerch and North Louth's upland special protection area? As the member may be aware, on 10 March 2016, we published details of the package of measures now being deployed to address the ecological impacts of opencast coal mining in the Muirkerch and North Louth's upland special protection area. Work is on-going and includes the partial restoration of the Powharnol opencast site, the restoration of the Griefill opencast site, the re-establishment of supportive mitigatory land management and the extension of the SPA to compensate for the permanent loss of habitat. In addition, work to remove an overland coal conveyor from the SPA was completed last year. We have made significant financial commitment to support the completion of the work, with some £2 million spent during the current financial year and a commitment for a further £8 million over the next four years. Can I ask the cabinet secretary whether she or any of the organisations involved has considered making clearer definitions of restoration at a Scotland-wide level? For instance, it has been raised with the East Asher Council the possibilities of three definitions—restoration, partial restoration or reinstatement and alternative use—and a number of constituents have approached me to highlight that that would help in letting community groups and all those involved know what the process was that was happening on particular sites. The member is raising an interesting point. It may very well be that it is part of the discussions that are already taking place, but perhaps not in as overtly defined a way, as she might wish. I will make sure that her comments are drawn to the attention, particularly of the trust itself, to see whether there is a way to make that more systematic, which I expect is really what the member is looking for. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has in place to prevent the spread of diseases that affect woodlands and forestry. Tackling threats to tree health is a priority for the Scottish Government. Our approach to preventing the spread of diseases that affect woodlands and forestry is set out in the Scottish plant health strategy that was published in March last year. I hope that the member has had an opportunity to have a look at that. The aims of the strategy are to demonstrate the importance of safeguarding Scottish plant health to protect and enhance Scotland's economy and natural environment, to indicate how Scotland will take forward the plant biosecurity strategy for Great Britain and to ensure that the Scottish Government and stakeholders work together to protect plant health in Scotland. I am grateful to the minister for that answer. A few months ago, Forest Enterprise Scotland confirmed that almost 20 hectares of woodland will have to be felled as a result of the spread of large disease into new areas in Argyll and Stirlingshire. Surely, with a spread into areas outside the so-called management zone, it means that efforts will have to be increased across the whole of Scotland to stop the spread, and the Scottish Government must act now as the strategy for 2015-17 is surely not effective enough. I outlined the position of the Scottish Government in respect of the general issue of plant health and, indeed, tree health. In preparation for this question, I now know more about potential diseases in trees than I thought I would ever need to know. I am conscious of the concerns about the spread. There is still, if I recall correctly, a view that the west coast remains the biggest concerning area in respect of the issue, and it is one that we are keeping under close observation. However, the member will also be aware that, effectively, being concerned about the health of our forests is a matter for everybody involved in it, not just, for example, the Government or the Forestry Commission. It is also a landowner responsibility and the responsibility of all those involved. I do not believe that the Scottish Government's plans in respect of how that is taken forward are, in any way, insufficient. The draft budget has protected Forestry Commission Scotland expenditure, and we do anticipate that that budget will be adequate to meet our on-going tree health requirements at similar levels to recent years. At times, the only option when woodland and forestry areas are affected by disease will be to clear the area. I am sure that the cabinet secretary will agree with me that replanting of trees is crucial. Can she give details on the number of trees that have been planted in Scotland since 2007 and how that compares to other UK nations? National statistics estimate that, since 2007, Scotland has planted 59.4,000 hectares, or around 119 million trees in new woodland creation. The estimate for the same period in England is around 50 million trees for new woodland and 9 million for Wales. The replanting of trees following felling will be in addition to those numbers, and detailed estimates of replanting numbers are not available. The figures that we have are initial planting rather than replanting. To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is given to piloting the devolved management of seabed assets to the island communities of Orkney and Shetford. The Scottish Minister's first priority is to complete the devolution of management of the crown estate to the Scottish Parliament and ensure a smooth transition. That takes effect on 1 April this year. We have made a commitment that communities will benefit directly from devolution of the crown estate. After crown estate revenues are devolved to Scotland, coastal and land communities will receive 100 per cent of net revenues raised from crown estate marine assets out to 12 nautical miles. With the three island councils, we have been exploring the potential for piloting enhanced local accountability ahead of legislation on a new long-term framework for managing crown estate assets in Scotland. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. I also thank Roseanna Cunningham for sparing the time to meet with Tavish Scott and myself on the issue. From that meeting, she will understand the long-standing desire within Orkney and Shetland to take responsibility for managing the crown estate assets, extending what is already happening under the Orkney and Shetland acts. It is not just about the revenues that she knows, it is the opportunity to manage the seabed resources that are so critically important to the island communities that I represent. Will she therefore agree to allow Orkney and Shetland to lead the way and take forward pilots ahead of legislation being introduced to Parliament later on this year? The member may be interested to know that I am meeting with the leaders of the three island councils on 2 March. Discussions will continue between the Scottish Government and the island councils on the potential for a pilot in the islands. We have received an outline proposal from them, which has been considered, but as I indicated in the meeting that the member referred to earlier, a detailed proposal is required to enable us to make a proper decision. I know that both himself and his colleague, Tavish Scott, will ensure that they are kept well informed on the progress of this, and I look forward to further meetings, no doubt, with both of them, singly or together. Does the cabinet secretary share my view that the Smith commission stressed the importance of devolving seabed assets to local authority areas such as Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles? Is the cabinet secretary sympathetic and relaxed about further empowerment of island communities and avoiding centralisation in Edinburgh? As the member knows, there is an ongoing consultation in respect of the long-term future for the Crown and State commission. We have had to devolve initially in the way that we have done it on an interim basis to bring the devolution to Scotland, and the consultation and future legislation will determine what the long-term plans will be. As the member is aware, there is a variety of views about that, and it is our intention to ensure that, as many communities as possible benefit directly from that, both in terms of, indeed, as the previous member pointed out, the funding but also the management. Question 4, George Adam. To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that the environmental standards in towns and cities help to promote Scotland's image. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of the environment and its contribution to the quality of life of our communities, as well as Scotland's international image and reputation. The Scottish Government supports delivery of local environmental standards through its establishment of policy frameworks, supporting tools, and funding to local authorities and other organisations. George Adam. I thank the cabinet secretary for her answer. Does she agree with me that, in these challenging economic times, it is even more important that our towns and cities environment is clean to a high standard? The cabinet secretary may be aware that the previous SNP-led Remfrewshire Council won awards with its clean remfrewshire campaign. Does the cabinet secretary agree that educational campaigns like that are a way forward to ensure that we keep our towns and cities clean and promote a positive image of Scotland? Our national litter strategy supports higher quality local environments. I encourage all local authorities to share best practice so that successful approaches to influencing behaviour can be replicated or adapted to suit individual council circumstances. Not every plan will fit every area, but where there is good practice such as the clean remfrewshire campaign, other councils would be advised to have a look and see if there are lessons that can be learned. Question 5, Miles Briggs. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the incidence of fly tipping. The Scottish Government is committed to tackling fly tipping. We have provided SEPA and local authorities with the powers to find people who are caught fly tipping, the minimum fixed penalty of £200 to a maximum fine of £40,000 if prosecuted. Zero Way Scotland has introduced the Fly Mapper system to enable the recording, managing and reporting of fly tipping, making it easier to catch offenders and to deal with illegal dumping sites. Miles Briggs. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Keep Scotland Beautiful's 2016 report, Scotland's local environmental quality and decline, painted a concerning picture of increases in littering and fly tipping. Keep Scotland Beautiful is calling for a review of the effectiveness of the fixed penalties that the cabinet secretary outlined to see whether or not the enforcement is actually deterring this. Is the Scottish Government planning to take this forward and commit to a review of the current penalties? Well, we keep these issues under review on a constant basis. We are wanting to ensure the maximum environmental standards for Scotland and by doing the work that we do behind the scenes, ensuring that that is something that is kept going forward on a regular basis. The member will be aware, however, that, with respect to fly tipping, it is difficult to catch offenders. As much as I would like to make an argument for increasing penalties, which I rather suspect lies behind his question, the issue is more how does one actually get individuals to court in the first place? That is an important aspect of the assessment that needs to be done. Increasing penalties is one thing—getting people into court is what will be key. I hope that he would agree with me that perhaps that is where we need to be putting our focus in the early stage. There is no reason for anyone to fly tip material when councils are providing both recycling and residual collections. I think that every one of us here would condemn that it happens. Christina McKelvie Thank you very much. Does the cabinet secretary agree that it is a responsibility of councils such as South Lanarkshire to ensure that those who are known to be guilty of fly tipping are held to account whenever possible and do all that they can to encourage responsible disposal of items of rubbish? The member will have heard some of the comments that I made to Miles Briggs. The real trick here is to know who is responsible, and while we may colloquially know in some places, knowing in a way that allows us to take that evidence to court is different. However, I do think that councils play a vital role in holding fly tipping offenders to account. We have supported them by increasing the level of fixed penalty that they and others with enforcement powers can impose on fly tippers when they identify them, and we encourage the use of those powers. I perhaps should have mentioned that in response to Miles Briggs. There is also guidance to enforcement officers who deal with the illegal disposal of waste in Scotland. It is within a document called fly tipping in Scotland, a guide to prevention and enforcement. It is perhaps something for those who are interested in this particular area to go and have a look at. Ivan McKee To ask the Scottish Government what the value of Scotland's natural environment is to the Scottish economy. Scotland's natural environment is estimated to be worth around £20 billion per annum to the economy. That is £20 billion, not million. Many of Scotland's growth sectors such as tourism, energy and food and drink depend on our high-quality air, land and water. We believe that protecting and enhancing our stock of natural capital is fundamental to a healthy and resilient economy, which is why, in 2011, we became the very first country in the world to establish a natural capital asset index. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Does the cabinet secretary therefore agree with me that it is essential that we continue to invest in our environment and work to unlock opportunities that will not only help to protect the environment but further benefit Scotland's economy? I agree with that. Investing in our natural environment is important in helping to grow the economy. We make that point in the Scottish economic strategy, which explicitly states that protecting and enhancing our stock of natural capital is fundamental to a healthy and resilient economy. I draw members' attention to the fact that many of our wonderful produce is sold on an image of Scotland's environment, which I would hope always was reinforced by a reality. It is really important that private sector particularly understands that that reality has got to sustain the image that it chooses to sell its premium products on the back-off. Maurice Golden Thank you, Presiding Officer. Scotland's prosperity is intertwined with Scotland's natural capital. That is why the Scottish Conservatives have made natural capital a key part of our new environmental policy paper launched today. Can the cabinet secretary explain what specific steps the SNP Government is taking to develop and a holistic model to leverage finance to protect our natural capital? As I have already indicated, this country is the very first one in the world to establish a natural capital asset index. I would have expected the member to have welcomed that fact. I am aware of the document that was published today, and I reassure the member that I will be looking at it all very carefully indeed. However, one of the stand-out highlights so far is the Conservatives in Scotland committing to two nuclear power plants for Scotland with no indication whatsoever of where any of the money for that is coming from. Indeed, that was something absent from the entire document, not a single cost put to anything. When the member wants to arise in this chamber, whether or not he might have regard to that aspect of things as well. Thank you. That concludes portfolio questions. The next item of business is a ministerial statement. We will just take a few moments for ministers and other members to change seats.


I've got a quick-fire game for you now, okay? Yes. We're gonna play... We're really good at that. Oh, perfect. I knew this was coming, that's why we skipped ahead. A parlor. Delilah. Delilah. We're gonna play Who Said It? Queen or the Queen? Oh, okay. Okay? It's all to do with training. You can do a lot if you're properly trained. Was that Queen or the Queen? It's all to do with training. You can do a lot if you're trained. Can anyone do the voice of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth? You should be able to do it. You should. Why, because I'm British. Yeah, that's right. The Queen. The Queen. Correct. Yes, it was the Queen. Queen. The Queen. It was the Queen? Yeah. What? Damn, okay. I have to be seen to be believed. That sounds like Freddie Mercury saying that. Say it in Freddie's voice. I can't do it all. I think it's Freddie. I think it's Freddie. The Queen. It's the Queen. Well, you did that gesture. Freddie the Queen. That sounds like a very Freddie thing, but I'm going to say the Queen. It is the Queen. Yeah. Damn, Queen. Whoa. That's the Queen. Yeah. I like to be surrounded by splendid things. Freddie Mercury. Correct. That's Freddie. Oh, that could be either. This is good. That again sounds very Freddie, but I think the Queen. That's Freddie. Okay. Football's a difficult business and aren't they prima donnas? Surely that's not the Queen. Is it the Queen? Oh, my God. This band name is now making so much sense. Television has made it possible for many of you to see me in your home. That's the Queen. That's the Queen. Yeah. Television has made it possible. That's not your thing. Do it again. I'm not going to be in the crowd anytime soon. At least not as the Queen. Well, yeah. Maybe not as the Queen. Maybe not as the Queen. Maybe not as the Queen. Maybe not as the Queen. Maybe not as the Queen. Maybe not as the Queen. Has someone doing an impression of the Queen? If they have that character. Okay. I want to say that that's Queen, but I feel like, again, that's the Queen. That's the Queen, yeah. Prince Charles is doing a great job for young people. He shows genuine concern and interest. That's gotta be Queen, right? Her Majesty Freddie Mercury. It has to be Queen. Yeah, it's Queen. It's John Deacon. Yes. Is it? That can't be either of them. The Queen. That's not Queen. That's Queen. What? Who? John Deacon talking about wanting Queen to work with the Prince's trust. Wow. Interesting. Like all the best families, we have our share of eccentricities. That is Queen. Our Queen. The Van Queen. It's the Queen. Do you think so? No. I think that's Mercury. It's the Queen. It is? A nomination. Wow. I'm winning this game, sir. Queen. The Queen. What? Since when has she been so open and candid? I'm in love with my car. Me too. Yeah, that's Roger Taylor, right? Roger Taylor. Correct. The Queen of the Dream. I wish she was with me. You know that that's the B-side of Bohemian Rhapsody? I know. It's in the film. Yeah. You were paying attention to it. That was just a test. That was just a test. Yeah. Roger Taylor. Yeah. Yeah. Do you want to know about Freddy's cats? Always. There's Apollo and Goliath. Tom and Jerry. Tom and Jerry. Romeo. Romeo. What did he feed them? What did he feed them? What did he feed them? What did he feed them? No, no, real food. Human food. Only the best. Some beans? Yeah. The film has such a great cast and it's so much fun to watch everyone on screens together. I'd love to know what your funniest or most memorable moment from filming is. I guess the most memorable one of will be the very last thing we shot which was Rami and Gwill doing Love of My Life and Rami taking that sweeping bow. And it was the last moment that we shot of this film and we were all watching on the monitors and Dexter, our director, turned to us and whispered, I'm going to get him to do it one more time and then we're all going to clap and that's it. We're wrapped. And everyone suddenly got, I mean, came to the realization that it was over and done after everything we'd been through. And so it's on camera where he goes down and everyone starts applauding and he comes up and realizes what's happening. And there's just this moment and then he blows kisses out to everyone and it's just, oh, it's so heartbreaking. And it's all on camera. How were you with bloopers? Were there any moments that made you crack up laughing? Yeah, they actually showed a great blooper reel at the rap party. I'd like to see that again. I'm such a goodie-goody, I always get too nervous. So I just try and correct myself. With big movie like this, there must be some things you shoot which don't make the final cut. So I wondered if you had a favorite deleted scene we might get to see later on the DVD. I mean, one of the most incredible things about this film is the live aid performance. And it's obviously cut down in the film. Hopefully the full extended version because they shot the whole 20 minutes set in full. So hopefully that appears somewhat because that was something to behold. That was amazing. Yeah, it's unbelievable. You get to see this band come from not rags to riches but really define themselves as human beings, as misfits, as outcasts, writing these songs that all of those people can understand and relate to. And then you get to see them be put on stage in front of thousands. So it is a film experience like no other and it must be seen on the big screen. Yeah, we've seen this in some amazing cinemas. We saw it in George Lucas' cinema in San Francisco. Best sound system you could possibly imagine. I was sick. And when you get to the concert sequences you feel the vibration of the music in your chest. It's like being in the crowd. It's really quite an experience. I really wanted to ask you about the live aid scenes because they're incredible to watch. What was that like to film? Big challenge. It was the first thing we did. The very first thing we did. So we showed up. They gave us five weeks to rehearse it to learn every single movement down to the smallest detail. If they tripped over a chord, you had to do that. If your person turned left at a particular moment, you had to look to the left. It was that kind of detail. And so that was particularly challenging because we needed to learn all six songs. We needed to learn every movement. And we still also had to emote. We still had to be actors. We still had to understand what was going on in those moments in that part of the film. What was going on between the characters. What it meant to them. And so kind of doing all those things, making it feel natural and making it feel unrehearsed even though it was rehearsed to the... We'll go ahead. And we had Brian May there and Roger Taylor there. The legendary members of Queen. They were giving advice.  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's it. As Joe was saying, we were really meticulous in capturing this scene really in complete accuracy. And at the end of the first rehearsal, Brian came up to me and said, it's very detailed. It's very accurate. But don't forget that I'm a rock star. And with that comes a certain amount of ego. And it was just a really cool thing to hear at that point because it made me realize that we're not there to mimic or to just caricature, but actually to fill these characters with our own sense of like energy and adrenaline and joy and all that kind of thing. We'd studied it enough before. I mean, at least I had to know roughly, obviously the guys were rehearsing for about a month before. But to see that every beat, every nod and head turn had been matched moment for moment was so shocking. And it was my first day of filming. So it was a great introduction into the kind of the tone and expectations. And what's the reality of filming a scene like that? What are you actually seeing? In an airfield just outside London. So like the stage was incredible and you're completely transported when you're there and backstage. And then of course you turn around and it's just gross. I mean with the combination of the set and their performance, it's pretty much like you were there. Do you have a favorite song that's performed in the film? When they first get together and they do keep yourself alive because that was... We did that scene for a whole day and so that song has been on like a loop in my head in association with this film. That's the first time in the film you really get to see Freddie's stage presence and energy. And so it's such a thrill and it was so much fun to watch on the day as well. It must be so much fun to witness all these performances all the time. Yeah, especially as the person who gets to stand in the audience and just enjoy it and like clap along and stuff. I had the least kind of pressure on me so it was just like one concert after the other. That must make doing karaoke with your cast mates or anything like that. We've not done karaoke. I mean, you should see them sing along to Queen at the rap party and such. That's something to behold.


Hello terrestrials and extra-terrestrials alike! I don't know why I'm waving my hands like this! Oh my god! This is Desmos and Velikor. I am Kim, and today we're gonna be talking about the upcoming 2018 books that you might not have heard of that I am super psyched about. Two things. First of all, I have not read any of these books. All of the descriptions come from Goodreads and are only plausibly correct. And second thing, I have like a 25 book-long list that was like upcoming reads that I'm really excited for, but 25 is way too many for a video, so I narrowed it down to 15, which is so much better. I'm gonna try and keep each book under 30 seconds. I'm gonna put the cover and the release date, and I'm gonna talk about it. It's gonna be grand. Wish me luck! First up is Ink, Iron, and Glass by Blonde and Claire. By the time I upload this video, this book will have already come out, so definitely check it out and tell me what you think.  This world-hopping adventure unveils a deep political conspiracy, and Elsa is going to have to choose. Guys, it has literal world-building. How can I resist this? State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury is coming out March 1st. I'm gonna seal this description straight from Goodreads on this one because it's like weirdly nuanced and I had a lot of trouble paraphrasing it. Sorrow all that rules the Court of Tears, a land gripped by perpetual grief, forever mourning her brother, who died just a few days before Sorrow was born. This is a twisty, possibly fey, story of civil war. How can I not be into that? Next up is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. It comes out March 6th, and it's a West African-inspired fantasy.  To save the rich, magical life of her land, she must make alliances, outwit and outrun a cruel enemy, and learn to control her own volatile powers. The magic in this book sounds like it's similar to the Grisha trilogy, and I'm just really into Leigh Bardugo, so I'm so excited for this book. Blood, Water, Paint by Joi McCullough also comes out March 6th. This is the novel based on the life of Artemisia Gentilisci. Now, if you don't know who Artemisia Gentilisci is, I know, I'm totally kidding. I didn't know who she was either, until this beautiful Tumblr post popped up, and rather effusively educated me via many expletives about her life and her art. Artemisia Gentilisci was one of the best painters in Rome in 1610, and to this day, a lot of her art is still falsely attributed to her father. And I just really want to read a novel about her, like seriously, look her up, she's awesome. Next up is The Heartforger by Renci Peco coming out March 20th. I just did a review on The Bone Witch, so check that out. But oh my goodness, this is the second book in the Bone Witch series. Teya is preparing to wage war. Her mastery over death makes her a high value target to those who wish to live forever. I fully expect Renci Peco to deliver a dark, rich, brutal fantasy about love and war and death and revenge. Next up is The Queens of Innocent Lear by Tessa Gratton coming out March 27th. The three daughters of a prophecy obsessed king with dwindling mental acuity must prepare to defend their father's domain from dangers without and within. Magic, politics, and an uncertain line of succession count me in. Arusha and the End of Time by Roshani Chakshi coming out March 27th as well. Twelve-year-old Arusha has a wild imagination and a lot of time to kill, so she makes up stories about all the fabulous adventures she totally had over summer break. But when her classmates try to catch her in a lie, she lights a lamp that she probably shouldn't have and maybe just a little bit releases a demon. This is the first book in a quartet, which means we get four more books by Roshani Chakshi. And honestly, I will read anything this woman has written. Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young comes out April 24th. A young warrior of her tribe, Alen must work with the enemy to bring their tribes together to survive against an attack from a clan thought to exist only in legend. I'm sorry, does anyone else think that sounds absolutely incredible because I'm so excited. The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zainab Jokadar. Well, it comes out May 1st and it tells the parallel stories of Noor in Syria summer 2011 and Roia 800 years earlier. The two women go on a journey following the same route, both seeking the ever-receding idea of home. This is the author's debut novel and it sounds immersive and rich and complex and poignant. And while it is a little outside my genre, I'm still really excited to read it. A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, edited by Ellen Oh. This is an anthology of reimagined South and East Asian mythology and fairy tales. And it's got 15 best-selling authors. 15? 13? Moncler on the number. But each individual story is written by a best-selling author. Rene Adie, Roshani Chakshi. This is where we insert the My Body is Ready Gif. Like, if I could dead drop, I would. Trial of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse comes out June 26th. It is a post-apocalyptic reimagining of Navajo mythology and it follows Maggie Hoskey, a super-powered monster hunter who is about to get in way over her head. I don't know a lot about Native American mythology, but I'm really excited for an Own Voices novelization. That's not how Raven stole the Sun. Next up is These Rebel Waves by Sarah Raich. Rosh? I think it's Rosh. It comes out August 7th. The Kingdom of Grace Theray is still picking up the pieces after its bloody emancipation from its oppressor, Argrit. Taking place five years after the Revolution, this story follows three different individuals from different walks of life as they all work to keep a fragile peace. Magic, politics, and consequences. As we know, these are my bread and butter. And last but not least is Blanca and Roja by Anna-Marine McLean Moore. There's a capitalized L in the middle of that. We're just, we're just gonna move on. Um, it comes out October 9th. I've heard it described as a snow-white rose-red meets swan lake with some magical realism and possibly queerness. I haven't read Wild Beauty, but apparently this author is gunning to break all of our hearts. That's it. That's the list. Come talk to me about books. I really want to know what you guys are looking forward to, and if you're looking forward to the books that I'm looking forward to. And yeah, go talk to me about books. I'll be right back.


Hi everyone, Joe for jasperjasecasebrace.com coming at you with Jaspy Six Box. Press your luck, football mixer, random team, break number one, hopefully no whammies in this one here. What's unique about this Six Box, press your luck, football mixer, is that we're giving away two $3,000 football mixer spots, that 48 box high-end mixer that we have on the site right now. The unique part about this, two are being given away. All-card ship, except for that contender's draft, the non-hits in contender's drafts, we're only sending autos in contender's draft. I think that makes sense, a little bit easier for us right here. What else is going on here? It's got some nice boxes in here, so let's do it. Big thanks to everybody here for getting in on the action. Congrats again to the winners of these spots right here, and thanks to the people who bought spots straight up. All the teams are in, so let's roll it. Let's randomize names and teams, hard six, three into three. One, two, three, four, five, and six. We'll do the giveaway with a different dice roll at the end after we finish the break. Three into three, six of the hard way for the teams. One, two, three, four, five, and six. All right, so Trevor with the Patriots, John with the Vikings, Trevor with the Packers, David with the Niners, Tom with the cards. Xiao with the Texans, Robert with the Eagles, Allen with the Cowboys, Bulldog Fan with the Lions, Trevor with the Rams and the Saints. Mark with the Steelers, Chris with the Titans, Roy with the Broncos, Jason with the Seahawks, Chris with the Browns, Sean with the Bengals, Trevor, got a block of teams right here, Buccaneers, Jets, Chargers, Dolphins, Jaguars, Panthers. Allen with the Bears, Trevor with the Ravens, Derek with the Chiefs, Trevor with the Washington Football Team, the Bills and my Raiders, Brian with the Falcons, Debra with the Giants, and Sean with the Indianapolis Colts, the Bluehorse Shoes. Let's sort by column B, alphabetically by team. I'm gonna pause the video when we come back, we're gonna see if there's any trades, and then we'll have the break. Stick around, BRB. All right, welcome back, no deals were done. In Jaspy Six Fox, press your luck mixer number one. Now what's unique about this mixer, A, it's a pretty solid mixer, but what's unique about this particular mixer is that we're giving away two of those 48 box football mixer spots. We're giving away two spots, most of the, I think all of the other filler brakes on the side is just one. So that's what makes, every filler actually has its own unique thing to it, but this is this particular one's unique thing. Let's start with Contender's Draft Picks. All right Josh, see you man, have a good one. Thanks. Draft and jokes. No sir, I am good, thank you very much. Yes sir. Have a good, when are you back next? Thursday. Thursday, I'll see you on Thursday, Thomas. Awesome. How's it going man? Absolutely. All right, so for the Contender's Draft, it says in the added description, all cards will ship except for Contender's, non-hits in Contender's Draft, meaning autographs and numbered cards. Ooh, is that Justin Turner trade? Justin Turner, with a two run shot. We've got right here Frank Darby, college ticket auto, and we've got a Clyde Edward DeLair to 99. Frank Darby, Frank Darby goes to the Falcons, that'll be for Brian. Clyde Edward DeLair, of course, goes to Kansas City. Our shipping team knows where all these go, but just to make it a little bit easier on them. There's Brandon Smith, college ticket autograph. Brandon Smith. Brandon Smith is a, are you on a team? He was an undrafted free agent, and he was picked up by the Cowboys. You know what? Sorry, I should have just, I should have had a checklist pulled up for this. So 2021 Contender's Draft on groupbreakchecklist.com, team checklist, yeah, Brandon Smith, Dallas. Then we've got a Samuel Cosme college ticket autograph, and he is a red skin. He's gonna go to the Washington football team, Trevor, with that one. And we've got a ticket stub autograph. That's Israel Mukou Amu, three out of 24. I always like the ticket stub design, it's really sharp. Mukou Amu is a Dallas Cowboy. It's another one for Allen and the Cowboys. We have an Elijah Mitchell. Is he a niner, maybe? Yeah, 49ers. And that will be for David B. and the Niners. We've got a Zach Moss for the Bills to 199. Buffalo, Trevor, with the Buffalo Bills. And we've got a Levi, Onwu Zarike, Onwu Zarike. Levi's gonna go to the Lions. That's Will, with the Detroit Lions. All right, let's stay in that sort of draft mode. All right, first one out of the gate is gonna be Cornell Powell, 76 out of 99. And Cornell Powell will go to Kansas City. That'll be for Derek. Nice one, Derek. Next up is Paulson Adebo, 79 out of 99. Paulson is a saint in New Orleans state. He could be a saint in real life. But I don't know him personally. That'll be for Trevor. We got five out of five, Jason Owa. Not a fives and under, our train whistle. So who's getting this train whistle? Jason Owa is a raven, a purple bird. And that Trevor has the raven Trevor. All aboard the Big Hit Express. Woo-hoo! Next up, we've got Shane Buchel, 14 out of 35. And Shane is a chief, another Kansas City chief. This is the Mahomes backup here, going to Derek.  Nice tray sermon. And that's David B. and the 49ers. All right, let's go to this, well, let's go to playbook actually. Let's go to 2016, 2016 playbook, yeah. Let's go to 2016 playbook. And we've got Jason Witton on top to 199. Alan with Dallas. And a one out of five passport book, D'Shaun Jackson. That's pretty cool. That's a randomizer between the Eagles, Robert Wolfe and the Washington football team, Trevor. Trevor Hardwick. Couple nice patches on either side right there. And a train whistle on the line. We'll do that at the end of the break. And nice, tiny bridge water, two out of 10. Two color patch and autograph. He's in Denver now. This goes to Minnesota. This will be for John. John C. Hopefully he does well this season. Just not against my Raiders. All right. Donner's Optic Football Blaster Box. We've got a Raided Rookie Hollow, James Morgan. Tom Brady, Jordan Brooks Rookie, Cam Akers. Raided Rookie Darington Evans Pink. Made Stanley and John Hightower. All right, next. When is who? Doing breaks on our page? I don't know who that is, Brandon. Josh. Yeah, I don't know. Soon though. I think we're getting him settled in here at the shop first. And then eventually, we'll start getting him into the action either on here or Instagram. I actually don't know what the plan for that is. I know it's supposed to happen at some point, but I don't know when, but soon. All right, Immaculate Collegiate. First of all, we've got Brandon Cooks, 21 out of 39. Yeah, me too, Brandon. I'm looking forward to that as well. Brandon Cooks for the Texans, of course. Yeah, it'll be good to get some fresh faces on here, wherever it may be on whatever platform may be on with Jaskies. Ooh, look at this. Nice Iowa State Cap patch right here. That is awesome. Five out of nine. Kine in Wangwu. Kine is a Minnesota Viking. Do I have a slider box for that? Well, I don't have a slider box for that, handy. But I'll just throw it into one of these team bags to protect the cart for now. Nice, so Minnesota. Nice, that'll be for John. With that cool relic there. We have a team slogan signature die cut, Micah Parsons. I think he's a cowboy, right? Yeah, Dallas. That's gonna be for Alan. Introductions, autograph. Trey Lance, 50 out of 99. For the Niners, that's gonna be for David B. Nice. And we got a couple, oh no, just one more here, two more here. Here, first of all, a one of one, two, two Atwell. That ACC patch. Two, two Atwell is a Los Angeles Ram. And that's gonna be for Trevor Hardway, Last Bot Mojo. 70% of the time Last Bot Mojo hits 100% of the time. Congrats. All aboard the Big Hit Express. Woo-hoo. And we got 29 out of four, another nice patch. Rashad Bateman, Cardinal maybe? No, Raven, different bird team. There you go, so that is for Baltimore, Trevor with the purple birds. Nice, Tommy's asking, can we have a grill? Who's we?  Mini helmet, these do not have a checklist, right? So if we pull like a college helmet, if they're active, they'll go to the team they're currently on. If they're not active, they'll go to the team they played for the longest. They're retired, I don't think everything should be, we'll be able to figure it out. That one would go to like the Bears because it's commemorating that specific Super Bowl. I don't know, then we'll be able to figure it out. We'll figure it out. And put your thinking caps on because we're gonna play a little round of who am I? All right. Six-time All-Pro, four-time Pro Bowl Selectee was a number four overall of draft, don't look this up, try to use your brains. Number four overall draft, back in 1976, we may have to look this up. Six-time All-Pro, four-time Pro Bowl Selectee played on this team's championship team, went through 10 knee surgeries. Geez, on his way to being elected to the Hall of Fame. I'm the only player for this team to play in three different decades, a Hall of Famer in 2002, Pro Football Hall of Famer in 2002, nicknamed the Danimal. The Danimal, who am I? And you remember the Danimal, the Danimal. Let's see if I can give you a little more clues here. The Danimal, which kind of gives away his name, was a defensive tackle and defensive end, played for this team my entire career, 79 sacks over 157 games and a safety, number 99 on this team, and was part of that 1985 Bears team. Where, in that Super Bowl, they beat the Patriots 46 to 10. Who am I? Bears, defensive end, 1985, defensive tackle, defensive end, Danimal. This will go to Allen, who has the Bears. No guesses. The Danimal is obviously Dan Hampton. Big, bold autograph right across the helmet there. Hall of Fame inscription, nice Bears logo. TriStar card on the inside. TriStar authentication sticker on the back. The Danimal, what's he doing these days? 63 years old. Apparently he, what's he doing? I don't know what he's doing. Just hanging out, retired, living life, having a good time, I hope. There you go, Dan Hampton, Allen. All right, now, put that on there. Now we gotta do a randomizer. Couple randomizers, actually. So we'll use one dice roll for both. There's a new list right there. One is gonna be for that D'Shawn Watson card with Philadelphia and the Washington football team. And then the big one is gonna be the top two who are gonna get $3,000 48 box mixer spots. That's gonna be valued at $3,000 a spot. Pretty nice stuff. So one dice roll for both lists, so let's do it. Lucky seven times. One, two, three, four, five. Nice, Wolf Smith home run. Six and a seventh and final time. Philadelphia will get that one after seven. So that'll be Robert Wolf and the Eagles. You get the one out of five. D'Shawn Jackson passport book, dual relic. Nice, out of fives and under. Get the train whistle. All aboard, the Big Hit Express. Woo-hoo! All right, and the big one here, one out of, one and a six, seven times. Top two, get into that $3,000 mixer. One, two, three, four, five, six and seventh and final time. Two spots being given away, seven times. There's the dice roll, seven times. Now from three on down, it's sad times, but I appreciate everybody giving this a shot. Thank you. But happy times for the top two. Trevor is happy. He's doubly happy. Double happy times. You're in that mixer, Trevor. Thank you for buying in, for getting in, for giving those Mosaic packs a shot. All that good stuff and good luck in that 48 box high and mixer. We'll see you for that on Thursday. Jaspeyscasebreaks.com. I'll see you next time.


How could any bacteria cause a bladder infection without just getting flushed away? Literally, certainly if you're not drinking enough, or men who have prostate enlargement can't empty completely, leaving behind a stagnant pool. But in most people, there should be a constant flow of water through there. Well, bladder infection-causing E. coli evolved these finger-like projections that they used to stick to the walls of the bladder so they don't get washed away. Almost 30 years ago now, it was demonstrated that if you drip cranberry juice on E. coli, they don't stick as well. Grape juice doesn't work, nor does orange or apple juice, or even white cranberry juice, made from unripened berries. So maybe it's one of the red phytonutrients that's doing it. Even if it works in a Petri dish, oh, I mean, we don't pee cranberry juice. How do we know that the anti-adherence phytonutrients in cranberries are even absorbed through the gut so they make it into the bladder? Well, subsequent studies showed that if you drip urine of someone who drank cranberry juice onto E. coli, you get the same anti-stick effect. Ah, well, now we're getting somewhere. Here's the stickiness of strains of E. coli waiting in urine from someone drinking water. And here's their stickiness in the urine of someone drinking cranberry juice. Within hours of consumption, there's a drop in E. coli stickiness that appears to last throughout much of the day. So, might cranberries really help prevent bladder infections? Well, the best way to prevent infections is to not get infected in the first place, which may involve the avoidance of chicken as we've already discussed, so you're not constantly reinfecting yourself. But if that doesn't work, if your gut remains stubbornly colonized with these bad bladder bugs, various tested cranberry products appear to reduce the recurrence of bladder infections by about 35%. Not as effective as antibiotics, but cranberries don't foster antibiotic resistance and have fewer side effects. There's good evidence to suggest that cranberries are effective for prevention, but not as an effective treatment. That makes sense, right? Cranberries prevent the initial adherence, but that occurs at the start of the infection. When the infection is present, it's already stuck there, but then there's no clinical data to suggest that cranberries aren't effective in the treatment of urinary tract infections, meaning cranberries don't work better than placebo. But, placebos work. For example, ibuprofen seems to work just as good as antibiotics for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections. Now, some people you really do need to treat with antibiotics. Pregnant women, children, men, those with kidney infections, systemic symptoms like nausea and vomiting, but for most healthy women, bladder infections just go away on their own without antibiotics. So all the women who drink cranberry juice and have their symptoms disappear may falsely attribute their recovery to the juice, but when it comes to most UTIs, nothing works. Nothing, in fact, actually works, leading doctors to try to figure out how they can harness the placebo effect for themselves.


When is it right to choose proprietary software over free software? You know, is it ever okay to choose proprietary software over free software? This is our topic for today because this Needs some explaining because I often get people that watch my channel watch my videos that know that I'm a big proponent Of free and open source software, but I've admitted many times that I have to use proprietary software on occasion I know most of the people watching this video have to use proprietary software on occasion, so we all Have a certain comfort level that there is a threshold We're willing to go to a certain point with free software But at what point is it right for us to go ahead and accept the fact that you know what? I do need a piece of proprietary software, so I'm gonna go ahead and choose it in this instance I think the first thing we need to acknowledge all of us We need to acknowledge is the fact that you can't really run only free software in life Even Richard Stallman can't be 100% free as in freedom Even Richard Stallman has to interact with proprietary software now not necessarily on his personal equipment But what about the bank ATM, right? What about the entire financial industry the banking industry all the back-end stuff? It is all 100% proprietary software. There's no open source Banks right that doesn't exist if you have credit cards and debit cards You know if you've got your money in a bank, right? You're interacting with a proprietary closed-source system What about doing things like going to an airport getting on a plane getting a passport you know, that's obviously against the free software movement anything that has to Identify you in some way so things like drivers license IDs passports You know these are kind of against the whole idea of free software as well Even though they're not necessarily software related But the idea that we have to identify ourselves in some way right one of the things about free software is also the fact that you know, you should have the right to be anonymous When you choose to interact with a piece of software or a online service So obviously if you've ever gone to a bank had a bank account If you've ever been on a plane had to get a passport be ever even hotels now renting cars And you have to interact with proprietary systems and obviously you have to identify yourself in some way and It's you can't be 100% free as in freedom in this world I wish I wish I could and I wish you could but it's just not possible people often ask me Yeah, hey, you're a free software zealot. You love the free software movement but you put videos on YouTube which obviously is a proprietary platform and I do I Agree that I put videos on YouTube as it's a proprietary platform But I do that for mainly two reasons and why I make the exception one YouTube is by far the biggest video platform if I'm making videos about free and open-source software And I want to spread the message about free and open-source software I actually need to spread that message on a proprietary platform Or to make sense right if I'm trying to convert people from proprietary software to free and open-source software It doesn't make sense for me to put videos on a purely free platform Where most of the people there will know about free software, right? I'm preaching to the wrong crowd and if I only put my videos on a free platform So that's why I'm on YouTube. I get more eyeballs on my videos, right? I'm able to make a bigger difference by being on YouTube another reason I don't mind being on YouTube that is kind of against the whole idea of free software is you know You should be anonymous. You shouldn't have to have an account and identify yourself in some way So having a Google account and YouTube account kind of goes against the whole idea of free software I make it an exception for this because obviously I'm making videos and I put my face on camera, right? So I can't really be anonymous and make videos. I mean, I guess you could there's certainly some people that do make videos And they have some anonymity like the vTubers, you know, the people that do the weird 13 year old Japanese anime character, but it's really some you know 40 year old dude making the video, right?   I think I've had like 50 million people watch my videos. I can't be anonymous So I don't mind the fact that I have to have a Google account a YouTube account and and they know who I am Because pretty much everybody that's watched my videos you guys know who I am you see a face I tell you guys my name most of you that have been following the channel know pretty much where I live So I don't have much anonymity these days. That said generally speaking I don't have that many online accounts as far as proprietary services that I'm a member of I Generally avoid things like social media. I have a mastodon account now That's a free platform, but I no longer use Facebook or Twitter I briefly had a Facebook account in the Twitter account years ago I got rid of them rather quickly because I just don't like social media in general and those particular platforms are Obviously really bad as far as privacy. That said there are some proprietary online services, right that I do have an account for for example, obviously YouTube which You guys understand why I have a YouTube account. I also have a reddit account And some people probably wonder about that the reason I have a reddit account is reddit actually some of the Linux related Subreddits especially like the Linux support subreddits are actually really good and really helpful And they actually greatly benefit the free and open source community because they're spreading the message of free and open source software Yes, it's on a proprietary platform But there's some good communities there and sometimes I like to read the messages there Sometimes I even will post on reddit, although I don't really do that much these days So I do have a reddit account because it makes sense one other proprietary account I have I have a steam account which you know if you want to play games You there are free and open source games. I play a lot of free and open source games I've done dozens of videos on my channel Highlighting some of the great free and open source games that are available, but that said Sometimes you want to play a proprietary game and 99% of the games out there Well 99.9% of the games out there are proprietary software and because of that It's hard to be free software only and also to be a avid gamer because you're Limiting yourself to such an extent That I think it's not worth it at that point So those are some of the online services some of the online platforms that I've made a an exception for For my personal needs and I'm sure pretty much everyone watching this video has similar stories. Some of you guys have Accounts membership subscriptions to various online Proprietary platforms that you know serve you in some way so you've made those exceptions But let's talk about actual software computer software on your desktops laptops mobile devices phones tablets things like that servers even What about running free software only on your computers? Is that possible? It is almost impossible It takes an extreme amount of dedication to be free software only on your computers for one thing You can't just go buy a computer from Best Buy or Walmart or wherever it happens to be and think it's going to be a Free software only computer because non-free firmware Yeah, you've got to have free firmware, which that is a huge barrier to entry But let's say you're okay with that then what operating system are you gonna run that's fully free as in freedom? So obviously you can't run Windows Mac Chrome OS, you know the Linux You can run Linux, but the Linux kernel has proprietary software in it. It has those proprietary blobs for Device drivers some of the device drivers that are in the kernel that actually one of the things that the reason the kernel is Such a great kernel why Linux runs pretty much on everything It's because that kernel has a lot of proprietary drivers baked into it Where if those drivers weren't there certain pieces of hardware would not work on Linux so that's a great thing but To actually run a fully free Linux distribution You have to run the Linux Libre kernel which has all the binary blobs stripped out of it So you're missing drivers for a lot of stuff If you run a fully freed Linux kernel the Linux Libre kernel You're not going to have Wi-Fi drivers for most Wi-Fi chips and most laptops because most of them only have proprietary Drivers you're never going to have Wi-Fi on that laptop if you try to run a fully free Linux distribution It's just not possible same thing with your graphics cards Nvidia right if you have an Nvidia card you pretty much have to use the proprietary Drivers that there are open-source drivers for Nvidia cards the open-source drivers are really bad And you're not going to get a lot of the encoding features and in pink and things like that if you're gonna pay hundreds or in some cases Thousands of dollars for an Nvidia graphics card Then you want the proprietary drivers that will actually make that thing work properly with all the features the open-source driver It's horrible and you would never go and pay, you know $1,500 for a graphics card and then run the open-source Nuvo drivers for your Nvidia card because you're gonna be missing all of the features that you paid all of that money for that Graphics card to actually perform so despite the fact that so many of us in the Linux community preach about The value of free and open-source software very very very few of us are actually running a fully free Linux distribution there are some FSF approved distros free software foundation approved distros They have about a dozen or so distributions that they have verified are 100% completely free They were all run the Linux Libre kernel and they have no Proprietary software at all on them out of the box. They also have no proprietary software at all in their repositories So you would really have to jump through some hoops to go get proprietary software on those distributions But here's the thing a lot of the people that go to the trouble of running those FSF approved fully freed Distributions a lot of those guys then turn around and put proprietary software on it anyway because I know a lot of people that run good new geeks Enable a third-party non-free repository for things like the NVIDIA drivers and you know other proprietary software That a lot of desktop computer users actually need and I won't do that. I would never I Just think it's disingenuous to run a free software foundation approved distro and then turn around and enable Proprietary software on it anyway like what were you doing even installing that distribution then why didn't you just run a Distribution that would make it a lot easier for you to get the proprietary software. You were gonna install on it anyway So that's why I don't run any of the free software foundation approved distros for one thing I actually don't have a computer that any of them will run properly on because I have tried to install them on my workstation Here at the office most of them I can't even get them to boot on this machine now the computer at my house has an NVIDIA card That's a problem all of my laptops Wi-Fi none of them have a chip a Wi-Fi chip that will work with the Linux Libre kernel So I'm just You know, I can't run them on my equipment. So when I say to be fully free software only On a computer these days requires extreme dedication It does it means I would actually have to either replace some of the parts in my computers Or replace the computers entirely and you know go and build Custom computers order specialty parts myself that I know have free drivers and would work with the Linux Libre kernel For example, and that kind of dedication very few of us even Free software zealots and very few of us have that kind of dedication. I admit it I certainly don't now getting back to the question that I asked at the very beginning of this video When is it okay to use proprietary software over free software? When is it right or at least when is it? Acceptable to choose proprietary software over free software and in my opinion I think there are at least three use cases where I think it's acceptable for you to use proprietary software over free software in these cases the first one is if Your work or your school requires you to use a piece of proprietary software You should use that proprietary software You should never jeopardize a job or your grades at school Because you don't want to use a piece of proprietary software due to ideological reasons, right? Now I don't mind if you tell your boss or you tell your teacher or a professor or whatever it happens to be That hey the free software movement it exists Yeah, let them know what free software is let them know that you prefer to use free software and that there's free Software alternatives to whatever proprietary software.  You can't use the free alternatives You have to use this proprietary software because our university has standardized on this everybody uses this one piece of software You have to use it or our workplace this corporation you work at all requires everybody to use this particular piece of software You know Microsoft one drive for example or whatever it happens to be Microsoft teams and you have to use it And if that's the case use that piece of software, right again, don't get fired You know, don't get flunked in your university course or whatever it happens to be just because of Ideological reasons about free software versus proprietary software, right? That's that's a that's too big a step The second case where I think it's acceptable to use proprietary software over free software is if there are actually no free Alternatives available for what you're trying to accomplish because there are some Areas of software where it's pretty much all proprietary software. There's no free software at all Well, I can give you some examples in my computer use. I love Trading stocks and options and futures. I do a lot of day trading I have for a number of years and there are no applications on Any computing platform when does Mac Linux? It doesn't matter all that stuff is proprietary software The trading platforms are all proprietary software the back end the brokerages. It's all proprietary software. There's no open-source, you know Brokerages that doesn't exist the same thing with the stock markets and the feeds and everything that it's coming from the new New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ and all of that. Oh close-source software Zero open-source software as far as we've already talked about the banking industry the financial markets pretty much the global financial Industry as a whole 100% Proprietary software. So if I actually want to like have an IRA account and occasionally Actively trade, you know stocks or options or whatever it happens to be I'm going to have to do that on a proprietary Desktop client if they have a desktop trading client if they don't have a desktop trading client pretty much every brokerage has an online Way to trade stocks and but of course all of that is also going to be proprietary on the back end so What are you going to do? Are you just never going to take part in? trying to achieve Financial freedom because you you're trying to also achieve software freedom. No that that would be Ridiculous actually in the long run that would seriously harm you. I mean, what do you want to do?  No, you can't do that So I think it's okay to use proprietary software Obviously when there's no free software available in that area at all And I think the third use case for proprietary software over free software and this one's going to be a little Controversial, but I think it's okay to choose proprietary software over free software if the free alternatives are Really really bad compared to the proprietary alternatives, right? So you hear a lot of people claim that they can't use GIMP or inkscape and Critter and things like that because they're used to Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is just better Maybe it is I've never used Photoshop But I will accept the fact that people that know people that are actually graphic designers Prefer to use Adobe Photoshop compared to the free alternatives because a lot of these people Tell me they've tried the free alternatives and the free alternatives are just not good. I Accept that video editors professional video editors will often tell you that Obviously our free video editors are not good. I admit that Caden live is probably the best friend open source software Video editor we have Caden lines pretty good. It's not a great video editor though not compared to the proprietary alternatives like DaVinci and Lightworks and Premiere Pro and all of that stuff. I get it, right? I understand that even though I Choose to use things like Caden live and GIMP. I understand that especially those that are professionals that rely on some of those Professional proprietary tools, I get it and even I have made an exception at least in one area earlier I was talking about NVIDIA drivers, right? There is open source NVIDIA drivers I refuse to use them because they're so bad, right? So even I make an exception for hey, there are free alternatives to the proprietary software But it's so bad in comparison to the proprietary software, you know at some point I just got a I just got to go with the proprietary software in that case So those are the three exceptions that I think, you know, most reasonable people make is It's okay to use the proprietary software if you require to use it at work or at school Or if there are no free software alternatives available or if the free alternatives are just very very bad in Comparison to the proprietary software. So that's just some of my thoughts on this because people Ask me these kinds of questions all the time about proprietary software versus free software And what proprietary software do I use and when I use proprietary software? Why do I choose to use proprietary software in this case? But I I only use free software in these other areas. I know this is kind of a lengthy video I went on kind of a bit of a rant here, but I hope I gave you some insight at the end of the day though Everyone even if you're a free software zealot like I claim to be right We all still have to have some level of pragmatism, right? You can't Be such a staunch supporter of free software That at the end of the day you're actually doing more harm to yourself than good because for example if you're Getting behind at your job or at school or in my case, you know What I'm doing with making videos and things like that like I was trying to use the free Drivers for an Nvidia card for example, and I'm doing video editing and encoding and things like that That's costing me a lot of time where if I'd actually installed the proprietary Nvidia drivers I'd get done a lot quicker doing some of my work So that's the kind of things that you know, we all have a certain comfort level, you know We set the bar as far as you know I can go with free software up to a point But once it reaches a certain pain threshold, all right, that's the point Where then it's okay to use proprietary software.  I like I get it. I like some people are a little more relaxed Ultimately though you make your own decisions on this and if you're comfortable with your decision It's probably the right decision now before I go. I need to think a few special people I need to think the producers of this episode and of course, I'm talking about these guys here Gabe James Maxim homies to bald Matt mimic Mitchell Paul Royal West armor dragon bash potato Chuck commander angry George Lee Mars drum met those Nate early on Paul peace watch from Adore Palatate realities for less red-profit rolling tools Devlin Williams in a bit these guys they're my highest tiered patrons over on patreon without these guys This little rant about proprietary software would not have been possible The show is also brought to you by each and every one of these fine ladies and gentlemen all these names You're seeing on the screen right now. These are all my supporters over on patreon. I don't have any corporate sponsors I'm sponsored by you guys on a proprietary platform called patreon If you'd like to see more videos about free and open source software though subscribe to distro tube over on patreon All right guys peace


CBLT, my favorite company whose name doesn't reflect what you are. So let's start with Big Duck Lake. What's going on there? Well, first, we do have three cobalt properties. So CBLT does reflect that. But currently, we've put out news at Big Duck Lake recently with decent numbers from the north end. Big Duck Lake has always been explored for the gold in the middle. Everybody's gone across the north looking for the zinc. There's a theory that there's a zinc belt that goes from Pick River to Winston Lake, and then it turns left and comes across Big Duck Lake, and we are testing that theory. I'll tell you, Peter, nobody loves critical minerals more than I do. And of course, we love cobalt. But the reason I introduced you that way is because I also love CISCOM. And CISCOM is the deal that, believe it or not, I think is going to make CBLT shareholders a great deal of money. Can you give us an update on that? Sure. We have declared and paid the dividend of CISCOM shares back to the CBLT shareholder base. It's bizarre that in this world, that doesn't happen instantaneously. It is still a paper-based process. So the paperwork is with the transfer agent who sends it to CDS and the nobos. And then CDS sends it to corporate action departments, and then the stock winds up in people's accounts. So that is in process now. The shareholders already caught a tempest dividend. They caught a power stone dividend in April. And now they get to catch the CISCOM dividend. And further to that, because of course, that's a data tech company. Let's talk gold. CBLT has some gold. Am I making my point here, Peter? Falcon Lake, what's happening with your gold project? In 1996, a Falcon Bridge geologist said nobody should work these three properties unless one person owns them all, because the garson fault runs through all three. And working one of them only benefits the other two properties. And as of about a month ago, after five years of chasing, we finally closed on Falcon Gold, a former producer. So we have united those three properties along the garson fault. Very excited about that. The historical numbers are amazing. It's on patented land. So a lot of these numbers aren't in the public domain. We got them from the ministry, from the regional geologist, which is a fantastic program. It's some of your tax dollars spent perfectly, which have reinforced our knowledge of the property. So we anticipate being up there late August, early September for sampling and mapping. Well, of course, for those of you out there new to CBLT, which I encourage you to check this out. The news releases that we're discussing right now are all in the last month. And so why don't we just move to the other news release from last month, which of course is your lithium deal. What's happening with Shatford Blake? It says you're beginning operations. That sounds very exciting.  Yeah, I can't talk to you about that because I've seen the assay results. There's a press release pending with them in it. So that's as far as I can go. All right. So you heard it here first, CBLT Peter Clausi. Thank you so much for an update. And for those of you who would like to meet Peter, send me an email. I'll introduce you. Thank you. Thanks.